USA > Nebraska > Gage County > History of Gage County, Nebraska; a narrative of the past, with special emphasis upon the pioneer period of the county's history, its social, commercial, educational, religious, and civic development from the early days to the present time > Part 68
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When but seventeen years of age Mr. Graff initiated independent enterprise in the opera- tion of a threshing machine, incidental to the garnering of the generous harvests in this sec- tion of the state, and he has continued his active alliance with this important industrial accessory during the long intervening years. From his youth he has done all of the thresh- ing on the old homestead, as well as on many neighboring farms, and he has owned and op- erated several threshing outfits, in which con- nection he has kept his equipment up to the best standard, his present threshing outfit be- ing of the most modern type. In addition to
giving attention to well ordered agricultural exploitation Mr. Graff has been an extensive grower and feeder of cattle and has made this an important and successful feature of his farm enterprise. His progressiveness is fur- ther shown in his being a stockholder and vice- president and treasurer of a well ordered ce- ment manufacturing company at Bonner Springs, Kansas; the New Monarch Mining Company, of Leadville, Colorado ; and also of the company operating a modern smelter at Salida, Colorado. In a local way he has ex- tended his business and capitalistic interests by becoming one of the principal stockholders of the German Savings & Loan Company, of Beatrice, of which important financial and fiduciary organization he is now the president, his well ordered executive policies having added much to the success of the business.
Mr. Graff has not been troubled with politi- cal ambition and though he has not consented to appear as a candidate for public office and is independent of strict partisan lines in poli- tics, his influence and cooperation may always be counted upon in support of those things that conserve the best interests of the com- munity, the state and the nation. He and his family are communicants of the Catholic church, as members of the parish of St. Jo- seph's church in the city of Beatrice, where he also maintains affiliation with the Knights of Columbus.
On the 24th of November, 1886, was sol- emnized the marriage of Mr. Graff to Miss Mary Meyer, who was born February 2, 1867, in Effingham county, Illinois, and who is a daughter of Joseph and Crecentia (Hiebler) Meyer, natives of Germany. The parents of Mrs. Graff came from Germany and settled in Illinois about the year 1853, and there they remained until 1870, when they came to Gage county, Nebraska, and settled on a farm in Blakely township, where they passed the re- mainder of their lives. In the concluding para- graph of this review is given brief record con- cerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Graff:
Josephine is the wife of George H. Sulli- van, a successful carpenter and contractor at Beatrice ; Edwin is actively associated with his
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father in the work and management of the home farm; and the younger children of the ideal family home circle are Theresa, Linda, Hugo, and Harold.
JAMES E. BEDNAR. - It is gratifying to the publishers of this history to offer with- in its pages recognition of James E. Bednar, a native son of Gage county, who is honoring the county in his effective services as a mem- ber of the Nebraska bar. He is now success- fully engaged in the practice of his profession in the city of Omaha, as junior member of the firm of Ringer & Bednar, with offices in the First National Bank Building. Mr. Bednar is a son of the late Albert Bednar, an honored Gage county pioneer to whom a memoir is dedicated on other pages of this volume.
James E. Bednar was born on the family homestead in Sicily township, Gage county, September 28, 1882. As a boy and youth Mr. Bednar contributed his due quota to the work on the home farm, and after having availed himself of the advantages of the district schools, he continued his studies in the high school at Wymore. He defrayed the expenses incidental to acquiring his higher academic training and his professional education largely through his own resources. He taught the Sunny Side district school in Lancaster county prior to entering the University of Nebraska, was graduated from the University of Ne- braska, in 1907, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, but continued his service in the peda- gogic profession for a short time as instructor in rhetoric and debating in the high school at Beatrice, Nebraska. In the meanwhile he was but working definitely along the course of his ambitious purpose, which was to prepare him- self for the legal profession. Finally he was matriculated in the law department of his alma mater, the University of Nebraska, and from this department he was graduated in June, 1910, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws and with virtually coincident admission to the bar of his native state. Shortly after- ward he formed a professional partnership with J. Dean Ringer, with whom he has since continued to be associated in the practice of
law in the city of Omaha, under the firm title of Ringer & Bednar. He has proved resource- ful and successful both as a trial lawyer and well fortified counselor and is now serving his second year as deputy county attorney of Douglas county.
In politics Mr. Bednar accords staunch al- legiance to the Democratic party. In the time- honored Masonic fraternity he has completed the circle of the Scottish Rite to the thirty- second degree, besides being affiliated also with the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Both he and his wife hold membership in the Presbyterian church. On the 16th of June, 1910, the same day he received his long coveted "sheepskin" from the college of law, was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Bednar to Britania Daughters, who was born at Mooreshill, Indiana, but who at the time was a student in the graduate college of the University of Nebraska. Mr. and Mrs. Bednar have two children - James E., Jr., born October 13, 1911, and Bryce Ren- wick, born August 3, 1916.
ELBERT J. DOLE, who is a leading pho- tographer in Nebraska's capital city, is a native son of this state and is a representative of a family that has been specially prominent and honored in Gage county, as is shown by reference to the review of the life of his mother, Mrs. Sophia H. Dole, of Beatrice, the founder of the Dole Floral Company, of which also is given specific record in this volume.
Elbert J. Dole was reared and educated in Gage county and thus is fully entitled to per- sonal recognition in this history. He was born in Seward county, Nebraska, December 3, 1877, and he was about nine years old when the family home was established in the city of Beatrice, judicial center of Gage county. Here he continued his studies in the public schools until he had completed a course in the high school, in which he was graduated as a mem- ber of the class of 1898. Soon afterward he took up the study of the photographic art, and in the same he has become a recognized expert and successful professional exponent of the photographic business. He has in the past
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been employed in some of the best studios both in Beatrice and Lincoln, as well as by the State Journal Company, and his experience in his chosen profession has been wide and varied. Since 1912 he has conducted in the capital city of Nebraska his present hand- somely appointed and thoroughly modern photographic studio, at 1125 O street, and his large and representative patronage denotes alike his professional skill and his personal popularity. Mr. Dole is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and he and his wife hold membership in the Christian church.
In 1904 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Dole to Mrs. Sadie Crumpton, who was born in the state of Ohio and who was a resi- dent of Lincoln, Nebraska, at the time of their marriage. They have no children.
ELWOOD BIGLER. - Prominent among those whose successful activities are potent in upholding the commercial prestige of the city of Beatrice is Elwood Bigler, who here con- ducts a substantial and prosperous general hardware and implement business, the same having been established in 1896, under the firm title of Jacob Bigler & Son. He has con- ducted the enterprise in an individual way, under his own name, since 1907. His honored father, who was senior member of the origi- nal firm, was a resident of the city of Lin- coln, this state, at the time of his death, in 1898.
Mr. Bigler was born in Hardin county, Ohio, on the 23d of November, 1865, and is a son of Jacob and Margaret (Runyan) Bigler, the former of whom was born in the fair little republic of Switzerland, in 1838, and the lat- ter of whom was born in the state of Ohio, in 1842. Jacob Bigler was reared and educated in his native land and was a young man when he came to the United States. He found em- ployment in connection with navigation activi- ties on the Mississippi river, with headquar- ters in the city of New Orleans, and he was on the last packet boat that passed up the river prior to the outbreak of the Civil war. His loyalty to the Union was marked by de- cisive action, as he enlisted in a regiment of
volunteers that was organized in the city of St. Louis, and was with his command in nu- merous engagements, including the battle of Wilson's Creek, Missouri, in 1861 -an en- gagement in which the gallant General Lyons met his death. After the war Mr. Bigler turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, and he was engaged in farming in Hardin county, Ohio, for some time prior to 1869, the year that was marked by his removal with his family to the new state of Nebraska. He settled on a pioneer farm near Crete, Saline county, in 1869, and there he continued his successful activities as an agriculturist and stock-grower until the Centennial year, 1876, when he was elected sheriff of Saline county. At that period the office of sheriff was no sinecure in Nebraska, for the state had an un- due quota of lawless and incorrigible men. within its borders, but Mr. Bigler gave so effective an administration in his county that he was continued as the incumbent of the shrievalty for six consecutive years, the ensu- ing two years finding him giving equally ef- fective administration in the office of county clerk. After his retirement from this position he engaged in the hardware business at Crete, that county, where he remained until 1887, when he removed to Imperial, the judicial cen- ter of Chase county, where he established him- self in the hardware and lumber business. He developed a large and prosperous enterprise in these lines and continued his residence at Imperial until 1895, when he removed to Lin- coln, the capital city of the state, where he thereafter lived virtually retired until his death, which occurred in 1898. He was one of the sterling pioneers who contributed a gen- erous quota to civic and material progress and prosperity in Nebraska and he commanded the high regard of all who knew him. His venerable widow now resides in the home of her son Elwood, subject of this review, and in addition to receiving the utmost filial solici- tude she is graciously compassed by many friends who pay to her tribute as one of the noble pioneer women of this now favored commonwealth. Three children survive the honored father and of the number the sub-
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ject of this sketch is the youngest; William T. is a resident of Casper, Wyoming, and Mrs. Rosa B. Reed resides in Aurora, Illinois.
Elwood Bigler was a lad of about three years at the time of the family removal to Ne- braska. He was reared to adult age in Sa- line county, and was one of a few scholars in the first school established in that county. He profited by the advantages of the pioneer schools and early began to assist his father in the latter's varied business operations. In 1896 he became associated with his father in the establishing of a well ordered hardware business at Beatrice, and of the enterprise he assumed full charge, his father having been at the time a resident of Lincoln, as previously noted. He is now one of the leading expo- nents of the general hardware trade in Gage county, his well equipped store being situated at 400 Court street and each department of the same being well stocked at all times, so that the most efficient service is always given to the large and appreciative patronage.
Mr. Bigler takes loyal interest in all things touching the civic and material welfare and progress of his home city. He accords staunch allegiance to the Democratic party and does his part in the furtherance of its cause. In the time-honored Masonic fraternity he has received the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, his maximum York Rite affiliation being with Mount Her- man Commandery of Knights Templar, be- sides which he is a member of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. In his home city he is likewise a popular member of the lodge of the Benevo- lent & Protective Order of Elks and the aerie of the Fraternal Order of Eagles.
In 1909 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Bigler to Miss Nellie B. Swartz, who was born in Brown county, Kansas, and who was a resi- dent of Beatrice at the time of her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Bigler have no children.
JAMES G. LAWRENCE. - In Gage ·county, Nebraska, not to know James G. Law- rence is virtually to argue oneself unknown, for this sterling pioneer citizen of Nebraska
has served as assistant postmaster at Beatrice for fully thirty years, his incumbency having continued under the administrations of eight different postmasters, including John R. Mc- Cann, who is now in tenure of this office and · who is individually mentioned on other pages of this publication. Mr. Lawrence came to Nebraska shortly after attaining to his legal majority, and that he gained his quota of pio- neer experience is assured by the fact that he here established his residence in 1871, about four years after the territory had gained the dignity of statehood. He has done specially efficient service as an educator and was one of the efficient and popular representatives of the pedagogic profession in Nebraska in the early days, as well as in later years. Known and honored for his character and service, his circle of friends is coincident with that of his acquaintances and it is gratifying to be able to accord him recognition in this history.
A scion of sterling New England colonial stock, Mr. Lawrence was born in the city of Clinton, Worcester county, Massachusetts, on the 3d of February, 1850, and is a son of James S. and Caroline (Lowe) Lawrence, the former of whom was born at Harvard and the latter at Clinton, both in Worcester county, Massachusetts. James S. Lawrence learned in his youth the trade of comb-maker, and for many years he was employed as shipping clerk in the Foster & Lawrence wholesale furniture house in the city of Boston. He later engaged independently in comb manufacturing at Clinton, Massachusetts, and through this me- dium he achieved definite success and prestige, both he and his wife having continued their residence at Clinton until their death and both having been zealous members of the Congre- gational church, in which connection it may be noted that during the period of his resi- dence in the city of Boston Mr. Lawrence maintained membership in the historic old Winthrop church of this denomination. The subject of this review was the third in order of birth in a family of six children, and con- cerning the others the following brief data are available: Oscar is in the service of the municipal government of Worcester, Massa-
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chusetts; John is a prosperous farmer near Northboro, Worcester county, Massachusetts ; Charles and Caroline are twins, the former being a resident of Northboro, Massachusetts, and the latter the widow of Harrison P. Fay, maintaining her home at Nanuet, New York, where her husband had been principal in the public schools ; and the sixth child, a son, died in infancy. From the above record it will be discerned that of the immediate family James G. Lawrence is the only representative in the west, and his loyalty to Nebraska is on a parity with his appreciation of the historic old commonwealth of which he is a native son.
Mr. Lawrence is indebted to the public schools of his native city for his early educa- tional discipline, and there he was graduated in the high school as a member of the class of 1868. Soon afterward he became a clerk in the postoffice at Clinton, and there he served as assistant postmaster for two years. In 1871, at the age of twenty-one years, he came to the new state of Nebraska and after visit- ing Beatrice, which was then a mere village, he made his way to Thayer county, where he entered claim to a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres of virgin land. He remained on the place until he had perfected his title thereto and later he disposed of the property. Mr. Lawrence soon found opportunity for making effective use of his ability as a teacher, and for a number of years he taught in the public schools of Thayer and Gage counties. After his marriage Mr. Lawrence returned to the east and engaged in comb manufacturing at Clinton, Massachusetts, but after an ex- perience of two years he was unable to resist the lure of the vital and progressive west and accordingly returned to Beatrice, where he gave his attention to teaching in the county schools until he was appointed assistant post- master, in 1887, under the administration of President Cleveland. He has held this posi- tion during the long intervening years, his original appointment having been made under the regime of Samuel E. Rigg as postmaster, and it may well be understood that each suc- cessive incumbent has placed high and fully justified estimate upon the value of his ser-
vices, for no man in Gage county has a wider acquaintance with its people and none has so comprehensive a grasp upon all details per- taining to the administration of the postoffice business in Beatrice, where his service has kept pace with the march of civic and material development and progress that has made Beatrice one of the vital and prosperous cities of the state. A man of broad mental ken, strong in his convictions and unequivocally loyal and public-spirited as a citizen, Mr. Lawrence is unfaltering in his allegiance to the Democratic party and has been prominent in its local councils in Gage county. He is af- filiated with the Modern Woodmen of America and attends and supports the Christian church, of which his wife was an active member.
On the 25th of December, 1878, Mr. Law- rence wedded Miss Laura E. Pheasant, whose father, the late Edward Pheasant, was one of the representative pioneers of Gage county, where he became the owner of a large tract of land and developed the same into a well im- proved and valuable property. In conclusion is entered brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence: Harold E. is. assistant superintendent of the Dempster Mill Manufacturing Company, of Beatrice; Clif- ford J. remains at the parental home ; James. E. is city editor of the Lincoln Daily Star, in the capital city of Nebraska, and he has been very successful as a representative of news- paper work, even as he showed his ambition and resourcefulness by defraying almost en- tirely through his own efforts the expenses. incidental to his course in the University of Nebraska, in which he was graduated: he married Miss Helen Graves, of Lincoln, and they have one child, Helen E .; Esther, the only daughter now living, was graduated in the Beatrice high school and since the death of her mother, which occurred November 23, 1917, she has taken the latter's place in the family home; Ruth, the youngest child, died. at the age of eleven years.
JOSEPH HEBEL, who owns and resides upon a fine farm estate of two hundred and forty acres, in Section 6, Paddock township, is-
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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA
a representative of one of the sterling pioneer families of Nebraska, and in his independent career he has well maintained the honors of the family name, both in the matter of loyal citizenship and also through his productive activities in connection with agricultural in- dustry.
Mr. Hebel was born in Bohemia, Austria- Hungary, and the date of his nativity was January 3, 1858. He is a son of Joseph and Mary (Machova) Hebel, who likewise were born and reared in Bohemia, the former hav- ing been born in 1833 and the latter in 1840. In 1869 Joseph Hebel, Sr., immigrated with his family to America and in the same year he numbered himself among the pioneers of the new state of Nebraska. Prior to coming to the United States Mr. Hebel had served eleven years in one of the governmental military or- ganizations of his native land. Upon coming to Nebraska he obtained a homestead claim in Saline county, and upon this wild prairie tract he built as a home for his family a primitive dug-out of the type common to the early pioneer days. This rudimentary build- ing had a roof that was thatched with hay, and the only floor was the earth. On this pio- neer farm Mr. Hebel continued his sturdy activities for ten years, at the expiration of which, in 1879, he came to Gage county and established a home on a tract of one hundred and sixty acres that is now in Section 7, Pad- dock township, the land having originally been a part of the Otoe Indian reservation, which had but shortly before been opened to settle- ment. Here Mr. Hebel continued his farm operations with vigor and success until he . was called from the stage of his mortal en- deavors, his death having occurred in 1889. His widow subsequently contracted a second marriage and she now resides at Wilber, Sa- line county, she being a devout communicant of the Catholic church, as was also Joseph Hebel, her first husband. Mr. and Mrs. Hebel became the parents of twelve children: Jo- seph is the immediate subject of this review ; James was a resident of Rawlins county, Kan- sas, at the time of his death; Annie is the wife of Lewis Rathbun, of Glenwood town-
ship, Gage county ; Charles likewise is a resi- dent of this county ; Mary is the wife of John Cacek, of Paddock township; Nettie is the wife of Joseph Synovec, of Paddock township ; Robert is a resident of Fairbury, Jefferson county; Mary is the wife of Joseph Turh- licka, of Glenwood township, Gage county ; and the other four children died when young.
He whose name introduces this review was a lad of ten years at the time of the family immigration to the United States and he was reared under the conditions and influences that marked the pioneer period of Nebraska history. As a boy and youth he herded cat- tle and worked on his father's farm in Sa- line county, and in the meanwhile he attended school when opportunity afforded. He was a sturdy youth of about twenty years when he accompanied his parents on their removal to Gage county, and before he had attained to his legal majority he purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land in Paddock township, this being the homestead place on which he has resided during the long intervening years. When he came into possession of this em- bryonic farm not a furrow had been turned on the land and no improvement had been made in any way, as the tract had but recently been placed on the market, as a part of the former Otoe Indian reservation. Within the forty years of his residence on this farm Mr. Hebel has made excellent improvements upon the place, as he has erected good farm buildings and given other distinct evidences of his pro- gressiveness and good judgment. The pass- ing years have brought to him a generous measure of prosperity, as attested by the fact that he has gradually added to his holdings until he now owns a valuable farm property of two hundred and forty acres. This achieve- ment and success represent the tangible results of his own well directed efforts and unflag- ging industry.
As his wife and helpmeet Mr. Hebel chose Miss Mary Fitte, who was born in Bohemia, March 8, 1862, and who was twelve years of age when she came with her parents to the United States. She was a daughter of Michael and Anna Fitte, who were numbered
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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA
among the early settlers of Saline county, Ne- braska, and who now reside in the village of Swanton, that county. Mrs. Hebel was called to the life eternal on the 12th of September, 1908, and concerning the children the follow- ing brief record is consistently entered : Enma is the wife of Frank Vanosek, of Glenwood township; Minnie is the wife of Emil Novotny, of the same township; Kate is the wife of Frank Fleisleber, likewise of Glenwood township; Nellie is the wife of Philip Graff, of Sicily township; and Annie, Mattie, and Augusta remain at the paternal home.
Joseph Hebel is one of the highy respected pioneer citizens of his community, and he is always ready to give his influence and support to any cause tending to advance the best in- terests of the county in which he has main- tained his home for more than forty years. In politics he maintains an independent atti- tude and votes for men and measures that meet the approval of his judgment. He has for eighteen years given efficient and valued service as treasurer of his school district, and has been influential in bringing the educa- tional work of the district up to its present high standard.
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