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 69

Author: Dobbs, Hugh Jackson, 1849-
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western Publishing and Engraving Company
Number of Pages: 1120

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 69

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Reverting to his many youthful experiences in connection with pioneer life in Nebraska, Mr. Hebel relates that on one occasion he ac- companied his father on foot from the home in Saline county to Nebraska City. When night came they asked for lodging at a farm house, but no place could be found to ac- commodate them. They then attempted to sleep on a pile of straw in the barnyard, but they became so cold that they had to arise and travel on. They covered on foot the en- tire distance of eighty-five miles between their home and Nebraska City, and on their return trip they were more fortunate in obtaining a night's lodging, as they were given a place on the floor of a pioneer farm house and pro- vided with a covering of sheep pelts. This is but one of many incidents which Mr. Hebel recalls concerning the conditions of the early days.

HENRY WILLIAMSON. - A resident of Gage county for nearly forty years, Mr. Williamson proved himself specially energetic and resourceful in his productive activities as an exponent of farm industry in this section of the state, and he developed one of the valuable farm properties of Glenwood town- ship. He finally retired from the old home- stead to establish his residence in the city of Beatrice, but a life of ease had no allurement for him and he has here proved again his success-proclivities by engaging in the coal business, in which line of enterprise he con- trols a large and representative trade - based alike on fair and honorable dealings and upon his unqualified personal popularity in the community. A share of pioneer honors at- taches to his name and achievement and con- sistency is observed when he is here accorded recognition as one of the representative citi- zens of Gage county.

Mr. Williamson was born at Dixon, Lee county, Illinois, on the 6th of December, 1855, and is a son of John and Margaret (Uhl) Williamson, the former a native of Ireland and the latter of the, state of Mary- land, where their marriage was solemnized. In the early '50s John Williamson and his wife enrolled themselves as pioneers of Lee county, Illinois, to which section of the state they made their way from Chicago by means of team and wagon. In that county Mr. Wil- liamson purchased, at the rate of one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre, a tract of land that is now worth more than two hundred dollars on acre. He continued to give his close attention to the reclamation and develop- ment of his farm until the outbreak of the Civil war brought to him the call of higher duty. In response to President Lincoln's first call, he enlisted, early in 1861, as a pri- vate in Company A, Seventy-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He proceeded with his command to the front, took part in the various engagements in which it was involved up to and including the battle of Missionary Ridge, in which engagement he was captured by the enemy. He was incarcerated as a prisoner of war in the famous Libby Prison of odious

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

memory, and there it was his to endure the horrors and privations that made the name of that Conferedate prison-pen infamous in the annals of history, besides which he made the supreme sacrifice in behalf of the cause for which he had enlisted, as he died while in Libby Prison, in November, 1863. His widow survived him by more than twenty years and was a resident of Carroll, Carroll county, Iowa, at the time of her death, on the 31st of January, 1887. They became the parents of six children, of whom four are living: George, a painter by trade and vocation, re- sides at Odell, Gage county, Nebraska ; Lydia is the widow of E. L. Burkett, and maintains her home at Beaver Crossing, Seward county, this state; Henry, of this review, was the next in order of birth; and Anna is the wife of C. C. Collins, who is engaged in the lumber busi- ness at Oak Park, Illinois. The honored father espoused the cause of the Republican party at the time of its organization and as a man and citizen he commanded the high re- gard of all who knew him. His father, George Williamson, likewise came from Ire- land and became an early settler and prosper- ous farmer of Illinois, where he passed the remainder of his life. Peter Uhl, maternal grandfather of the subject of this review, likewise became one of the pioneer farmers of Illinois, where he remained until the close of his life. Mrs. Margaret (Uhl) William- son bravely and unselfishly devoted herself to the care and rearing of her children after the untimely death of her husband, and she exemplified the truest and noblest traits of gracious womanhood, her religious faith hav- ing been that of the Methodist Episcopal church.

Henry Williamson was a lad of about eight years at the time of his father's death and soon afterward he became a member of the family circle of his uncle, Henry Uhl, a far- mer near Dixon, Illinois. He remained with his uncle until he had attained to his legal majority and in the meanwhile profited by the advantages afforded in the schools of the locality. Soon after attaining to his legal ma- jority Mr. Williamson went to the city of

Keokuk, Iowa, where he completed a course in the Baylies Business College. For two years thereafter he was engaged in the grain and coal business at Carroll, Iowa, and in the spring of 1880, shortly before his marriage, he came to Gage county, Nebraska. He had first come to this county in 1872 and had pur- chased a tract of land in the southern part of the county - at the rate of three dollars an acre. At that time the railroad came only to Beatrice and from this point he had to go twenty-five miles on horseback to look over the land which he purchased.

On this embryonic farm of one hundred and sixty acres, in Section 30, Glenwood town- ship, Mr. Williamson instituted improvements and he had provided a comfortable house be- fore bringing his bride to the new home. Mr. Williamson developed his original farm into one of the valuable properties of the county and became specially successful in his well ordered activities as an agriculturist and stock-grower. While on the farm he was prominent in community affairs, served as justice of the peace and also as school direc- tor, and he continued his active association with farm industry until 1910, when he re- moved to the city of Beatrice. Here he lived retired for one year and he then engaged in the coal business, with which he has since continued his active and successful associa- tion. He handles also wood, tankage, and oil meal, and his business is of substantial order in all departments. Mr. Williamson is still the owner of a well improved landed estate in Gage county, his farm being in Midland town- ship, near Beatrice, and comprising eighty acres. He is the owner also of a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in southeastern Kan- sas, and of another tract, of four hundred and eighty acres, in Washington county, that state. He has been in the most significant sense the founder and builder of his prosperity, as he had neither financial reinforcement or influen- tial friends to aid him when he set forth as a youth to gain for himself independence and advancement. As a representative of live- stock industry in this section of Nebraska Mr. Williamson did much to improve the type of

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cattle raised, and he exhibited on more than one occasion fine cattle at the international stock shows in the city of Chicago. In this connection it should be noted that the hand- some silver cups which he was awarded on his exhibits of fine cattle are the only trophies of the sort held by a citizen of Nebraska. He specialized in the breeding and growing of fine Hereford cattle and of this stock he shipped a load to Chicago in December, 1907, where his exhibit gained not only a large sil- ver cup but also a prize of three hundred dol- lars in cash. Later he received a silver cup on the exhibit which he made in the city of Denver, where further recognition was given in his being awarded a cash prize of seven hundred dollars. On his farms Mr. William- son is now giving special attention to the raising of Hampshire swine, and he has more than four hundred head of these hogs yearly on his Gage county farm. Mr. Williamson is found staunchly aligned as a supporter of the cause of the Republican party, he is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, and both he and his wife are active members of the Christian church in their home city.

On the 1st of April, 1880, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Williamson to Miss Nellie A. Faxon, who was born in Whiteside county, Illinois, on the 21st of February, 1859, a daughter of John W. and Asenath (Olds) Faxon, who established their home in Gage county in 1880, and who here passed the residue of their lives, the father having become one of the substantial farmers of the county. Mr. and Mrs. Williamson have four children : George F. is now employed by a concern engaged in the handling of school supplies in the city of Lincoln, he having been graduated not only in the University of Nebraska, but also in historic old Columbia University, in New York city; John H. has the active management of his father's fine farm near Beatrice; Rhetta is the wife of R. O. Parks, of Beatrice ; and Nellie remains at the parental home.

THOMAS E. HIBBERT. - As a sterling pioneer citizen, a veteran of the Civil war, and as a member of the Nebraska legislature, the late Hon. Thomas E. Hibbert left a deep and benignant impress upon the history of the state in which he established his residence prior to its admission as one of the sovereign commonwealths of the Union, and this his- tory of Gage county exercises a consistent function when it accords a tribute to his memory.

Mr. Hibbert was born in the city of Phila- delphia, Pennsylvania, in the year 1846, and he was one of the honored pioneer citizens of Gage county, Nebraska, at the time of his death, which here occurred on the 3d of March, 1905. The paternal grandparents of Mr. Hibbert were born and reared in Eng- land and upon coming to America they settled in Wayne county, Pennsylvania, the father of the subject of this memoir having been a lad of nine years at the time.

Thomas E. Hibbert was reared and educated in the old Keystone state, and was but fifteen years of age at the outbreak of the Civil war. His youthful patriotism was roused to re- sponsive protest and action, for at the age noted he gallantly tendered his services in de- fense of the Union. He weighed at the time only one hundred and five pounds but his loyal enthusiasm was unbounded. He enlisted from Wayne county, at Salem, in Company A, One Hundred and Thirty-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, under Captain J. M. Buck- ingham and Colonel Bassert. His regiment was assigned to the Third Brigade of the Sec- ond Division of the Sixth Army Corps, Gen- eral Hancock having command of the brigade, in Franklin's corps of Smith's division. Mr. Hibbert took part in the battle of Poolsville, Maryland, September 10, 1862, and engage- ments in which he thereafter participated may be here noted: South Mountain, September 14, 1862; Antietam, September 17, 1862, his his regiment having buried almost two thous- and Confederate soldiers after the battle and on the field of Antietam. From his original brigade Mr. Hibbert was transferred to the

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

THOMAS E. HIBBERT

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Third Brigade (Paul's), First Division (Wadsworth's), First Army Corps (Rey- nolds'), and with this command he took part in the battles of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862, and Chancellorsville, April 28 to May 12, 1863, having incidentally participated in the historic "mud march" of General Burn- side's command. His term of enlistment had been for ninety days, and after the expiration of the same he was mustered out, on the 6th of June, 1863. He at once re-enlisted, and was assigned to Battery C. Second Pennsyl- vania Veteran Artillery. Thereafter he served with the Twenty-second Army Corps in the defences around Washington until May, 1864, when he again went to the front, in the Eigh- teenth Army Corps. He took part in the bat- tle of Cold Harbor, in June, 1864, and on the 12th of that month he embarked on a trans- port, at Whitehouse Landing and sailed down the York river to Chesapeake Bay, past old Fortress Monroe. He thence proceeded up the James river to City Point, Virginia, and on the 15th of June he was in the movement against Petersburg. His regiment made the first attack on that city and he took part in all of the engagements in which the Eighteenth Army Corps was thereafter involved, up to the time when the Twenty-fourth Army Corps was organized, when the Second Pennsylvania Veteran Artillery became a part thereof and was assigned to its Third Division. Under these conditions Mr. Hibbert continued in active service until the surrender of General Lee, after which he was engaged in provost guard duty until he was mustered out, on the 6th of February, 1866. Further details con- cerning the gallant military career of Mr. Hibbert have been given and the record is worthy of perpetuation in this connection, as follows : "Despite his youth, Mr. Hibbert car- ried the heavy musket of the Civil war days and performed in the camp and field the same service that was expected of his older com- rades. At the battle of Chapin's Farm he was reported killed, but he wrote to his father to announce the fact that he was alive and well, he having been reported among the dead by reason of the fact that a shell from a gunboat

had exploded so close to him that he was knocked senseless for a few moments. With- in the course of his service Mr. Hibbert was tendered a commission in a regiment of col- ored troops. He had been color guard in his command and upon the return of the regiment to Pennsylvania he carried back its state flag, which, on July 4, 1866, he in person handed to Governor A. G. Curtis, the famous war gov- ernor of the Keystone state. This stand of colors went out in 1861 and came back in 1866. Within this long interval Confederate hands never touched these colors. In general orders Mr. Hibbert was mentioned for making the three best shots at a target with a twenty-four- pound howitzer, while serving in the defences of Washington, he having been the gunner and having sighted the piece. When the Con- federates made an attack on Redoubt Carpen- ter, below Dutch Gap, January 25, 1865, his services were loaned to a battery of the Thir- teenth New York Artillery, and he was com- plimented for the assistance rendered by his howitzer in repulsing the enemy."

In 1866, after the close of his war service, Mr. Hibbert came to the Territory of Ne- braska and entered claim to a homestead in Gage county, this place being in Section 13, Hooker township, and having been by him reclaimed and improved into one of the valu- able farm properties of the county. On this homestead he passed the remainder of his long and useful life, and here his death occurred March 3, 1905, his widow still remaining on the old homestead, which is endeared to her by many hallowed memories and associations.

In politics Mr. Hibbert was a stalwart Re- publican and he gave yeoman service in the advancement of the party cause. He was in- fluential in public affairs in Gage county and represented the same several terms in the lower house of the Nebraska legislature. He retained vital interest in his old comrades and manifested the same through his active affilia- tion with the Grand Army of the Republic.

On the 19th of March, 1874, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hibbert to Miss Nannie E. Fuller, of Adams, this county, her father having been an honored pioneer of Gage

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county, where both he and his wife passed the closing period of their lives. Mr. Fuller was of English lineage and birth, and was a child when he accompanied his parents to the United States. The parents were residents of Wayne county, Pennsylvania, for many years and there their death occurred. In the concluding paragraph of this memoir is given brief record · concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Hib- bert :

Guy is now a resident of Spearville, Kan- sas ; Ila E. likewise lives at Spearville ; Roscoe C. continues his residence in Gage county and lives in the village of Adams; Thomas E. resides at Crab Orchard, Johnson county, and Benjamin H. at Alliance, Box Butte county ; Martha C. is the wife of Melvin Liggett, of Alliance, this state ; James G: is perpetuating the patriotic spirit of his honored father, as he has become a member of the great national army that is being prepared for participation in the European war, he being, in the spring of 1918, a member of Company A, Three Hundred and Fifty-fifth Regiment, stationed at Camp Funston, Kansas ; George D. remains with his widowed mother on the old home farm; Anna Josephine died April 6, 1877; Charles Edward passed away January 30. 1880; and Mary Pearl died February 17, 1880.

JACOB W. WIEBE. - This substantial farmer and honored citizen of Blakely town- ship is a representative of the fine element of German citizenship that has exercised such beneficent influence in connection with the civic and industrial development of Gage county, and he is the owner of a well im- proved farm of one hundred and sixty acres, in Section 15 of the township mentioned.

Mr. Wiebe was born in Prussia, Germany, on the 29th of August, 1864, and is a son of Jacob and Emeline (Penner) Wiebe, his father having been a farmer by vocation and having been a comparatively young man at the time of his death. The subject of this sketch attended school in his native land until he was fourteen years of age, when he came with his widowed mother, his elder brother and his only sister to the United States, the

family home being established in Gage county, where the two young sons found employment at farm work. The little family thus came to the county in 1878 and here the devoted mother remained until the summer of 1883, when she returned to her native land for a visit. Her health was impaired at the time and she did not live to rejoin her children, as her death occurred in 1884, while she was still in Prussia, she having been nearly fifty years of age at the time. Mrs. Wiebe was one of the pioneer representatives of the Mennonite faith in Gage county and was most earnest and zealous in church work.

After having been employed six years at farm work in this county Jacob W. Wiebe be- came associated with his brother, Henry J., of whom mention is made on other pages, in the renting of a farm, and his energy and ability brought to him success in these inde- pendent activities as an agriculturist and stock-grower. In 1896 he purchased his pres- ent homestead farm, upon which he has made excellent improvements of a permanent order and which he has brought up to a high state of productiveness. He remodeled the house and has also brought other buildings on the farm into good order, and he planted a goodly number of trees on the place, many of the same being now of large size and adding ma- terially to the attractions of the homestead. Mr. Wiebe has not neglected his civic respon- sibilities while furthering his individual pros- perity, but has given his influence in support of legitimate measures and enterprises tend- ing to advance the general welfare of the community. He is a stockholder in the grain elevator at Hoag and is a substantial citizen who commands unqualified popular esteem. He is an independent Republican in politics and he and his family are zealous adherents of the Mennonite church, in the affairs of which they are actively interested.

The marriage of Mr. Wiebe to Miss Agatha Penner was solemnized November 16, 1899. She was born in Prussia and is a daughter of Johannes and Magdalena (Penner) Penner, who established their home in Gage county in 1877. Mrs. Penner passed to the life eternal

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

in 1911, at the age of sixty-three years, and her venerable husband, who celebrated in 1917 his seventy-seventh birthday anniver- sary, now resides in the village of Hoag, this county. Of their five children who attained to maturity Mrs. Wiebe is the eldest. The pleasant home of Mr. and Mrs. Wiebe still claims as members of the family circle all of their children, namely: Harry, Edwin, John, Louis, and Richard, but one child, Anna, died when young.

JOHN RIECHERS. - Through enterprise and excellent management Mr. Riechers has gained distinctive success in connection with business affairs and is now established in the general merchandise business in the village of Clatonia, his ample and well appointed store receiving a representative supporting patron- age and the stock in each department, includ- ing that devoted to furniture, being kept up to the standard of the trade requirements. Mr. Riechers has been a resident of Nebraska since boyhood and prior to entering the mer- cantile business he had been actively identified with agricultural industry in Gage county.

Mr. Riechers was born in Lafayette county, Wisconsin, on the 30th of May, 1873. and is the only child of Herman and Margaret (Helms) Riechers, he having been an infant at the time of his mother's death.

Herman Riechers was born in the province of Hanover, Germany, September 29, 1844, and was one of the honored citizens of Gage county, Nebraska, for many years prior to his death, which here occurred in 1909. He was reared and educated in his native land and in 1865 he came to America in company with his brother Justus. Both established residence in Wisconsin, where their parents joined them two years later, to pass the re- mainder of their lives as sterling pioneer citi- zens of the Badger state. In Wisconsin Her- man Riechers continued his productive activi- ties as a farmer until 1883, when he came with his family to Nebraska and settled on a farm three miles west of Clatonia, Gage county. He purchased a half-section of land in Saline county and became one of the progressive and

successful agriculturists and stock-growers of the county, besides which he added to his landed estate by purchasing three hundred and twenty acres just across the line in Gage county, in 1892. He was a man of strong and upright character and at all times com- manded the high regard of his fellow men, his religious faith having been that of the Lutheran church. About the year 1875 Mr. Riechers contracted a second marriage, when Miss Sophia Hillman became his wife, she likewise being a native of Hanover, Germany, and having become a resident of Wisconsin about two years prior to her marriage. She now resides in the village of Clatonia, where she celebrated in 1917 the seventieth anniver- sary of her birth. Of this second marriage were born three sons and three daughters, all of whom survive the honored father: Died- rich owns and resides upon a part of his father's old homestead farm, three miles west of Clatonia; Herman is engaged in the hard- ware business at Clatonia ; Grover is conduct- ing a prosperous business as a dealer in agri- cultural implements, in the same village ; Mrs. Emma Hunecke likewise resides in Clatonia ; Mrs. Louisa Kock is a resident of Clay Cen- ter, Kansas; and Mrs. Nora Kracke and her husband maintain their home on an excellent farm five miles southwest of Clatonia.

John Riechers gained his rudimentary edu- cation in the district schools of his native county and was a lad of ten years at the time of the family removal to Nebraska. Here he found ample demands upon his youthful at- tention in connection with the work of the home farm, the while he made good use of the advantages of the public schools of the lo- cality. In 1896 he rented land from his father and began independent operations as an agri- culturist and stock-grower, but in 1899 he re- moved to Clatonia, where for the ensuing ten years he was engaged in the farm implement business. In 1909 he sold his well established business to his brother Grover, after which he here conducted a prosperous furniture business until 1914, when he amplified the scope of the enterprise by installing a stock of general merchandise, the efficient service

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given in his establishment combining with his personal popularity to make the business one of substantial and representative order. In politics he gives loyal support to the cause of the Democratic party and he served four or five terms as treasurer of Clatonia township. Both he and his wife are earnest communi- cants of the German Lutheran church in their home village.

December 26, 1895, recorded the marriage of Mr. Riechers to Miss Margaret Hereth, who was born in Bavaria, Germany, daughter of John and Anna Hereth, who established their home in Gage county in 1883, the father being now deceased and the widowed mother being a resident of the state of Washington. Mr. and Mrs. Riechers have four children - Rosa, Amelia, Herbert, and Anita.

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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 69

Author: Dobbs, Hugh Jackson, 1849- Publication date: 1918 Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western Publishing and Engraving Company Number of Pages: 1120

Author: Dobbs, Hugh Jackson, 1849-
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western Publishing and Engraving Company
Number of Pages: 1120