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 70

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 70

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WILLIAM A. MULLIGAN, B. D., the honored rector of Christ church, Protestant Episcopal, in the city of Beatrice, was born in Ontario, Canada, on the 10th of March, 1863, and is a son of William and Lucy (Montgomery) Mulligan, the former a native of the Province of Ontario, Canada, and the latter of Ireland. The parents of William Mulligan came to America from the north of Ireland and settled at Port Hope, Ontario, Canada the father becoming a prosperous far- iner of that province and he and his wife hav- ing there passed the residue of their lives. William Mulligan long held precedence as one of the substantial exponents of agricul- tural industry in Victoria county, Ontario, and was a citizen of no little prominence and influence in his community. Both he and his wife were devout communicants of the Church of England. Of the five children the subject of this review is the eldest: John H. is a re- tired farmer residing in Ontario, Canada; Thomas lives on his father's old homestead farm, in Victoria county, Ontario; Alexander, a resident of Superior, Wisconsin, is in the government service, having been for fifteen years an attache of the customs service ; Mary is the wife of William Carty, of Bobcaygeon, Canada.

Rev. William H. Mulligan acquired his

early education in the public schools of his native province and his higher academic train- ing through Trinity College, Toronto, and has a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Seabury Divinity School, of Minnesota. Father Mul- ligan was ordained to the priesthood at De- troit, Michigan, by Rt. Rev. Thos. F. Davies, D.D., bishop of the diocese of Michigan, and his first pastoral incumbency was that of as- sistant rector of St. James church at Sault de Ste. Marie, Michigan, where he remained six years. He then assumed the charge of Ascension church at Ontonagan, Michigan, and in the following year the entire town was virtually destroyed by fire, the Episcopal church edifice having been reduced to ashes in this conflagration. In the same year, 1896. Father Mulligan came to Beatrice, where he has since labored with all of consecrated zeal and devotion as rector of Christ church, the spiritual and temporal work of the parish hav- ing been vitalized and prospered under his earnest regime, and his status being that of one of the able and representative clergymen of the Protestant Episcopal church in the Ne- braska diocese.

Father Mulligan has the vigor and civic loyalty that make him a leader in community thought and action and he is one of the hon- ored and valued citizens of the Gage county metropolis. The church of which he is rector has a membership of two hundred and fifty and all departments of parish work are in ex- cellent order. In connection with the affairs of the parish Father Mulligan issued a month- ly church paper, the Message. He is a Repub- lican in his political allegiance and is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity.

In 1889 was solemnized the marriage of Father Mulligan to Miss Mary Williams, who likewise was born and reared in the Province of Ontario, Canada, and whose father, Thomas Williams, was a prosperous farmer in the state of Michigan at the time of his death. In conclusion is given brief record concerning the children of Father and Mrs. Mulligan : Harold R. is an efficient and popu- lar teacher in the high school in the city of Omaha, besides being athletic director of the

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school, and incidentally he is pursuing a course of study in the medical department of the Uni- versity of Nebraska; Stella is a teacher in the public schools of Beatrice; Allan W. is a mem- ber of the class of 1920 in the medical depart- ment of the University of Nebraska; Edna K. is attending the school for trained nurses that is connected with the Clarkson hospital in the city of Omaha ; Frederick A. is a mem- ber of the class of 1918 in the Beatrice high school; and Ernest A. and Arthur M. are likewise students in the high school.

FREDERICK O. McGIRR is one of the youngest men that has thus far been called upon to serve as a commissioner of the su- preme court of Nebraska, and his appoint- ment to this high office not only gave signifi- cant recognition of his fine professional at- tainments but also reflected distinction upon Gage county, where he was reared to manhood and where he had gained secure vantage- ground as a representative member of the bar of this part of the state. Prior to his eleva- tion to his present office, involving his re- moval to Lincoln, the capital city of Nebraska, he had been for more than twenty years en- gaged in the successful practice of his profes- sion in the city of Beatrice, and on this score alone he is entitled to special recognition in this history, as is he likewise by reason of his being a scion of one of the sterling pioneer families of Gage county. Of the McGirr fam- ily a further record is given on other pages of this work, in the sketch dedicated to Dr. John I. McGirr, brother of him whose name initiates this paragraph.

Judge Frederick O. McGirr was born in Kankakee county, Illinois, on the 11th of De- cember, 1870, and there received his earlier educational discipline in the public schools and was fifteen years of age at the time of the family removal to Nebraska. Here he con- tinued to attend the public schools until he had completed the curriculum of the high school, and in preparation for the work of his chosen profession he began reading law under the able preceptorship of Robert W. Sabin, a leading member of the bar of Gage county

and its capital city. Through close applica- tion he made rapid progress in the absorption and assimilation of the science of jurispru- dence, and he was admitted to the bar on the 20th of June, 1893. He served his profession- al novitiate in Beatrice and his character and ability soon enabled him to build up a sub- stantial practice. In 1907 he formed a pro- fessional partnership with Menzo W. Terry, under the firm name of McGirr & Terry, and this alliance continued until December, 1912. In 1908 Judge McGirr was elected prosecut- ing attorney of Gage county, and of this office he continued the incumbent four years, retir- ing therefrom in January, 1913, after a force- ful and able administration that inured great- ly to the advancing of his professional pres- tige. He then resumed the practice of his profession, with a substantial and representa- tive clientage, and continued as one of the leading members of the Gage county bar until June, 1915, when he was appointed a member of the supreme court commission of the state, for a term of two years. He assumed the duties of this office September 20, 1915, and at the expiration of his first term he was re- appointed, for another term of two years, on the 20th of September, 1917. It is needless to say more than that on the bench he has fully justified the wisdom of his appointment and that he has shown the true judicial tem- perament, as well as a broad and accurate knowledge of law and precedent.

Judge McGirr is one of the honored mem- bers of the Nebraska State Bar Association, is a vigorous and effective advocate of the principles and policies of the Democratic party, for which he has done yeoman service in various campaigns, and he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks, in each of which he has held various official chairs.

On the 20th of December, 1899, Judge Mc- Girr wedded Miss Mary Moody, daughter of Samuel S. Moody, a pioneer merchant of Beatrice, where he was successfully estab- lished in business for many years. He had also conducted a mercantile business at Peru,

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Nemaha county, and it was while the family home was there maintained that Mrs. McGirr was born, she being one of the gracious and popular native daughters of Nebraska. Judge and Mrs. McGirr have no children.

HOMER B. AUSTIN, who died at his home, in the city of Beatrice, on the 12th of April, 1906, was an honored pioneer of the Territory of Nebraska and of Gage county, his character and his work having been such that a tribute to his memory properly finds place in this publication. In offering such a memoir it is but fitting that liberal and slightly modified quotation be taken from an appre- ciative estimate that appeared in a Beatrice newspaper at the time of his demise.

Mr. Austin was born at Austinburg, Ash- tabula county, Ohio, in 1830, and there he was reared to manhood on his father's farm, in the meanwhile attending the common schools when opportunity afforded. In 1853 he wedded Miss Mary A. Dunbar, of Camden, Oneida county, New York, and in 1857 he joined the initial tide of immigration moving toward Nebraska Territory, his wife and in- fant son joining him in the following year. From the article that appeared in a local paper at the time of his death are made the following extracts : "He chose Gage county as his place of residence and selected a claim on Town creek, east of the present village of Pickrell and in the neighborhood of the Pe- thouds, the Joneses, the Wilsons, Judge Hiram W. Parker and other old friends from Ohio who were pioneers in the new territory. His claim joined the one occupied by Judge Par- ker, and a warm intimacy, cemented by trials, privations and dangers of pioneer life and destined to be broken only by death, sprang up between the two families. After spending a few years on his claim Mr. Austin returned with his family to Ohio, but in 1884 he re- turned to the west and established his resi- dence in Washington county, Kansas, where he remained until 1895, when he returned to Gage county and established his home in Be- atrice, where he passed the remainder of his life, the death of his devoted wife having

here occurred in 1897, and the remains of both rest in the beautiful cemetery at Beatrice. He was survived by one son, Charles N., of whom mention is made on other pages, and by a cousin, L. E. Austin, who was a resident of Beatrice at the time of his death, in 1909, and who is survived by two sons - Lewis Benja- min, a resident of Kansas City, Missouri, and Edward, who is in the aviation service of the United States. Edward S. Austin, another cousin of Homer B., likewise became one of the very early settlers of Gage county, and he erected one of the first grist mills in the county. At a point eight miles north of Be- atrice he laid out a little village, to which was given the name of Austin, and here he had charge of the pioneer postoffice which de- pended for mail service on the facilities af- forded by the overland pony express. Edward S. Austin passed the remainder of his life in Gage county and here developed a .valuable farm estate. The subject of this memoir assisted in the erection of the first saw mill in the little village of Beatrice.

"Though never taking an active part in public affairs Homer B. Austin was a public- spirited citizen, and up to the hour of his death was a useful and exemplary member of society. He was sober and industrious and in all of the relations of life was scrupulously honest. He was a man of strong feeling and deep emotion and although a good friend, when once his anger or resentment was aroused he was apt to be as implacable in his hatred as he was true and loyal in his friend- ships. By nature he was deeply religious. He believed, with a constancy and devotion that nothing could disturb, in the existence of a spiritual world, and that this is a higher and holier world than that which our poor senses apprehend. For many years this good man has been a familiar figure upon the streets of Beatrice, and it is no exaggeration to say that many in this community will learn of his de- mise with genuine sorrow."

It may well be said that in all of the rela- tions of life Mr. Austin exemplified the faith that makes faithful, and as he was true to himself, so was he true to those who came

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within the circle of his kindly and generous influence.

WILLIAM F. ALBERT. - He whose name initiates this paragraph merits recogni- tion as one of the representative agriculturists and stock-growers of his native county and also as a scion of one of the honored pioneer families of this favored section of the state. His well improved farm of one hundred and fifty-six acres, in Section 22 Clatonia town- ship, is that on which he was born and reared, and his progressiveness and enterprise are further signalized in his ownership of three hundred and twenty acres of valuable land in South Dakota. A tribute to his honored father, Henry Albert, appears on other pages of this work, so that further review of the family history is not demanded in the present connection.

On the fine homestead farm which he now occupies William Frank Albert was born January 25, 1874, and in addition to receiving in his youth the advantages of the public schools of Clatonia township he also completed an effective course in a business college in the city of Lincoln. He has never wavered in his allegiance to the great fundamental industries of agriculture and stock-raising and he pur- chased his father's old homestead farm in 1906. He has here made excellent improve- ments of a permanent order, including the erection of his present modern and attractive residence. Prior to buying the old home farm he had successfully conducted a horse ranch for a period of about five years, and at the present time he amplifies his farm enterprise by doing a prosperous business as a buyer and shipper of live stock. He stands ex- ponent of loyal and liberal citizenship and though he has had no ambition for political preferment of any kind he accords staunch allegiance to the Republican party.

On the 26th of February, 1902, Mr. Albert wedded Anna Carstens, who likewise was born and reared in this county, where her parents established their home more than forty years ago. Mrs. Albert is a daughter of Tebbe G. and Scente (Gerdes) Carstens, whose mar-

riage was solemnized at Rushville, Illinois, March 2, 1870, and who became residents of Gage county in 1876. Mr. Carstens was born in Hanover, Germany, March 4, 1846, a son of John and Gesche (Aschen) Carstens, the latter of whom died in Germany and the for- mer of whom passed the closing years of his life in Gage county, where two of his sons established homes in the pioneer days. · Upon immigrating from his native land to America. in 1867, Tebbe G. Carstens settled in Illinois, and there he continued his active association with agricultural pursuits until 1876, when he came with his family to Gage county. Here he farmed on rented land for the first four years, and he then purchased eighty acres in Section 10, Clatonia township. Later he added eighty acres to his landed estate and he continued as one of the energetic and success- ful farmers of Clatonia township until 1904, when he and his wife established their resi- dence in the village of Clatonia, where he has since lived virtually retired. Mrs. Carstens was born at Scheindorff, Germany, April 24, 1847, a daughter of Joachim A. and Steinten W. (Rademacher) Gerdes, who passed their entire lives in Germany. Mrs. Carstens came to America in 1869 and her marriage occurred the following year, as previously noted in this sketch. Mr. and Mrs. Carstens became the parents of five children, concerning whom the following brief data are available: Gesiene, who became the wife of Edward Krauter, is deceased ; Joachim and John M. are residents of Fairbury, Jefferson county, Nebraska ; Mrs. Anna Albert was the next in order of birth ; and William G. has the active manage- ment of his father's old homestead farm. Mr. and Mrs. Albert have three children - Mel- vin, Verneita, and Kermit.

DANIEL E. TRACEY. - For nearly six- teen years Daniel E. Tracey has been success- fully engaged in agricultural pursuits in Adams township. One of the prime elements of success in any position, calling or profes- sion in life is adaptability, and strength in this essential has been the secret of the success achieved by Daniel E. Tracey and his wife,

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who has been his earnest helpmeet and co- adjutor. In their definite adaptability they have proved able to cope with the problems of life as they presented themselves. Mr. Tracey is a man among men - one to whom his fel- low citizens look with confidence - and he takes his place among the many who are earnest in service that makes for the advance- ment of the community along civic, educa- tional, and spiritual lines.

Mr. and Mrs. Tracey are zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal church, he is af- filiated with the Masonic fraternity in an active way, is a newly elected member of the school board of Adams, and for a number of years he was president of the Farmers' Ele- vator Company at Adams, Nebraska. Both Mr. and Mrs. Tracey take an active part in church life and in the affairs of the Order of the Eastern Star, Mrs. Tracey being in 1917- 1918, the worthy matron of Adams Chapter, No. 163.

Daniel E. Tracey was born at Bloomington, Illinois, on the 20th of October, 1869, and is a son of John and Margaret (O'Brien) Tracey, both natives of Ireland. John Tracey became a successful contractor at Blooming- ton, Illinois, where he continued his residence until 1883. In that year he came with his family to Nebraska and established the home in the city of Lincoln, where he continued his activities as a contractor until the time of his death, in 1890. He left to mourn his loss his wife and their six children - Daniel Edward, Mary Alice, Winifred, John and Margaret (twins), and Harry James.

He whose name initiates this review was fourteen years of age at the time of the fam- ily removal to Nebraska, and he was an ear- nest and ambitious youth of twenty years at the time of his father's death. Always ready to hear and respond to the cry of the widow and orphan, he assumed large measure of re- sponsibility in connection with home affairs after the death of his father, and proved him- self a boy of whom any mother might well be proud, the while the responsibilities which thus devolved upon him tended to mature and solidify his character.

Mr. Tracey received his youthful education in the public schools of Bloomington, Illinois, and Lincoln, Nebraska. In the latter city he was for several years in the employ of the Standard Oil Company, and in 1894 he be- came a member of the Lincoln fire department, in which he rendered valuable and efficient service for a period of eight years. He be- came lieutenant at Engine House No. 1 and was about to be advanced to the position of captain when he resigned to take up his resi- dence on the farm on which he now lives. This is a valuable tract of one hundred and twenty acres, in Section 23, Adams township, and one mile northeast of the village of Adams. This property came to him and his wife as a part of the parental inheritance of Mrs. Tracey. On this fine rural estate Mr. and Mrs. Tracey have worked together ear- nestly and effectively and on the same they have erected a residence which is as comfort- able and commodious as any other of the farm homes in Adams township and which is a favored resort for the host of friends whom they have gathered about them.

On the 9th of August, 1899, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Tracey to Miss Mary A. Zuver, who was born January 24, 1877, a daughter of Byron P. and Nancy (Adams) Zuver, concerning whom definite record is made on other pages of this volume. Mrs. Tracey is a granddaughter of John O. Adams, the first settler of Gage county, and she can recount many interesting incidents of pioneer life, as told to her by her mother. The Adams family located at Adams in the spring of 1857, a full decade before Nebraska Territory be- came a state, and at that time the site of Adams, named in honor of this sterling pio- neer family, was nothing more than a barren prairie. Mrs. Tracey was born in a log cabin in Hooker township, this county, and most of her life thus far has been passed in her native county. Mr. and Mrs. Tracey became the par- ents of three children: Harold Edward and Winifred Lillian remain at the parental home, and Marjory Josephine died in infancy. Mrs. Tracey was graduated in the high school at Adams and later attended a leading conserva-

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tory of music in the city of Lincoln. Both Mr. and Mrs. Tracey are active in Red Cross work since the nation has become involved in the great world war and are also prominent in community affairs in general.

FULTON JACK. - Associated with Judge Alfred Hazlett in the control of a large and important law business in the city of Beatrice, Mr. Jack is junior member of the firm of Hazlett & Jack and, like his honored profes- sional coadjutor, of whom specific mention is made on other pages of this publication, he claims the historic old Keystone state as the place of his nativity, his paternal great-great- grandfather having been a native of Ireland and having settled in Pennsylvania in the early colonial history of that commonwealth. Patrick Jack, great-grandfather of the subject of this review, was a captain in the war of the Revolution, in which he was a representative of Pennsylvania.

Fulton Jack was born in Indiana county, Pennsylvania, on the 17th of June, 1869, and is a son of James M. and Elizabeth (Fulton) Jack, both of whom were likewise born and reared in Pennsylvania and both of whom were residents of Indiana county, that state. at the time of their death, their religious faith having been that of the Presbyterian church and the father having given the major part of his active career to the basic industry of agri- culture. After having duly profited by the advantages of the public schools of his native state Fulton Jack there entered historic old Washington & Jefferson College at Washing. ton, Pennsylvania, this having been the first collegiate institution founded to the west of the Alleghany mountains. He was graduated in this college in 1892. Mr. Jack began the reading of law when he was about twenty- three years of age, his studies having been pursued in the Northern Indiana Law School, and under the preceptorship of Alfred Hazlett, and with utmost diligence and receptiveness he applied himself to the mastering of the in- volved science of jurisprudence. He has been a resident of Beatrice, Nebraska, since 1894, and was admitted to the bar in that year. In

the following year he became associated with Judge Hazlett in practice, this effective profes- sional alliance having since continued without interruption. Mr. Jack is recognized as an able trial lawyer and well fortified counselor, and he has appeared in connection with much important litigation in the courts of this and other states.

In politics Mr. Jack is arrayed as a staunch supporter of the cause of the Republican party, and while he has shown a lively interest in the furtherance of the success of his party and been an active worker in its local ranks he has not been imbued with any ambition for public office, as he considers his profession worthy of his undivided time and attention. He is affiliated with the time-honored Ma- sonic fraternity. He and his wife are active members of the Presbyterian church.

August 20, 1896, recorded the marriage of Mr. Jack to Miss Angie Pollock, who was born and reared in Nebraska, where her par- ents, Robert H. and Maria (Parks) Pollock, established their home in the pioneer days, Mr. Pollock having been one of the early set - tlers of Pawnee county. Mr. and Mrs. Jack have three children. Fulton, Jr., with youth- ful loyalty and patriotism that mark him as a worthy scion of Revolutionary stock, enlisted in Co. C, Fifth Nebraska National Guard, at the outbreak of the trouble with Mexico in 1916, and as a member of that company he entered the service of his country in the great European war. At the time of this writing, February, 1918, he is at Camp Stanley, Texas, an officers' training camp, to which he was recently appointed. The two daughters, Elizabeth and Mary Josephine, are students in the Beatrice high school. The family is one of prominence in the representative social life of the community.

A. L. BOYER, who has been for thirty years actively engaged in the work of his trade in the village of Virginia, is known as a skilled blacksmith and has developed a sub- stantial and prosperous business in the opera- tion of his well equipped shop, which was the first to be opened in the village and which has

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continued to be the only establishment of the kind at Virginia during the long period of years that have here marked his close applica- tion to his sturdy trade. Mr. Boyer was a boy at the time when the family home was estab- lished in the new state of Nebraska, and he gained a plethora of experience in connection with the conditions and influences of the pio- neer era in the history of Gage county.

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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 70

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