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 71
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Mr. Boyer was born in Jefferson county, Pennsylvania, on the 8th of October, 1855, and is a son of John and Elizabeth (Shunk) Boyer, both of whom likewise were born in the old Keystone state, where the mother passed her entire life. John and Elizabeth (Shunk) Boyer became the parents of six sons and four daughters, and three of the number became residents of Nebraska. Of the children the subject of this review is now the only survivor. For his second wife John Boyer wedded Mrs. Mary Yohe, widow of Henry Yohe, and in 1865 they came to the west and settled in Iowa county, Iowa, John Boyer having there followed his trade, that of harness-maker. In May, 1868, Mr. Boyer came with his family to Gage county, Ne- braska, and took up a homestead claim in Nemaha township. He there developed a pro- ductive farm and on the same both he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives, no children having been born of the second mar- riage.
A. L. Boyer gained his early education in the schools of Pennsylvania, Iowa, and Ne- braska, and was a lad of thirteen years at the time when the family home was established in Gage county. Here he was reared to adult age and in the meanwhile he assisted in the development and other work of the home farm. When he was sixteen years of age he had a somewhat thrilling experience in the saving of the family house and other property from destruction by a prairie fire. This ex- perience occurred on Sunday. He had started to accompany his parents to church at Adams, but a seeming premonition urged him to re- turn home, and it was most fortunate that he heeded the impulse. He had on his best suit of clothes, and he sacrificed the coat in his
strenuous efforts to check the fire. With buckets of water and his coat he saved the house from destruction, as well as a pile of grain in a log enclosure and three of the five stacks of hay. He was overcome finally by the smoke and heat and was found lying on the ground when his parents returned. At the age of seventeen years he hauled grade stakes for John Lyons, who was then laying out the township of Adams. Among his other early experiences was that incidental to three years of application in breaking wild prairie land.
At the age of twenty years Mr. Boyer went to Hamburg, Iowa, where he served a thorough apprenticeship to the blacksmith trade. In October, 1888, he opened the first blacksmith shop at Virginia, and, as before intimated, he has had no competitor in this line during the long intervening years. He is widely known as an expert artisan and turns out in his shop the best grade of work, with facilities including modern machinery and ac- cessories for the handling of all kinds of blacksmith work, as well as wood work for wagons, plows, etc.
At Tecumseh, this state, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Boyer to Miss Mary Jane Applebee, a sister of John Applebee, in whose sketch, on other pages of this work, is given due record concerning the Applebee family. The eldest of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Boyer is Arthur, who resides in the village of Virginia, the maiden name of his wife having been Catherine McGaffey; James Mel- vin married Miss McGaffey and he is an evangelist of the Christian church, his field of work being in Nebraska ; James Milo married Miss Lantz and they reside at Newcastle, Wy- oming ; Gertrude is the wife of Clarence Haus, of Sherman township, Gage county ; Iva is the wife of David Hoover, of Lewiston, Pawnee county ; and Maggie, Ellen, and Lewis remain at the parental home.
Mr. Boyer is a Republican in his political adherency, and he and his wife are active members of the Christian church.
The village of Virginia was but one year old when Mr. Boyer here established his home,
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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA
and he has since continued as one of its rep- resentative business men and valued citizens. The first children born in the village were his twin daughters, Gertrude and Myrtle, the lat- ter of whom is deceased.
J. HENRY STEINMEYER. - He whose name initiates this paragraph is a representa- tive of one of the most honored and influen- tial pioneer families of Gage county and in addition to having shared in the generous re- wards that eventually crowned the productive industrial activities of his pioneer father he has marked his individual course with large and worthy achievement, with the result that he is now one of the substantial landholders of Gage county and an influential factor in banking enterprise and other lines of business. In his home county he is the owner of four hundred acres of well improved and valuable farm land, besides which he owns six hundred and forty acres of excellent agricultural land in Allen and Coffey counties, Kansas, so that the total area of his landed estate is over one thousand acres. His capitalistic interests in Gage county are varied and important and since 1910 he has maintained his residence in Beatrice, the attractive metropolis and judicial center of the county, his residence, at 821 North Eleventh street, being one of the fine and modern homes of the city and being a center of gracious hospitality.
J. Henry Steinmeyer was born in the prov- ince of Hanover, Germany, on the 17th of May, 1853, and is a son of Henry and Eliza- beth (Fredker) Steinmeyer, both of whom were likewise natives of that attractive section of the great German empire, the father hav- ing been born in July, 1814, and the mother in August, 1810. In the fatherland Henry Stein- meyer was reared to the discipline of the farm and there he continued his alliance with agri- cultural enterprise until 1856, when he immi- grated with his family to America and settled in Scioto county, Ohio. There he worked in the iron furnaces for the ensuing ten years, and in addition to providing well for his fam- ily he was able to accumulate a modest reserve fund of money. The voyage across the At-
lantic was made in a sailing vessel of the type common to that day, and seven weeks elapsed ere the family disembarked in the port of Bal- timore, Maryland, whence shortly afterward they proceeded to southern Ohio and located in Scioto county, as before noted.
Though he had prospered during his asso- ciation with the iron-furnace industry in the Buckeye state, Henry Steinmeyer had not abated his loyalty to and appreciation of the great fundamental industry of agriculture, and as soon as conditions made it expedient he re- sumed his alliance with the same. In 1866 he came with his family to the territory of Ne- braska, which was admitted to statehood the following year and to which his sons William and Fred had preceded him by about one year. With ox teams Mr. Steinmeyer brought his family overland from Nebraska City to Gage county, and here he entered claim to a home- stead of one hundred and sixty acres -the southwest quarter of Section 22, Clatonia township. The original family domicile was a rude dugout of the type common to the pio- neer era, and the stable which he provided for his oxen and horses was constructed princi- pally of straw. Grappling vigorously with the task that confronted him, Mr. Steinmeyer gradually broke his land and made it available for cultivation, besides which he improved the place by setting out trees and, eventually, by the erection of a good house and other farm buildings. After giving his personal at- tention to the homestead for ten years he gave the property to his son J. Henry, of this re- view, with whom he lived in retirement after the death of his devoted wife, their marriage having been solemnized in 1835. Mrs. Stein- meyer passed to the life eternal in 1874, and her husband long survived her, he having been somewhat more than eighty years of age at the time of his death, in 1895, and his name mer- iting a place of enduring honor on the roster of the honored pioneers of Gage county. Both he and his wife were earnest members of the German Methodist church and as a naturalized citizen ever loyal to the country of his adoption, he gave his political support to the cause of the Republican party. Of the
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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA
six children one died in infancy; Mary, who became the wife of William Marsh, died in the year 1868; William, who became one of the representative farmers and influential citi- zens of Clatonia township, continued his resi- dence in Gage county until his death, which occurred in 1911; Frederick, who is now liv- ing retired in the village of Clatonia, was a valiant soldier of the Union in the Civil war, in which he served three years, as a member of the Fifty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry ; J. Henry, of this sketch, was the next in order of birth and is the youngest of the children.
J. Henry Steinmeyer was about three years of age at the time of the family immigration to America and was a lad of thirteen years when removal was made to Nebraska Terri- tory. He acquired his early education in the schools of Scioto county, Ohio, and supple- mented this by attending at intervals the pio- neer district schools of Clatonia township, Gage county, Nebraska, where he was reared under the invigorating influences of the home farm, which was finally given to him by his honored father, as noted in a preceding para- graph. In 1885 he engaged in the general merchandise business at Dewitt, Saline county. where he continued operations along this line, in connection with the buying and shipping of grain, until 1894. When, in the year last men- tioned, the village of Clatonia was established on a portion of his father's old homestead farm, Mr. Steinmeyer manifested his loyalty to the old home county and the new town by becoming one of the first and most active busi- ness men of the ambitious village, where he established a well equipped grain elevator and developed a substantial and profitable business in the buying and shipping of grain and live stock. He was one of the first two stock- holders of the Farmers' Bank of Clatonia, in the organization of which he was associated with his brother William, and in 1905 he estab- lished the Holmesville Bank, in the village of Holmesville, of which institution he is now the sole stockholder. He was also one of the or- ganizers and is the chief stockholder of the company which installed and still operates the electric power and lighting plant at Holmes-
ville, of which company he is the president. In the domain of business and industrial en- terprise he has found ample demands upon his time and energy and thus he has not been imbued with any desire for special political activity or for public office, though he is found aligned as a loyal supporter of the principles for which the Republican party stands spon- sor. In 1901 Mr. Steinmeyer was elected to the Nebraska state legislature, serving one term. He is affiliated with the Modern Wood- men of America and both he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist church in their home city.
On the 18th of March, 1875, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Steinmeyer to Miss Ellen Unland, who was born in Cass county, Illi- nois, a daughter of Rev. F. and Nancy (Wagle) Unland, the former of whom was born in Germany and the latter in the state of Kentucky, where their marriage was sol- emnized. In 1873 Rev. F. Unland came with his family to Nebraska, as a pioneer clergyman of the German Methodist church, and he had in the early days pastoral charge of the church of his denomination at Kramer, Lancaster county, and that in Clatonia township, Gage county. He and his wife are both deceased. Of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Steinmeyer the eldest is Emma, who is the wife of Dr. B. M. Deardorff, who is successfully established in the practice of his profession at Clatonia and who is one of the representative physi- cians and surgeons of Gage county ; George W., now of Beatrice, was superintendent of the Holmesville Mill and Power Company, and is one of the young men who are repre- senting our nation as a soldier in the great European war, his training for service as an officer being received in the government can- tonment and training camp at Fort Snelling, Minnesota; Nettie E. is the wife of Charles S. Brown, of Aurora, Nebraska, who is cash- ier of the Fidelity National Bank; Myrtle B. is the wife of W. G. Chittenden, and they re- side on her paternal grandfather's old home- stead farm, in Clatonia township; Robert H. is cashier of his father's bank at Holmesville ; Gladys is the wife of H. W. Alquist, of Be-
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atrice, assistant cashier of the Nebraska State Bank; and William F. is assistant cashier of the Farmers' Bank of Clatonia.
EDWARD W. A. ULRICH. - In Section 5, Grant township, a well improved farm of one hundred and sixty acres is owned by Mr. Ulrich, and he is so ordering his productive activities as to have secure status as one of the representative agriculturists and stock- growers of the younger generation in this part of Gage county.
Mr. Ulrich was born in Marshall county, Illinois, on the 13th of April, 1880, and is the youngest of the six children of Charles G. and Johannah (Graff) Ulrich. Concerning the other children the following brief data are consistently given: Mena is the wife of F. Burger, a prosperous farmer near Wilber, Saline county ; Anna is the wife of George Burger, a farmer of Grant township; Mary is the wife of J. Menter, another of the sub- stantial farmers of Grant township, within whose borders Albert Ulrich, next in order of birth, likewise is a progressive exponent of farm industry; the fifth child, Charles, died when about twenty-one years of age.
Charles G. Ulrich was born in Germany, on the 28th of November, 1840, and there he con- tinued his residence until about 1865, when he came to America and settled in Illinois. He became one of the substantial farmers of Mar- shall county, that state, where he continued his residence until 1883, when he came to Ne- braska and purchased the farm now operated by his son Edward, of this review. He made good improvements on the place and devel- oped the same into one of the valuable farm properties of Grant township. Here he re- mained, an honored citizen and enterprizing farmer, until his death, which occurred in Oc- tober, 1913. After the death of his first wife he eventually married Miss Amelia Boise, who likewise was born in Germany, and who now resides in the village of Dewitt, Saline county. Of the second marriage there are two daugh- ters - Augusta, who is the wife of H. Feld- hus, of Dewitt, and Dora, who remains with her widowed mother.
Edward W. A. Ulrich was a child of three years at the time of the family removal to Gage county, where he was reared to manhood on his present farm and where he made good use of the advantages of the district school lo- cated on a part of the home farm, his father having aided in the organization of this school district (No. 149) and having served a num- ber of years as a director of the same. Upon the death of his father Mr. Ulrich inherited eighty acres of his present farm, and later he accumulated through purchase the remaining eighty acres. As a vigorous and successful farmer and liberal citizen he is well upholding the prestige of the family name, he is a Demo- crat in his political adherency and he and his wife hold membership in the German Luther- an church.
On the 24th of February, 1909, Mr. Ulrich wedded Miss Katherine Spilker. She was born and reared in Grant township, a daughter of William and Louisa (Pieper) Spilker, who still remain on their home farm in this town- ship and both of whom were born in Ger- many. Mr. and Mrs. Ulrich have six chil- dren - Edna, Emil, Helen, Arnold, Walter, and Norma.
EDGAR ROSSITER. - A native son of Gage county and a representative of an hon- ored pioneer family, Mr. Rossiter is now suc- cessfully established in the meat-market and ice business in the village of Dewitt, Saline county, where he has maintained his home for more than a quarter of a century and been a specially progressive and influential citizen.
Mr. Rossiter was born in Midland township. Gage county, October 11, 1862, about five years prior to the admission of Nebraska to the Union of states. He is a son of Richard and Mary (Green) Rossiter, and is the fifth of a family of seven children. A memoir of Rich- ard Rossiter will be found elsewhere in this publication.
Edward Rossiter was reared to the invigor- ating discipline of the pioneer farm on which he was born, received such educational ad- vantages as were afforded in the common schools of the locality and period, and con-
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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA
tinued to assist his father in practical farm operations until he attained to his legal ma- jority. He passed the ensuing three years in Colorado and upon his return to Nebraska settled in Dewitt, Saline county, where he en- gaged in business, with which he was success- fully identified for a term of years. Since 1904 he has conducted a well equipped meat- market in the village and also has a prosper- ous business in the handling of ice. He has here maintained his home for twenty-eight years and has been influential in civic affairs, having served fifteen years as a member of the village council, and on three occasions he was mayor, or president of the village board. Liberal and progressive, he has done much to further the social and material development and advancement of Dewitt and he commands the high esteem of all who know him. He is- a stalwart in the local camp of the Republican party, is actively affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and the Brother- hood of American Yeomen, and he and his wife are communicants of the Protestant Episcopal church. He is the owner of the un- divided interest of the old homestead in Grant and Blakely townships, the same being part of the estate accumulated by his father.
On January 28, 1882, Mr. Rossiter wedded Miss Pluma A. Thompson, who was born at Leavenworth, Kansas, and who is a daughter of Martin W. and Evelyn (Jones) Thomp- son, the former a native of Kentucy and the latter of Virginia. Mr. Thompson came with his family to Gage county, Nebraska, about the year 1864, and settled eight miles north of Beatrice, where he reclaimed and improved a good farm and where he continued to reside for many years. He was at Leadville, Colo- rado, at the time of his death, his wife having survived him only a short time, and the re- mains of both are interred in Dolan cemetery in Gage county. Mr. and Mrs. Rossiter have four children: Charles E. is a railroad em- ploye at Wymore, Gage county ; Burton W. is associated with his father in the meat- market business ; Edna A. is the wife of Ralph W. Venrick, of Norfolk, Madison county, Ne- braska; and Vera is the wife of Willis H. Leacock, of St. Joseph, Missouri.
ADAM CRIPE, who is now living virtually retired on his excellent farm of one hundred and sixty acres, in Section 23, Rockford town- ship, is one of the venerable and highly es- teemed pioneer citizens of Gage county, where he has maintained his home since 1877.
Mr. Cripe was born on a farm near the city of Goshen, Indiana, May 11, 1844, and is a scion of a sterling pioneer family of the Hoosier state, his parents, Henry and Magda- lena (Miller) Cripe, having been natives of Ohio, where the former was born in 1818 and the latter in 1817. Both families have been notable for longevity and Henry Cripe at- tained to the age of ninety years, his death having occurred in 1908, while his widow passed away in 1911, at the age of ninety-four years, their marriage having been solemnized in Indiana, where Mr. Cripe became a pioneer settler in Elkhart county. He obtained a tract of heavily timbered land, made a clearing and erected thereon a log house, with dirt floor, and this constituted the original home of the family. Of the twelve children the subject of this review was the fourth, and of the number six are now living. The parents continued their residence in Indiana until their death and prior to his demise the father had divided his land among his children: his father, Jacob Cripe, was a pioneer of Indiana and there died at the patriarchal age of one hundred and three years. The wife of Henry Cripe was a daughter of John Miller, who was a native of Pennsylvania and a pioneer settler in Ohio.
Adam Cripe was reared on the pioneer farm in Indiana and acquired his early education in the common schools. He received from his wife's parents eighty acres of land in Kos- ciusko county and there continued his activi- ties as a farmer until his removal to Mont- gomery county, Illinois, where he was engaged in farming ten years. He then, in 1877, came to Gage county, Nebraska, where for the en- suing three years he farmed on rented land. He then purchased the quarter-section which constitutes his present well improved home- stead, and his farm is now under the active management of one of his sons.
November 5, 1865, Mr. Cripe married Miss Susanna Jacobs, who likewise was born and
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reared in Indiana, and of the eight children of this union five are living : Harley is a far- mer near Mankato, Kansas; Eva Jenetta is the wife of Ray Lancaster, a farmer in Rock- ford township; William E. has charge of his father's farm; Jesse left the parental home fifteen years ago and his family have lost all trace of him; Mary is the wife of Frank Heiston, who is engaged in the automobile business at Lincoln, Nebraska.
Mr. Cripe is well fortified in his political views and gives his support to the cause of the Democratic party. Both he and his wife, who has been his companion and helpmeet for more than half a century, are earnest adher- ents of the Brethren church.
ROBERT PEASE. - In his specific field of business enterprise Mr. Pease is contrib- uting much to the facilitating of the basic in- dustries of Gage county and he holds secure vantage-ground as one of the alert and pro- gressive business men and representative citi- zens of Beatrice, where he is the owner of the large and prosperous business conducted under the title of the Pease Grain & Seed Company. He combines the energy and thrift of his New England forebears with the vital and progressive spirit of the west, and thus he is well equipped for playing a useful part in the communal and business life of his adopted city and county.
Mr. Pease was born in Somers, Connecti- cut, on the 19th of December, 1869, and in that state his parents, Robert and Eliza Bill- ings (Hall) Pease, passed their entire lives, his father having been a farmer by vocation. He whose name introduces this review is in- debted to the public schools of his native state for his early educational discipline and there also he gained his initial experience in con- nection with the practical affairs of a worka- day world. In 1892, at the age of twenty-two years, Mr. Pease came to Nebraska and estab- lished his residence in the city of Omaha, where he entered the employ of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, in a clerical ca- pacity. Later he was employed in the United States railway mail service for a period of
about seven years, and after his retirement from this position he passed three years in the state of Colorado, where he gave his attention principally to general mercantile business. Thereafter he was located at Salina, Kansas, until 1906, when he came to Beatrice, Ne- braska, and purchased a half interest in the grain and seed business then conducted under the title of Cummings & Laughlin. In 1910 he assumed sole control of this well estab- lished enterprise, which he has since conduct- ed under the title of the Pease Grain & Seed Company, his operative facilities being of the best and including a grain elevator with a capacity for the accommodation of sixty-five thousand bushels. Mr. Pease has one of the most thoroughly modern elevators in the west. It is equipped with machinery for the handling and cleaning of grain and with other facili- ties seldom found outside the principal termi- nal markets. The seed department of his business has been built up by himself and has become one of major importance. In this department are the best of provisions for the handling of both field and garden seeds of all kinds and a large and constantly expanding trade is controlled by this department, both wholesale and retail.
Known as a liberal and progressive business man and public-spirited citizen, Mr. Pease has had no desire to enter the arena of practical politics but is found aligned as a loyal sup- porter of the cause of the Republican party. Both he and his wife are members of the Congregational church.
In the year 1901 Mr. Pease wedded Miss Bertha E. Clark, who was born in the state of Michigan, and the three children of this union are Robert, Jr., Florence C., and Ger- aldine.
OLIVER TOWNSEND. - A publication of this nature exercises a most important function when it accords recognition, through fitting memorial tribute, to the life and labors of so influential and honored a pioneer as the late Hon. Oliver Townsend, whose record of service and achievement is a very part of the history of Gage county and especially its ju-
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