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 73
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129 | Part 130 | Part 131 | Part 132 | Part 133 | Part 134 | Part 135 | Part 136 | Part 137 | Part 138 | Part 139 | Part 140 | Part 141 | Part 142 | Part 143 | Part 144 | Part 145 | Part 146 | Part 147 | Part 148
At the outbreak of the Civil war Mr. Fuller
562
HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA
responded to President Lincoln's first call for volunteers, and he served in Company B Eleventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry, until his discharge.
On December 25, 1867, John N. Fuller married Elizabeth Van Arsdale, who was born April 14, 1848, at Fairview, Illinois, but who was reared in Henry, Illinois. She is the daughter of Peter Beekman Van Arsdale, and his wife, Christianna Van Der Veer, of Fair- view, Fulton county, Illinois, who came west in 1838, to make a home on the unbroken prairies of Illinois, -a two months' journey via flat boat down the Ohio river. They were of New Jersey Dutch ancestry that can be traced back to the very earliest settlers of New York and New Jersey. On account of poor health Mr. Fuller was compelled to give up his profession of teaching, and in 1870 he came to Nebraska and settled in the new town of Beatrice. He was the second superintend- ent of the Beatrice schools and during his brief administration made a distinct and lasting im- pression on those who came under his instruc- tion, or who were associated with him as teach- ers. A series of literary entertainments was inaugurated in which both schools and citizens took part and for which an admission fee of ten cents was charged. These entertainments formed a prominent part in the social life of the town, and the proceeds were sufficient for the purchase of a school bell, the first bell in Beatrice, and the first that many of the younger citizens had ever heard. For years it called the children, and children's children to school, - until it was cracked in celebrating some high-school victory.
The following year the family moved on a tract of land purchased, near the headwaters of Bear creek, thirteen miles from Beatrice, where they had their quota of pioneer expe- rience and hardships. Mrs. Fuller, a small, gentle, little woman, shared in the pioneer ex- periences in Gage county, and she has many interesting reminiscenses concerning the earlier period of the county's history.
Developing a new farm is never easy. The first year grasshoppers "came in a cloud that darkened the sun" and, descending, took every
growing thing, breaking down the corn stalks with their weight, and leaving only round holes in the ground where there had been onions. They had laid eggs in the plowed ground and these eventually hatched in time to take the young crop of the second season.
On June 26, 1875, the third year, a dis- astrous cyclone swept away all the buildings and left hardly one foundation stone upon another, the members of the family barely es- caping with their lives. Fleeing to the re- fuge of the cellar when the storm struck, Mrs. Fuller, with the youngest child in her arms, was instantly precipitated to the bottom of the cellar, clad only in night clothes, unprotected in a cold, pouring rain, and with home and possessions scattered like chaff by the winds. Mr. Fuller's older child fared not so well, be- ing caught up with the house and nearly killed amidst the falling timbers. Lilia, with one fair braid of hair torn out, bleeding from an ugly three-cornered gash in her leg and stun- ned by a blow on the temple, was dropped un- conscious on the brink of a deep-dug well from which the covering had been blown away. The father, bruised, skinned, with back injured and two ribs broken, managed to crawl through the storm and darkness a half mile to neighbors for assistance.
But from these same acres a fine farm was developed, and in time more acres were added to this farm property, which valuable estate is still in possession of the family. Mr. Fuller succeeded in having a "Star Route" postoffice established, and gave the name Hanover to the postoffice and township in honor of the many German neighbors who had left that part of Germany to become citizens of America. The postoffice was for some years at the Fuller residence. One of the first orchards in this section was planted at a time when many fami- lies believed "fruit would not grow in Ne- braska" and in due time abundant crops as high as fourteen hundred bushels, afforded convincing proof that fruit could be raised.
After the storm that had wrought havoc, as noted in a preceding paragraph, Mr. Fuller built another house on the same spot, mostly with his own hands, using many bits of broken
563
HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA
lumber from the demolished house and recon- structing the furniture from splintered frag- ments and native black walnut trees uprooted by the tornado. Naturally he and his wife were discouraged, and Mr. Fuller offered his two cows (all they had) to anyone who would bring a purchaser for his farm at the very mod- est price that he would be glad to get, but no purchaser could be found. On this home- stead he and his family resided until, in 1888, they moved to Beatrice to educate the children. At this time the present home on Lincoln street was built and here Mr. Fuller lived continuously, giving a general supervision to his farm property and business affairs, until his death, November 12, 1905, of valvular heart trouble. He was seventy-four years of age at the time of his death and is survived by his widow and two daughters, Julia and Mary. The oldest daughter, Lilia, having died at the age of ten years. The family are found active in promoting the intellectual, civic and religious interests of the community, have taken part in encouraging the Young Woman's Christian Association and welfare work and are identified with all patriotic and philan- thropic movements. Julia has been an officer in local and state woman's clubs and is chair- man of Woman's Council of Defense in Gage county under the war conditions existing in 1918. Mary has been deeply interested in wel- fare and reform work and has the distinction of introducing probation work and being the first probation officer sewing for the volun- teers. From 1915 to 1917 she served as chief probation officer of the county.
Of all that implies strong and noble man- hood Mr. Fuller stood exemplar, and he was well qualified for leadership in public sentiment and action. He bore his share of the tension incidental to pioneer life in Gage county, was vitally loyal to the best interests of the com- munity. He was an able advocate of the principles of the Republican party, was active in public affairs in Gage county, and he repre- sented, with characteristic ability, this county in the twentieth general assembly of the Ne- braska legislature, in 1887. His well worn volumes of classics and both modern and an-
cient Latin and Greek testify to his literary tastes, and he was keenly interested in the latest scientific and political news of the day, watching the trend of modern thought always, with keen eye to future developments. He was a man who thought and studied, who read widely and discriminatingly, and who fortified himself thoroughly in his convictions. He had deep reverence for the spiritual verities of the Christian religion, but was not formally iden- tified with any church organization. He was always keenly alive to all questions of civic interest, fearless in espousing what he believed right, and convincing in saying what he thought. Of him a fellow townsman wrote: "He was rugged in his honesty and as unbend- ing in his integrity as the rocks that guard the coast of his native state. He early learned those rules of honesty, thrift and frugality that led him to deal as squarely with others as he desired them to deal with him. He more nearly represented the gennine typical New Englander that laid the foundations of state and nation than any other man who ever lived in our midst."
CLARENCE S. WARREN. - A well known, influential, and popular citizen of Be- atrice, Mr. Warren has been a resident of Ne- braska since he was a lad of fourteen years and in his initiative energy and business activ- ities he has kept pace with the vital march of progress in this favored commonwealth, where his capitalistic and real-estate interests are now large and important. He gives the major part of his time and attention to the management of the large estate left by his honored father and to that which he has accumulated through his own effective operations. Mr. Warren be- came a prominent exponent of live-stock indus- try and did much to raise the grade of stock raised in this state, his attitude being essentially that of a broad-gauged, liberal and progressive citizen and in the management of his valuable real-estate holdings in Gage county he is contributing much to the civic and industrial prosperity of the county, his status as a citizen and man of affairs being such as to make specially consistent the recog .
564
HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA
nition accorded to him in this history of Gage county and the state of Nebraska.
Mr. Warren was born on his father's old homestead farm near Minonk, Woodford county, Illinois, and the date of his nativity was August 21, 1872. He is a son of John and Mary (Arrowsmith) Warren, both rep- resentatives of sterling pioneer families of Illinois, in which state their marriage was sol- emnized, both having been natives of England. John Warren was born at Barnstable, Eng- land, in 1840, and he bore the full patronymic of his father, John Warren, who came with his family from England and settled in Illi- nois prior to the Civil war, both he and his wife having passed the remainder of their lives in that state, where he gave his attention to farming until his death, as did also George Arrowsmith, who likewise came from Eng- land and became a farmer in Illinois a num- ber of years before the Civil war, the latter having been the maternal grandfather of the subject of this review and having reared a family of ten children; both he and his wife remained in Illinois until their death. Mrs. Mary (Arrowsmith) Warren was still com- paratively a young woman at the time of her death, which occurred in Woodford county. Illinois, on the 11th of November, 1879, her birth having occurred in Devonshire, England, in 1843. Of the three children of John and Mary (Arrowsmith) Warren one died in in- fancy and Florence A. died at the age of twenty-three years, in 1891, at Beatrice, Ne- braska, so that the only survivor is the sub- ject of this review. The father eventually contracted a second marriage, by his union with Miss Lena F. Huntling, who survives him and resides in Omaha, Nebraska, the two children of this marriage being Myrtle and Frank, both residents of the city of Omaha.
John Warren, father of him whose name initiates this sketch, was reared and educated in England and was about twenty years of age when he accompanied his father to America and became a resident of Illinois, in 1860. Through his active association with agricul- tural industry in that state he laid the founda- tion of his worthy success as a man of af-
fairs, and entirely through his own ability and efforts he accumulated a large and valuable estate. His self-reliance was on a parity with his ambition, and this was clearly demon- strated when he purchased an entire section of land in Woodford county, Illinois, at a time when his capitalistic resources were rep- sented almost entirely in determination, am- bition, and sturdy integrity of purpose. He borrowed the money with which to make pay- ment on the land and paid ten per cent. in- terest on the same. Such an indomitable per- sonality could not remain inert or obscure, and the genius of success was an intrinsic ele- ment of his makeup, as fully attested by the large and worthy achievement that was his during the years of a significantly active and productive career. Mr. Warren coupled his agricultural activities with the buying and shipping of grain and as early as 1878 he came to Nebraska and purchased a tract of land in Gage county. However, he thereafter con- tinued his residence in Woodford county, Illi- nois, until 1886, when he came with his family to Gage county and established a home in Beatrice, where he passed the residue of his life and where his death occurred on the 15th of February, 1908. Mr. Warren played a sturdy part in connection with the develop- ment and progress of this section of the state, along both civic and industrial lines, and at the time of his demise he was the owner of six sections of land - nearly all in Gage county. He was indefatigable in making improvements upon his various farm properties and in bring- ing them up to the best modern standard of productivity, the while he made his influence definitely helpful in the furtherance of mea- sures and enterprises advanced for the gen- eral good of the community, his political al- legiance having been given to the Democratic party, though he had no desire for public office, and his religious faith having been that of the Christian church: his first wife was an earnest member of the Baptist church. John Warren gave to the world assurance of strong and worthy manhood and showed his stewardship in fruitful achievement along the normal lines of enterprise in which he directed
565
HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA
his splendid energies. He commanded at all times the confidence and esteem of his fellow men and was one of the honored and influen- tial citizens of Gage county at the time of his demise.
Clarence S. Warren acquired his early edu- cation in the public schools of Illinois and continued his studies in the city schools of Beatrice, Nebraska, where the family home was established when he was about fourteen years of age. For a number of years there- after he assisted in the work of his father's farm properties, and in the meanwhile he de- veloped the admirable initiative and executive ability that has been exemplified so potently in the later stages of his career. As a youth Mr. Warren had a measure of experience as a bookkeeper and clerk at Beatrice, but in 1892 he went to southwestern Nebraska and started an extensive stock ranch. There he adopted the most progressive policies in the raising of thoroughbred cattle and Poland-China hogs, and he developed a prosperous enterprise in this important field. Incidental to his opera- tions he purchased an entire section of land, in Jefferson county, and of this property he is still the owner. From his well improved ranch he made regular shipments of live stock to Kansas City and St. Joseph, Missouri, and he continued his active regulation of the busi- ness for nine years. He then returned to Beatrice, to assist in the management of his father's business, and since the death of his father he has had virtually the sole manage- ment of the large family estate.
Though distinctively loyal and public-spirit- ed in his civic attitude and taking a lively in- terest in public affairs, Mr. Warren has had no desire to enter the arena of practical poli- tics and is not constrained by partisan lines, as he prefers to give his support to men and measures meeting the approval of his judg- ment, irrespective of political affiliations in- volved. In 1907 Mr. Warren erected his at- tractive residence, at 806 North Ninth street, and this is not only one of the finest homes in Beatrice but is also known as a center of gracious hospitality. Mr. Warren is affiliated with both York and Scottish Rite bodies of
the Masonic fraternity, in the former of which his maximum alliance is with Mount Herman Commandery of Knights Templars, and he is affiliated also with the adjunct Masonic or- ganization, the Mystic Shrine, as well as with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks. Both he and his wife are members of the Bap- tist church.
In the year 1895 was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Warren to Miss Gertrude C. Tipton, who was born at Glenwood, Iowa, and the three children of this union are John C., Maxwell S., and Clifford E., the two younger sons being students in the public schools of Beatrice at the time of this writing, in the spring of 1918, and the eldest son, John C., being numbered among the patriotic young men preparing for active service with the American forces in the great European war : at the time of the preparation of this article he is stationed at Deming, New Mexico, as a member of the medical corps of the One Hun- dred and Thirty-fourth United States In- fantry.
SAMUEL LEONARD PYLE is one of the honored pioneers and successful farmers of Paddock township. He is a native of New Jersey and was born January 9, 1839. His father, Samuel Leonard Pyle, likewise was born in New Jersey, and in 1845 he sought a home in what was then considered the far west. In Lee county, Illinois, he secured a homestead. He became one of the substantial farmers of that county and there he passed away at the age of eighty-two years. He mar- ried Emeline Moffit, a native of New Jersey, and she was seventy-six years of age at the time of her death, which occurred in Illinois.
Samuel Leonard Pyle, the subject of this record, was a lad of seven summers when the family home was established in Illinois, and he was there reared to the sturdy discipline of a pioneer farm, his time being divided be- tween study in the district school and the tasks on the farm.
In 1860, when twenty-one years of age, he drove a herd of cows across the plains in
566
HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA
MR. AND MRS. SAMUEL L. PYLE
567
HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA
company with some other young men, and finally went to Denver, Colorado. Young Pyle spent two years in the mountains and then returned to Illinois. In 1865 he went to Rock Island county, that state, and engaged in farming, remaining there until the fall of 1879, when he came to Nebraska and filed on eighty acres of land in Paddock township, Gage county. This land had only recently been opened for settlement, having previously been in possession of the Otoe Indians. In the spring of 1880 Mr. Pyle brought his wife to the new country. Their first home was an upright board shanty, fourteen by sixteen feet in dimensions, and in this they lived for sev- eral years. They were in very moderate financial circumstances. Their first cow, bought after they arrived in Gage county, was staked out with a lariat, before any fences had been built.
Mr. Pyle devoted his energies to improving and cultivating the land, and in due time was reaping golden harvests for the intelligent labor bestowed upon the fields. Later he was able to add to his possessions another eighty acres, and to-day the farm consists of one hundred and sixty acres, in Section I. The improvements on this farm are first-class, con- sisting of two residence and good outbuild- ings. Mr. Pyle has now laid aside the more active work, placing the mantle upon the shoulders of his son, who operates the place in his own interests.
On December 25, 1864, Mr. Pyle was united in marriage to Miss Cornelia William- son, who was born in the state of New York. her natal day having been January 10, 1846. Her parents, Jacob and Sophia (Ray) Wil- liamson, were likewise natives of the Empire state, and were among the early settlers in Lee county, Illinois, where they passed the remainder of their lives. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Pyle was blessed with three children : Franklin died at the age of four years; Cora is the wife of Charles Miller, a farmer in Sicily township; and Edwin, who married Cora Fye, operates the old home farm: he and his wife have a winsome little daughter, Mildred.
Mr. and Mrs. Pyle have seen this region transformed from wild, unbroken prairie into beautiful farms, dotted with innumerable homes, with here and there thriving villages. Wymore was not in existence when they came, and they saw that hustling town when the streets were in the cornfields. By careful management and unceasing energy in these thirty-eight years this worthy pioneer couple justly deserve the reward that permits them to spend their declining years in ease and com- fort. They have both passed the psalmist's allotted three score and ten years, and both are still hale and hearty, provided with all the necessities and many of the luxuries of life, and enjoying the just returns from intelli- gently directed effort in the years that have passed.
HARVEY W. GIDDINGS, whose death occurred at his attractive farm home in Mid- land township, was a pioneer citizen of Ne- braska and was a man whose fine qualities of mind and heart caused him to view with ex- ceptional equanimity financial reverses and other adverse conditions and to find in the same but a spur to renewed and more vigor- ous effort. He left a deep impress upon the history of farm enterprise in Gage county, here achieved large and worthy success and here held his direct and upright course in such a way as to merit and received the unqualified esteem of his fellow men.
The eldest in a family of eleven children, nine of whom attained to adult age, Harvey W. Giddings was born in Mckean township, Erie county, Pennsylvania, January 11, 1830, and was a son of John W. and Hannah (Staf- ford) Giddings, the former a native of Massa- chusetts and the latter of the state of New York. The lineage of the Giddings family traces back to the staunchest of Scottish origin and the founder of the American line was the great-grandfather of the subject of this memoir, he having come to America when a young man. The Stafford family is of Eng- lish origin. In 1840 John W. Giddings re- moved with his family to Illinois and became a pioneer settler in Warren county, where he
568
HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA
became a prosperous farmer, his death occur- ring in 1881, when he was seventy-seven years of age, and his widow having passed away in 1885, at the age of seventy-six years. Harvey W. Giddings, with an exceptionally receptive mind, made the best possible use of the ad- vantages of the common schools of Illinois, and it is a matter of record that he was but four years old when he began to attend schoo! in Pennsylvania, he having been about ten years of age at the time of the family removal to Illinois. He remained at the parental home and assisted in the work of the farm until he had attained to the age of twenty-five years. He then returned to Pennsylvania and wedded Miss Rebecca E. McClure, who had been one of his childhood schoolmates. She was born in Pennsylvania, October 16, 1836, a daugh- ter of George W. and Elizabeth (Shirer) Mc- Clue, the former a native of Ireland and the latter of Holland, the closing years of their lives having been passed in Illinois, where they established their home in 1865. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Giddings estab- lished themselves in the pleasant home which he had provided for their use, and with the passing years he accumulated in Illinois a valuable landed estate of nine thousand acres. His faith in others led to his assuming for them heavy financial responsibility, and on ac- count of being compelled to pay these large obligations for others he became virtually bankrupt. Under these depressing conditions Mr. Giddings girded himself anew and with characteristic courage prepared to retrieve his fortunes. In the spring of 1874 he came with his family to Nebraska and rented land in Buffalo county. His first crop was destroyed by grasshoppers and the outlook would have brought utmost discouragement to the average man. This sturdy pioneer, however, was not to be baffled, and finally, in 1876, he came to Gage county, where he operated for a time on leased land. He then established himself on a ranch of twelve hundred acres owned by the Kansas & Missouri Stage Company, and here he broke and placed under cultivation more than four hundred acres, all of which he fenced with wire. Unequivocal prosperity
attended his energetic activities and he re . mained on this ranch six years. In the mean- while, in 1879, he purchased two hundred and forty acres, in Midland township, and to the same he removed with his family in 1882. He developed this into one of the model farms of the county, and extended his operations by the leasing of additional land. He thus uti- lized six hundred acres, and his activities were carried on with discrimination and good judg- ment, he having been a large grower of the various cereals, as well as flax, having con- ducted a substantial dairying business and having raised cattle on a large scale. He was a leader in the promotion of effective farm en- terprise in this section of the state, and was the staunch and loyal supporter of education, of churches and of all other things making for civic wellbeing, his political allegiance having been given to the Republican party and his wife having held to the faith of the Presbyterian church. They became the parents of ten children: Flora E. died March 3, 1883; Carrie, on the 22d of April, 1882; Edwin on the 16th of November, 1884; and Carl and Rebecca E. likewise are de- ceased; Jennie is the wife of James Kerr, a retired farmer residing in the city of Denver, Colorado; S. E. is individually mentioned on other pages of this history; Harry is a far- mer one mile east of Beatrice; Susie is the wife of A. C. Calhoun, of McCook, this state; and Ralph is associated with banking business at Missoula, Montana.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.