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 74

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 74

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).

JACOB A. KLEIN. - Both as a represen- tative business man and loyal and progressive citizen is Mr. Klein well upholding the pres- tige of a name that has been long and signifi- cantly honored in Gage county, and he is vice-president of Klein's Mercantile Com- pany, which conducts, in his native city of Beatrice, one of the leading department stores in this section of Nebraska. Of his father specific mention is made on other pages of this publication, and in that connection is given adequate review also of the business conducted under the corporate title noted.

Mr. Klein was born at Beatrice, this county,

569

HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

on the 13th of August, 1873, and is the eldest of the three sons of Jacob Klein, who is still the executive head of the Klein's Mercantile Company. Mr. Klein profited fully by the ad- vantages afforded in the excellent public schools of Beatrice and as a youth began to assist in his father's store. He has literally grown up in the business and has matured his discrimination and administrative ability as a merchant, with the result that he exercises large influence in the conducting and directing of the large and thriving mercantile business with which he has been identified during the entire course of his active career. He has been vice-president of Klein's Mercantile Company from the time of its incorporation, in 1901.

The local ranks of the Democratic party find Mr. Klein aligned as a staunch supporter of the cause for which the now dominant party stands sponsor, and he has been active and in- fluential in the furtherance of the party cause. Recognition of this fact has. been officially shown by his being retained as a colonel on the military staff of Governor Moorhead and later on that of Governor Neville. He is an appre- ciative and popular member of the Beatrice Lodge of the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks, his religious faith is that of the Lu- theran church, under the influences of which he was reared, and his wife is an active mem- ber of the Presbyterian church: they are leaders in the social activities of the city of Beatrice and delight in extending to their many friends the hospitality of their pleasant home. The year 1905 recorded the marriage of Mr. Klein to Miss Myrtle Grimes, who was born at Holton, Kansas, and who is a daugh- ter of J. A. Grimes, she having been about twenty-two years of age at the time of the family removal to Beatrice. Mr. and Mrs Klein have two children - Alan, who was born in the year 1906, and Jean, who was born in 1915.

LUDWIG MOSCHEL, who came to Gage county in 1875 and who here won substantial success through his vigorous association with farm enterprise, passed the closing years of his life in the city of Beatrice, where he died

in 1915 and where his widow still maintains her home. He was a man of strong mind, of determined purpose and of untiring industry, a citizen of sterling worth and one who com- manded unqualified popular esteem.

Mr. Moschel was born at Webensheim, Bavaria, Germany, on the 12th of November, 1843, a son of Christian and Margaret (Schantz) Moschel. He received in his na- tive land excellent educational advantages and was an ambitious youth of seventeen years when he came to America and established his residence in Illinois. There, in the year 1869, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Catherine Klein, who was born in Bavaria, Germany, June 24, 1849, and who was a girl at the time when she came with her parents to the United States, the family home being established in Illinois : she is a sister of Jacob Klein, of whom definite mention is made on other pages, with adequate incidental record concerning the fam- ily. The father of Mr. Moschel was a cabinet- maker by trade and passed his entire life in Germany. In 1860 the widowed mother came with her seven children to the United States and settlement was made on a farm a few miles distant from Peoria, Illinois, in which state she passed the remainder of her life.

After his marriage Mr. Moschel continued his association with farm activities in Illinois until 1875, when he came with his family to Gage county. He had sufficient money to make partial payment on a farm of eighty acres, three miles north of Beatrice, and his industry and good management brought to him gratifying success in the years that fol- lowed. He accumulated and improved a fine farm estate of three hundred and twenty acres and continued as one of the representative agriculturists and stock-growers of Midland township until 1907, when he retired and es- tablished his home in Beatrice, where his death occurred eight years later. He took loyal interest in community affairs, was a Democrat in politics and while residing on his farm he served as a member of the school board. His religious faith was that of the Lutheran church, of which his widow likewise is a devoted communicant.

570

HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

In conclusion of this memoir is given brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Moschel: Lena is the wife of Emory Ellis and they reside on the old homestead farm of her father; August L. is a carpenter by trade and is engaged in contracting and building operations in the city of Beatrice; Catherine remains with her widowed mother ; Albert C. resides in the city of Lincoln and is a traveling commercial salesman; Emma re- mains with her mother; Bertha L. is the wife of Albert Pretzer, residing three miles north of Beatrice; Ida is the wife of August Pret- zer, a prosperous farmer in Midland town- ship ; and Lizzie L. died in 1881, at the age of eight years.

DAVID G. GRIFFITHS, M. D., the effi- cient and honored superintendent of the Ne- braska Institution for Feeble Minded Youth, at Beatrice, is a representative of one of the well known pioneer families of Richardson county, this state, where he was born Novem- ber 27, 1875, a son of David and Mary Ellen (Young) Griffiths, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania, in 1845, and the latter in Wisconsin, in 1851. The marriage of the parents was solemnized in Wisconsin, and in 1869 they established their home in the new state of Nebraska, Mr. Griffiths having pre- viously visited the state and having obtained a tract of one hundred and sixty acres of land in Richardson county. To this he gradually added until he had accumulated and improved a valuable landed estate of four hundred acres, which he still owns. About a decade ago he retired from his farm and he and his wife have since maintained their home in the vil- lage of Verdon, Richardson county. They made the journey from Wisconsin to Nebras- ka with team and covered wagon and by his energy and good management he here achieved large and worthy success. David Griffiths was a valiant soldier of the Union in the Civil war, and was wounded severely in the right shoul- der, the injury having been such as permanent- ly to cripple his right arm. Of the six children four are living: Daniel is a farmer near Ver- don, Richardson county; David G., of this

review, is the next younger son; Edward is a successful exponent of farm industry near Verdon; and Florence is the wife of William H. Henderson, a farmer in the same locality. The parents are active members of the Con- gregational church. David Griffiths holds af- filiation with the Grand Army of the Republic, and in politics he is a staunch Republican. While on his farm he served in various town- ship offices. His father, Daniel Griffiths, was born in Wales and came to the United States in the early '40s, first settling in Pennsylvania and finally removing with his family to Wis- consin, where he passed the remainder of his life.

Dr. David G. Griffiths was afforded in his youth excellent educational advantages, and after having been a student in the Nebraska State Normal School at Peru he entered the medical department of the University of Ne- braska, in which he was graduated as a mem- ber of the class of 1902. After thus receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine he engaged in the practice of his profession at Verdon, it his native county. Three years later he removed to Falls City, and after having there been en- gaged in practice about eighteen months he went to the city of Lincoln, which constituted the stage of his successful professional activ- ities until 1913. In the year last mentioned he became pathologist at the Nebraska State Hos- pital for the Insane, and this position he re- tained until February 1, 1916, when he as- sumed his present responsible and exacting office, that of superintendent of the Nebraska Institution for Feeble Minded Youth. The Doctor has given close study to the care and uplifting of the unfortunate wards of this admirable institution, the number of inmates being about six hundred, and his effective ad- ministration is fully justifying his appoint- ment to the position.

In 1902 was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Griffiths to Miss Nora Moore, who was born in Kansas, a daughter of John and Katie (Eby) Moore, who now reside at Wymore, Gage county, Nebraska, Mr. Moore being a locomotive engineer on the Chicago, Burling- ton & Quincy Railroad. Dr. and Mrs. Grif-

571

HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

fiths have but one child, Heath, who was born in 1903, and who is attending the Beatrice schools.

Dr. Griffiths is a valued member of the Gage County Medical Society and the Nebraska State Medical Society, besides being actively identified with the American Medical Asso- ciation. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party, he is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and he and his wife are communicants of the Protestant Episcopal church.

JOHN E. KING. - A worthy native son of Gage county is John Edward King, who is operating one hundred and sixty acres of land in Sherman township.

Mr. King was born on his father's farm in Filley township, December 29, 1884, a son of Charles W. King, deceased, whose record ap- pears elsewhere in this volume. John E. King was reared on a farm and learned the best methods of tilling the soil, planting and har- vesting crops, which enables him to-day to make a success of his chosen calling.

Mr. King was united in marriage, July 4, 1914, to Miss Georgia Starns, a native of In- diana, a daughter of Elijah Starns, of Ham- burg, Iowa. They are a worthy young couple, who have a host of friends in Gage county.

GEORGE E. ZIMMERMAN. - Hanover township well merits its name, for within its borders are to be found many influential citi- zens who were born in the beautiful province of Hanover, Germany, and who have done much in furthering the civic and industrial development and progress of Gage county. Among the representative farmers of the township who can claim this ancestral and personal distinction is Mr. Zimmerman, who was born in Hanover, Germany, March 17, 1856, a son of Riender R. and Johanna (Bless) Zimmerman, who came with their family to America in 1876 and settled in Champaign county, Illinois. There the father farmed on rented land until 1879, when he came to Nebraska and numbered himself

among the pioneers of Gage county. He bought one hundred and sixty acres of wild prairie land, in Hanover township, and after erecting a substantial barn on the place he equipped the building as a temporary resi- dence for his family. About three years later he built a good house on his farm. There he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives, as honored pioneer citizens, and both were earnest communicants of the German Lutheran church. Of their five children the subject of this review is the eldest of the four surviving; Etta is the wife of John Job- man, a retired farmer residing in the city of Beatrice ; Lizzie, who resides in the village of Pickrell, this county, is the widow of John Meints ; and Riender is a prosperous farmer five miles east of Beatrice.

George E. Zimmerman acquired his youth- ful education in the excellent schools of his native land and was seventeen years of age when he came to the United States. For a period of about eighteen months he was em- ployed in the railroad shops at Galesburg, Illinois, and he then became associated with the tending of horses at Terre Haute, In- diana. In 1879 he came with his parents to Gage county, where he assisted in reclaiming and improving his father's farm and where he finally purchased eighty acres of land from his father, in Hanover township. Of the suc- cess that has attended his well ordered activ- ities as an agriculturist and stock-grower no further evidence is needed than the fact that he is now the owner of a well improved and valuable farm estate of four hundred acres - all in this county. On his homestead farm he erected his present commodious and modern house and other buildings of the best type, and he is one of the substantial citizens of Hanover township.

The year 1880 recorded the marriage of Mr. Zimmerman to Miss Rixte DeBuhr, who likewise is a native of Hanover, Germany, and of their six children five are living: Johanna is the wife of George Idines, a prosperous farmer of Logan township; Jennie is the wife of William Remmers, who is a farmer in Han- over township; Etta is the wife of Harm

572

HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

Idines, a farmer in Hanover township; Menne is engaged in farm enterprise five miles east of the village of Pickrell; and Liz- zie is the wife of Arnold Behr, a farmer seven miles east of Beatrice.

Mr. Zimmerman is a man whose mental and moral qualities well fortify him for leader- ship in community affairs, and he is one of the honored and influential citizens of Han- over township. His political allegiance is given to the Democratic party and he is serv- ing as justice of the peace, as well as chairman of the official board of Hanover township. He and his wife are zealous communicants of the Zion's German Lutheran church of Han- over, the strongest and wealthiest church or- ganization in Gage county.

FRED F. VAN BOSKIRK, a progressive farmer and stock-grower of Midland town- ship, has an attractive homestead of one hun- dred and sixty acres - the northeast quarter of Section 8. He was born at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, March 15, 1881, a son of Lincoln and Celia (Freer) Van Boskirk, of whose four children he is the youngest; Mae is the wife of C. R. Munford, who is individually men- tioned in this history; Daisie is the wife of Curtis C. LaForge, of Midland township; and Frank O. is another of the prosperous far- mers of this township.

Lincoln Van Boskirk was born in Pennsyl- vania, January 15, 1826, and his death oc- curred July 15, 1905. He was a pioneer of the state of Iowa and there operated sales stables first in Cedar Rapids and later at Iowa City, giving much attention to buying horses for the government and also dealing somewhat extensively in mules. In 1885 he came with his family to Gage county and here he traded horses for a section of land in Midland town- ship, the property having been unimproved. He developed a fine farm property and the present homestead of his son Fred, of this review, is a part of the same. Mrs. Celia (Freer) Van Boskirk was born in Ashland, Ohio, April 18, 1849, and passed to the life eternal on the 2d of August, 1910.

Fred F. Van Boskirk was about four years

old at the time of the family removal to Gage county, where he was reared on the pioneer farm of his father and duly availed himself of the advantages of the public schools. He was, however, only thirteen years old when he began to assert his youthful independence and provide for himself. He traveled about and for four years he was employed in a meat- packing plant in Kansas City, Missouri. His father then gave to him his present farm, upon which he has erected a modern house and made other good improvements, and he is alert and progressive in his activities as an agriculturist and stock-grower, in which lat- ter department he gives special attention to the raising of Hereford cattle. He is inde- pendent in politics and his wife is a member of the Presbyterian church.

August 25, 1905, recorded the marriage of Mr. Van Boskirk to Miss Ella Dole, who was born at Milford, Seward county, Nebraska, a daughter of Josiah and Sophia (Hooker) Dole, the family being definitely represented on other pages of this publication. Mr. and Mrs. Van Boskirk became the parents of five children, all of whom are living except Ruth, the firstborn ; Lauretta, Katharine, Venita, and Harold lend joy to the pleasant home.

Mr. Van Boskirk is a successful breeder of fine Belgian draft horses, as well as trotting and saddle horses and mules, his boyhood ex- perience having been such as to give him special predilection for enterprise along this line. In the early frontier days his father was a freighter from Iowa to Colorado. This sterling pioneer received deed to his land in Midland township from President Andrew Jackson, and he was one of the venerable pioneer citizens of Gage county at the time of his death.

EILERT D. CRAMER. - When, in 1888, Mr. Cramer arrived in Gage county, as an ambitious and determined youth of eighteen years, his financial resources were represented in the sum of one dollar. He came to this county soon after his immigration from Ger- many and that he has wrought wisely and well in the intervening years needs no further

573

HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

voucher than the statement that he is now the owner of a well improved farm estate of two hundred and forty acres, in Section 16, Han- over township. Like so large a percentage of the representative citizens of this township, Mr. Cramer was born in the province of Han- over, Germany, the date of his nativity having been August 1, 1870. His parents, Dick E. and Ahlke (Gerdes) Cramer, are now ven- erable in years and still reside in their native land, representatives of old and honored fam- ilies of the province of Hanover and both earnest members of the German Lutheran church. Of their eight children five are liv- ing and the eldest is Henry, who remains in Germany; Etta is the wife of John Bruns, a successful farmer of Hanover township, Gage county ; the subject of this sketch was the next in order of birth; Helena and Anna remain with their parents, in Germany.

Eilert D. Cramer acquired his education in the excellent schools of his native land and in 1888 he came to America and established his residence in Gage county, as previously noted. For the ensuing four years he was employed at farm work. He carefully saved his earn- ings and in 1899 he made his first purchase of land - eighty acres, in Hanover township. In the following year he established his home on this farm, which he brought under effective cultivation, and later he sold the property and bought his present fine homestead farm, to which he has gradually added until he is now the owner of two hundred and forty acres, the same being well improved and the at- tractive modern residence on the place having been completed in 1917. Mr. Cramer gives special attention to the raising of live stock, but gains the best of returns also in the agri- cultural department of his farm enterprise.

April 5, 1894, recorded the marriage of Mr. Cramer to Miss Hannah Alberts, who was born in Brown county, Illinois, and is a daugh- ter of Benjamin and Trintje (Gronewold) Alberts, who came to America about 1873, shortly after the close of the Franco-Prussian war. Benjamin Alberts was a sailor by voca- tion and followed a seafaring career during the major part of his active career. Upon

coming to the United States he first settled in Brown , county, Illinois, where the family home was continued eight years. With team and wagon the overland journey to Nebraska was then made and the family located on a rented form in Gage county, the sons assum- ing active charge of the work, as the father had little experience in farm enterprise. Benjamin Alberts died in. 1888 and his widow survived him by a quarter of a century, her death occurring in June, 1913. Mr. and Mrs. Cramer became the parents of six children, of whom five are living and all of whom re- main at the parental home - Helen, Richard, John, Christina, and Edwin.

Mr. Cramer has been fully appreciative of the opportunities and advantages that have been afforded him in Gage county and thus his civic loyalty is of the insistent order. His political support is given to the Republican party and his ability and personal popularity have led to his being called upon to serve in various local offices of public trust, including those of assessor, clerk, and treasurer of Han- over township, as well as census enumerator and as a member of the school board of his district, of which last named office he has been the incumbent for many years.

HERMAN WOLKEN is another of the sterling pioneers who has won large and worthy success in connection with the devel- opment of the fine natural resources of Gage county, where he has through his own ability and industry accumulated a valuable farm es- tate of eight hundred and eighty acres, his attractive homestead place being situated in Section 31, Hooker township and the village of Filley being his postoffice address.

Mr. Wolken was born in the Province of Hanover, Germany, on the 10th of October, 1851, and there his parents, Henry and Chris- tina (Bowman) Wolken, passed their entire lives, both having been earnest communicants of the Lutheran church and the father having been a prosperous farmer. Of the six chil- dren the eldest is John, who is now a success- ful farmer in Hanover township, Gage county, as is also Henry; Annie is the wife of John

574

HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

Freline, of Franklin county, this state; and George and Henry still reside in Germany.

Herman Wolken was reared and educated in his native land and was nineteen years of age when he severed the home ties and came to the United States, in 1871. He passed the ensuing four years in Illinois, and he then, in 1875, came to Gage county, where for two years he farmed on rented land. He then purchased eighty acres of unimproved land, in Hooker township, and this constituted the nucleus around which he has by industry and good management developed his present large and well improved farm estate. His course has been guided and governed by the highest principles and thus his success has been well merited, the while he has equally deserved the unqualified popular esteem reposed in him. He is a staunch Republican in politics and he and his family are earnest communicants of the Lutheran church.

In Illinois, the year 1873 recorded the mar- riage of Mr. Wolken to Miss Christina Bow- man, who was born in Germany and whose parents came to America and settled in Illi- nois when she was a girl, her father, Reinhard Bowman, having there become a farmer and having there passed the remainder of his life. Mr. and Mrs. Wolken have these children : Henry is a farmer in Hanover township; Annie is the wife of Heye Parde, of that township; Kate is the wife of Mene Buhr, a farmer in the same township.

C. A. HALL has served efficiently as cash- ier of the Citizens' State Bank in the village of Virginia since 1909 and is a popular scion of one of the sterling pioneer families of southeastern Nebraska. He was born on his father's farm in Pawnee county, this state, and the date of his nativity was December 9, 1878. He is a son of William and Hannah (Manock) Hall, the former of whom was born in Scotland and the latter in England. The father was sixty-four years of age at the time of his death and the mother, who now resides at Roosevelt, Oklahoma, celebrated in 1917 the seventy-second anniversary of her birth.

William Hall was reared and educated in his native land and was a youth when he came to the United States, prior to the outbreak of the Civil war. His juvenile loyalty was such that, at the age of sixteen years, he tendered his services in defense of the nation's in- tegrity, by enlisting as a private in the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Illinois Volun- teer Infantry, with which command he pro- ceeded to the front and with which he served about two years, in the meanwhile taking part in numerous engagements of important order. The concussion of a cannon broke the drum of his left ear, and the injury continued to cause him no inconsiderable trouble during the remainder of his life. After the close of the war he returned to Illinois and after his marriage he there continued his residence until he numbered himself among the pioneer settlers of Pawnee county, Nebraska, where he purchased a homestead claim and instituted the development of a farm. A few years later he sold the property and turned his attention to buying and shipping live-stock, at Pawnee City. There he continued his successful op- erations along this important line of industrial and commercial enterprise for fully a quarter of a century, and he was one of the honored pioneers and valued citizens of Pawnee coun- ty. William Hall was a Republican in politics and he and his wife were long numbered among the active members of the Presby- terian church at Pawnee City, he having been affiliated with the Masonic fraternity. His brother Andrew was one of the early em- ployes of the Wells-Fargo Express Company and was killed by robbers who made an at- tempt to take from him a valuable express consignment. William and Hannah (Man- ock) Hall became the parents of five children : Sadie remains with her widowed mother; W. T. is railroad station agent at Nemaha City, Nebraska ; Mamie is the wife of W. L. Laugh- lin, a farmer in Oklahoma; C. A., of this review, was the next in order of birth; and Zula is the wife of W. L. Griffith, a farmer in Oklahoma.

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.

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 74

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