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 83

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 83

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On the 18th of December, 1884, Mr. Gray wedded Miss Clara Ross, who was born at Red Cloud, Nebraska, her father, Henry Ross, having been one of the pioneer settlers of Web- ster county, of which Red Cloud is the judicial center ; he became one of the successful farm- ers of Webster county, where he also fol- lowed his trade of brick mason, and he is now a successful mason contractor at Campbell, Franklin county, this state. Mrs. Gray died in 1901 leaving two sons, - John L., who is a skilled mechanic residing in Beatrice ; and Al- fred M., who is now serving in a machine-gun company of the Fifth regiment of the national army that is preparing to enter active service in the great European war. September 9. 1908, Mr. Gray wedded Fannie L. Grensman, of Cortland, Gage county, and they have two children, Robert H. and Thomas H,, aged, in 1918, four and six years respectively.

FRANK MEYER. - The southwest quar- ter of Section 35, Blakely township, consti- tutes the attractive and well improved home- stead farm of Mr. Meyer, who has been a resident of Gage county since he was a ladi

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of about twelve years and who is a represen- tative of one of the sterling pioneer families of this favored section of Nebraska. His landed estate includes also the northwest quar- ter of Section 11, Lincoln township, so that he has an aggregate of three hundred and twenty acres of the excellent land of Gage county and has full scope for his successful activities as an agriculturist and stock-grower.

Mr. Meyer was born in La Salle county, Illi- nois, on the 28th of December, 1860, and is a son of Joseph and Crescentia (Hiebeler) Meyer, both natives of Bavaria, Germany, where they were reared to adult age, their marriage having been solemnized in the state of Illinois. Joseph Meyer was born April 22, 1822, and in 1854 he came to America and es- tablished his residence in Illinois. After his marriage he continued his activities as a farmer in Effingham county, that state, until 1872, when he came with his family to Ne- braska and rented a farm in Blakely town- ship, west of Beatrice, the judicial center of Gage county. There he continued his oper- ations as a renter until 1877, when he pur- chased the farm now owned by his son Frank, of this review. He made excellent improve- ments on this pioneer farm, erecting good buildings, setting out trees, etc., and was an honored and influential factor in the com- munity life, while he endured his full share of the adversity incidental to drought and grasshopper scourge in the early days. He served several years as a member of the school board of his district and gave with consistent liberality to the support of measures and en- terprises advanced for the general welfare of the community. It is interesting to record that he and his family made the journey from Illinois to Gage county with teams and two covered wagons of the type best known as prairie schooners, and six weeks were required in making the long overland trip. This hon- ored pioncer passed to the life eternal in April, 1887, and his wife survived him by nearly thirty years. She was born in Bavaria, Ger- many, on the 14th of March, 1823, and came to the United States in 1856, establishing her home in Illinois, where her marriage occurred,

as previously noted in this article. She passed the closing years of her life in the home of her oldest daughter, Mrs. Emil Lang of Bea- trice, and was ninety-three years of age at the time of her death, in 1916. She was one of the revered and venerable pioneer women of the county. Both she and her husband were earnest members of the Catholic church. They became the parents of five children: Caro- line is the wife of Emil Lang, of Beatrice, this county; Christena is the wife of John G. Hoefling, of Iron River, Wisconsin; the sub- ject of this sketch was the next in order of birth ; John is a prosperous farmer of Lincoln township; and Mary is the wife of Philip Graff, of whom individual mention is made on other pages of this volume.

Frank Meyer acquired his rudimentary edu- cation in the schools of his native state and as a boy of twelve years found the long overland trip to Nebraska an experience which afforded him much enjoyment. He assisted his father in the development of the home farm upon which he now resides and in the meanwhile he attended the local schools when opportunity offered. In 1888, the year after the death of his father, he purchased the old homestead in association with his only brother, John, and in 1890 he purchased also the latter's interest in the property, of which he has since been sole owner and upon which he has made extensive and well ordered improvements. In the autumn of 1906 he added to the area of his landed estate by purchasing a well improved farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Lin- coln township, and he gives to this also his close personal supervision. On this farm he has erected a large barn with modern facili- ties, as well as building corncribs and other minor farm buildings. He is politically in- dependent and he is serving in 1917-1918 as treasurer of school district No. 107. He is liberal and public-spirited as a citizen and is one of the substantial agriculturists and stock- growers of the county, - a man who merits and receives the fullest measure of popular esteem. He and his family are communicants of the Catholic church, and he is actively af- filiated with the Knights of Columbus.

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

On the 26th of April, 1892, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Meyer to Miss Marie Buriwal, who was born and reared in Austria, where she remained until 1888 when she came to the United States and established herself in the home of the Lang family, of Beatrice, Gage county, where she remained until the time of her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Meyer became the parents of eight children, of whom the firstborn is Irene; the second child died in infancy; Aloysius is associated in the work. and management of the home farm and the other children likewise remain members of the gracious home circle, namely : Anna, Ray- mond, Hildegard, Helen and Clifford, the last two being twins.

HENRY HORNER. - Both through pa- ternal heritage and pronounced personal ap- preciation Mr. Horner has been well equipped for the furtherance of the interests of musical art, and he has not only been successful as a teacher of music but has also been active in the sale of musical instruments and merchan- dise, in which field of enterprise he has been a leading representative in Gage county for the past thirty years, his well equipped music store being established in the city of Beatrice. He has exerted much influence in the gracious advancement of music in connection with the representative social life of Beatrice, has built up a prosperous business and has the securest vantage place in the esteem of the people of Gage county, the while he has always been generous in the application of his musical tal- ent, which is of high order.

Mr. Horner was born in Bradford, England, on the 26th of October, 1852, and is a son of Edward and Ann (Ellis) Horner, who came to the United States when the subject of this review was a child of two years. The father, a man of fine musical ability and attainments, was for many years actively engaged in the teaching of the "divine art," and upon coming to America he first located at Galena, Illinois, whence he later removed to Morrison, that state, where he continued teaching, besides en- gaging in the sale of musical instruments, until his death, when he was sixty-nine years

of age. His widow survived him and passed the closing period of her life at Beatrice, Ne- braska, in the home of her son Henry, of this review, where she died when about seventy- five years of age.

To the public schools of Illinois Henry Horn- er is indebted for his early educational dis- cipline and besides being reared in a home of distinctive musical atmosphere he received in his youth thorough training in instrumental music. In 1887 he came to Nebraska, and here he has been continuously engaged in the sale of musical instruments, as well as in teach- ing music during the intervening period of thirty years. As a teacher he has given his attention principally to instruction in piano- forte music. In politics Mr. Horner gives his support to the Republican party and he has been for many years affiliated with the Ma- sonic fraternity. The maiden name of his wife was Anna Snyder and they became the parents of seven children, of whom five are living: Samuel is associated with an uncle in business in the city of Chicago; Walter, Edward and Archibald are actively identified with their father's business and are assisting materially in its successful prosecution ; and Grace is an efficient and popular teacher in the Waverly public schools: she is a graduate of the high school of Beatrice, and the Univer- sity of Nebraska.

ANANIAS BREWSTER. - Nearly half a century has passed since Mr. Brewster, a young man of indomitable energy and ambi- tion and one who had previously given loyal service as a youthful soldier of the Union in the Civil war, came to Nebraska and enrolled himself as a pioneer exponent of farm enter- prise in Gage county. He has been dependent upon his own resources from his boyhood and thus he had no fear of the exactions and stren- uous labors incidental to the reclaiming of a pioneer farm, the civic loyalty which he man- ifested having been consonant with his am- bitious efforts to win for himself by worthy means the independence and prosperity that were his due. With the fleeting years success attended his well ordered endeavors as an agri-

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culturist and stock-grower and he long held prestige as one of the prominent and influen- tial representatives of these basic lines of in- dustry in Gage county. He has passed the psalmist's span of three score years and ten and now lives in gracious retirement in the city of Beatrice.

Mr. Brewster is a scion of the staunchest of American ancestry, as may well be appre- ciated when it is stated that he is a lineal de- scendant of Elder William Brewster, who was one of the Puritans who came from England to America on the first voyage of the historic ship "Mayflower" and founded the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts, the family name hav- ing been worthily linked with the annals of American history during all succeeding gen- erations. He whose name introduces this ar- ticle was born in Oneida county, New York, on the 14th of February, 1847, and in Otsego county, that state, were born his parents, John and Elizabeth (Wilbur) Brewster, rep- resentatives of honored pioneer families of that section of the old Empire commonwealth. The father of Mr. Brewster was a farmer and miller by vocation and died in Oneida county, New York, when the subject of this review was a lad of eleven years, the devoted mother surviving by a number of years.

Ananias Brewster, the youngest in a family of ten children, gained but little scholastic training in his youth, the death of his father making it necessary for him to depend mainly upon his own resources several years prior to attaining to adult age. He worked at what- ever occupation he could obtain and contin- ued to attend school at rare intervals until af- ter the outbreak of the Civil war, and prior to his seventeenth birthday anniversary he manifested his intrinsic patriotism by tender- ing his services in defense of the Union. In August, 1864, he enlisted as a private in Com- pany L, Fifteenth New York Volunteer In- fantry, and with this gallant command he con- tinued in service until the close of the war. He participated in a number of important en- gagements, including the siege and battle of Petersburg, and after receiving his honorable ‹lischarge he returned to his native state and

resumed his association with agricultural en- terprise.

In 1869, at the age of twenty-two years, this youthful veteran of the Civil war came to the west, and after passing one year in Will county, Illinois, he came, in the spring of 1870, to Gage county, Nebraska, where he purchased one hundred and twenty acres of prairie land, about three miles east of Beatrice. In 1872 he entered claim to a homestead of one hun- dred and sixty acres of state land near the village of Clatonia, and upon this place he continued his residence eight years, in the meanwhile having made good improvements on the same. After selling this property he purchased a farm eight miles east of Beatrice, where he continued his progressive activities as a farmer and stock-grower for the ensuing twenty years, within which he developed the place into one of the well improved farms of the county. He finally sold this farm, but after residing four years in Beatrice he bought an- other farm, in Rockford and Riverside town- ships, where he remained until 1916, when he retired from active labors and established his residence in the city of Beatrice. Here he has an attractive home in which he and his wife delight to extend welcome and hospital- ity to their many friends. Both are active members of the Methodist Episcopal church and he is a Democrat in his political faith and adherency. While residing on his farm in Lo- gan township he served a number of terms as township treasurer, as well as a member of the school board of his district. During his former period of residence in Beatrice he here served for a time as a member of the board of education. He maintains deep interest in his old comrades of the Civil war and mani- fests the same by his affliliation with Rawlins Post, No. 35, Grand Army of the Republic, in his home city. Mr. Brewster is a man of strong mentality and has kept himself well informed on the questions and issues of the day, so that he is well fortified in his opinions and convictions. He reads much and with discrimination and takes vital interest in all things pertaining to the nation's participation

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in the great European war - a service into which one of his sons has entered.

January 3, 1872, Mr. Brewster wedded Miss Elvira Tanner, a member of a well known Gage county family that is given recognition on other pages of this publication, and con- cerning the children of this union the follow- ing brief record is offered: Frank is engaged in the practice of his profession at Beaver City, as one of the representative physicians and surgeons of Furnas county; Elizabeth, who likewise was graduated in a school of medi- cine, is the wife of Edward Lamb, a promi- nent attorney of Beaver City; Captain Charles Lee, who was graduated in the law depart- ment of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and who is junior member of the law firm of Sackett & Brewster, of Beatrice, gave gallant service in the Philippine Islands as a soldier of the Spanish-American war, and he received a severe wound in one of his feet : he is now captain of Company C, of Beatrice, which has entered the national army for serv- ice in the European war and is with his com- pany in the cantonment at Camp Cody, New Mexico, at the time of this writing, in the spring of 1918; Rose is the wife of Edward Thomas, president of a college at Alberta, Canada; Imogene is the wife of Edward Rut- lege and they reside in the state of New Mex- ico; Frederick is a dentist by profession and is engaged in practice at Aspen, Colorado; Beulah is a successful teacher of domestic science in a college at Malbur, Iowa; and Lulu, who remains at the parental home, was a member of the class of 1913 in the Beatrice high school.

WILLIAM TOWNSEND. - The late William Townsend merits a tribute of honor in this history by reason of his having been a sterling pioneer of Gage county and a citizen of prominence and influence in Hanover town- ship, where he reclaimed and improved a fine farm property and where the little hamlet of Townsend was named in his honor, he having been appointed postmaster in the community in 1874 and the postoffice having been estab-

lished in his home, the locality thus being given his name, even as was the postoffice.

Mr. Townsend was born in Delaware county, New York, February 1, 1829, a son of Moorehouse and Anna (Johnson) Town- send, the former a native of Connecticut and the latter of the old Empire state, where their marriage was solemnized. Moorehouse Town- send was twelve years old at the time of the family removal to the state of New York, and after leaving school he followed a seafaring life until he was about thirty years old, when he turned his attention to agricultural pur- suits. In 1864 he removed with his family to LaSalle county, Illinois, where he remained until 1870, when he became one of the pioneer settlers of Gage county, Nebraska. He passed the remainder of his life on his farm, in Han- over township, where his death occurred in 1878, his widow having survived him by a number of years and having been of vener- able age at the time of her demise. They were survived by four children - William, subject of this memoir; Eunice, who became the wife of Daniel Griffin; Caroline, who became the wife of William Barrett; and Wallace, who was a resident of Beatrice at the time of his death.

William Townsend was reared under the invigorating discipline of his father's farm and gained his early education in the common schools. In Bradford county, Pennsylvania, on the 24th of November, 1851, he married Miss Marian Denton, who likewise was born in Delaware county, New York. In 1866 Mr. Townsend removed with his family to La- Salle county, Illinois, where he engaged in farming on rented land. In 1870 he came to Gage county, Nebraska, and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of unbroken prairie land in Hanover township, for which property he paid seven dollars an acre. He reclaimed and developed in this township a valuable farm estate of three hundred acres, and here he continued his residence until 1892, when he removed to Nuckolls county, his death having there occurred on the 6th of February, 1895. The wife of his young manhood was called to the life eternal on the 11th of March, 1874,

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

WILLIAM TOWNSEND

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

and of the eight children of this union five are living : Robert resides at Fort Morgan, Colo- rado; Duane is a resident of Ranier, Oregon ; Mrs. Emma Cox maintains her home in Be- atrice, as does also John, who was the next in order of birth ; and Mary is the wife of Theo- dore Bohnstedt, of whom individual mention is made on other pages of this volume. In 1876 Mr. Townsend married Mrs. Mary Jane (Shearer) Post, a native of Pennsyl- vania, and they became the parents of one child, Cora Belle.

Mr. Townsend was a Republican in politics and in addition to having served several years as postmaster at Townsend, he also gave equally effective administration in the office of justice of the peace. He was a lifelong and zealous member of the Methodist Epis- copal church and his life was ordered in con- sonance with the faith which he thus pro- fessed.

BERNARD E. DRUMMOND. - The city of Beatrice is favored in claiming as its own an institution that is not only a virtual public utility but is also one of thoroughly metro- politan facilities, - the Kimball Laundry, of which Mr. Drummond is one of the proprie- tors. This laundry is operated with equip- ment of the most modern type throughout and the large and representative patronage ac- corded to it gives evidence of the high popular estimate placed upon its service. Mr. Drum- mond and R. G. Weston purchased the plant and business of this well ordered steam laun- dry in January, 1914, and their careful and progressive business policies have inured great- ly to the success of the enterprise, the laundry having been established more than a quarter of a century ago and having maintained a high reputation prior to passing into posses- sion of the present proprietors, who have ef- fectively enhanced its reputation for the best grade of service. In connection with the oper- ations of the Kimball laundry is retained a working force of six men and eighteen young women, each skilled in the work assigned.

Bernard Emmett Drummond was born in Saline county, this state, and is a son of

Michael L. and Catherine (Mehan) Drum- mond, who were pioneer settlers of that coun- ty, where the father entered a homestead claim and developed a good farm; he is now living practically retired and he and his wife main- tain their home in the city of Beatrice, they having come to Gage county when their son Bernard E. was a child. He whose name in- itiates this review acquired his youthful edu- cation in the schools of this county and at the age of nineteen years he entered upon an apprenticeship to the trade of iron-moulder. As an expert workman at his trade he was employed five years in the works of the Demp- ster Manufacturing Company, at Beatrice, and thereafter he was for twelve years successful- ly engaged in the cigar and tobacco business in Beatrice, his retirement from this business having occurred when, in 1914, he and his present associate purchased the plant and bus- iness of the Kimball Laundry, to which he has since given his undivided attention. He is a Republican in his political proclivities, is one of the loyal and popular members of the Be- atrice Commercial Club, and is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks.

In 1903 was recorded the marriage of Mr. Drummond to Miss Lena R. Bush, daughter of the late Judge James Bush, and the one child of this union is a fine little son, Charles Bernard, who was born February 12, 1915.

JAMES K. CULLEN. - Among the early settlers in Gage county was James Cullen, a man who came west in search of a home where land could be purchased more cheaply, and where the opportunities were greater than in the state of Illinois where he had been a farm- er for many years. He was moved also by an earnest desire to establish his home in a com- munity in which he should not be denied the full advantages of and fellowship in the church of which he was an earnest adherent.

Mr. Cullen was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, and when a young man he moved to Woodford county, Illinois, where he was en- gaged in farming for many years. Mr. Cul- len was united in marriage to Miss Christina

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

Harshbarger, also a native of Rockingham county, Virginia. In 1885 Mr. Cullen came with his family to Gage county, Nebraska, and located in Rockford township, where he pur- chased eighty acres of land, partly improved. He was very successful, and at the time of his death he was the owner of two hundred acres in Rockford township. Mr. Cullen passed away at the age of seventy-two years and his wife followed him to the life eternal three years later, at the age of seventy-four years. Mr. and Mrs. Cullen were members of the Church of the Brethren, were good Christian people and were very highly re- spected by all who knew them. They were the parents of ten children, all of whom are living : Sarah is the wife of Perry Van Dyke, of Newburg, Oregon; John, who for many years was a successful farmer in Sherman township, is now living in Kansas; Mary is the wife of J. C. Dell, of Gage county ; James resides in Rockford township; William is a resident of Newburg, Oregon; Augusta is the wife of Ulysses G. McPheron, of Sherman township; H. D. is a farmer in Rockford township; Naomi is the wife of J. S. Dell, of Rockford township; and Clarence and Otis are at Newburg, Oregon.

CLARENCE W. GALE .- The most mod- ern and metropolitan of facilities and service are represented in the attractively appointed photographic studio of Mr. Gale, in the city of Beatrice, and the large and representative supporting patronage accorded to him indicates the high popular estimate placed upon him and on the work issued from his establishment. He is a native son of Gage county and has won place as a leading exponent of high-class photographic portraiture in this section of Nebraska.

Mr. Gale was born on a farm in Adams township, this county, and the date of his nativity was July 12, 1887. He is a son of Charles and Aldula (Garrison) Gale, the former a native of Wisconsin and the latter of Iowa, both having been young folk at the time of the removal of the respective families to Nebraska, about the year 1865, prior to

the admission of the state to the Union. George Gale, paternal grandfather of the subject of this review, was born and reared in Wisconsin, where his parents settled in the early pioneer days, and upon coming to Nebraska Territory he numbered himself among the early expon- ents of agricultural industry in Gage county, where he and his wife passed the residue of their lives, as did also the maternal grand- parents, Mr. and Mrs. Omer Garrison, who came to the territory about the same time, Mr. Garrison having been another of the sterling pioneer farmers of Gage courity, and having been a native of the state of Pennsyl- vania. Charles Gale continued his active as- sociation with farm enterprise in this county until shortly after the birth of his son Clarence W., of this sketch, and in the meanwhile he made also an excellent record as a successful and popular teacher in the public schools of the county. Upon leaving the farm he re- moved with his family to Beatice, and here he became secretary of the State Building & Loan Association, an office of which he con- tinued the incumbent until 1916. Thereafter he here lived retired until his death, which occured October 25, 1917. He was a staunch Republican in politics and was an active mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal church, as is also his widow. Of their children the subject of this review is the eldest; Laura is an efficient and popular teacher in the Beatrice high school; Robert is engaged in the photo- graphic business at York, judicial center of the Nebraska county of the same name ; Marie and Dorothy remain with their widowed mother. Dorothy is a valued assistant in the photographic studio of her elder brother.

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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 83

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