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 84

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 84

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In the public schools of Beatrice Clarence W. Gale continued his studies until he had completed the curriculum of the high school, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1904. He then devoted himself with characteristic vigor and earnestness to acquiring thorough knowledge of all scientific and art details of modern photography, and he has been independently engaged in business as a leading photographist in Beatrice since 1906. He is aligned as a staunch supporter of the

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

cause of the Republican party but has mani- fested no ambition for political activity or official preferment. He and his wife are popular factors in the social activities of their home city and have a wide circle of friends in Gage county.

The year 1909 recorded the marriage of Mr. Gale to Miss Gladys Majors, who was born at Pern, Nemaha county, this state, and who is a daughter of Hon. Thomas J. and Isabelle (Bushong) Majors. Her father served as colonel of a Union regiment during the period of the Civil war, he having been born in Kentucky and having become a pioneer of Nebraska Territory prior to the war. He has been one of the representative farmers and most influential and honored citizens of Nemaha county for many years and is now living virtually retired in the village of Peru. Colonel Majors has been specially prominent in political affairs in Nebraska, has served as a member of the state senate and a few years ago he was the Republican candidate for governor of the state, his defeat being the result of normal political exigencies. Mr. and Mrs. Gale are active members of the Methodist Episcopal church and the attrac- tive family home is brightened by the presence of their two children,- Francis and Doris.

ALEX L. ANDERSON :- In the city of Beatrice Mr. Anderson is a successful repre- sentative of a line of enterprise that has im- portant bearing upon the civic and material advancement of every community, as he is here established in the real-estate business, in which his operations have become widely dis- seminated through Nebraska and other states of the west. Thorough knowledge of realty values, progressive methods and fair and honorable dealings have gained to him un- qualified popular confidence and enabled him to build up a business of substantial and prosperous order, the while he is known as one of the loyal and public-spirited citizens of Gage county and its capital city.

Mr. Anderson was born, reared and educat- ed in Sweden, where his parents passed their entire lives and where his father, Andrew

Anderson, was a farmer by vocation. Mr. Anderson was born in Sweden, on the 29th of March, 1859, and in 1881, soon after- at- taining to his legal majority, he came to the United States, relying entirely upon his own resources in establishing himself in the land of his adoption and in here winning his way to the plane of prosperity and independence. For six months after his arrival he was eni- ployed on a dairy farm in Connecticut, and he then made his way to Wisconsin, where he found remunerative employment at his trade, that of blacksmith. A few months later he again yielded to the wanderlust, by coming to Nebraska, and after having worked about two years at his trade in the city of Lincoln he came, in 1884, to Beatrice, where he estab- lished himself in the work of his trade. He eventually developed a substantial independ- ent business as a blacksmith and with this sturdy line of industrial enterprise he con- tinned his active association until 1907, since which year he has given his time and atten- tion to the real-estate business, as previously noted in this context. As a loyal and appre- ciative citizen he has taken active interest in political affairs, though never an aspirant for public office, and he is found aligned as a stalwart supporter of the principles of the Democratic party. He and his family are communicants of the Lutheran church and he is affiliated with the Fraternal Aid Union and the Modern Woodmen of America.

In 1884 Mr. Anderson wedded Miss Lottie Berg, who likewise is a native of Sweden, and they have two daughters,- Minnie Ruth, who completed a course in the Beatrice high school and who is now a successful and popular teacher; and Clara, who is a skilled steno- grapher and who holds as such a position in the city of Omaha.

WILLIAM L. OZMAN .- The honored pioneer of Gage county whose name initiates this paragraph has passed recently the eighti- eth milestone on the journey of life and though in his experience he has endured to the full the "heat and burden of the day" and made his activities count in worthy productiveness,

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the years rest lightly upon him and he has the mental and physical vigor commonly accredit- ed only to a man many years his junior. Since 1910 he has lived practically retired in the city of Beatrice, and aside from the distinction that is his as one of the early settlers of Gage county there must ever attach to his name the high honor of having given valiant service as a loyal soldier of the Union in the Civil war.

Mr. Ozman was born at Lansing, Tomp- kins county, New York, in the year 1837, and was reared to manhood in the old Empire state, where he received the advantages of the common schools and where, at the age of eighteen years, he entered upon an apprentice- ship to the trade of harnessmaker, in which he became a skilled workman. Mr. Ozman is doubly appreciative of the pariotism mani- fested by the young men of America at the present time, when they are giving themselves earnestly to making up the fine national army for the country's participation in the great European war, and this attitude on his part can not but recall vividly to his mind the time when, as a young man of twenty-five years, he subordinated all personal interests to respond to the call of patriotism, by ten- dering his services in defense of the Union. In 1862 he enlisted as a private in Company G, One Hundred and Ninth New York Vol- unteer Infantry, with which he proceeded to the front and took part in various engage- ments, including the first battle of the Wilder- ness. Shortly after this historic engagement he was attacked with illness and thereafter he remained incapacitated for active service until January, 1865, when he rejoined his regiment, with which he took part in the battle of Petersburg on the 2d of the following April, this being one of the last of the important battles of the great internecine conflict. After the surrender of Generals Lee and Jolinston Mr. Ozman took part in the Grand Review of the victorious troops in the city of Washing- ton, where he received his honorable discharge. He then returned with other members of his regiment to New York state, and shortly af- terward he established himself in business as

harnessmaker, at Ithaca, that state. In 1866 he sold his business and went to Wheatland, Vernon county, Wisconsin, where he contin- ued in the same line of business until 1871. In the year last mentioned Mr. Ozman became a resident of Gage county, Nebraska, where he obtained a homestead claim of one hundred and sixty acres of land, in Section 6 Highland township. He was one of the early settlers of that part of the county, and recalls that at the time Indians were still much in evidence in this section of the state, the while deer and antelope still roved the prairies. He gave himself vigorously to the reclaiming and improving of his pioneer farm and eventually developed the same into one of the productive and valuable landed domains of the county. In character and ability he was well fitted for leadership in community affairs, and he was active in the furtherance of measures and un- dertakings that conserved both civic and in- dustrial advancement and prosperity. He and his devoted wife assisted earnestly in the or- ganizing of the first Sunday school in High- land township, and he was influential in the establishing and activities of the Gage county grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, as well as the Farmers' Alliance of later years. He was able also to give effective service as one of the pioneer teachers of this section of the state, and while improving his homestead he taught eleven terms of school, in Gage and Lancaster counties, his service in the peda- gogic profession having been given during the winter terms, while he devoted the intervening summer seasons to the affairs of his farm.

Mr. Ozman has never abated his deep in- terest in his old comrades of the Civil war or in promoting lofty ideals of patriotism, in which connection it is pleasing to note that on the occasion of the old soldiers' reunion held at Beatrice in 1876, in connection with the centennial anniversary of our national in- dependence, he was chosen to deliver the pa- triotic address, a duty which he discharged with characteristic ability and earnestness. In all ways has this sterling pioneer stood ex- emplar of loyal and progressive citizenship, and none has commanded a greater degree

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of popular confidence and good will. The political proclivities of Mr. Ozman are indi- cated in the staunch support which he accords to the Republican party, and he and his family hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he has been active and zealous for many years. He has been affiliated with the time-honored Masonic fraternity since 1866 and is one of the honored and veteran members of Rawlins Post, No. 35, Grand Army of the Republic, at Beatrice.

In Wisconsin, Mr. Ozman wedded Miss Mary A. Phillips, who was born in England and who was a girl when she accompanied her parents on their immigration to America. A woman of strong character and high ideals, Mrs. Ozman shared with her husband the trials and vicissitudes of pioneer life in Gage county, and she was the first woman to live on their old homestead in Highland township, where she was the gracious and efficient chate- laine of the pioneer home and where she died at the age of forty-seven years, being sur- vived by six children, concerning whom the following brief record is given : Elizabeth Etta is the wife of Lincoln Paine, of Caldwell, Idaho; Edmund Grant, who is now one of the prosperous farmers of Gage county, served in the command of General Colby in the Indian war that culminated in the battle of Wounded Knee, South Dakota; Agnes Nevada is the wife of Mr. LaGrange and they maintain their home in the state of Oklahoma; Mary Ella became a missionary of the Methodist Epis- copal church and as such was in service in South America for the three years preceding her death; Roscoe C., who was graduated in the law department of the University of Ne- braska, engaged in the practice of his profes- sion at Lincoln, capitol of the state, and he thereafter had the distinction of serving three years as city clerk, besides which he well up- held the patriotic honors of the family name by enlisting for service in the Spanish-Ameri- can war, in which connection he was assigned to duty in the Philippine Islands, where he took part in various engagements, in one of which he was wounded in the right wrist: in 1917 he wedded Miss Edna Demming, one of

his youthful schoolmates, and they now main- tain their home on one of the fine farms of Colorado; Alfred Blaine, the youngest of the children, married Miss Ida Brown, of Beatrice, and he is one of the progressive farmers of Holt township, this county.

April 5, 1899, William L. Ozman contract- ed a second marriage, the maiden name of his wife having been Luetta May Kitchen. Mrs. Ozman was born and reared in Jasper county, Iowa, a representative of one of its well known pioneer families, and she makes the pleasant home of the family one notable for its gener- ous hospitality and good cheer. Mr. and Mrs. Ozman have two children,- Earl John and Theodore R., both of whom remain at the parental home and are students in the public schools of Beatrice.

FREDERICK J. SMITH left a definite and worthy impress in connection with civic, in- dustrial and business advancement in Gage county, commanded the high regard of all who knew him and it is but due that a tribute to his memory be incorporated in this volme.

Mr. Smith was born in the district of East Friesland, in the extreme northwestern part of Germany, and the date of his nativity was December 22, 1850. He was a scion of one of the old and sterling families of that historic section of Germany, a district formerly a part of the Netherlands, and was a son of Jergen and Etta (Goldenstein) Schmidt, concerning whom more specific mention is made on other pages, in the memoir of John Carstens, who married their daughter Mary. Mr. Smith was reared and educated in his native land and was about seventeen years of age when he came to America, in 1868, he having found it expedient to change the original spelling of the family name to the English form after he had here established his home. At Rushville, Illinois, he has associated with the business conducted by his uncle until 1872, when he came to Gage county, after having previously purchased a homestead near Clatonia. Such was his intellectual ability that he was called upon to teach school in one of the districts of Clatonia township, and his ambition led

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him, about 1874, to take a higher course of study, in Wesleyan University at Warrenton, Missouri. Thereafter, he continued his suc- cessful service as a teacher in Clatonia town- ship until his marriage, in 1880, after which he engaged in farming, six miles west of Cortland. In 1885 he removed with his family to the village of Cortland, where he engaged in the general merchandise business and built up a substantial and prosperous trade. He continued his activities as a representative merchant of Cortland until his death, which occurred January 21, 1913. He was the owner of a well improved farm in Clatonia township and also of another, in Rooks county, Kansas. He was a stockholder of the Farmers' State Bank of Cortland and also of the Farmers' Elevator Company of that place. He was loyal and public-spirited as a citizen, his course was guided and governed by the highest principles, and he held the inviolable confi- dence of those with whom he came in contact in the varied relations of life. His political support was given to the Republican party, he served a number of years as a valued member of the board of education at Cortland, he was affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and he was a zealous member of the German Methodist Episcopal church, as is also his widow, who still resides at Cortland. He aided much in the organization of the church of this denomination at Cortland and in the erection of the church edifice, besides having served as an officer of the same.

On the 1st of April, 1880, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Smith to Mrs. Maria (Wendt) Pothast, widow of Simon Pothast, whose death occurred when he was about thirty-two years of age, in Illinois, and who is survived by four sons,- Henry, who is en- gaged in the real-estate business in the city of Lincoln, Nebraska ; David, who is a retired farmer in Colorado; Edward, who is cashier of the Farmers' State Bank at Cortland ; and Frederick L., who is cashier of the Farmers' State Bank at Pickrell and is individually men- tion on other pages of this work. Mr. and Mrs. Smith became the parents of six chil- dren : Rosetta and Anetta died in early child-

hood; Lillie is the wife of Professor H. G. Least, of Mount Pleasant, Iowa; Elsie is the wife of J. H. Wehrli, of Haxton, Colorado; Setta died at the age of three years, of mem- branous croup; and Luella remains with her widowed mother at Cortland.

Mrs. Maria (Wendt) Smith was born in Germany, October 10, 1850, and in 1868 she accompanied her parents on their immigra- tion to America, the family home having been established in Illinois, where her first marriage was solemnized, and her parents having eventually come to Gage county, Nebraska, where they passed the remainder of their lives. Mrs. Smith is a daughter of Philip and Helen (Kentsche) Wendt, both natives of Germany, where the former was born in 1830 and the latter in 1828. Mr. Wendt was a shoemaker by trade, and resided at Davis, Illinois, until he came to Gage county, in 1886. Here he worked at his trade and clerked in the general store of F. J. Smith & Co. He died in 1892, and his venerable widow passed the closing years of her life in Cortland, where she died in 1903. Of their four children two are living,- Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Helena Lucka, who likewise resides at Cortland, this county.

JAMES R. WILSON is numbered among the progressive business men and influential citizens of the village of Pickrell, where he is a stockholder in and general manager of the Farmers' Elevator Company, besides which his association with agricultural enterprise is further shown by his ownership of an excellent farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Thomas county, this state.

Mr. Wilson was born on a farm near Spring- field, capital city of Illinois, on the 20th of April, 1870, and is a son of Robert and Mary E. (Reed) Wilson, of whose seven children he is the firstborn; Clara is the wife of P. G. Stanley, of Cheyenne Wells, Colorado; Rilla is the wife of E. T. Locke, of Wichita, Kansas; Lena is the wife of J. J. Sherman, of Doniphan, Hall county, Nebraska ; Lillian is the wife of Ralph G. Ells, a successful farmer in Blakely township, Gage county ;

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Ada is the wife of W. E. Derby, of North Platte, this state; and William W. resides at Beatrice, Gage county.

Robert Wilson was born near the city of Liverpool, England, June 8, 1838, and was reared and educated in his native land. There he was associated with farm enterprise until about 1868, when he came to the United States and engaged in farming near Springfield, Illinois. In 1878 he came with his family to Nebraska and established his residence on a farm which he rented from Judge Parker, south of Beatrice, the judicial center of Gage county. Later he purchased land on the old Indian reservation, in Liberty township, where he reclaimed and developed a fine farm and where he continued to reside until 1900, when he sold the property. He then paid a visit to his son James R., of this review, after which he set forth to visit his old home in England, his intention being to return to America and purchase land in Canada. Mystery and probable tragedy are all that can be conjectured concerning him since that time, as none of his family has heard from him since he left Gage county and no trace of him has been obtained from any source. His wife, whose death occurred in 1902, was born near Springfield, Illinois, in June, 1846.

James R. Wilson was a lad of eight years when he accompanied his parents to Gage county, where he was reared to manhood and made good use of the advantages afforded in the public schools. He continued thereafter to be associated with productive farm enterprise until 1911, in April of which year he assumed his present office, that of manager of the Farmers' Elevator Company at Pickrell.

On the 20th of March, 1895, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Wilson to Miss Rosa M. Renfro, who was born in southern Missouri, June 21, 1877, a daughter of J. T. and Martha (Boyd) Renfro, both likewise natives of Missouri, representatives of the Renfro family having been clergymen of the Baptist church in two or more generations. Upon leaving Missouri the parents of Mrs. Wilson removed to western Kansas, where her father took up a homestead claim, but within a comparatively

short time he came with his family to Pawnee county, Nebraska. £ He and his wife now reside at Peru, Nemaha county, where he is living retired, save that he gives his supervi- sion to his fruit orchard, which is a small but productive one. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson have three children,- Ray, who is assistant man- ager of the grain elevator at Pickrell, as his father's valued aid; Harry, who is a student in the high school at Beatrice. and Frank, who is the youngest member of the home circle.

A wide-awake and progressive citizen and business man, Mr. Wilson has been. specially influential in public and community affairs at Pickrell, and he was prominently identified with the organization and incorporaiton of the village. In 1914 he was elected mayor, and of this municipal office he has since continued the incumbent,- a fact that attests alike his personal popularity and his effective admin- istration. He has been progressive in his · official policies and under his regimé great improvements have been made in the village, especially in establishing the system of electric street lighting and the construction of cement sidewalks. His political allegiance is given to the Democratic party and he is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Ancient Order of United Workman.

SILAS A. SEYMOUR is another of the honored Nebraska pioneers who has shown his appreciation of the advantages and at- tractions of the city of Beatrice by here establishing his home after retirement from productive activities as a farmer. He was born in Herkimer county, New York, on the 4th of November, 1843, and is a son of Tomp- kins and Hannah (Dodge) Seymour, both likewise natives of the old Empire state, where they passed their entire lives and where the father became a substantial farmer and in- fluential citizen of Herkimer county. He also was a successful merchant and contractor for a term of years. His father, Silas Seymour, was born and reared in New York state, his parents having been natives of England, and he was a soldier in the war of 1812. His

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wife's father, Amasa Dodge, was a representa- tive of one of the old and honored families of the Mohawk valley of New York. Tompkins Seymour was originally a Democrat in politics, but finally he transferred his allegiance to the Republican party. He was a man of broad mental ken and mature judgement and he commanded the high esteem of all who knew him. He was called upon to serve in various township offices, and he and his wife were active members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Of their five children the subject of this sketch is the only one living.

Silas A. Seymour acquired his preliminary education in the district schools of Oswego county, New York, and thereafter attended Pulaski Academy, at Pulaski, that state, be- sides pursuing higher academic studies in Falley Seminary, at Oswego. He enlisted in 1864 as a member of Company E, One Hun- dred and Eighty-ninth New York Volunteer Infantry, and with this command he was in active service until the close of the Civil war, he having been with his regiment at Appo- mattox at the time of the surrender of General Lee and having taken part in numerous en- gagements that occurred within the final year of the great conflict. In later years he has vitalized his interest in his old comrades in arms by maintaining affiliation with the Grand Army of the Republic.

After the close of the war Mr. Seymour at- tended Falley Seminary, as noted above, and in 1867 he numbered himself among the pioneer settlers of Blackhawk county, Iowa, where he engaged in farm enterprise and where he continued his residence until 1871. In that year, with team and covered wagon, he made the overland journey to Jefferson county, Nebraska, and the same primitive method of transportation was used when he brought his family to the new home, in the following year. He purchased in Jefferson county a quarter section of land, minor im- provements having previously been made on the place, including the erection of a house fourteen by sixteen feet in dimensions and built of cottonwood lumber. On this farm he continued his residence fourteen years,

within which period he brought the land under effective cultivation, enlarged and remodeled the house and erected other requisite farm buildings. He was successful in his vigorous activities as an agriculturist and stock-grower and in 1885 he came with his family to Beatrice, where he purchased property and established his permanent home. Here he has since lived practically retired during the in- tervening years and in the enjoyment of the peace and prosperity that fittingly crown a life of earnest and fruitful endeavor.

On the 2d of January, 1868, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Seymour to Miss Eliza- beth Porter, who was born and reared in the state of New York, a daughter of Nelson B. Porter, and certain of whose ancestors were patriot soldiers in the war of the Revolution, so that she is eligible for and actively affiliated with the Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Mr. and Mrs. Sey- mour have two children. Florence, a graduate of the Beatrice high school, remains at the parental home and is popular and active in connection with the social life of the com- munity. Gertrude is the wife of Verne H. Burnette, who is engaged in the printing busi- ness in the city of St. Joseph, Missouri, as a member of the Roubidoux Printing Company. The elder daughter is a skilled stenographer and has been employed as such for several years.

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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 84

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