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 89

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 89

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October 16, 1879, recorded the marriage of Mr. Sherwood to Miss Esther Dixon, who was born in La Salle county, Illinois, December 21, 1858, a daughter of Hampton S. and Jane (Tullis) Dixon. Mr. and Mrs. Sherwood have had two children: Edna, who is the wife of Merrill Ramsey, of Petersburg, Texas, their marriage having been solemnized in January, 1903, and their three children being Merryl, Blanche and Sherwood. Mrs. Ramsey was graduated in the Filley high school and is a skilled musician, she having been a successful teacher of music prior to her marriage. Ralph H. Sherwood was a fine young man of twenty-nine years when he met a tragic death, in 1914, he having been killed by lightning. He was for two years a student in the law depart- ment of the University of Nebraska, and in June, 1910, he married Miss Cicely May Fen- ton, who survives him and who is now assis- tant librarian of the library of the law depart- ment of the University of Colorado, at Boulder.

The subject of this sketch was reared on the home farm and acquired his early educa- tion in the public schools of Illinois and the city of Topeka, Kansas, the family home hav- ing been maintained at intervals in various CURTIS C. LA FORGE. - Agricultural communities and Mr. Sherwood thus having industry in Gage county has a worthy repre-

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sentative in the subject of this record, and he is successfully engaged in farming and stock- raising in Section 8, Midland township, both departments of his farm enterprise bringing him gratifying returns.

Mr. La Forge claims the fine old Bluegrass state as the place of his nativity, as he was born in the city of Louisville, Kentucky, on the 20th of December, 1876. He is a son of Nathan P. and Demaris (Dooley) La Forge, both likewise natives of Kentucky, where they were reared and educated. The conditions and influences that compassed Nathan P. La Forge during the period of his youth were such that when the Civil war was precipitated on a divided nation his sympathies were na- turally with the cause of the south. Conse- quently he showed his loyalty by enlisting in the Confederate ranks, and he served as cap- tain of cavalry in the command of the famous General Morgan. He fought faithfully and- valiantly in defense of what he believed to be a righteous cause, survived the shock and storm of conflict and lived to rejoice finally in the fact that the integrity of the nation had been preserved. He became a successful con- tractor after the war and continued his ac- tivities along this line until his death, which occurred April 24, 1899, at Kansas City, Mis- souri, where he had built up a substantial business as a contractor. He was sixty-three years of age at the time of his death and his widow now resides in Kansas City. Five of the brothers of Mrs. LaForge were soldiers of the Confederacy in the Civil war.

Curtis C. LaForge acquired his preliminary education in the schools of his native city and after the family removal to Kansas City, Missouri, he there continued his studies in the public schools, besides which he supplemented this training by a course in the Kansas City Business College. Thereafter he associated himself with a wholesale drug house in Kansas City, and he continued to be thus employed for fifteen years.

In 1911 Mr. La Forge came to Nebraska and located at Beatrice. Here, on the 21st of June of that year, was solemnized his mar- riage ot Miss Daisie G. VanBoskirk, a daugh-

ter of Lincoln and Celia (Freer) Van Boskirk, a record concerning whom appears elsewhere in this volume. Mrs. La Forge received as a heritage from her father a quarter-section of land and soon after their marriage she and her husband established their home on this place. On the same they have erected a commodious modern residence, besides good barns and other farm buildings. Here Mr. LaForge is successfully carrying forward his operations in diversified agriculture and stock- growing, and he is recognized as one of the enterprising and wideawake farmers of Mid- land township. He and his wife have a fine little son, Curtis C., Jr., who was born July 12, 1914. The family home is known for its generous hospitality and good cheer and Mr. and Mrs. La Forge have a host of friends, both being held in high esteem by all who know them. In politics Mr. LaForge retains the ancestral faith and gives his support to the cause of the Democratic party.

RALPH R. ROSZELL exemplifies in his finely appointed studio in the city of Beatrice the highest types of photographic art, and he has long held secure prestige as one of the leading photographists of the west. He is a representative of one of the early pioneer families of Nebraska and was born on the old Otoe Indian reservation, the place of his na- tivity having been near the present village of Odell, Gage county. He was but two years of age when his parents removed to what is now Lanham, Washington county, Kansas, a locality at that time included in Nebraska. There he acquired his preliminary educational discipline and when he was twelve years old the family removed to Lincoln, Nebraska, where he attended the public schools and where he learned the art of photography while a mere boy. He was but sixteen years old when he opened his first photographic studio, in Lincoln, Nebraska, to which place his par- ents had removed, and this little studio was located at the corner of Fourteenth and O streets. Later he established a larger and better equipped studio at 1238 O street, and in connection with the same he conducted also

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

studios at Ashland and Trenton. In 1905 a chemical explosion which occurred while he was working in his photographic laboratory so injured him as to necessitate the amputa- tion of his left hand, but this injury in no degree curbed his professional enthusiasm or his self-reliance. After remaining at the parental home for twelve days he resumed work, by opening a new studio in Beatrice, at 509-1/2 Court street, this being known as the Roszell Elite Studio and being equipped with the most approved of modern facilities for the issuing of high-grade photographic work of all kinds,- portrait, commercial, view, land- scape, etc. Mr. Roszell has nearly a dozen handsome gold and silver medals that have been awarded to him for his exhibits at state and national photographic conventions, and when but seventeen years of age he had gained high national rating as a professional photo- graphist, his record for exceptional ability hav- ing been one of cumulative prestige since that time.

In 1915 Mr. Roszell amplified his field of enterprise by engaging in the handling of photographic supplies of all kinds, as well as artists' materials, and he has developed a prosperous business which extends through Nebraska and Kansas and to a certain ex- tent outside of this territory. He continues to give, however, his close personal super- vision to his studio in Beatrice, and the same is now located at 616 Court street. His pat- ronage in all departments of his well organ- ized business is of representative order and he is one of the best known photographists in Nebraska. He has served three terms as secretary of the Nebraska Professional Photo- graphers' Association, and he perfected himself in his profession by a course of instruction in Washington University, in the city of St. Louis, besides having gained technical ex- perience in a number of the foremost photo- graphic studios in Lincoln and other cities.

Mr. Roszell is the son of William F. and Olive Roszell, pioneers of Gage county, who first settled on the old Otoe reservation land east of Odell, this county. A sketch of the

career of his father appears on other pages of this volume.

In 1912 Mr. Roszell married Miss Leah A. Sonderegger, daughter of Carl Sonderegger, a well known pioneer of Gage county. They have two children. Richard Ralph and Kathryn Eulula.

Mr. Roszell had the honor of photographing Mr. Hugh Dobbs, the author of this volume, whose portrait appears in the front of this book.

C. M. SMITH is another of the sterling citizens who has achieved definite prosperity through connection with agricultural and live- stock industry in Gage county, and after hav- ing borne the trials and responsibilities of pioneer life in Nebraska and making his way through his own efforts to the goal of suc- cess, he is now living in well earned retire- ment, in the city of Beatrice.

Mr. Smith is a scion of a family that was founded in New England in the colonial era of our national history, and is a descendant of Joshua Smith who came from England in company with his brother Edward and estab- lished a home in Connecticut, prior to the war of the Revolution. He whose name initiates this sketch was born in Orleans county, New York, on the 18th of November, 1846, and is a son of Beriah H. and Philena (Morton) Smith, the former having been born near Hartford, Connecticut, June 11, 1803, and the latter having been born in South Deerfield, Massachusetts, in 1811. The parents were wedded in Massachusetts, in January, 1829, and thereafter removed to the state of New York, where the father for many years operat- ed a boat on the historic old Erie canal. In the autumn of 1847 Beriah H. Smith removed with his family to Illinois and became a pioneer farmer in Putnam county, where he took up government land and developed a productive farm, both he and his wife having passed the remainder of their lives in that state, where he died November 2, 1889, his wife having passed away in the preceding year and having been a devoted member of the Congregational church, his religious views having been in

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harmony with the tenents of the Universalist church and his political support having been given to the Whig party until the organiza- tion of the Republican party, when he trans- ferred his allegiance to the latter. He was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, was a man of superior mental endowments. He was called to serve in various township offices in Illinois and was one of the honored pioneer citizens of that state at the time of his death. Of the nine children of Beriah H. and Philena (Morton) Smith only three are now living,- Edward, who is engaged in the blacksmitlı business at Cortland, Gage county; C. M., who is the immediate subject of this sketch; and Augusta, who resides at Pickrell, this county.

C. M. Smith was reared on his father's pioneer farm in Illinois and in his youth made good use of the advantages afforded in the common schools of the locality and period. He continued his alliance with farm industry in Illinois until 1870, in March of which year he came to Nebraska and took up a home- stead of one hundred and sixty acres, in Nuckolls county. There he remained until he had perfected his title to the property, and he then established his home in Gage county. He developed a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Blakely township, made the best of improvements on the place and there contin- ued his residence until 1877 when he moved to a farm in Logan township. This he im- proved and here he resided until 1912, when he purchased another farm in Logan town- ship,- a property which he still owns. In October, 1915, he retired and with his wife established his home in Beatrice, where they are enjoying the rewards of former years of earnest endeavor. They are zealous mem- bers of the Christian church and in politics he gives unswerving allegiance to the Repub- lican party. While on his farm he served as township trustee and clerk for a number of terms each, and was for many years a mem- ber of the school board of his district.

March 16, 1873, recorded the marriage of Mr. Smith to Miss Sarah Pethoud, of Gage county, she being a daughter of Thomas and

Maria Pethoud, natives of Ohio and territorial pioneers in Nebraska. Mr. Pethoud came with his family to Gage county in 1857, nearly a decade prior to the admission of Nebraska to statehood, and he settled on his pioneer farm six miles north of Beatrice, where both he and his wife passed the residue of their lives. In conclusion is given brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Smith: Clara is the wife of Gardner Berry, a prosperous farmer in Riverside township; Helen remains at the parental home; Alice is the wife of G. L. Mumford, of whom individual mention is made on other pages ; Elsie became the wife of William Barnard, of Beatrice, and her death occurred in 1914; Sarah Antoinette remains with her parents; Eleanor is the wife of C. E. Thornburg, a farmer in Midland township; and Howard has the active management of his father's farm.

GERHARD WIEBE. - There are many interesting points in the career of this repre- sentative citizen of Beatrice, where he devel- oped a substantial dry-goods business and where he still retains his interest in the same, though he has given its active management over to his sons and is living virtually retired, his attractive home being at 715 North Sixth street.

Mr. Wiebe was born in the district of Dan- zig, Prussia, in May, 1844, and is a son of John and Margaret (Hamm) Wiebe, who, as devout members of the Mennonite church, were religiously opposed to warfare, so that, at the time of the Franco-Prussian war, they severed the ties that bound them to their na- tive land, made many sacrifices and, in 1872, removed to Russia, thus avoiding military service on the part of their sons. They passed the remainder of their lives in Russia - exiles from their home land on account of conscien- tious scruples. John Wiebe had accumulated a valuable farm estate of two hundred acres near the Prussian city of Dantzig, and he was well advanced in years when he left this fine home to exile himself in Russia. Of his eight children only three are now living and the eld- est of the number, John, still resides in Russia,

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the youngest of the three, Herman, being a prosperous farmer of Gage county.

In his native land Gerhard Wiebe received good educational advantages in his youth and he there gained valuable experience in the mer- cantile business, as clerk in a store in the city of Berlin. He was preparing to engage in business for himself at the time when his ven- erable parents manifested their earnest desire to immigrate to Russia. He promptly subor- dinated his personal plans and ambition and went, in 1869, to Russia, to prepare a home for his parents. At Samara he found employ- ment as clerk in a mercantile establishment, and at the beginning he received as compen- sation only his room and board. Within six weeks he had sufficiently mastered the Russian language to be able to do effective service as a salesman, and finally he learned to speak the language with fluency. Thus fortified, he en- gaged in business on a modest scale, in the colony where his parents resided, and he con- tinued his residence in Russia for more than a score of years and eventually built up a pros- perous mercantile business, though he was compelled to bring in his merchandise by wagons from the nearest city, ninety miles distant.

In 1894 Mr. Wiebe came to America and in that. year he established his permanent resi- dence at Beatrice, where he engaged in the general merchandise business and soon famil- iarized himself with the English language .. He finally confined his mercantile enterprise to the handling of dry goods and the various supple- mental lines customarily found in similar es- tablishments. Fair and honorable dealing and efficient service enabled him to develop a sub- stantial and properous business, and he still retains his interest in the well equipped store, which is now under the active management of his sons. He is the owner of good business buildings in Beatrice and also of his pleasant home. He is a liberal and public-spirited cit- izen, loyal in all things to the land of his adoption and is a substantial citizen who con- mands unqualified popular esteem. He is in- dependent in politics and he holds membership in the Mennonite church.

In 1873 Mr. Wiebe married Miss Margaret Claassen, who was born in Germany and whose parents thence removed to Russia, where they passed the remainder of their lives. Mrs. Wiebe died at the old home in Russia, in 1890, and there also died four of her ten children, all of the other children being now residents of Gage county : G. C. is engaged in the clotli- ing business at Beatrice; William is associat- ed with the dry-goods business here estab- lished by his father ; Magdalene is a deaconess of the Mennonite Home and Hospital in Be- atrice; Agatha is the wife of H. A. Penner, who is connected with the Peters Trust & Loan Company, at Omaha; Elizabeth presides over her father's home; and Justina is the wife of P. Daniel Schultz, teacher of science in the Beatrice high school. It will thus be noted that the family is one of prominence and in- fluence in the business and social life of the Gage county metropolis.

JAMES PACKER. - The seafaring life is vital and adventurous and it has lured the youth of all ages, because of its hazards and the opportunities it affords to see the world. James Packer, a retired farmer living in Elm township, spent the early years of his life as a sailor, and as such he sailed into nearly every port of the world. He went to the South Sea Islands, where the savages brought their spices to load on the ship; he went to the northern countries, where the furs were loaded on his ship; he traded with white men, black men, and yellow men -men of every clime and condition. He was only eight years old when he made his first voyage, on his father's ship, and from that time onward he spent the greater part of his time in close association with his father's maritime activities. In the cold winter months they kept to the southern waters, away from the treacherous ice-floes. In the summer months they went to the north- ern waters and carried the freight they were anxious to send to other shores. Mr. Packer has an interesting collection of sea shells and deep-sea fauna which he had collected on these voyages, and he loves to recount his adven- tures.

HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

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MR. AND MRS. JAMES PACKER

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

Mr. Packer was born on famed old Broad- way, New York city, the date of his nativity having been May 10, 1841. He is the eldest son of James and Mary (Appleman) Packer. James Packer was born in New York, in 1812, and died July 7, 1892, in a sailors' home at Key West, Florida. James Packer, Sr., spent the greater part of his life on the sea, sailing all over the world. The latter years of his life were spent in the hotel business in New York, where he and a brother conducted a hotel. In 1858 he purchased land in Clayton county, Iowa, where he farmed for a few years. His wife, Mary Ann (Appleman) Packer, was born in 1813, in Connecticut and was laid to rest in Decatur, Iowa, in 1898. Her parents were of Swedish birth, and upon coming to America they settled in Connecticut. James Packer, of this review, was the firstborn in a family of six children.

In the public schools of Mystic, Connecti- cut, Mr. Packer received his early education. He had as a classmate, the well known Judge Holmes, of Lincoln, Nebraska. During the Civil war Mr. Packer was exempted from ac- tual service, as he was engaged in farming and the farmers were needed to feed the fighting men. His brother Gustavus responded and was accepted, serving his country on the fir- ing line.

The marriage of James Packer and Julia F. Goodrich was solemnized October 9, 1864. Mrs. Packer was born in Chautauqua county, New York, in 1844, and she passed to the life eternal on the 9th day of July, 1897. Her ancestry was of the sturdy New England type characteristic of that historic section, where it is said that they do not raise crops but raise men. Her paternal grandfather was a physi- cian and fought in the war of 1812. Mr. and Mrs. Packer became the parents of nine chil- dren, concerning whom brief record is here given : Charles J. resides in Riverside town- ship ; Hiram A. lives at Culbertson, Hitchcock county, Nebraska ; James G. resides at Diller, Jefferson county ; William H. and Julius F. reside at Woodriver, Hall county ; Caroline C. is the wife of A. Frisbie, of Elm township, Gage county ; Eda F. died in 1880; Walter C.

was born May 26, 1882, and died March 18, 1884; Margaret Ella is the wife of John Greider, living in Glenwood township.

Mr. Packer has lived on his present farm in Elm township since 1881, when he came from Iowa to Nebraska. His land was wild and uncultivated, and he has won it to a high state of productivity, planting an orchard and other shade trees to beautify the former bar- ren prairie. In 1903 Mr. Packer married Nannie Shaff, who was born February 22, 1867, in Marion county, Iowa, and who was a child at the time of the death of her parents. Mrs. Packer came to Gage county in 1901. One child has been born of this marriage, and their son, Dewey E., was named in honor of the late Admiral Dewey, of Spanish-American war fame, who was a personal friend of Mr. Packer. This son is a great comfort to his parents in their pleasant home. Mr. Packer is a Republican in politics, and he has served as road overseer and as a member of the. school board. Mrs. Packer holds membership in the Methodist Episcopal church.

JOHN M. SHALLA was born in Wash- ington county, Iowa, December 25, 1879, a son of Frank Shalla, mentioned elsewhere in this volume. John M. Shalla was a child of eighteen months at the time of the family re- moval of Gage county. He can remember the building of his parents' first home in Gage county, where the family were among the first to settle on the Otoe Indian reservation. He was reared on the farm, attended the public schools and for the past fourteen years he has been engaged in farming for himself. He was assisted by his father in purchasing a farm in Glenwood township, but later he sold this property to his brother William, and for the past six years he has owned and operated the present place, a well improved tract of two hundred and forty acres, in Paddock town- ship.

He married Miss Mary Sikyta, who is a native of Johnson county, Nebraska, and a daughter of Frank and Christian Sikyta, early settlers of that county. Mr. and Mrs. Shalla have two children,- Harold and Stanley.

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

Mr. Shalla is a Democrat and is serving as clerk of Paddock township. While living in Glenwood township he was clerk of that town- ship for several years.

JOHN J. GRONEWOLD has gained through his insistent energy and ability a se- cure vantage-ground as one of the substantial exponents of farm enterprise in Hanover town- ship, where he is the owner of a well improved farm property of two hundred acres, his at- tractive homestead being situated in Section 31. Mr. Gronewold was born in East Fries- land, Germany, on the 9th of October, 1873, a son of John and Anna ( Heinrichs) Gronewold, the father having been born in 1847 and his death having occurred in 1891, his entire life having been passed in his native land, where his widow still resides, she having been born in 1844. Of their six children four are living : Soaka remains in Germany; John J., of this review, is the next younger; William is en- gaged in farming in Gage county ; and Galscha remains at the old home in Germany. The other two children, Dick and Weaka, sacri- ficed their lives in the great European war of the present day. The religious faith of the family is that of the Lutheran church and the father gave his entire active career to farm industry, in which his success was unequivo- cal, his old homestead farm in East Friesland comprising seventy acres.

John J. Gronewold gained his youthful edu- cation in the excellent schools of his native province and was but sixteen years old when, in 1889, he came to the United States and es- tablished his residence in Gage county. Here for ten years thereafter he was employed as a farm hand, and though he never received large wages he carefully saved his earnings, as he was ambitious to establish himself independent- ly as a farmer. After his marriage he con- tinued in the employ of others until 1900, when his financial resources had become such as to enable him to make partial payment on a farm of eighty acres, in Hanover township. With characteristic energy he gave himself to the improving and general operations of the farm, which he eventually sold advantageously, and

he has not only become an independent and successful agriculturist and stock-grower of the county but has also accumulated a fine landed estate of two hundred acres. He keeps the farm in the best of condition throughout, has erected good buildings to supplement those that were already on the property, and he or- ders with much circumspection and attendant success all branches of his farm enterprise, which includes diversified agriculture and the raising of cattle, swine and chickens of the best type. He gives special attention also to the raising of beans and has made this enterprise notable successful. A hard worker and a man of good judgment, he has achieved prosperity through his own endeavors and is one of the highly esteemed citizens of Hanover township. In politics he is independent of strict partisan lines, he has served as road overseer and as a member of the school board, and he and his wife are active communicants of the German Lutheran church.

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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 89

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