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 94
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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA
HENRY RICE
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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA
student in this institution when arose the dark cloud that threatened to disrupt the Union. Having watched the course of events, his patriotism was aroused to responsive protest, and December 12, 1863, he enlisted in Com- pany D, Fourth Illinois Cavalry, with which he served in defense of the Union during the Civil war. His service covered a period of nearly three years, and he was mustered out at Houston, Texas, his honorable discharge having been given in June, 1866.
He took part in fifty-eight engagements and skirmishes, the principal ones being Vicks- burg, Red River campaign, and Hood's cam- paign against Nashville. He rendered valued service in guarding the Memphis & Charles- ton, the Mississippi Central, and the Mobile & Ohio Railroads. He was distinguished for coolness and bravery in time of battle and re- turned home unhurt, though he was often in the thickest of the fight. When he started out for himself in life after returning from the war Mr. Rice took up the noble profession of teaching school, and for eight years he de- voted his attention to this service, readily im- parting to others the knowledge he had gained and carefully saving his earnings. In 1874 he was thus enabled to engage in agricul- tural pursuits and to purchase eighty acres of land in Ogle county, Illinois. In 1883 he sold out in Illinois and came to Gage county, Nebraska, where he purchased two hundred and forty acres, on which stood a little shanty and a small board stable. He immediately set to work developing and im- proving the farm and in due time it became one of the finest farms of Paddock township. Until fifteen years ago he was actively en- gaged in general farming, since which time he has lived retired, having placed the mantle on the shoulders of his sons, who operate the farm.
March 25, 1874, Mr. Rice was united in marriage to Miss Mary J. Hitt, a native of New York state, where she was born Sep- tember 21, 1846, a daughter of Samuel and Janet (Campbell) Hitt, who became residents of Ogle county, Illinois, in 1856. August 1, 1917, Mr. Rice was called upon to mourn the
loss of his wife, who, for more than forty- four years had been a loving companion and helpmeet. She bore her husband three sons: Charles E. and Andrew are unmarried and operate the old home farm; George, who mar- ried Hazel Brooks, operates the Brooks farm in Sicily township.
Mr. Rice is a Republican in politics and maintains pleasant relations with his old army comrades by membership in Reserve Post, No. 148, Grand Army of the Republic, at Odell. Mr. Rice has contributed much to the growth and development of Gage county and in all these years of peace he has been as true and loyal as when he was following the stars and stripes on the battlefields of the South.
FRANK H, WANDERSEE was born in Beatrice, Nebraska, August 4, 1879, and in the spring of 1880 his parents established their home in Sicily township. Here he was reared to manhood and here he has continuously resided in his present neighborhood. Mr. Wandersee is a son of Frank Wandersee, whose record appears elsewhere in this volume.
Frank H. Wandersee was educated in the public schools of Gage county, and spent his boyhood days between the district schoolroom and his father's farm, early learning the best methods of tilling the soil and the proper care of crops and live stock, so that when he ar- rived at young manhood he was in position to assume the responsible duties of a farmer on his own account. Mr. Wandersee is now farming a quarter-section of land, in Section 8, Sicily township, and is meeting with the success that always comes to the man who is industrions and efficient.
Mr. Wandersee made preparation for a home of his own when he chose for a wife and helpmeet Miss Susan Lewis, of Carlton, Ne- braska. She is a daughter of George G. Lewis, whose record appears elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Wandersee have two children,- Edna and LeRoy.
GEORGE G. LEWIS is one of Sicily town- ship's successful farmers, and he owns and
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resides on a valuable farm of one hundred and sixty acres, in Section 20. Mr. Lewis was born in Mills county, Iowa, September 28, 1866, and is a son of George W. and Maria (Waitt ) Lewis, the former of whom was born in Illinois and the latter in Ohio. The mar- riage of the parents occurred in Mills county, Iowa, they having been children when their parents there became pioneer settlers. George W. Lewis was a successful farmer, owning land in Mills county, Iowa, where both he and his wife remained until their death.
On the old home farm in Mills county, Iowa, George G. Lewis, the subject of this record, was reared. At the age of nineteen years he became a farmer on his own account, but he continued to make his home under his father's roof until he had attained to the age of twenty-three years. He then came to Ne- braska, and for two years he operated a farm in Sicily township, Gage county. He then moved to Thayer county, Nebraska, and bought one hundred and twenty acres of raw prairie land, entirely unimproved. For four- teen years he lived on this farm, which he then sold. He then came again to Gage county, where he purchased his present farm. Here he has since been successfully engaged in general farming business.
In Gage county Mr. Lewis married Miss Mattie C. Heddings, who was born in Seneca county, Ohio. Her parents, Jacob and Mary (Grill) Heddings, came to Gage county more than fifty years ago, when their daughter was one year of age, and were among the earliest settlers near Blue Springs. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis became the parents of six children : Susan is the wife of Frank H. Wandersee, of Sicily township; Ceola is the wife of J. D. Snyder, of Blue Springs, this county ; Howard is married and lives in the city of Beatrice; Jessie is teaching in the schools of Gage county ; and Mamie and Fay are at home.
Though they lived several years outside of the county, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis began their domestic career within the borders of the township where they now live, and they are here held in high esteem by a host of neigh- bors and other friends.
LEE L. CHAPMAN, the efficient and pop- ular foreman of the freight department at the Beatrice station of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, was born at Metamore, Woodford county, Illinois, on the 30th of March, 1858, and is a son of John and Verona ( Kellogg) Chapman, both natives of the state of Vermont and both representatives of sterl- ing old families of New England. John Chapman was about seventy-eight years of age at the time his death and his venerable widow, who was born at Stowe, Lamoille county, Vermont, October 25, 1834, now main- tains her home at Beatrice, Nebraska. He was a son of Simon Chapman, who removed in an early day from the old Green Mountain state to Ohio, where he passed the remainder of his life. John Chapman removed from Ohio to Illinois about the year 1852, and though he was a shoemaker by trade, he pur- chased land in Woodford county, Illinois, and there turned his attention to agricultural pur- suits. In 1885 he came with his family to Gage county, Nebraska, where he purchased land and where he became a substantial farm- er and highly esteemed citizen. About one year prior to his death he removed to the city of Beatrice. He was a man of fine mentality and most gracious personality. He was rear- ed in the faith of the Universalist church and as a splendid vocalist he sang in church choirs for many years. His political allegiance was given to the Democratic party and he was in- sistently loyal and public-spirited as a citizen. He was the owner of two hundred and sixty acres of land in Gage county at the time of his death, and the property is still owned by his family, his widow owning an additional tract of eighty acres of land in Woodford county, Illinois. Of their eight children seven attained to years of maturity and six are now living, the subject of this review having been the second in order of birth; Jesse is a carpenter by trade and lives at Saybrook, Illinois ; Smith is a skilled mechanic and is employed in one of the leading indus- trial establishments in the city of Beatrice ; Verna is the wife of C. B. Bell, of this city; Percival J. has the active management of his
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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA
father's old homestead farm, in Sicily town- of Beatrice since the spring of 1917, and their ship; and Grace is the wife of T. J. Sample, pleasant home being at 820 Market street. of Beatrice.
Lee L. Chapman acquired his early educa- tion in the public schools of Illinois and there supplemented this discipline by a course in an academy. He was reared on his father's farm and was twenty-seven years of age when he accompanied his parents to Gage county, Nebraska. Here he was associated with farm enterprise one year and then he found em- ployment in the Beatrice freight office of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, he having been foreman of the local. freight de- partment for somewhat more than fifteen years and having proved a most efficient and popular executive in this field of service.
In 1883 Mr. Chapman wedded Miss Frances A. Van Meter, who was born in the state of Indiana, and they have two children: Dale R., who resides in Beatrice and is in the employ of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company, married Miss Laura Yule, and they have three children,- Glenn, Helen, and Donald L .; Jessie is the wife of L. J. Griesel, who is engaged in the banking busi- ness at University Place, Nebraska.
In politics Mr. Chapman is found aligned as a staunch supporter of the cause of the Democratic party, he is affiliated with the Woodmen of the World, and both he and his wife are most zealous members of the Presbyterian church in their home city, he be- ing a deacon in the same.
LAMMERT W. FRERICHS came to Gage county in 1882 and acquired a tract of raw prairie land in Logan township. His finan- cial resources were limited but he had the genius of industry and perseverance, as well as mature judgment, so that he proved successful in his farm enterprise, the successive years of earnest and constructive application bringing to him cumulative prosperity. He is now the owner of a valuable landed estate of eight hundred acres, in Logan township, and the various farms included in this property are under the able management of his sons, he and his wife having lived retired in the city
Mr. Frerichs was born in the province of Hanover, Germany, September 19, 1845, was there reared and educated and there gained his initial experience in farm enter- prise. In 1866, shortly after attaining to his legal majority, Mr. Frerichs came to America, proceeded to the state of Illinois and found employment on a farm near Mount Sterling, Brown county. Later he was similarly en- gaged in Adams county, that state. After his marriage he became the owner of a farm of forty acres, in Hancock county, Illinois, and there he continued his activities as an agri- culturist until 1882, when he came with his family to Gage county, Nebraska, and pur- chased one hundred and sixty acres of un- improved land in Logan township. On the embryonic farm he erected a frame house, six- teen by twenty-six feet in dimensions, and as success attended his strenuous activities as an agriculturist and stock-grower he not only made the best of improvements on his home- stead but also gradually added to the area of his landed estate, which is now one of the val- uable properties of Logan township.
At Carthage, Illinois, March 20, 1869, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Frerichs to Miss Maria H. Rankin, who likewise was born and reared in Hanover, Germany, and who came to the United States in 1867, their acquaintanceship having been formed near Mount Sterling, Illinois. Mrs. Frerichs has proved a true helpmeet to her husband and shares with him in the rewards that have crowned their years of earnest endeavor. Con- cerning their children the following brief record is properly given at this point: Polk and his wife reside on one of his father's farms in Logan township, all except one of the other sons being likewise in charge of farm properties owned by their father in that township; Lammert, Jr., and his wife have four children; Gerhard and his wife likewise have four children ; John is the father of three children ; William is a representative farmer in Franklin county and is the father of eight children; Maria became the wife of John
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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA
Fritzen and is now deceased, being survived by six children; Lena is the wife of Diedrich Ordman, of Logan township, and they have ten children; Alice married O. Zimmerman, a farmer in Logan township and they have five children ; Annie is the wife of Thomas Trau- ernicht, of Logan township, and they have three children ; and Gracie died in childhood.
Mr. Frerichs lived up to all civic respon- sibilities incidental to increasing prosperity and was one of the liberal and progressive men of Logan township while there actively engaged in farm industry. His political alle- giance is given to the Democratic party, and and while on the farm he served one year as tax collector, while for fifteen years he was treasurer of his school district. Both he and his wife are earnest communicants of the Lutheran church.
WILLIAM N. FARLOW, now sole owner of the prosperous and important industrial enterprise conducted under the title of the Beatrice Brick Works, is essentially one of the progressive business men and representa- tive citizens of the Gage county metropolis and judicial center. He gained as a child his initial experience in connection with pioneer life in the west, and thus it is but natural that he should exemplify in his personality the vital spirit that has significantly characterized those reared under the inspiring and sturdy discipline of the great empire of the west.
At Miamistown, Indiana, on the old Miami Indian reservation, Mr. Farlow was born on October 10, 1852, and he has the distinction of being a scion of one of the old and honored pioneer families of the Hoosier state, his grandfather, Simeon Farlow, having been born in North Carolina, of English ancestry, and having become a very early settler of Indiana, where the history of the state records that he was an earnest and self-sacrificing pioneer clergyman and gave much time to preaching to and otherwise aiding the Indians. He whose name introduces this article is a son of John and Lydia (Goodwin) Farlow, the former a native of Wayne county, Indiana, and the latter of the state of Ohio. The
marriage of the parents was solemnized in Indiana and there they continued their rest- dence until 1856, when they numbered theni- selves among the pioneers of Taylor county, Iowa. There for a time John Farlow clerked in a general store and later he turned his at- tention to farm enterprise in that county, where he achieved success and was influential in community affairs. He passed the closing years of his long and useful life at Beatrice, Nebraska, where he died at the age of eighty- two years and where his widow still resides, she having celebrated her eighty-fourth birth- day anniversary in 1917.
William N. Farlow was about four years of age at the time of his parents removal to Iowa, where he was reared under the condi- tions and influences of frontier life and where he gained his early education in the common schools of the period, his more advanced education having been obtained in the Iowa Agricultural College, at Ames. For eight years he did successful service as a teacher in the schools of Taylor county, that state, and thereafter he held for two years the posi- tion of bookkeper in a leading bank at Bed- ford, the county seat. He then became cash- ier of a bank in the village of Conway, in the same county, and this incumbency he re- tained two years. In 1892 Mr. Farlow came to Nebraska and established his residence in Beatrice, where he engaged in the real-estate and abstract business and developed a pros- perous enterprise. In 1909 he became one of the stockholders and the manager of the Beatrice Brick Company, and since 1912 he has owned the major portion of the stock in the business. The well equipped and effec- tively conducted manufacturing plant has a capacity for the output of thirty thousand brick daily, employment is given to an aver- age force of twenty men and the high-grade products find ready demand in connection with building operations through Gage and ad- joining counties, the business being one of substantial order.
In Taylor county, Iowa, January 12, 1882, recorded the marriage of Mr. Farlow to Miss Jennie Griffith, who was born and reared in
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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA
that county, a daughter of the late David and Adeline (Johnson) Griffith, natives respec- tively of Pennsylvania and' Ohio and number- ed among the sterling pioneers of the Hawk- eye state. Mr. and Mrs. Farlow have three children, of whom Orville W., the eldest, is married and associated with his father in the brick business; Dale remains at the parental home, and is a graduate of the Beatrice high school; Vera, the only daughter, is the wife of Guy Magee, of Fremont, this state.
In politics Mr. Farlow is an advocate and supporter of the cause of the Democratic party, and while residing in Taylor county, Iowa, he served four years as county record- er. Both he and his wife hold membership in the Christian church, and their pleasant home is marked by distinctive culture and refinement. In 1917 Mr. Farlow erected as the family residence his present modern and attractive brick bungalow, which is situated at the corner of Eighth and Beaver streets, and is one of the beautiful homes of Beatrice. Mr. Farlow is a Knight-Templar Mason.
WILLIAM I. REED, a prosperous agri- culturist of Gage county, was born in Menard county, llinois, August 26, 1863, and is a son of Andrew Jackson Reed and Sarah Jane (Sheneman) Reed. Andrew Jackson Reed was born in Kentucky, in 1844, and when an infant was brought to Illinois by his widowed mother, who lost her husband when the child was six weeks old. He received his educa- tion in Illinois and later followed farming in that state until 1878, when he moved to Nod- away county, Missouri. Andrew J. Reed re- mained in Missouri until 1883, in which year he came to Gage county, Nebraska. Here he remained several years, and he then returned to Missouri, but later he removed to Topeka, Kansas, where he died at the home of one of his sons, at an advanced age. His wife, who was born in Wayne county, Ohio, died at Pattonsburg, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Reed were the parents of five children: Charles L., who was formerly register of deeds of Gage county, Nebraska, is now living in Arkansas ; Laura, the widow of Del Whitmarsh, resides
at Blackwell, Oklahoma; William Iles is the subject of this sketch; Frank C. lives at Pat- tonsburg, Missouri; and Lulu is the wife of John Frazier, of Interior, Washington.
William Iles Reed was reared on a farm in Illinois and gained his early education in the public schools of Menard county, that state. When fifteen years old he went with his par- ents to Missouri, and with them he came to Gage county, Nebraska, in 1883. Here he rent- ed land in Sicily township, where he continued farming operations several years. He later bought eighty acres near Odell, and there he lived eight years. At the expiration of this period he purchased one hundred and sixty acres in Section 22, Sicily township, where he now lives. At that time the farm was very well improved, but Mr. Reed has added to the improvements until he now has a home that is up-to-date in every particular, his house being lighted by electricity and heateď' by furnace, so that he and his family enjoy the comforts of a city home. Mr. Reed does a general farming business and has been very successful. He is a Republican and has held several township offices. He is now a mem- ber of the school board.
William Iles Reed wedded Miss Addie Clay- ton, daughter of Isaac R. Clayton, a record of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Reed are the parents of six children - Ollie C., wife of Frank Gish, of Rockford township; Fred Lee, manager of the Farmers' Lumber Company of Wymore, this county ; Ada V., wife of Christmas Roberts, of Wymore ; Nora E., wife of Raymond Salis- bury, who has recently established himself on a cattle ranch near Long Pine, Brown county ; and Clarence M. and Ethel Lucile, at home. Mr. and Mrs. Reed are members of the Bap- tist church.
FRANK P. WICKHAM has built up in the city of Beatrice a very prosperous and vital enterprise in the handling of newspapers,. magazines, stationery, etc., and his attractive- ly equipped establishment is located at 1161/2 North Sixth street. He has the local agency for all metropolitan newspapers circulated in
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the city and keeps in stock a fine line of sta- tionery and various office supplies, besides pre- senting for the consideration of his patrons all of the current popular magazines and other periodicals. Mr. Wickham is a native son of Gage county and is a scion of a family that was founded in Nebraska in the territorial days.
Mr. Wickham was born in Blakely town- ship, this county, on the 28th of April, 1871, and is a son of Horace M. and Isabelle (Alexander) Wickham, both natives of Ohio, the former having been born near Newark and the latter near Ironton, that state. Horace M. Wickham gained a wealth of frontier ex- perience. From Ohio he removed, in 1845, to Holt county, Missouri, and from the latter state he went to Iowa in 1857. March 30, 1859, recorded his arrival in Gage county, Nebraska,- nearly a decade prior to the ad- mission of the state to the Union. For eight years thereafter he was actively engaged in freighting operations across the plains and about 1866 he took up a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, in Blakely town- ship. On this pioneer farm he erected a little log house, and eventually he developed the place into one of the valuable and well improved farm properties of the county. He was twice married, and his first marriage was the first ceremony of the kind to be performed ir' Gage county,- May 8, 1859. His second marriage was to Mrs. Isabelle (Alexander) Beebe, and her first husband and their only son were killed in an Indian raid, in 1864. Of the first marriage was born also a daugh- ter, Rua Beebe, and her husband, Mr. Conally, is a prosperous farmer in York county, Ne- braska. Horace M. and Isabelle Wickham became the parents of two children, of whom the subject of this review is the younger; Clarissa became the wife of James Nelson and her death accurred at Beatrice, in April, 1907. The parents were active members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mrs. Wickham passed to the life eternal in the year 1873 and her husband was one of the venerable and honored pioneer citizens of Gage county at the time of his death, in 1906.
Horace M. Wickham contributed his quota to the civic and industrial development and progress of Gage county, was a man of ability and sterling character and was influential in public affairs in the county. He was in- dependent in politics and he served in various local offices of trust, including that of county supervisor, of which he continued the incum- bent twelve years. His father, Thomas Wickham, was born and reared in Ohio and became a pioneer settler in Missouri, where he passed the remainder of his life.
Frank P. Wickham found the period of his childhood and youth compassed by the be- nignant influences of the home farm and his early education was acquired in the public schools of Gage county. He continued his active association with farm enterprise until 1907, when he removed to Beatrice. Here he conducted for the ensuing four years a billard and pool room, and he then sold the business and established his present thriving enterprise, to which he gives his undivided attention. He is the owner of his attractive residence pro- perty in Beatrice and also a well improved farm of one hundred and twenty acres, in Sicily township. His political allegiance is given to the Democratic party, he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, including the adjunct organization, the Daughters of Rebekah, and also with the Modern Woodmen of America, the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the Royal Neighbors, he and his family holding membership in the Christian church.
The year 1894 recorded the marriage of Mr. Wickham to Miss Martha Howard, who was born in Hancock county, Illinois, a daugh- ter of Jasper N. Howard, who is a representa- tive farmer in Thayer county, Nebraska, since 1910. Mr. and Mrs. Wickham have one child, Norva, who now holds a responsible position in the office of the Von Steen Lumber Company, and who is one of the popular factors in the social life of Beatrice.
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