History of Hall County, Nebraska, Part 116

Author: Buechler, A. F. (August F.), 1869- editor
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western Pub. and Engraving Co.
Number of Pages: 1011

USA > Nebraska > Hall County > History of Hall County, Nebraska > Part 116

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In 1874 he was united in marriage to. Miss Johanna Danahy, a native of Ireland, and they became the parents of four children, as fol- lows: Mary Josephine, at home; James T., an attorney, who met death by drowning in 1909, at the age of twenty-eight; Frank J., cashier of the State Bank of Grand Island; and J. L., mayor of Grand Island.

Mr. Cleary is a Democrat in politics and his fellow-citizens, realizing his ability have called upon him several times to serve in pub- lic positions. He was city treasurer in an early day, mayor of the city three terms, member of the county board of supervisors two terms and a member of the city council two terms. He proved a capable official, always loyal to the trust reposed in him.

Mr. Cleary is a member of the Catholic church and is held in the highest esteem by all who know him.

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A. F. BUECHLER. - The press is the recorded voice of the community, and a leading representative of the press of Hall County is A. F. Buechler, editor of the Grand Island Daily Independent and one of the editors in chief of this history of Hall County.

The subject of this sketch was born in Stan- ton, Illinois, January, 1869, son of Rev. C. and Mrs. Hannah Buechler. The father had emigrated to America from Germany in 1865. The mother's parents came to America from Northern Germany when she was still a babe and the grandfather on the maternal side died in 1871 as a result of injuries and exposure received while fighting for the Union in 1864.

About 1870 the father was called to serve three German congregations in Northern Ohio and here A. F. Buechler attended the public schools until the age of thirteen, at which time his family moved to Thayer County, Nebraska. After a year of school at Carleton, Nebraska, he began work, at the age of fourteen, as a copyist in the office of the county clerk at Hebron, Nebraska, and four months later took a clerkship in the postoffice in the village of Carlton, work which in later years stood him well in hand. He also carried on general clerks duties in the general merchandise store of S. A. Truesdale, the postmaster. In 1885, he began his advanced education, which con- sisted of one year in the preparatory depart- ment and later four years in the college at Capital University, Columbus, Ohio, from which he graduated in 1890, with the degree of A. B. His parents, in the meantime, had moved to Grand Island, and early in the fall of 1890 he found employment on the Daily Times as solicitor and reporter. In 1891, S. P. Mobley, then business manager of The Independent, obtained a commission with the state's exhibit at the Chicago World's Fair, and Fred Hedde, the founder, and then editor and owner of the Independent gave Mr. Buechler employment as a general office assist- ant during the absence of Mr. Mobley. So on August 3, 1891, Mr. Buechler began ser- vice with The Independent which has con- tinued until this time. In December, 1895, W. M. Geddes and A. F. Buechler, under the partnership of Geddes & Buechler, leased the Independent plant. In February, 1897, Mr. Hedde again resumed charge of the paper, re- taining Mr. Buechler as silent partner. Fail- ing health compelled Mr. Hedde's disposal of the plant in 1900 and Mr. Buechler organized the present Independent publishing Com-

pany on a capital of $7,000, merging therewith the Standard Printing Company. He has thus been employed and connected with the Independent for twenty-nine years, for the last nineteen years as president, which office has thus far always assumed the editor- ship.

In addition to the close association with public affairs of the community which the editorship of a daily paper naturally entails, Mr. Buechler has devoted his time and energy to numerous specific public duties. He has assisted in organizing three commercial clubs, during these twenty-nine years, and for five years served as the first secretary and for four years thereafter as a member of the executive committee of the present organization For two years he also served as secretary of the state association of Commercial Clubs. In 1911, he was appointed postmaster and served one term.

Besides the many tasks which The Inde- pendent cheerfully met during the war period, Mr. Buechler was appointed as one of the first directors of the Red Cross and served throughout the war. He was elected at a mass meeting as one of a War Activities Committee of five, to take over, at request, all war drives, and was upon the organization of the committee elected as its secretary, serv- ing in that capacity up to and including the Victory Loan drive. He also served as pub- licity committeeman in every war drive throughout the war with the exception of the first Y. M. C. A. which was taken up by the association independently.

He was united in marriage in 1891 to Mrs. Lydia L. Boehm. They have a family of four children ; the eldest, Theo. E. Buechler, grad- uated with honors from the local high school, attended Grand Island College one year. whereupon he obtained an appointment as cadet for West Point Military Academy, at- tended Columbia Preparatory school at Wash- ington, six months, passed the mental and physical examination for entrance at West Point, and upon completion of the course ranked twenty-first in a total entering class of two hundred and fifty-one. He became a captain of artillery, with an assignment of instructor in gunnery in central officers train- ing school, Camp Taylor, Kentucky, and is at present zone major, with the American army at Coblenz, Germany.

Mrs. A. A. Roeser is the wife of the former assistant cashier of the State Bank of Grand Island, and now local agent for Peoria Life

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Insurance Company. She is a graduate of the local high school and Grand Island Con- servatory of music.

Walter E. Buechler, became a corporal in Company B One Hundred and Thirty-seventh Engineers, American Expeditionary Force, France. He volunteered at the age of nine- teen with the Seventh Nebraska Regiment, and when that regiment was abandoned by the War Department, carried out his determina- tion to enter the service by enlisting with the Engineer Corps at Jefferson Barracks. Since his return he has resumed his duties with the Independent Publishing Company.

The youngest daughter, Catherine, aged twelve, is attending the public schools of Grand Island.

Mr. Buechler's interest in preserving the early history of the county, of which his efforts in 1907 in securing the personal remin- iscences of some of surviving members of the original colony of 1857, and other Hall County pioneers, was an invaluable aid in the com- pilation of the present volume. The steady substantial growth and recognition being ac- corded in newspaper circles of the state to the Grand Island Daily Independent attests the success of the services of Mr. Buechler and his associates to the Independent Publish- ing Company, the community in general and Hall County particularly. -

DANIEL A. FINCH, D.D.S. - While the principles of dentistry have not changed since the early days of the science, the world has grown wiser concerning its benefits, and the. scientific discoveries of recent years that have made consideration of the hygiene of the mouth most important in medical diagnosis, has gone far to place this profession in the foremost place where it belongs. It is to dental surgery that thousands of the unhappy victims of the late war will look for facial regeneration, and its achievements already in plastic surgery recall the day of miracles. There are many among the older practitioners who have labored with faith and professional skill for this wider field of human usefulness, and great credit must be accorded them for preparing the way, often with inadequate fa- cilities and hampering environment. One of Grand Island's leading dental surgeons, Dr. Daniel A. Finch, has been continuously en- gaged here in the practice of his profession for thirty-four years.

Dr. Finch was born at Florence, New York, Nevember 19, 1863, one of a family of five

children born to Daniel and Maria (Livesey) Finch. Both parents were born in Yorkshire, England. The mother of Dr. Finch was ac- companied to the United States in 1843, by her mother, who was an evangelist preacher in the Methodist Episcopal church from the time of landing until her death many years afterward. The father of Dr. Finch came to the United States in 1841, when the old sailing vessels that plied between England and Amer- ica, sometimes consumed six months in mak- ing the passage. He settled in Oneida County, New York, engaged in farming and raising stock, became respected in his community, . where he held local offices, and finally died on his farm when aged forty-two years. Of his four living children, there are two residing in Nebraska, Daniel A. and John S. in Lincoln, Nebraska. The latter has been connected with the Nebraska State Journal, at Lincoln, for the past twenty-five years.

From the public schools of Oneida County, where his educational training had been thor- ough, Daniel A. Finch went to New York City and pursued a course in dentistry, since then making it his sole vocation. He came to Nebraska in his early days of practice and has been a resident of Grand Island since June 10, 1885. He has kept fully abreast with the times and maintains well appointed offices in the Hedde building, Grand Island.

On February 17, 1887, Dr. Finch was united in marriage to Miss Addie M. Hall. Her parents were H. L. and Lydia Hall, who came to Hamilton County, Nebraska, as early as 1872 and died there. Mrs. Finch passed away at Grand Island, in January, 1917. Their one daughter, Grace M., resides with her father, and being talented in music is very popular in music circles and is a teacher of merit. Dr. and Miss Finch attend the Methodist church. While a Republican in national politics, Dr. Finch maintains an independent course in local affairs. He has never accepted any public office except membership on the school board, during six years of service displaying good judgment and civic pride. For many years he has been identified with the Masons and the Knights of Pythias, serving officially in both orders, and has held all the offices in the latter organization pertaining to the local lodge.

HENRY J. BECKER is proprietor of the Becker Music Company, the oldest established concern of its kind in Grand Island which had its beginning more than twenty-one years ago. Endowed by nature with ability in his chosen Digitized by

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calling, his education and experience have well fitted him for making this line of endeavor his life work. When a boy of seven years he was playing the violin for dances and public enter- tainments in his native land, and later received instruction under such able tutors as William Thiele, who for years was a member of the famous Thomas Orchestra of Chicago.

Mr. Becker was born in Westphalia, Ger- many, July 12, 1872. At the age of fourteen he was brought to America by his parents, C. F. and Matilda (Eickhoff) Becker, who established their home in Grand Island. Here Henry J. and his brother C. F. continued the study of music, later becoming instructors- and for several years conducted an orchestra. It is now twenty-one years since the Becker Brothers opened a store and the partnership continued until 1912, when Henry J. pur- chased the interest of his brother and became sole proprietor.

The Becker Music Company have a well equipped store at the southwest corner of Third and Pine streets, where everything in music can be found.

A genial disposition, a pleasing personality, together with his knowledge of music, have in- spired the confidence and good will of the pub- lic, while honest dealings and fair prices have assured him success.

Mr. Becker was married in Grand Island to Miss Emma Boettcher, and they have two children : Robert H. and Wilma M.

WILHELM R. JENSEN, who is a mem- ber of the merchant police force at Grand Is- land, came first to this city in the spring of 1874. He is a native of Denmark, born, Jan- nary 28, 1846, near Aalborg, a son of Jens P. and Margaret Cline (Wilhelmsen) Rasmus- sen Jensen. The father of Mr. Jensen was born in Denmark, February 14, 1818, and died there in 1894. His mother was born in Den- mark June 21, 1819, and died there in 1862. They were the parents of six children and of the five yet living, Wilhelm R. is the only one in the United States.

The laws of Denmark provide for the edu- cation of the children of the country, and Mr. Jensen had the opportunity to lay a good foun- dation in the schools and afterward learned the trade of bricklayer under his father. In 1869 he came to the United States and for four years worked on farms in Iowa, after- ward spending one year in Colorado, working in brickyards and on a sheep ranch. In March, 1874, he came to Grand Island, which

has been his home during the greater part of the time ever since. He became a mem- ber of the first volunteer fire department, and is one of the four survivors of the "Always Ready Hook and Ladder Company, No. 1" which made a notable name for itself in pro- tecting property in the early years when the city was largely constructed of inflammable material. Mr. Jensen owns an interesting photograph of the above company, which he prizes very highly. In 1878 he was appointed deputy sheriff and served under Sheriff Kil- lian from 1878 until 1882. During this time he had in charge a convicted murder, named Hart, but Mr. Jensen's term expired before the time of execution. The criminal escaped the penalty through pardon on the day before his sentence was to be carried out, the scaffold having been erected in the jail yard.

In 1882 Mr. Jensen returned to Denmark on a visit and in 1883, while there, was united in marriage to a widow, Mrs. Meta K. Ander- sen. She had four children but only one is living, namely: Martina, who is the wife of Thomas A. Brown of Iowa City, Iowa. To Mr. and Mrs. Jensen three children were born: Margaret, who is a saleslady for the O. C. Thompson Company, Grand Island; Mary, who is a stenographer and bookkeeper in the offices of the Union Pacific Railroad Com- pany at Grand Isfand; and Niels, who is in the contracting business. All of the children reside at home, and with their parents belong to the English Lutheran church.

When Mr. Jensen returned to Grand Island from his visit to Denmark, he gave his atten- tion for some time to his personal property interests. In the spring of 1889 he accepted a place on the city police force and served as a patrolman until 1901. After that, for two years, he worked for Jens Rasmussen at brick work, and then returned to official life. since then having been employed on the mer- chant police force. Mr. Jensen's record for personal courage is well known at Grand Is- land. In politics he is a strong Republican.

CARL BAASCH is among the number who came to Hall County in an early day, and in his farming operations met with the success that enables him to spend the evening of life in honorable retirement.

Mr. Baasch was born in the village of Kiel, Holstein, Germany, May 27, 1841, and was a son of George and Anna (Krambeck) Baasch, both natives of the same province in which their son was born. The father was a wagon

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maker by trade and died in that country about 1858. The mother came to the United States in 1860 and lived to be nearly one hundred years of age and passed away at Davenport, Iowa.

Carl was reared in his native land and was a young man of twenty-three when he came to the United States in 1864, He spent two years at Davenport, Iowa, and in 1866 came to Hall County, Nebraska. In recalling that trip brings to mind that there were no rail- roads in Nebraska then and the journey was made by stage. Martin Schimmer, another pioneer of this county, was a passenger on that trip, and often twelve men rode in the stage at one time. On reaching Hall County Mr. Baasch found employment at whatever would provide him a living and worked four- teen months for the pioneer firm of Koenig and Wiebe. For eight months he was em- ployed in railroad construction work and helped build the line to the Black Hills.

It was soon after he came here that Hall County was visited by the memorable grass- hopper plague. Mr. Baasch like many others was not very favorably impressed with the prospects of making this a permanent home. But times grew better and Mr. Baasch took up the occupation of farming, bought land and conducted his affairs in such a manner that suc- cess attended his efforts, and he is considered one of the well-to-do men of his community.

April 11, 1875, Mr. Baasch was married to Miss Wiebke Minnie Hansen, a native of Ger- many, a daughter of one of the early settlers of the county, her parents settling here in 1874. The father of Mrs. Baasch died in 1916, but the mother is still living and has reached the age of nearly eighty-nine.

To Mr. and Mrs. Baasch have been born six children, all of whom are married and re- side in this county. Ernest, married Emma Thode, who is deceased and the present wife is Katie Bockmann. Henry married Bertha Luth, who is now deceased. Gustave married Hermina Wragge. John married Clara Heesch. Anna married Emil Wagner. Martha is the wife of Henry Knuth.

REV. LEWIS A. ARTHUR, who is one of the able men of the Protestant Episcopal clergy in Nebraska, is the rector of the Epis- copal church at Grand Island. Zealous in the cause of religion and giving unsparingly of the best that is in him, Dr. Arthur wields wide influence. Carried away as the world is at the present time sometimes seems to be by

materialism, a strong guiding force is needed in every community to combat vicious doc- trines, and to supplant them with the whole- someness, beauty, love and sympathy ex- pressed in the tenets of the church. Such is Dr. Arthur's mission.

Lewis A. Arthur is of New England birth and ancestry, but the Arthur name is not un- known in other sections as it is honorably re- corded in the nation's annals. Mr. Arthur was born in a manufacturing city of Bur- lington, Vermont, and is a son of John A. and Harriet F. Arthur. Without mention of early school advantages and favorable home en- vironment, he was graduated from the Univer- sity of Vermont with the degrees of A. B. and A. M., and subsequently from the General Theological Seminary, New York City, with degree of S. T. B.

Dr. Arthur has been twice married. On June 29, 1887, he was united in marriage to Miss Eunice Tripler, who died September 25, 1911. She was a daughter of General Charles S. Tripler, Medical Corps, United States army. On June 16, 1915, Dr. Arthur married Miss Alice May McAllister, who is a daughter of William R. McAllister. Dr. Arthur has one daughter, Eunice, who was married April 16, 1916, to William Ritchie, Jr., an attorney at law at Omaha, Nebraska.

RALPH R. HORTH has been a member of the Hall County bar for thirty-five years and throughout that entire period has made con- tinued progress and has written his name high on the keystone of Nebraska's legal arch. While at all times careful to conform his prac- tice to the highest professional ethics he has at the same time so guided his course in every relation that his name is honored and respected wherever known and most where he is best known.

Mr. Horth is a native of the Empire State, born at New Albion, New York, April 16, 1863. His parents were Charles and Angeline (Smith) Horth, who became residents of Hall County in 1872, settling on a farm in Jackson township. Both parents died in this county, the father in 1914 and the mother in 1904. Charles . R. Horth served three years during the Civil War as a member of Company H. Seventy-second New York Volunteer Infantry.

Ralph R. Horth attended the public schools of Gibbon and' also the Baptist Seminary located there. He then entered the State Uni- versity of Michigan where he received his de- gree of LL.B. in 1885. Following this he Digitized by

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entered upon the practice of law at Grand Island where he has continued to the present time. Since 1911 he has been a member of the firm of Horth and Ryan with offices in the Ryan building. He served as county attor- ney and city attorney and was chairman of the War Activities Committee during the World War.

In connection with this prominence at the bar he has become well known in financial circles and has been a director in the First National Bank of Grand Island, Bank of Phillips, State Bank of Ravenna, Perkins County Bank and the Bank of Meeker at Meeker, Colorado. He is a director of Davis Brothers Drug Com- pany of Denver, Colorado, vice-president of J. W. Hugus and Company who operates a chain of eleven stores in Wyoming and Colo- rado, secretary of the Chicago Hide and Fur Company of Grand Island and secretary of the Efell Company, a corporation in Wyoming engaged in the sheep and cattle industry.

August 8, 1888 Mr. Horth was married to Miss May Castiday, a daughter of D. R. and Mahalah Castiday. Mrs. Horth's father was a prominent stockman of Wyoming and is now deceased, while the mother is still living.

Mr. Horth is a member of the Episcopal church and has been a member of the vestry board for twenty-five years. For eighteen years he was chancellor of the diocese.

In politics Mr. Horth is a Republican and has served as chairman of the County Central Committee several times. Fraternally he is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Masonic and B. P. O. Elks lodges.

IRA T. PAINE, who is one of the sub- stantial business men of Grand Island and is at the head of one of the city's important enter- prises, has been a resident of this city forty- six years and has taken a keen interest and im- portant part in much of its development.

Mr. Paine is a native of Ohio but is of New England ancestry and of Revolutionary stock, his paternal great-grandfather, Eleazer Paine. having been a soldier in the patriot army in his native state, Connecticut. Mr. Paine's maternal great-grandfather, Ira Tuttle, also a native of Connecticut, was a justice of the peace for many years in Ohio. Among the young lawyers practicing in his court, were Frank and Benjamin F. Wade, whe became distinguished in public life in the Buckeye state.

Ira T. Paine was born at Painesville, Ohio, January 31, 1847, the son of Henry and Har-

riet (Tuttle) Paine, both of whom were born in northeastern Ohio, and spent nearly all their lives on a farm, passing away there in old age. Henry Paine was a son of Hendricks Paine, a native of Connecticut who moved to Ohio in 1802. Henry Paine was a man of prominence in Lake County, a justice of the peace, and for nine years was a county commissioner. He and wife were pillars in the Methodist Episcopal church and worthy people in every relation of life. Of their family of eight surviving children out of the original ten,but two reside in Grand Island, Ira T., and Miss Carrie M. Paine, who lives with her brother.

In the country schools and at Painesville, Ira T. Paine obtained his education, in the meanwhile working on the home farm until 1873, when he came to Grand Island, Ne- braska. He arrived with but a small amount of capital but as he was frugal, a hard worker and had early acquired industrious habits, he soon found employment and for six years worked in a lumber yard after which he went into the railway mail service where he remained seven years. In the spring of 1888 he embarked independently in the monument business, a con- cern which has developed into a stock company of large importance, under the firm name of the Paine-Fishburn Granite Company, oper- ating with a capitalt stock of $64,000. Mr. Paine is president of the company and much of its success is due to his careful, conserva- tive guidance of its affairs. He is a Republican in politics and at all times is an earnest citi- zen, but he has never had any ambition for political honors, in the proper regulation of his own business affairs finding a satisfying life.

Mr. Paine was married June 9, 1870, to Miss Ella M. Huston, who died October 21, 1911, survived by one child who is Judge Bayard H. Paine of Grand Island. Mr. Ira T. Paine has been for more than twenty-five years the chairman of the board of trustees of the First Methodist Episcopal church of Grand Island.

WILLIAM J. HEFLIN. - With the am- bition to accomplish something valuable and to make their lives truly useful, many intelligent young men early turn to a career in medicine, and in more or less debree they attain their ob- ject. Grand Island has attracted many thor- oughly qualified medical men and a represen- tative member of the profession is Dr. Will- iam J. Heflin, who is in the enjoyment of a

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IRA T. PAINE

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History of Hall County, Nebraska, Part 116

Author: Buechler, A. F. (August F.), 1869- editor Publication date: 1920 Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western Pub. and Engraving Co. Number of Pages: 1011

Author: Buechler, A. F. (August F.), 1869- editor
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western Pub. and Engraving Co.
Number of Pages: 1011