History of Hall County, Nebraska, Part 128

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 128

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HANS JOERGENS RUNGE, well known and highly respected in Hall County who has been a resident of Cairo since 1904, is engaged in the business of buying cream for the Hard- ing Cream Company of Omaha, with which dairy company he has been connected for the last sixteen years. He was born in Holstein, Germany, in 1855, a son of Hans J. and Cath- erine (Ranmiers) Runge. His father was killed while Hans was serving in the army, his horse accidentally falling on him. The mother was later married to John Goss, and two daughters born to that union are living: Mrs. Margaret Paulson, of Grand Island, and Mrs. Lina Soll, of Wyoming.

Hans J. Runge has been a hard worker all his life. He started as a laborer when he was a boy, remaining for nine years with his first employer. In 1887 he landed in the United States and came directly to Grand Island. where he was first engaged as a general labor- er but as soon as he became known he made friends through his industry and honesty and found employment with the grocery houses of H. D. Hennings, William Baker and Hay- den Brothers. After that he rented land and engaged for a time in farming. In 1904 he removed to Cairo and since then has managed the cream business of the above mentioned Omaha firm, a business connection of long standing which has been mutually profitable.

Mr. Runge married Augusta Lange, who was born in Germany in 1840 and is now de- ceased. The following children were born to them: Rudolph, who works in the railroad shops in Grand Island; William M., who is a farmer in Hall County; John, a farmer in Buffalo County ; Ernest, who works at Grand Island in the railroad shops; Fred, a sailor in the United States navy; Charles, with the United States Engineers serving in France; Peter, also with the American Expeditionary Force in France, belongs to the artillery; Anna, who lives at Grand Island; August, a soldier in the United States army ; and Emil. a schoolboy at Cairo. Mr. Runge and family

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attend the Baptist church. In politics he is a Democrat. He belongs to the Plattsduetchen society, to the Fraternal Union and the Mod- ern Woodmen. Mr. Runge is a man whose word is as good as his bond at any time.

JESSE M. RUTH, owner and proprietor of the Cairo Pharmacy, in Cairo, Nebraska, and interested here along other lines of mod- ern business, impresses a stranger as one of the most progressive, alert and enterprising citizens of this community. He is a native of Nebraska, born at Emerick, Madison County, in 1882, the elder of two sons born to his par- ents, Phineas W. and Rachel (Collingwood) Ruth. The second son, Silas B. Ruth, who resides at Spokane, Washington, is sales manager of the Ryan Fruit Company.

The father of Mr. Ruth was born in Alle- gheny County, Pensylvania, in 1856, came to Madison County, Nebraska, and still resides in that county, being one of the prominent busi- ness and public men of Newman Grove, now serving as treasurer of Madison County. When he first located here he was practically a poor man, but soon secured a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, took an ac- tive part in the development of that section and kept on acquiring land until he now owns many acres on the Canadian frontier and valu- able realty at Newman Grove. He is an im- portant factor in the Republican party there, having served two terms as county assessor and was a member of the first city council of Newman Grove. He is one of the pillars of the Congregational church and fraternally is identified with the Odd Fellows and the Woodmen. He was in business as a contrac- tor and builder and did much work at New- man Grove, but is now retired from this line of activity. The mother of Mr. Ruth was born in Pennsylvania in 1860 and is deceased.

Jesse M. Ruth was graduated from the Newman Grove schools in 1896 and for the next four years was engaged as a bookkeeper for the Crowell Lumber and Grain Company, when he entered the drug store of C. V. Anderson as clerk and student remaining there until the fall of 1902, when he entered the school of pharmacy in Creighton College, from which he was graduated in 1904. For the

next two years he was with the drug firm of Sherman & McConnell, and then went to Bloomfield, Nebraska, where he conducted the Corner Drug Store until 1908, before com- ing to Cairo to enter the employ of Dr. Tische, taking charge of the Cairo Pharmacy. In 1909 Mr. Ruth purchased the business but has

continued to conduct it under the old well known name. Under his ownership it has been greatly improved and the scope of the business widened. In addition to carrying a complete line of fresh pure drugs, patent medi- cines, including The Penslar's Line, also Hess & Clark's products, livestock remedies and the innumerable toilet and other preparations now found in every first class drug store. Mr. Ruth has added other departments and handles cut glass, jewelry, wall paper and paints. He has one of the finest soda fountains in Hall County and his entire establishment would be creditable to a much larger city. He has shown unusual enterprise along other lines, notably when he founded the Gem Theatre, in 1915, of which he is the owner.

Mr. Ruth married Miss Rena B. Cain, who was born in 1884, at Creston, Nebraska, and they have three children, namely: Winifred, Laverne and Kenneth, all of whom attend school. The family belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church. In politics he is active as a Republican, and in fraternal life his connec- tions are with the Masons, the Odd Fellows, the Highlanders and other leading organiza- tions.

KARL ALFRED RASMUSSEN, one of Cairo's most successful young business men, has won his present prosperity honestly and fairly through his own efforts. Many young men acquire good business prospects but few of them, perhaps have to do so much alone and unaided as did Mr. Rasmussen, who, when but eighteen years old, came to a far off land to make his way among total strangers. It is much to his credit that he has done so well. He was born in Denmark, July 28, 1889, and his parents and two sisters and three brothers still live in that country.

Karl Alfred Rasmussen attended school near his birthplace and was only twelve years old when he began to learn the blacksmith trade, entering upon a certain period of ap- prenticeship, in the meanwhile cherishing an ambition to come to the United States, which he was only able to gratify by borrowing his passage money for the voyage to this country. After landing in America he made his way to Dannebrog, Howard County, Nebraska, where Oscar Carlson employed him in his blacksmith shop for sixteen months. Mr. Rasmussen then came to Cairo, where he worked for eighteen months for Fred Erick- son, at the end of that time buying the shop from his employer. It was just a plain, ordi- nary blacksmith shop but it was the beginning

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of Mr. Rasmussen's business success for in the course of time he put up a first class blacksmith building with modern appliances, twenty by one hundred and thirty feet and a second building almost as large and now hadles farm implements of all kinds in addition to modern blacksmithing, making a specialty of acetylene welding. He is also manager of the city water and light plants.

Mr. Rassmussen married after he came to Hall County, Miss Anna Eggers, who was born here and they have one daughter, Helen Dora, who attends school. Mr. Rasmussen has not identified himself with any political party but casts an independent vote as his own excellent judgment dictates. He belongs to the order of Odd Fellows and also to the Danish Brotherhood.

AMOS HENRY SHATTUCK, pastor of the Baptist church in Cairo, is a man whose intellectual acquirements and broad vision have made him take interest in many lines of useful effort that have given him marked leadership in both business and public affairs in this village. He has been one of the in- vigorating forces here since 1908. He was born in 1897, near Winona, Minnesota, and was but two years old when he became a resident of Nebraska.

The parents of Mr. Shattuck were Amos and Elizabeth (Thackery) Shattuck, the former of whom was born in New York in 1830, and the latter in 1850, in Indiana. Both are deceased. They had the following chil- dren: Mrs. Emma Harpham, who is de- ceased; Mrs. Abby Mott, who lives in Iowa ; Eugene G., employed in the freight depart- ment of the Burlington Railroad at Hastings; and Amos Henry, who resides at Cairo. The father of the above family went to Indiana in early manhood and from there to Minnesota prior to 1870, and in 1872 removed with his family to Adams County, Nebraska. He home- steaded there and acquired a forty acre tree claim, the latter being of note because it was one of the very few that proved profitable. While he resided on his farm he made many improvements although, like his neighbors, he suffered hardship and loss at times, partic- ularly from the violent wind storms that swept over the level prairie. His son recalls one of these furious storms during his boyhood, on which occasion the barn was blown entirely away and the family horses had to be brought into the house with the family until its violence subsided. His father, by setting out trees, did his part in bringing about the changed

conditions that now prevail, Amos H. Shat- tuck remembering the early conditions and the first tree planted in Adams County. When his father retired from the farm he settled in the village of Juniata, where he lived the rest of his life. He was a man of sterling character, a faithful member of the Dunkard church, and so trustworthy in public affairs that his fellow citizens elected him to many political offices. At the time of his death he owned a large body of land and across his farm lay the old California trail.

Amos H. Shattuck remained at home with his father until he was eighteen years of age and then went to Washington, working there for one year as a carpenter. After coming back to Adams County, he engaged in farming for a year. In September 1892 he entered the Grand Island Academy and afterward the Baptist College, from which he received the degree of Ph. B., and afterward, from the Chicago University, the degree of Bachelor of Theology. Soon after graduation he located in Illinois and served as pastor of a Baptist church there for one year, then accepted an appointment as a missionary to Utah, remain- ing in that territory for one year. Prior to coming to Cairo, Nebraska, where he became pastor of the Baptist church, he had been sta- tioned for a time in California. Here Mr. Shattuck has proved the invigorating quality of his citizenship by not confining himself alone to his pastoral work. On the other hand he embarked in business in the line of con- tracting and has put up a number of the town's substantial business houses, in the meanwhile being manager of the Nelson Lumber Com- pany. An active and conscientious Republican, he has accepted political responsibilities and has served in school offices, as a police magis- trate and is a justice of the peace.

Reverend Mr. Shattuck married Miss Clara L. Craig, who was born in 1875, at Jackson- ville, Illinois, and they have the following chil- dren: Gordon, I .C., Ruth, Francis Rae, Clara Lucille, Paul Craig, Bessie Evangaline and Amos Bruce, the eldest being a sophomore in college at Ottawa.

PETER ELLIOTT, who came to Hall County, Nebraska, at a time when homestead claims could be secured here and plans made for future development that has really come to pass, purchased land which has never passed out of his ownership. The old farm is nicely located in South Loup township, within three miles of Cairo.

Peter Elliott was born in the state of New

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York, in 1862, one of a family of six chil- dren born to his parents, Peter A. and Mary (Sevier) Elliott, natives of the Empire state. The father died there but the mother passed away in Nebraska. The father was a hard working man all his life and was respected wherever known, while the mother was a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Besides Peter they had children as follows: Sarah, the wife of Comstock Penn, a retired farmer; Viola, the wife of Ephraim Fowler, a retired farmer living at Arcadia ; and Mrs. Nellie Walker, Lucy and Tilly, all of whom are deceased.

When Peter Elliott came from New York to Hall County, it was with the intention of settling here permanently. He homesteaded eighty acres and secured a pre-emption of forty acres near Arcadia, in Valley County. Later he came to Hall County and bought three hundred and sixty acres of land. Times were hard from the first for he could make only fifty cents a day working on a ranch and that counts for very little when one's cash capital does not exceed $7.50. Perhaps Mr. Elliott remembered, however, that once he had worked on a farm for two months for $5, for in those days people were unfamiliar even with such words as millions. After securing his land he built the regulation sod house, a kind of dwelling that, in spite of its disadvantages, has often been called exceedingly comfortable, where the family lived until better times came and another farm house was built. Mr. El- liott and his family went through the dry years, 1890 and 1894, and suffered losses in crops and cattle as did their neighbors.

Mr. Elliott married Mertie Bower, who was born in Vermont in 1869; they have had five children: Nelson, a farmer in. Hall County ; Sylvia, the wife of Joe Burry, a farmer in Hall County; Minnie, the wife of Ralph R. Sherlock, a farmer near Angora, in Morrill County ; Percy, deceased; and Florence, the wife of A. R. Dickerson, who is a farmer.

M. Elliott now lives retired in the village · of Cairo. For some years he served as school director in his district and he has also been road overseer. In politics he is a Democrat, and he belongs to the Modern Woodmen lodge in Cairo. Mr. Elliott can relate much that is interesting concerning early days in this sec- tion of Nebraska.

NIELS C. NIELSEN, manager for the W. H. Harrison Company, owning a lumber yard in Cairo, has been a resident of Hall County since 1892. All his life Mr. Nielsen

has been a steady, hard working man and through his industry he has accumulated a fair competency, while his sound judgment and fair dealing, have won both business and personal friends in a land far from that in which he was born. His birth took place on the island of Jutland, Denmark, in 1859. His parents were Chris and Anna Nielsen, the former of whom died in Denmark, where the latter yet lives in her ninety-first year. Of their four children, two live in Nebraska, Niels C. and Chris, the latter of whom con- ducts a store at Rockville. The father owned a farm of 144 acres and was considered pros- perous.

Mr. Nielsen had some school advantages in his boyhood and then worked as a farm hand in Denmark until 1881 when he came to the United States. He made his way to Chicago, in which city he found many of his country -. men doing well in business and highly re- spected, and he remained there for a time working for a market gardener. Following this employment he went to the lumber regions of northern Michigan and worked in a sawmill in the deep woods during the season, but 1884 found him farther west on a farm in Howard County, Nebraska. He then learned the mason and plastering trade and when not otherwise busy found employment in this line. For some years he was in a sawmill business in Washington, but in 1897 he came to Hall County to work in the lumber yard of C. H. Bogue & Co .; subsequently he entered the employ of the W. H. Harrison Company of Cairo, having been associated with this firm for twenty-two years.

Mr. Nielsen married Sena Jensen, who was born in Denmark in 1875, and they have four children: Agnes, the wife of Albert Tagge, a farmer; Edna, the wife of Ray Ingalls, who owns an elevator; Clyde, in the government service, in the quartermaster's department, and Mildred, who resides with her parents. Mr. Nielsen votes with the Republican party and is somewhat active in local affairs, having served both as village and as school trustee. He be- longs to the order of Odd Fellows.

MELVIN L. HODGES, prospering as the result of his intelligent efforts in the stock industry, belongs to a well known Nebraska family that has been prominent in Hall County since 1897. Mr. Hodges was born at Shelton, Buffalo County, Nebraska, August 6, 1892. His parents were Lucian M. and Carrie (Atchley). Hodges, both of whom were na- tives of Ohio, educated and well bred people,

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who came to Nebraska and located near Cedar Bluffs, Saunders County, in 1885. Two years later the father bought a farm near Shelton, and in 1897 moved to Jackson township, Hall County, locating three miles southwest of Wood River. That remained the family home, where the father died February 14, 1910, and the mother January 26, 1914. They had five children : Mrs. Minnie K. Bly, Everett L., Melvin L., Mrs. Blanche J. Williams, and Elmer J.

Melvin L. Hodges had educational advan- tages in the Wood River high school and at a business college in York, Nebraska, while prac. tical training for his life work was gained on the home farm. Following the death of his parents he bought the interests of the other heirs and now owns one hundred and sixty acres, which is valued at over $200 an acre. It is highly improved and Mr. Hodges and his family enjoy a beautiful modern residence. He makes stockraising his leading farm feature and has done well, especially with his regis- tered Duroc-Jersey hogs.

At Wood River, on April 17, 1918, Mr. Hodges married Miss Mabel M. Williams, a daughter of Oliver P. and Cora (Gillett) Williams, natives of Illinois, who have the following children : Charles B. Williams, Mrs. Jennie Hodges, Mrs. Mabel M. Hodges, Ruth, Edward P., John H., Bethel and Otis. Mr. and Mrs. Hodges are members of the Metho- dist Episcopal church. He is a Mason in good standing and has advanced as far as the four- teenth degree in the order. He is not active politically but is interested as a good citizen in all that concerns his country at home and abroad.

HENRY C. ORVIS, spending the evening of life in a comfortable home in Grand Island, is an honored veteran of the Civil War, and during the days of peace since that memorable struggle has had various experiences as a pio- neer in Kansas and Nebraska. His account of the trials and hardships of the early days may almost seem incredible to the present gen- eration who are accustomed to the comforts and conveniences of the present day, and the life record of such a man cannot help but in- spire those who may have the opportunity to read this volume.

Henry C. Orvis was born in Durand, Illi- nois, September 18, 1849. His parents were Victor M. and Mary L. (Tyler) Orvis, the former born in Vermont while the latter was a native of New York. As a farmer and a shoemaker the father reared a family of ten

children. Henry C. was the fifth in order of birth, the others being: John R., Mary E., Mrs. Matilda Wells, Mrs. Harriett M. Moore, Mrs. Delilah Smith, all of whom are deceased; Mrs. Lucinda L. Adams of Dubuque, Iowa; and three who died in infancy.

Mr. Orvis was reared in his native state and in recalling his youthful days he says the first money he ever earned was feeding an old wooden cane mill, with a horse as the motive power, grinding cane to make sorghum mo- lasses. When he was fifteen years and ten days old a recruiting officer came to the home and wanted young Henry to become a soldier in the Union army during the Civil War. As the lad was anxious to go the father gave his written consent and at Marengo, Illinois, Sep- tember 28, 1864, he enlisted in Company D. Twelfth Illinois Cavalry. It was sent to Mem- phis, Tennessee, where the men were put on patrol duty watching the movements of Gen- eral Hood's command. Mr. Orvis took part in a number of skirmishes, his company going to Vicksburg and later to Baton Rouge, Louis- iana, where he served to the end of the war, being mustered out of service and receiving an honorable discharge at Springfield, Illinois, June 28, 1865. He was a gallant defender of the nation's cause and was always found at his post of duty.

In 1879 Mr. Orvis moved to Kansas, with a team of horses and a capital of ten dollars in money and the remainder of his worldly pos- sessions loaded on a wagon. His home was a dugout. Crops were poor owing to the drouth. He lost one of the horses and traded the other for a yoke of oxen. He hauled freight from Waukeeney to the settlement of Prairie Dog Creek, a distance of sixty-five miles, a trip requiring five or six days. He slept under the wagon in all kinds of weather.

In 1881 he made a trip to Custer County for corn, and bought corn raised on the ground where the court house stands in Broken Bow. There was nothing raised in Kansas and he would take a load of pigs and selling them would trade them for corn. On the way back he slept in an old sod house and turned his oxen in the corral.

That same year he and his brother John C. went to Iowa, settling in Brush Creek. Fayette County. Here Mr. Orvis was united in mar- riage September 22, 1867, with Miss Frances E. Richardson, a native of Peoria, Illinois, a daughter of Josiah and Rhoda Richardson. natives of Massachusetts. Soon after this event Mr. Orvis and his wife went to Morton County, Kansas, where after losing five con- secutive crops from drouth they decided to

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H. C. ORVIS AT AGE FIFTEEN

H. C. ORVIS

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remove to a more congenial climate. In the fall of the year when there were five or six inches of snow on the ground, his children barefooted, with his worldly possessions loaded on a wagon drawn by a yoke of oxen they travelled one hundred and eighty miles, camping out at night and his cash capital con- sisted of one dollar and fifty cents with which they made the entire trip. That winter he found employment hauling coal at a dollar per ton a distance of eight miles from Miners- ville to Concordia, Kansas, and to help provide for the needs of the family the wife taught school. The next spring he returned to the homestead and engaged in farming while the wife continued to teach. The son Winnifred was a small child and Mr. Orvis fastened a box on the cultivator and took the little fellow with him to the field all day long. In the fall of 1883, Mr. Orvis again made a move and became one of the early settlers of Custer County, Nebraska, making the trip there with a wagon drawn by a yoke of oxen, secured a homestead near West Union, where he resided for fourteen years. While living here his wife died March 14, 1891. November 23, 1893, Mr. Orvis was again married to Mrs. Emily N. Loghry, who was born in Steuben County, New York. Her parents were John G. and Dilla (Johnson) Van Houtin, the former born in Steuben County, New York and the latter a native of Connecticut. She also was a pio- neer of Nebraska, locating here at an early day and so suffered many of the privations and hardships of the early settlers. By a former marriage Mrs. Orvis had eight children : Mrs. Maggie L. Thorpe; Harry; Mrs. Minnie Verly; john; Mrs. Kittie Belle Disert; Mrs Grace Marsh; Walter C., and Thomas D. Mr. Orvis is the third old soldier husband of Mrs. Orvis, she seeming to have a preference for veterans. In January, 1891, in company with Mr. S. D. Butcher, of Broken Bow, Mr. Orvis made a trip with team and wagon to the Pine Ridge country, arriving there three days after the Battle of Wounded Knee. They took more than forty views of interesting scenes in that vicinity.

After a busy, eventful life Mr. Orvis now occupies a comfortable home in Grand Island, surrounded with all the comforts and many luxuries of life, a condition which he justly deserves. He has been as faithful in days of peace as when following the Stars and Stripes on the battlefields of the south. Mr. Orvis maintains pleasant relations with his old army comrades by membership in the W. A. Whipple Post, at Burkett, his home being near the Soldiers and Sailors home of Burkett.

DANIEL LYHANE, a well known and highly respected resident of Hall County for many years, will long be remembered as a man of high character, sterling honesty and great industry. He was born in Ireland, in May, 1858, and died on his valuable farm in Jackson township, Hall County, Nebraska, May 29, 1917.

Daniel Lyhane lost his father by death when he was two weeks old. Later when his young mother found an opportunity to come to the United States, she left her child in the care of strangers, but she did not forget him. In the land across the sea she married again and when Daniel was eight years old she sent for him to join her in Nebraska. He learned the painter's trade in addition to farming, easily making friends because of his genuine kindness and good will.

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History of Hall County, Nebraska, Part 128

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