History of Hall County, Nebraska, Part 131

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

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Subsequently he became a resident of Hall County, locating at Wood River, where he now owns six hundred and seventy acres of land and is accounted one of the substantial men of the county. For twenty-two years Mr. Leavenworth has made a specialty of feeding sheep and his operations in this line have reached extensive proportions, feeding as high as forty-eight thousand head in one year. Other enterprises have been benefitted by the sound judgment and keen business ability of

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Mr. Leavenworth and his name is on the direc- torate of the First National Bank of Wood River.

October 30, 1884, was solemnized the mar- riage of Edgar S. Leavenworth and Miss Emma E. Gifford, a daughter of Henry O. Gifford. They are members of the Pres- hyterian church, and in politics Mr. Leaven- worth is a Republican. He is also a thirty- second degree Mason, and is a member of the Shrine and Knight Templar orders. He is public spirited to a high degree and is presi- dent of the commercial club, and belongs to the order of the Loyal Legion.

MRS. ELIZABETH HORN, one of Wood River's most highly esteemed residents, has passed the greater part of her life in Hall County. She was born in Germany, Septem- ber 30, 1860. Her parents were Carl and Mary (Sweiger) Schultz, both of whom were born in Germany. They had seven children, four daughters and three sons. The father was a carpenter by trade, a good workman and a man of steady habits, but as he saw only a poor fu- ture ahead of him in his native province, with a family growing up around him, he decided to emigrate to America and endeavor to secure land in the hope of succeeding as a farmer. He came to the United States reaching Grand Island, Nebraska, in 1871, and in the following year homesteaded five and a half miles south- east of Wood River, in Hall County. His family joined him there in 1873, and on that old homestead Mrs. Horn lived until her marriage. Her people, like other pioneers in this section, had to work hard in order to make a living, but they were naturally industrious and frugal and they succeeded much better than many others.

On September 22, 1875, Elizabeth Schultz was married to Mildred Horn, in Grand Is- land, Nebraska. He also was a native of Germany, born in Bavaria, and was only nine- teen years old when he came to the United States, and was a young man yet when he en- listed for service in the Civil War. He served three years as a member of the Sixty-eighth New York Infantry, participating in several great battles, and was twice wounded. By trade he was a shoemaker and after the war was over he came to Sidney, Nebraska, where he conducted/ a shop until 1873, when he came to Grand Island. Soon after their mar- riage, Mr. and Mrs. Horn went to Fort Hart- soff, where he conducted a shoemaking shop for two years, working mainly for the soldiers at the fort. In 1877 he built a shoe shop at

Wood River, which he operated for twenty- nine years. Ill health fell upon him, however, and he had to give up work, and for a number of years prior to his death, which occurred June 1, 1913, he had been an invalid, tenderly taken care of by his faithful wife.

Mr. and Mrs. Horn's two oldest children were the first born in Wood River. There are five of the family living today, namely: Mary M., Charles P., Henry W., Anna B. and Otto J. Mary M. is the wife of Otto Abraham, a machinist at Gering, Nebraska. They have five children and are members of the Presbyterian church. Charles P. is in the em- ploy of the Foster Lumber Company, at Pick- rell, Gage County, Nebraska. He married Lena Lawson and they have three children. They belong to the Methodist Episcopal church, and he is a Mason. Henry W. is foreman' of a lumber yard at Basin, Wyom- ing. He married Nina Teesinger and they have one son. They attend the Methodist Episcopal church, and he is a Mason. Anna B. and Otto J. both reside with their mother in the comfortable residence she owns in Wood River, to which she has but recently welcomed home this youngest son, who de- serves extended mention for he is a hero of the great World War now mercifully ended.

No history of any section of the United States will be complete if it eliminates the story of the heroic actions of the gallant men who marched into what were for many the very jaws of death, in a foreign land, with almost unbelievable courage, and the wounds that many must bear during the rest of their lives, should by every one be esteemed noble badges of honor. In giving the interesting military record of Otto J. Horn, it may properly be recalled that his father was a brave soldier of the United States in other days, and that courage and loyalty are but natural inherit- ances.

Otto J. Horn enlisted March 4, 1918; was sent to a medical school at Fort Riley, Kansas. where he was trained four weeks, and then was sent to Camp Crane, Allentown, Pennsyl- vania. After two weeks of training there, he was attached to a medical unit that left an American port April 14, 1918, on the United States vessel Von Steuben, formerly a Ger- man raider, the Crown Prince Wilhelm. This ship was a part of the great northern convoy. and was attacked by a German submarine when about three days off the coast of Ireland, but reached Brest France, on April 20, 1918. Two days later Mr. Horn left Brest for a casual replacement company at Blois, France. where he was assigned to Ambulance Company

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No. 2 of the First Division. This company was sent to the front on May 27th, to the sector known as Death Valley. While Mr. Horn was busy performing his dangerous duty of helping carry off the wounded to the rear, his protective mask was shot off his face by shrapnel, but he immediately put on another mask and continued his merciful work, when the second mask was shot from his face. By this time he was so nearly overcome by the enemy's gas that he hardly had strength to stagger to the form of a soldier already dead, wrench off the mask from one who would never need it again. He adjusted it to his own face but then lost consciousness. For eighteen hours he lay undiscovered, then was rushed to a hospital where he was a patient for five weeks. He was then transferred from the am- bulance company to Company D, Sixteenth Infantry, First Division, which was sent on July 18, into the memorable fight of Chateau Thierry. Again he was wounded by shrapnel and being injured in three places, was carried from the field and for seven weeks lay in a hospital recovering from his injuries, when he was again sent back to his old organization. On September 17, while making preparations with his company for the big drive on St. Mihiel, he fell on the field from shell shock and lay there for three days before he was discovered. Again he was in the hospital and remained there until November 21, when he found himself sailing for home on the ship Nansemond, which arrived at Hoboken on December 7, after a stormy voyage. He was sent to Ellis Island Hospital and on January 21, 1919, was discharged on the surgeon's certificate of disabliity, at Plattsburg, New York, reaching his home and his rejoicing mother four days later. Mr. Horn is very modest concerning his bravery but his friends and fellow citizens are proud of him.

MARCUS R. ABBOTT, one of Hall County's representative men for many years, an early settler near Wood River and a de- pendable man in every relation of life, was born at Hatley, Province of Quebec, Canada, February 15, 1844, and died in Hall County, Nebraska, May 4, 1912. He was the third in a family of seven children born to Abiel B. and Sabra (Young) Abbott, the others be- ing: Edward K., Othman A., Mrs. Luella Stokes, Ai H., Mrs. Martha North, and Edgar P.

The parents of Marcus Riley Abbott moved from Canada to Illinois in his boyhood and he completed his education at Belvidere, in

Boone County, where he was graduated from the high school. He served through three years of the Civil War, and was a corporal in Company G, Ninety-fifth Illinois volunteer infantry, that participated in the battles of Shiloh and Vicksburg, and was distinguished with his comrades for many exhibitions of personal bravery. In 1867 he accompanied his brother, Othman A. Abbot, to Hall County, the latter locating in Grand Island, Marcus R., however continuing farther west and for a time worked on a ranch in California. In 1872 he returned to Hall County and took up a homestead situated four miles south of Wood River, which property, many times en- hanced in value, belongs to his surviving family. In those early years of occupancy, Mr. Abbott added to his income by working as a clerk at times in the general store of James Jackson, in Wood River, and also taught school in District No. 5, where old Wood River was started in 1867. For thirty- five years Mr. Abbott remained on his farm, having developed and improved it until it is one of the most attractive and valuable prop- erties in the county. He continued to add to his acreage until he owned four hundred and eighty acres of fine land, a tribute to his industry and business judgment. He was wide- ly known and was always identified with the worthy enterprises that proved beneficial to this section. He was a charter member of the Masonic Lodge in Wood River.

In her father's home, four and a half miles southwest of Wood .River, on November 26, 1876, Mr .. Abbott married Miss Carrie E. Weldon, who was born in Oswego County, New York, July 5, 1859, third of four chil- dren born to James M. and Jane (Irving) Weldon, who had two other daughters and one son : Fidelia and Adelia, twins, and James M. The father of Mrs. Abbott served in a heavy artilley regiment from New York dur- ing the entire period of the Civil War, and escaping all its dangers, continued a soldier in the United States army two years longer. Mrs. Abbott was liberally educated. Prior to com- ing to Hall County in 1873, she was a stu- dent in the high school of Sand Creek, New York, afterward attending school in Grand Island during the fall of 1873 and the spring of 1874. During the fall of 1875 and spring of 1876, she taught school in district 27, four miles southwest of Wood River, further teach- ing experience being interrupted by her mar- riage in November of the latter year to Marcus R. Abbott. For thirty-five years Mr. and Mrs. Abbott resided on their homestead, as men- tioned above, but since Mr. Abbott's death she

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has occupied her attractive, comfortable resi- dence in Wood River. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Abbott, a daughter and a son, Sabra J. and Roscoe C. The former, principal of the Wood River high school, is a graduate of this school and also the Baptist College, Grand Island. She resides with her mother and both are prominent in the city's church and social life. The latter, a graduate .of the Wood River high school and of the Nebraska State University, has been instruc- tor in chemistry in the university for the last four years. He married Miss Hazel Gooden, a daughter of Albert L. and Emma (Fee) Gooden, and they have one daughter, Barbara.

Mrs. Abbott is a member of the Eastern Star and during two terms was worthy ma- tron. During the past two years she has been a faithful, indefatigable worker in the Red Cross movement, being chairman of the organ- ization at Wood River, which may well be proud of what it has accomplished in the great and merciful work in which is has so patriotic- ally engaged, there being to its credit 2,000 hos- pital garments, 1,800 knitted articles and 8,000 surgical dressings. Both she and daughter are active members of the Presbyterian church and their benefactions to many charities will never be wholly known.

SAMUEL A. SHERRERD. - One of the representative men of Hall County well and favorably known over its entire extent, is Sam- uel A. Sherrerd, a prominent merchant in Wood River. He came first to Hall County in 1877 but did not establish a permanent resi- dence until about a decade later. Mr. Sherrerd is a notable example of a self-made man, and the story of his progress from orphaned child- hood to his place among men of worth and re- sponsibility, teems with human interest. It illus- trates the positive value of industrial persist- ency and personal integrity.

Samuel A. Sherrerd was born at Scranton, Pennsylvania, January 14, 1860. His parents were John and Rachel (Furman) Sherrerd, natives of Pennsylvania, both of whom died when Samuel A., their fifth child was but two years old. Their other children were: Frank, William, Mary, and Mrs. Lydia Bennett. By a former marriage Mrs. Sherrerd had one daughter, now Mrs. Emma Gilmore. The father was an educated man and for some · years was a bookkeeper for the Scranton Coal and Iron Company.

When orphanage fell upon him, Samuel A. Sherrerd was not left a public charge for he had a warm hearted aunt, Mrs. Samantha

Shipman, who took him to her home and cared for him until he was six years old, when it was thought best by his relatives that he should go to his uncle, Peter Barber, who conducted a drug store. It is probable that Mr. Barber aimed to make a druggist of his nephew and while attending school Samuel assisted, as a dependable boy can, in various ways about the house and in the store and picked up a not inconsiderable knowledge of business. It seems, however, that his natural inclinations were not along the line of his uncle's business and therefore the trade he started to learn was that of a jeweler. When he was fifteen years old he left the shelter of his uncle's home and went to Philadelphia where he secured a position with the firm of Lippincott and Company, manufacturers of soda water and equipments, who had a con- cession at the Centennial Exposition. Two years later, in 1877, he came to Hall County and in considering the business field offered by the pleasant little village of Wood River, he noted the following business houses: a general store conducted by A. G. Hollister and James Jackson; Edward McDermott's black- smith shop; Charles Horn's shoe store; Dr. Gibson's drug store ; James Kennedy's saloon ; James A. Shick's hotel; a livery stable con- ducted by James Williams and Carl White; an old stone burr fiour mill operated by the Thorp Brothers; and a one-mule dray line run by Fred Swartz.

None of these business enterprises appeal- in to Mr. Sherrerd, so he went to the farm of his uncle Joseph Furman, who lived one mile north of Wood River and hired out to him as a general helper. He remained on the farm long enough to learn the harnessing of a team and the use of a plough, but soon de- cided that still another line of work would be more congenial if he could find it. He was young enough to welcome adventure and this he found on many occasions after he reached Walcott, Wyoming. For three years he was a cowboy in that state. He then made his way to Fort Collins, Colorado, and it may be said that there, for the first time, he went into the line of work for which nature evidently intended him, becoming an employe in a dry goods store and continued there until he re- turned to Wood River, Nebraska, having main- tained, during these years of absence, friendly communication with a number of its residents. When Mr. Sherrerd settled here permanently. he went into the jewelry business, but through subsequent expansion he has become proprie- tor of one of the largest general mercantile establishments in this section of the county.

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In 1907 he erected his handsome cement and stone business building, with dimensions thirty eight by ninety-five feet situated on the cor- ner of Ninth and Main streets, Wood River. In addition he owns a beautiful modern residence. He has always been a careful, conservative man in business and when serving in public office, as he frequently has done, has main- tained the same attitude. Mr. Sherrerd was postmaster of Wood River during the entire administration of President. Mckinley, and subsequently, at different times, has served as a member of the town board.

At Wood River, November 15, 1888, Mr. Sherrerd married Miss Cora Shick, who was born in Ohio, a daughter of James and Chris- tina (Morrison) Shick, who had other chil- dren, as follows: Mrs. Addie E. McElvain, Mrs. Bessie Root, Welcome, Frank and Elizabeth Mercer. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Sherrerd: Earl, who was a soldier in training at Camp Funston for ser- vice in the World War when the peace armis- tice was signed; Ruth, the wife of Tracy F. Tyler, a teacher in the Fremont high school; Rachel M., a student in Drake University, at Des Moines, Iowa; Helen, who has assumed duties in her father's business, is a graduate of the high school in Wood River and also of the Conservatory of Music, in Grand Island; and James, a student in the Wood River high school. Mr. and Mrs. Sherrerd have one granddaughter, Ruth Geraldine, the child of Mr. and Mrs. Tyler. Mr. Sherrerd and his entire family are members of the Presbyterian church, in which he has served as deacon. For many years he has been a member of the different Masonic bodies.

As an echo of early days in Hall County, the following incident coming under Mr. Sherrerd's observation, may be of much inter- est to readers of this history that is being made as complete as possible. It was in 1879, while Mr. Sherrerd was working for his uncle Mr. Furman. One fine morning a rough ap- pearing young man rode up to Mr. Furman's door and introduced himself as Albert Spear, an acquaintance Mr. Furman had made some time before at Medicine Bow, Wyoming, and with true western hospitality he was invited to make the farm his home .: He accepted with- out demur and remained a not too welcome guest for three weeks, or until he was cap- tured by detectives who were on his trail. As the story was afterward revealed, he had been a carpenter with a bridge gang at Medi- cine Bow and from there had gone to the Black Hills, ostensibly to dig for gold, but evi- dently fell into bad company and was made the

leader of a band of fourteen outlaws who decided that robbery would bring them gold more quickly than the pick and "washing." After several minor successful robberies, the gang held up a government treasurer coach that was hauling bullion from Deadwood to Sidney. The robbers secured about $140,000 but in the melee Spear was said to have killed one of the government guards. After his arrest, which strangely came about through his desire to have in his possession a picture of his mother that had been put away in a trunk, to which one of his gang comrades had access. When Spear escaped after the robbery he took advantage of his acquaintance with a reput- able man like Mr. Furman, and not only ac- cepted board and lodging, but brought his ill gotten wealth with him and concealed it in an old hog pail that he buried under a pile of manure in Mr. Furman's farm yard. This money was recovered for the government. He was taken back to Wyoming and was sentenced to. the penitentiary for life and served ten years, when he gained his release through a curious situation that came up between the treasurers and other officials of Nebraska and Wyoming. This was in reference to Wyoming having no penitentiaries at that time, hence Nebraska was called on to incarcerate all criminals, and when Nebraska, quite natur- ally it would seem, presented a bill, Wyoming declined to pay it, with the result that the doors of the Nebraska dungeons swung open to alien prisoners. No doubt there are many who will read this true record who have also read romances on the same subject and with the same reputed ending, for it is said that in a large western city that shall be nameless, there later was a man of wealth and high official position, who was honored, trusted and respected, under another name, who once was the mail thief of this little tale.

RUDOLF DURTSCHI, who has large and valuable farm and stock interests in Hall County, is one of the truly enterprising busi- ness men of Wood River. He was born July 15, 1880, in Ness County, Kansas, the only son of John and Leopoldina (Jacob) Durtschi. His father was born near Berne, Switzerland, and his mother in Austria, both of whom came young to the United States, the father in 1872. After their marriage in Ness County, Kansas, they lived on a farm until 1883, when they came to Nebraska. The father bought land near Bellwood, in Butler County, where they still live. They have three children : Rudolph, Mrs. Rosa Fruth, and Ruby. Miss Digitized by

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Durtschi is a graduate of the Albion high school and of the Normal school at Kearney, and subsequently a student in Leland Stan- ford University.

Rudolph Durtschi obtained his education in the public schools and assisted his father and sometimes the neighbors as a farmer. Follow- his marriage he moved to Boone County where he bought land near Albion and engaged in farming and raising stock until the spring of 1908, when he came to Hall County. Here he purchased five hundred and forty acres, which he has placed under a high state of cul- tivation. He breeds registered Shorthorn cattle and Poland-China hogs. He also owns a tract of tweny acres adjoining Wood River, on which stands his comfortable residence. Aside from his agricultural interests, Mr. Durtschi is connected with important enterprises in Wood River. He represents the Farmers Mutual Insurance Company, of Lincoln, Nebraska, and carries the largest volume of insurance risks on farms, in this neighborhood. He is president of the Central Nebraska Elevator Company, at Wood River, which handles coal as well as grain. He is also secretary of the Central Nebraska Fair Association at Grand Island.

At Bellwood, Nebraska, March 22, 1905, Mr. Durtschi married Miss Etta Judevine, who was born at Bellwod, and is the youngest of five children born to Frederick C. and Mary E. (Page) Judevine, the former a native of Wisconsin, and the latter of Fort Wayne, In- diana. Mrs. Durtschi has three brothers and one sister: Royal, Frank, Clifford, and Mrs. Ethel Byers. Mr. and Mrs. Durtschi have three children, two daughters, Gladys M. and Lorna L., both of whom attend school at Wood River; and one son, Ronald R., who is three years old. Mr. Durtschi is not active in politics but is a citizen who feels his responsi- bilities as a prominent business man, and he readily and liberally co-operates in all move- ments for the benefit of city, county and state when his judgment approves.

MILTON C. WINGERT, a representative of one of the old families of Hall County, is a progressive business man who, with his three sons, is carrying on a rather remarkable gar- dening enterprise in the environs of Wood River that is meeting with profitable results. The Wingerts do a large wholesale business and successfully compete with California growers.

Milton C. Wingert was born in Perry County,. Pennsylvania, November 12, 1859.

His parents were Peter S. and Maria (Rey- nard) Wingert, natives of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. Their children were as follows: Salmon M., Mrs. Mary E. Schisler, Mrs. Anna M. Allen, Mrs. Alice C. Adwers, Mrs. Ida V. Millhollen, George W,, Milton C., Mrs. Emma J. Squires, William C. and Jeremiah A. Peter S. Wingert was a farmer all his life. In 1866 he removed to Warren County, Illinois, and from there to Hall County, Nebraska, in 1873. locating a homestead ten miles north- west of Grand Island. The family lived in a sod house at first and their hardships were many. From 1874 to 1876, with other pioneer disadvantages, they had to endure the ravages of the grasshopper pest. They possessed the true pioneer spirit, however, and with courage, industry and frugality came safely through a period of general distress. Mr. Wingert and his wife reared their children in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal church.

Milton C. Wingert was fourteen years old when the family came to Hall County. He went to school as the opportunity was afforded but his advantages were not comparable to those he has given his own children. He well remembers early days here and the necessary family economics, when his resourceful moth- er browned rye and barley grains to take the place of accustomed coffee, and when a dime for a Fourth of July celebration seemed like a fortune to him. General farming continued to be his business until he entered upon his present gardening enterprise. He owns ten acres at Wood River and because of his un- usual success in the past, in 1919 is renting fifteen additional acres. His land is irrigated systematically and is under the highest state of cultivation. He is assisted by his sons. Albert, Ralph and Miles, .all of whom are deeply interested as they may well be in so profitable a business. Their main crops are cabbage, sweet potatoes and onions. As an indication of the extent of their shipping busi- ness, it may be stated that in 1918 they sold seventy tons of cabbage alone, for $90 a ton. They grow their own plants in hot beds, hav- ing 3,000 feet of space under glass, and get their plants out ahead of the California mar- kets, having new cabbage ready to ship by the 20th of June. Mr .. Wingert owns his business quarters on Main street, Wood River, and also a comfortable, attractive residence here.

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History of Hall County, Nebraska, Part 131

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