History of Hall County, Nebraska, Part 132

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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At Grand Island, Nebraska, in 1886, Mr. Wingert married Miss Roberta Calhoun, who was born in Illinois. Her parents were Noah and Julia A. (Parkinson) Calhoun, the former of whom was born at Bedford, Pennsylvania. and the latter in Jo Daviess County, Illinois.

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Mr. and Mrs. Calhoun had nine children : Roberta, Chrissie E., J. Manley, William R., John S., Mrs. Hattie L. Barmore, Mrs. Jose- phine Stewart, Charles W. and Mrs. Jennie L. Snyder. Mr. and Mrs. Wingert have four sons: Albert H., Curtis P., W. Ralph and Miles M. Albert H. Wingert, a graduated pharmacist, is a hardware merchant at Wood River. He is a Republican in politics, is an Odd Fellow, and belongs to the Baptist church. He married Olive Slusser and they have one son and two daughters. Curtis P. Wingert, who was clerk for the Dirk Lumber Com- pany before enlisting for service in the World War, was assigned to Ambulance Corps Hos- pital No. 26, Des Moines, Iowa. He is a mem- ber of the Presbyterian church, is a Republi- can in politics, and belongs to the Woodmen of the World order. He married Bernice Davies, they have two daughters, and their post office is Broken Bow. W. Ralph Wingert, associated in the hardware business with his brother at Wood River, as well as with his father in gardening, is a graduate of the high school here. He is a Republican and an Odd

Fellow and both he and wife belong to the . Martin. Since then he has increased his busi- order of Highlanders. He married Elizabeth Francis. Miles M. Wingert, a graduate of the city schools, resides at home. Mr. and Mrs. Wingert are members of the Presbyterian church. For many years he has been a mem- ber of the order of Odd Fellows, and is a Re- publican in politics.

ERNEST DIEFENDERFER, one of Wood River's substantial business men, came to Hall County with his parents when ten years old and has claimed this as his home ever since. In the meanwhile, however, a num- ber of years were spent at other points fur- ther west, and during these he experienced many adventures inseparable from the life of a Wyoming cowboy.

Ernest Diefenderfer was born May 2, 1869, at Sharon, in Mercer County, Pensylvania. His parents were John H. and Louisa (Markle) Diefenderfer, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania. They had the following chil- dren: Sylvia, Ernest, Martin, Calvin and Al- bert, the two last named being deceased. The father was a carpenter by trade and became a contractor and builder. In 1877 he visited Nebraska on a prospecting tour. Being pleased with the appearance of the country he decided to move here and brought his family as far as Shelton, Buffalo County, in 1879. Shortly afterward he bought land two miles northeast of Wood River, in Hall County, to which the family removed. He found employment at

his trade while his two sons, Martin and Er- nest, did the greater part of the farming. Later he engaged in the hardware and farm implement business in Wood River, where he died in 1909.

Ernest Diefenderfer attended the public schools in boyhood and remained at home assisting his father until 1887. He then went to Saratoga, Wyoming, where he hired out as a cowboy and rode the range for nearly eight years, his employers being a cattle company, owned by the Kirkendall Company of Denver; the Swan Land and Cattle Company, of Chug- water, Wyoming, and the Reading Cattle Com- pany, Grand Encampment Hills, Saratoga, Wyoming. He next found employment as a driver for the Yellowstone Transportation Company, Yellowstone Park, and remained one year, going then to the Wheatland De- velopment Company, which was operating a state experimental station at Wheatland, Wyoming. He remained there two years and then returned to Hall County, subsequently entering the implement and hardware business in Wood River with his father and brother ness activities. He owns and operates one of the finest garages in Wood River, a cement building forty by eighty feet in dimensions, and is agent for the Dodge automobiles. In addition he supplies when called on, an auto- mobile hearse to Wood River, Shelton, Cairo and Gibbon. As a business man, social factor and good citizen he is known all over the county.

The marriage of Ernest Diefenderfer to Miss Cora Estella Foreman, was celebrated at Shelton, Nebraska, August 30, 1898. She was born at Newman Grove, Madison County, Nebraska, and is the daughter of Samuel and Esther (Thompson) Foreman, the former of whom was born in Iowa and the latter in Nor- way. Mrs. Diefenderfer has one sister, Mrs. Margaret McDonald. Mr. and Mrs. Diefen- derfer have three children: John H., a grad- uate of the Wood River high school and a stu- dent in the York Business College, York, Ne- braska; and Homer J. and Carrol, both of whom are pupils in the public schools of Wood River. Mr. and Mrs. Diefenderfer are mem- bers of the Presbyterian church. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity and both are mem- bers of the Eastern Star and the order of Highlanders. He keeps an open mind in political matters and votes as an Independent.

HARRISON S. EATON, who has long been prominent in business circles and civic progress in Wood River, belongs to an old

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New England family that has more than once contributed men of great achievement to the nation. He was born in Addison County, Ver- mont, October 8, 1876, a son of Oliver Will- iam and Virginia C. Eaton. Oliver William Eaton was an early settler in Hall County and was one of the pioneer sheep feeders in Nebraska. He was one of the organizers of the First National Bank of Wood River.

Harrison S. Eaton obtained early educa- tional training in Wood River and later at- tended school and college at Denver, Colorado, and Evanston, Illinois. Developing business tastes, Mr. Eaton first accepted the position of assistant cashier in the Merrick County Bank, in Clarks, Nebraska. From there he entered the employ of the First National Bank of Wood River, of which institution he later was elected . assistant cashier, a position which he filled un- til he succeeded F. M. Penny as cashier. This is one of the soundest banks of Hall County and one that has always had the full confi- dence of the public, the Eaton name from the beginning being a valuable asset. Mr. Eaton is a member of its board of directors. He also has other business interests, being the owner of a large amount of real estate, sheep feeder and shipper on a large scale, and a stockholdr in the Central Nebraska Elevator Company.

At Long Beach, California, Mr. Eaton mar- ried Miss Josephine B. Paddock. They have two children : Oliver M. and Josephine B.

In political affiliation, Mr. Eaton has always been a Republican, but in local matters affect- ing the general public, he recognizes no party division, and for fifteen years has given ser- vice conscientiously as a member of the village board. He stands as one of Wood River's most trustworthy citizens and has borne many finan- cial responsibilities for the public good, at present being treasurer of the cemetery asso- ciation and treasurer of the Red Cross. He belongs to the order of Elks, lodge No. 604, Grand Island.

JOHN J. CARTER, one of the best known mill men in Hall County, having been identi- fied with the milling business since boyhood, has kept pace with its development in machin- ery and methods, and as president of the Wood River Roller Mill, Wood River, Nebraska, occupies a very important position in the mill- ing industry.

Mr. Carter was born in New Jersey, March 16, 1867, one of a family of ten children born to Frank and Harriet (Malett) Carter, natives of Cambridge, England. Of their children,

John J. was the fourth in order of birth, the others bearing the following names: Mrs. Sarah Kuntz, Mrs. Anna E. Patton, Mrs. Car. rie Schafer, Edward C., Thomas H., Mrs. Catherine Schafer, Oscar M., Carter B. and Mrs. Josephine Biggerstaff. The father of Mr. Carter was a miller by trade. In 1874 he removed from New Jersey to Ashland, Ne- braska, where he continued in the milling busi- ness until the close of his life, his death occur- ring February 4, 1884 .. He had been an in- dustrious man all his life but had not accumu- lated a competency. He was a member of the Episcopal church.

John J. Carter was seven years old when the family came to Nebraska, and as early as that, when released from school spent his time in the mill assisting his father. In this way, without realizing it, he learned the business and when his father died he was able to step into his father's place, although only seven- teen years old at the time. He worked for W. T. Allen, at Ashland, for the next two years, in the meanwhile taking care of his widowed mother and other dependents. It was in this same mill, when but eight years of age that he earned his first five dollars, which he expended for a suit of clothes, be- ing justly proud of his ability to help take care of himself. In 1886 Mr. Carter went to Hebron, Nebraska, where he worked for eleven years for the milling firm of Wetherald Bros. In 1898 he moved to Ansley, in Custer County, where he entered the employ of the Ansley Milling Company and remained six years. In 1904 he came to Wood River where, in association with his brother, Edward C. Carter, he bought the old Thorp mill, afterward entirely dismantling it and after putting in new, modern machinery, oper- ated it until 1907, under the firm style of Carter Brothers. In that year John J. Carter bought his brother's interest and conducted the business alone until December 27, 1909, when the mill was destroyed by fire. As the insurance on the property was only partial. Mr. Carter sustained a loss of $9,000. Per- haps people do not really value friendship un- till it is put to the test. In suffering from the above disaster, Mr. Carter found that he had a large circle of friends and back of them a reputation for business integrity that in itself was an important asset, and by the beginning of the next year he was able to formulate plans for reentering business. In April, 1910, in partnership with Martin Diefenderfer, he built the Wood River Roller Mill, which they con- ducted together until August, 1912, when they took out papers of incorporation, John J. Car-

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HISTORY OF HALL COUNTY NEBRASKA

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MR. AND MRS. J. J. CARTER

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ter, who owns owns one-half of the stock, be- coming president and Martin Diefenderfer, vice president, who, with R. R. Root, sec- retary and treasurer, own the other half, the company thus formed being one of sound financing and acknowledged ability. A large business is being done and this is considered a very important commercial enterprise of the town. Mr. Carter owns one of the attractive residences of Wood River.

On July 29, 1891, Mr. Carter married Miss Carrie B. Ayres, who was born in Illinois, a daughter of John A. Ayres. Mrs. Carter has one brother, Charles Ayres. To Mr. and Carter the following children have been born: Jessie, the wife of Jerome Paulk, who con- ducts a garage in Wood River; Walter A., a soldier with the American Expeditionary Forces in France, connected with the medical detachment of the Thirty-ninth Infantry; Hugo E., employed in the Wood River Rolling mills ; John J., a student in the high school at Wood River, and Helen E. and Grace E., both of whom are in the grammar school. The family attends the Presbyterian church. Politically Mr. Carter is a Republican. For many years he has been a member of the Ma- sonic fraternity. During the World War he has loyally cooperated with others in giving assistance to his country.

PATRICK HOYE. - To be able to visua- lize conditions in Hall County when Patrick Hoye, one of her most highly respected citi- zens who now lives retired in Wood River, came here as a pioneer, the clock of time must be tured back forty years. Wood River then was but a hamlet, and Mr. Hoye's present finely improved, productive farm a stretch of wild prairie land, visited by wild cats, over- run by coyotes and infested with the deadly rattlesnake, while the fear of vengeful Indians in this region was not entirely unfounded. Mr. Hoye has been a witness of and has borne an important part in the county's wonderful development. He is vice-president of the Citizens State Bank of Wood River.

Patrick Hoye was born in County Ros- common, Ireland, March 17, 1849. His par- ents were Daniel and Elizabeth (Cronin) Hoye, natives of Ireland and their entire lives were spent there. They had the following children : Mary, John, Patrick, Bernard, Thomas P., Daniel, and two daughters who died in childhood from the effects of scarlet fever. The father owned a small, well kept farm but his main business was stone contract_ ing. He was not possessed of great wealth but

was a man of some consequence and when Patrick was twenty years old, having finished school, secured a contract for him from the English government to finish certain public roads with cobblestone. When it came to signing the contract, however, the government agent decided that Patrick was too young for so important a job and gave it over to an older applicant. Prior to this Patrick had intimated a desire to emigrate to America and this disappointment strengthened his de- termination. His father finally gave consent with the money for' the youth's passage to the United States. When Mr. Hoye reached Castle Garden, New York, he had one English sovereign, equal at that time to $4.48 in United States coin, as his capital on which to start on his way to fortune.

That Mr. Hoye immediately secured work with a brick contractor in New York, indicates the decision of character which has had much to do with his subsequent success in life. He did not wait for an opportunity to work to come to him but found it for himself. This was in 1869 and wages were high for that time, Mr. Hoye receiving $14 a week for teaming during the year he remained in New York City. As is usually the case, however, the cost of living was high. At the end of the year Mr. Hoye found that with the strict economy he had exercised, he had been able to save but $65 and in his judgment such a . result would not satisfy his ambition, there- fore in May, 1870, he started out to find some- thing more profitable. During that year he worked in a tannery in Warren County, Penn- sylvania, and during the next seven years engaged in farming in Susquehanna County during the summer seasons and followed the tanning business at Montrose during the winters. While he lived in New York he be- came interested in reading the New York Tribune edited at that time by Horace Greeley. and was much impressed by the great editor's advice to young men to go to the western part of the United States, where there was oppor- tunity for all. Acting upon this advice, Mr. Hoye reached Hall County in 1879, locating three miles north of Wood River and still owns the land on which he first settled. He now has two hundred and eighty acres of very fine farm land in the county, together with a handsome modern residence in Wood River.

At Montrose, Pennsylvania, on February 14, 1876, Mr. Hoye married Miss Mary A. Kelley, who was born in Pennsylvania. Her parents were John and Anna (McCoy) Kelley, both natives of Ireland. To Mr. and Mrs. Hoye the following children were born:

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Daniel J., who is a druggist in Overton, Ne- braska, married Lillian Whalen; John A., in the drug business in Wood River, married Allora Babel and they have a son and daugh- ter; Thomas P., who is an extensive feeder of cattle, hogs and sheep, was trained at the State Agricultural College, Lincoln, married Fannie Conway and they have two sons and two daughters ; Bernard J., an extensive stock- man of Hall County, married Catherine Miller and they have one son and one daughter; Anna, the wife of Leo Mullen, farmer and stockman, and grand treasurer of the A. O. U. W. Grand Lodge of Nebraska at Grand Island, has one daughter; and M. Gertrude, who, like her older sister, is a graduate of the Wood River high school, resides with her par- ents. Mr. Hoye and all his family belong to the Roman Catholic church. He is a member of the order of Modern Woodmen, and with all his sons belongs to the Knights of Colum- bus. Formerly he was quite avtive in the political field. He served two terms as school director of District No. 16 and two terms as school treasurer; six years as assessor of Wood River precinct, and six years as a member of the county board of supervisors, of which board he was chairman for one year: Mr. Hoye's reminiscenses of early days in. the county are full of interest and lack of space alone prevents their presentation to the reader. On one occasion he was bitten by a prairie rattlesnake and his life was saved only through prompt and strenuous medical atten- tion.

FREDERICK J. MILLER, one of the prominent business men of Hall County, ex- tensively engaged in feeding and shipping cattle and hogs, accompanied his parents to this county when fourteen years old, and this has been his chosen home ever since. He is widely known and because of business integ- rity and genial .manner, he can lay claim to an ever widening circle of friends. He is not. only considered trustworthy in business. but also in public affairs, and although no active politician, has been the choice of his fellow citizens as supervisor of District No. 3, Hall County, in which office he is serving.

' Mr. Miller was born May 5, 1866, in Fayette County, Iowa, the second son of Jacob F. and Catherine F. (Hedinger) Miller, both of whom were born in Germany. Of their family of seven children the following are living : Mrs. Sophia Shultz, Carl P., Freder- ick J., Mrs. Augusta C. Horth and Mrs. Amelia B. Parks. The parents of Mr. Miller

came to the United States in 1856 and settled in Iowa, where the father secured land near Arlington, in Fayette County, for $1.25 an acre. In 1880 the family came to Hall County, locating ten miles north of Wood River. The father bought a half section of railroad land and two hundred and forty acres of school land, paying $5 an acre for the former, which is yet owned by his heirs. The parents of Mr. Miller were quiet, industrious, thrifty people who in many ways set a worthy example.

Frederick J. Miller was fourteen years old when the family located in Hall County. His school advantages were three months during the winter seasons, the remainder of his time until he became a recognized factor as a farmer, being usefully spent on the home place with intervals of recreation that wholesome youth demands and generally secures. In answer to a question concerning his first earn- ing of money, a very pertinent one because Mr. Miller has accumulated a reasonable fortune, he replied that the sixty-five cents he first earned was the hardest to get and the most enjoyable to spend of any money he has ever since secured. At that time the little striped squirrels and the gophers were great nuisances to farmers and the capture of one of the former brought a penny and the latter were worth five cents apiece. On the occasion referred to Mr. Miller was inspired to great activity because of an approaching Fourth of July celebration at Strawberry Point, which he did not want to miss. With his sixty-five cents safe in his possession he was one of a happy crowd of youngsters conveyed in a box car over the newly laid tracks of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, to the picnic grounds. Notwithstanding the ten cent car fare and a day of feasting and sport, he says he found some money still in his pocket when he reached home in the evening. That little story may point a moral as well as amuse, for the lad who could first earn his money before he thought of spending any, and could save some of it in the face of unusual tempta- tion, is one of the most substantial and re- spected men of his community.

For the past thirty years Frederick J. Miller has been in partnership with his brother, Carl Miller, and their interests have been identical in the business of farming and feeding and shipping of stock. They own a tract of twenty acres adjoining Wood River, where they carry on the stock business. Frederick J. Miller owns four hundred and eighty acres of land northwest of Wood River but has resided in the town for the last nine

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years, where he has a handsome modern res- idence set in a park of five acres.

The marriage of Frederick J. Miller was celebrated on December 28, 1887, in Marshall, Saline County, Missouri, to Miss Anna L. McGrath, who was born at Lexington, Ken- tucky. Her parents were Daniel and Jennie (Cannon) McGrath. Both parents were born in Ireland and had the following children : John, Elizabeth, Catherine, Lillie, Anna L., Richard, William, Thomas, Nora, Hughes and Robert. Mr. and Mrs. Miller have four daughters: Catherine, who is the wife of Bernard J. Hoye, a farmer near Wood River, and they have a son and a daughter ; Blanche, who is the wife of Forest W. Miller, assistant sales manager of the Cudahy Packing Com- pany, in the main office at Chicago, and they have one son; Alice, the wife of Thomas J. R. Langan, a farmer near Wood River, and they have one daughter; and Gladys, a grad- uate of the Wood River high school, lives with her parents.

GEORGE E. CRAWFORD, whose val- uable and finely improved farms make him one of the substantial men of Hall County, now lives retired in Wood River, where he owns a handsome modern residence. He set- tled in this neighborhood when this thriving little city was represented by a railroad depot and section house two miles west of the pres- ent site of Wood River, and has borne his full part in the development that the last forty-five years of effort has brought about.

George E. Crawford was born at Elkhart, Indiana, August 15, 1844, the seventh in a family of eleven children born to his parents, George E. and Hannah (Beardsley) Craw- ford. His brothers and sisters were: Mrs. Alice McClellan, Henry, James, William, Mrs. Mary Cole, Mrs. Martha Hass, John, Charles, Lewis and Laura. The father of this family was born in Pennsylvania, of Scotch parent- age, and the mother in Ohio, of Scotch-Welsh ancestry. They were members of the Pres- byterian church.

Mr. Crawford spent his boyhood days on hi; father's farm near Laporte, Indiana, re- ceived a district school education and worked at home until he was twenty years of age. He then enlisted for service in the Civil War, in February, 1865, entering Company K, One Hundred Fifty-first Indiana Infantry, and served until the end of the war under General Thomas, receiving his honorable discharge at Nashville, Tennessee. He had been a faithful soldier but after seven months of military

life the old farm routine did not seem attrac- tive and in 1866 he came to Denver, Colorado. Here he worked for one year for his brother William, who was engaged in freighting with oxen between Nebraska City, Denver and Echo Canyon. Mr. Crawford then purchased four yoke of oxen and for the following three years continued in the freighting business on his own account and when he sold his outfit he came to Hall County. In July, 1870, he located a homestead on Prairie Creek, eight miles north of where old Wood River, repre- sented by a section house, then stood. There had been some attempt made at settlement there as James Jackson operated a small store on his farm two miles still further west and kept the post office. In 1874 the present site of Wood River was established.

By 1874 Mr. Crawford had forty acres of sod corn, having broken prairie, put in the seed as soon as he had built his sod house and had rented additional land. To any one acquainted with early county history, the story of the grasshopper invasion need not be told. It carried with it disaster to many a striving, hard-working settler, and when the pest had departed from Mr. Crawford's flourishing corn field, there was nothing but the despoiled soil left. Many discouraged pioneers returned to their eastern homes or hopefully moved to other states, but Mr. Crawford was more per- sistent, and while, for a time he could make little headway, to use his own expressive word, he "tinkered" around enough to make a living and the time came when he was well rewarded. He owns two of the most beautiful and productive farms in the vicinity of Wood River.

In Hall County, on February 21, 1878, Mr. Crowford married Miss Helen Ewing, who was born in the state of New York. Her parents, Robert and Mary (Ferguson) Ewing, were born in Scotland. They had the follow- ing children : James, Mrs. Helen Crawford, Robert, Mrs. Mary West, Mrs. Annie Curtiss. John, William, Charles and Edwin. Mr. and Mrs. Crawford have two children: George E. and Annie M. George E. Crawford was grad- uated from Hastings College and then passed a year as a student at the State Agricultural College, Lincoln. For some time he was superintendent of schools at Thedford, in Thomas County, Nebraska, but is now operat- ing one of his father's farms near Wood River. He is independent in his political opinions, is a Presbyterian in religious belief and belongs to the order of Odd Fellows. The maiden name of his wife was Esther Cline. Miss Annie M. Crawford is a lady of intel-

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History of Hall County, Nebraska, Part 132

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