USA > Nebraska > Hall County > History of Hall County, Nebraska > Part 136
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wounded. She is very highly esteemed in Jackson township.
DAVID L. MINOR. - Hall County, Ne- braska is indebted to the state of Iowa for some of its most worthy citizens. From that state came the Minor family, a leading repre- sentative of which in this section is David L. Minor, a progressive man, large land- owner and prosperous farmer.
David L. Minor was born in Marion County, Iowa, January 25, 1866. His parents were William and Rebecca (Lyons) Minor, natives of Kentucky, he being the fifth born in their family of ten children, the other survivors be- ing : Alice, the wife of R. A. Koepke; Richard, located in Colorado; Mary, a resident of Iowa; William, a citizen of Grand Island; and Daisy, the wife of a Mr. Forsher. The father was a carpenter by trade, an occupation he fol- lowed before locating in Hall County in 1892 and for years afterward followed the same vocation. His death occured in 1909.
In the excellent schools of his native state, David L. Minor obtained his education and prior to establishing himself in Hall County with his parents, followed farming in Iowa. His first land in the county was a tract of eighty acres which he purchased soon after becoming a resident and to which he added until he now owns four hundred acres. Mr. Minor is a farmer with modern progressive ideas and his varied farm activities are car- ried on scientifically. His beautiful home situated on section eleven, Center township, is one of the finest rural residences in this part of the country. Mr. Minor and his family enjoy all the advantages which make modern farm life agreeable, being near enough to Grand Island to participate in city affairs when they so desire.
November 2, 1892 Mr. Minor married Miss Carrie Anderson who was also born in Marion County, Iowa. They have three children: Lloyd William, Leatha and Laurel, all resid- ing at home. Mrs. Minor belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church. In politics Mr. Minor has always given his support to the Democratic party.
MARTIN MATTISON. - There are few families in South Jackson township, Hall County, more respected or better established than the Mattisons, father and two sons all owning valuable land, all enterprising and pro- gressive, and all types of thorough American citizens. Martin Mattison was born in Den-
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HENRY W. LOCKE
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mark, September 19, 1859. His parents were John and Katy (Anderson) Mattison.
Martin was eleven years old when he accom- panied his parents, five brothers and one sister, to the United States in 1868 and after locating at Nebraska City, Nebraska, Mr .. Mattison remembers the building of the first railroad there and recollects the day he started to school but never reached the building because of the necessity he felt of observing the ferrying across the Missouri river of the first engine for the new road. The family continued to live in Nebraska City until 1872, when the father took a homestead in Lancaster County, south of Lincoln. That section, like others in the state, suffered in early days from the grasshoppers and the climatic changes that ruined many a fine crop, but the parents of Mr. Mattison were sturdy, resourceful people, and they never lost courage as did many of the neighboring settlers. Martin remained with his father and assisted in operating the homestead until his marriage in 1886. For three years after that event he rented and operated land in Lancaster County. In 1889 he went to Colorado, where he remained eight years, in the meanwhile home- steading one hundred and sixty acres in Arap- ahoe County and engaged in farming and stock raising. Then he returned to Nebraska, resided on a rented farm in Adams County until 1906, when he came to Hall County and bought a farm of eighty acres situated in South Jackson township, two miles southeast of Shelton and eight miles southwest of Wood River, an ad- mirable location. Here he carries on general farming and raises enough stock for his own use.
In July, 1886, Mr. Mattison married Miss Elizabeth Albers. She was born at Garnavillo, Clayton County, Iowa, and accompanied her parents to Nebraska in 1867. She is the young- est in a family of four children born to Henry and Margaret (Hubby) Albers. Her father was a blacksmith by trade and after coming to Nebraska, homesteaded in Lancaster County.
Mr. and Mrs. Mattison have two sons and one daughter: George, Rosa and Henry. George was born in Lancaster County, is a graduate of the Ayer public school in Adams County, and is assisting his father on the home farm. Rosa was born in Lancaster County and also is a graduate of the Ayer pub- lic school. Henry, who was born in Arapahoe County, Colorado, also completed his school course in Adams County. For a short time he was in military service and his record ap- pears in the soldier section of this work. He is at present assisting his father but is also interested as an automobile mechanic. Both
sons of Mr. Mattison are property owners, and their one hundred acres of land one mile south of the homestead and in the river bot- tom, will prove a profitable investment. The family belongs to the Lutheran church. In politics Mr. Mattison is a strong Republican but has never been willing to accept any public office except membership on the school board. During the period of the World War he proved the quality of his Americanism by purchasing bonds and giving liberally to the Red Cross and other organizations.
MICHAEL L. CRONIN, one of Cameron township's farmers and stockmen, has been a resident of Hall County, since he came here in 1888, and he has prospered here through his industry and good management. Mr. Cronin was born January 6, 1856, at Charles- ton, Coles County, Illinois. His parents were Jeremiah and Mary Cronin, both of whom were born in Ireland and were married there, coming to the United States on their honey- moon. They settled first in Indiana and then removed to Coles County, Illinois, and from there into Greene County in the same state. Of their twelve children there are but two survivors: Michael L. and his sister, Mrs. Kate Thompson, whose husband is a railroad engineer.
In boyhood Michael L. Cronin attended school as opportunity offered, and he grew to manhood industriously inclined with a desire to become a farmer and stockraiser. In 1888 he came to Hall County, Nebraska, and brought with him sufficient capital to buy land that was already improved, farming for five years near Wood River. In 1892 he pur- chased his present farm' where he raises horses, cattle and hogs, his annual average being twenty head of cattle and eighty head of hogs. Mr. Cronin is now numbered with Cameron township's substantial farmers but he can easily recall times past when he offered to sell corn at eighty cents a bushel only to have it refused, when eggs sold for five cents a dozen, and when the highest price for cattle and hogs was $1.25 per hundred weight. As for potatoes, which so recently all over the country were in the list of luxuries, he could not give them away.
In 1881 before coming to Nebraska, Mr. Cronin married Johanna Welsh, who was born August 29, 1857, in Missouri. Her parents were Thomas and Margaret (Hartnett) Welsh, the former of whom was born in County Limerick and the latter in County Cork, Ireland. From Missouri they removed
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to Montgomery County, Illinois, where the mother of Mrs. Cronin died, but her father died in Missouri at the age of fifty-eight years. Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Cronin, the two youngest being deceased : Michael, who passed away at the age of fifteen years, and Katherine, who was aged one year and nine months. All the others have been given every advantage their father has been able to afford them and the family is a very united one, all but two children still remaining with their parents. The list is as follows : John, a farmer and also conducts a garage at Saint Libory, in Howard County; Marie N., Joanna and Statia, all of whom live at home ; Patrick, who entered the National army July 28, 1918; Thomas Francis, who assists his father, and Daniel William, a graduate of the Spalding school and may study a profession. Mr. Cronin and his family are members of the Roman Catholic church. In politics he has always been a Democrat.
NOLAN PATRICK LACEY .- No people are better known or more highly respected in South Jackson township, Hall County, than the Laceys, who came here by ox-team in 1878, and now own some of the most valuable land in this section. The early history of the family is exceedingly interesting, with its pioneering features and military exploits, while its later records are no less so because of its sturdy character and solid American citizenship both in peace and war.
Nolan Patrick Lacey was born at St. Louis, Missouri, October 28, 1844, the son of Pat- rick and Mary (Nolan) Lecey,natives of Ire- land. They had four sons and two daughters, Nolan Patrick being the eldest of the family. He lived with his parents until he was eighteen years of age. At the outbreak of the Civil War he enlisted in 1862 in the Union army and was placed in the ordnance department. After- ward he served until the war's close with a gunboat crew, and was honorably 'discharged. On account of trouble with the Indians on the frontier, effort was made to increase the United States regular army, and Mr. Lacey, as a seasoned soldier responded. When the regulars marched across the plains under the command of General Morrow, Mr. Lacey was made first sergeant of Company G, Thirty- sixth Infantry. They were stationed at Camp Baker, Montana, and placed under the com- mand of General Gibbons. Much trouble en- sued with the Indians, although the most seri- ous encounters with the Sioux on the Yellow- stone river occurred after Mr. Lacey had re-
turned to private life. Warfare with the teacherous Indians was however full of dan- ger. He served out his term of enlistment, which ended in 1869, in the meanwhile hav- ing been married, and for seven years after- ward resided at Salt Lake City, Mr. Lacey during this time, working in the silver mines.
On September 25, 1869, at Fort Douglas, Utah, Mr. Lacey married Miss Nancy Her- shey, whom he first met in the fall of 1868. She was born January 7, 1848, in Pleasant Valley, Wisconsin, a daughter of Henry and Caroline (Good) Hershey. Her father was born in Canada and her mother in Pennsyl- vania. She takes pride in the fact that for two hundred years her ancestors have been Amer- icans, coming originally to this continent from Switzerland. Henry Hershey, father of Mrs. Lacey had true pioneering spirit. He was twelve years old when he came to the United States, following the death of his father, and went to live with a brother in Allentown, Le- high County, Pennsylvania, where he learned the millwright trade. He was twenty-one years old when he married Caroline Good, to which union three sons and five daughters were born, Mrs. Lacey being the fourth oldest child. Mr. and Mrs. Hershey lived in Canada for a short time after their marriage. Later, prior to the birth of Mrs. Lacey, they moved to Wisconsin. Then Mr. Hershey became interested in the little town of Warsaw, Minnesota, which, through the efforts of himself and brother, was colonized by Norwegians. In 1856 he built a grist mill and also a sawmill on the Canyon river, but pushed on into Nebraska six years later, arriving in a little settlement named Florence, the present site of the city of Omaha, in the winter of 1861.
It must be remembered that the Hersheys traveled very differently from the way people do in these days. There were no speedy auto- mobiles at that time, in fact there were no railroads and but few horses to be had. Mrs. Lacey tells in a most interesting way of the winter journey in a prairie schooner drawn by oxen, in constant fear of savage Indians and very often during that winter the family fled to the blockhouse for protection. In the following July they left Omaha with a wagon train of sixty-three wagons, from two to three yoke of oxen being attached to each wagon, traveling slowly and in constant dan- ger, finally reaching Salt Lake City by the way of the old Mormon trail. . As noted above, Mr. and Mrs. Lacey livel at Salt Lake City until 1878, when they came to Nebraska, Mrs. Lacey making her second ox-team trip over the same trail on the way back. They located Google Digitized by
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L. C. BATTERSON AND WIFE
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in Hall County where Mr. Lacey took a pre- emption and timber claim in South Jackson township, and this has been the family home ever since. To Mr. and Mrs. Lacey the fol -. lowing children were born: Frank J., Mary M., Nolan H., Caroline E., Walter D., Will- iam W., Emma D., Edward L. and Leonard C. Frank J., who is foreman in a large pack- ing plant at Ontario, Southern California, mar- ried Emma Kesterson, and they have five sons and two daughters. Mary M. is the wife of Ward Allen, who is a market gardener and poultry fancier at Tulsa, Oklahoma. They have one son and one daughter. Nolan H. is the successful home farmer, operates the one hundred and sixty acres of fine land according to modern methods. On May 10, 1915, he mar- ried in Grand Island, Miss Ora E. Lippin- cott, who was born at Kearney, Nebraska. Her parents afterward moved to Elm Island, on the Platte River, southeast of Shelton, and she was educated there. Caroline E. is the wife of Francis L. Johnson, working with a Grand Island construction company. They have four sons and two daughters. Walter D. is a farmer in South Jackson township, near the Platte River, married Sarabelle Vaith. Will- iam W. is farming with his brother Walter D., married Etta C. Comer, and they have one daughter. Emma D. is with her brother in California. Edward L., who has returned from military service in the World War, is now working as a machinist at Sterling, Colo- rado, and his record appears in the soldier section of this work. Leonard C., whose honor- able record as a soldier also appears in the soldier section of this work, is engaged in farming near New Castle, Wyoming. Mrs. L'acey and her family are justly proud of what she accomplished in Red Cross work, during the World War, for she not only provided comforts for her own sons, but knit eight additional sweaters and was one of the lead- ing members of the Red Cross chapter at Shel- ton. She is a member of the Re-organized church of the Latter Day Saints, which has its headquarters at Independence, Missouri.
LEWIS C. BATTERSON. - An interest- ing story appears in the relation of the early life in Hall County of one of its most highly esteemed pioneers, Lewis C. Batterson, who is, also, one of the county's most substantial citi- zens. Like many other of the representative men of the county, he came from Ohio, and was born in Williams County, May 24, 1848. His parents were natives of Connecticut and of
their family of six children, he is the only survivor.
Lewis C. Batterson came to Hall County, in November, 1872, homesteaded and has re- mained here ever since. He is located in sec- tion thirty, town nine, range twelve, and is the owner of four hundred and six acres all in one body, in Grand Island, and no finer land can be found in the county. After com- ing here he built himself a dugout, did his own housekeeping, and had one yoke of oxen and fifteen head of cattle that he had brought with him. On April 13, 1873, when a storm started, Mr. Batterson thought it best to drive his cattle out of the corrall down to the river until is should abate. He found so much to worry over in regard to his unprotected cattle during the next three days of furious storm, that he almost forgot that his little home was buried under snow and that he had neither fire nor anything to eat. When the storm finally exhausted itself, he managed to dig a path so that he could look for his cattle. He found that down by the river where the snow had drifted to the tops of trees that were thirty feet high, it had a crust so hard he could walk on the top of it. It was a sorrowful sight when at length he discovered his stock, for all were dead except one ox and one little calf that had found protection under the body of the ox. Thinking he would go back and bring the ox some corn, Mr. Batterson started, but almost human-like, the poor animals struggled after him, on the top of the snow, over the tree tops, finally reaching the half buried dug- out.
At that time an ox team was worth $175 and it was indeed discouraging to see his stock, his entire capital, thus wrenched from him. The comforts of his old home in Ohio came back to him as he sorrowfully considered his condition and he finally decided to leave Ne- braska and return to his native state. Hence he offered his one ox for sale at $30, which would buy his railroad ticket to the old Buckeye state. Fortunately no one in his neighborhood had the above amount, and just at that time Mr. Batterson was sensible enough to listen to the practical suggestions of another settler, who reminded him that if he remained and proved up his land, he could sell at an advance, and in the meawhile things might take a turn for the better. He paid a man $1.50 a day to help him skin his dead cattle, hired an ox-team to haul the hides nine miles to Gibbon, sold them there only to be told that he could not be paid under a week. The bill amounted to $30 and Mr. Batterson afterward made two trips on foot to
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collect his money, on neither occasion find- ing his debtor at home. In fact he never re- ceived one farthing of it, the man leaving the country. In the meantime, however, Mr.Bat- terson had made friends and a neighbor was willing to be security for him when he bought other oxen, for which he paid $60. With this team he broke sod and planted corn, also found work at fifty cents a day. He had one more discouraging experience before becoming well established. He hired out to a logging com- pany at Laramie, Wyoming, for $3 a day and worked until he had earned $150, when the company declined to pay on the excuse that bankers had an attachment on the timber and the company could do nothing.
In the fall of 1874, Mr. Batterson returned to Ohio and on February 23, 1875, married Miss Minerva Cooper, of Williams County, a daughter of Griffith and Nancy (Amsbaugh) Cooper, the father a native of Virginia and the mother of Pennsylvania. After marriage Mr. Batterson returned with his young wife and they started housekeeping, in the little frame shanty he had erected, twelve by four- teen. In the next spring he built a sod addition for a kitchen. It was a happy home although there is a great contrast between that and the present commodious farm house with its mod- ern comforts. To. Mr. and Mrs. Batterson three daughters were born all three now in homes of their own within easy reach of their parents. The eldest, Della, is the wife of C. H. Bly, and they live on a farm about four miles southwest of Wood River. They have three sons. Carrie, the second daughter, is the wife of S. P. Burmood and they live one- half mile east of the home place, and have two sons and one daughter. Blanche, the third daughter, is the wife of G. L. Burmood, a farmer located four, miles south of Wood River, and they have two daughters.
Mr. Batterson is one of the honored veter- ans of the Civil War. When sixteen years old, in February, 1865, he enlisted in Com- pany D, One Hundred Ninety-fifth Ohio In- fantry, and took part, as a man, in the closing campaigns of the war, serving in the Shenan- doah Valley. When the war closed he was sent to Baltimore, then to Washington, D. C., then to Alexandria and finally to Camp Chase, Ohio, where he was mustered out and received his honorable discharge in December, 1865. He then went to Iowa for awhile, in 1871 to Kansas, and from there traveling in a covered wagon, with his precious bunch of cattle, reached Hall County in 1872. Although there is no necessity, Mr. Batterson still looks after his own affairs to a large extent himself. Both
he and wife are members of the Evangelical church. They are widely known and are not only respected but much beloved in their neigh- : borhood.
CLARENCE M. LOWRY, who has lived on his original homestead in Hall County, Nebraska, ever since he secured it forty-four years ago, is widely known in this section for he has been an active, useful, public-spirited citizen. He had many trying experiences in the settlement and developing his land. He was one of the earliest to agitate and give assist- ance in the adjustment of such public matters as the organization of schools and the im- provement of roads. He now owns two hun- dred and sixty-six acres of cultivated land.
Mr. Lowry was born near La Fayette, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, February 4, 1854. His parents were William Harrison and Sarah Lowry, the latter of whom lived to be ninety years old. Mr. Lowry's father was born in Ohio, later became a farmer in In- diana, still later came to Nebraska and died in Nemaha County when fifty years old. The record of his children reads as follows : Alex- ander, who is deceased; Mrs. Rebecca Cromp- ton, who is deceased; Mrs. Sarah J. Hall, a widow, lives in Idaho; Samuel, who lives on his ranch in Texas; Harrison, deceased ; John, who is deceased; Mrs. Margaret Denman, who is deceased; and Clarence M., who lives in Hall County. Harrison, John and James were soldiers during the Civil War, enlisting from Nebraska but as there was no recruit- ing station here they had to go to Iowa to en- ter the service.
When Clarence Malcom Lowry was four years old his parents brought him to Nemaha County, Nebraska. He attended the country schools when opportunity came but his boy- hood and early youth held many responsi- bilities. He gave his father assistance on the home farm until 1872, when he came to Hall County and has lived here ever since. Coming here so early, he encountered many pioneer hardships that later settlers escaped. The great blizzard of 1873 that finds a record in state history, was probably the most calamit- ous of all the severe storms through which Mr. Lowry passed, although subsequent ones, the later years of drouth, and the pest of grass- hoppers were all serious matters enough to discourage men of less resolution than Mr. Lowry. In 1873 he took up a homestead where he has since resided, being the only settler in this section who has done so. His property has been well improved and his sur-
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roundings indicate thrift and good manage- ment. He carries on general farming and is a moderate feeder of cattle and hogs to some extent.
In Hall County, February 4, 1877, Mr. Lowry married Miss Maggie Dufford, whose parents were born and reared in Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Lowry have seven children : Mrs. Della Meseraull, who lives in Doniphan ; Archibald, who lives near Anselmo in Custer County ; Mrs. Nettie Herr resides on a farm in Hamilton County ; Robert a farmer in Hall County ; Mrs. Gertrude Crawford, who lives in Hall County; and Fay and Rolland, both of whom are at home. As soon as Mr. Lowry became a land owner in the county and felt assured that the Indians yet in evidence were only thieving and not hostile he began to agi- tate for the organization of schools, believing this to be one of the first helps to good and intelligent citizenship. Afterward he served as a school director for twenty years. In the early times the transportation question was a very serious one and Mr. Lowry did his full part in bringing about the building of roads and later served four years in the office of road overseer. As a man of long experi- ence and practical ideas, his suggestions on many subjects relating to the public welfare carry weight with his fellow citizens. He has been a Mason for many years being identified with the lodge at Doniphan.
JOHN C. McGOWAN, one of Hall County's representative farmers and stock- raisers, a heavy land owner and honorable, up- right citizen, was born April 4, 1880, at Wilton Center, Will County, Illinois. He is the eldest of a family of two sons and three daughters born to Michael and Mary A. (Shields) McGowan. His father was born in Ireland and his mother in Illinois.
John C. McGowan was brought to Nebraska by his parents in 1883. After his father came to the United States, he remained in the state of New York for eight years, then went to Illinois and was married there in April, 1879. After coming to Nebraska, he bought one hun- dred and sixty acres of land at $12.50 an acre, situated near Rising City in Butler County, and still lives there. In the schools of Butler County, John C. McGowan received his educa- tion, and afterward became a farmer and in association with his father and brother, ac- quired a six hundred acre tract in Butler County. In the spring of 1916 he came to Hall County and began improving the land the family had purchased ten years before in sec-
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