USA > Nebraska > Hamilton County > History of Hamilton and Clay counties, Nebraska, Vol. I > Part 28
USA > Nebraska > Clay County > History of Hamilton and Clay counties, Nebraska, Vol. I > Part 28
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RAILROADS' PALMY POLITICAL DAYS
On December 10, 1920, George W. Holdrege resigned as general manager of the lines west of the Burlington system, after continuous service in that capacity since 1886, and fifty-one years of service with this railroad in Nebraska. This occasion brought forth from the Nebraska State Journal some interesting reminis- cenees of railroad history of the state, which will aptly close this portion of our review.
For more than twenty-five years Mr. Holdrege wielded a political power that no man before him or since has essayed in Nebraska. Governors and United States senators, not to mention many other minor state officers, were made and unmade in his office in Omaha. In that period between the eclipse of VanWyck and the rise of George Sheldon and Norris Brown he reigned supreme. No man thought to run for any important state office until after he had gone to Omaha to see George W. Holdrege, and his office was the mecca of legislators and others active in repub- liean politics.
Sought No Personal Advantage. Mr. Holdrege differed from the traditional political boss in that he never sought profit personally by reason of the power he wielded. A Burlington man first, last, and always, his power was employed solely to advance and protect the interests of that railroad. He made no alliances with disreputable elements. He made no effort to conceal either what he was doing
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or how he did it. Himself he kept always in the background. Very rarely did he appear at Lincoln when the legislature was in session, or at other times. He dealt largely through agents, J. H. Ager, who recently died in Lincoln, being his most trusted man for many years.
The machine operated by Mr. Holdrege was organized along business lines, in each county through which the road ran. It was represented by a group of active politicians all of whom were holders of annual passes. One of the group, usually a lawyer or a banker, was the chief pass distributor for the county. He was supplied with blank books of passes issued in Mr. Holdrege's name, and he was free to use these as he pleased, but that power was subject to the rule that it must not be employed recklessly or unwisely. If he used it so, he lost his power and his pass, and they passed to another. The same fate awaited him if he failed to bring the delegation from that county to the state convention, and could not offer a reasonable explanation therefor.
This group was usually composed of one or two lawyers, bankers, business men, and a doctor or two, men who knew the political game and how to play upon the prejudices and ambitions of men. They made up the local machine, which fattened on its power to award offices and give out passes. Through the lax system of primaries by which delegates to county conventions were selected, an organized group, except where a vital issue that stirred voters to action, could invariably get control of the county conventions. They set up dummy candidates in pre- cinets in order to control the votes of the precinct delegation, and then put these into a pot with the delegates brought in by the candidates they had previously decided to nominate, and thus controlled without any trouble.
Their principal job was to bring in the county delegation to the state conven- tion, and thus the railroads controlled that gathering. They also recommended or picked candidates for the legislature, and were also permitted to salve their vanity by setting up as little local bosses, subject to correction and punishment for abuse of power.
The railroads had been in politics from the beginning of the state, but they never appeared so strongly in the open as they did after they had repelled first the granger movement that lifted VanWyck to eminence and later the populist movement. From then until 1906 a republican state convention, packed by rail- road passholders, dictated party policies and the personnel of state officers. The Burlington was the master force for a number of years, due to the leadership of Holdrege, but in time the Union Pacific and Northwestern challenged its supremacy, and in a number of state conventions the battle was less between candidates than it was between railroads, as to which should control and dictate the principal nominees.
End of Railroad Politics. This condition of affairs was generally known and accepted, and it was not nntil 1906, when Sheldon as a candidate for governor and Brown as a candidate for senator challenged the right of the railroads to operate the state government and name the men who should fill the offices. The battle was a hot one. It was really lost in Lancaster County, where just before the conven- tion the two contending forces, cach desirous of getting a foothold in the state convention and each being fearful of defeat, had agreed on a truce by which the delegation was to be split. When Mr. Holdrege was informed of this agreement, sensing with his keen vision of politics that a victory in Lancaster was necessary
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if the convention control was to be gained, he ordered his lieutenants to fight it out. They did, and lost by the narrow margin of a dozen votes in a convention of over eight hundred delegates.
The railroads were routed in that state convention and the next legislature put them out of politics by adopting a number of new laws; principally the direct primary and the abolition of the pass. Mr. Holdrege's reign ended then. It was only by the pass and the convention system that the railroads could control. Past successes had convinced ambitious young men that political preferment could be gained only through the existing railroad machine, and when the fetich was destroyed along with the organization, it ended all hope for the sort of con- trolled polities that had existed for so many years.
Accepted New Conditions. No rail manager ever accepted absolutely changed conditions more readily than Mr. Iloldrege. Some of his friends said that taking political work away from railroads came as an absolute relief to the Burlington general manager. He devoted himself to railroading more arduously than ever, matter- of railroad development and transportation receiving attention that formerly had been divided by attention to matters political.
When the Hill ownership came many said that a manager schooled as Mr. Holdrege had been in the old way of doing things could never take up the newer ways. To the surprise of some who knew him least he at once became a manager of the Hill type, an exponent of the Ilill ideas in railroading, a manager who fitted in well in the new regime. He reorganized his forces and began the cam- paign of rebuilding and betterment that started with Hill ownership as energetically as he had entered the campaign of new building and expansion of the system in the rush building period of the '80s. Hill ownership and Hill methods had pre- ceded the legislature of 1902. which put the railroads out of politics, and Mr. Holdrege found no lack of work to be done after he had been relieved of his political responsibilities.
Mr. Holdrege Has No Regrets. In an interview in 1914. Mr. Holdrege was asked if he wore to start life over again if he would be a railroad man.
"I have no reason to say I would not be." was the reply. "I like the work and always have."
"Are there opportunities today for the young man to forge ahead in railroad work as there were when you entered the service?"
"There is always a chance for young men to forge ahead," he said. "The future of our country is great and will become more important as time goes on."
"Would you advise a young man to enter railroad business for a life work?"
"That depends on the circumstances. There are splendid opportunities for young energetic men today in our business just as there always have been. If a young man likes the work I can see no reason why he should not choose it for his calling. I can say this: The railroad field is a good one for any energetic young man of today. To succeed in it requires hard work and plenty of it- fidelity to duty and a willingness to learn everything possible that can be learned about all that have to do with railroading."
CHAPTER 1X
RELIGIOUS, EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
DURING THE THIRTIES-DURING THE FORTIES-DENOMINATIONAL BEGINNINGS-THE CHURCH, THE SCHOOL, AND THE SOCIETY-BELLEVUE-NEBRASKA CITY- - OMAHA- GRAND LODGE, MASONIC-GRAND LODGE K. OF P .- PLATTSMOUTH-BROWNVILLE- NEMAHA COUNTY-WASHINGTON COUNTY-TEKAMAH-COLUMBUS-FREMONT- TECUMSEH-FALLS CITY-BEATRICE-GRAND ISLAND KEARNEY-NORTH PLATTE -LINCOLN-SCHUYLER-WAHOO-BLAIR-FAIRBURY-NORFOLK-MADISON-SEW- ARD-MILFORD YORK-HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEBRASKA-THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-PROF. SAMUEL AUGHEY'S REVIEW OF THE STARTING OF THE UNIVERSITY-NEBRASKA COLLEGES, BY SOURCE OF SUPPORT-BY THE STATE- BAPTIST-CATHOLIC-PRESBYTERIAN-UNITED BRETHREN-DANISH LUTHERAN- LUTHERAN-METHODIST EPISCOPAL-CONGREGATIONAL-NEBRASKA'S CARE FOR HER NEEDY.
Nebraska's attention to the cultivation of the religious, educational and social phases of life started practically coincident with the historical record of its settle- ments and governmental inaugurations.
It is not within our power in this brief review to go into any detailed historical record of each denomination of the many religions bodies which have carried on the most sacred work of life within the growing State of Nebraska. But we will endeavor to give a short chronology of the simultaneous religious development in this state by the various denominations.
Before 1833. If it be true that Quivera was located within the present boundaries of Nebraska, then Rev. John de Padilla. Franciscan friar, was the first Christian clergyman to officiate within the limits of Nebraska, as he accompanied Coronado in 1541. From 1670 to 1776 the region now known as Nebraska was under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Quebec. It was placed subject to the diocese of Santiago de Cuba in 1722. and later fell under the sway of the French ecclesiastics. The various explorers of the Mississippi Valley were many of them priests of the ('atholic faith.
1833. It was in this year that Rev. Moses Merrill and wife came as mis- sionaries to Bellevue. Rev. Moses Merrill was the son of a Baptist minister of Sedgwick. Maine. He gave up his work of teaching in Michigan, in February, 1830. and devoted his attention to theological study, preaching and preparing to do missionary work among the Indians. Ile was married on June 1, 1830, to Miss Eliza Wilcox, and in September, 1832, they were appointed as missionaries by the Baptist Missionary Union to Sault Ste. Marie. From there they went to Shawnee Mission, Mo., and then came to Bellevue. Indian Territory (now
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Nebraska) 200 miles from any white settlement, and there arrived on November 19th. A school for Indian children was at once opened, and preaching by an inter- preter speedily followed. The Indians were visited, fed, counseled and befriended.
1834. The Merrills continued their work and undertook the preparation of an Otoe spelling book, a reading book making thirty pages duodecimo, and a hymn book. The Indians soon learned to sing the hymns of the little hymn book.
A Presbyterian mission for the Pawnees was undertaken in this year by Rev. Samuel Allis and Rev. John Dunbar. Reverend Dunbar first began work in 1834 among the Omaha Indians at Bellevue, and later extended his activities to the Pawnee Indians, as far up as Fullerton.
1835. In September of this year the Merrill family removed from Bellevue, six miles, to the vicinity of the new Otoe village, and occupied a log house, sixteen feet square, just completed. In December they moved into a larger house.
1836. On August 14th the first exercises in Otoe were held at the school house. The year 1836 continued along in a similar tenor. Additional mission buildings were completed and the first address to the Indians in Otoe was given. The work progressed on through 1838 and 1839, and in 1840 the spirit of this wonderful man was called to the home beyond. The Otoes, who knew him as "The-one-who-always-speaks-the-truth." inquired if he whom they mourned had not a brother who would come and take his place. Samuel Pearce Merrill, second son of this worthy couple, who prepared the memorial to his father, incorporated in Vol. 4, of Nebraska Historical Society Papers, p. 157. closed the same with this memorial observation :
"The journal record of hardships, losses, dangers, and narrow escapes with life gives reasons enough for the quick termination of this mission by the death of its leader. And the scenes of lust, drunkenness, lawlessness, and murder amid which the wife of this missionary employed herself in teaching these savages were enough to start the stoutest mind from its true center. Sickness, epidemics, cholera, and drunkenness worst of all, ravaged the tribe during these years."
The excerpts from the diary of this worthy missionary which follow in that volume, at pp. 160 to 191, are worth the attention of any one who would enjoy a glimpse of what difficulties church work in those early times met with.
In the '40% Mr. and Mrs. Lester Ward Pratt joined the Indian mission at the Pawnee villages in 1843, and Rev. William Kinney took that work up in 1846. The work of the Churches of Christ was initiated in Nebraska in 1845, with a sermon preached by a man named Foster, at a point on the south side of the North Platte River opposite the present town of Ogalalla.
It will be recalled that with the exception of the trading posts and Indian missions, the real settlement in Nebraska communities was deferred until 1853 and 1854.
DENOMINATIONAL BEGINNINGS
1855. The Baptist Church work started in this year upon a firm foundation. Beginning with the arrival of Rev. J. M. Taggart in the following year, their work speedily progressed, growing from his efforts to a record of 14 churches and 16 ministers by 1866, and around 200 churches some sixty years later.
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In January of this year the Christian Church at Brownville was organized, through the efforts of Richard Brown, who had settled on the site of Brownville, and Joel M. Wood, with "Father" John Mullis associated with them.
The first Catholic church was established in Omaha in May or June of this year.
Rev. Henry M. Giltner crossed the Missouri River in this year and started out the work of the Presbyterian Church. Both the Baptists and Presbyterians organized churches at Nebraska City during this year.
1856. This year saw the foundation of Episcopalian activities in this state, with the organization of a mission at Omaha. The Congregational people also secured a start in this year.
1857. The United Presbyterians inaugurated their work with the organization of a small congregation at Rock Bluffs in Cass County. On January 6th Nebraska was established as a separate and relatively independent vicariate apostolic of the Roman Catholic Church.
1858. The Nebraska Baptists Association was organized in 1858. The Con- gregational people founded a college at Fontanelle and laid the foundation for the splendid work done by the various denominations in educational extension.
The work of the United Brethren Church in Nebraska began with a conference organized in this year by Bishop Edwards, with Rev. J. M. Dosh as the leading spirit. Rev. Henry W. Kuhns, pioneer of the work of the Lutheran Church in Nebraska, left Pittsburg in this year and came to Nebraska, his first church organized being the Emmanual Evangelical Lutheran Church of Omaha.
The various denominations already mentioned were the pioneers in church work in Nebraska.
1860-1870. During the decade of the Civil war and the elevation of Nebraska to statehood still other denominations entered this field and began their worthy work. The Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and other states began work in this state in 1868. About that time the Reformed Church also entered the state. The Lutheran Missouri Synod's first church was on Rock Creek, near Beemer, in Cuming County.
This decade brought the turning point in the history of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Nebraska. On April 4, 1861, Nebraska was made a separate conference and separated from the Kansas-Nebraska conference, which had been operating as such since October, 1856. The first Nebraska activities of the church officially had been taken in June, 1854, but Rev. Ilarrison Presson had held a service in this territory in April, 1850.
Thus it will be seen that the Baptists, Presbyterians and Methodists began church work in Nebraska almost before the permanent settlements were planted, and numerous other denominations followed so closely that it is impractical to attempt to rank these various splendid bodies in any order of arrival.
THE CHURCH, THE SCHOOL AND THE SOCIETY
It is impossible to take up each county in the state and go into proper detail in presenting the establishment and growth of the various churches, schools and fraternal and social societies. But we may be able to grasp a composite view of the faithful service rendered in the evolutionary development of the state from a
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primitive wilderness to the wonderful Commonwealth of 1920, by reviewing the establishment or organization of the first churches, schools and lodges in the various communities. For this purpose we will take a hurried review of the various com- munities settled between 1854 and 1820. a period of approximately fifteen years. and which carries through the pioneering days of almost all parts of the state.
Noting which denominations organized the first two or three churches in the various communities will give some conception of the activities of each church. and will serve to show that practically all of the stronger denominations were not only in this field early, but very much in earnest.
The foundation stones of the American Republic have been: the Home: It was the first institution to be started in any community, for there was no town possible until a little group of settlers had established homes, however humble ; the State, represented in the new border community at first by neighborhood co-op- eration in self-defense and guarding: then in local township and county govern- ment, and full espousal and participation in state affairs when the town, the town- ship and the county organizations had been perfected ; the Church : For no matter how far away from the old home back East, or from across the ocean, came the courageous settlers of the New West. they usually brought with them the Bible. and established Sabbath schools in some parlor, and soon received the holy minister of some denomination, and if the denomination to which they had been affiliated back East or across the Shores was not the first or the second to arrive in the new community, they usually worshipped faithfully with the one that did come, until their own special denominational form of worship was established in the community; the School: All countries have been composed of homes; the state in some form of government, and in their better days nestled close to the church. But the distinctively American contribution to the welfare of the workl, has been the Public School. This is a democratic cornerstone in every sense of the word. Out on the wild prairie where were clustered a few humble houses, a store or two, a school was opened and the sons and daughters of each family attended school together. This idea has been carried out faithfully in American life, and today in village, rural district, town, or great city the son of the rich sits beside the son or daughter of the poor in this world's wealth. Then came into these new com- munities one more important factor in welding a community spirit, the wonder- ful social adhesive. the American lodge. In the busy days of the twentieth century, with automobiles to travel in nicer weather, so many wonderfully developed theatres and picture shows, lecture halls and places of entertainment and instruc- ton, and with so many modern conveniences of pianos, player pianos, phonographs and libraries in the home, it is hardly possible for the present generation, with all of the devotion it possesses toward its lodges, fraternal societies and social organiza- tions to realize fully what these meant to the pioneer of a generation or two ago.
Then there were no phonographs, but few pianos, no complete public library in the town, no automobiles to distract so many hours from mental pleasures, and the necessity for a certain amount of social intercourse and human fellowship with his neighbors could only be satisfied, beyond the neighborly family meetings, in the lodge room or lecture hall.
Reiterating that while we know we cannot take the space to go into every community in the state, or into every county, and pull aside the curtain and peer into the past. we will avail ourselves of the opportunity to take a "backward"
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look into the establishment of church, school and lodge into those communities settled during the first fifteen years of the state's growth.
In order to more fully realize the short space of time that usually elapsed before these strengthening and socializing features of individual and community life arrived, we will after the name of the town, in parentheses, insert the year of its permanent settlement, or actual beginning as a community.
Bellevue (1844). Presbyterian Church-1855. Holy Trinity Episcopal 1861. The first Masonic Lodge in the state, Nebraska Lodge No. 1, A. F. & A. M. organized here in March, 1854. Bellevue Lodge No. 3, Knights of Pythias, July 31, 1869. Public school building erected in 1869. The town was settled in 1844, organized or incorporated in 1856, and this shows the slow growth before territorial forma- tion.
Nebraska City ( Fort Kearney in 1846-1852-1854). First school taught by Miss Martin (later Mrs. Jessen) in spring of 1855. First Baptist Church organized Angust 18. 1855, at the old "frame meeting house." Preaching in community first by Rev. William D. Gage, a Methodist missionary, in 1854. Methodist Church organized in 1855 by Reverend Gage. Presbyterians organized August 10, 1855, Rev. II. M. Giltner, missionary. All Catholic work until 1859 in charge of Vicariate Apostolic of Kansas, under Rt. Rev. Bishop S. B. Meigs, of Leavenworth, Kan. This territory supplied in early years of Nebraska City and vicinity and other communities in southeastern corner of the state, by regular visits to various points under the supervision of the Benedictine fathers of Kansas. The first regular visitant was Rev. Augustine Wirth. O. S. B., who also visited Omaha. His successor in 1858 was Rev. Francis Cannon. O. S. B. Ho resided in Omaha for a time, and then eime back to Nebraska City. In 1860 the parish at Nebraska City had so grown as to receive a regular minister, and Father Vogg was assigned to this point. This extended treatment of the early ('atholie work has been given at this point, so it may be referred to in review of other communities without having to repeat it in detail each time. A church was started on Kearney Heights in 1860, and in 1865 a Benedictine sister founded an academy here. Western Star Lodge No. 2. A. F. & A. M., organized 1855. Nebraska City Lodge No. 1. Odd Fellows, May. 1855, later merged in Frontier Lodge No. 3.
Omaha (1853 and 1854). First clergyman to visit Omaha is supposed to have been Dr. Gregory of Syracuse. N. Y., a divine of the Episcopal Church. md a chaplain at Fort Leavenworth in 1835. Church services were first started in 1855, and a mission established on July 13. 1856. St. Marks, an ontgrowth of Trinity Mission, 186%. and St. Barnabas Church, May 3, 1869. First Methodist Church started in 1854, with regular missionary in 1855. First Congregational. 1855; First Baptist, 1855, Rev. Wm. Leach as missionary. First Presbyterian, 1857, Rev. George P. Bergen first missionary : Latter Day Saints ( Mormons) of course had a church here as early as 1812. A Young Men's Christian Association was organized as early as November 22, 1867.
First public school was opened November 1, 1859.
Capital Lodge No. 3, A. F. & A. M., organized January 26. 1852. Grand Lodge of Nebraska. A. F. & A. M., organized at Masonic Hall in Omaha. The Grand Lodge of Nebraska, .I. F. & A. M. This grand Masonic body was organized in the Masonic hall in Omaha, September 23, 1857, by delegates from
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Nebraska Lodge No. 1, of Bellevue; Western Star Lodge No. 2, of Nebraska City; and Capital Lodge No. 3, of Omaha. Its first officers were R. C. Jordan, Grand Master : L. L. Bowen, Deputy Grand Master ; David Lindley, Grand Senior Warden ; L. B. Kinney, Grand Junior Warden ; William Anderson, Grand Treasurer; George Armstrong, Grand Secretary; John M. Chivington, Grand Chaplain; Horatio N. Cornell, Grand Marshal; Charles W. Hamilton, Grand Senior Deacon ; John A. Nye, Grand Junior Deacon. The officers in 1882 were James R. Cain of Falls City, Grand Master: Edwin F. Warren, Nebraska City. Deputy Grand Master; Samuel W. Hlayes, Norfolk, Grand Senior Warden; John G. Wemple, Hastings, Grand Junior Warden; Christian Ilartman, Omaha, Grand Treasurer; Willian R. Bowen, Omaha, Grand Secretary; George Scott, Sutton, Grand Chaplain ; James S. Gilham, Red Cloud, Grand Orator; Lee P. Gillette, Lincoln, Grand, Lecturer: Alfred S. Palmer, Lincoln, Grand Marshal; Francis E. White. Platts- mouth, Grand Senior Deacon; Frank E. Bullard, North Platte, G. J. D. : John MeClelland, Lincoln, Grand Tiler. The lodge meets annually on the festival of St. John the Baptist (June 24) at such place as is designated at its previous meet- ing.
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