USA > Nebraska > Hamilton County > History of Hamilton and Clay counties, Nebraska, Vol. II > Part 31
USA > Nebraska > Clay County > History of Hamilton and Clay counties, Nebraska, Vol. II > Part 31
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On the 7th of October, 1877, Mr. Herzog was married to Miss Emma Parks, a native of Benton Harbor, Michigan, and a daughter of David B. and Alsona (Aldrich) Parks. They have become the parents of five children: Frank H.,
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Arthur M., William H., Anna V. and Raymond H. The first two of this number have been called to the home beyond and the other three are still living. Mrs. Herzog is a member of the Congregational church and Mr. Herzog is a member of the First Reformed church and fraternally he is connected with the Modern Wood- men of America. He has always given his political support to the democratic party and has filled the office of city alderman for eight years and mayor for six years, in addition to his service as postmaster. At all times he is most loyal to the trust reposed in him and his worth as a man and citizen is widely acknowledged in the community in which he has now lived for almost a half century.
HENRY BRANDT
A resident for more than thirty years of Hamilton county, Nebraska, the late Henry Brandt gained through his own efforts a generous measure of temporal prosperity and in his activities as an agricultnrist and stock raiser he contributed definitely to the industrial development of the county, even as in his loyal and liberal civic attitude he did well his part in furthering social advancement. He won success by worthy means and so ordered his course in all of the relations of life as to merit and receive the unqualified commendation and respect of his fel- lowmen. He was born and reared in Germany and was a self-reliant and ambitious youth of seventeen years when he came to the United States and found employ- ment at farm work, near Postville, Iowa. He likewise passed a year in Minnesota, and in that state on the 29th of February, 1888, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Katie Minges, who was born and reared in Minnesota, a daughter of Joseph and Frederica (Resch) Minges, of whose three sons and three daughters she was the fifth in order of birth. In 1888 Mr. Brandt and his bride came to Hamilton county, Nebraska, and settled on a tract of eighty acres, near Giltner. On this farm he continued his progressive activities for fifteen years and then sold the property and purchased the fine farm on which his widow still resides, the same comprising two hundred and forty acres and the home being in section 28, Monroe township. A man of energy and mature judgment, Mr. Brandt made his labors count in increasing success in his farm enterprise and he gained high reputation as a thoroughgoing and successful farmer who achieved wealth through his own ability and efforts. Appreciative of the comforts which add to the happi- ness in the home and ever solicitous for the welfare of his family, he provided on his farm one of the modern and attractive rural houses of the county and his business sagacity led him to erect also farm buildings of the best type. He was aligned in the ranks of the democratic party, was affiliated with the Modern Wood- men of America and was a communicant of the Lutheran church, while his widow is a member of the Methodist church. Mrs. Brandt remains on the home farm, sustained and comforted by the devotion of her children and by gracious association with an unusually wide circle of loyal friends in the county which has long been her home and in which she has realized many of the finer ideals of thought and action and is stanch in her loyalty to the county and the state.
The death of Mr. Brandt occurred on the 16th of May, 1918, and besides his
MR. AND MRS. HENRY BRANDT
Vol. I1-20
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widow he is survived by four children: Frederick is a progressive young farmer near the old home farm; Edward and Walter have the active management of the old home place, where they remain with their widowed mother; and Gladys is the wife of Cecil Jacobs and they reside on a farm in Hamilton county.
J. J. MCCONAUGHEY
Aurora's population contains a goodly percentage of retired farmers-men who in previous years have been very active in directing the agricultural development of this district and whose labors have brought to them a gratifying and substantial measure of success. With this class J. J. McConaughey is numbered and Aurora finds him a valued representative citizen. Iowa claims him as a native son, for his birth occurred in Marion county, that state, April 13, 1854, his parents being James and Mary Ann (Wires) McConaughey, the former a native of Guernsey county, Ohio, while the latter was born in Germany. The father was reared and educated in the Buckeye state and was a man of studious nature who was con- stantly promoting his knowledge and efficiency. In 1853 he removed to Iowa where he devoted his attention to farming. He was very capable, accomplishing everything which he undertook and displaying versatility and enterprise in all of his work. For several years he served as constable and was thoroughly loyal in the discharge of his duties. His political support was given to the republican party. At the time of the Civil war he attempted to join the army but was rejected on account of being crippled in his feet. His son, Andrew McConaughey, served as sheriff of Hamilton county for several years and was very prominent in the public life of this section. He took up his abode in Hamilton county in 1871 and here homesteaded, securing land which he converted into a rich and productive farm. He served for several years in the Civil war in defense of the Union and was at all times a loyal and progressive citizen. His death occurred in 1918.
In the family of Mr. and Mrs. James McConaughey there were eight children, of whom two died in infancy and two are living, the surviving brother being Wil- liam, who resides in Oklahoma, where he follows farming.
The youngest of the family was J. J. McConaughey of this review. He obtained his education at Knoxville, Iowa, and started out in the business world in connection with farming. The year 1890 witnessed his arrival in Hamilton county, although he had visited the county in 1874 but soon afterward returned to Iowa. While in that state he worked by the month for a time and afterward purchased a farm which he owned and cultivated until he sought the opportunities offered in Nebraska. Here in 1889 he purchased two hundred acres of land upon which he took up his abode in 1890, continuing to own the property until 1918 when he sold it. He lived on the farm for ten years and then removed to Aurora where for twenty years he has resided. He carried the mail on the rural route for sixteen years, continuing to serve in that connection until 1916 when owing to impaired health he resigned his position. He has a pleasant home at 912 L street and is living retired.
It was in 1877 that Mr. McConaughey was married to Miss Frances Myers, who was born in Ohio, a daughter of Enos W. and Rebecca Jane (Fernowl) Myers,
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the former a native of Pennsylvania while the latter was born in Ohio. They removed to Iowa at an early day and the year 1887 witnessed their arrival in Nebraska. Mr. Myers purchased a large farm and afterward removed to Table Rock, Nebraska, where his remaining days were passed, while the mother died at the home of a daughter in Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. McConaughey have become parents of eight children: Dorotha May, who is the wife of A. R. Ocker, a railroad man residing at Beatrice, Nebraska; Clyde L., who is in the Fidelity National Bank of Aurora; Minnie Ann, the wife of Tunis T. Lapp, of Lincoln, Nebraska, who is with a paper and bag company; Lula B., the wife of Carl Witham, an engineer of Alliance, Nebraska; Mary Jane, the wife of Dr. L. D. Smith, a chiropractor of Lincoln; Francis Earl, a farmer living in Hamilton county; Enos J., who is employed in the Fidelity and Real Estate Bank at Aurora; and Cecil A., who occu- pies a position in the First National Bank at Lincoln, Nebraska.
In his political views Mr. McConaughey is a republican but has never been ambitious to hold office, preferring to concentrate his efforts and attention upon business affairs. The only official position he has filled was that of rural mail carrier. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons and with the Modern Wood- men of America and to the teachings of both organizations is loyal. He and his wife are consistent members of the Christian church and they have a circle of friends almost coextensive with the circle of their acquaintance. Mr. McConaughey well deserves to be classed with the self-made men of Hamilton county. When he went to Pottawattamie county, Iowa, in 1877 he rented land and was without funds. Instead of paying part of his crop for rent he decided to buy an eighty-acre tract of land on time. An agent showed him several pieces of land and he finally decided upon eighty acres for which he paid ten dollars per acre, making the first pay- ment in March following his agreement to purchase the property in the previous fall. Each year he continued to pay one hundred dollars until the indebtedness was discharged and thus he gained his start in life. From that point forward he has steadily advanced and obstacles and difficulties in his path have seemed to call forth greater courage and firmer purpose. Year by year he progressed and for a considerable period was numbered among the successful farmers of Hamilton county. Today he is living retired, enjoying the fruits of his former toil and he has the satisfaction of knowing that every dollar he possesses has been industriously and honorably earned.
JOHN G. MOBERG
The land of Hamilton county has afforded to Mr. Moberg the excellent medium through which he has made his way to a stage of definite independence and pros- perity. Depending entirely upon his own resources and placing true values upon men and affairs, he has guided his course firmly and wisely and has not been denied the goodly reward of merited success. He was born in Sweden in the year 1859, was there reared and educated and was a young man of twenty-five years when he came to the United States and made Nebraska his destination. His brother, Andrew P., had established his home on a pioneer farm in Hamilton county and John G. assisted in the work of this farm about one year and eventually
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located his home farm not far distant. He farmed independently on rented land about three years and then purchased, at the rate of eighteen dollars an acre, his present farm, of one hundred and sixty acres, in section 9, Monroe township. Here his labors and good management have been crowned with substantial success and he is now the owner of a well improved farm that yields goodly returns year after year. He is a reliable and upright citizen who commands unqualified popular esteem, has done his part in the furtherance of social and industrial development and progress in Hamilton county, is a stanch republican in politics and both he and his wife are active communicants of the Swedish Lutheran church.
In the city of Omaha was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Moberg to Miss Anna Burgman, who came from Sweden to the United States when she was twenty-five years of age. They have two children, Amelia and Esther, both of whom are residing in the city of Omaha, where the elder daughter is attending a school for trained nurses.
B. A. MUNSON
Business enterprise in Aurora finds a worthy representative in B. A. Munson, a furniture dealer and undertaker whose carefully directed interests have placed him among the prosperous merchants of the city. His life record began on the 10th of December, 1858, in Carroll county, Illinois. His father, B. F. Munson, was a native of Ohio and in young manhood removed to Illinois, where he was living at the time of the outbreak of the Civil war. Joining the army he served with the boys in blue of the Ninety-second Illinois Infantry for a period of three years and aided valiantly in defense of the Union. He afterward returned to Illinois and there followed the occupation of farming. It was in that state that he married Catherine Loughran, who was born in Illinois and in 1871 they removed with their family to Nebraska, settling in Adams county among the pioneers who were engaged in reclaiming a wild and undeveloped region for the purposes of civilization. Mr. Munson secured a claim and at once began the arduous task of transforming the wild land into productive fields. He continued to own and cultivate the home- stead to the time of his demise and his wife also passed away upon this farm. They were earnest Christian people, loyal to the teachings of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which they held membership. Mr. Munson was a republican in his political views, serving as justice of the peace and at all times supporting those activities and interests which he believed would be of benefit to the community. To him and his wife were born thirteen sons and three daughters and of this family fifteen reached adult age, while ten are yet living.
B. A. Munson, who was the sixth in order of birth, was a youth of twelve years when the family home was established in Nebraska, so that he, too, became familiar with the experiences of frontier life. He was educated in the country schools and later pursued a business course in Burlington, Iowa. In his youthful days he learned the blacksmith's trade which he followed for three years and afterward turned his attention to the furniture business at Blue Hill, Nebraska, where he remained an active factor in mercantile circles for a period of seven years. It was in 1891 that he became a resident of Aurora and opened a furniture store
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and undertaking establishment, being a graduate undertaker and embalmer. He carries an attractive line of furniture and household goods and his success is the direct outcome of the careful management of his affairs, his sound judgment in selecting stock and his straightforward dealings with his customers.
On the 29th of December, 1886, Mr. Munson was married to Miss Margaret McClelland, who was born in Canada, a daughter of John and Margaret (Mathison) McClelland, both of whom were natives of Scotland and resided at Blue Hill, Nebraska, for a number of years, the father being there engaged in the hotel busi- ness. To Mr. and Mrs. Munson have been born five children: Goldie, who is the wife of Claude Patrick, living on a ranch near Craig, Colorado; Elroy, who has charge of the furniture department of the Benway Furniture Company at Lincoln, Nebraska; Russell, who is in the store with his father; Jeannie, the wife of William Finney, of Aurora, who is senior land appraiser for the Burlington Railroad Company ; and Francis, who is ticket clerk for the Burlington and resides at home.
In his fraternal relations Mr. Munson is a Mason and an Odd Fellow. and has passed through all of the chairs in the Odd Fellows lodge several times. He and his wife belong to the Presbyterian church and are interested in all those forces which make for the moral development of the community. Politically he is a repub- lican and has served as coroner of Hamilton county but is not an aspirant for office and prefers to devote his entire attention to his mercantile business, which is a large and growing one and which makes full demand upon his time and energies.
E. J. EGGERT
There is no phase of pioneer life, with its hardships, privations, its trials and its opportunities, with which E. J. Eggert, a retired farmer of Aurora, is not familiar. He came here in the days of early development and as the years passed performed all the arduous work of cultivating and improving a new farm. At length success rewarded his efforts and he is now living retired, enjoying in well earned rest the fruits of his former toil. He was born in Princeton, Illinois, November 8, 1856, and is a son of Henry and Henrietta (Eggert) Eggert, both of whom were natives of Germany and came to the United States in the latter part of the '40s, settling in St. Louis, where they resided for a short time. Mr. Eggert afterward removed to Bureau county, Illinois, where he purchased land, residing thereon until he came to Hamilton county, Nebraska, in 1882. Here he bought a farm and both he and his wife spent their remaining days thereon. They belonged to the German Lutheran church and Mr. Eggert gave his political en- dorsement to the democratic party. Their family numbered seven children: Mary, the wife of F. W. Welhner, connected with the stockyards at Kansas City ; Lena, the wife of Jake Barrick, of Aurora; E. J .; Henry, a retired farmer of Aurora; Henrietta, the wife of John McCarthy, of Orange, California; C. S., who is living retired in Lincoln ; and August, a retired farmer of Aurora.
At the usual age E. J. Eggert entered the district schools near his father's farm in Illinois and through vacation periods worked in the fields and after his
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school days were over continued in the same occupation. It was in April, 1879, that he came to Hamilton county, bringing with him a team and breaking plow. He made the journey westward in a box car with a cousin. In this box car were loaded their household goods, four horses, two wagons and some lumber. They weut to Grand Island by railroad and when they arrived the cousin's wife and uncle, who were to come first, had not yet reached there. Mr. Eggert and his cousin had no money and were not allowed to unload their car. He went into a livery stable, however, and the proprietor, John Saas, loaned him the money and the goods and supplies were then unloaded. This generosity to a stranger was typical of the spirit of helpfulness that prevailed among the pioneers. After getting their things from the car Mr. Eggert loaded the wagon with lumber and made a start for the homestead. So anxious was he to begin putting up his shack that he forgot all about provisions until hunger asserted itself. He went to a neighbor and asked for some water for his horses but the people had no water; and he then asked if the woman of the house would sell him a loaf of bread but she said she never baked. The situation was discouraging but Mr. Eggert finally spied another house some distance away where there was a windmill and thus he obtained water for the horses and also a fresh loaf of bread that had just been baked. After caring for his stock and appeasing his hunger he felt much better, setting to his work with renewed zeal. He obtained his assistance on the farm of Frank Wanek, who is still living near Giltner and is one of the substantial farmers of the county. Mr. Eggert at once began breaking prairie and followed this for two or three years. He then rented a farm, also engaged in threshing and in fact would do anything that would yield him an honest dollar. He purchased his first land-a tract of eighty acres-about 1883 or 1884, paying three hundred dollars down on the property and the balance at the rate of two hundred dollars per year. He broke a part of this land and sold it for twenty dollars per acre to his father-in-law. Later he purchased the interests of the heirs in his father's old homestead and he now owns the place which comprises one hundred and sixty acres of rich and productive land. He also owns two hundred and forty acres of land in Missouri and his property returns to him a gratifying annual income. He continued to till his fields and further develop and improve his farm until December 16, 1914, when he removed to Aurora, where he has since made his home.
In 1882 Mr. Eggert was married to Miss Nellie McCarthy and they became parents of three children : Mabel Esther, the wife of J. T. Stenner, an electrical engineer at the ice plant in Omaha ; Charles Francis, who is on his father's farm ; and Effie May. The wife and mother passed away in 1913 and on the 5th of September, 1917, Mr. Eggert was married to Mrs. Mary McRae, who was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Stewart and Annie Beers. She was a widow at the time of her marriage to Mr. Eggert. She belongs to the Episcopal church and Mr. Eggert has membership with the Highlanders, while his political support is given to the democratic party. For many years he has been connected with the Hamilton County Fair Association, served as its vice president for eight years and was then elected to the presidency which position he has occupied for the past five years. In this connection he has done much to stimulate interest in improved methods of agriculture and production and has aided largely in upholding the highest standards in everything that has to do with agricultural life in any
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way. He has lived to see remarkable changes in the county since he arrived here as a young man of twenty-two years. There were then great sections of the county undeveloped and unimproved and many of the now thriving towns and cities had not yet sprung into existence, while no railroad crossed the county. In the work of progress Mr. Eggert has since borne his full share and has contributed especially in notable measure to the agricultural improvement of this section of the state.
JOHN J. SPRINGER
By knowing how to do things and then doing them with characteristic vigor and discrimination John J. Springer has won large and worthy success in connection with farm industry in Nebraska. Though he has met with discouragements and reverses at various times in his career, he has not faltered in courage or determina- tion and Hamilton county has been the scene of his most effective activities as an agriculturist and stock raiser. Here he is now the owner of a well improved landed estate of three hundred and twenty acres, his fine home farm being situated one- half mile south of the village of Murphy, and one of the model places of Monroe township.
John J. Springer was born in Bureau county, Illinois, in the year 1867, and was there reared and educated, his father having become a prosperous farmer of that county, where he owned a well improved farm of one hundred and sixty acres at the time of his death. He is a son of Joseph and Madeline (Zimmerman) Springer, whose marriage was solemnized in Illinois and who passed the remainder of their lives in that state. Joseph Springer was born at Metz, France, and was twenty-four years of age at the time of the family immigration to the United States. He was eighty-four years of age at the time of his death, his wife having preceded him to eternal rest. They became the parents of three children, all sons, and of the number the subject of this sketch is the only one residing in Nebraska.
As a boy and youth John J. Springer gained wide knowledge of the labors and general operations of the home farm and this has proved of inestimable value to him in his independent farm enterprise of later years. He continued his residence in Illinois until 1890, when he came to Nebraska and established his residence in Seward county. He there invested virtually his total capital, seven hundred and fifty dollars, in farm land, but unfavorable conditions and circumstances over which he had no control finally caused him to lose all that he had invested, as well as the results of his earnest toil and endeavor as a farmer. It was at this juncture in his career, after eight years of residence in Seward county, that he came, in 1898, to Hamilton county, where he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in Monroe township, for which property he paid twenty-five dollars an acre. The place was but partly improved and he has not only erected excellent buildings but has otherwise brought the farm to a fine state of cultivation and with increas- ing prosperity has invested in additional land, until he now has a valuable estate of three hundred and twenty acres. While still a resident of Illinois he had worked as a farm hand and it was thus he earned the money with which he made
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his original investment in Nebraska. He has known the efficacy of honest toil and this, coupled with good judgment and careful business policies, has brought his success in life and he has every reason to be gratified in the independence and prosperity that are his in the state and county of his adoption. In connection with diversified agriculture Mr. Springer has become a prominent breeder of fine Percheron horses and his is one of the best horse farms in this section of Nebraska, sales of horses from the place having been made in most diverse sections of the state and his reputation being wide in this special field of enterprise. On his farm he also raises full-blooded registered Poland China hogs of the best type.
Mr. Springer has been vital and progressive not only in his individual activities but also in his attitude as a citizen. While he has had no ambtion for political office he has been unswerving in his allegiance to the republican party and has taken well his part in community affairs. He held for twelve years the office of school director of his district. He and his family hold membership in the Mennonite church.
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