USA > Nebraska > Hamilton County > History of Hamilton and Clay counties, Nebraska, Vol. II > Part 38
USA > Nebraska > Clay County > History of Hamilton and Clay counties, Nebraska, Vol. II > Part 38
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The political allegiance of Mr. Turner has always been given to the republican party, in the interests of which he takes an active part. His religious faith is that of the Christian church and he is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He has been town clerk for many years and served as school director, also, for some time. The life of Mr. Turner has been a useful, active and busy one and whatever success he has achieved has come to him as the reward of ability and industry. Those who meet him find him a social, genial gentleman and his good qualities win for him the warm regard of those with whom he comes into contact.
AMBROSE BROWN
A man who was especially prominent and influential in connection with pioneer affairs in Hamilton county and whose character and ability well fitted him for leadership in community sentiment and action, Ambrose Brown merits honor- able recognition in the history of the section of Nebraska to whose early development he contributed his quota. He was born in Fremont county, Iowa, in 1819, a date which indicates that his parents were numbered among the early settlers of that section of the Hawkeye state, where he himself was reared under the conditions and influences of the pioneer days, his superior intellectual powers enabling him by self-discipline effectively to supplement and round out the education which he there obtained in the common schools. In Iowa was solemnized his marriage to Miss Mary Pike, likewise a native of that state, and she died in 1920, in California at the age of sixty-nine years, where Mr Brown now maintains his residence.
In the early '70s Mr. Brown came to Hamilton county, Nebraska, and obtained eighty acres of unbroken prairie land in Union township. He erected a sod house with board floor and constructed a dugout barn. He then directed his attention vigorously to the breaking of his land and making the same available for cultiva- tion. He had to go overland to Hastings and Harvard for necessary supplies and his early grists were ground in the mill at Beaver Crossing and in the Seeley mill in York county. Indians were still in evidence in this section, as were also antelopes and deer, and visitors of a different type were the grasshoppers, which wrought havoc on the little prairie farm of Mr. Brown, where the family endured also their share of loss through droughts and other adverse conditions. In the now historic Easter blizzard that caused this section of the state to be virtually snow- bound for three days, Mr. Brown tied a line of twine between his house and barn,
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in order to find his way back and forth through the blinding storm. Among the early experiences which he encountered was the attempt to raise watermelons and having his efforts and hopes subverted when rabbits destroyed the growing pro- duct. Finally Mr. Brown sold his farm, stock and equipments and returned to Iowa, where he remained five years. He then came again to Hamilton county and resumed his activites ou his old homestead farm, the ownership of which he had retained. He here served as justice of the peace for a number of years and was the incumbent of this office at the time a man was hanged in a livery stable at Giltner, he having been one of those who aided in removing the body of this victim from its gruesome position.
From Nebraska Mr. Brown removed to California and there served nine years as district judge of Fresno county. He still resides in that county and is now venerable in years, even as he is known and honored for his sterling character and distinctive ability. He was one of the organizers of the Christian church in Hamilton county, Nebraska, and served as a local preacher of the same. Of his two children the elder is Dennis, who is engaged in the laundry business at Fresno, California. The younger son, Robert E., continues as the representative of this pioneer family in Hamilton county, Nebraska. He was born in Iowa, in 1876, and accompanied his parents on their removal to California, where he received educational advantages and where he remained until .he had attained his majority. He then returned to Hamilton county, Nebraska, and turned his attention to farm enterprise, in con- nection with which he has achieved great success. He is now owner of a valuable farm property of two hundred and eighty acres, in Union township, the same being improved with two sets of buildings, and the land being maintained under a high state of productivness, besides which good grades of live stock are here raised.
In Hamilton county Robert Brown wedded Miss Anna Severson, whose father, Henry Severson, came to this county from Wisconsin, in 1871, and who was one of the honored pioneer citizens of the county at the time of his death, in October, 1914, his wife having passed away in 1901. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have five children : Lyle, Oscar, Daryle, Opal and Willard. All of the children remain at home except Lyle, who is now a resident of the state of Washington. Daryle is, in 1921, a student in the high school at Harvard, Clay county
Mr. Brown advocates the principles for which the democratic party stands, but in local affairs maintains an independent attitude and supports men and measures meeting the approval of his judgment. He is a stockholder in the Farmers Elevator Company at Harvard, Clay county, and has served nearly a quarter of a century as school director of his district.
PHILLIP KREUTZ
Since 1920 Phillip Kreutz has been living retired in Harvard, enjoying the results of a life spent in intelligently directed industry. He was born in Prussia on the 1st of August, 1849, a son of Henry and Barbara (Braun) Kreutz, also natives of Prussia. In 1853 his parents came to the United States and settled
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in Wisconsin, where they purchased land and there resided until death. Three children were born to them, of whom Phillip was the youngest and is the only one living. Henry Kreutz gave his political allegiance to the democratic party and was a consistent member of the Lutheran church.
Phillip Kreutz received his education in the country schools of Wisconsin and in early life engaged in farming in connection with his father. In 1874 he left the parental roof, however, and coming to Nebraska located in Clay county, where he bought out a homestead. His first home on this land was a dugout but he later erected a fine frame dwelling. His ability as a farmer was soon recognized and he became one of the leading agriculturists of the county. In 1920 he decided to retire from active life and removed to Harvard. He maintains an interest in farming and has four hundred and eighty acres of fine farm land in the sur- rounding vicinity.
While living in Wisconsin Mr. Krentz was united in marriage to Miss Emaline Miller, a native of Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, and a daughter of Peter Miller, one of the early settlers of that state. Nine children have been born to them: Ida, who passed away in September, 1919, was the wife of John Bieck, a retired farmer of Harvard; Edward, who is living on the old homestead; George, who is engaged in farming near Trumbull; Orlo, a farmer of Clay county ; Raymond, whose death occurred in September, 1920, and who had for some time resided on his father's homestead; Delma, who lives at home and works in the Harvard State Bank; Rosie, a nurse in the Evangelical hospital at Marshalltown, Iowa; Arnold, who is residing in Hamilton county; and Roland. Roland was in the Eighty-ninth Division and saw active service in France and Germany, receiv- ing his discharge in June, 1919. He is now engaged in farming.
The political allegiance of Phillip Kreutz is given to the democratic party, in the interests of which he takes an active part. He and his wife are members of the Evangelical church and he is fraternally identified with the Modern Woodmen. The early career of Mr. Kreutz was indeed one of adversity and hardship but as the years passed he gradually worked his way upward and his course proves that upon the sure foundation of industry and indefatigable energy success may be bnilt.
FRANK E. TURNER
Frank E. Turner is one of the up-to-date, live, progressive business men of Clay county. He is the owner of a large Ford garage in the town of Harvard, at which place he maintains his residence. A native son of Clay county he was born on his father's farm, October 1, 1883, his parents being J. W. and Pearly (Smith) Turner, the former a native of Michigan and the latter of New York. Their marriage took place in Michigan and in 1879 they came to Clay county where Mr. Turner bought land from the railroad and thereon resided until the spring of 1897. At that time he removed to Eldorado and opened a blacksmith shop. He had also conducted that line of business while residing on his old farm. In the fall of 1898 he sold out his shop in Eldorado and removed to Harvard, resumed his trade and is now one of the best known and most popular
FRANK E. TURNER
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blacksmiths in the county. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Turner, three of whom are living: Charles, who is residing on his grandfather's farm in Hamilton county; Frank E., the subject of this review; and Jessie, who is now residing in Detroit, where she is engaged in nursing, having graduated from the Lincoln Sanatorium. J. W. Turner follows an independent course in politics. He has served on the town board and is now a member of the city council. The religious faith of Mr. and Mrs. Turner is that of the Christian church and fraternally he is identified with the Workmen and the Odd Fellows. The grandfather of our subject was Henry Turner, who came to Hamilton county at an early day, purchased some land and thereon resided until his death. He was one of the well known and honored pioneers of Clay county and Charles Turner is now farming his original homestead.
Frank E. Turner received his education in the schools of Eldorado and Harvard and at an early age learned the backsmith's trade. He worked with his father from the age of fourteen years until he was twenty, when he bought out a blacksmith shop at Eldorado, which he condneted successfully until May, 1911. He suffered a great loss when the building housing his business burned and he returned to Harvard, where he bought out his father's garage and has been in that line of business since. For nine years he has had the Ford car agency and his business has reached extensive proportions. He has a large repair business which demands the services of from two to four men all of the time.
In June, 1905, Mr. Turner was united in marriage to Miss Edith Osborn, a native of Clay county, and a daughter of T. J. Osborn, who came to this county in 1880 and still resides on the old homestead. Mr. and Mrs. Turner have become parents of two children: Ray, who is attending the Harvard schools; and Loraine.
Like his father, Mr. Turner maintains an independent course in politics, and fraternally is identified with the Elks and the Odd Fellows. Mrs. Turner is a consistent member of the Christian church, in the interests of which she takes an active part. As the result of landable ambition and excellent business ability Mr. Turner has won for himself an enviable place in the business, social and fraternal circles of Harvard, and he holds the confidence and respect of his fellow citizens.
PETER LEFEVER
When recognition is taken of the fact that Peter Lefever, a well known citizen of Hamilton county, has passed the age of threescore years and ten and was a young man when he came to Nebraska and established his home in this county, it is needless to offer further evidence of his legitimate claims to pioneer honors. He has witnessed and taken part in the development of this section of the state from a veritable prairie wild to its present status of opulence and prosperity, has known well the trials and hardships of the early days, but has never faltered in appreciation and confidence and has so utilized the resources of the country as to
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achieve substantial personal prosperity, the while he has contributed to general progress along civic and industrial lines,
Mr. Lefever was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, September 24, 1847, and his parents, Anthony and Elizabeth (Albright) Lefever, passed their entire lives in that state, the father having been a tanner by trade and vocation. Mr. Lefever received limited educational advantages in his youth and was but thirteen years of age when he began to provide for himself by working on farms, in which connection his original compensation was but six dollars a month. As a driver of ox teams in the lumher camps of his native state he commanded wages of twenty- six dollars a month. He attended school at irregular intervals, but his broader education has been gained through self-discipline and association with the practical affairs of life. He was twenty-four years of age when, in 1871, he came to Nebraska. He arrived in Lincoln on a freight train and he and his brother Hiram, who accompanied him, there bought a yoke of oxen and with them came overland to Hamilton county, where each took up a homestead claim of eighty acres and pre- pared to initiate the reclaiming and cultivating of their land. Peter Lefever erected on his place a sod house of two rooms, with dirt roof, and also constructed of poles and straw a primitive stable or barn. The brothers used their ox team in the breaking of the prairie soil and their early activities included also the planting of trees and the careful cultivation of their crops, it having been necessary at that period to go to Grand Island for general provisions and to have grists of grain ground in the mill at Beaver Crossing, three days being spent in making the latter trip. Mr. Lefever has seen deer and antelopes roaming about the prairies now represented in finely improved farms, has suffered losses through several visitations of grass- hoppers, has had to depend upon corn and cornstalks for fuel at times, lost his crops through hot winds in 1893 and 1894, and was buffeted to the limit with the memorable Easter blizzard which kept the community snowbound for three days. He is now owner of a well improved and valuable farm of three hundred and twenty acres, which is the tangible evidence of his labors and careful planning in the earlier stages of his distinctly progressive career in Hamilton county. He is now living retired in the village of Stockham, where he was one of the organizers of the Farmers Elevator Company and he has given his support to enterprises and meas- ures that have added greatly to the general welfare of his home county and state. In politics he is independent of strict partisan lines and has been so distinctively a productive, worker that he has had neither time nor inclination for political activity nor office-holding.
In 1876 was recorded the marriage of Mr. Lefever to Miss Esther Pealen, daughter of the late Charles Pealen, who had served as a soldier in the Civil war and who thereafter became a pioneer settler in Hamilton county, Nebraska, where he took up and improved a homestead. Mr. and Mrs. Lefever have five children : Charles, Ernest, Harry, Lottie and Esther. All of the children remain at the parental home except Lottie, who is the wife of Stephen Dobbs of Carthage, South Dakota. Ernest and Harry were in the nation's service in connection with the World war, Ernest having been a member of Company B, Sixteenth Infantry, in the First Division of Engineers, and having gone with the first contingent of troops sent to France. He received his preliminary training at Fort Logan, Colorado, and rose to the rank of sergeant. He remained in France until the
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armistice brought the war to a close and received his honorable discharge after his return to his native land. Harry received his training at Camp Dodge, Iowa, and was there stationed until he received his honorable discharge.
HENRY A. EGGERT
Among those who have won success and are now enjoying the fruits of their former toils 'in retirement from business in Aurora is Henry A. Eggert. For many years he was closely associated with agricultural interests in Hamilton county and as the years passed acquired more land from time to time, being still the owner of three hundred and sixty acres constituting a very valuable property. Mr. Eggert comes to Nebraska from Illinois, his birth having occurred in Bureau county of the latter state, July 29, 1859. He pursued his education in the schools of Princeton, the county seat of Bureau county and when his textbooks were put aside he started out in the business world as a farmer, having been reared to that occupation, so that he was already familiar with the best methods of tilling the soil and caring for the crops.
It was in 1880 that Mr. Eggert arrived in Hamilton county, at which time his financial resources consisted of but eighty dollars. He was ambitious and energetic, however, and renting land he began farming. He continued to cultivate these lands until 1885 when he purchased eighty acres for which he paid twelve hundred dollars, buying the property partly on time. He had to improve the farm and erected thereon a little dwelling. This constituted the beginning of the success which has since crowned his labors and which has made him one of the progressive farmers of this section of the state. His methods were at once practical and progres- sive and year by year he cultivated the fields, gathering good harvests and adding to his financial resources until he was able to acquire three hundred and sixty acres of land which he still owns, constituting a valuable property that returns to him a gratifying annual income. The intervening years have been a period of earnest and unremitting labor and his diligence and energy have been the foundation upon which he has builded his success.
In 1883 Mr. Eggert was married to Miss Lizzie Baker, a native of Hancock county, Illinois, and a daughter of Thomas H. and Jane (Byland) Baker, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania. They came to Illinois September 30, 1852, and continued to reside in this state until 1879, when they removed to Hamilton county. Here the father rented land the first year and then purchased a farm, occupying and cultivating that place until the death of his wife in 1898. He passed away at the home of his son at Alma, Nebraska, in 1906. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Baker numbers seven children, five of whom are living, namely : Leroy J. Baker, a carpenter, residing at Kansas City, Kansas ; George G., a retired farmer of Alma; Theodore, who carries on farming at Alma; Mrs. Eggert; and Mrs. C. T. Holliday, who is living on a farm near Aurora.
Mr. and Mrs. Eggert have become parents of three children of whom two survive, Charles Theodore having died in October, 1920, at the age of thirty-six years. The surviving son, Merle H., is cashier of the Hanson State Bank at Hanson.
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Nebraska ; and Minnie Viola is the wife of C. R. Garrett of this county. Mrs. Eggert is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, loyally following its teachings. In politics Mr. Eggert maintains an independent course, voting for men and measures rather than parties. In 1916 he removed to Aurora, where he purchased a nice home at No. 711 N street. While on the farm he had lived a life of intense and well directed activity and in addition to tilling the fields had successfully engaged in feeding stock in the winter seasons for a number of years. He is now enjoying a well earned rest and in 1915 he and his wife and daughter went to California, where they spent the winter. His business activities are confined only to the supervision of his farming and investment interests and by reason of the diligent life he has led he is numbered among the men of affluence in Hamilton county.
JOHN MILLIKEN
John Milliken had almost reached the seventy-eighth milestone on life's journey when he was called to his final rest. He was born in County Down, Ireland, December 28, 1840, and was there reared and educated. The opportunities of the new world, however, attracted him and about 1863 he came to America, settling in Pennsylvania.
It was in January, 1865, that Mr. Milliken was united in marriage to Miss Jane Wilson, also a native of the Emerald isle and they began their domestic life in the Keystone state where they continued to reside until the death of Mrs. Milliken. They were the parents of five children but all have now passed away. In 1877 Mr. Milliken returned to his native country and was there married on the 4th of May of that year to Miss Eliza Gray, a daughter of William and Eliza Jane (Anderson) Gray, both of whom had died when Mrs. Milliken was but four years of age. To this union were born seven children, three of whom are living: James, who carries on farming in Idaho; Thomas, a resident farmer of Aurora, Nebraska; Elizabeth, the wife of R. Slattery of Dallas, Texas.
It was soon after his second marriage that Mr. Milliken returned with his bride to the United States and settled in Pennsylvania, but in the same year removed to Illinois. Later, however, he returned to the Keystone state where he remained for two years and during that period conducted a store and hotel, winning a very substantial measure of success in his business there. He then removed to Hamilton county, Nebraska, in 1882 and purchased a half section of land, while later he purchased one hundred and sixty acres additional and subsequently another fourth section, while his next purchase was two hundred and forty acres. He owned all of this property at the time of his death, amounting to eight hundred and eighty acres. For a considerable period he had actively engaged in farming in this county but in 1905 removed with his family to Aurora and rented his farms, retiring from active business. His course is one which should serve to inspire and en- courage others, showing what can be accomplished through individual effort, for when he arrived in the United States in 1863 he was the possessor of but two dollars and fifty cents and this sum he sent back to Ireland by some friends.
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He began working in a brickyard, afterward was employed as a day laborer and scorned ne work that would yield him an honest dollar. Step by step he progressed and as the years went by he won a place among the prosperous farmers of Hamilton county and was one of the most extensive land owners of this section of the state at the time of his demise.
In his political views Mr. Milliken was a republican and at all times kept well informed on the questions and issues of the day, but did not seek nor desire public office. He was a member of the Presbyterian church and passed away in that faith to which he had ever been loyal. He possessed many sterling traits of character, not the least of which was his thorough reliability in business and his loyalty in citizenship. His genuine worth was recognized by all with whom he came into contact and he was classed with those men whom to know is to esteem and honor.
FRANK HANSON
On the 20th of February, 1882, the late Frank Hanson arrived with his wife and two children at Aurora, the judicial center of Hamilton county, and as soon as possible thereafter he established himself on a rented farm, three miles north- east of the county seat. His equipment consisted of two good teams of horses and one or two cows and a small shanty sufficed to afford accommodations for the family in the early days, the supply of household effects being none too ample for even this modest dwelling. Mr. Hanson met many obstacles and difficulties in the earlier period of his residence in the county, but bravely and with unabated self-reliance he carried forward his work until he was able to make his first pur- chase of land and begin farming on the same. He met with losses through drought, grasshoppers and prairie fires, one such fire having approached within a short distance of his granary before he was able to extinguish it. About two years after his arrival in Hamilton county Mr. Hanson purchased eighty acres of rail- road land for five dollars per acre and to this he later added an adjoining tract of one hundred and sixty acres. This entire property he finally sold at the rate of thirty-one dollars and twenty-five cents per acre and then continued his pro- gressive movement by purchasing the old ranch of Martin Hannawald, for twenty dollars per acre, this place having had an area of five hundred and sixty acres. With increasing resources he later purchased of Ora Scott a place of eighty acres, some- what to the north of his residence farm and finally bought of Swan Youngquist the latter's farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Monroe township. Thus cumulative success attended his earnest lahors and he became one of the substantial and honored exponents of the agricultural and live stock industry in Hamilton county, where he was the owner at the time of his death of a valuable landed estate of seven hundred and twenty acres, this having since been divided into smaller farın properties. Mr. Hanson was for several years a member of the school board of his district and was an earnest communicant of the Swedish Lutheran church. He was sixty-eight years of age at the time of passing away on the 2d of January, 1914, his first wife having preceded him on the 8th of February, 1903, a devout communicant of the Lutheran church. Six children survive these honored pioneer
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