History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions, Part 102

Author: Edwards, Lewis C
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1742

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On March 9, 1886, John H. Coons was united in marriage to Llevellyn Rosenberger, a daughter of Absalom and Elizabeth (Smith) Rosenberger, natives of West Virginia and Illinois, respectively, who were early settlers of the state of Iowa and who came to Richardson county in 1884, botlı dying at a later date while living with Mr. Coons. Absalom Rosenberger was born in December, 1826, and died in 1890. His wife was born in 1830 and died in 1907. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Coons no children have been born, but they have adopted two children, namely: William M. Rife, a sketch of whom appears in another part of this work, and Arlo H., now a private in Company A, Fourth Nebraska Infantry Regiment, enlisted for service in the great war.

Mr. Coons has always given loyal support to the Democratic party, but on certain occasions he is an independent voter. He has served his town- ship as road overseer for the past six years and in other ways served his township and county. He and his wife are members of the Methodist church. He is a member of the Farmers Union and is president of the Dawson dis- trict of that organization.

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JACOB S. HEIM.

Another member of the Heim family who is a prominent farmer of Richardson county, is Jacob S. Heim, owner of one hundred and sixty acres of fine farming land in the northeast quarter of section 8, Grant pre- cinct. He is a native of the Keystone state, having been born in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, on July 16, 1866. He is a son of John J. and Rosina (Heim) Heim, and has been a resident of this part of Nebraska since he was sixteen years old.

John J. Heim, also a native of Pennsylvania, was born on July 2, 1847, in Lycoming county, that state. He continued to live there for thirty- five years, at the end of which time, in 1882, he came to Grant precinct, Richardson county, and bought one hundred and sixty acres of land, which he at once proceeded to cultivate. As time went on he prospered in his farming operations and later added to his land holdings. He owned the place on which his son, Jacob S., now lives, and he is now living retired on the Israel L. Heimi place; his wife, who is somewhat older than he is, also lives on the same place. To John J. Heim and wife the following children were born: Elizabeth, who married Samuel Heim, of Grant pre- cinct, this county; Jacob S., the subject of this sketch; Mrs. Anna Stoltz, who lives in Porter precinct; Mrs. Mary Stratton, who lives in Brownville, this state; Israel L., of Grant precinct, on the old Heim homestead; William, who lives in Phoenix, Arizona, and Lucy, who married W. Draper, Manila, Iowa.

As stated above, Jacob S. Heim was sixteen years old when he came with his parents to this county in 1882. For a period of five years he at- tended the Dawson district schools and on leaving school he worked for his father on the farm for several years, or up to the time of his mar- riage. He then moved to his present farm of one hundred and sixty acres, which he bought from his father. On this land he has made many val- uable improvements and in 1914 built a modern house at a cost of fifty- five hundred dollars, and which is one of the most substantial residences in Grant precinct. It is equipped with furnace, hot and cold water, gas lights and other features that go to make up a comfortable home. In 1907 he erected a substantially built barn, thirty-two by thirty-eight feet, and in other ways has kept abreast of requirements making for efficiency in his farming operations.

On March 17, 1892, Jacob S. Heim was united in marriage to Rebecca

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Heim, who was born in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Jacob G. and Regenia (Gross) Heim, further mention of whom is to be found in a sketch relating to Joseph G. Heim, of Dawson, which appears in another part of this work. Mr. and Mrs. Jacob S. Heim are the parents of two children, namely, Verna, who was graduated from Dawson high school in 1913 and now living with her parents, and Elma, who attends the district school.

Mr. and Mrs. Heim and their children are members of the United Evangelical church and are earnest attendants on its services. Mr. Heim is a warm supporter of the Republican party and is now serving on district No. 92 school board, and has been treasurer of the same since 1901, his interest in educational affairs being generally recognized throughout the county.

BERNARD RILEY.

One of the oldest native-born residents of Richardson county is Bernard Riley, who, after a successful and very active career as a general farmer is now living in retirement in Dawson. He was born, April 12, 1861, in West Muddy precinct, this county, being the first white child born in that precinct that is now living in Richardson county. He is of Celtic descent, and a son of Michael and Mary (O'Brien) Riley. Michael Riley was born in Ireland in 1826, but left his native land when a young man, crossed the Atlantic in an old-fashioned sailing vessel in 1847 and took up farming in the state of New Jersey. In 1859 he penetrated to the interior of our continent, locat- ing in Richardson county, Nebraska, having made the long trip to St. Louis on the railroad, and from there by steamboat up the Missouri river to Rulo, Nebraska, from which place he drove out to the land on which he located in West Muddy precinct, buying one hundred and sixty acres for which he paid eight hundred dollars. He set to work in usual pioneer fashion, built a log cabin and turned the wild prairie sod with a team of oxen and soon had crops growing. His nearest market was Brownville. This was still the domain of the Indians, but they never molested him, the "Jayhawkers" giv- ing him far more trouble than the red men. Later in life 'he recalled many interesting incidents of that primitive period here. He took one of his first crops of wheat to Brownville, for which he received two dollars and fifty cents per bushel, and with the proceeds bought his first high-wheeled wagon, for which he paid one hundred and ten dollars. Once, during the winter

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following the close of the Civil War he drove a number of fat hogs, in com- pany with his neighbors, who also took along their porkers, a distance of twenty-five miles to Aspinwall, Crawford county, Iowa. A' severe snow storm overtook them while on the way and the hogs began piling up and the men had hard work saving their swine. The blizzard was so severe that large fires had to be built to keep the drovers from freezing. Michael Riley became a successful farmer, owning a good farm two and one-half miles northeast of Dawson, where he died in 1886. His wife, Mary O'Brien, was born in Ireland in 1830. She worked hard helping her husband get a start in the new country and for some time she kept a boarding house, feeding the graders who worked on the Burlington railroad when it was being built through this county and later fed the train crews. Her death occurred in 1894. Both these parents were members of the Catholic church. They helped organize one of the school districts in Grant precinct, where they set- tled after the close of the Civil War. Their family consisted of seven chil- dren, namely: Daniel, who lives on the old homestead in Grant precinct; James is deceased; William lives in Grant township; Bernard, of this sketch; Michael lives in Grant township; Mrs. Mary Clancy lives at Dawson, this county, and Anna, who died in infancy.

Bernard Riley grew up on the home farm, and, like all pioneer boys, found plenty of hard work to do. He attended the early-day district schools, then studied at the St. Benedict College, Atchison, Kansas. He and his brothers remained on the old farm for a number of years. In 1890 he began working in the flouring-mill at Dawson, and later was manager of the mill for a period of seven years. He then went to western Nebraska and operated a cattle ranch in Duel county. After selling out there he went to Cherry county, this state, and continued in the ranching business for eight years, after which he returned to Dawson, where his family had remained during his absence in the western part of the state. He owns a valuable and well- improved farm of four hundred and eighty acres near Dawson, eighty acres in Washington county, Kansas, and one hundred and sixty acres in Canada. He managed well and has made a pronounced success as a farmer and stock- man. He built his present attractive home in Dawson in 1906. It is of brick veneer and contains seven rooms and stands on a hill in the east part of town. It has all modern improvements. Mr. Riley is a shareholder in the local electric light and telephone companies.

Mr. Riley was married in August, 1901, to Mary Riley, a daughter of Daniel and Ellen (Ryan) Riley, both natives of Ireland, from which country

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they came to America in their earlier career and located in Richardson county. Their daughter, Mary, was born in September, 1869. in Grant township, where she grew to womanhood and was educated, her parents owning a good farm a mile east of Dawson. Her father is deceased, but her mother, aged seventy-eight years. is living with Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Riley, of this review. Three children have been born to Bernard Riley and wife, namely : Michael, Ellen and Mary, all at home.

Politically, Mr. Riley is an independent Democrat. He belongs to the Catholic church. He is well known throughout the county.

SAMUEL BOOK BOBST.

Richardson county bears the prideful distinction of having within its borders and claiming as one of its best-known and most honored citizens the oldest continuous resident of the great state of Nebraska. When, at the annual meeting of pioneers of Nebraska held at Lincoln on January 10 and II, 1917, the large cake which is usually prepared as an award of honor to the state's oldest surviving pioneer was presented to Samuel Book Bobst, of Humboldt, there was general rejoicing throughout this county and Mr. Bobst was made the recipient of the unanimous congratulations of this whole com- munity, for the honor that had come to him was well merited. Not only is Mr. Bobst the premier pioneer of Nebraska, but his father was the first judge of Richardson county and was the first postmaster in the region now com- prised within the bounds of this county, he having "kept" the postoffice at Pleasant Valley on the old trail, back in the middle fifties, during the time of the very beginning of a social order out here on the then frontier of civilization.

Samuel Book Bobst, a well-known and well-to-do building contractor at Humboldt, an honored veteran of the Civil War and from the days of his boyhood actively identified with the interests of this state, is a native son of the old Buckeye state, but has been a resident of Nebraska since he was ten · years of age, having come here with his parents in the year in which the vast territory theretofore known as the Indian country became formally recog- nized by the government as Nebraska Territory, extending from Texas on the south to Canada on the north and to the Rockies on the west. He was born on March 28, 1844, at Rushville, in Fairfield county, Ohio, son of Chris- tian and Sarah (Book) Bobst, natives, respectively, of the state of Pennsyl-

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vania and of the state of Maryland, who had located at Rushville, where Christian Bobst engaged in the mercantile business and also became a farmer and landowner. In January, 1854, Christian Bobst disposed of his interests in Ohio and determined to establish a home out here in the then Indian country. The trip with his family was long and toilsome, but was finally accomplished and the pioneer "pitched his tent" in a favored section in the southwest corner of what later came to be organized as Richardson county, on the Pawnee county line, and there established his home. He pre-empted a tract of land, paying for the same one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre. and put up a log cabin on the same and there installed his family. That old pioneer log cabin, which occupies a spot just over the line in Pawnee county, is still standing and remains an object of much interest to the present genera- tion. Nebraska Territory was set apart by the government in that year and Christian Bobst was appointed first judge of the district and was also appointed postmaster, the postoffice established in his little log cabin being given the pleasing name of Pleasant Valley. The first election held in this district and over which Judge Bobst presided, was held at Archer and there were but nineteen votes cast at the same. The Indians still were numerous hereabout at that time, but were friendly and displayed no inclination to give the set- tlers trouble. St. Joseph was the nearest market in those days and the chief subsistence of the pioneers was cornmeal and game, of which latter there, happily, was no end, and Mr. Bobst still recollects the great sport he had hunting out here in the days of his boyhood, when game, of a wide variety was so common that his youthful prowess with a gun was easily rewarded. Judge Bobst was just beginning to see his way clear to the development of a fine piece of property on his pioneer farm when death brought his labors to a close in 1859, five years after his arrival here. He left his widow with three children in her care, the subject of this sketch then having had a brother, Robert, who was killed at Blue River, Missouri, during the Civil War, while serving as a member of the Second Colorado Regiment, and a sister, Martha, who married William Emigh and is now deceased, Mr. Bobst now being the sole survivor of the twelve children born to his parents.

As noted above, Samuel B. Bobst was ten years of age when he came out here from Ohio with his parents and he has been a resident of Nebraska ever since, now the dean of the pioneers of this state. . He had begun his school- ing back in Ohio and when a school presently was established in the neigh- borhood of his home, upon the coming of other settlers to that section, he entered that school. A week later, however, the pioneer school house was destroyed by fire, and that ended the "term." He later entered Professor

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McKinsey's school at Pawnee City, but when the Civil War broke out he lost interest in schooling and on November 1. 1862, he then being but eighteen years of age, he enlisted for service as a member of Company G, Second Nebraska Cavalry, and with that command went to the front, continuing with the same until his discharge on December 14, 1863, his term of enlistment being at an end. He straightway re-enlisted as a member of Company G, Sixteenth Kansas Cavalry, and. with that command served until the close of the war, the greater part of that service having been scout duty in Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas and in the campaigns directed against Price and Quantrell. Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Bobst returned home and resumed his place on the farm, at the same time turning his atten- tion to carpenter work and in 1872 entered the employ of the Atchison & Neb- raska railroad and was engaged in building depots and section. houses along the line of that road until the line was taken over by the Burlington. In 1873 he married and settled at Firth, on the line between Gage and Lancaster counties, where he became engaged as a building contractor and there remained for about six years, or until 1878, when he moved over to Sterling, in John- son county, and was there further engaged in contracting until 1881, when he came back to his home county and located at Humboldt, where he ever since has been very successfully engaged in the general building and con- tracting line, one of the best-known building contractors in Richardson county. Mr. Bobst is a Republican and has ever given a good citizen's attention to political affairs, but has not been a seeker after public office. He is a past commander of William Mix Post No. 66, Grand Army of the Republic, and has for years taken an active part in the affairs of that patriotic organiza- tion. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the local lodges of the Ancient Free. and Accepted Masons, the Knights of Pythias and the Ancient Order of United Workmen and takes a warm interest in the affairs of these organ- izations.

It was on December 7, 1873, that Samuel Book Bobst was united in marriage to Susan Plummer, who was born at Piqua, Ohio, May 10, 1858, daughter of James and Maria (Judkins) Plummer, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of western Virginia. Mrs. Plummer died in 1869 and the next year, 1870, James Plummer and his four daughters, Susan, Emma, Luella and Fannie, came to Nebraska and settled near Firth. Emma Plummer married David F. Stewart and is now deceased. Luella Plummer married Charles Ross and is now living at Goodland, Kansas, and Fannie Plummer married Charles Feldcamp and is now living at Chicago. Mr. and

RICIIARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

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Mrs. Bobst have one child, a son, William E., born on September 21, 1876. William E. Bobst, a traveling salesman, now living at Spencer, Iowa, married Amber Silverstoff and has one child, a daughter, Juanita, now nine years of age.

WILLIAM STEELE POWER

The name of William Steele Power, one of the leading agriculturists and stockmen of Richardson county, needs no introduction to the readers of this history, for his long and useful life record in Richardson county speaks for itself. He was born on March 12, 1842, near New Bloomfield, Perry county, Pennsylvania. He is a son of John and Sarah (Steele) Power. The mother was a sister of Joseph Steele, a pioneer of Falls City, whose grand- son, Robert Steele, lives on the old Steele home place near Falls City. John and Sarah Power were natives of Pennsylvania. He was born in 1802 and died in 1862; she was born in 1811 and died in 1882. Mr. Power, of this sketcli, is of Scotch Presbyterian stock. To John Power and wife eight children were born, an equal number of sons and daughters, namely: Mrs. Harriet Bailey, living in Spokane, Washington; William S., of this .sketch ; John and Chester, living in Humboldt, Nebraska; Charles, who died at Humboldt in 1911, and his widow is living on the home farm near there.

William S. Power grew to manhood in his native state and attended the common schools and the old Wyoming Seminary in Pennsylvania, being a classmate of Mrs. Martha Weaver, of Falls City. He remained in the East until 1870, when he made his first trip to Falls City, Nebraska, spend- ing two years there, during which time he helped haul lumber from Brown- ville for the Steele dwelling. In February, 1864, he enlisted in the Union army for service in the Civil War, and served until in August, 1865, in the signal corps, having been assigned to the department of West Virginia. He was in many dangerous positions and performed his duties very faithfully and ably. He carried messages to General Sheridan at the battle of Win- chester, where Sheridan made his famous ride and turned defeat into victory, which ride has been immortalized by the poem of Thomas Buchanan Read. Mr. Power also served under Sheridan at the battle of Cedar Creek, Vir- ginia, also at New Market and Piedmont, also at Hunter's Raid at Lynch- burg. He was also with the army in its raid throughout the Shenandoah Valley.

After his career in the army Mr. Power returned home and operated

MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM S. POWER.

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the old home place for a period of fourteen years, being at the head of the family. In 1880 he came to Nebraska again and settled on the farm he now owns in Humboldt precinct, which consists of two hundred and forty acres. He has a productive and highly improved farm, one of the most desirable in the precinct. His large attractive home was built on a commanding height, overlooking the beautiful Nemaha Valley. He also owns a good farm in western Nebraska. For two years after he purchased this farm he lived in the old Hull House, erecting his present home in 1882, living in a rude shack while it was being built. He has been very success- ful as a general farmer and stockman. In his partnership with his brothers he has long been engaged in buying and shipping live stock. They are the most extensive dealers in live stock in Richardson county, and they handle more sheep than any other firm in Southeastern Nebraska. They handled over twenty thousand head of sheep in the spring of 1917; they sell most of their sheep to feeders. and sometimes have as many as ten thousand sheep on hand at one time. They do business under the firm name of Power Brothers.

Mr. Power was married on January 15, 1880, to Edith Sands, who was born on April 26, 1862, near Bloomfield, Perry county, Pennsylvania. She is a daughter of Ephraim P. Sands, who was born in Pennsylvania, in 1831, and died February 3, 1865. He served during the Civil War in the One Hundred and Eighty-sixth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, while in the service. According to Captain Woodruff of Company E, in which he served, Mr. Sands was a brave and efficient soldier. His wife, Susan Slade, was born in 1833, and died on April 1, 1904. They were parents of five children, namely : John M., who died October 7, 1866; Clement P. lives in Halifax, Pennsylvania ; George Hayes makes his home in the West; Edith, who became the wife of Mr. Power, of this sketch, and William E., who died in 1864.

The following children have been born to William S. Power and wife: William Hull, born on October 8, 1880, lives on the home place and married Hallie Vaught, and they have four children, William, Leonard, Loree and Charles. George D. Power, born on October 14, 1888, lives in Oregon, married Maude Goolsby, of Dawson, Nebraska, and they have two children, Sarah Edith and Zella. Irene, only daughter of the subject of this sketch, died in 1890 at the age of eight years.

Mrs. Power was left an orphan when quite young, and she was clothed,

(66)

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educated and cared for by the state of Pennsylvania at the Soldiers Orphans Home at Loysville, Pennsylvania, until she was sixteen years of age.

Politically, Mr. Power is a Democrat. Although always a very busy man he has found time to take an interest in public affairs, serving one term as justice of the peace, also as a member of the school board in his district. Fraternally, he belongs to the Knights of Pythias at Humboldt, and he is a member of William Mix Post, No. 66, Grand Army of the Repub- lic, and was adjutant of the post for a period of fifteen years. He has always stood ready to aid in any movement having for its object the general welfare of his precinct and county, throughout which he is known as a man of true public spirit and unswerving honesty.

JOSIAH FRANK RELF.

Josiah Frank Relf, public surveyor of Richardson county and one of the most widely recognized drainage experts in this part of the state, is a native of the neighboring state of Missouri, but has been a resident of Neb- raska since he was eight years of age and of Richardson county since he was twelve. He was born on a farm in the immediate vicinity of Maysville, county seat of Dekalb county, Missouri, March 21, 1881, son of Thomas A. and Sarah (Peniston) Relf, natives of the state of Indiana and both of Eng- lish descent, the former a son of Josiah Relf, who was born in England.

Thomas A. Relf was married in Indiana and remained there until 1879, when he came west and settled on a claim near Edmond, Norton county, Kan- sas. In 1880 he moved to Missouri and settled on a farm in the vicinity of Maysville, in Dekalb county, presently moving from there to Neosho county, Kansas, whence, in r888, he came with his family to this state and located at Brownville, in Nemaha county, where he remained until 1893, in which year he moved down into Richardson county with his family and set- tled on a farm in the vicinity of Salem. There Mrs. Relf died in 1904 and Mr. Relf shortly afterward went to Columbus, Kansas, in the neighborhood of which place he is now living on a farm. To him and his wife the follow- ing children were born: Charles Walter, a farmer, living near Columbus, Kansas: Mrs. Nellie Otta Mullen, of Mountain Park, Oklahoma: Josiah Frank, the subject of this sketch; Mrs. Rosa Mullen, living near Harrison, Arkansas; William, a farmer near Columbus, Kansas; Benjamin, a farmer

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in that same vicinity, and Sarah and Golda, who are at home with their father.

Josiah F. Relf was about twelve years of age when he came to this county with his parents and he grew to manhood on the home farm in the vicinity of Salem, from the days of his early boyhood an able assistant to his father in the labors of improving and developing the home place. His schooling in his early years was neglected and he did not enter the eighth grade of the high school at Salem until after he was twenty-one years of age, when he began to recognize the importance of acquiring a higher education. After going to school there for three years he entered the state normal school at Peru, with a view to fitting himself for teaching, and was in attendance there two years, working his way through school by doing chores for residents of that town and by working in a brick yard for his room and board. During his school vacation he became engaged as a solicitor and in this line did so well that he earned enough money to carry him through the College of Civil Engineering at the State University, which he entered in 1907. During the years 1910 and 1911 he worked as an engineer and in 1912 finished his course at the university and was graduated as a civil engineer. Following his graduation he was employed as deputy county surveyor of Lancaster county and late in the summer of that same year was appointed to fill an unexpired term in the office of the county surveyor of Richardson county, performing his duties in that connection so faithfully and so admirably that he was elected to that office in1 1914 and was re-elected in 1916, therefore now serving what may really be regarded as his third term in that important office. During his college course Mr. Relf specialized in drainage work and has come to be looked upon as an expert in that line of engineering. He assisted in putting through the big drainage project in Nemaha county in 1912-13, drainage district No. 3, at the same time having charge of drainage district No. 4, Richardson county, and is now in charge of drainage district No. I, this county, doing an excellent work in extending the drainage system of this sec- tion of the state.

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History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions, Part 102

Author: Edwards, Lewis C Publication date: 1917 Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F. Bowen Number of Pages: 1742

Author: Edwards, Lewis C
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1742