USA > Nebraska > Richardson County > History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions > Part 11
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RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
to an unknown country far from the land of her fathers. In exchange he gave some ponies and tents he had in his equipment
When the French party of settlers led by Rouleau and Bedard, and Plante, arrived at Rouleau, or Rulo, as it is now.called, they found Martin and his captive, who had but recently journeyed thither and she was his wife. It is attested by those who knew them in the many years that followed, that she made for him a most estimable helpmate. Martin was one of the pioneer merchants of Rulo, putting up the first store and engaging in busi- ness with F. I .. Goldsberry, the latter for many years a prominent figure in the county.
In the year following-1856-this party made permanent settlement at Rulo and the town took its name from Charles Rouleau, the Frenchman, and member of the expedition. Rouleau and Bedard had married sisters and were the chief founders of the city. At that time Stephen Story was the other only white settler of the county, except John B. Didier, known to this party and he was found near the site of what was afterwards the village of St. Stephens founded and named by him.
THE BOHEMIAN SETTLEMENT AT HUMBOLDT.
Many people of many lands, impelled to leave their old homes through persecutions and misrule at various periods in their mother countries, have sought and still continue to seek new and peaceful homes in this land of the free. But of all these, few, perhaps have a history so dramatic, even tragical as it has often been referred to, as the Bohemian immigrant.
The first Bohemian to locate near the present site of Humboldt was Charles Zulek. . Leaving his native home with his family in 1854 he came direct to America, spending the first winter in Illinois. In the winter of 1855 he started west in search of a home, arriving at St. Joseph, Missouri, in the early days of June. Proceeding thence by boat to Arago, in this county, where they were attracted by the fertility of the country, they decided to settle. The early hardships of this pioneer family were typical of all the settlers of that period. It is said that Zulek often walked to St. Joseph (a distance of seventy miles ) for his provisions, carrying them home on his back. And when the burden became too heavy, he divided it, carrying a part for some distance, then returning for the other part, and so on until he reached home.
Later, when the homestead law was put into effect. a number of Bohemi- ans came to Nebraska. First among them was Frank Skalak, who was also
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RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
the first to take a homestead on the prairie. Skalak left Bohemia in 1865, coming West by way of Chicago, where there was a flourishing Bohemian settement. At St. Joseph, Missouri, Frank Skalak with his family took a boat for Arago, where they accidentally became acquainted with Zulek. On that day Zulek had come to Arago to secure, if possible, a loan to pay off an obligation he was owing a party in Missouri. Being a countryman he imme- diately secured the loan from Skalak, although they had never met before. Thereupon, Skalak with his family returned with Zulek to locate in this sec- tion of the country. Wenzel Skalak, then a boy, now one of the prominent business men of Humboldt, declares that the loan then made was a most fortunate one indeed, as it was the means of causing them to locate here. However, he does not advise so hazardous a method of curbstone banking as that was.
In recounting those early days he related that he hired out to Zulek for the munificent sum of forty dollars per year, breaking sod barefooted in grass, waist high, using a twenty-four-inch plow and driving from four to six yoke of oxen. He had to walk to Arago or Nebraska City to have his plow sharpened. Their provisions were also secured at those places. In 1867 Ruel Nims & Company opened the first store in Humboldt, occu- pying the old stone store facing the old bed of the Long Branch, a short distance south of the present business section of Humboldt. Young Wenzel at once secured a position as a clerk with this firm, receiving five dollars per month salary. Being an efficient clerk his salary was soon increased to ten dollars per month, the following year. He afterwards was in the employ- ment of various firms in the city until he engaged in business for himself. now owning the large hardware and implement business on the west side of the public square in the city. John Wohoun, another pioncer, settled on the prairie with the Skalaks and invited their friends ( Bohemians) and soon had a nucleus, from which grew one of the largest settlements of foreigners in the county. Those who secured homesteads at this time were : Anton Eis, M. Nemechek, Ferdinand Fidermutz, John Petrashek. Vaclav Prachal. Vaclav Holechek, Jan Janata, Ferd Blecha, Fr. Nemechek. Jos. Musil. Jno. Cizner, and Vaclav Hlavaty. All of these men who braved the hardships of the early pioneer are now dead, save one, Frank Nemechek, Sr .. who still resides on the place he chose when coming to the state. The Bohemian settlement at Humboldt is without doubt the oldest of that people in the state. One of the chief factors in holding the settlement together was the organization of a fraternal society known as the C. S. P. S. ( Bohemian
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RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
Slavonic Benevolent Association), which was organized in the United States but a few years before their coming here. The local lodge was organized May 31, 1879, with the following charter members: Fr. Novak, F. A. Witt, Wenzel Skalak, Fr. Hubwa, Vaclav Pracheji, Jos. Hon, Fr. Hon, Jos. Novak, Vojta Kohn, Vojta Blecha, Vac. Wiesner, Jas. Blecha, Fr. Hnizda, J. J. Dvorak, Jos. Rousek, and R. Vertisaka. But three of the charter members now reside here and only half of them are still living. The lodge was organized for fraternal, beneficiary, educational and social purposes. For many years a Bohemian school was maintained, so that the younger generation might have opportunity to learn something of the mother tongue and the history of the great men among the people, the pictures of many of whom adorned the walls of the homes beside those of Washington and Lincoln, and to whom they were often compared. A library was also established, from which Bohemian books could be had free by those desiring the same. In later times other Bohemian societies were formed among which were the J. C. D. (Bohemian Ladies Society) and among the young people the Sokols and Komensky Club; the former, an organization of Bohemian Turners and the latter, a literary society. The C. S. P. S. is in the most flourishing con- dition of them all at the present time, having a membership of more than a hundred and owns its own home and grounds.
Inasmuch as the chief industry of the Bohemian in his native land was that of agriculture, so it has been here, and they are today numbered among the most industrious and successful of the farming community here. Yet all along the Bohemian has been well represented in the business circles of Humboldt. All are prosperous and well-to-do and more than ordinarily successful in the various occupations in which they may be found engaged. All along they have taken a keen interest in the upbuilding of the commun- ity to which they gave a large impetus for settlement. Although at first. many of the customs and traditions of the old world were adhered to, yet they have now been discarded and even the most typical Bohemian inni- grant has been transformed into a patriotic, peaceful, contented American. Although they still cling to their mother tongue, even that is giving way to the language of the new world. It will be, too, only a matter of time when even this pioneer settlement will lose its Bohemian characteristics altogether and become thoroughly Americanized. Only the old Bohemian cemetery in the west end of the county will bear testimony to the fact that here the Bohemian settler had once found that haven which he sought and in return gave birth to a newer, happier posterity.
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RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
FIRST COLONY OF IRISH PIONEERS.
Daniel Webster, at the dedication of the Bunker Hill monument, immor- talized the Pilgrim Fathers for their heroism in the settlement of New England, but not less worthy of commendation was the love of home and spirit of lofty independence that animated the pioneers who crossed the Missouri river half a century and more ago.
Michael Riley and Thomas Farrell, brothers-in-law, found conditions in their native land as intolerable as did the "Mayflower" Pilgrims, and the same aspiration for freedom and manly independence impelled them to join in the wake of many thousands of their countrymen who were immigrating from Ireland in the middle of the last century. After a few years residence at Salem, New Jersey, they and their equally plucky young wives determined to go West in quest of homes and independence.
They landed in Richardson county in 1859 practically penniless. From the first observation of the country they were impressed with its future possibilities and they wisely decided to cast anchor and grow up with it. In the meantime they continued to correspond with relatives in New England, with the result that in the spring of 1867 Bryan Riley and two sons, and Thomas, Dennis and Nora Fenton proceeded West, on the strength of the pioneer representation. St: Joseph, Missouri, was at this period the nearest point by rail, and after passage on the river steamboat to Aspinwall and a drive across the boundless prairie, at last the humble but hospitable log cabin home of Michael Riley was located on the bank of the Nemaha, not far from the site of the present village of Dawson. On entering the home of his long-separated brother, Bryan Riley was first awakened to the changed conditions of Western life; the door of the log house was too low to admit of a tall man's entrance without making a low bow, and as Mr. Riley was of an unbending spirit, he received a bump on the forehead that made him declare forcibly that he was ready to go back to civilization on the return steamboat. After breakfast on the following morning and a look through the yards of fine cattle and fat hogs, not overlooking well-filled smoke houses and bulging corncribs, the lump on his forehead gave way to a desire to possess a portion of the rich soil, and after perfecting titles to as much of it as their means afforded, Thomas Fenton at once returned to his home in Norwich, Connecticut, to report progress and organize a colony of neighbors and relatives for the following spring.
In the meantime, William Fenton, with Mrs. Bryan Riley, her son
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RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
and daughter and grandson, M. B. Miller, proceeded West, and landed at Dawson in June, 1867. The missionary labors of Thomas Fenton. backed by encouraging letters from those on the ground, resulted in a colony of about twenty families setting out for the West in April, 1868. They were : The Ryans, Rileys, Fentons, O'Gradys, Murphys, Clancys, Carvers, and O'Donnells, besides a number of young people who located in Omaha. Those old neighbors and relatives and the Rothenbergers and Tiehens constituted what was termed the Irish settlement, or the Dawson Catholic colony.
The radical change from the New England factory villages to the bound- less plains of Nebraska caused the young people to feel like Robinson Crusoe on his island, but the elders of the colony recognized a soil and climate very like their native Ireland, and like the signers of the Declaration of Independence. they agreed to stand or fall together. The loss most keenly felt by the younger members was the social life so much accustomed to in the Eastern factory villages, but even in this matter the Yankee spirit asserted itself, and spelling schools, lyceums, etc., were started to dispel the ennui of frontier life. The inventive genius of the Yankee, coupled with the native wit of the transplanted son of Erin, found a rich field in the early days of the little colony and a judicious application of these traits surmounted many an obstacle that would perplex settlers of greater wealth. As an instance we may cite the case of Commodore O'Grady. After purchasing his first eighty acres and a little mule team, he had left for working capital just five dollars and a shot-gun, with which to provide a house and tide his little family over until a crop was raised. As an old sailor he had weathered too many rough seas to be discouraged and he went about putting on as bold a front as a millionaire. He made a deal with a timber owner for some old trees that leaned into the river, for the shot-gun, and the timber man at once went chuckling among his neighbors telling how he had beaten the sailor out of his gun for the trees that never could be gotten out of the river bed. It suited the sailor to be taken for a lamb, while making similar deals, but when the river was frozen over the next winter, he appeared on the ground with a gang of neighbors with whom he had exchanged summer work The trees were felled on the ice, and to the surprise of the timber lords, the "old sailor" with his mules rolled the logs out of the river like so many empty barrels. The logs were next hauled to a saw-mill and ripped into lumber, that made a plain but comfortable house, in which was reared a family of robust boys and girls, and whose united industry while minors. built up an estate that would excite the envy of an English baron.
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RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
AN EARLY BREAKING TEAM.
The breaking of the prairie sod was a matter that tested the patience of the primitive farmers, but after the usual experimenting it was accom- plished, as in the case of getting the logs out of the river, by the doubling up of the neighboring forces. Here a description of an early breaking team may be of interest to those who may imagine the early settlers had nothing to do but sit and watch their land grow into value. Commodore O'Grady's little mules alone could no more break the tough sod than a span of goats. and after all the teams in the settlement were paired, there was no match for the mules but a yoke of oxen, possessed by the Hon. Jerry Fenton, and as Hugh O'Grady hated oxen and Jerry distrusted mules, there was no harmony of action between the team or drivers. At this stage William Fenton, who had found empoyment in the quartermaster's department in Omaha, invested his first season's wages in a span of cavalry horses at a governent sale, and hitching them on in the lead of the mules and oxen, the latter, recognizing true leadership, struck out in a manner to excite the admi- ration of the joint-stock company.
The year previous to the arrival of the colony from Connecticut, there were an equal number of congenial spirits who had moved into the settle- ment from Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa; notably, the Drapers, Lib- bees, Allens, Busers, Bennett, E. C. Hill, Sr., George Smith, I. H. Burr, H. S. Belden, Ben Miles, and S. C. Barlow. While this aggregation of early settlers earned the jocular title of a community, "half Irish and half Yankee," it is to their credit that from the date of their first acquaintance to the present time they were a unit in everything of a progressive nature.
In the autumn of 1867 the hearts of the settlers were elated at the sight of an ox-train heading toward the ford of the Nemaha. Their joy was caused by the knowledge that the immigrant train consisted of Joshua Dawson and a son, with material for building a saw- and grist-mill on the Nemaha. The completion of the mill in 1868 attracted a store, postoffice and blacksmith shop and from this date on "Dawson Mills" on the map has had as prominent a space as towns of greater aspiration. While the present village that was platted with the advent of the railroad is officially styled "Noraville," Nora, herself, would not recognize any reference to the present village than the good, old-fashioned name of Dawson. The mill and store afforded the early settlers a convenient center to congregate and discuss all matters pertaining to public welfare and questions of a herd law,
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RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
and voting bonds for a railroad through the county created much differ- ence of opinion.
The breaking up of the land, the building of houses and stables, hum- ble in their day, and the planting of groves, orchards, and hedges engaged the time and attention of the early settlers, but they did not lose sight of the importance of providing the schools and churches for the education and religious training of their children. In fact, since the date of the first settle- ment the writer can testify that there has never been aught but a friendly rivalry among the citizens in their generous desire to keep the Dawson schools up to the highest standard of excellence. The character and zeal of the colonist in this respect were subjected to the severest test at a time when their financial ability was very limited. The first attempted church edifice was wrecked by a storm, when only partially completed. A year later saw it rebuilt and immediately destroyed by fire. A third time it was built stronger and better and after serving its usefulness it was destroyed by an electrical storm and replaced by the present substantial brick structure. But the aged and many youthful members of the colony have long since pre-empted claims in the silent city on the hill, while a few surviving mem- bers, who, as romping boys and girls, served an apprenticeship in New Eng- land factories, are waiting their turn to be ferried across the river. No doubt many of them fell short of attaining the goal of their highest aspira- tions, but they came west in quest of homes and independence. and they succeeded in leaving their children far better equipped to grapple with the battles of life than they were on landing in Richardson county.
THE DUNKARD COLONY AT SILVER CREEK.
The settlement of people from Illinois and Somerset county, Pennsyl- vania, four miles north of Falls City, began in 1868, with the arrival of Francis Shaffer, C. Forney, J. Johnson, and Philip Meyers. They were soon followed by Samuel Kimmel, the Lichtys, Pecks, J. Meyers and others. Elder Samuel Stump, who came with his family from Ohio, was quite an acquisition to the colony. He was considered a fearless expounder of the old Gospel until he died.
At that time these people paid from seven to ten dollars an acre for this one-hundred-and-fifty-dollar land, and being before the days of either railroad, there was much tedious hauling to make the needed improvements. When the frightful drought and grasshoppers came in 1874 the Silver
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RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
Creek community stood the calamity remarkably well and went right on gaining new citizens from the East.
Any history of that part of Richardson county would be incomplete without reference to Rev. John Forney. He was not only a builder of the community, but served faithfully as a preacher and medical doctor for a great number of people, for a very small consideration.
The school house was built in 1870. For many years it served for church services, school and literary societies. Many weighty problems of national importance have been threshed out on this old school house floor, by the lyceums that met weekly during the winter months.
Silver Creek Brethren church was built in 1878. The cemetery was laid out years before and the first burial there was in 1870. Most of the old settlers of the Silver Creek neighborhood have now removed to the city, while their descendants are occupying the well-improved homes they built. All are living and dying as American citizens, except Joseph Meyers and family. They moved to Jerusalem, Palestine, years ago, where now in the hills of Judea, Uncle Joe and some of his family lie buried. Mrs. Meyers and the other chil- dren are still living.
FIRST REGISTER OF SETTLERS' CLAIMS.
The claims of the first settlers, together with the dates they settled on the lands of the United States, on the Great Nemaha river, were as follow :
John O'Laughlin March 22 1854
John Blew
March 21
1854
Jacob B. Newton
March 29 1854
Francis N. Purkett
March 28 1854
Samuel Crozier
March 28 .1854
J. B. Key
April 29 1854 1 1
H. Cleney
May 20
1
1854
Thomas Newton
May 20
1 1854
Meredith Teed
June 16
I 1854
Decatur Putney
June I
1854
S. C. Cieamen
March 29
1854
John S. Lumpkins
March 27
1854
Joel Heney
June 12
1854
James Matthew
February 25
1854
Ambrose Howeston
June 12
1854
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RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
Pierson Houser June 17
1854
Jespa Adamson June 17
1854
W. C. Forster
June 17 1854
A. C. Forester
Jime 17
1854
Francis A. McVey June 17
1854
Charles W. McVey
June 17
1854
Robert H. McVey
June 17
1854
James T. Davenport
July I
1854
Ann T. Hashbarger
July I
J
1854
Christian Bobst
April 12
1854
Robert T. Archer
April 12
1854
Jacob Adams
April 12
1
1 1854
Robert L. Turner
April 12
1854
George T. Bobst
April 12
1854
Harry Abrams June 4
1854
Thomas Dragon
April 12
1854
A. J. Dragon
April 12
1854
Joseph Frice
April II
1854
John R. Morris
April 24
1854
B. Frank Leachman AApril 24
1854
Daniel Picklris May 15
1854
Henry Shellhorn
August 2 1854
John T. Williams August 12
1854
George W. Cowley :August 12 1854
James T. Rummels
August 19
1854
Gerhom Shellhorn
August 19
1854
John Shellhorn
August 19
1854
John Lore
August 18
1854
Henry G. Lore
August 18
1854
Thomas F. Brown
July 3
1854
Washington Cobb July 3 1854
Thomas C. Dunken.
August 10 1854
Merion Kingston
September 15
1854
William W. Soper
September 15 1854
Samuel S. Soper
September 15 1854
Redmond Warren
September 16
1854
Winslow L. Soper
September 16
1854
Jerry Blair
September 16
1854
H. Honner
September 21
-1854
1
1
1
125
RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
F. Honner
September 21
1854
J. Onstott
September 21
1854
Christian Iseley
September 18
1854
John Luginbill
October 3
1 1854
Peter Luginbill
October 3
1854
Christian Luginbill
October 3
1
I I
1854
John B. Rothenberger
October 28
1
I
1854
Harmon Warden
October 28
1854
Edmond Shellhorn
March 3
1855
J. Russell
October 1
1854
EARLY SURVEYS OF RICHARDSON COUNTY.
The reservation known as the Half-Breed Tract, which was set aside for half-breeds and mixed bloods of the Omaha, Iowa, Otoe and Yankton, and Santee hands of Sioux, by a treaty concluded at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin on July 15, 1830, was surveyed by John C. McCoy, a son of a Rev. Isaac McCoy, an early Baptist missionary among the Indians, in 1837-38, the former working under directions of his father.
This work was the first surveying done in this territory and preliminary to the movement of the Indians to the above tract. Under the terms of the above treaty the reservation was located in the east part of this county and Nemaha county and was bounded on the east by the Missouri river, which also was and has always been the boundary between the territories of later states of Missouri and Nebraska.
The north boundary being the Little Nemaha river, in what is now Nemaha county ; the west by a line known as the "Half-Breed line," which was drawn, starting at a point west, ten miles from the mouth of the Little Nehama river and running direct southeasterly to a point ten miles west from the mouth of the Great Nemaha in Richardson county, which latter river formed the south boundary of said reservation.
It was here that a dispute arose after the first survey had been made, as there was a difference of opinion as to whether the distance from the mouth of the Great Nemaha river west, should be measured in a direct line from the mouth of the river ten miles west, or whether the ten miles should be ascertained by following the meanders of the stream.
This difference of opinion did not become a matter of vital importance until years afterward, when, in 1855, the matter of the location of Archer
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RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
as a county seat became a moot question and the jealousies of other points desiring the honor, caused an investigation to be made. It was claimed that if the line were correctly run, Archer would be inside the reservation and therefore not eligible as a site for a city, much less a county seat, and the question also involved the right of white settlers- to lands. The dispute all hinged on the manner of calculating the distance west from the Great Nemaha river, the ten miles. The new survey was begun by William H. Goodwin in December, 1856, and was concluded in October of the follow- ing year.
The Half-Breed or west boundary line, as established by the first survey made by McCoy, struck the Great Nemaha at the north quarter section corners between sections 16 and 17, in what is now known as Jefferson town- ship, its north point intersecting the Little Nemaha river in Nemaha county, at about the center of section 15, just east of the city of Auburn, in what is now known as Douglas precinct.
The change as made by the later survey of Goodwin, moved the Half- Breed line to the west and its south point of intersection with the Great Nemaha river was placed in the southeast corner of the northeast quarter of section 25, in what is now Falls City township. Archer had been desig- nated by the governor as county seat of this county and might have remained so until this day but for the change of this line by the early surveyors.
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