History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions, Part 117

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

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RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

THOMAS G. BOWKER.

Thomas G. Bowker, vice-president of the Bank of Rulo, at Rulo, this county, one of the large landowners of that part of the county and for years actively identified with the affairs of that community, is a native son of Richardson county and has lived here all his life. He was born at Rulo on August 25, 1872, a son of Thomas B. and Margaret Bowker, natives of England, who were married in Canada and who came to Nebraska in 1859 and located at Rulo, where they spent the remainder of their lives, the latter dying there in 1874, when the subject of this sketch was but two years of age.

Thomas B. Bowker was trained to the railway service in his youth and in Canada was an agent for the Grand Trunk Railroad. His younger brother, George Bowker, further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume, had come down to this part of the country in 1857, becoming a large landowner in the eastern part of Richardson county, and about three years afterward he moved down here from Canada to participate in the advantages which seemed to be beckoning the earnest, energetic, pio- neering type of men. Upon his arrival here Thomas B. Bowker bought a tract of land in the neighborhood of the landing at Rulo and began farming and cattle raising, taking an active part in the work of the early develop- ment of that region. When the railroad came out this way he took part in the christening ceremony when the road was completed and when the station was established at Rulo he was made the first station agent and con- tinned acting in that capacity for some years. Thomas B. Bowker died in 1889, leaving three children, the subject of this sketch having two sisters, Mrs. Alice Lewis, of Pennsylvania, and Margaret, who makes her home with him at Rulo.

Reared on the home farm .in the vicinity of Rulo, Thomas G. Bowker received his early schooling in the schools of that place and completed the same in Christian Brothers College at St. Joseph. Upon leaving college he returned to the farm and was there successfully engaged in farming until 1903, when he became bookkeeper in his uncle's bank at Rulo and upon the the death of his uncle the next year was made vice-president of the bank and has since occupied that position, one of the best-known bankers in this part of the state. In addition to his interest in the Bank of Rulo Mr. Bowker is the owner of seventeen hundred acres of land in the precinct of Rulo and has long been accounted one of the most substantial citizens of that part of the county. Politically, Mr. Bowker is a Democrat and gives

Those Bowler

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a good citizen's attention to local political affairs, but has not been a seeker after public office. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and takes a proper interest in neighborhood good works, helpful in many ways in promoting the best interests of that community.

The Bank of Rulo had its origin in the old First National Bank of Rulo, which was established on March 30, 1887, by S. B. Miles, John W. Holt, F. O. Edgecombe, J. H. Miles, George Bowker, Clarence Gillespie, P. H. Jussen and F. Godfirnan, F. O. Edgecombe being the first cashier. In September, 1891, that bank was succeeded by the Bank of Rulo, with S. B. Miles as president; George Bowker, vice-president, and B. F. Cun- ningham, cashier. The present officers of the bank are as follows: Presi- dent, J. H. Miles; vice-president, Thomas G. Bowker ; cashier, W. J. Cun- ningham. The bank statement of March, 1917, showed that the bank, capitalized at $20,000, had deposits of $182,000.

HON. CASS JONES.

In the historical section of this volume there is set out at considerable length the interesting story of the adventures of the late William M. Jones, who died at his home in Rulo township, this county, in 1913, and of his son, the Hon. Cass Jones, the subject of this biographical sketch, both of whom played an important part in the work of settlement during the early days of the establishment of a social order throughout this part of Nebraska, and it will therefore not be necessary to go into detail here in settling out some of the trials and hardships suffered by the Joneses in getting a start in the new country back in pioneer days.

Cass Jones, an honored veteran of the Civil War, former representative from this county to the Nebraska General Assembly and one of the best- known and most substantial of the pioneer residents of Rulo township, owner of a fine farm of four hundred acres there, is a native of the state of Illinois, but has been identified with the development of the state of Nebraska from the days of his young manhood, and there are few men in this section of the state who have a wider or more intimate acquaintance with pioneer conditions hereabout than he. He was born on a farm in the vicinity of St. Augustine, in Fulton county, Illinois, October 28, 1840, son of William M. and Rebecca (Morris) Jones, the former a Virginian and the latter a

(75)

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native of the state of Pennsylvania, who were married in Ohio, later became residents of Illinois and still later, pioneers of Nebraska, early settlers of Richardson county, where both spent their last days, honored and influential residents of the Rulo neighborhood.

William M. Jones was born on a farm near Blue Springs, in Tazewell county, Virginia, September 6, 1812. His parents also were born in Virginia, the father of Scottish descent and the mother of German descent. When he was but three years of age his father emigrated with his family from Virginia to Ohio and took up a tract of "Congress land" in Jackson county, in the latter state, built a log house on the tract and there established his home. In that pioneer home William M. Jones grew to manhood, taking advantage of such schooling as offered in those days in that vicinity, and became a practical farmer. On August 1, 1832, he then being but nineteen years of age, he married Rebecca Morris, who was born in Pennsylvania on January 28, 1810, but who had also been reared in Jackson county, Ohio, her parents having moved there from Pennsylvania when she was but a child, and after his marriage rented one of his father's farms and established his home, living there for three years, at the end of which time he decided to have a home of his own in the wider stretches of the new country then being developed farther to the west. With that end in view, accompanied by his wife's father and two brothers, he moved to Illinois and took a squat- ter's right to a quarter of a section of land in Fulton county, in the western part of the state, near the Illinois river. There he built another log house- and settled down to the lot of a pioneer prairie farmer; but in 1840 dis- posed of his interests there and moved with his family to Iowa, making the trip in a wagon he made for himself, using a large sycamore tree for the purpose. The wheels of this rude vehicle were four-inch cross sections of the bole of the sycamore and there were neither bolts, nails nor iron of any kind in the wagon, the same being made entirely of wood. Upon his arrival in Iowa, William M. Jones pre-empted a quarter of a section of land in Johnson county, in the eastern part of the state, and with the three yoke of cattle, five cows, one horse and six pigs he had brought with him from Illinois began farming on another pioneer farm. Ten years later, in 1850. he sold that place for eleven hundred dollars in gold and moved to Cass county, in the southwestern part of Iowa, where he bought a saw- and grist- mill and a dwelling house, paying for the property seven hundred dollars in gold. There he continued in the milling business for several years and with the help of his sons did a good business, remaining there until 1856, in which year he disposed of his mill and came to the then Territory of Nebraska,

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settling on the west bank of the Missouri river, in Dakota county, where he entered a tract of government land and again started "pioneering." During the second winter of his residence there all his cattle save one yoke of oxen were frozen to death and he decided that such a place was not fitted for human habitation. Selling his land for one hundred dollars he moved south, settling on the Delaware Indian reserve land in Leavenworth county, Kansas, where he remained until the fall of 1859, when he emigrated to Texas, expecting there to engage in the business of cattle raising. But he found a cold recep- tion in Texas, the feeling at that time existing there against Abolitionists being expressed in such vigorous term by the Texans that in the fall of 1860 he was glad to get away on any terms, and he returned to Leavenworth county, Kansas, where he traded a yoke of oxen to an Indian for a quarter of a section of land and began grazing cattle. But even there he was doomed to further disturbance, for the "Jayhawkers" made it so unpleasant for him, stealing his horses and cattle and threatening his life, that he again felt it necessary to move and as soon as possible got out of the county and came farther north, settling a few miles north of Rulo Landing, in this county. There he found a few families preparing to make the long journey to the Pacific coast and in the spring of 1863, with seven other families, started for Oregon, arriving there, after innumerable hardships, in October of that same year. Mr. Jones purchased a quarter of a section of land about fifteen miles southeast of Portland and there once more settled down to a job of "pioneering," but conditions presently began to prove disappointing and in the spring of 1865 he sold out and came back to Nebraska. He spent the winter at Omaha and in the spring of 1866 returned to Richard- son county, where he and his sons, Charles and Cass, bought a half section of land from a "squaw man" and settled on the banks of the Missouri, about three miles north of Rulo. There William M. Jones continued farming until he was eighty years of age, doing most of the work himself, for he always was a man of much physical vigor and of enormous powers of resistance. When eighty years of age he sold his place to one of his sons and he and his wife then retired from the active labors of the farm, though continuing to make their home on the place, and there Mrs. Jones died on October 12, 1909, she then being ninety-nine years, eight months and four- teen days of age. William M. Jones survived his wife until February 11. 1913. he then being past one hundred years of age. He and his wife were the parents of nine children, Phoebe, Charles, Henry, Cass, Margaret, Rachel, Lewis, Louise and Stephen, and at the time of his death William M. Jones

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had six living children, twenty-eight grandchildren, fifty-four great-grand- children and five great-great-grandchildren, a patriarch indeed.

Cass Jones was but five years of age when his parents moved from Illinois to Iowa and in the latter state he received his schooling, going to school at Iowa City, county seat of his home county there. When his father engaged in the milling business in Cass county, same state, Cass Jones became an active assistant in that enterprise and remained with his father during the latter's subsequent move to this county and later to Kansas and thence to Dallas county, Texas, from which place the family, as Northern sympa- thizers, were run out, as noted above. When the Civil War broke out Cass Jones was twenty years of age and on May 5, 1861, at Leavenworth, he enlisted for service as a member of Company I, Second Kansas Cavalry, to serve six months. During the battle of Wilson's Creek, Mr. Jones's horse was shot from under him and he was pinned beneath the fallen animal, his right hip being dislocated, his right shoulder severely injured and his jaw broken. After two months spent in the hospital at Springfield he rejoined his regiment, but his term of enlistment having expired he was discharged, November 18, 1861. Shortly afterward, he by that time having sufficiently recovered from his injuries to re-enter active service, Mr. Jones re-enlisted in the same company and regiment, which was being reorganized for the three-year service, and resumed his place at the front; presently being pro- moted to the rank of regimental sergeant-major and later assigned as a body guard to Adjutant-General Bell, a staff officer in General Sibley's command. Later, at his own request and with a desire to get into more active service. Mr. Jones was transferred to Company I, Second Nebraska Cavalry, and with that command served until his discharge, November 18, 1863, at Sioux City, Iowa.

About the time of the completion of his military service, the Powder River expedition was being organized at Sioux City and Cass Jones took service with that expedition, under the employ of the government, as a wagon-master, and participated in that notable expedition until its comple- tion, being finally paid off at Kearney, later rejoining his parents and his family at Omaha; remaining there until the spring of 1866, when the family returned to Richardson county and settled a few miles north of Rulo, where Mr. Jones has ever since made his home, and where he and his family are very comfortably and very pleasantly situated. Mr. Jones has done well in his farming operations and has increased his original farm holdings of a quarter of a section of land until he now has a fine farm of four hundred

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acres. He is an active Republican, as was his father, and during the sessions of the Nebraska Legislature of 1903 and 1907, served the people of Rich- ardson county as representative. Mr. Jones also has served as school di- rector in his district for ten years or more and for eight years was road supervisor. He has been a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons since 1864 and is one of the charter members of Trego Post. Grand Army of the Republic, at Rulo.

Mr. Jones has been twice married. On March 25, 1869, he was united in marriage to Amanda E. Mowery, who died on March 8, 1888, and is buried in the Lutheran church burial grounds, a few miles west of the Jones home. On December 30, 1896, at Oregon, Missouri, Mr. Jones mar- riedl Caroline Matilda Keil, a daughter of Carl and Augusta (Belute) Keil, natives of Germany and early settlers in Missouri. Carl Keil died at St. Louis when his daughter Caroline Matilda was but an infant and his widow was afterward twice married. She was the mother of eight children, seven by her first marriage and one by her last marriage. Of these children, three daughters are still living, Mrs. Jones having two sisters' living in Holt county, Missouri. Mr. Jones has six children, namely : Harlan Jones, of Anadarko, Oklahoma; William Jones, of that same place: Elston Jones, a well-known resident of the Rulo neighborhood; Mrs. Bessie Bochman, who lives on one of her father's farms north of Rulo, and Miss Mina Jones and Mrs. Effie Vogel, who also live near their father's place. Mr. Jones has fourteen grandchildren.

! !

WILLIAM RIESCHICK.

William Rieschick, a well-known retired pioneer farmer of Richardson county and a substantial landowner of the precinct of Arago, now living at Falls City, where he has made his home since 1905, is of European birth, born in a village in Germany on June 2, 1831, but has been a resident of this country since he was twenty-five years of age and of this county since 1858. having come here in territorial days, and has thus seen this region develop from the days of the open plains. He was the fourth in order of birth of the eight children, five sons and three daughters, born to his parents, John Frederick and Johanna (Barden) Rieschick, also natives of Germany, who spent all their lives in their native land. Of these eight children, all save one came to America and here reared families, but all are now dead with the

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exception of the subject of this sketch and his brother, Adolph Rieschick, *the latter of whom is a resident of McCook, this state.

Reared in his native village, William Rieschick there learned the cabinet- maker's trade and became a highly-skilled craftsman in that line. He served for two years and six months in the army and then, in 1856, he then being twenty-five years of age, came to the United States, Buffalo, New York, being his destination. Upon his arrival in that city he had but one dollar left of the not overly large fund with which he started, but he had no difficulty in securing work at his trade and lost little time in settling down to work, his first wage being one dollar a day; but as he was a skilled workman this wage presently was increased to one dollar and seventy-five cents a day. Not; long afterward, however, on account of the general business depression noticeable about that time, wages were cut and Mr. Rieschick decided that the thing for him to do was to come out to the then new West and "grow up with the country." With that end in view he came to the then Territory of Nebraska in 1858 and was so charmed with the view upon his arrival at old Arago that he determined here to make his permanent home. As Mr. Rieschick says: "When I arrived at Arago in the springtime and looked out over the bluffs overlooking the vast plains of Nebraska, grass covered and dotted with flowers, I beheld the most beautiful view my eyes ever looked on.": And in all the years that have elapsed since then he has not changed his opinion of this region gained on that first distinctive impression. Upon his arrival here Mr. Rieschick found plenty of calls for his service as a car- penter and builder and he began working at Arago and at other points through- out this county and over the river in Missouri, much of his pay for services rendered being made in hogs, chickens and cattle, he and his eldest brother, who had accompanied him, buying a small tract of land and stocking the same with the live stock thus obtained. It was in April, 1860, that the Rieschick brothers moved on to that little farm of thirty acres. Among the live stock they had received were seventeen hogs, but as there was no feed for the hogs the animals wandered off and did not return until fall, when the crops had matured, by which time there had been a quite noticeable increase in the drove. On that place Mr. Rieschick and his brother remained for seven years. By this time William Rieschick had become the owner of a team of horses and had paid down two hundred dollars on an "eighty" of his own in the center of the precinct of Arago, also trading in on the same a town lot in the old town of Arago which had come into his possession, and decided to marry and "settle down." In 1865 he married and established

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his home on that "eighty," having meanwhile made considerable initial improvement on the same, declaring: "I'll make my living here or die!" Needless to say, he did not die and it is equally certain that he prospered, for he long has been recognized as one of the county's most substantial land- owners. During the first years of his farming Mr. Rieschick, in common with most of the pioneers of this region, felt the effects of "hard times," and he still recalls that at one time the price of farm produce had fallen to such a point that he had to give three dozen eggs for a box of matches, but those depressing days presently passed and he began to see his way clear to the competence for which he had left his native land and journeyed out here to the great Western land of opportunity. In 1869 Mr. Rieschick bought an adjoining quarter of a section of land, paying for the same eight dollars an acre, and when his sons had grown to the point of being able to care for land for themselves he bought an additional tract of four hundred and forty acres, paying for the same fifty dollars an acre, and he recalls that he found it much easier to pay for this last tract than it was to pay for his original "eighty." On that farm Mr. Rieschick continued to make his home until 1905, in which year he retired from the active labors of the farm and moved to Falls City, where he and his family are very comfortably situated, hav- ing a beautiful home surrounded by an orchard at the end of Sixteenth street.

In 1865 William Rieschick was united in marriage to Varina Hunzeikle, who was born in the republic of Switzerland in 1844 and who was but ten years of age when she came to this country with her parnets in 1854, and to this union six children have been born, namely: August Wilhelm, who died at the age of twenty-three years; Amiel William, who died at the age of two years and three months; John W., a substantial farmer living four miles north of Falls City; the Hon. William F. Rieschick, a farmer living one mile east of Falls City and who is the present representative from Rich- ardson county in the Nebraska state Legislature; Albert W., who is farming the old home place in the precinct of 'Arago, and Amelia Varina, who is at home with her parents. Mrs. Rieschick is a member of the Lutheran church and her children attend that church. Upon attaining his citizenship here Mr. Rieschick affiliated himself with the Republican party, but in the memorable campaign of 1896 joined his political fortunes with those of William Jennings Bryan and has ever since been an ardent Bryan Demo- crat. For two years during his residence on the farm he served as precinct treasurer. Mr. Rieschick has never lost his interest in woodworking and

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has in his home some rarely beautiful specimens of his craftsmanship, includ- ing a combination bookcase and desk, made of walnut, which is generally regarded as the finest piece of work of its kind in Nebraska and which Mr. Rieschick holds as a priceless possession.

WILLIAM T. FENTON.

Nebraska has been especially fortunate in the character and career of her public men. In every section have been found men born to leadership, men who have been able successfully to discharge the duties of official posi- tion because of their sterling qualities and force of character. It is profit- able to study such lives, weigh their motives and hold up their achievements as incentives to greater activity and higher excellence on the part of others. These reflections are suggested by the career of William T. Fenton, ex- sheriff of Richardson county and the present warden of the Nebraska State penitentiary at Lincoln.

Mr. Fenton was born in this county on October 2, 1872, a scion of an honored old pioneer family of this section of the state, being a son of Jerry and Catherine (Calnan) Fenton. The father was born in Ireland in 1830 and there spent his boyhood, immigrating to America when seventeen years old, being accompanied by his mother, four brothers and one sister. The family located at Richmond, Virginia, where they remained until in the sixties when they came to Nebraska, locating on a farm near Dawson in Richardson county. Jerry Fenton and Catherine Calnan were married before leaving Virginia, prior to the breaking out of the Civil War. He developed a good farm in Richardson county through close application and perseverance and established a comfortable home here. He continued general farming and stock raising successfully on his farm of one hundred and sixty acres until about five years prior to his death. He died in 1914, at the advanced age of eighty-four years. He was an influential man in his com- munity and helped organize nearly all the schools of the Dawson neighbor- hood. He was active in the Catholic church and was the only trustee of the church in his vicinity. The mother of the subject of this sketch was also born in Ireland, the date of her birth being 1838. She came to Virginia with her parents when seven years old. To Jerry and Catherine Fenton twelve children were born, five of whom are deceased: those living at this writing being as follows: Mrs. Mary S. Kane of Dawson; Mrs. Ella Riley,

WILLIAM T. FENTON.

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also of Dawson; Thomas F., who lives at Reedley, California; Robert E., who lives at Haddam, Kansas: Mrs. Catherine Carr; Mrs. Nora Ryan, who makes her home at Dawson, and William T., the subject of this review.

No doubt one of the potent contributing causes of the success and pop- ularity of William T. Fenton has been his Celtic blood, for people of this strain are everywhere noted for their courage, fortitude, perseverance and pleasing personal traits. He grew to manhood on the home farm in Rich- ardson county, where he assisted his father with the general work during crop seasons, when he became of proper age. In the winter time he at- tended the district schools. He remained at home until 1894, when he went to California and worked for a fruit company two years. He then returned to Nebraska and for two years operated a hardware and implement store in the village of Dawson, then sold out and engaged in general farming and stock raising, with very gratifying results, near there until 1906. In that year he was elected sheriff of Richardson county on the Democratic ticket, and he continued to discharge the duties of the office in a faithful, able and highly acceptable manner until 1913, when he resigned in order to assume the office of warden of the state penitentiary at Lincoln, in Janu- ary of that year, having been appointed to this responsible position by Gov- ernor Morehead. He had made his home in Falls City for seven years, but early in 1913 moved to the city of Lincoln, where he has since resided, and has given eminent satisfaction to all concerned as warden. He under- stands his work thoroughly and has instituted many reforms and has every- thing about the prison under a superb system; in fact, it is said to be one of the best managed penitentiaries in the United States. Since he took charge he has kept the grounds and buildings in good repair and every- thing is in ship-shape at all times. He has established a large greenhouse and he has done much to better the general conditions of the prisoners. He is a man of tact, executive ability, prudence and caution ; kind, but firm, and is always faithful in seeing that the laws and rules of the institution are strictly obeyed. He is popular with all his associates and is evidently the right man in the right place.

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History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions, Part 117

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