USA > Nebraska > Richardson County > History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions > Part 118
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Mr. Fenton, in partnership with ex-Governor Morehead, owns a fine farm in Lancaster county, Nebraska, of two hundred and eighty acres. At one time he and his brother, the late Jerry P. Fenton, owned five drug stores in the city of Omaha.
On April 9, 1902, Mr. Fenton was married to Vinnette M. Colman, who was born at . Falls City, where she grew to womanhood and was edu- cated. being graduated from the high school there, and taught school for
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some time at Falls City and at Dawson prior to her marriage. She is a daughter of Thomas and Anna ( Ryan) Colman, who were early settlers in Richardson county. Mr. Colman, a veteran of the Civil War, was a har- nessmaker by trade. His death occurred in Falls City in 1876 and his widow is now making her home with Mr. and Mrs. Fenton. Two children have been .born to Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, namely: Helen Ruth, born in 1903; and Bryan, 1905.
Mr. Fenton is a Democrat and has long been an influential worker in his party, as was also his father. The latter was elected representative to the Legislature from Richardson county in the early days here. Fratern- ally, the subject of this sketch is a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Highlanders, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Knights of Columbus. He belongs to the Catholic church.
MARINO GIANNINI.
During the many years of his residence in Falls City there were few men there who were better known or who took a more active interest in the work of promoting the city's best interests than did the late Marino Giannini, a Virginian and a veteran of the Confederate Army, who came to this state from Missouri, in 1883, and engaged in the 'bus business at Falls City, where he spent the remainder of his life, one of the most influential citizens of that city, his death occurring there in the fall of 1915. Mr. Giannini became quite successful in his business affairs and left his family quite well circumstanced. His widow is still making her home at Falls City, where she is very comfortably situated.
Marino Giannini was born in the city of Richmond, Virginia, January 2, 1850, son and youngest of the thirteen children born to Marino and Mahala (Hamlet) Giannini, the former a native of Italy and the latter of Virginia. The senior Marino Giannini was born in Tuscany and in 1820 left his native Italy and came to the United States, landing at the port of New York, presently proceeding thence to Philadelphia and thence, after some time, to the city of Richmond, where he became a prosperous and wealthy merchant and shipper, an extensive slave owner and the owner of two large sailing vessels engaged in the overseas trade. During the Civil War these vessels were captured as blockade runners and were burned. It was not long after taking up his residence in Richmond that Marino
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Giannini married Mahala Hamlet, who was born in that city, of English descent, and their children were reared in that city. The father of these children died just before the close of the Civil War, he then being sixty- three years of age, and his widow survived him for exactly nine years, her death occurring in Missouri on December 20, 1871, her youngest son, the subject of thi smemorial sketch, having provided for her a home at Milton, in Atchison county, that state.
The junior Marino Giannini was reared at Richmond and was given excellent educational advantages in his youth. When thirteen years of age he succeeded by a ruse in enlisting for service in the army of the Con- federate States of America and served with that army for eighteen months. or until the close of the Civil War. Two of his elder brothers, Franklin P. and Ferdinand Washington Giannini, were serving in the army of Gen. Robert E. Lee and his youthful ardor sought service in the same army, but on account of his tender years he was unable to enlist at home; hence he slipped away and in company with a fifteen-year-old kinsman succeeded in getting into an Alabama regiment, serving until the close of the war as a member of Company C, Forty-sixth Regiment, Alabama Volunteer Infantry. and was afterward an active member of Camp Grace No. 472, United Con- federate veterans. Too small to pass the mustering officers on an open field, young Marino stood.on a stump underneath the window of the recruit- ing office and thus seemed to the eye of the officer in charge of proper size for army service and he was gladly accepted. He then eagerly signed the enlistment roll and as there was no outside objection raised, he was retained in the ranks even after his patriotic subterfuge had been discovered by the officers and he made a good soldier.
Upon the completion of his military service Marino Giannini returned to his home at Richmond, only to find the family slaves gone and the family fortunes sadly reduced. His mother put him into Roanoke College and following his graduation there he traveled with an elder brother for for some time in the South and later went to New York City, returning thence to Richmond, from which city, accompanied by his mother, he then came West and located at St. Joseph, Missouri, where he became engaged as a clerk in the Merchants Hotel. A year later he went to Milton, Mis- souri, where he made a home for his mother, and not long afterward returned to Richmond to receive his share of the family estate. With the fund thus secured he bought a farm in the vicinity of Milton, where his mother died in 1871. Shortly afterward, in February, 1872, he married
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Edna Williams, who died in 1875, leaving two children, and in February. 1878, he married Linda Seymour, of Milton. In 1883 Mr. Giannini dis- posed of his interests in Missouri and came over into Nebraska, locating at Falls City, where he was engaged in the employ of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad for six years, at the end of which time he bought the 'bus line in that city and for some time operated the same quite success- fully; then selling it and buying the Werring creamery, which he operated for three years, after which he sold it and bought back the 'bus line, which he continued to operate for years thereafter. Mr. Giannini also made con- siderable investments in farm lands and city property, but when the "hard times" came on in the middle nineties he lost heavily and was compelled practically to begin all over again. He was again successful, however, and at the time of his death on September 27, 1915, was regarded as one of the well-to-do citizens of Falls City. ' Mr. Giannini was a Democrat and ever since becoming a resident of Falls City had taken an active part in political affairs, but always declined to accept the proffer of nomination to public office. He was one of the county seat's most active and progressive business men and his influence in the way of promoting civic improvements was for years one of the leading factors in the development of the town. the paving of streets and the creation of the "White Way" having been largely due to his insistent advocacy of such improvements. Mr. Giannini's father was a Catholic, but his mother was a Baptist and he and the other children of the family were reared in the latter faith. He afterward became a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, but during his residence in Falls City attended the Baptist church, of which his widow is a member. He was an active Mason and a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and was a member of several beneficiary orders, such as the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Royal Arcanum, the Legion of Honor and the Modern Woodmen, and took an earnest part in lodge work.
It was on February 28, 1878, that Marino Giannini was united in mar- riage to Linda Seymour, who was born at Milton, Missouri, September 26, 1858, a daughter of Leander and Elizabeth ( Beck) Seymour. pioneers of that section of Missouri and both of whom are still living. Leander Seymour, a cousin of Horatio Seymour, twenty-fourth governor of New York and candidate for President of the United States against General Grant, was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, February 5, 1830, a son of John and Lovica (Eaton) Seymour, both members of old Colonial families, the
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former of whom was a grandson of Dr. John Seymour. of Litchfield. Connecticut. John Seymour's father was a manufacturer of carriages and his son, Leander, acquired a very strong leaning toward the manufacturing arts, becoming an unusually skilled artisan. Though his main field of activ- ity was that of a millwright, he was an expert in the field of mechanics and could make a watch, a sewing-machine or most any sort of a machine. and upon moving out to Missouri in pioneer days not only was active in the erection of mills, but made the first plows manufactured in northwestern Missouri, and has always been looked upon as a real genius in the mechanical arts. Though now long past the traditional "three-score-and-ten" stage of his life, Mr. Seymour retains to a remarkable degree his physical vigor and is still able to read without glasses. His wife, Elizabeth Beck, was born on March 31, 1838, and is descended from the Parsons and the Howells. of English descent and formerly large landowners at Salisbury, Raleigh and Berne, North Carolina. To Leander Seymour and wife six children were born, of whom Mrs. Giannini was the third in order of birth, the others being as follow: Franklin, who is at the old home in Missouri with his aged parents; Lydia, who married Andrew Jackson Carmen, a Civil War veteran from Ohio, and is now living at Downs, Kansas; Wilson, a well-to-do retired farmer, now :living at Fairfax, Missouri; Leander, Jr., of Stewartsville, Missouri, and Mrs. Mary Simpson, of Hiawatha, Kansas.
By his first marriage Mr. Giannini was the father of two children, Mamie G., wife of John F. Martin, a traveling salesman, of Falls City, and Ferdinand W., a successful farmer living in the neighborhood of Barada, this county, who is married and has two children. By his marriage to Linda Seymour Mr. Giannini became the father of five children, namely: Eva, wife of William Robinson Holt, a well-known merchant of Falls City; Rufo Orden and Royal Byron, twins, now deceased; Laura G., wife of A. E. Speer, of Falls City, and Lloyd Seymour Giannini, of Fargo, North Dakota, who married Elizabeth Neal, daughter of George H. Neal, and has two children, Neal Marino and Isabel. Since her husband's death Mrs. Giannini has continued to make her home in Falls City, where she is very pleasantly situated. She is a member of the Baptist church, as noted above, and has for years taken an interested part in church work, as well as in the general good works and social and cultural activities of her home town. For more than fourteen years she has been one of the leading members of the Sorosis Club and is also a member of the locally influential Women's Club, in the affairs of both of which organizations she takes a warm interest.
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JOSEPH EDGAR MORRISON.
Joseph Edgar Morrison, one of the well-known and substantial farmers of Salem precinct, this county, the owner of the northwest quarter of section 25 of that precinct and the proprietor of one of the best farm plants in that part of the county, is a native of the neighboring state of Kansas, born in Brown county, that state, September 7, 1870, a son of Joseph and Lizzie (Shaffer) Morrison, pioneers of that county, whose last days were spent in this county, they having come here in 1881.
Joseph Morrison was born on a farm in the immediate vicinity of Louisville, Kentucky, April 1, 1829, a son of Robert -Morrison, also a native of Kentucky, and his wife, Lizzie Shaffer, was born in Maryland in 1834. After their marriage they made their home in Illinois until the carly sixties when they went to Wisconsin, remaining there until 1865, when they moved down into Kansas and settled in Brown county, but later moved to St. Joseph, Missouri, where they remained a couple of years, at the end of which time they moved over into western Kansas and remained there until the fall of 1881, when they came to Richardson county. Joseph Mor- rison bought a farm of eighty acres in this county and here he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives, both dying in 1912. They were members of the Methodist church and their children were reared in that faith. There were nine of these children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the eighth in order of birth and of whom six are still living.
Joseph E. Morrison received his schooling in the common schools and was reared to a life of farming. After his marriage, when twenty-one years of age, he began farming on his own account and in 1901 bought his present iarm of one hundred and sixty acres in section 25 of the precinct of Salem, this county, the northeast quarter of that section, and straightway began extensive improvements on the same, including the erection of a fine, modern eight-room house, with bathroom, hot and cold running water, electric lights and the like: admirable farm buildings and other improvements, creating there one of the best farm plants in that part of the county, and there he since has made his home. Mr. Morrison is a Democrat and has ever given a good citizen's attention to local political affairs, but has not been a seeker after office. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the local camp of the Modern Woodmen of America at Salem and takes a warm interest in the affairs of that organization.
On September 23, 1891. Joseph E. Morrison was united in marriage
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to Linnie Eakins, who was born in Iowa on June 17, 1872, daughter of Thomas and Julia ( Barnes) Eakins, natives, respectively, of Illinois and of Ohio, who settled in Brown county, Kansas, in 1879, later moving to Sabetha, where Thomas Eakins spent his last days. His widow is now living at Steele City, Kansas. Mrs. Morrison died in 1908. She was the mother of six children, namely: Mrs. Zelma Zellers, of Jefferson precinct, this county; Robert, who is farming near Shubert; Vera, who is at home with her father; Mabel, deceased: Warren, at home. and Vye, also at home.
WILLIAM MARTIN.
William Martin, extensive landowner in the states of Nebraska and South Dakota, is a native of Illinois, born in Aurora, that state, on October 8. 1854, and has been a resident of Richardson county since he was four years old. He holds a portion of his land in partnership with his sister. Catherine. the farms being located at various points. Five hundred and sixty acres are in Richardson county; six hundred and forty in Brown county, South Dakota; one hundred and sixty in" Nemaha county, this state .. and the homestead of one hundred and twenty, entered by William Martin, Sr., on October 30, 1858.
William Martin, Sr., was a native of Nova Scotia and was born of Irish parentage, who settled in Canada in an early day. William Martin emigrated from Nova Scotia to the United States in 1848, arriving at Chicago, and going thence to Aurora, Illinois, where he worked as a well digger for some time. In 1858 he drove to this part of the country with two yoke of oxen and two cows. He was accompanied by his wife, who- before her marriage to Mr. Martin was Catherine Doyle, and three sons and three daughters. The long journey into Nebraska occupied one month, and on his arrival he pre-empted one hundred and twenty acres of land in Nemaha county. About nine years later his wife pre-empted forty acres. William Martin cleared his land and in due course had it ready for cultiva- tion and continued the life of a farmer up to the time of his death in 1862, at the age of fifty-five years. William and Catherine (Doyle) Martin were the parents of six children, of whom William, the subject of this sketch, was the fifth in the order of birth, the others being James, who died in 1914 in Porter precinct; Mary, deceased; Catherine, born in 1845.
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who housekeeps for her brother, William; John, out in the West, and Anna. who died at the age of two years.
William, James and Catherine Martin made their home together up to the time of the death of James, who died in 1914. They began on the home place, which contains one hundred and sixty acres and farmed that land on partnership terms. William Martin continued to add to his land holdings, paying a price per acre which varied from sixty-five dollars to one hundred and seventy-five dollars, which latter figure was the pur- chase price of the last tract bought just north of Humboldt. During his farming career Mr. Martin has bought upwards of two thousand acres of land and is regarded in the county as an excellent judge of land. He carried out extensive improvements on each of his holdings, and his last purchase is now considered to be worth two hundred and fifty dollars an acre. From small beginnings he has gradually increased his holdings and is now a pros- perous farmer. Mr. Martin is a Republican, but has never sought public office. He holds. membership in the Modern Woodmen of America. .
ISAAC W. HARRIS.
The late Isaac Harris, of Liberty precinct, was one of the real "old settlers" of Richardson county, having come to this county and made a settlement as early as 1873. During his career in this county he handled live stock on an extensive scale and became one of the most widely and favorably known men of southeastern Nebraska; honest and upright to a fault in all of his dealings, and was recognized as an expert judge of live stock. His interests in county affairs were wide and were of such a varied character as to indicate the broad-gauged citizenship of the man himself.
Isaac W. Harris was born in the old Buckeye state, on August 20, 1846, and was a son of Jacob Harris and Mary A. (Shurts) Harris, natives of New Jersey. He was reared to young manhood in his native state and migrated to Nebraska in 1873, settling on the land owned by his son Guy, in Liberty precinct. He early engaged in the cattle and live-stock business on an extensive scale, and, having faith in the eventual develop- ment of the country and confidence in the ultimate future of this section of Nebraska, he invested heavily in Richardson county land, accumulating over sixteen hundred acres of fine farming and grazing land. His skill as a live-stock judge and dealer was generally recognized and he was regarded
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as having few equals in this part of the state when expert judgment of live-stock was required. His death occurred on November 30, 1915. Gen- eral regret was felt throughout the community and wherever he was known at the loss sustained by his departure from this earthly realm.
Isaac Harris's activities were not restricted to his agricultural inter- ests and in many other ways he gave evidence of commercial enterprise. He helped to organize the Farmers' Mutual Insurance Company and was president of that company at the time of his death. He was a stockholder in the State Bank of Stella and in the Bank of Shubert, and was also inter- ested financially in the State Bank of Humboldt and in the State Bank of Omaha. For a considerable period he was vice-president of the Stella Bank and a director of the other three banks in which he was interested, and in all of these undertakings took a keen interest and brought a ripe experience to bear in shaping the policy of the banks with which he was identified.
Isaac Harris was married in Illinois, in 1869, to Rosa Hassler, who was born in Bureau county, Illinois, on January 29, 1849. She preceded her husband to the grave by about ten months, her death occurring on Jan- uary 28, 1915. Mr. and Mrs. Harris were ever helpful in all neighbor- hood good works and in all efforts making for the good of the people among whom they had so long resided. The following children were born to Isaac and Rosa Harris, namely : Mrs. Caroline Clark, of Stella, this county ; George W., who lives in Yakima, Washington; Bert L., also living in Yakima; Guy, who is farming in this county; Olive and Lucile J., living with their brother Guy on the home place.
Guy Harris was reared on his father's farm, having been born on March 22, 1876. He was graduated from the Stella high school and later attended the State Normal at Peru, this state. At the age of eighteen he began to work for himself and put out a crop of wheat and corn. He sold the wheat for seventy-five cents a bushel and the corn at fourteen cents, and with the proceeds paid his way through school. For some years after- ward he was in partnership with his father and brother Bert, and thus con- tinned until 1905, when Guy Harris took over his brother's interest in the farm. At the death of his father, he acquired the home place of two hun- dred and ninety acres and has since bought other land. He is the owner of eight hundred acres of land, the home place in section 6; one hundred and sixty acres in the southeast corner of section 1, Grant precinct ; one hun- dred and sixty acres in the southeast quarter of section 9, Porter precinct,
(76)
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and across the international border in Alberta, Canada, he is the owner of eight hundred acres of land. In addition to his extensive land holdings, Mr. Harris is heavily interested in hog and cattle raising. He feeds on an average about one thousand hogs annually and in some years has fed up to five hundred head of cattle, and is generally recognized as one of the most prosperous farmers and stockmen in this part of the state. His sisters, Olive and Lucile, are partners with him in all his farming operations.
WILLIAM C. MARGRAVE.
William C. Margrave, president of the William A. Margrave Company. one of the leading ranch corporations in eastern Nebraska, the company's extensive corporate holdings comprising the estate of the late William A. Margrave, who for years was one of the best-known ranchmen in this part of Nebraska, or in the adjoining section of Kansas, was born in the neigh- boring county of Brown, in Kansas, and has lived in this part of the coun- try all his life. He was born on June 27, 1876, son of William .A. and Margaret R. (Rubeti) Margrave, the former a native of Illinois and the latter of Kansas, and the latter of whom is still living, now a resident of Hiawatha, Kansas.
William A. Margrave, founder of the great Margrave estate, now' being operated by his heirs under the corporate title of the William .I. Margrave Company, with headquarters at Preston, this county, was born on a farm in the vicinity of the city of Peoria, Illinois, May 1, 1845. and was fifteen years of age when he came out into this part of the country with his parents, James W. and Elizabeth (Hopkins) Margrave, from Illi- mois in 1860, the family settling at Hiawatha, Kansas, where James W. Margrave became a farmer and miller, and where he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring there in 1888. He was born in the state of Kentucky on August 16, 1814. His widow survived him about four years, her death occurring on May 21, 1892. They were the parents of eight children, of whom William A. was the fourth in order of birth.
As noted above, William A. Margrave was about fifteen years of age when he came to this part of the country with his parents, in 1860, and he grew to manhood on the home farm in Richardson county, becoming thoroughly familiar with pioneer conditions hereabout. He early began operating on his own account and from the first his operations were suc-
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cessful, early becoming recognized as one of the most successful traders in land and cattle in this section. After his marriage he established his home on his ranch in the vicinity of Preston, this county, and gradually enlarged his holdings until he became the owner of several thousand acres of land covering that section and reaching down to Reserve, besides lands in Sheridan and Cherry counties, this state, and was one of the most exten- sive dealers in and graziers of cattle, horses and mules in this part of the country. William A. Margrave died on July 31, 1906, and his widow sur- vives him, now a resident of Hiawatha, Kansas. She was born, Margaret R. Rubeti, in the neighboring county of Doniphan. Kansas, in 1848, and at the age of three years was left an orphan. She was reared in the house- hold of S. M. Irvin and in time became a teacher on the Indian reserva- tion, and was thus engaged at the time she married Mr. Margrave. To that union were born five children, one of whom, a daughter, died in infancy, the others being Julia, wife of George W. LeClere, storekeeper on the Margrave ranch in Jefferson precinct; William C., the subject of this bio- graphical sketch; James T., of Preston, vice-president of the Margrave corporation, and Earl I., of Gordon, secretary and treasurer of the corpora- tion. After the death of William A. Margrave his sons continued to oper- ate the ranch property, their aim being to carry out their father's plans with regard to the estate as closely as possible, and with that end in view presently incorporated the business under the name of the William A. Mar- grave Company and have since been conducting the business under that corporate style, the officers being as above named, the subject of this sketch being the president of the company. The local station of the Margrave Company in Jefferson precinct, this county, carries a thousand head of cattle and on the ranches in Sheridan and Cherry counties there are two thousand head or more.
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