History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions, Part 120

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

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EDWARD W. CUMMINGS.

Edward W. Cummings, one of the substantial and progressive farmers of Richardson county and the owner of a fine place in the precinct of Grant, is a native son of Nebraska and has lived in this state all his life. He was born on a pioneer farm over in the adjoining county of Pawnee on Octo- ber 25, 1872, son of Patrick and Nora ( Fenton) Cummings, natives of Ire- land and pioneers of this section, and the latter of whom is still living.

Patrick Cummings, who was born in 1844, was but a lad of fifteen when he came to this country and settled in Vermont. There he grew to manhood, remaining there until he was about twenty-three years of age. when, in 1867, he came to the new state of Nebraska, this state having been admitted to the Union in that year, and settled in Pawnee county. After coming out here he married Nora Fenton, who also was born in Ireland, in 1837, and who had come to this country with her mother when a girl, the family first locating in Connecticut, whence they came to Nebraska and became pioneers of this section of the state. After his marriage Patrick Cummings established his home on a farm in Pawnee county and there developed a fine bit of property. On that farm he spent his last days, his death occurring there in 1890. His widow still survives. They were the parents of five children, three of whom are still living. the subject of this sketch having a brother, T. P. Cummings, of Dawson, this county, and a sister, Mrs. Catherine Walsh, of Pierre, South Dakota.

Edward Cummings was reared on the home farm in Pawnee county, growing up there familiar with pioneer conditions on the plains. and received

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his early schooling in the district schools of that neighborhood, supplement- ing the same by attendance at St. Mary's College for three terms. From the days of his boyhood he was a valued assistant to his father in the labors of developing and improving the home farm and has always been a farmer. He became the owner of his first farm in 1897, the year of his marriage, he then being twenty-four years of age, and continued a resident of Pawnee county, farming his place there, until 1905, when he sold that farm and moved over into Richardson county and bought his present farm in the precinct of Grant, where he has since made his home and where he and his family are very pleasantly and very comfortably situated. In addition to the well-improved quarter section on which he makes his home, Mr. Cum- mings is the owner of another farm, a tract of one hundred and eighty acres, in the Nemaha bottoms south of Dawson, and is recognized as one of the well-to-do farmers of the Dawson neighborhood. He is a Republican, but in local elections is inclined to take an independent view of the issues involved, reserving his right to vote for the man instead of the party.

On September 8, 1897, Edward W. Cummings was united in marriage to Nora Clancy, who was born in Jewell county, Kansas, January 17, 1878, daughter of Patrick and Johanna (O'Brien) Clancy, natives of Ireland and early settlers in Kansas, who later came over the line into Nebraska and settled in this county, where their last days were spent. Patrick Clancy was born in 1840 and Johanna O'Brien was born in 1841. With their respective parents they came to this country in the days of their childhood and were reared in New Jersey, where they were married. In 1875 they came West and settled in Jewell county, Kansas, where they remained until in February, 1878, when they came up into Nebraska and located on a farm in the precinct of Grant, in this county,- where they .prospered and where they reared their family, remaining there the rest of their lives. Mrs. Clancy died in 1904 and Mr. Clancy survived until February, 1913. They were the parents of five children, those besides Mrs. Cummings being as follow : Mrs. Margaret Zimmerman, of Lincoln, this state; Mary, wife of James O'Grady, of Grant precinct, this county; Johanna, wife of John O'Grady, of that same precinct, and Mrs. Kate. O'Connell, wife of Bryan O'Connell, of that same precinct.

To Edward W. and Nora (Clancy) Cummings one child has been born, a son, Patrick, who died on October 3, 1915, at the age of fifteen years. Mr. and Mrs. Cummings are members of the Catholic church and take a proper interest in parish affairs, as well as in the general social activities

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and good works of the community in which they live. Mr. Cummings is a member of the Dawson council of the Knights of Columbus and takes a warm interest in the affairs of that organization.

BRYAN O'CONNELL.

Bryan O'Connell, substantial and prosperous stockman and farmer, owner of two hundred and ten acres of prime land in section 21, Grant township, was born at Chicago, Illinois, on March 11, 1866. He is the son of Michael and Margaret (Maloney) O'Connell, natives of Ireland, born in County Clare, that country, the former in 1825.

Michael O'Connell left the Emerald Isle when he was about twenty-one years old and on arriving in the United States, went on to Chicago, where he lived up to about 1865. In the latter year he moved to Wisconsin, where he resided until 1875, in which year he came to Richardson county. His first purchase of land in this state was a tract of one hundred and sixty acres near Shubert. The nearest market places to his farm were Falls City and Brownville. In common with other early settlers he suffered from the ravages of the grasshopper plague. After these pests had winged their final flight, his farming operations prospered and he gradually added to his land hold- ings, owning for some years before his retirement four hundred and forty acres of choice land. To Michael and Margaret (Maloney) O'Connell eight children were born, three of whom died in infancy, the others being Patrick, deceased: Thomas, who lives in Greeley county, this state; Bryan. the sub- ject of this sketch ; Mrs. Margaret Hanley, a widow, living in Sioux county, this state; Mary Ann, who married J. hern, lives in Shubert, and Mrs. Sarah Ramsey, living in Greeley county. Mr. O'Connell retired about twenty years ago from the active labors of the farm and moved to Spaulding, this state, where he is now living with his children at the advanced age of ninety-two years. His wife, whom he married at Buffalo, New York, died in 1904, having reached her seventy-eighth year. She was a member of the Catholic church, as is her husband, and their children were reared in the same faith.

Bryan O'Connell, the subject of this sketch, was nine years old wlien his parents came to Nebraska from Wisconsin. He attended the district and public schools at Shubert. After leaving school he helped his father with the work on the farm and when he was twenty-six years old he rented

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land from his father, who later gave him eighty acres. This tract he improved and farmed for five years, at the end of which time he sold out and bought his present farm of two hundred and ten acres in Grant township, which was all improved, and here he is engaged successfully in general farming and stock raising. He has built a cattle barn and feeds cattle and hogs during the winter season.

On November 26, 1894, Bryan O'Connell was united in marriage to Katherine Clancy, who was born in Jewell county, Kansas, daughter of Pat- rick and Johanna (O'Brien) Clancy, natives of County Tipperary, Ireland. who were married at Salem, New Jersey, and later went to Kansas and then to Nebraska, where they continued to reside up to the time of their deaths. To Mr. and Mrs. Bryan O'Connell four children have been born, namely: Marguerite, a graduate of the Convent of the Immaculate Conception at Hastings, this state, and now teaching in school district No. 20; Patrick, now attending Dawson high school, and Josephine, who attends the convent school at Dawson, and Michael, at home with their parents. Mr. O'Connell and his wife and children are members of the Catholic church. He is also a member of the Knights of Columbus.

CLYDE V. LUM.

Clyde V. Lum, is one of the successful lumber dealers of southeastern Nebraska. He was born on August 28, 1877, near Perry, in Boone county, Iowa, and is a son of George and Lanra (Shepard) Lum. George Lum was born in Oswego county, New York, October 15, 1836, a son of Ransom Gehiel and Chloe (Abbott) Lum, natives of New York. He devoted his active life to farming and business. When a young man, in 1854, he went to Iowa with his two brothers and settled in Boone county. During the Civil War he enlisted in Company D. Second Iowa Cavalry, seeing much hard service and taking part in a number of important campaigns in the South. At the close of the war he was honorably discharged, having been in the service three years and three months. After the war he returned to Iowa and there continued farming until Angust, 1880, when he came to Nebraska, locating in Liberty precinct. Richardson county, and soon thereafter began dealing in lumber at Verdon, continuing in that business alone until 1903 when his son, Clyde V. Lum, was admitted to partner- ship, and they built up a large and satisfactory business. The elder Lum

MR. AND MRS. GEORGE LUM.

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was a charter member of the local lodge of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He helped organize and start the Verdon roller mills, and con- tinued in business there until his death, which occurred on February 24, 1914. He was one of the influential men of his community.

George Lum was married in Iowa, December 17, 1865, to Laura E. Shepard, who was born in Geneseo, Livingston county, New York, Novem- ber 11, 1848, a daughter of Chauncey K. and Laura (Bristol) Shepard, natives of Connecticut and Indiana, respectively. Chauncey K. Shepard died in New York in 1853, and his widow and children removed to Michigan and thence to Iowa. Mrs. Shepard came to Nebraska with Mr. and Mrs. Lum and died here in 1895. Mrs. Lum is still living at her old home in Verdon. Her father,. Chauncey K. Shepard, was born in 1804 and her mother was born in 1811, a daughter of Norton and Nancy (Stevens) Bristol, the former born in 1786 and the latter in 1784, who were married in 1808. Norton Bristol was a son of Abel Bristol, who was a son of Aaron Bristol, who was a son of Eliphalet Bristol and wife, Esther Peck. Eliphalet Bristol was born in 1679 and died in 1757. Abel Bristol was a soldier in the patriot army during the Revolutionary War, a private in one of the New York regiments, under Capt. Elijah Bostwick. To George Lum and wife five children were born, namely: Fred, deceased; Gertrude, who lives in Verdon with her mother; Clyde V., the subject of this sketch; Harry, who is also at home in Verdon, and Roy, who resides in Dodge City, Kansas.

Clyde V. Lum was reared on the home farm in Liberty precinct. and received a common-school education at Verdon. He later studied at Doane College at Crete, Nebraska, and also took a course in the Gem City Business College at Quincy, Illinois. Thus well equipped for a commercial career he began working in his father's lumber yard at Verdon; in fact, he had as- sisted his father in the business all along during his school days, as time permitted. In 1903 he became partner with the elder Lum and he now owns one-half interest in the business, which he has done much to make a pronounced success. A large and carefully selected stock of all kinds of house-building material is carried, commonly found in up-to-date lumber vards.

Mr. Lum was married on November 25, 1916, to Echo Ratcliff, of Stratton, Nebraska. Politically, he is a Republican, but is inclined to vote independently. He is a member of the school board at Verdon. Fraternally, he belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He attends the Con- gregational church.

(77)

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DAVID D. REAVIS.

David D. Reavis, head of the firm of Reavis & Son, funeral directors and dealers in furniture, at Falls City, and one of the best-known and most enterprising business men in that city, was born in Falls City and has lived there all his life, with the exception of a period during the days of his young manhood spent in proving up a homestead claim in Arizona. He was born on December 19, 1867, son of Judge Isham Reavis, for years an honored resident of Falls City and further and fitting mention of whom is inade elsewhere in this volume.

Reared in Falls City, David D. Reavis received his early schooling there and upon completing the course in the local high school entered the Uni- versity of Nebraska, pursuing there the literary course. When twenty-one years of age, in 1889, he went with his maternal uncle, John W. Dorrington, to Arizona, the uncle having a ranch there; and while there entered a claim to a homstead tract, which he "proved up" and then, in 1891, returned to Falls City and was married there in that year. Upon his return to Falls City, Mr. Reavis became engaged there in the furniture and undertaking business, taking over the old establishment that had been founded by his grandfather, David Dorrington, in 1860, and has ever since been engaged in that business, of recent years having in association with him his eldest son, David D. Reavis, Jr., the firm doing business under the name of Reavis & Son, one of the best-known firms of its kind in eastern Nebraska. In addition to his business interests in Falls City, Mr. Reavis is an extensive landowner, continuing to own his Arizona tract, besides which he has a farm of two hundred acres twelve miles north of Falls City and another farm a mile west of the city, to the general management of all of which places he gives considerable of his personal attention. Mr. Reavis is a Re- publican and has rendered public service to the community as a member of the school board and as a member of the city council, representing his ward in the latter body during the years 1912-14, a period of great develop- ment for Falls City, for it was during that term of the council that the city put in the general sewer system and started on its era of paving.

On March 4, 1891, David D. Reavis was united in marriage to Grace G. Yutzy, who also was born in Falls City, daughter of Dr. J. C. Yutzy, further and fitting mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume, and to this. union five children have been born, namely: David D., who completed his schooling in the University of Nebraska and is now associated with his.

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father in the furniture and undertaking business, under the firm name of Reavis & Son; Grace, who also completed her schooling in the University of Nebraska and is now engaged as a member of the excellent teaching corps of the Falls City high school; Anna, who was graduated from the Illinois Woman's College at Jacksonville; Joseph C., who was graduated from the Falls City high school with the class of 1917, and Nellie, who was born in 1908. Mr. and Mrs. Reavis are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and take an interested part in the affairs of the same. Mr. Reavis is a Royal Arch Mason and a Knight Templar, affiliated with the blue lodge, the chapter and the commandery at Falls City, and is a member of the grand chapter, Royal Arch Masons, of the state of Nebraska, present grand master of the second veil. He also is identified with the local lodges of the Knights of Pythias, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Modern Woodmen of America and takes an active interest in the affairs of all of these organizations. The Reavises have a very pleasant home at Falls City and have ever taken an interested part in the general social and cultural activities of their home town.

GEORGE W. LECLERE.

George W. LeClere, storekeeper on the great Margrave ranch in the precinct of Jefferson, this county, was born at Great Bend, county seat of Barton county, Kansas, January 12, 1865, son of John B. and Julia (Breuno) LeClere, who were born on the Sioux reservation in Iowa and both of whom were of French and Pottawattomie descent. John B. LeClere and his wife were the parents of eight children, of whom but two are now living, the subject of this sketch having a brother, Frank LeClere, living in Pottawattomie county, Kansas.

Reared on a farm in the vicinity of Great Bend, George W. LeClere received his schooling in the schools of that place and when twenty-two years of age began to work on his own account as a farm hand. Later he became heir to a quarter of a section land in Pottawattomie county, and after a while sold the same and, in 1892, came to Richardson county and settled on the Indian reservation in the precinct of Jefferson. The next year he married and began clerking in the Margrave Company store and has ever since been connected with that establishment, one of the best- known business men in that part of the county.

In 1893 George W. LeClere was united in marriage to Julia E. Mar-

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grave, who was born on June 2, 1871, daughter of William A. Margrave and wife, the former of whom was the founder of the great Margrave estate, now controlled by his heirs under the corporate name of the William A. Margrave Company, and further and fitting mention of which family and the extensive ranch interests it controls is made elsewhere in this volume, in a biographical sketch of William C. Margrave, president of the Margrave Company and eldest brother of Mrs. LeClere. To Mr. and Mrs. LeClere four children have been born, namely: Ruby, a son, at home; Marguerite, who is in school at Baldwin, Kansas: Walter, who is in high school at Hiawatha, and Stewart, deceased.

ISAAC S. CLARK.

The late Isaac S. Clark, who at the time of his death, in the fall of 1897, was recognized as one of the most substantial pioneer citizens and one of the real "old settlers" of the Verdon neighborhood in this county, was a native of the great Empire state, but had been a resident of this county practically continuously since the spring of 1857, and had thus been a witness to and a participant in the wonderful development of this region since the days of the early pioneers. His widow, who is still living on the old home place in the immediate vicinity of Verdon, is now the oldest settler in the precinct of Liberty, in this county, and her recollections of events in relation to the days of the pioneers hereabout are vivid and dis- tinct, her memories of those days making her a veritable "mine of informa- tion" regarding the early history of this county.

Isaac S. Clark was born at Holland Patent, in Oneida county, New York, March 28, 1824, the tenth in order of birth of the thirteen children born to Asa and Polly (Shear) Clark, both of English ancestry and members of old New England families, who had become early established at Hol- land Patent. Reared on his father's farm, Isaac S. Clark completed his schooling in the local academy and in the Whitesboro high school, and remained at home, working the paternal farm "on the shares," until he was twenty-five years of age, when, in 1849, he went South and at Mobile. Alabama, became engaged in the daguerreotype business in association with his brother-in-law, L. C. Barnes, and was thus engaged for eight years, at the end of which time failing health impelled him to seek a new home in the then far West; and in the spring of 1857 he came out here into the

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then Territory of Nebraska, which at that time comprised all of the former Indian country from the Territory of Kansas to the Dominion line on the north and to the Rockies on the west, and entered a claim to a quarter of a section of land near the present site of the village of Verdon, in the pre- cinct of Liberty. this county, paying the government one dollar and twenty- five cents an acre for the same, that tract now being one of the best-improved and richest farms in the state of Nebraska. Upon making his location here Mr. Clark bethought him that it would be fitting to ask a partner to share his pioneer home with him and he returned to his old home in New York, and in March, 1858, married there his old sweetheart and returned straight- way to his claim out here on the plains and he and his wife established their home. . About four years later, meanwhile having started things going all right on their place here, Mr. Clark and his wife returned to New York and became there engaged in business with his brother-in-law, Charles J. Coates, and was thus engaged for three years, at the end of which time he returned to his home in this county and here spent the remainder of his. life, becoming very successful in his farming and other operations. He was one of the promoters of the Verdon State Bank and held a considerable 'block of stock in the same, also having other interests hereabout, and at the time of his death on October 12, 1897, was accounted one of the most substantial citizens of the Verdon neighborhood. In 1864 Mr. Clark had joined the Baptist church and was a faithful worker in the same, for years serving as a deacon. He was an ardent temperance worker and in other ways contributed of his time and his energies to the advancement and upbuilding of the community of which he had been so active a personal factor since pioneer days. In 1858, the year after Isaac S. Clark had entered his claim here, his brother, George W. Clark, came out here with his family and pre-empted a tract of land with a view to establishing his home here on the plains, but died in October of that same year, leaving a widow and an infant son, the latter of whom, George Denison Clark, now a resident of Jefferson county, this state, was born on September 9. 1858. George W. Clark's widow, who was born in Oneida county, New York, daughter of Alvin Dennison and wife, died in Kansas in 1870. Her son, George D. Clark, married Georgia Alice Lacy, daughter of George and Louisa (Lamberton) Lacy, of Missouri, and has three children, Lacy D., George E. and Flo.

It was on March 3, 1858, in Oneida county, New York, that-Isaac. S. Clark was united in marriage to Eliza S. Coates, who was born in that county on June II, 1838, a daughter of Eliphalet and Eliza (Jackson)

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Coates, both members of old New England families, the former a son of Eliphalet Coates, of Connecticut, who had moved over into the timber country in New York state and has there hewed out a homestead in the forests of Oneida county. When Mr. and Mrs. Clark came here to make their home in 1858 they were accompanied by William Henry Coates, a brother of Mrs. Clark, who filed on a claim in this county and here remained until 1863, when he returned to his old home in New York state and there very successful engaged in the dairy business, remaining there the rest of his life, his death occurring on August 15, 1900. He was born on February 9, 1828. Mrs. Clark was but a little past twenty years of age when she came out here on the plains as a bride in the spring of 1858 to make her home amid pioneer conditions and she has seen this region develop from its primitive state, the habitation and abiding place of the aboriginals, to its present highly cultivated and prosperous condition and has done well her share in the development of the social and cultural life of the com- munity which she has watched grow up from the days of the very beginning of a social order out here; she now being, as noted above, the oldest con- tinuous resident of Liberty precinct. Mrs. Clark was reared in the Baptist Missionary faith and has always taken an interested and useful part in local · church work and in other local benevolent work and is held in high esteem throughout the whole Verdon neighborhood, as well as wherever she is known throughout the county.

CHARLES G. HENDERSON.

Charles G. Henderson, one of Richardson county's real "old settlers" and the proprietor of a fine farm of two hundred and eighty acres in the vicinity of Verdon, who is now living retired in that pleasant village, had his first acquaintance with Nebraska back in 1856, but did not become a permanent resident of this county until 1865; since which time he has been a continuous resident of the county and has, therefore, seen all the various phases of the development of this region since pioneer days. He was born in the state of New Jersey on September 23. 1833, and is now the sole sur- vivor of the family of six children, three sons and three daughters, born to his parents, Charles and Mary (Maple) Henderson, natives of that same state, who spent all their lives there.

Charles G. Henderson was the second in order of birth of the children

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born to his parents. He received his schooling in his native state and early learned the use of tools in their relation to the building trades and even as a boy was regarded as a proficient carpenter. When sixteen years of age he left home with a view to working at his trade in the cities farther West and at the same time deriving such benefits in the way of broadening his horizon as would come from travel. To this end he made his way to Cleve- land and after working there for some little time went to Chicago, later working in other cities in Illinois and then pushed his way on to St. Louis, where he spent one winter and then, in the spring of 1856, came over into the then Territory of Nebraska and looked about in several of the towns and settlements that had made a start in the eastern part of the Territory, but not finding work at his trade as brisk as he had looked for returned to St. Louis and later went down into Kentucky, where he worked at his trade for about six years, or until after the close of the Civil War, when, in 1865, he came back into Nebraska and settled in this county, buying from Schoenheit & Crook, for eight hundred dollars, a tract of land not far north of the present site of the village of Verdon, a discouraged settler in that vicinity readily selling to Schoenheit & Crook his pre-emption right to the claim. Upon taking possession of the claim of eighty acres, Mr. Henderson proceeded to improve and develop the same and by the time of his marriage, in the summer of 1868 had made considerable improvements on the place and was able to see his way clear to the development of a fine bit of property there. After his marriage he established his home on the place and continued making improvements until he came to have there one of the best-improved farms in that part of the county, though, in con- mon with others of the early settlers, he suffered some serious drawbacks in the days of the grasshoppers, and the hot winds, and hog cholera in the seventies and early eighties; but he persevered and as he prospered he added to his holdings until he now has two hundred and eighty acres of land that he regards to be the best land in Nebraska, bar none. In 1901 Mr. Henderson retired from the active labors of the farm and he and his wife moved to the village of Verdon, where they since have made their home and where they are very pleasantly situated. Mr. Henderson is a Democrat and a warm admirer and ardent supporter of President Wilson, but during the past four state elections has voted the Prohibition ticket, for years having been an earnest advocate of the cause of the state-wide pro- hibition of the liquor traffic in this state.

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History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions, Part 120

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