History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions, Part 130

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

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W. S. LEYDA.

WV. S. Leyda, mayor of Falls City and a well-known cigar manufac- turer of that city, is a native of the old Buckeye state, but has been a resi- dent of Nebraska since he was a boy and of Falls City since 1889, in which year he moved down from Weeping Water, where he had been engaged in railroad service, and engaged in the mercantile business, presently embarking there in the cigar business and has ever since been engaged as a manufacturer and jobber in that line, at the same time giving his, atten- tion to local civic affairs, and is now serving his eighth successive term as mayor of the city, to which office he was re-nominated by acclamation at a mass meeting in the spring of 1917.

As noted above, Mayor Leyda is a native of Ohio. He was born on a farm in Vermillion township, Ashland county, that state, April 5, 1864, son of Reuben K. and Catherine (Sharpe) Leyda, both of whom also were born in Ohio and both of Pennsylvania parentage, the former a son of James Leyda. of Irish descent, whose wife, a native of New York, was of Colonial descent. The Leydas have been farmers as far back as their history in this country is known to the present generation of the family. In 1881 Reuben K. Leyda left Ohio with his family and came to Nebraska locating on a farm four miles north of Weeping Water, in Cass county, where he made his home until his retirement from the active labors of the farm and removal to Falls City, where he spent his last days, his death occurring there on October 23, 1910, he then being seventy-six years of age. His wife had preceded him to the grave more than nine years, her death having occurred in March, 1902. They were the parents of four children, sons all, of whom the subject of this sketch was the third in order of birth the others being Tracy, a farmer, living near Murray, in Cass county; John M., a lawyer at Plattsmouth, and James E., a lawyer at Falls City.

WV. S. Leyda was seventeen years of age when he came to this state with his parents and brothers and settled in Cass county. He had received excellent schooling in his Ohio home and upon his arrival here became

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engaged as a school teacher in Cass county, as also did his brothers, and for three winters was thus engaged, meantime assisting during the summers in the labors of developing and improving the home farm. He then entered the railway service and for three years was employed as cashier in the office of the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company at Weeping Water, at the same time giving his leisure hours to the study of law under the preceptorship of Harvey Travis, an attorney-at-law at Weeping Water. In December, 1889, Mr. Leyda's services were obtained by the clothing firm of Herman Brothers, of Lincoln, to take charge of a clothing store operated by that firm at Falls City and he moved to that city and for three years was engaged in operating that store; after which, in 1892, he engaged in that city in the retail cigar business and was so successful in that line that on January I, 1898, he extended the business to include the manufacture of cigars and a general jobbing trade in that line and has ever since been engaged in that business.

Mayor Leyda is a Republican on state and national issues, though he ever has held himself independent on local issues, and from the days of his boyhood has taken an interest in political affairs. Upon locating at Falls City he entered into the political activities of the town and the county and not long afterward was elected city clerk, a position he held for two terms. He then was elected assessor and held that office by successive re-elections for four terms, after which he was elected mayor of the city and has been retained in that office ever since, now serving his eighth consecutive term of office as mayor of the city. During this long period of administrative service Mayor Leyda has been mindful of the needs of the city and his administration has been marked by many substantial evidences of the pro- gressiveness and public spirit of the chief executive and his council. Among the permanent improvements thus made, reference may be made to the thorough system of concrete sidewalks, the effectual method of letting paving contracts, the inclusive extension of the city sewer system and the installa- tion of boulevard lights on Stone street, the beautiful "White Way" of Falls City, this latter very marked improvement having been completed and the "White Way" illuminated on September 27, 1912. During the winter of 1916-17 the high price of coal prompted Mayor Leyda to ask the council for permission to buy coal for distribution at actual cost to such deserving applicants for fuel as were unable without painful sacrifices to pay the mar- ket price for coal. This movement was indorsed by the council and the Mayor was thus enabled to relieve a measure of the distress that many in

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the city otherwise would have suffered during that long and trying winter. It was also through his initiative that the local board of associated chari- ties was organized in that winter and a "tag day" inaugurated, whereby five hundred dollars was raised for the relief of the more immediate cases of distress among the poor persons of the city.

On November 15, 1895, W. S. Leyda was united in marriage to Mrs. Ada A. (McMillan) Ammerman, a widow, of Medina county, Ohio, and daughter of James McMillan and wife, and to this union four children have been born, twins, deceased; Lucilla, who was graduated from Lincoln University and is now a teacher in Whitman College at Walla Walla, Wash- ington, and Camille, also a graduate of Lincoln University, who is now a teacher in the high school at Crete, over in Saline county, this state. Mayor and Mrs. Leyda have a pleasant home in Falls City and have ever taken an active and an interested part in the general social and cultural activities of their home town. They are attendants on the services of the Methodist Episcopal church. The Mayor is affiliated with the local lodges of the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is high in the councils of Pythian- ism and is a member of the supreme lodge of that order representative from the grand lodge of the order for the state of Nebraska.

JACOB FRANKLIN WISSINGER.

The county farm has never had a better superintendent since Richardson county made provisions for its aged and indigent citizens than it now has in the person of Jacob Franklin Wissinger. He was born on September 21, 1847, in Washington county, Maryland, a son of Solomon B. and Lillian (Myras) Wissinger. The father was born in Frederick county, Maryland, in 1804, and his death occurred on March 18, 1897. He was a farmer and wood-chopper. He was also handy with tools and made wagon spokes, axe handles and other articles of a similar nature. His parents were natives of Germany. He was twice married. His first union, which was with Lillian Myras, resulted in the birth of two children, namely: George, deceased, and Jacob F., the subject of this sketch. His last marriage was with Mrs. Eliza- beth Asterdauch, and to their union five children were born, namely: Mrs. Ellen Baker, who lives in Wisconsin; Mrs. Drusey Baker, who lives in Mary-

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land; Samuel, who was next in order of birth; Joseph, who lives in Wash- ington county, Maryland, and Scott makes his home in Ogle county, Illinois.

Jacob F. Wissinger was reared on a farm and attended the district schools. When twenty-one years old he left home and began working on a farm in Illinois. In 1883 he came to Nebraska and worked on the farm of John Timmerman, in Richardson county, for five years; then he married and rented land until 1902, when he bought one hundred acres in Barada precinct. He made many improvements on the place, remodeled the buildings and farmed there successfully until 1914, when he took charge of the poor farm at Salem at a salary of twelve hundred dollars a year and the use of the land -one hundred and twenty acres. The place was badly run down when he assumed charge of it, but he has now brought it up to a high state of improve- ment and cultivation and is raising good crops of all kinds common to this locality. He has replaced the old fences and gates with new ones. remodeled. the buildings and made a general clean-up, being untiring in his efforts to make the place sanitary and healthful, as well as inviting and attractive. He has put up some new buildings of a minor nature and has set out a good orchard, doing the work himself, the county paying only for the trees. He has given eminent satisfaction in this work and anyone looking over the place can readily see that a man of good judgment and industry has its manage- ment in hand. He sold his own farm in 1915, but still owns six acres in Falls City.

On May 7, 1891, Mr. Wissinger was married to Mary Schultz, who was born on July 21, 1867, in Vermillion county, Illinois. She is a daughter of Peter and Julianna (Hoss) Schultz, both natives of Germany, from which country they came to America when children, with their respective parents, the families locating in Ohio and Indiana. Peter Schultz was a coal miner. He died in 1915 at the age of seventy-five years, having made his home with the subject of this sketch during the last twenty-three years of his life. His wife died on February 10, 1912, at the age of sixty-nine years. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Wissinger, namely: Walter, who is at home; Ella, the wife of C. Wissinger, of Falls City; Scott, at home; Julianna. who also is with her parents, and one child who died in infancy.

Mr. Wissinger is a Democrat and has served as a member of the school board and as road "boss." Fraternally, he has been a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows for thirty-three years. He also is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, a charter member of the lodge at Salem, which he joined twenty-six years ago.

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WILLIAM E. DORRINGTON.

William E. Dorrington, former mayor of Falls City and a retired banker of that city, now actively engaged there in the real-estate business, a member of the J. W. Dorrington Company, which is interested in large tracts of land in Arizona, is a native of the great Empire state, but has been a resident of this region since the year 1857 and of Falls City since the year of the establishment of the townsite there, his father, the late David Dorrington, having been the first householder on the townsite. William E. Dorrington was born at Whitestown, New York, September 22, 1847, son of David and Ann B. (Wood) Dorrington, natives of England, and was not yet ten years of age when his parents left New York in the spring of 1857 and came West, settling in Doniphan county, in the then Territory of Kansas. In the fall of that same year the townsite of Falls City was laid out and David Dorrington came up here from Doniphan county and established his residence on the townsite, his family joining him there in the following spring. David Dorrington was a building contractor and from the very beginning of his residence there took an active part in the labors of developing the new town and the country adjacent, both he and his wife becoming such influential factors in the early development of the place that they are still known in affectionate remembrance hereabout as "the father and mother of Falls City," as is set out at some length in a memorial sketch relating to this useful pioneer couple presented elsewhere in this volume. William E. Dorrington was the fifth in order of birth of the six children born to his parents, the others being as follow: Fred M., who early began to operate a store for William Brooks at Falls City, later was engaged for several years in teaching school, then went to Platts- mouth, Nebraska, where he engaged in the mail and stage business, his death occurring at Alliance, Nebraska, in 1899; George E., who made his home in the new village of Falls City until 1861, when he went to Chicago and entered the employ of the McCabe packing firm and was thus employed for several years, at the end of which time he returned to Falls City and was there employed for about twenty years as express agent, later becoming traveling passenger agent for the Missouri Pacific Railroad, some years later going to Arizona, where he died in 1910; John W., who for some time after coming to this region assisted his brother in conducting a mail route and stage line and in 1862 enlisted for service in the Union army, a member of the Second Nebraska Cavalry, and at the close of this service

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went to Plattsmouth, where he resumed his activities in the stage route, going thence to Lincoln when the latter place was laid out and remaining there until 1869, when he went to Arizona as a clerk under Judge Isham Reavis, of the United States court, and there became a large landowner, remaining in Arizona until 1915, when, after a visit to Falls City, he, with Mrs. Isham Reavis, returned to Arizona, and from there made a trip to Honolulu, where he died, September 18, 1916; Annie M., widow of Judge Isham Reavis, of Falls City, and Kittie L., wife of Edwin S. Towle, of Falls City.

As noted above, William E. Dorrington was ten years of age when his parents established their home in the new town of Falls City and there he spent his boyhood. When a school was organized there he entered the same, but later entered the school at. Plattsmouth and after a year there took a two-years course in the school at Peru, that later became elevated to the status of a state normal school, following which he entered Chicago University and upon completing the course there accepted the position of station agent for the old Atchison & Missouri River Railroad Company at Falls City, following Charles Loree, who was the first agent for the company at that place, and occupied that position during the years 1871 and 1872. He then engaged in the furniture and undertaking business at Falls City, in association with Mr. Stowe, who a year later sold his interest to. W. M. Wilson, and was thus engaged until 1894, in which year he disposed of . that interest. In the meantime Mr. Dorrington had been giving his attention to various other business interests in Falls City, notable of which was his connection with the State Bank at that place, of which institution he was for four years president. Since retiring from the banking busi- ness Mr. Dorrington has been chiefly interested in the extensive real-estate undertakings of the J. W. Dorrington Company, Arizona lands being the principal interest of this company. Mr. Dorrington also for years has taken an earnest interest in the general. civic affairs of his home community and has long been accounted one of the leaders in the Republican party in this part of the state. As a member of the city council he for some years rendered a valuable service in behalf of the promotion of the general in- terests of Falls City and when later he was elected mayor of the city he gave his most thoughful and intelligent attention to the important duties of. that office.

Mr. Dorrington has been twice married. In 1873 he was united in marriage to Emma A. Stowe, who was born at Binghampton, New York, and who had come West with her parents, M. A. and E. A. Stowe, in 1868,

WILLIAM E. DORRINGTON.

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the family settling at Hiawatha, Kansas, and to that union five children were born, namely: Mrs. Maude Kuffman, of Lincoln, this state; Mrs. May Martin, of Omaha; Lillian D., wife of Lieut. E. D. Fisher, of Falls City, an officer of Company E, Sixth Nebraska Regiment; Ann D., wife of E. P. Hyson, manager of the Omaha Cold Storage Company, and John W., a well-to-do ranchman in Montana. Mrs. Emma A. Dorrington died in 1900 and in 1905 Mr. Dorrington married Emma W. Wherry, who was born at Wilmington, Ohio, daughter of Joseph and Phoebe Wherry, who located in Falls City in 1898 and who are now deceased. Mrs. Dorrington is a member of the Christian church and Mr. Dorrington is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. They have a very pleasant home in Falls City and take an earnest interest in the general social activities of the con- munity, helpful in promoting all good movements.

WENDELIN GERWECK.

Wendelin Gerweck, one of Richardson county's substantial retired farm- ers and the owner of nearly four hundred acres of excellent land in the northeastern part of the county, is of European birth, but has been a resident of this country since the days of his young manhood and of Nebraska since 1883. He was born in Bichig, amt of Bretten, in the grand duchy of Baden, on July 5, 1858, one of the twelve children born to Ambrose and Katherine (Gerweck) Gerweck, both natives of that same country, the former born in 1820 and the latter, in 1828, who spent all their lives in their native land, the latter dying in 1872 and the former in 1880.

Reared in Baden, Wendelin Gerweck remained there until he was twenty- three years of age, when, in 1881, he came to this country and for a year or more thereafter was engaged working as a farm hand in New Jersey. He then, in 1883, came out to Nebraska and located in Richardson county. beginning work as a farm hand on the farm on which he now lives and which he has owned for years. For three years he worked there, cutting brush and doing other development work, and then rented a tract of land in the precinct of East Barada and after his marriage in 1888 established his home there. In 1894 he bought the tract of two hundred and thirty acres on which he is now living retired, in section 30 of the precinct of East Barada, built a house and barn on the same and has since brought the place up to a high state of development and cultivation. He has an excel-

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lent farm plant and a good orchard and has long been accounted one of the well-to-do farmers of that part of the county. In addition to his home farmi Mr. Gerweck owns a quarter of a section of fine farm land in section 18 of the adjoining precinct of Arago and is quite well circumstanced.

Mr. Gerweck has been twice married. In 1888 he was united in mar- riage to Mary Harner, who also was born in the grand duchy of Baden, at Odenheim, in the amt of Bruchsal, and who died without issue. Some time later he married Anna Koestel, who was born on June 25, 1875, at Odenheim, amt Bruchsal, Baden, and who died, leaving eight children, namely: Louisa, wife of C. Finck, of Ohio precinct; Albert, of the precinct of Arago; Katherine, wife of J. Cox, of Verdon; Edith, wife of L. Bauman, of Arago precinct; Joseph, on the home place; Amelia. wife of Alex Schultz, of Ohio precinct; Anna, at home, and Anton, on the home farm. Since 1915 Mr. Gerweck has lived practically retired from the active labors of the farm, his sons looking after affairs on his two farms. He is a member of the Catholic church, as was his wife, and their children were reared in that faith. Politically, Mr. Gerweck is an inde- pendent Democrat and has ever given proper attention to local civic affairs, but has never been particularly active as a precinct worker in the political field.

BERNARD W. STERNS.

Among the most painstaking and energetic of the younger generation of farmers in Richardson county is Bernard W. Sterns, of Franklin pre- cinct. He was born, April 16, 1882, on the place where he now lives. a son of Mandron M. and Eliza (Green) Sterns. The father was born in January. 1844, in New York state, where also occurred the birth of the mother in .April, 1845. They moved to Illinois with their respective parents and there they grew up, married and made their home until they moved to Missouri and emigration set in strongly later to Nebraska, making the journey to Richardson county, in 1872, and taking up their residence on land in Franklin precinct where, through their perseverance and good man- agement they developed a good farm and reared their children, four in number, as follow: Walter D. and Floyd B., both of whom live in Cherry county, Nebraska; Clara E., the wife of John Cornelius, now living in Canada, and Bernard W., the subject of this sketch.

Bernard W. Sterns grew up on the homestead here and attended the

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common schools in his vicinity and in the town of Humboldt, later taking a course in a business college in Lincoln. He has always lived on the home farm, which he has kept well improved and well cultivated and has made a success as a general farmer and stock raiser. The place, which belongs to his father and mother, contains two hundred and eighty acres.

Mandron M. Sterns, the father of the subject of this sketch, is the son of Newton and Lucy (Hatch) Sterns, natives of Vermont and New York state, respectively. The Sterns family is of English descent, the earliest ancestor in America coming to New England in early Colonial days-in the year 1630. Newton Sterns was born in 1810. He was a son of Daniel and Elizabeth Sterns, who located in New York state in 1818. Newton Sterns moved to Stephenson county, Illinois, in 1845, and there maintained his home until 1871, when he came to Nebraska and located at Humboldt. He had already become well-to-do and lived a retired life after coming to Richardson county. His death occurred in 1893. His wife had preceded him to the grave in 1873. They were parents of the following children : Mrs. Olive Miller, deceased; Mandron Mason, father of the subject of this sketch; Jeannette, the widow of L. L. Davis; Wallace and Watson, twins, the former of who died in Wyoming in March, 1917, but the latter died in 1878, and Mrs. L. M. Sterns, who lives in Humboldt.

Mandron M. Sterns, after making a comfortable competence in Rich- ardson county, homesteaded a tract of land in Cherry county, Nebraska, and now spends his winters in California. He celebrated his fiftieth wed- ding anniversary on February 28, 1917, his marriage having occurred in 1867. He has seven grandchildren, namely: Floyd Sterns, Jr., born on March 30, 1903; Stevens Sterns, December 19, 1904, and Bernardine Sterns, 19II, children of Floyd B. Sterns; Bessie May Cornelius, born, May 15. 1909, and Joseph Mandron Sterns, October 19, 1910, two children of John and Clara E. (Sterns) Cornelius, and Ural Sterns and Eula Sterns, chil- dren of the immediate subject of this sketch. Mr. and Mrs. Mandron M. Sterns have recently bought property in Humboldt and will make their future home in Humboldt.

Bernard W. Sterns was married on November 26, 1907, to Opal T. Wilson, who was born in Richardson county, Nebraska, where she grew to womanhood and attended school. She is a daughter of Lester C. and Emma (Schrader) Wilson, natives of Indiana. The mother was a daughter of Henry C. Schrader, who settled at Barada, Nebraska, in 1868, among the pioneers. Henry C. Schrader built one of the first residences at Stella, Nebraska. Lester C. Wilson lived in Iowa when a young mail.

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He was born on December 4, 1862, and died on December 29, 1899. His wife. Emma, was born in 1865, and came with her parents to Nebraska in 1868, and here she and Mr. Wilson grew to maturity and were married. Mrs. Wilson has lived in Richardson county over fifty years.

Two children have been born to Bernard W. Sterns and wife, namely : Ural, whose birth occurred on October 11, 1910, and Eula. February 13. 1914. Politically, Mr. Sterns is a Republican. He has traveled extensively over the United States. He attends the Methodist Episcopal church with his family.

WILLIAM H. PUTNAM.

A name well known to the people in southeastern Nebraska is that of the late William H. Putnam, former proprietor of the Falls City Bottling Company. He was born in Gloversville, New York, October 5, 1849, a son of Hollis Mckinstry Putnam and Charlotte (Lobdell) Putnam. Thie father, who was of English descent, was born in Albany, New York. The mother, who was of French descent, was born in Canada. Ludwig Putnam, the subjects' paternal great-grandfather, was a brother of Gen. Israel Putnam, of Revolutionary fame, and during the War of 1812 he was killed and scalped by the Indians by the order of the British. Ludwig Putnam had also fought in the Revolutionary War. He was one of a family of thirteen children, eleven of whom were boys, and all were soldiers in our war for independence, seven of them taking part in the famous Boston tea party and in the battle of Bunker Hill. Hollis M. Putnam, mentioned above, was a tanner by trade. He spent his early life in New York state, migrating to Chicago in 1859, and there served on the police force. He finally moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, where he spent his last days at the home of his daughter and died there. His widow survives at this writing, making her home at Knoxville, Iowa. To these parents six children were born, namely : William H., the subject of this sketch; Joseph, who lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota; Jennie, now deceased, who was the wife of Arthur Rauhos, of Salt Lake City, Utah; Charles, who lives in Chicago; George, who lives in Minneapolis; and Mary, the wife of Frank Wells, of Knoxville, Iowa.

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History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions, Part 130

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