History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions, Part 134

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

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Andrew J. Edwards was reared by an uncle, James Ammons, who took the orphan boy to South Bend, Indiana, and gave him a home with his

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family. Here he was reared to young manhood and responded to his coun- try's call for men, during the first year of the Civil War, enlisted and was enrolled as a member of Company B, Forty-eighth Regiment, Indiana Volun- teer Infantry on December 15, 1861. He was given the post of first sergeant of his company and, later during his service, was transferred to the Union Veteran's Reserve Corps and was stationed at Washington, being one of seventeen men who were taken from Jefferson barracks, St. Louis, and placed on duty at Washington, D. C., to perform clerical work on account of sick disability. Thus Mr. Edwards was employed as a scribe in the War Depart-

ment until he was mustered out of service in August, 1865. The Forty- eighth Indiana Regiment, which was organized at Goshen, Indiana, in 1861, fought at Ft. Donelson, February, 1862, and was at the siege of Corinth, Mississippi, in May, 1862. It then joined in the pursuit of General Price and fought at the battle of Iuka, September, 1862, where one hundred and sixteen of its number were killed out of four hundred and twenty engaged. In October of that year, it took part in the second battle of Corinth, under General Rosecrans, and later joined Grant's army, with which it pushed to the rear of Vicksburg and took part in the skirmish of Forty Hills, May 3, 1863. Later in that month, it participated in the battle of Raymond, Mississippi, on the 13th, and at Champion Hills on the 14th, where it lost thirty-three killed and wounded. On May 22, 1863. it took part in the assault on Tunnel Hill and the Vicksburg forts. The regiment re-enlisted as a veteran organization in January, 1864, at Huntsville, Alabama, and later they were on duty at Carterville, Georgia, until they joined Sherman's army on its march from Atlanta to the sea. Following the capture of Savannah, they took part in the campaign through the Carolinas to Raleigh, thence to Petersburg, Virginia, and on to Washington, from which city they were transferred to Louisville, Kentucky, and mustered out on July 15, 1865. Andrew J. Edwards was transferred to the Veteran's Reserve Corps on September 22, 1863, and re-enlisted on June 23. 1863, for three years additional service. While a member of the Veteran's Reserve Corps, he served with various companies and detachments and received a furlough in January, 1865.

During the last year of the war, he came to Nebraska and located at Omaha, where he was employed as driver on various stage lines for some years. He was then employed in the construction of the Union Pacific railroad and was stationed at Ft. Laramie, Wyoming, for some time. Upon his return to Nebraska, he was again employed on mail and stage lines run- ning out of Omaha and served as driver on the east side of the Missouri

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river. He made his residence in Otoe county for some years and, after farming in Nemaha county, Nebraska, for some years, he located at Hum- boldt, Richardson county, in 1885. He died at Humboldt on November 15, 1906. Mr. Edwards was a member of the Presbyterian church.

Andrew J. Edwards was married, firstly, at Three Rivers, Michigan, to a Miss Kauffman, who died leaving him one child, Mrs. Cora Edwards- Tyler, of Sterling, Nebraska. His second marriage occurred in .Atchison county, Missouri, in 1875, with Mrs. Alvira Belle Houchins nee Mullins, who was born on April 19, 1849, in Crawford county, Indiana, a daughter of Lewis Clasby and Elizabeth (Hume) Mullins, natives of Lexington, Campbell county, Kentucky. Lewis C. Mullins was born, September 26, 1815, and was a son of Lindsey and Millie (Sutherd) Mullins, natives of Virginia, and members of old American families. The Mullins family came to Nebraska and made a settlement here in 1860. Mrs. Elizabeth (Hume) Mullins was a daughter of John Gray Hume. The Mullins family is of Scotch descent. To this second marriage of Andrew J. Edwards were born children as follow: Gila J., of Humboldt, Nebraska; Lewis Clifford, subject of this review; Warren C., of Dawson, Nebraska: Calvert T .. a resident of Lincoln, Nebraska; Marcia, wife of Hark Bradley of Dawson, Nebraska, and Jesse Lee, who died in Nemaha county, Nebraska.

Lewis C. Edwards received his education in the public schools of Glen Rock and Humboldt, Nebraska. He served an apprenticeship in a photo- graph gallery at Humboldt for a time, and then entered the office of the Humboldt Standard in 1890. Here he learned the trade of printer and was next employed in the office of the Humboldt Enterprise, under E. F. Sharts. He was also with the Humboldt Leader under H. P. Marble for some time. His ambition had been to become the proprietor of a newspaper and he realized his ambition by purchasing the Humboldt Standard in 1901. He operated this newspaper for a period of five years, later being associated with Oliver Hall, under the firm name of Edwards & Hall. In November, 1905 Mr. Edwards was elected register of deeds for Richardson county and assumed office on January I, 1906. At the expiration of his term of four years, he was re-elected and served for five years, making nine years in all in this important office. In November, 1916, he was a candidate on the Democratic ticket for state senator and carried his home county by a large majority, his name being written on the ballots by his friends. although Mr. Edwards made no active canvass for the office. In Jannary. 1917, he was appointed deputy clerk of the district court under Charles Loree and is now filling this position.

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Mr. Edwards was married at Nebraska City on September 28, 1909, to Jessie Paxton, who was born at Chambers, Nebraska, a daughter of Dr. Galen C. and Laura B. (Cain) Paxton, of Falls City, the latter of whom is a daughter of William R. Cain and wife, pioneer settlers of Rich- ardson county. Dr. Galen C. Paxton is a son of William L. Paxton, also a pioneer of Richardson county. One child has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Edwards, a daughter, Betty Isabelle, horn, March 1, 19II.

Mr. Edwards is a Democrat in his political affiliation and is one of the recognized leaders of his party in Richardson county. He and Mrs. Edwards are members of St. Thomas Episcopal church of Falls City. He is fra- ternally affiliated with Nemaha Valley Lodge No. 34, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Falls City Lodge No. 9, Ancient Free and Accepted Ma- sons, Eureka Chapter No. 5, Royal Arch Masons, and the Royal High- landers. Mr. Edwards has pronounced literary talent and is a lover of history, he with others having made some valuable researches along the banks of the Missouri river, in this county, and have unearthed various parts of skeletal remains, beads, and the like, which have been pronounced by high authorities to be remains of a prehistoric race which once lived in this section.

JOHN HENRY HUTCHINGS.

John Henry Hutchings, well-known business man and farmer, of Falls City, is a native son of Richardson county and has lived here all his life. He was born on a farm, east of Falls City, January 12, 1872, a son of George and Eliza (Sleight) Hutchings, natives of England, the foriner born in 1831 and the latter in 1836, who came to the then terri- tory of Nebraska from Illinois in 1864 and settled on the farm in section 1, Falls City township. George Hutchings developed a good farm there and became a well-to-do and influential pioneer of Richardson county. He was endowed with an intellectual nature, and, in this pioneer society, his greatest interest was in its moral and intellectual development. He died in 1890 and his widow survived him more than ten years, her death occurring in 1901. They were the parents of seven children who grew to maturity, of whom the subject of this sketch was the sixth in order of birth, the others being: Elizabeth, who married F. W. Thompson and died in western Kansas in 1906; Kate, who married W. P. Jones and is now living in Nuckolls county, Nebraska ; George F., of Kansas City; Mary, who is the librarian of

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the city library at Falls City; Anne, who makes her home with her sister, Mary, and William S., of Wallace, Idaho.

Reared on the home farm east of Falls City, John H. Hutchings com- pleted his schooling in the Falls City high school and remained on the farm until his removal to Falls City in 1905. In the meantime, during the years 1903-04, he had served as a member of the board of county supervisors from his district, and in 1905, having been elected county clerk. moved to Falls City to take charge of that office and for the better prosecution of the business interests he had developed. In 1907 he was reelected to the office of county clerk, serving two terms, at the end of which terms of service he was elected county treasurer and served in that capacity for five years, 1910-15. Since that time he has been devoting his attention to the varied business interests he has developed in and about Falls City, with residence at 2213 Stone street. Mr. Hutchings is the owner of a fine farm of about four hundred acres, two and a half miles east of Falls City, and of farms in Kansas and Oklahoma. He also has oil lands which have been success- fully producing for the past three years, and he is one of the Falls City business men who are taking steps to ascertain if there be oil deposits in this county. With this aim they have spent considerable time and money in securing oil and gas leases on several thousand acres of land in the western part of the county. The reluctance of farmers to lease their land has delayed the test, but the company expects to begin drilling in the fall of 1917.

In 1909, Mr. Hutchings, in connection with others, laid off the Boule- vard addition to the city of Falls City, and later laid off the Hutchings and Maust addition, a tract of forty acres, situated two blocks west of Stone street, and there built a number of houses, graded the streets and otherwise improved the addition. Mr. Hutchings is a Democrat and has for years been regarded as one of the leaders of that party in this part of the state. He is, at present, serving as a member of the city council and. in addition to his further public service set out above, has in other ways contributed of his time and his energies to the advancement of the common welfare.

On June 29, 1909, John H. Hutchings was united in marriage to Mary Emily Davies, who was born in Pennsylvania, December 23, 1882, a daugh- ter of Rev. Enoch Israel and Maud (Kirby) Davies. Reverend Davies was born in Wales in 1853 and entered the ministry of the Presbyterian church. He died in 1903, while pastor of the Presbyterian church at Tecum- seh, this state. Maud (Kirby) Davies was born in Pennsylvania in 1849. She is a descendant of Revolutionary families, among them the Potter

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and Strickland families, and through the latter the descent is traced from the Plantagenets, of England. Mrs. Hutchings graduated from the state university at Lincoln, taking an A. M. degree in 1904, and was for some time, prior to her marriage, engaged in teaching in the high schools of Falls City, Nebraska, and Passaic, New Jersey.

Mr. and Mrs. Hutchings have two children, John Henry, Jr., born, June 23, 1912, and Sarah Eliza, born, January 13, 1915. Mr. and Mrs. Hutchings are members of the St. Thomas Episcopal church of Falls City and take a very active interest in church work, Mr. Hutchings having been a member of the vestry of this parish since attaining his majority. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hutchings are actively interested in the general good works and social and cultural activities of their home city. Mr. Hutchings is a Knight Templar and a member of the local lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Royal Highlanders. As a progressive business man, he has done much to advance the general business interests of his home town and has long been regarded as one of the "real live wires" of the city.

CYRUS NORTON ALLISON, D. D. S.

One of the best-known and most successful of the younger dentists of Richardson county is Dr. Cyrus Norton Allison, of Falls City, who was born. September 11, 1879, on a farm near Florence, Kansas, a son of Alson N. and Elizabeth (Brandon) Allison. The father was born at Marietta, Ohio, in 1839. and died in 1912. He was a son of Hugh Allison, a scion of an old American family. Elizabeth Brandon was born about 1853 and died in 1890. Alson N. Allison devoted his life to farming, but when he came west about 1860, was for some time engaged in freighting from Omaha, Nebraska, to Fort Laramie, Wyoming. He had a dangerous job for much of this long route was through a hostile Indian country, which was also infested with highwaymen ; hence, as a rule, only men of courage undertook such work. Mr. Allison also engaged in freighting to Denver, Colorado, and to the states of Montana and New Mexico. He owned his own mules and complete outfit, which he used in this work, and, after spending several years at it, followed gold mining until about 1870. He took up a homestead near the present site of the city of Bozeman, Montana, lived on it two years and then moved to Kansas, where he took up a home-

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stead, a mile and a half southwest of Florence, in Marion county. There he developed a fine stock and fruit farm and spent the rest of his life. He was serving as township trustee at the time of the grasshopper plague and had charge of the relief work there.

The following children were born to Alson N. Allison and wife: Louisa Belle, the wife of J. M. Kilburn, who lives on a farm adjoining the old home place near Florence, Kansas'; Ida May, a stenographer and bookkeeper for the Illinois Thresher Company, at Sycamore, Illinois; Thomas Walter, farming on the home place in Marion county, Kansas; Myrtle Lusanna, deceased; Dr. Cyrus N., of this sketch; Mrs. Cora Elizabeth Orr, living in Loveland, Colorado, and Luther Devin, who is engaged in the grocery busi- ness at Greeley, Colorado.

Doctor Allison, of this review, was reared on the home farm where he worked when a boy. He received his early education in the public and high schools at Florence, Kansas, and then spent three and one-half years in the Kansas Agricultural College, at Manhattan, from which institution he was graduated in 1901 with the degree of Bachelor of Science. Deciding that he preferred a professional career, he gave up the idea of scientific farming and entered Central Dental College at Indianapolis, Indiana, where he spent his first year, and then studied during his second and third year at the Western Dental College, Kansas City, Missouri. During the years 1903 and 1904. he practiced his profession in Oklahoma, under state license. He completed his course in 1905 in the last named college, receiving the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery. Soon thereafter he located in Falls City, Nebraska, where he has since engaged in practice, building up a large clien- tele of the best people in this locality. He has a modernly equipped office in the Richardson County Bank Building. His work is first-class in every respect and he keeps well up to date in his profession.

Doctor Allison was married in August, 1903. to Leonora D. Eggen, of Manhattan, Kansas, who took the course in domestic science in the Agricul- tural College of Kansas. She is a daughter of James Collier Eggen, a well- known citizen of Manhattan. To the Doctor and wife one child has been born-Loren, whose birth occurred July 12, 1909.

Politically, Doctor Allison is an independent voter. He belongs to the Presbyterian church and is active in church affairs, especially Sunday school work. He was for three years secretary of the Richardson County Sunday School Association and he has been superintendent of the Falls City Sunday schools for the past nine years. His work has been very effective in this

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connection and we reproduce the following tribute to him which appeared in The Nebraska Sunday School Record, in its issue of January, 1915:

Dr. C. N. Allison, secretary-treasurer of the Richardson County Sunday School Asso- ciation, is a product of Nebraska's neighbor, the Sunflower state. It is none to his discredit to know that he was reared under environments which brought him to his majority before witnessing the presence of the open saloon. The force of character manifested in his life today proves the value and influence of early training and proper moral surroundings.

Doctor Allison spent much of his early manhood in high school and college work at Manhattan, Kansas, before entering upon his professional career, which, in a measure. explains his efficient service in the field to which Richardson county has called him. Busy as has been his professional life as a dentist, he has for a number of years given much time and energy in Sunday school and church work as Sunday school superin- tendent, and as a member of Falls City Presbyterian Clairch Session.

He is now entering upon his second year of service as secretary-treasurer, unani- mously rechosen because of his careful, painstaking methods of work.

Any county may well consider itself fortunate in finding one so well-fitted as Doctor Allison for this important position. By nature modest, by training efficient. he. in his quiet, unassuming way, renders much valuable service with no thought of placing himself in the limelight of public praise. May we have many more like him.

Dr. Allison is an elder in the Presbyterian church. Fraternally, he belongs to the Royal Highlanders.

HON. PHILO S. HEACOCK.

In the memorial annals of Richardson county there are few names held in better remembrance than that of the late Hon. Philo S. Heacock, of Falls City, former representative from this district in the Nebraska General Assem- bly, former mayor of Falls City and for many years actively engaged in the grain, coal, live-stock and milling business in that city, where his death occurred on December 19, 1916, he then being seventy-three years, five months and thirteen days of age. His widow is still living in that city.

Philo S. Heacock was a native of the Dominion of Canada, born at Delta, in the province of Ontario, July 6, 1843, but had been a resident of Nebraska ever since he was twenty-five years of age. When quite a young man, he left Canada and went to Illinois, where he remained until 1869. in which year he came to Nebraska, driving across the prairies of Iowa by prairie schooner and crossing the Missouri river at Nebraska City, which was then a thriving river town. He proceeded thence to Johnson county, where he located on a farm and where he remained about seven years, at the end of which time, in 1876, he moved down to Falls City, where he built a grain elevator and where he ever afterward was successfully engaged in the grain, live-stock and coal business, to which, in later years, he added

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the business of milling. From the very beginning of his business career in Falls City, he was ever regarded as one of the leading business men of Richardson county, as well as one of the most active and influential factors in the development of the county's interests along all proper lines. It was not long after Mr. Heacock became engaged in the grain and live-stock business at Falls City that he began expanding that business, and from that time to the day of his death was recognized as one of the heaviest shippers from Falls City over the Burlington. At one time he owned and managed about twenty elevators on the Burlington line, but of later years had cut down the number of his elevators and had been giving more attention to the manufacture of flour, having bought the Douglas mill after his elevator at Falls City was destroyed by fire some years ago. In 1880 Mr. Heacock was elected to represent this district in the Legislature and he served during the sixteenth and seventeenth sessions of that body. He also served as mayor of Falls City for one term and in other ways gave of himself unselfishly to the public service, ever helpful in promoting any movement designed to advance the common welfare. He was an earnest member of the Presby- terian church and, at the time of his death, was an elder in the same, an office to which he had been ordained in 1905. He had a brother, Albert Heacock, formerly a resident of Falls City, now living at Alberta, Canada ; two sisters, Mrs. Ida Fredenbaugh and Mrs. E. A. Barnes, of Toronto, Canada; another sister, Mrs. David Beatty, of Pony Sound, Ontario, and a fourth sister, Mrs. Emma Stevens, of Chicago, Illinois.

Mr. Heacock was twice married; the first time, in Canada, to Isabella Beatty, who died leaving two children, Jessie, who died in Canada in 1884, and Philo, who died in Falls City in 1892. In 1882, at Falls City, Mr. Heacock married secondly, Florence Thorne, of that city, who was born at Ottawa, Illinois, and to that union four children were born, namely : Bess, wife of V. R. Gould, of Omaha, Kate, Roy A. and Ruth, who are still at home with their mother in Falls City. The Heacocks have a very pleasant home and have ever given proper attention to the general social activities of their home town, helpful in promoting all local good works and in advancing such movements as are designed to promote the common wel- · fare.

Roy A. Heacock, who is now managing the extensive interests and properties left by his father and operating the mill and the coal business in behalf of the family, was born at Falls City on March 10, 1886. He (86)

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completed his schooling at the University of Nebraska in 1905 and then became actively connected as a partner with his father in the business the lat- ter had built up at Falls City. For the last six years of the elder Heacock's life, he had been a practical invalid and thus much of the weight of the management of the business fell upon the shoulders of the younger Heacock, who thus became practical manager of the mill and the other interests of his father. Since the latter's death, the son has continued to conduct affairs as before and is continually extending the operations of the mill. Mr. Heacock is one of the most energetic and public-spirited business men in Falls City and takes an active part in the general affairs of that city. He is a Mason and å member of the local lodge of the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks and takes a warm interest in the affairs of both of these orders.

JAMES KELLY.

James Kelly, a farmer and stockman of Liberty precinct, Richardson county, and the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres of choice land in section 18, was born on November 1, 1870, in Manitowac, Wisconsin, the son of Martin and Nora (O'Neil) Kelly, well-known farming people.

Martin Kelly was born in Ireland in 1829. At the age of twenty years he left his native land, in 1849, the year of the memorable famine in Ireland, and came to the United States, there being a general exodus from the Emer- ald Isle about that time. On arriving in this country he went on to Wisconsin and settled on a farm, which he later purchased, and continued to live there until 1879, when he came to Richardson county, continuing his farming opera- tions until the time of his death in 1902. He was married to Nora O'Neil, also a native of Ireland, who was born in 1834 and who died in 1898. They were married in Wisconsin and were the parents of the following children : James, the subject of this sketch; Martin, who lives in Liberty precinct ; Ellen, the wife of J. Tangney, and lives in Kansas; Katherine, who married William Riley, of Grant precinct; Bridget, who lives with her brother, John; Nora. . living with her brother, Miles; Mrs. Lizzie Cully, who lives near Lincoln, Seward county, this state; Jolin and Miles, farmers, of Ohio precinct.

On coming to Richardson county in 1879, Martin Kelly bought a farm in Ohio precinct and as he prospered in his farming operations, developed and improved his land and became one of the substantial farmers of his

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neighborhood. He and his wife were homely people and were earnest members of the Catholic church, in the faith of which their children were also reared. Their deaths, separated by a few years, were generally regretted throughout the community.

James Kelly, son of the worthy couple whose lives have just been noticed, was nine years old when he came with his parents to Richardson county and was educated in district school No. 77. On leaving school he helped his father in the work of the farm. In 1906 he bought his present farm of one hundred and sixty acres, which he is operating successfully. In addition to his work on the farm, he is also engaged in handling Duroc-Jersey hogs and well-bred Shorthorn cattle, and has been equally successful in these lines. In 1916 Mr. Kelly built a substantial modern house, equipped with all mod- ern conveniences and is lighted throughout with gas.

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History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions, Part 134

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