History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions, Part 75

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

USA > Nebraska > Richardson County > History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions > Part 75

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

772

RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

Richardson county, he having married after he joined the army. Rejoin- ing his regiment at Louisville he presently returned with that command to Iowa and was finally mustered out at Davenport.

Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Barlow returned to his home in Iowa and there remained a year, or until the fall of 1866. when he came to Nebraska, his wife's father, Ira Draper, and family being among the pioneers of Richardson county, W. F. Draper, his brother-in-law, having entered the tract of land now covered by the village of Dawson. Mr. Barlow drove through, crossing the river at Brownsville, and settled on the Stratton farm on the site of the old county seat of Geneva, where he remained for a year, at the end of which time he took a homestead one mile north and a mile east of the present village of Dawson and there established his home and proceeded to develop his place. He helped his brother-in-law, W. F. Draper, lay off the townsite of Dawson and there started a wagon shop, which he operated in addition to his farming work. and after the death of his wife in 1877 moved his family to the village. He built a new shop at the point now occupied by Cooper's store and operated the same for four years, at the end of which time he sold it and then started a restaurant. Meantime he had married again and after operating the restaurant for a year he sold it and bought Chittenden's store, built an addition to the store building, enlarged the stock and continued in busi- ness there until the spring of 1883, when he sold to Allen Brothers and then erected a brick store building and started a hardware store, which four years later he traded for property in Humboldt. He then opened a gen- eral store and continued operating the same until his retirement fourteen years later. Not content to live retired, he presently started another store. but two years later sold that place and retired from business permanently. being now, to use his own expressive phrase. "the president of the 'Never Sweat Club'."

Mr. Barlow is an ardent schoolman and was one of the first members of the school board in the Dawson district, a position which he occupied continuously, with the exception of one year, for thirty-three years. The first school in Dawson was started in a hall where the Stiles drug store is now located, and the school board presently erected a frame school build- ing and after that structure was destroyed by fire, a brick building, Mr. Barlow having charge of the construction of the same. Mr. Barlow was present at the first Old Settler's meeting held in Richardson county and for twenty-five years thereafter held the post of director of ceremonies of those meetings, having charge of the platform and program of the two-

773

RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

days meetings which have been so memorable a feature of the social life of the "old timers" of this county all these years. When the local cemetery association was organized in 1890 he was elected president of the same and has ever since held that position. For seven years he was manager of the Dawson-Nemaha Telephone Company and in numerous other ways has done well his part in the development of the village which he helped to lay out back in the days of the beginning of things in that part of the county. For many years Mr. Barlow was an ardent Republican, but of late years has been inclined to be somewhat independent in his political affiliations. He was one of the organizers of the local post of the Grand Army of the Repub- lic at Dawson, whose roster came to carry the names of forty-seven veterans of the Civil War, of whom but four now remain, those besides Mr. Bar- low being E. W. Buser, R. B. Allen and E. T. Levy. When Mr. Barlow came to this county Indians still were numerous hereabout and wild game, including deer, was plentiful. He has seen these primitive conditions changed to the present well-ordered and highly-developed state of things that marks this region and there are few, if any, of the old timers of this section who have a more vivid recollection or more distinct impressions of the early days than he.

Stephen C. Barlow has been twice married. On March 4, 1864. he was united in marriage to Ruth Draper, whose brother, W. F. Draper. as noted above, was the original owner of the townsite of Dawson, and to that union four children were born, namely: Eugene William, who was killed while herding ponies; Louis Henry, a successful ranchman at Gillette. Wyoming; Elvon Eldred, of San Diego, California, and .\da Celia, wife of the Rev. C. F. Heim, of Eddyville, this state. The mother of these chil- dren died in 1877 at Hays City, Kansas, while on her way to the mountains with her husband, seeking a change of climate for the benefit of her health, she then being thirty-one years of age, and on June 1, 1878, Mr. Barlow married Frances Marrium Ingram; who was born in Ross county, Ohio, January 9, 1862, daughter of Jeremiah and Mary Jane ( Wilson) Ingram, also natives of Ohio, who came to Nebraska in 1869 and settled near Daw- son, where the latter died in 1872. Jeremiah Ingram remained in this county for years 'afterward and then went to Oklahoma, where he died in 1913. To this second imion ten children have been born, as follows: Thomas Conlee Barlow, a noted musician, now living in the state of Washington, who served as a soldier during the Spanish-American War, serving for three years in the regular army, went to the Philippines as a Red Cross nurse and has traveled all over the world ; Mary Ethel, who married William Heim,

774

RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

a railroad telegraph operator, now living at Phoenix, Arizona: Charles Arthur, a traveling salesman of Seattle, Washington; Stephen Francis, a rail- road train dispatcher, of Vancouver, Washington; Florence May, wife of Ora Barnwell, a telegraph operator in Arizona; Mrs. Leona Ruth Price, who lives on a farm near Hastings, this state; Elma, wife of Prof. Abraham Lawrence, Jr., principal of the high school at Brownville, this state: Mrs. Evangeline Ord, of Sheridan, Wyoming: Ralph Mckinley Barlow, in the United States naval service, and Esther Loverne, who is still in school. The Barlows are members of the Evangelical Lutheran church and have ever been active in local good works, Mr. and Mrs. Barlow for many years having been helpful in promoting all agencies having to do with the advance- ment of the common welfare in their home town and in the community at large. Mr. Barlow has been a member of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows since the year 1877 and has ever taken a warm interest in the affairs of that organization.

JAMES LINES SLOCUM.

James Lines Slocum, president of the Richardson County Bank of Falls City, former mayor of that city and a large landowner in Richardson county, is a native of the old Keystone state, but has been a resident of the West since he was ten years of age and of this county since he was twenty-one. He was born on a farm in Linesville, Crawford county, Pennsylvania, De- cember 1, 1844, son of Samuel E. and Mary V. (Line) Slocum, the former a native of Vermont and the latter of New Jersey.

Samuel E. Slocum, who became a resident of this county in 1865 and whose last days were spent in Falls City, was born in the state of Vermont on January 1, 1815, a son of Samuel Slocum, who was born in Rhode Island and the greater part of whose active life was spent as a sailor on the high seas. Samuel Slocum was a cousin of Commodore Perry, the hero of the decisive naval battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812, and for years he served as first mate on a sailing vessel. Upon his retirement from the sca he made his home with his son, Samuel E. Slocum, and died in the vicinity of Shubert, Nebraska, in 1865, shortly after coming here with his som, when the latter settled in this county. Samuel E. Slocum went to Pennsylvania, where. in Linesville, in Crawford county, he married Mary \. Line, who was born in Plainfield. New Jersey, in 1817, a daughter of

775

RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

Amos Line, who was born in that same state in 1774 and who had emigrated to northwestern Pennsylvania early in the days of the settlement of that part of the state and had pre-empted a tract of land where the town of Linesville (named in his honor) now stands and where he spent the re- mainder of his life, his death occurring there in 1851. After his marriage Samuel E. Slocum established himself on a farm in the neighborhood of Linesville and there his wife died in 1851, leaving five children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the third in order of birth, the others being as follow : Mrs. Mary Cornelia King, living at Shubert, this county, widow of John P. King, who died in December, 1916, at the age of eighty-three years; Mrs. Phoebe A. Storm, now living at Clinton, Oklahoma, widow of George I. Storm: George L., a retired farmer, now living at Stella, this county, and Rachel, deceased wife of Warren Hutchins, of Falls City. In 1855, about four years after the death of his wife, Samuel E. Slocum emi- grated with his family to Iowa and bought a farm in Clayton county, that state, where he remained for eight years, at the end of which time, in 1863. he went up into Minnesota, where he farmed for a couple of years and then. in 1865, came down into Nebraska and settled in this county, in the vicinity of Shubert, where he spent the remainder of his life, an honored and useful pioneer citizen. Upon coming here Mr. Slocumi bought a tract of unim- proved land in the neighborhood of Shubert and proceeded to improve and develop the same and as he prospered he added to his holdings there until he became the owner of two hundred and forty acres. On that place he lived for eight years, at the end of which time he moved down to Falls City, adjoining which city he also owned a farm, and spent the rest of his life there, making his home with his sons, his death occurring in 1906, he then being past ninety-one years of age. Mr. Slocum was an earnest Meth- odist and helped to build the church of that denomination in Falls City.

As noted above, James L. Slocum was ten years of age when he came West with his father and he was about twenty-one when he came to Rich- ardson county with his father from Minnesota in 1865. From the days of his boyhood he was a valued assistant to his father in the labors of the farm and he continued farming with his father until his marriage in 1874 when he located at Falls City and there engaged in the grain business, erect- ing a grain elevator at that place. In 1882 he disposed of his elevator and became connected with the Richardson County Bank. of which institution he was made president and has ever since occupied that position, long hav- ing been recognized as one of the leading bankers in this part of the state.

776

RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

For several years Mr. Slocum also was president of the State Bank at Stella and he still retains an interest in that bank and is a stockholder in several other banks hereabout. In addition to his extensive banking interests Mr. Slocum has made considerable investments in farm lands and is the owner of several improved farms in this county, his holdings in that line aggre- gating more than three thousand acres. Mr. Slocum is a Republican and has ever taken an active interest in local political affairs, but the only public office he has held was that of mayor of Falls City, an executive position he occupied for two terms and during which period he did much to advance public improvements in the city.

It was in February, 1874. that James L. Slocum was united in mar- riage to Ida E. Hoops, who was born in Pennsylvania in October, 1852. daughter of George P. Hoops, a pioneer of Richardson county, who died in 1886. To that union three children were born, Jennie, who died at the age of six years; Mary S., wife of H. M. Jenne, merchant, of Falls City, and Carrie, wife of B. K. Baker, assistant cashier of the Richardson County Bank, who has a daughter, Virginia, and who makes her home with her father. The mother of these children died in February, 1912. Mr. Slocum is a member of the Christian church and is treasurer of the local congre- gation of that church. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the local lodge of the Ancient Free and AAccepted Masons and takes a warm interest in Masonic affairs.

EDWIN FALLOON.

The late Edwin Falloon, of Falls City, who at the time of his death in the spring of 1917 was the dean of the Richardson county bar and who had for years been one of the leading lawyers in eastern Nebraska, was a native of the Dominion of Canada, but had been a resident of this country since the days of his early infancy and of Falls City since 1882, continu- ously engaged in the practice of his profession in that city for a period of thirty-five years. He was born in the city of Montreal. the commercial metropolis of the Dominion of Canada. July 26, 1853. son of James Hugh and Marianne ( Brazier ) Falloon, also natives of Canada, the former born at Peterboro and the latter at Quebec, who later came to the United States. the former spending his last days at Athens, Ohio, and the latter, at the home of her son in Falls City, this county.

James Hugh Falloon was the son of John Falloon and wife, the latter

Edwin Hallon

VIRGIL FALLOON.

777

RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

of whom was a Keller. John Falloon was born in Ireland, of Scottish descent, and was little more than a lad when he came to this country and settled in New York state, where he presently married. His wife was of Dutch stock, a member of an old family in New York. After their mar- riage they went to Canada, where John Falloon hecame a farmer and where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives. Reared on a farm, James Hugh Falloon was early apprenticed to a carpenter and in due time became an expert builder, with particular reference to bridge construction. From the days of his boyhood he evinced an unusual aptitude for math- ematics and was apparently a natural draftsman and designer. Upon com- pleting his trade he began in a modest way as a contracting builder in his native province in Canada and it was not long until he found himself able to "swing" extensive contracts, particularly in the way of bridge building and public buildings, and he became highly successful. . After his marriage he made his home in Montreal until in August, 1853, when he came with his family to the United States and located in Belmont county, Ohio, where he continued his contracting business. Meanwhile he had accumu- lated forty thousand dollars or more and with this as a working capital his success in this country was rapid and he engaged in general contracting and bridge building on an extensive scale throughout the Ohio Valley, doing a great deal of bridge building for railroads. In 1854 he located at Wheeling and there constructed the first suspension bridge across the Ohio river, the same connecting Wheeling and Bellaire. He also built a suspension bridge at Petersburg, Virginia. Later he made his permanent home at Athens, Ohio, and there spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1886. His widow survived him about seven years, her last days being spent in the home of her son, the subject of this memorial sketch, at Falls City. where she died in 1893. James H. Falloon and wife were the parents of ten children, eight sons and two daughters, of whom but three now sur- vive, James Falloon, of California: Arthur Falloon, of Ohio, and Albert Falloon, of Florida.

Edwin Falloon was but an infant, hardly a month old, when his par- ents moved from Canada to Ohio and he grew to manhood in that state. completing his schooling in the Ohio University at Athens. He had early given his particular attention to the study of law and in 1880 was admitted to the bar. Two years later, in 1882, he came to Nebraska and located at Falls City, where he opened an office for the practice of his profession and where he spent the rest of his life thus engaged, one of the best-known and most successful lawyers in eastern Nebraska and at the time of his

778

RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

death on March 28, 1917, the president of the Richardson county bar, among the members of which he was always held in the highest respect. Mr. Falloon was a natural student, a scholar of wide learning. a forceful pleader before the court, a gentle moralist and philosopher, high-minded and tolerant in his views of men and principles, and in many ways performed a distinct service for the community in which for thirty-five years he had walked uprightly. His law library contained more than twenty-three hun- dred volumes and was one of the most carefully selected libraries in the state. This library, now cherished by his son and successor in the prac- tice, is contained in a specially-constructed room in connection with the law office and Mr. Falloon took much pride and pleasure in his books. Mr. Falloon was a Democrat and was for years recognized as one of the leaders of that party in this section of the state. The only public office he ever held was that of county attorney, in which he served for two terms, 1887-88 and 1893-94. Fraternally, he was affiliated with the local lodges of the Masons, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the encampment of the same, of the Knights of Pythias, of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, in the affairs of which organ- izations he took an earnest interest.

In 1886, about four years after taking up his residence in Falls City, Edwin Falloon was united in marriage to Emma V. Stump, who was born in this county, daughter of Alfred Stump and wife, pioneers of this section of Nebraska, and to this union five children were born, namely: Sterling, who is now engaged in the wholesale business at Indianapolis; Virgil, a lawyer at Falls City: James, a salesman, now living in New York City; Kate, who is a student in the Nebraska State University at Lincoln, and Fern, a student in the Falls City high school and a member of the class of 1918. Since the death of her husband Mrs. Faloon has continued to make her home in the beautiful suburban residence in the northwestern part of the city, in the preparation of which Mr. Falloon took so much pleasure in his home-making days and in the enjoyment of which he ever delighted.

Virgil Falloon was born at Falls City on May 30, 1891, and was grad- uated from the high school in that city in 1909. He then entered Ohio University at .Athens, his father's alma mater, and was graduated from the same with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, in 1913, having taken the four- years course in three years. He then gave his attention to the study of law under the able preceptorship of his father and after his admission to the bar in December, 1916, became associated with his father in practice, suc- ceeding to that practice upon his father's death about three months later.

779

RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

Virgil Falloon is a Democrat, as was his father, and, fraternally, is affili- ated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and with the college fra- ternity, Phi Delta Theta.

WILLIAM SCHOLL.

William Scholl, proprietor of an excellent farm of two hundred and ten acres in section 31 of the precinct of Barada, this county, is of European birth, a native of the grand duchy of Baden, but has been a resident of this country since 1882 and of Richardson county since 1885. He was born on October 19, 1866, son of Simon and Christina (Klonig) Scholl, also natives of Baden, the former of whom, a farmer, born there in 1828, spent all his life in his native land, his death occurring in 1904, and the latter of whom is still living there, now in the eighty-fifth year of her age. Simon Scholl and wife were the parents of three children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the only one who came to this country, the eldest of the children having died in infancy and the youngest of whom, his sister, Mrs. Mary Rothardt, is still living in Baden.

Reared on the home farm in his native Baden, William. Scholl received his schooling there and when sixteen years of age, in 1882, came to the United States and for two years thereafter was engaged in working on a farm in New York state. In 1885 he came to Nebraska and began to work as a farm hand on a farm in the precinct of Arago, in this county, receiving a wage · of twenty dollars a month. In 1888 he rented a tract of land and began to farm for himself. He married in the fall of 1892 and in 1894 bought the farm on which he is now living and on which his wife was born, and has ever since resided there. Since taking possession of that place Mr. Scholl has made numerous important improvements on the same including the erec- tion of a new dwelling house and two barns and the planting of an orchard of three hundred trees. The first barn he built was destroyed by fire in 1913 and he erected a better one in its place. Mr. Scholl gives considerable atten- tion to the raising of live stock in addition to his general farming and is doing very well. He is a Democrat and has served as a member of the school board of district No. 23.

Mr. Scholl has been twice married. On October 22, 1892, he was united in marriage to Caroline Hartmann, who, as noted above, was born on the farm on which Mr. Scholl is now living, in 1874, a daughter of Leopold and Sophia Hartmann, natives of Germany, who came to this state from Wiscon-

780

RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASK.A.

sin in 1872 and became pioneers of Richardson county. Mrs. Caroline Scholl died in 1904, leaving two children, a son and a daughter, William and Sophia. and in 1905 Mr. Scholl married Anna Scholl, who was born on a pioneer farm in the precinct of Arago, in this county, daughter of Fred and Mary ( Heilmann) Scholl, natives of Germany, the former of whom was born on March 16, 1850, and the latter, April 18, 1857, who were married in their native land and remained there until in April, 1881, came to this country and proceeded on out to Nebraska and became residents of this county. Fred Scholl was a stonemason and after coming here worked at that trade until 1886, in which year he bought a farm in the precinct of Arago. In 1901 he bought the farm on which he is now living in that same precinct and there has made his home ever since. To him and his wife have been borne nine children, four of who were born in the old country. Those besides Mrs. Anna Scholl are as follow: Mary, deceased: Bertha, who married H. Fritz and is now deceased; Fredia, wife of H. Fritz, living near Verdon, this county ; Fred, who is living in Arago precinct ; Henry, who is farming the old home place; Katherine and Ida, who are at home with their parents, and Emma, deceased.

To William and Anna ( Scholl) Scholl have been born four children. Elias, Fred, Emma and Edna. Mr. and Mrs. Scholl are members of the Lutheran church and take a proper part in church works, as well as in other neighborhood good works, helpful in promoting movements designated to advance the common good thereabout.

JOHN WHITE HOLT.

The late Hon. John. White Holt, of Falls City, former state senator from this district, former treasurer of Richardson county, former president of the First National Bank of Falls City and for years one of the leading landowners and stockmen of this county, was a native of the neighboring state of Missouri, but had been a resident of this county since pioneer days. having come over here from Holt county, Missouri, in 1857, to engage in business at Salem and while thus engaged erected the first grain elevator at that place. He later engaged in farming and stock raising, was elected state senator and later county treasurer; later became engaged in the banking business, in connection with his other interests, and was for many years president of the First National Bank of Falls City, occupying that position at the time of his death on June 16, 1911.

Bohmbolt

781

RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

John White Holt was born in Boone county, Missouri, November 17, 1834, son of the Hon. David R. Holt, a pioneer of that county, after whoni Holt county was named, who was born in Tennessee on November 8, 1803. and who died at Jefferson City, Missouri, December 6, 1840, while serving as a member of the Missouri General Assembly. His widow, Isabella ( White) Holt, who was born in Washington county, Virginia, November 12. 1806, survived him for many years, her death occurring at the home of her son, the subject of this memorial sketch, at Salem, this county. April 20. 1869, she then being sixty-three years of age.

Reared in Boone county, Missouri, John W. Holt received his schooling in the early subscription schools conducted in the neighborhood of his home . and at the. age of sixteen, ten years after his father died, the larger part of the responsibility of maintaining the home fell upon his shoulders. .At nineteen years of age he became a member of the mercantile firm of Gilmore, Holt & Company at Fillmore, Missouri, and in 1857, when twenty- three years of age, disposed of his interest there and came over into the then Territory of Nebraska and in association with J. C. Lincoln, a second- cousin of Abraham Lincoln, engaged in the general mercantile business at Salem, this county, under the firm name of Lincoln & Holt, that firm erect- ing the first grain elevator at Salem and in Richardson county. On account of failing health Mr. Holt disposed of his mercantile interests in 1872 and was thereafter extensively engaged in the live-stock business until his election to the office of county treasurer in 1878, when he moved to Falls City. where he ever afterward made his home. Previously, in 1876 and 1877. he had served that district as a member of the upper house of the Nebraska Legislature and had become recognized during that service as one of the most active members of the Senate. For two terms Mr. Holt served as treasurer of Richardson county and in 1882 was elected vice-president of the First National Bank of Falls City, of which institution he was one of the organizers and leading stockholders: later served for one year as acting cashier of the bank and in 1897 was elected president of the bank, a position he held until his death in 1911. In addition to his other interests Mr. Holt for years was one of the leading breeders of Shorthorn cattle and Berk- shire hogs in this part of the state and took an earnest interest in the live- stock business. He also was a large landowner and was accounted one of the foremost citizens of Richardson county, ever helpful in promoting such agencies as were designed to advance the common welfare hereabout. He was a Democrat, a meniber of the Methodist Episcopal church and a Knight

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions, Part 75

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