History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions, Part 77

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

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Mr. Boyd was married on December 12, 1887, to Elizabeth .A. Ronse. a daughter of Joseph and Marinda ( Rice) Rouse, both natives of England. The father was born, March 13, 1813. came to America when young and devoted his active life to farming in Winona county, Minnesota, where he settled in 1856, and there his death occurred, February 10. 1895. The mother of Mrs. Boyd was born July 7, 1826, and died, February 2, 1900.

Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Boyd. namely : Harry, an electrician, lives in Des Moines, Iowa: Gladys, who was graduated from the Humboldt high school, is now teaching in the second grade: Fred M., who has charge of his father's farm in Colorado.

Mr. Boyd is an independent voter. On Junary 6, 1917, he was ap- pointed county commissioner, which position he is holding to the satisfac- tion of all concerned. Fraternally, he belongs to Lodge No. 40, Ancient

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Free and Accepted Masons, of which he was at one time master: he also belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen, of which he was at one time a trustee in Lodge No. 5. He and his family are members of the Presbyterian church.

CHRIST. MADOWSE.

Christ. Madowse, former county commissioner, proprietor of a fine farm of two hundred and ten acres in sections 32 and 33 of the precinct of Barada and of seventy acres in section 4 of the precinct of Arago, owner of a thresh- ing-rig which for years he has been operating in that part of the county and also a well-known stockman, giving his particular attention to the breeding of Missouri jacks of the "Mammoth" variety, is a native of the state of Illinois, but has been a resident of this county since he was nineteen years of age. having come here as a boy in the spring of 1883 to make his home with an uncle, Hans Koso, one of the pioneers of Richardson county, but two weeks later began to make his own way and has ever since been doing well, long having been recognized as one of the substantial farmers of that part of the county in which he lives. He was born on a farm in Effingham county. Illi- nois, July 4. 1864, son of Joseph and Sophia ( Koso) Madowse, natives of Germany, the former a Mecklenburger, who were married in this country.

Joseph Madowse was born in 1834 and was about fifteen years of age when he came to this country in 1849 and located in the neighborhood of Chicago, where he began to work as a farm hand. later locating in Effingham county, Illinois, and married Sophia Koso, of McHenry county, Illinois, who was but a girl when she came to this country with her parents, and there he spent the rest of his life engaged in farming, his death occurring in 1869. He was the father of four children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the second in order of birth and one of whom died in infancy, the others being Anna, wife of F. P. Finck, of the precinct of Arago, this county, and Mrs. Mary Fopy, of Effingham county, Illinois. The widow Madowse married John Percival and to that union six children were born: George, of Effing- ham county, Illinois: William, of Barada precinct, this county, and a biog- raphical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume: Fred, of Effingham county, Illinois: Sophia, wife of I. Bailey, of Coles county, Illi- nois: Mrs. Sadie Reugge, of the precinct of Arago, this county, and one who died in infancy.

Christ. Madowse was only four years of age when his father died. He

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received his schooling in the local schools of Effingham county, Illinois, and in February, 1883, he then being but nineteen years of age, came to Nebraska to make his home with his maternal uncle, Hans Koso, who had a farm twelve miles northeast of Falls City. Young Madowse arrived at Falls City on February 23 of that year with thirty-five dollars in his pocket and lost little time after his arrival in starting for the home of his uncle, walking out to the Koso farm twelve miles away. It was the first time he had ever been away from home and after he had proceeded on his lonely walk for some miles he realized that he was dreadfully homesick. He looked back toward the town he had just left and longed for his home in Illinois. He quenched his thirst in a small pool collected in a horse track in the highway and trudged along. arriving in due time at the home of his uncle. He remained there, however. but two weeks, at the end of that time securing employment on the farm of Fred Zorn, at a wage of sixteen dollars a month. A year later he rented a farm and started to farm for himself, "keeping batch" for three years, at the end of which time his sister, Mrs. Mary Fopy, began keeping house for him and this arrangement continued until his marriage in the fall of 1891. In the meantime Mr. Madowse bought a tract of one hundred and twenty acres of timber land in the precinct of Barada, paying for the same fourteen dollars an acre, and proceeded to clear and develop the same. Presently he bought a threshing-rig, operating the same by horse power until he later bought a tractor engine, and the proceeds of that venture went far toward keeping up the payments on his land, which he paid out in ten years. For twenty-three years Mr. Madowse continued operating his threshing-machine in season and became one of the best-known operators in that line in the county. He also gradually enlarged his landholdings and now, as noted above, is the owner of two hundred and ten acres in sections 32 and 33 of Barada precinct, where he has his home, and of seventy acres in the adjoining section 4 of Arago pre- cinct, his place inchiding ninety acres of natural timber, which he has retained. In 1907 Mr. Madowse began on a somewhat extensive scale the raising of pure-bred Shorthorn cattle and in that line has done very well. He also for some time has given considerable attention to the breeding of jacks and has two "Mammoth" jacks and two jennets of excellent strain and has done much to promote the raising of mules in his neighborhood.

On October 23, 1891, Christ. Madowse was united in marriage to Mary Ruegge, who was born on a farm in the precinct of Arago, this county, in March, 1873, daughter of Frederick and Dora (Hoose) Ruegge, natives of Germany and pioneers of Richardson county, who are still living in Arago precinct, and to this union one child has been born, a daughter, Minnie, born

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on July 16, 1894. Mr. and Mrs. Madowse are members of the Lutheran church, as is their daughter, and Mr. Madowse is a member of the board of deacons of the same. He is a Republican and for years has given his earnest attention to local political affairs. In 1903 he was elected a member of the board of county commissioners from his district and hell that office for two years. In 1912 he was again elected county commissioner and was re-elected. holding the office on his second period of service for four years. In 1903 he was elected a member of the school board for his local district and has held that position ever since, doing much for the advancement of the cause of education there. The Madowses have a very pleasant home and have ever taken an interested part in the general social activities of their home neigh- borhood, helpful in advancing all good causes thereabout.

HERMAN TIEHEN.

The late Herman Tiehen, who at the time of his death in the spring of 1911 was one of the best-known pioneers and most substantial land- owners of Richardson county, a resident of the precinct of Salem since the middle sixties, was of European birth, but had been a resident of this country since 1851. He was born in the kingdom of Hanover on July 15. 1829, a son of Herman and Angeline Tieben, both of the well-to-do rural class, the former of whom died in 1836, his widow surviving until 1884.

At the time of his father's death Herman Tiehen was but seven years of age and his boyhood was spent in helping his mother. He attended school until he was fourteen and then became a farmer and herdsman, re- maining thus engaged until he was twenty-one years of age, by which time he had saved enough money to pay his passage to America, the great new land across the water on which his mind had long been set with a steadfast purpose there to try to create a better station for himself than he could hope to attain in his native land. In 1851 he set sail for New Orleans, pay- ing a part of his passage by labor on the vessel, and upon his arrival at the southern port set out by river for St. Louis, but by the time he had reached St. Genevieve, Missouri, his meager funds had been reduced to forty cents and he could go no farther by boat. At St. Genevieve he secured employment at grubbing stumps at a wage of twenty-five cents a day and his hoard and worked through the winter at such employment. The fol- lowing spring he began working for a farmer at a wage of eight dollars a

Herman Jochen

Catherine Lichen

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month and was thus engaged until 1853, when he and five companions started from St. Genevieve with six yoke of oxen and a wagon laden with supplies, bound for the gold fields of California. Upon his arrival in the gold fields Mr. Tiehen had no difficulty in finding employment and in three years spent there managed to save three thousand dollars. In 1856 he returned by way of the Isthmus of Panama and presently made his way over into the then Territory of Nebraska and bought a tract of government land in Otoe county, eight miles southwest of Nebraska City. Erecting bachelor quarters on that tract, he settled down there and began developing and improving his place, living a bachelor life there until 1863, when he married one of the pioneer maidens of the Humboldt neighborhood in this county and two years later moved down into Richardson county and estab- lished his home on a farm in the precinct of Salem, he and his wife begin- ning housekeeping there in a one-room log house. Three years later when the first lumber brought up the river for this county to .Aspinwall arrived. he bought lumber for a frame house and hauled the same over to his farm and there erected a comfortable house, which, with ample additions and improvements from time to time, served him as a place of residence the rest of his life. From that original quarter section in the precinct of Salem Mr. Tiehen gradually increased his land holdings, as his operations pros- pered, until he became the owner of nineteen hundred acres of land and at the time of his death was accounted one of the wealthiest men in Richardson county. Mr. Tiehen was a Democrat and ever gave a good citizen's atten- tion to local civic affairs, a strong factor for good in the pioneer days of this county, but never was a seeker after public office. He was a member of the Catholic church, as were all his family, and did much to extend parish activities in the early days of St. Herman's parish at Salen, and upon the occasion of the erection of the fine new church at Salem contributed twenty- five hundred dollars to the building fund. During the later years of his life Mr. Tiehen lived comfortably retired from the active labors of the farm, in full enjoyment of the ample rewards earned by his long life of well-directed industry, his death occurring on March 4, 1911, he then being in the eighty-second year of his life. His widow, who still survives hin. continues to make her home on the okl home place, where she is very com- fortably and very pleasantly situated, one of the best-known pioneers of that section of Richardson county.

It was on January 16, 1863. that Herman Tiehen was united in mar- riage to Catherine .Agnes Rothenburger, who was born in the neighboring

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state of Missouri on April 21, 1842, a daughter of John and Wilhelmina ( Neiters) Rothenburger, who later became early settlers in the Nemaha valley in this county and were long accounted among the foremost pioneers of the Humboldt neighborhood. John Rothenburger was a native of France, born on June 27, 1807. In 1840 he came to the United States, landing at the port of New Orleans, and in that same year made his way up the river to Missouri, where, a year later, he married Wilhelmina Neiters, daughter of pioneers of that state. In 1854 he came over into. Nebraska Territory with his family and making his way up the Nemaha valley, settled on land which later came to be a part of the Humboldt settlement. When he entered upon possession of that tract there was no neighbor nearer than eighteen miles distant and the situation for the pioneer family seemed lonely and bleak, indeed. While Mr. Rothenburger was building a shanty on his claim he was surprised by the approach of a small band of hostile Indians. Hastily gathering his family in the wagon he lashed his horses into a run and sped across the prairie ahead of the redskins, making his way in safety to the river, twenty-two miles away. There he remained for a couple of months, by which time the hostiles had been driven out of this section, and he then returned with his wife and seven children to his claim, where he completed the erection of his shanty and established his home, he and his wife spending the remainder of their lives there, Mr. Rothen- burger's death occurring on February 2, 1884, he then being eighty years of age. The pioneer farm on which he settled back in-1854, one of the first settlers in Richardson county, is still in the possession of the family, one of the valuable farm plants in that part of the county. Mr. Rothen- burger raised the first crop of barley shipped from Rulo in this county.

Catherine Agnes Rothenburger was twelve years of age when she came to this county with her parents back in pioneer days and she grew up on the home farm, thoroughly familiar with all the details of pioneer life and subject to the hardships and privations of the same, and was living there at the time of her marriage to Mr. Tiehen in 1863. To that union seven children were born. namely: Minnie, born in 1864, who died in in- fancy ; John, born in 1867, now a resident of Salem, this county; Mary, born in 1870, wife of William McDongall. of Falls City: Anna, who died in childhood; Catherine or "Katie," born in 1875, who is at home with her mother ; William, born in 1880, now a resident of Falls City, and Agnes, born in 1885. Mrs. Tiehen has been a resident of Richardson county since pioneer days and is the second oldest pioneer of this county. Her recol-

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lections of the incidents of the early times here are clear and distinct and her narratives of the events of those days form some most interesting and informative sidelights on conditions here in the days when this region was being claimed for civilization.

GUSTAV WILLIAM DUERFELDT.

Gustav William Duerfeldt, proprietor of "Catalpa Lane Farm," a fine place of two hundred and ninety acres in sections 30 and 31 of the precinct of Barada, one of the best-known and most substantial farmers and stockmen in that part of the county, manager of the Barada Exchange, a branch of the Southeast Nebraska Telephone Company, vice-president of the Barada Bank, former assessor of his home precinct and for years actively interested in the general affairs of that community, was born in a log cabin on the farm on which he now lives and which he now owns and has lived in this county all his life, with the exception of some years spent at Helena, Montana, in the early nineties. He was born on June 21, 1864, a son of Gustav C. and Lonisa (Parchen) Duerfeldt, natives of Germany, who were married in the city of Buffalo, New York, and who later became pioneers of Richardson county, where their last days were spent, useful and influential residents of the pre- cinct of Barada.

Gustav C. Duerfeldt was born in the kingdom of Prussia on December II, 1826, and was twenty years of age when he came with his father, Gustav Duerfeldt, and the five other children of the family, the mother having died in her native land, to the United States, the family settling in the city of Buffalo, New York. Of these six children Gustav C. Duerfeldt was the eld- est, the others being as follow: Bernard, who later went to the gold fields of California, where he was known to have saved a considerable quantity of gold dust and was ready to return to his home in New York, but was never afterward heard from, it being the presumption that he was murdered for his gold ; Paulina, who married a man of the name of Smith and is now deceased : Mary, who married F. Haller and is also deceased; Fred, who served as a soldier of the Union during the Civil War, going to the front with a New York regiment, was with Sherman to the sea and who later became a pioneer farmer in the precinct of Barada, this county, where his last days were spent, and whose old army musket is still preserved in the family, and Charles, who

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also came to this county and for some time was engaged in the butcher busi --- ness, but later moved to a farm in Nemaha county, where he spent his last days.

Having been trained as a cabinet-maker in his native Prussia, Gustav C. Duerfeldt easily found employment in a cabinet shop at Buffalo upon his arrival in that city in 1846 and was engaged working in that one shop for fifteen years, or until he came to this county in 1861. In the meantime he had married, in Buffalo, Louisa Parchen, who also was born in Germany, May 26, 1837, and who was but sixteen years of age when she came to this coun- try with her parents, and upon his arrival in this county in October, 1861, he bought a farm in section 3 of the precinct of Barada, the place now owned by the subject of this sketch, erected a log cabin on the same, that old log cabin still standing on the place, a priceless souvenir of pioneer days, and there established his home, one of the earliest settlers of that section, and there he spent the remainder of his life, a substantial farmer, his death occurring there on January 17, 1913. His first trip to Nebraska was made in 1858; when he came as treasurer of the Buffalo colony in order to pay off a mortgage on land purchased in Arago precinct by the colony. He carried with him $4,200 in gold, which was worn in a belt made by his wife, and which he guarded day and night. His wife had preceded him to the grave about eighteen years, her death having occurred in 1895. They were the parents of twelve chil- dren, of whom the subject of this sketch was the sixth in order of birth, the others being as follow : George, deceased : Bernard C., of Barada ; Mary, wife of the Rev. W. T. Grommisch, of Detroit, Michigan: Gustav, who died in early childhood; Paulina, deceased; William, deceased; Louisa, deceased ; Bertha M. and Ida E., twins, the former of whom is the wife of William Zur- brick, a farmer living near Verdon, this county, and the latter the wife of Elmer E. Butler, of Hebron, this state; Henry G., a druggist at Spokane. Washington, and Edward C., of Herrick, South Dakota.

Reared on the farm on which he was born in the precinct of Barada, Gustav W. Duerfeldt received his schooling in the schools of that neighbor- hood and from the days of his boyhood was a valued factor in the labors of improving and developing the home place, remaining there until he was twenty-five years of age, when, in 1889, he went to Helena, Montana, to work for his brother in the establishment of the H. N. Parchen Drug Company and while thus engaged took a commercial course in a night school. He later became engaged with the street railway company at Helena and during the years 1891-93 was employed as a conductor and motorman and also as assist- ant engineering in the electric railway shops there. In the meantime, in the

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fall of 1892, he married at Helena and not long afterward returned to his old home in this county and has ever since resided there, now being the owner not only of the old home place, but of some additional land, his farm comprising two hundred and ninety acres of excellent land in sections 30 and 31 of the precinct of Barada, known as "Catalpa Lane Farm," one of the best-kept and most profitably cultivated places in that part of the county. Ever since taking charge of that place in 1894 Mr. Duerfeldt has given con- siderable attention to the raising of live stock and annually feeds several car- loads of cattle and hogs. He also has given attention to the general business affairs of his home community and has long been regarded as one of the most public-spirited "hustlers" in that section. In 1905 he became a stockholder and a member of the board of directors of the Southeast Nebraska Telephone Company and is now manager of the Barada branch of the same. He also is a member of the board of directors of the Barada Bank, of which he became a stockholder in 1906, and is now second vice-president of the same, at times acting as president ._ Mr. Dnerfeldt is a Republican and for years has given his earnest attention to local political affairs, for thirteen years serving as chairman of the Barada precinct Republican committee. In 1906 he was appointed assessor of that precinct and held that position for three years. He also has served as a member of the school board for eleven years and in other ways has contributed of his time and energies to the public service.

On November 10, 1892, at Helena, Montana, Gustav W. Duerfeldt was united in marriage to Elizabeth C. Adami, who was born in that city on February 19, 1873, daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Knipper) Adami, natives of Germany, and to this union four children have been born, namely : Bertha M., who was graduated from the Falls City high school and from the State Normal School at Peru and is now a member of the teaching corps of the Falls City schools; Pearl A., a graduate in music, who is now a teacher of music, and Clifford and Laura. The Duerfeldts have a very pleasant home at "Catalpa Lane Farm" and have ever given proper attention to the general social and cultural activities of the community in which they live. They are members of the Lutheran church and attentive to local good works. Mr. Dnerfeldt is a member of the church council, practically succeeding his father in that position, who was an elder and one of the builders of the church. Mr. Duerfeldt has been a member of the local lodge of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows at Falls City since 1892, is a charter member of the Barada lodge of the Woodmen of the World, organized in 1895, and takes a warm interest in the affairs of both of these organizations.

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WILLIAM C. OSWALD.

William C. Oswald, a substantial retired farmer of Richardson county and an honored veteran of the Civil War, now living in Falls City, is a Saxon, born in the kingdom of Saxony on May 28, 1843, a son of William and Christina Oswald, the former of whom died in his native land in 1870, his widow later coming to this country, her last days being spent in Cedar county, this state, where her death occurred in 1909.

It was in 1858 that William C. Oswald came to the United States, he then being but fifteen years of age. It was his intention to join kins- folk in Wisconsin, but upon landing at the port of New York he was without money to complete his journey and he accepted an offer of an Ohio farmer who was seeking "hands" and went to Springfield, Ohio, in the neighborhood of which place he began working for his employer at a wage of four dollars a month, which after some months was increased to six dollars. After some months of this employment he had saved enough money to pay his fare up into Wisconsin and he made a visit to his kinsfolk there, but not liking conditions in that then pioneer country he returned to Ohio and was working there when the Civil War broke out. He enlisted for service on September 7, 1861, as a member of Company H, Forty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, attached to the Army of the Cumber- land, and with that command served for three years, receiving his dis- charge on October 12, 1864, after which he returned to Springfield, Ohio, and in the following November cast his first vote, voting for .Abraham Lin- colu for President. He then re-enlisted as a veteran and was attached to Company H, Eighth Ohio Cavalry, with which command he served until the close of the war. In November, 1865, Mr. Oswald made another visit to his kinsfolk in Wisconsin, but in the following April returned to Ohio. He was unable to get work there, however, and decided to come West, having heard much of the possibilities that awaited young men out here in the plains country. He headed for Leavenworth and after working a month there hired out as a freighter, joining a caravan of twenty-two wagons, each having five yoke of oxen, headed for Nebraska City. Upon arriving at this latter point he gave up his job as a "bullwhacker" and hired out to a farmer near Union, with whom he worked, until in the fall. He then returned to Leavenworth, a three-days trip by horseback, and got his trunk, which he expressed to Nebraska City and then rode back to the latter point, another three-days horseback trip. During 1867 Mr.

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History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions, Part 77

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