History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions, Part 78

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

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RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

Oswald worked in the French settlement at Julian, on the line between Otve and Nemaha counties, and while thus engaged went over into the adjoining county of Johnson and exercised his soldier's right by filing on a homestead tract near Tecumseh. The next spring, 1868, he went over to his home- stead and in three days had a dugout constructed there and felt quite well equipped for establishing a home. In July he married and he and his wife began their housekeeping in that Johnson county dug-out. During the first years of their residence there their crops were very poor and for fourteen years they faced continual hard times, but finally things began to brighten up a bit and the grinding poverty of those "lean years" was never felt again. When Mr. Oswald began farming on his own account on his home- stead tract he had no team and while proving up his claim worked out elsewhere whenever he could, though maintaining his residence on the home- stead, his sod shanty there serving as a shelter for himself and wife until they presently could see their way clear to the erection of a small house. Besides his lack of a team he was further handicapped by a serious injury to one of his arms and side sustained during the delirium of an attack of typhoid fever suffered while in the army. He finally got a team, however, but both horses presently died and he had the further ill luck to lose two other teams in quick succession, so that it was seven years before he finally got forty acres of his homestead under cultivation. In 1882 Mr. Oswald sold his homestead tract for twenty-five hundred dollars and came down into Richardson county, where he bought a quarter of a section of land two miles east of Salem, paying for the same forty-five hundred dollars, this transaction entailing a considerable debt, but he had a succession of good crops and paid out in good time. He built on that place a new house and farm building and otherwise improved the same and there made his home for ten years, at the end of which time, in 1892, he rented the place and moved to Falls City, where he and his wife have since made their home and where they are very comfortably situated, enjoying in comfort the rewards of their trying days on the farm as pioneers. Mr. Oswald is a Republican and has ever given a good citizen's attention to local political affairs, but has not been a seeker after public office.

On July 31, 1868, William C. Oswald was united in marriage to Christina Hasenyager, who was born on a pioneer farm near Warrentown. Missouri, November 21, 1850, a daughter of John C. and Louisa ( Brinkman ). Hasenyager, natives of Germany, who settled in Missouri upon coming to this country and who moved over into Nebraska during war times, and to this union six children have been born, namely: William C., a farmer,

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of Edison, this state, who married Emma Adams and has three children, John, Ruth and Fred: Ellen M., who married Dorsey Will, of Falls City. and has two daughters. Mrs. Florence Deitrich and Grace; Carrie, who mar- ried Ross Will, a farmer, living three miles west of Falls City, and has five children, Pearl. Myrtle, Orville, Evelyn and Robert; Frederick W., now a resident of Buffalo, Wyoming: John, a photographer at Falls City, and Lillian, also a photographer in her home town. The Oswalds are men- hers of the German Lutheran church and take a proper interest in church affairs. Mr. Oswald is an active member of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic and takes a warm interest in the affairs of that patriotic organization.

FRANK KOTOUC, JR.

The name Kotouc has long been one of the best known in the western portion of Richardson county, and it is a name that has stood for enter- prise, public spirit and good citizenship in general. One of the best-known members of the family is Frank Kotouc, a member of the firm of Kotouc Brothers, dealers in dry goods. clothing, furnishings, shoes, groceries, etc .. at Humboklt. He was born on September 20, 1875. at Jitkov, Bohemia. and he is a son of Frank and Mary ( Hon) Kotouc. The father was born on October 25. 1839, at Ransko, Bohemia, where he grew up, resided until 1874, when he removed to Jitkov, and engaged in business until 1882, when he brought his family to the United States, where he followed the trade of harness-maker, but in the old country he was a merchant. He had two children when he came to America, and he settled with his family at Hum- boldt, Nebraska, where he soon became prominent in local affairs. He helped to organize the Bohemian school, in which school he taught for about twenty years, working at his trade the meanwhile, giving one day out of each week to the school work. He retired from active life in 1902. He was a member of the C. S. P. S. Bohemian Lodge from 1882 until his death, which occurred on December 25, 1916. He was a son of Joseph and Anna ( Ruzicka ) Kotouc, who lived and died in Bohemia. The mother of the subject of this sketch was born on April 24. 1850, in Hermanuv-Mestec. Bohemia, and her death occurred on September 12. 1913. These parents were married on June 15. 1872, at Kruoemburk, Bohemia. They attended the Evangelical Lutheran church. Their family consisted of the following

FRANK KOTOUC, JR.

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RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

children: Frank, the first, died in infancy; Frank, the second, subject of this sketch; Lute B., who is manager of the Kotouc Brothers store at New Raymer, Colorado, married Emma Novak, and they have one child, a daughter; Milton, the first, died in infancy; Milton, the second, lives in Humboldt, and is a partner with his brothers in the store; Otto, who is cashier in the Home State Bank of Humboldt, married Camille Cernik, and they have two children.

Frank Kotouc, Jr., of this sketch, was six years old when his parents brought him to Humboldt, Nebraska, and here he grew to manhood and attended the public schools. Before leaving school he began working at the Standard Printing Company's office, receiving fifty cents per week for his work. He remained with that firm until in. May, 1893, when he began clerking in a general merchandise store, but he soon began working for Morris Friend in his general store and a few months later he took a posi- tion with R. W. Coleman, with whom he remained until Mr. Coleman sold out, after which he worked for J. W. Housek, a merchant, during the year 1894, when he went to work for the E. L. Crane Jewelry Company. In October, 1896, in partnership with his brother, Lute B., he opened a new store at DuBois. Nebraska, starting on a small scale, carrying only an eleven-hundred-dollar stock. This proved to be a fortunate venture and the business gradually increased, and they maintained a store there for eight years. They erected the first brick building at DuBois and did much to boost the town. Then, in 1906, they sold out and, in partnership with R. E. Watzke, opened up "The Famous Store" in Humboldt, which they operated four years, then sold out to Mr. Watzke, after which the Kotouc brothers- Frank, Lute B. and Milton-started their present business, with a capital stock of fifteen thousand dollars. They purchased a brick building in Hum- boldt, which they remodeled and repaired extensively, including the installa- tion of an elevator, the building, when completed, costing ten thousand dollars alone. The business was very successful from the start and they have enjoyed a large and growing trade all the while, many of their cus- tomers coming from remote parts of the country. They carry a large and carefully selected stock of dry goods, clothing, furnishings, shoes and gro- ceries. Their store would be a credit to a town much larger than Hum- boldt. It is one of the most popular stores in Richardson and adjoining counties, for their customers know that they will never fail to be treated with courtesy and honesty. In 1916 the Kotouc Brothers opened a branch store in New Raymer, Colorado, which has had a rapid and satisfactory

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RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASK.1.

growth under the management of Lute Kotouc. These brothers also own, beside their stores, four hundred and eighty acres of valuable land in Weld county, Colorado, which they expect to put under a high state of cultivation and improvement. They also own their store building in New Raymer, and considerable city property in Humboldt, Nebraska.

Frank Kotouc has remained unmarried. Politically, he is a Demo- crat, but is inclined to vote independently. Fraternally, he belongs to the AAncient Free and Accepted Masons, also the blue lodge and the Eastern Star. He is not a member of any church, but attends and contributes to various denominations.

JOSHUA S. LORD.

Joshua S. Lord, cashier of the First National Bank of Falls City, a substantial landowner of Richardson county, former treasurer of the county, former representative from this district in the Nebraska General Assembly and for years actively identified with the political and business affairs of this county, is a native of the state of Illinois, but has been a resident of Nebraska and of this county since he was three years of age and has thus been a witness to and a participant in the development of this part of the state since pioneer days. He was born on a farm in the immediate vicinity of Rushville, Illinois, November II, 1865, son of Joseph and Anna (Boyd) Lord, the former a native of England and the latter of Illinois, who became pioneers of Richardson county and here spent their last days.

Joseph Lord, who was born in 1828, remained in his native England until he was sixteen years of age, when, in 1844, he came to this country and proceeded to Illinois, where he became a farmer and where he presently married Anna Boyd, who was born in that state in 1830, daughter of pioneer parents. In 1868 Joseph Lord became attracted to the possibilities then open to settlers in the new state of Nebraska and disposing of his interests in Illinois came out here with his family and bought a partly-broken tract of land in this county, a portion of the old Indian Reservation, three and one-half miles southwest of Salem, and there established his home. He proceeded to improve and develop that tract and had a well-improved farm when death put a stop to his endeavors on February 10, 1874. His widow survived him many years, her death occurring on the old home farm in 1902, she then being seventy-two years of age. They were the parents of twelve children, seven sons and five daughters, of whom the subject

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of this sketch was the tenth in order of birth, the others being James, Frances, William and Elizabeth, now deceased; Robert .1., a retired farmer now living at Oklahoma City; Mrs. Sarah Ellen Clark, of Oklahoma : Joseph and Josephine, twins, the former of whom is a farmer south of Salem, this county, and the latter the wife of J. D. Harris, of Salem; Amanda M., widow of Herl Moore and the owner of an extensive ranch in this state; . Charles A., who is engaged in the automobile business at Lincoln, and is one of the largest automobile distributors in this state, and Thomas, a well- to-do farmer living in the vicinity of Peru, in the neighboring county of Nemaha.

Joshua S. Lord was but a small child when he came to this county from Illinois with his parents and he was but nine years of age when his father died. He was reared on the home farm in the precinct of Salem, receiving his schooling in the neighborhood schools, and remained on the farm with his mother until 1883, when he turned his attention to business lines and became a druggist. He married in 1884 and later took a course in pharmacy and in 1889 engaged in the drug business on his own account. at Salem and was there very successfully engaged in that line until 1903. In the mean- time he had been giving considerable attention to local political affairs and in 1904 was elected, as the nominee of the Democratic party, to represent this district in the state Legislature, thus being one of the seven Democrats who served in the Nebraska House of Representatives in the memorable session of 1905. In the fall of 1905 Mr. Lord resigned his legislative office in order to accept the nomination for the office of county treasurer. He was elected to that office and his course in administering the affairs of the county treasurer's office proved so satisfactory that he was re-elected in 1907, the Democratic county convention having re-nominated him by acclamation, and he thus served for four years as county treasurer, one of the most popular officials in the court house. Meantime, Mr. Lord had taken up his residence in Falls City and upon the completion of his term of official service he was elected, in 1910, cashier of the First National Bank of Falls City, succeeding Governor Moorehead in that position, and has ever since been thus engaged, long having been recognized as one of the leading bankers in this part of the state. In addition to his banking interests Mr. Lord has a fine farm of three hundred acres in Salem precinct, a part of which is the old Lord homestead place, and takes much interest in the management of the farm.

In 1884 Joshua S. Lord was united in marriage to Eliza P'. Boyd, of Salem, who was born in Forest City, Missouri, daughter of S. A. and

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Arminda Boyd, both now deceased, who were early settlers at Salem, and to this union three children have been born, namely: Vera, born on Novem- ber 15, 1887, who married Russell A. Hiatt, of Morrell, Kansas, and died on November 10, 1916, leaving a six-year-old daughter, Jean; Harold, born in 1892, who married Vera M. Watson and is now living on his father's farm in Salem precinct, and Mildred M., 1895, a graduate of the Falls City high school, who is at home with her parents. The Lords have a very pleasant home at Falls City and take an interested part in the general social and cultural activities of their home town. Mr. Lord is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and takes an active part in the affairs of that fraternal organization.

DANIEL RILEY.

Daniel Riley, one of the real "old timers" of Richardson county as well as one of the best-known and most substantial farmers of this part of the state, is a native of New Jersey, but has been a resident of this county since he was four years of age, having come here with his parents in the spring of 1859, the Rileys becoming pioneers out here eight years before Nebraska was admitted to statehood, this region at that time being under a territorial government. He was born in New Jersey, thirty miles south of the city of Philadelphia, January 6, 1855, son of Michael and Mary ( O'Brien) Riley, both of whom were born in County Tipperary, Ireland. the former in 1826, and the latter in 1830, but who were not married until after they came to this country, Michael Riley having come to this side of the Atlantic in 18.47 and Mary O'Brien having come in 1851.

Michael Riley and Mary O'Brien were married in 1853 and made their home in the state of New Jersey until the spring of 1859, when they came to Nebraska Territory, landing at Rulo on April 3 of that year, having come by rail to St. Joseph and thence up the river to Rulo. At the latter place they secured an ox-team and a cart and drove west over the plains to a point three miles west of Verdon, in the precinct of Liberty, this, county. Michael Riley having procured from an old Mexican soldier at Brownville the latter's warrant to a quarter of a section of land indicated in that pre- cinct. On the old townsite of Geneva he bought a small house which he moved onto his claim and there established his home, he and his wife and three sons and his brother-in-law, Thomas Farrell and wife and son, making

MR. AND MRS. DANIEL RILEY.

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RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

their domicile there together. Two weeks later that humble abode was scat- tered over the plains by a tornado, but the pioneers gathered up the scat- tered boards, got together a bit of new lumber and reconstructed their house, a one-room affair, and in that modest abode the two families dwelt together for three years. At that time there was an abundance of wild game, while the prairie ponds were filled with fish, so the pioneers had no lack of food while they were getting their start as farmers. People had a happy way of taking things "easy" in those days and they suffered very little, even though the markets at Brownville and Nebraska City were far distant and supplies sometimes ran short. Michael Riley had two yoke of oxen and broke up his land without delay, soon getting the same under cultivation. He kept his first farm until 1864, when he sold it and bought a tract of one hundred and twenty acres southwest of Dawson, where he lived until the spring of 1884, when he bought a piece of land two miles and a half northeast of the village and there he spent the remainder of his life, dying on October 16, 1884. He and his wife were the parents of seven children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the first-born, the others being as follow: James. who died in Omaha in 1907, at the age of fifty years; William, who lives' on the old home place northeast of Dawson; Bernard, who was born in April, 1861, the first of the family born in this county and a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume; Michael, who is farming the place on which his father died, northeast of Dawson; Mary, wife of M. J. Clancy, of Dawson, and Annie, born in 1870, who died in the spring of 1871. The mother of these children died August 21, 1858.

Having been but four years of age when he came with his parents to this county, practically all of Daniel Riley's active life has been spent here and there is probably not another man in the county who has a wider ac- quaintance hereabout than he, for he has been a witness to and a participant in the development of this region since pioneer days and has kept up his acquaintance with that development from the earliest dawn of his childish recollection. He was reared on a typical pioneer farm and as a lad did his share in the development and improvement of that farm, but he also found much time for fishing and hunting and his recollection is that there was mighty good fun for a boy on the free range in those days. The first school he attended was a subscription school started by Harry Cornell two · miles northwest of Verdon, the rate of tuition being five cents a day for each pupil. He attended that school one month, in 1863, at the end of which time Cornell became ill and the school was abandoned. In 1865 he

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had another chance to go to school in a little log school house not far away and there he received two more months of tuition. In that same year a log school house was put up in section 24 of Grant precinct, the first school opened in that precinct, and he entered that school, which was presided over by Mollie Pool. He attended school intermittently there until 1868, in which year the site of the school was changed to the top of the hill near the present village of Dawson and there he received some further tuition. In those days, of course, there were no free text-books, each pupil bringing his own books, and Mr. Riley recalls distinctly the transaction by which he acquired his first arithmetic, trading for the same one mink skin, while for his first spelling-book he gave a skunk hide.

Continuing to assist his father and his brothers in the labors of im- proving and developing the home farm, Mr. Riley remained at home until 1878, when he rented a tract of land and began farming on his own account. He saved a little money and in 1879 bought a "forty" north of Dawson, in the north half of the northwest quarter of section II, paying eight dollars an acre for the same, but he did not improve the same, finding his efforts more profitably engaged elsewhere. In 1885 he bought a traet of two hun- dred and fifty-eight acres in section 21, paying fifteen dollars an acre for the same, and this he proceeded to improve and develop until he has made it one of the most productive farms in the county. As his affairs pros- pered Mr. Riley gradually added to his holdings until now he is the owner of eight hundred acres of as good land as there is in Richardson county, four hundred and forty acres of which surrounds his beautiful home in the bottom lands of the Nemaha. On that place he has expended twenty thou- sand dollars in tiling and ditching and his neighbors agree that he raises the finest corn in that community, his land producing from sixty to seventy bushels an aere. His residence is of modern construction, with hardwood floors and up-to-date conveniences, and his ample barns and other farm buildings are in keeping with the same, his farm plant being one of the best equipped in this region of fine farm plants. Mr. Riley is a Democrat and has from the days of his boyhood given his close attention to local political affairs, but has not been a seeker after public office, though himself a real influence in local politics.

On November 26. 1912, Daniel Riley was united in marriage to Mrs. Mary Elizabeth ( Wheeler ) Whitney, who was born in the precinct of Barada, this county. November 24, 1862, a daughter of Henry Duke and Malinda ( Buchanan) Wheeler, natives of Kentucky and Missouri, respect- ively, who came to Nebraska in 1850 and who returned to Kentucky during

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war times, but came back here in 1866 and resumed their place on their home farm in Barada precinct, where they spent the remainder of their lives, the former dying in 1870, and the latter on April 19, 1915. Henry D. Wheeler fought in the Mexican War and Mrs. Wheeler was the only Mexican War pensioner in this county at the time of her death. They were the parents of five children, of whom three are living, Mrs. Riley having two brothers, William H. Wheeler, who is living on the old home place in Barada, and Lawrence Wheeler, of Falls City, who is also the owner of a farm in that precinct. Mary Elizabeth Wheeler grew to woman- hood on the farm on which she was born and on March II, 1880, was united in marriage to John Whitney, who was born in Missouri, a son of Wade Whitney and wife, who later came to this county and became pioneers of Grant precinct, John Whitney and Daniel Riley thus being schoolmates and playfellows in their boyhood days. John Whitney, who was born on August 2, 1854, died on May 6, 1901, he then being fifty-one years of age. He left two children, Claude, who is farming his mother's place, the Whit- ney farm in sections 24 and 26, and Guy, who is farming in section 20 of Grant precinct. Mr. and Mrs. Riley have a very pleasant home and take a proper part in the general social activities of their home community. They are members of the Catholic church and take an earnest interest in parish affairs, as well as in the general good works of the neighborhood in which they live. Mr. Riley is a liberal subscriber to the Red Cross movement and has purchased Liberty Bonds, as evidence of his patriotism.

CHARLES HENRY THORNTON.

Charles Henry Thornton, well-known commercial photographer at Hum- boldt, was born on a farm near St. Joseph, Michigan, October 17, 1868, son of John M. and Jane (Brady) Thornton, natives of England, who in 1874 moved to Iowa and located at Stanton, where they conducted a hotel for three years, at the end of which time they located on a farm that Mr. Thorn- ton had bought near there ; later settling on a farm near Conway, Iowa, where they remained for three years, or until 1880, when they came to Nebraska and settled on a farm in Seward county, remaining there until 1891, in which year they moved to Sheridan, Wyoming, where their last days were spent.

Charles H. Thornton was six years of age when his parents moved from Michigan to Iowa and was twelve years of age when they came to Nebraska.

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He grew up in Seward county, and remained there, farming, until the spring of 1893, when he bought a farm in Rawlins county, in western Kansas, and for three years trie ! to farm there, but was compelled to give it up on account of the continuous drought. He then returned to Nebraska and was for a time engaged in farming near Peru, later taking employment on a ranch in the vicinity of Concordia, Kansas, where he remained for four years, during which time he began to turn his attention seriously to the art of photography, presently opening a photograph studio at Auburn and was engaged in that business there until the fall of 1904, when he moved to Humboldt. On Sep- tember I of that year he opened a studio at Humboldt and has ever since been engaged in business at that place, long having been recognized as one of the leading photographers in this part of the state. Mr. Thornton has a well-equipped studio and has built up a fine business, the high character of his work recommending it widely to discriminating patrons hereabout.

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History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions, Part 78

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