History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions, Part 91

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

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Mr. Hanika was born in Fond du Lac county, Wisconsin, June 28, 1857. He is a son of Herman J. and Catherine (Lash) Hanika, both natives of Austria, in which country they grew to maturity, but did not marry until they came to America, which was in the year 1856. Herman J. Hanika was the son of wealthy parents, and it was not the custom for the better classes to marry among the poorer classes, but his romance with Catherine Lash began when they were young and in order that he might marry her, a poor girl, they immigrated to the New World. They estah- lished their home in Fond du Lac county, Wisconsin. Mr. Hanika took up the trade of blacksmith at Fond du Lac when there were but three houses in what is now an important city. A year and a half later he went into the timber and bought forty acres, which land was covered with hardwood inaple and other valuable timber. . He cleared the land and built a. log cabin, working hard and undergoing the usual hardships and privations incident to pioneering in the rigid northern climate in that state. He soon had crops growing and continued farming there until the fall of 1866, when he sold out and moved to Nebraska, buying two hundred acres about three miles from Arago, one hundred and sixty acres of prairie and forty acres

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of timber : it had been partly improved. He brought four thousand dollars with him, which would have been regarded as a fortune to most early set- tlers. He knew very little about farming and stock raising. He began developing his new farm, but droughts and grasshoppers broke him up and he lost his farm and surplus money. At that time he had ten children. But he was a man of courage, and, nothing daunted, he made a new start, going to work at his trade. He finally was able to purchase two hundred acres in Barada precinct which he still owns and where he was very successful as a general farmer. His children were named as follows: Theresa is the wife of John H. Kelly, of Barada precinct; Mary is the wife of A. M. Palmer, of Barada precinct: Adolph died in Thurston county, Nebraska; Elizabeth died in Barada precinct; Herman, Jr., lives in Barada precinct; Frank lives in Hartington, Cedar county, this state; Catherine died in in- fancy; Mrs. Lydia Shaw lives in Lebanon, South Dakota; John lives on the home place; Margaret is the wife of Edward Frederick, of Falls City, and Anthony J., of this sketch. The father of the above named children was born on July 11, 1829, and is therefore at this writing eighty-eight years old. His wife was born on August 20, 1836, and died on January 24, 1905.

Anthony J. Hanika was nine years old when his parents brought him from Wisconsin to Richardson county, Nebraska. He remembers well the hardships of the family at the time of his father's failure. Although but a boy he was working out by the month and turning over his earnings to his father to help in the support of the family, while he was getting a new start on rented land. The subject of this sketch had little opportunity to obtain an education. When twenty-one years of age he began life for him- self : by hiring out as a farm hand he saved enough of his wages to buy a wagon-and team, then rented his employer's farm. He continued farming on rented land until 1891. In 1898 he bought eighty acres of unimproved land. He lived for some time on his father-in-law's place and farmed his own land until he could get it properly improved, build a house and other- wise get it in shape to live on. After moving to it he continued to reside there until in August, 1910, when he moved to a beautiful home in Shubert. He has succeeded as a general farmer and stock raiser through his per- sistent efforts and good management and is now owner of a valuable and well-improved farm of four hundred acres in Barada precinct, also three hundred and twenty acres in Texas, his wife owning equal parts of the land. Mr. Hanika has bought and shipped live stock for many years, making his headquarters in Shubert and he has been very successful in this field of endeavor. He ships about one hundred and fifty carloads of stock to the

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markets each year. He is an exceptionally good judge of all kinds of live stock and is one of the best known stockmen in the county.

On February 14, 1884, Anthony J. Hanika was married to Emma Cath- erine Lundy, born on October 6, 1865, in Barada precinct, Richardson county. She is a daughter of Ebenezer Lundy, a pioneer settler in this locality, mention of whom is made in the sketch of J. W. Lundy, which appears elsewhere in this work. The following children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hanika : Lula, the wife of Thomas Davis, of West Muddy precinct, and they have two daughters, Jessie May and Ruth Louise; Laurence, the next child, died in 19II, at the age of twenty-five years; Olive is the wife of C. S: Weddle, of Barada precinct ; August, on the home farm, married Marvel Lewis, and they have one child, Austin J., and Jessie, living at home, is now attending high school.

Politically, Mr. Hanika is a Republican. He belongs to St. Anne's Catholic church at Barada.

THOMAS F. WUSTER.

Thomas F. Wuster, one of the best-known and most substantial farmers in the precinct of Grant, this county, was born in Lycoming county, Pennsyl- vania, January 24, 1878, son of Christ and Martha (Marquard) Wuster, who came to this state in June, 1879, and became pioneers in Porter precinct, this county. Further and fitting reference to the Wuster family in this county is made elsewhere in this volume.

Reared on the home farm in Porter precinct, he having been but two years of age when his parents settled there, Thomas F. Wuster received his schooling in the schools of that neighborhood. He began working out at the early age of eleven years and worked constantly from the time he was fourteen years of age. In the spring of 1900 he began farming for himself. For one year he rented the Strunk farm and then in 1901 he bought his pres- ent place of a quarter. section in the precinct of Grant and there established his home and has ever since resided there, he and his family being very com- fortably situated. His house, built in 1908, is one of the best in that neigh- borhood and the general farm buildings are in keeping with the same, the place being looked upon as one of the best-improved farms in that part of the county. In addition to his general farming Mr. Wuster gives consider- able attention to the raising of live stock, with particular reference to sheep

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and hogs. He has a flock of more than one hundred and twenty head of sheep and in 1916 fed more than four hundred head of sheep for the market. · On March 7, 1901, Thomas F. Wuster was united in marriage to Mar- garet Heim, who was born on a pioneer farm in the precinct of Grant, this county, May 31, 1880, daughter of Jacob G. and Regina (Gross) Heim, prominent and influential pioneers of this county and further and extended reference to whom is made elsewhere in this volume, and to this union seven children have been born, namely: Minerva, born on December 28, 1901 ; Ruth, November 6, 1903: Frederick, July 3, 1905; Dorothy, December 31, 1906; Joseph, September 11, 1909; Milton, July 18, 1912, and Dwight, April 23. 1916. Mr. and Mrs. Wuster are members of the Evangelical Lutheran church and take a warm interest in church affairs, as well as in the general good works of the community in which they live, helpful in many ways in promoting such agencies as are designed to advance the common welfare thereabout. Mr. Wuster is independent in his political views, prefering to keep himself free to vote for the most competent candidate for public office without regard to party affiliations. He not only is a progressive and wide- awake farmer, but a public spirited citizen and tries to do his part in advanc- ing the interests of the community of which he has been a resident since the days of his early childhood.

JOHN H. HOLLAND.

John H. Holland, a veteran of the Civil War and one of the real old- timers of Richardson county, a substantial farmer and landowner of this county, now living retired at Stella, where he has made his home since 1908, is a native of Illinois, but has been a resident of this state since the days of his young manhood, having come out here almost immediately after completing his service as a soldier of the Union at the close of the Civil War. He was born on a farm in Jo Daviess county, Illinois, December 27. 1844, son of Thomas and Mary (Hamilton) Holland, natives of England, who were married in their native country and then come to the United States, settling in Illinois, where they spent the remainder of their lives. Thomas Holland was born in 1804 and died on October 8, 1892, at the great age of eighty-eight years. His wife had long preceded him to the grave, her death having occurred in 1850. They were the parents of ten children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the sixth in order of birth,

MR. AND MRS. JOHN II, HOLLAND.

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the others being as follow: Ann, who is now living at Elizabeth, Illinois, widow of James Ransom; Mrs. Elizabeth Cook, also of Illinois; Ralph, of Essex, Iowa; Thomas, deceased, who served in an Illinois regiment in the Civil War; Edwin, of Elizabeth, Illinois; Mary. wife of J. B. Williams, of Emmetsburg, Iowa; George, of Pawnee Rock, Kansas; William, of Eliza- beth, Illinois, and Enoch, deceased, who was the first of the family to pass away.

Reared on the home farm in Jo Daviess county, Illinois, John H. Holland received his schooling in the neighborhood schools and from the days of his boyhood was an active factor in the labors of improving and developing the home place, and was living there when the Civil War broke out. In February, 1865, he then being but little past twenty years of age, he enlisted at Elizabeth, Illinois, for service in the Union army and went to the front as a member of Company A, Fifteenth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and with that command joined Sherman's army in its triumphant march up from Savannah and through the Carolinas and Virginia to Wash- ington, but necessarily saw little active service, as the war came to an end in the following April. Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Hol- land returned to his home in Illinois and in the spring of 1866 came West and for a time was engaged in freighting between Council Bluffs and Red Oak, Iowa, later coming on over to Omaha, riding the old stage coach thence from the Des Moines river. At that time, as Mr. Holland recalls, there were many of the old-timers out this way who were becoming pessimistic enough to declare that land out this way would never amount to anything and that efforts here were being wasted, but he had confidence in the out- come and determined to become a fixture in the new country. For several years after locating at Omaha Mr. Holland was employed in the timber, cutting ties and posts for the railroad, and also farmed for a year in that vicinity ; but in 1873 came down into Richardson county and bought a tract of school land in section 36 of the precinct of Porter, paying for the same twelve dollars an acre, and settled down to improve and develop the same, setting out trees and an orchard, and by the time of his marriage in 1880 had a very comfortable home there. After having improved that place in admirable shape Mr. Holland went over into western Kansas, where he homesteaded a tract of land and there made his home for fourteen years, at the end of which time he returned to his quarter section in this county and there continued to reside until 1908, when he retired from the farm and moved to Stella. building there a modern house, one of the large residences

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of that town, and there he and his wife have since made their home, very comfortably and very pleasantly situated. Mr. Holland is a Republican and has ever given a good citizen's attention to local civic affairs, for some time having served as a member of the school board.

On February 8, 1880, some years after coming to Richardson county, John H. Holland was united in marriage to Mary F. Crook, who was born on a pioneer farm in the neighborhood of Salem, this county, April 3, 1863, daughter of John and Martha J. (Thomas) Crook, early settlers of that community, and to this union have been born four children, namely: Oscar L., a salesman, now living at St. Louis; John T., district salesman for the Republic Rubber Company, of Little Rock, Arkansas; Myrtle, wife of William M. Veal, who is operating the old Holland home farm, and Flor- ence, at home, who was graduated from the Stella schools, later studied music and is now teaching music at Stella. The Hollands are members of the Evangelical church and take a proper interest in the work of the church, as well as in the general good works of the community.

CHARLES H. MARTIN.

One of the most progressive farmers of Barada precinct, Richardson county is Charles H. Martin, who was born May 14, 1863, in Fremont county, Iowa. He is a son of John I. and Rachel (Reeves) Martin, both natives of Illinois, where they spent their earlier years, but came to Iowa in pioneer times. John I. Martin, who was born on June 12, 1839, is a son of Isaac Martin, who settled at Tarkio, Missouri, about 1844, later moving to Fre- mont county, Iowa, thence to Richardson county, Nebraska, in 1866, settling near what is now the Falls. school house. Isaac Martin bought a farm one mile north of Falls City, of Jesse Crook, for which he paid only five dollars per acre. John I. Martin paid only three dollars and twenty-five cents per acre for his land, which he improved and there reared his children, and he made his home in Richardson county many years, but finally moved back to. Iowa. He spends his winters in California, and the rest of the time with his sons in Richardson county. The wife of John I. Martin was born on December 11, 1840, and died on December 15, 1908. To these parents the following children were born: Sarah Alice, born in Iowa, May 16, 1861, died August 9, 1863; Charles Herny, of this sketch; Elza, born June II. 1866, lives at Hotchkiss, Colorado; Mary Florence, October 16, 1867, died

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at Howe, Idaho, April 5, 1914; Della Maria, April 21, 1870, died August 18, 1871; Joseph Wesley, October 12, 1872, lives at Paona, Colorado; Susan Nellie, June 24, 1872, died August 10, 1879; John Ambrose, May 12, 1877 is the present postmaster at Barada, Nebraska; Mrs. Clara Lulu Stephens, January 25, 1879, lives in San Diego, California, and Mrs. Ella Sayre, wife of Harvey Sayre, was born on October 28, 1881, and lives at Hotchkiss, Colorado.

Charles H. Martin spent his boyhood in Richardson county and he received a common-school education here and in Fremont county, Iowa. He first attended school in his grandfather's home, taught by his aunt, Mary Mar- tin, who later married Isaac Ryan. He also attended the old Maddox school. He remained with his parents on the farm until he was twenty-two years old, in 1885, when he began farming on his grandmother's place, now owned by William Nutter. After living there two years he moved to a farm in Barada precinct, where he spent three years, then moved to Colorado, in 1890, where he engaged in farming until 1896, having pre-empted forty acres, also bought forty acres. He carried on farming there by irrigation and prospered and lived there until 1897. It was a new country and he endured many hard- ships. It was thirty-five miles to the nearest railroad, and prices for all house- hold supplies were very high. On account of his wife's health he sold out and returned to Nebraska and secured the farm he now owns, consisting of eighty acres in Barada precinct, on which land he has erected an attractive new home and has made other important improvements. It is well located one mile north of the village of Barada. He also owns a good farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Barada, precinct.

Mr. Martin was married on March 4, 1886, to Addah Dakota Butler, who was born on May 24, 1866, in Vermilion county, Illinois. She is a daughter of Ephraim Porter and Minerva J. Butler, who are mentioned in the sketch of W. F. Butler, appearing elsewhere in this volume.

The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Martin: Alta Ruth, born on January II, 1887, is the wife of Philip Markt, of Oregon, Missouri, and they have four children, Morris Henry, Bernice, Merrill and Adeline; Grace Elfie, October 14, 1889, is the wife of Roy Dunn of Falls City, Nebraska, and they have four children, Fern, Dale, Delpha May and Melvin Henry, December 5, 1896, is working with his father on the home farm.

Politically, Mr. Martin is a Republican. He served as precinct com- mitteeman of Barada precinct for several years. He is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and belongs to the Evangelical church.

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ROLAND M. HILL.

Though for some years past a resident of Greeley county, Roland M. Hill, a substantial farmer and landowner of that county, has never lost in- terest in the affairs of Richardson county, in which county he was reared, back in pioneer days, and it is but fitting that there should be included in this volume of history and biography relating to Richardson county, some mention of the part he formerly took in the affairs of this county, together with a biographical sketch.

Roland M. Hill is a native of the Dominion of Canada, born in the province of Ontario, September 28, 1858, son of E. C. and Arcosh (Kal- lustine) Hill, who were the parents of twelve children, three of whom were born on September 28. When Roland M. Hill was seven years of age his parents came from Ontario to Nebraska and settled on a pioneer tract in the precinct of Grant, in Richardson county, where they established their home, influential and useful pioneers of that part of the county, further and fitting mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume in a biographical sketch relating to E. C. Hill, Jr., who is still living in this county. On that pioneer farm Roland M. Hill grew to manhood, receiving his elementary schooling in such schools as the district was able to provide in those days. and in 1881, some little time after he had attained his majority, he entered the State Normal School at Peru and was in attendance at that institution for two years. He then returned to the home farm and was engaged in farming there until 1888, in which year, he meanwhile having learned the art of railroad telegraphing, he was appointed night operator at the station at Humboldt and was there thus engaged for eighteen months, at the end of . which time he was transferred to the office at Saltillo, where he remained as operator from the spring of 1891 to the spring of 1894. Mr. Hill then left the key and for a year thereafter was again engaged in farming, but in August, 1896, he resumed his old employment as a railroad telegraph oper- ator and was assigned to duty in the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy station at Violet. Not long afterward he again was sent to the station at Saltillo and there he remained until late in the fall of 1897, when he was transferred to the Lincoln division and was thereafter for four years stationed at Horace. During the time he was looking after the railroad's interests at Horace he also was engaged in buying grain for the Central Granary Company. In 1901 Mr. Hill was transferred to the station at Wolbach, but fifteen days later was given charge of the station at Brayton, in Greeley county, where

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he remained until in November, 1907, when he resigned his position with the railroad company and went to McCook, in the neighborhood of which place he was for. four years thereafter engaged in farming a tract of land his father owned there. In the meantime he had bought a ranch of his own in Greeley county and in time located on the same and has since made that his place of residence, having developed a fine bit of farming property there. In addition to the quarter section he owns in Greeley county Mr. Hill is the owner of a quarter of a section in Grant precinct, this county, a part of the Hill estate, and one hundred and eighty acres in the neighborhood of McCook, a part of his father's estate there, also one hundred acres in Can- ada, part of his father's estate, and is doing well in his general farming and stock-raising operations.

On December 24, 1895, Roland M. Hill was united in marriage to Mrs. Nettie Decamp, of Vesta, this state, a widow, and to this union eight children have been born, Vera, Roland M., Annis, Ruth, Warren, Lyle, Grace and Leah. Mr. Hill is a Republican. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and takes a warm interest in Masonic affairs.

WILLIAM L. STEPHENS.

William L. Stephens, farmer, of Barada precinct, Richardson county, was born on December 17, 1861, in Nemaha county, Nebraska, near the line between that county and Richardson county and only two miles front his present home. He is a son of John L. and Elizabeth (Rutledge) Stephens. The father was born in 1833 and died in 1899. He was a native of Maryland, and was a son of Jeremiah Stephens, who was of Scotch descent. Elizabeth Rutledge was born in 1838 and died in 1892. She was a daughter of William Rutledge. In 1857 John L. Stephens made the long journey by rail and steamboat from Maryland to northwestern Missouri, locating near Sonora. In the spring of 1858 he came to Nemaha county, Nebraska, locating on a farm in the southeastern part of that county. In 1863 he settled in section 3, Barada precinct, Richardson county. He was a typical pioneer, and lived in pioneer fashion. During the old freight- ing days he owned teams and a complete outfit for hauling and frequently sent them across the great plains. He bought land in the "Half-Breed Reser- vation," which he improved and engaged in general farming and stock rais- ing there a number of years. His family consisted of four children,

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namely: Anna, who was the wife of George Marsh, is now deceased; George, who died in infancy; William L., of this sketch, and Ella, who mar- ried Will Casey, is deceased. George Marsh, mentioned above, who served as county clerk two terms and as county treasurer two terms of Richardson county, also served two terms as secretary of state of Nebraska. He now makes his home in Lincoln, this state. He has long been prominent in public affairs.

William L. Stephens grew up on the home farm in Nemaha county and he attended the early-day schools. He has devoted his life to agricultural pursuits. He owns one hundred and eighty acres in Beddo Creek valley, where he located in pioneer days. In fact, he has made his home in the same place for a period of fifty-four years. Years ago his father built a substantial brick house, which is now surrounded by evergreens. His home is modern in its appointments and the surroundings are attractive. He is only forty-five minutes from Falls City, and, all in all, has no desire to quit the farm and spend his declining years in town, as so many farmers are doing nowadays. His father erected the first brick house here in 1873, and in 1914 the subject of this sketch built an addition, remodeled and mod- ernized the entire home. He has been very successful as a general farmer and stock raiser.

Mr. Stephens was married on March 28, 1900, to Lena Georges, who was born on July 12, 1866, on a farm adjoining that on which Mr. Stephens was reared. She is a daughter of Frederick and Elizabeth (Baker) Georges, both of French extraction. They were pioneers of Richardson county. The father was born in France, where he resided until 1851, when he came to America, locating first in Buffalo, New York. In 1854 he came to Rich- ardson county, Nebraska, and established the future home of the family, becoming one of the successful pioneer farmers here. He was born on May 20, 1819, and died October 23, 1901. His wife was also born in France and she crossed the Atlantic with friends, the trip requiring fifty-six days. After living in New York for three years she came West. Mr. and Mrs. Georges were married in 1857. They bought land in the Indian reser- vation in Richardson county and there developed a good farm on which they spent the rest of their lives.

Politically, Mr. Stephens is a Republican. He and Mrs. Stephens belong to the Brethren church. He is well and favorably known over the county, which he has lived to see develop from a wild prairie country to one of the best improved farming localities in the state.

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PAUL HESSLER.

Perhaps the oldest and certainly one of the best-known harness dealers in southeastern Nebraska is Paul Hessler of Falls City, Richardson county, who was born in Buffalo, New York, November 7, 1855. He is a son of Gottlieb T. and Louisa Hessler, both natives of Austria, where they grew up and where the father learned the cabinet-maker's trade which he followed for some time in the city of Vienna. He immigrated to America in 1853, and followed his trade in Buffalo, New York. He removed to Richardson county, Nebraska, April 15, 1870, locating in Arago precinct on a farm three and one-half miles west of old Arago. Here he developed a good farm and continued in agricultural pursuits for the rest of his life, dying on October 29, 1889. His family consisted of six children, five of whom came to Neb- raska ; they were named as follows: Charles, now living in Seattle, Wash- ington : Paul of this sketch; Mrs. Emily Evans of Norton, Kansas; Edward is engaged in truck farming near Kansas City, Missouri; George lives at Cashion, Kingfisher county, Oklahoma, and Mrs. Carrie Stackhouse, in Tona- wanda, New York.

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History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions, Part 91

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