USA > Nebraska > Seward County > History of Seward county, Nebraska, together with a chapter of reminiscenses of the early settlement of Lancaster county > Part 15
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Just as the year 1887 is closing an Anti-license club is organized that promises to be a power for good.
POSSIBILITIES OF SEWARD AS A MANUFACTURING CENTER.
The wiser political economists have concluded that the best inter- ests of the whole people demand that the farm and the workshop should be as nearly side by side as possible. Where the crude mate- rial is grown or digged, there it should be wrought into proper shape for the use of man. Here in Seward county are countless millions of material that needs to be transformed into products of use and lux- ury. The cattle grazing upon a thousand hills call for dairy products, and packing-houses, tanneries, and soap factories. Our sheep call for carding machines, spinning-jennies, and cloth factories, and tailor- ing establishments. Our hogs are inviting packing-houses. Our flax demands oil mills, and twine mills, and rope factories. Our huge straw stacks speak loudly in behalf of paper mills. Our illimitable corn fields are a standing invitation to more and more feeders, corn starch factories, hominy mills, etc. Our inexhaustible soils, rich in all ingredients favorable for the production of vegetables and fruits, of the best, call for more canning establishments.
We have done remarkably well during the year 1887. Our pro- gress in the direction of manufacturing has been very satisfactory,
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but we have only commenced, and it seems to us to be no stretch of the imagination when we venture the prediction that ere the close of the century we may have a hundred manufacturing establishments within the city. At present we have six arms of railway reaching in as many directions, and a certain promise of more in the near future. We are happily situated in the midst of the finest fields for the pro- duction of raw material in the West, and with such grand facilities for reaching out to the world's markets, nothing should hinder the investment of capital in these enterprises.
SEWARD SCHOOLS.
The first school-house built on the town site was the frame house that is now the residence of Hugh Hunter, and it stood on same ground now occupied by the high school building. The schools, pre- vious to the fall of 1870, were taught in the old log cabin, in the winter of 1866-67 by W. W. Cox, and in the following summer by S. C. Ross, and by Miss Ella Tuttle (now Mrs. Martin Liggett, of Broken Bow) in 1868. In the summer of 1869 the old cabin was moved away, and what was known as the old sway-back house, on the site of H. Vanderhoof's house, was rented, and Miss Mattie Boyes (now Mrs. Kellogg Olmstead, of Orleans, Neb.) taught. Then L. G. Johns taught in a little building where Butler's block now stands; also, Miss McKillip (now Mrs. L. G. Johns) taught in the same place.
H. M. Coleman taught the first term in the frame school-house, and was followed by J. D. Messenger. Prof. O. S. Ingham taught several terms of a private school in the old court-house, in 1872; also, Miss Ella Benson (now Mrs. C. L. Lewis, of Rapid City, D. T.) taught one or two terms in the same place, and this lady was after- wards employed in the various departments of the schools for twelve consecutive years.
The high school building was erected in 1874, and Prof. Ingham was principal for two years, with three assistants-Mrs. Paddock, Mrs. Merrill (now of California), and Miss Benson. The principals since that date have been: -. Phillips, H. H. Wilson, J. M. Scott, H. Cummings, W. J. Wise, and N. F. Daum.
The board of education have found it necessary to add more and more buildings, until at present there are four primary buildings, and
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they have also added to the high school building so that it has near double its original capacity. The building is amply supplied with all modern apparatus and improvements. It requires twelve teachers to manage the various departments of the schools. Ten respectable classes have graduated from the high school. The present cost of maintaining the schools is about $5,600 per annum. The attendance has increased through the years from 32 to about 500, and is still rapidly increasing.
Some of the more distinguished members of the school board through the years were-Claudius Jones, R. S. Norval, H. L. Boyes, G. Babson, Jr., Mrs. E. M. Spear, Mrs. S. C. Langworthy.
From the able corps of teachers that have helped to build our schools, and that have finished their work, we mention A. A. Der- shimer, who died at his post, and the noble and intelligent Miss Birge, of Milford, and Miss June Taylor.
SEWARD AS WE SEE IT JANUARY 1, 1888.
Beautiful city ! She that has been celebrated in poetry and song as the "sleeping beauty of the Blue valley " has awakened to a new life. She has awakened from her restful sleep refreshed and strength ened, and to-day she sits a " very queen " upon this commanding hill, overlooking vast stretches of scenery most magnificent, with the me- andering river gently gliding by her feet and stretching from away in the northward to the southward, marked by its long line of timber in graceful curves, loops, and bows, singing in its ripples a sweet song of her power to turn the wheels of mills and factories as she wends her way toward the sunny south ; Plum creek, coming from the north-east, adding a charm as it winds among the beautiful farms and meadows, with its clusters of timber and varied landscapes ; and from the north-west comes that grand stream, with name immortal, Lincoln creek, through "verdant fields," a "very paradise."
Here she sits rejoicing in the richness and splendor of the surround- ings. These lands, rich in verdure, rich in all things necessary to make happy homes, orchards, meadows, and fruitful fields, rich in the " cattle upon a thousand hills," rich in hogs and horses, rich in its pure, sweet water and running streams, rich in railways and all the means of an extended commerce, rich in factories and workshops, rich in merchant princes, rich in churches with their spires pointing
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to the only better land, rich in schools and all opportunities for men- tal culture and advancement, and "last, but not least," rich in strong arms and brave hearts, ready and willing to pursue in the pathway of progress and achievement.
In the blazing light of the electric torch we may count to-night near three thousand souls within the city, and quite a large number in its immediate environs, which will soon become a part of the city. Forty substantial brick business houses grace our streets, many of which would be a credit to the largest cities. Three great lines of railway reaching in six directions, and making accessible to us the whole business of the world-the silks and teas of the Orient, the fruits of the Occident, the gold, silver, and rich gems of the mount- ains, the products of the great plains, the factories of New England, and all the vast and varied interests of our great country. Three lines of telegraph bearing to us on lightning's wing words of hope and cheer from all lands. A telephone through which we may talk to one another and to a hundred cities beside. An electric light to brighten our pathway. Well may we exclaim in the language of the old prophet, "Our light is come and the glory of God is risen upon us."
Our Morris keyless lock factory, one of the most extensive manu- facturing institutions in the West, and the most national in its char- acter of any factory in Nebraska, in fact we may say the field of its operations is the world. Its trade will soon reach into all lands, even to the islands of the sea. It is a matter of pride that the inventor of the loek is a citizen of Seward. Our oat meal mill, with its capacity of a hundred barrels of meal per day and using a thousand bushels of oats per day, freighting in and out from six to eight hundred car loads of grain and products per year. Our canning establishment, with its enormous capacity for using vegetables and storing them up for winter food for tens of thousands, and giving a grand market for the produce of the farms and gardens, and giving out labor for hun- dreds of men, women, and children. A machine shop and foundry of large capacity, a creamery, four banks, with a multitude of mer- cantile establishments in all the various lines of trade, with one of the best hotels in the West, "The Windsor," and several smaller ones, and numerous boarding houses, six restaurants, and nearly a hundred workshops, large and small, including factories, etc., etc.
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We mention blacksmiths, wagon makers, wire fence, tailoring, dress makers, millinery, cigars, broom makers, tinners, barbers, carpenters, newspapers, butchers, photographs, etc. With one of the best graded schools of our state, with a fine structure for the high school, seven departments, and four primary buildings, and employing twelve teachers. With eight church edifices, with large congregations of worshipers and flourishing Sabbath-schools. A magnificent Odd Fellows hall, a good opera house, three weekly newspapers, an excel- lent flouring mill, many splendid residences and beautiful yards, splendid streets, and handsome parks, all amply supplied with trees and shrubs lending their enchantment and refreshing shade.
During the year just closed the growth in population and improve- ment has been wonderful. Her waste places have been made glad by the accession of a splendid new railroad, of three great new fac- tories, of a host of new buildings, several almost princely dwellings, one grand church, a great host of new people, and best of all a perfect restoration of confidence, and closing the old year with the electric torch-a grand triumph. We close this sketch of this beautiful city, our home, feeling the inspiration of our hope, always buoyant, now doubly sure that the possibilities of Seward are grand.
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CHAPTER VIII.
TRIBUTE TO THE MOTHERS AND WIVES OF THE PIONEERS-CLOTHING OF THE PEOPLE-THE FOOD OF THE PIONEERS-THEIR VISITS AND CUSTOMS-OUR PEOPLE, GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS-FIRST MARRIAGES-FIRST TERM OF DISTRICT COURT-OLD SETTLERS' REUNIONS-EXTRACT OF AN ADDRESS BY W. W. COX AT OLD SETTLERS' REUNION IN 1886-"MY WILDERNESS HOME IN CHILDHOOD,"' BY MRS. NETTIE M. PINGREE.
The mothers and wives of the pioneers are justly entitled to kind remembrance. They were devoted and self-sacrificing beyond meas- ure. The labor they performed and the hardships they endured should live in the hearts of the people to the remotest generation. Here is a picture not overdrawn : A young bride of twenty has left her father's home of comfort and luxury in the East, and with her young husband has turned her face toward the setting sun, with the determination to assist in hewing out a new home in the wilderness of the West. With no capital except a strong resolution to win and strong faith in the future, they bid adieu to friends and kindred, and with a steady eye fixed upon the star of empire they penetrate the wilderness. A little log cabin or a sod house or a dugout has been hastily built for shelter. A parlor, sitting room, kitchen, and bed room are all combined in one. The bare walls of this rude home are brought in contrast in the mind of the young wife with the beautiful home of her childhood, but in her young breast " hope is like an an- chor to the soul." When the first Sabbath dawns she may listen in vain for the sweet chimes of the church going bell, but looking out on the broad expanse of prairie all is solitary. Sometimes with heaviness of heart she labors on and on, and cheers the faltering heart of her husband in his endeavors. The little means that they have brought are rapidly melting away before any return for their labor is in sight. The beautiful garments of her youth are fading and becoming tattered. By and by she becomes a mother, and while the beautiful gift of heaven may bring joy and gladness, yet in the
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same train it brings anxieties and sorrows, a constant care by day and by night. The young father must sometimes go long distances from home, to be gone days at a time, to a mill fifty or a hundred miles away, or to a city far away, and the young mother and her darling must stay weary days and long nights in the lonely home, with no protector but her God. And now comes a strolling band of hungry Indians to frighten and annoy her, and while her child is screaming with fright she must stand in the door and face these ferocious wild men. She must frequently leave her child to cry, while she goes long distances after the cows, or to a distant spring for water, or carry the baby on her arm and a heavy bucket of water with the other. Then again harvest time comes or something else occurs when several work hands must be provided for, when, with seanty means at command she must perhaps carry the babe npon her arm and with the other do the work of cooking for the hands. And again when night comes she must divide her bed and make beds upon the cabin floor for the men, and as her husband keeps a "free hotel" for all strangers, she must deny herself and little ones ease and comfort to wait upon strangers, and frequently make her children wait at meal time while strangers eat their bread, and the mother and chil- dren make their meal from the scraps. This is no fancy sketch, it has occurred ten thousand times, of which there are plenty of living witnesses.
Oh! who but a mother can tell of the weariness of a mother's life on the frontier; so often struggling to keep the wolf from the door, so often beset with dangers, so often overworked with slavish labor, and so often overwrought with anxious care. No wonder that un- timely gray hairs appear, and that her cheeks are furrowed while she should yet be in the prime of her womanly strength and beauty.
Young men and maidens of Nebraska, you that have such pleasant homes to-day, will you please remember what it has cost your mother's in the years gone by to prepare these homes for you. In your grate- ful hearts will you in a becoming manner reverence and love them ? If you can fully realize what they have done for you in your imagina- tion it will surround their gray heads with grace and beauty, inter- ยท mingled with a halo of holy light.
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THE CLOTHING OF THE PEOPLE
during the first years of the settlement should perhaps receive some notice. It must be borne in mind that clothing was extremely high in price from 1863 to 1868. The commonest calico was worth from forty to fifty cents per yard. A pair of brogan shoes cost five dol- lars ; common domestic was worth from seventy-five cents to one dollar per yard, and all articles at about the same rate. Fine clothing was entirely out of reach of the common people, and were unseen in this country. The men were usually provided with a (condemned) soldier's overcoat, which were the cheapest garments in the market. Con- demned soldiers' blankets were also used to considerable extent. We have seen them made into overshirts, and then used for under- shirts. We have also known them to be made into pants. Our hats and caps were just what happened to come handy-sometimes caps of coon or badger skins; at other times some old garment would be ripped up and made into a cap; occasionally a chip hat was seen, but usually in a weather-beaten condition, and frequently it was minus a large part of the rim. A gray horse-blanket frequently served as a coat. Mittens were made rudely of skins of animals-elk, coon, or whatever came handy; sometimes they were made of old bits of cloth, and faced with pieces of old meal sacks, and meal sacks were fre- quently converted into pants. Strips of bed-ticking furnished us with suspenders. Our feet, perhaps, had the hardest time of it, as they were brought more directly into contact with frost and snow. The man that had a pair of good cowhide boots was fortunate, but he was an exception. We improvised moccasins, which at times we were fortunate enough to trade for with the Indians; then we would make them ourselves out of elk hides, or of cloth or sheep skins. Our poor feet were often in a sorry plight.
If our wives were fortunate enough to have two calico dresses in one year they were truly thankful. Sunbonnets of calico were com- monly worn to church, as well as the faded shawls of other years. Cloth slippers frequently served for shoes, or moccasins. We have known the old chests to be rummaged and old bedspreads, such as the dear old grandmothers wove, brought out as a last resort and . made into skirts and worn. In summer, men, women, young men, and maidens went barefoot to a great extent.
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Such clothing as we wore, even the best of us, would now be a laughing stock for you all, but then it was no laughing matter; now it's no matter how much you laugh. Should you see one dressed in the usual garb of 1864 and 1865 you would certainly think it to be a scarecrow, yet we were powerless to have it otherwise. We all felt the sting of the situation. We had many of us been used to better fare. We had just as noble aspirations as any of our present people. We all wanted to do better, and just as soon as it was possible we did do better.
Our food was usually plain and healthful. We used as a matter of necessity a great amount of corn bread and lye hominy. We gener- ally had a good supply of wild fruits, such as plums, grapes, gooseberries, alderberries, and raspberries. We made sorghum molasses for sweet- ening. Our new ground produced melons in grand profusion, and when we were fortunate enough to keep the Indians from stealing them, we enjoyed eating melons such as a king might admire. Our wives were almost universally good cooks, and they would come nearer getting up a good dinner out of poor material than most women do out of a well-supplied larder. At times our tables were supplied with delicious meats of antelope and wild turkeys, frequently of elk, and occasionally of buffalo. Then again we would have to depend upon smaller game, such as prairie chickens, rabbits, squirrels, etc- Atter the first year pigs began to accumulate, also domestic fowls, and occasionally a beet would be slaughtered, and also vegetables were produced, and the skies became brighter.
Later comers usually brought a little money, and we proved a blessing to them, as we usually had something to sell them that they most needed, such as grain, hay, poultry, a pig, a cow perhaps, some potatoes for seed, and we welcomed them heartily, for they brought us some money, which we sorely needed, and they brought us society, which we had longed for so patiently. They brought us hopes of schools and church privileges, for which we were hungry indeed. We began to renew our dilapidated clothing and live more like folks, and our lives were brighter and more cheerful for their coming.
Visiting on the frontier was a feature worth noticing. With all our poverty, we enjoyed visiting one another. We made no fashion- able calls, just to show what fine clothes we could wear. We were all ragged alike. When we went we aimed to put in the whole day,
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and took the whole family, and we invariably had a good time. One feature of these visits was that our good wives all knew one another's circumstances. If the neighbor to be visited was out of butter or meat, or any other article necessary to make a square meal, it was never an offense to look the cupboard over and take such things along as would supply a deficiency. That would now be considered an insult. Then it was the most common thing to take a roll of butter, a piece of meat, a few eggs, or anything that parties were fortunate enough to have, and that was known to be lacking at the place to be visited. People were always welcome at their neighbors' hearths.
OUR PEOPLE.
We are a mixed multitude. We have drawn our population from nearly all of the northern and eastern states-have representatives from Kentucky, Virginia, and the Carolinas. We have drawn more heavily on Illinois and Iowa than other states. Of our foreign-born people, the Germans perhaps exceed all others, although we have quite a respectable number from England, Ireland, and Sweden, with a few from France. We have drawn from the best blood of all lo- calities from which we emigrated. It certainly is the best class of people of any state or country that have a longing for a home of their own and that have the courage to break away from old home and old associates and face the dangers of the wilderness and all the privations of the frontier for the sake of a home, and of such are the masses of our people. Our Germans were principally thoroughly schooled in American ways of life in Illinois and Iowa, where they had a long residence prior to their coming here, and it is rarely that we find one who cannot talk our language fluently and has not an intelligent idea of our institutions. They are most universally an energetic and thrifty people, stepping to the front as farmers and business-men.
They have done much toward developing and enriching the county. They sustain in their various denominations ten churches, each with a creditable house of worship. There are quite a number of English people, who are among our most thrifty and valuable citizens. The same may be said of many Irish families, also Swedish, Danish, and French. All are represented by the intelligent and valuable of their respective countries. They are all here with a full purpose of becom- ing Americans and identified with the institutions of their adopted
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home. They are all making rapid progress in adopting American ways and methods, and we are fast becoming a homogeneous people. There are a very few families of colored people, probably not to ex- ceed six, and they are very worthy and industrious people. So far as we are advised all of them had been slaves when young, and it certainly is to their credit that they are doing so well.
The Americans of course largely preponderate in numbers, and they are universally intelligent and progressive, and the great mass of them are prosperous. There are hundreds who came to the county with little more than their bare hands and with large families, who now have beautiful homes and a great abundance of this world's goods. Their children have grown up intelligently, and the old folks are enjoying the fruits of a well-spent life.
We have in all parts of the county great numbers of the old soldiers, and it is a matter pride that they are so universally respected and honored for the honorable part they had in saving for us a home and a country, and for their sterling qualities as citizens.
FIRST MARRIAGES.
The first marriage in the county, as shown by the records, was that of John W. Pitt and Miss Elva S. Long, at the residence of Samuel Long, on the 12th day of November, 1866. The ceremony was performed by C. J. Neihardt, J. P.
The first marriage in G precinct and city of Seward was at the house of Lewis Moffitt, on the 20th day of March, 1867. The con- tracting parties were David P. Imlay and Miss Mary Moffitt, W. W. Cox, justice of the peace, officiating. On the 20th of April, 1867, the second wedding in "G" precinct was that of James A. Brown and Miss Sarah A. Imlay, at the residence of the bride's father, one and one-half miles north-east of the present city. We had the honor of officiating on that occasion.
PROBATE COURT RECORD.
We glean from the probate court records that the first letters of guardianship were issued by Judge Henry Wortendyke, on the 29th of January, 1870, to Sarah C. Wilcox, in matters of guardianship of the minor heirs of Syrel Tift.
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FIRST DISTRICT COURT.
The first term of the district court was held in Seward county, at Milford, November 15, 1869, Judge Geo. B. Lake presiding. Frank M. Elsworth was appointed district attorney. First case on the docket was John W. Shields vs. J. L. Bandy. The only state case was against W. H. Tuttle, for an assault on Jonathan Gordon. Mr. Tuttle got clear of the charge, but the prevalent impression was that he ought to be fined for not doing a more thorough job.
J. C. Cowin, of Omaha, was the first district attorney of the dis- triet who attended our court, which was held in the year 1870, at Milford.
The first term held at Seward was in the spring of 1872, Judge Lake on the bench. T. L. Norval was appointed district attorney. At that term the famous Courtwright injunction case came up, in which Judge Lake made the injunction against the Midland R. R. and the county commissioners perpetual.
Judge Lake held the office of judge of this judicial district until the year 1876, when the districts were changed and the sixth district was formed. Geo. W. Post was elected, and he was re-elected and served until the spring of 1883, when he resigned, and T. L. Norval was appointed by Gov. Dawes to fill the vacancy. Judge Norval was elected in the fall of 1883 and has held the office since that date, and was re-elected in the fall of 1887. M. B. Reese was elected dis- trict attorney, and held the office until 1882. Thos. Darnall was elected to the place in the fall of 1882, who held the place until January, 1887, when the law took effect making county attorneys, at which time R. P. Anderson was elected to the office of county attorney.
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