USA > Nebraska > Seward County > History of Seward county, Nebraska, together with a chapter of reminiscenses of the early settlement of Lancaster county > Part 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26
The Presbyterian church was organized in the summer of 1868, by Rev. Dr. McCandlish, of Omaha, with a very small membership, and Rev. George B. Smith was called to the pastorate and filled their pulpit very acceptably for several years.
Under the leadership of Rev. E. L. Clark, the missionary Baptist church was organized March 1, 1870, with seven members. The good old man continued pastor of his flock until the close of his honored life, which terminated in the early spring of 1873. Elder Clark was a great favorite with all the people, and was honored by the county with a seat in the last territorial and first state legislature. He was highly respected by all his colleagues and honored with a place on several important committees.
The Nebraska Reporter was first issued in the summer of 1871, by Charles Crony, shortly after the platting of the Harris, Moffitt & Robert's addition to Seward. Mr. Crony was here with his paper in time to take a hand in the county seat fight in our last campaign. Also in the railroad fight of 1872. The Reporter was a good fighter in its younger days. It was continually at war with the Blue Valley Record and with its contemporary, the Atlas.
About this time Cloyd and Ingham purchased the Atlas and tried to convert it into a mammoth literary paper, which proved a splen- did failure. Later Prof. Ingham withdrew from it and Mr. Cloyd converted it into a Democratic paper, and so it remained during the remainder of its romantic career, which terminated in 1874.
About this time the Reporter fell into the hands of Thomas Wolfe, and under his guiding hand it improved its fighting qualities. Born in times of excitement, its chief joy was to have a hand in all political and sectional strife. Its life was a vigorous one. It came to stay, and was ever ready to give or receive the hardest of blows, and like all vigorous papers, had the warmest of friends and the most bitter enemies.
Its contemporaries, the Atlas and Record, had given up the ghost, and left it master of the field for a little season, but its rest was of
49
HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
short duration. In February, 1877, W. S. Walker, a peculiar and erratic character, emerged from his mountain home, and started the Seward Advocate. The two papers soon found occasion to declare war, and they kept the air fairly blue. Notwithstanding both papers were Republican in politics, they were out of their element unless they were in the midst of a fight. In June, 1879, J. H. Betzer bought the Advocate, and rechristened it with the name, Blue Valley Blade. From the first the Blade seemed to have both edges sharp, and was prepared to cut a wide swath.
The bright glimmer of the Blade had about the same effect on the Reporter as the shaking of a red rag in the face of an angry bull. It seemed that both these papers were born to fight, and fight they must. Mr. Wolfe retired from the Reporter in 1882, and F. G. Simmons became the manager, when the hatchets were buried, and these two bright and valuable papers have found more congenial and profitable employment than scratching for each other's eyes, in working for the interests of Seward, the county, and the state. They have each made for themselves a splendid record in the later years. There have been several other attempts to maintain newspapers here, but none have succeeded until H. E. Maclellan started the Seward Dem- ocrat during the campaign of 1884. It seems to have good staying qualities.
In the winter of 1876-77, Rev. Mr. Haw made a futile attempt to start a Democratic paper, and again in the winter of 1881-82 James Brinkerhoff tried the same experiment, but failed.
Under the leadership of Rev. Mr. Skaigs, a class of the M. E. church was formed in the summer of 1867, but we fail to find the records of the same, and consequently all that we are able to say of the matter is from personal recollection. We remember that our young friend Skaigs was a wide-awake young fellow, and worked faithfully for his little flock. The next important epoch in the bis- tory of the M. E. Church, was under the pastorate of Rev. Combs (now deceased), in about the years 1874-5. When their church edifice was built, our friend Combs was a zealous and fearless worker in the vineyard, and his church flourished remarkably under his pastorate. Among the noble men that have honored the pulpits of Seward through so many years, there are none that more surely won the affections of the whole people than Brother Combs, and his early re-
4
50
HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
moval from the labors of life was keenly regretted by all that knew him. In connection with the building of the M. E. church, there was a peculiar character who certainly deserves more than passing notice. The person alluded to still lives, and is a member of this community and the church, but her life is so secluded that she is almost lost to the world, and but few of the present membership of the splendid con- gregation that worship within the walls of the edifice know of her existence, much less of her sacrifices in behalf of the church she so dearly loved. We are apt to forget our benefactors when we have be- come independent of them, but inasmuch as the business of the church is labors of love, we suggest that it would be well that the church should call to mind the debt of gratitude it owes to Mother Herrick in her old age. The principal part of all her worldly goods were freely laid upon the altar of the church, and were used to build its walls, and now she is living under its shadow in poverty, and we fear in sad neglect.
Great progress was made in town and county from the time of the completion of the Midland Pacific road in March, 1873, until mid- summer, 1874, when the grasshopper scourge fell upon us. The summer of 1874 was dry and well suited for the development of grasshoppers, much more so than for a vigorous growth of vegetation.
It is an old saying that calamities never come singly, and it was so with us that memorable year. In the early days of July it was exceed- ingly hot, and the wheat crop was seriously injured, so that the yield was light, and the quality was very poor; thus a very large slice of profits was clipped from each side of the wheat crop. Wheat at that time was the main dependence of our farmers, and they felt the loss seriously, and a general stagnation of business was the immediate result; this loss we could have borne, but in the hour when "we thought not," an invading army came on the wings of the north-west wind. The sun almost re- fused to give her light at noonday. The whole heavens were a living sea of insect life. As far as the eye could penetrate theskies, there seemed scarcely room for another hopper. They had come a long distance and were hungry and they proposed (like all hungry tramps) to dine with us. We were not pleased with our guests, but little did they care. They came for corn, and they took what we had, and made dessert of our garden truck, such as cabbage, turnips, onions, and in fact about every living plant, and finished by each taking a chew of green to-
51
HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
bacco, i. e., if the few tobacco patches furnished each a chew, at least they took the last vestige of it, and our observation showed that they all spit tobacco juice, or something like it.
Of this we are sure, they are the worst lot of tobacco chewers we have met. Those who never saw a swarm of grasshoppers can form no idea of the immensity of their number; we should judge Seward county cannot produce the same heft in cattle in fifty years as would these insects weigh that foraged on our fields, meadows, and gardens in those memorable days of August, 1874. This calamity fell like a wet blanket on all interests in the county, not only in Seward county, but the whole West.
Great numbers of our people were very poor, and the loss of a crop was virtually losing their all. Lands depreciated in value, and all classes of personal property were a drug in the market, except grain, of which we had none to sell, and hardly half enough for home use. Hogs were sold as low as one and one-half cents per pound, and slow sale at that.
Quarter sections of land that would now readily bring $4,000, were begging for a market at $300 to $400. Destitution and want stared the people in the face, and had it not been for kind people in the old states, the suffering would have been fearful to contemplate. Thousands of noble men and women came to the rescue, and sent of their stores food, clothing, and fuel for the relief of the people, and right here it is fitting that we should acknowledge the important part the railroads had in this work of relief. They generously brought thousands of tons of coal, and millions of pounds of merchandise to the very doors of these famishing people without money and without price, and in those dark hours of sorrow they earned the lasting gratitude of all concerned.
The well-to-do people of our own county and state were divided into two distinct classes. One class, and we are happy to say the larger class, were ready and anxious to do all in their power for the relief of their less favored neighbors. Many of them gave freely of their own scanty store of money, food, and clothing, and organ- ized relief associations, and used their influence with their eastern friends, and denied themselves of ease and comfort to save others from cold and hunger. These people are entitled to the gratitude of all recipients of their good favors.
52
HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
Then the other class are entitled to remembrance, but in a different way. We mean the vultures that were not only blessed with plenty, and ought to have been anxious to give of their bountiful store, but instead of that, they were ever on the alert to steal from famishing children and helpless widows what better people were sending to them. We speak what we know, for it was our fortune or misfortune to be brought into very close relations with thousands of the suffering, and we well remember what a fight we had to keep these vultures at bay. There were scores of them who richly deserve to have their names published, that they might enjoy the just execration of man- kind. Their names should be covered with everlasting shame.
During the year 1875, everything pretty much was at a standstill, both in business circles and with the farmers. The railroad lands that had been purchased were nearly all abandoned, and hundreds of homestead entries were shifted off at whatever they would bring, and a feeling of despondency was brooding over all our land. Many fields were permitted to grow up to tall weeds.
A mortal dread of a return of our implacable enemies was imbedded in the minds of the people, and the best of them were cogitating in their minds as to whether they had not made a mistake in coming to Nebraska. Some brave spirits were able to look through and be- yond the gloom to brighter days, and such did all they could to en- courage people to hold their lands.
Fair crops blessed the faithful efforts of the husbandmen, and hope revived, and in the spring of 1876 things began to move again as in other years. New people began to come forward and occupy the vacant places.
Some valuable improvements were made during the summer and fall in town and county. Walker's opera house and one or two other brick blocks were added to the permanent structures in Seward. The Midland road had been graded to York in the summer of 1875, but no track was laid until the summer of 1877.
Grasshoppers visited us again in 1876 in great numbers, but they came a little later in the season; and while the devastation wrought was great, it was not so complete as before. They left us a sufficient amount of corn with which to tide over. Our small grain was fairly good that year, and it was secure, and our people were able, with close pinching, to get through the winter without assistance. The centen-
58
HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
nial year brought many new people into the county, who were at- tracted by our cheap lands, and generally they were men of more means than emigrants of former years, and they began making more extensive improvements in the way of building better houses, build. ing barns, fencing pastures, introducing the tame grasses, bringing in improved breeds of cattle and horses, planting trees, forest and fruit. One special event of this season was our centennial celebration on the 4th of July. This was the most notable gathering that had ever met in the county, both in numbers present and in the general interest manifest. At least five thousand assembled to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of our independence, and it comprised much more than half the entire population of the county. All the people took hold of the matter with an enthusiasm that was truly commendable, and we think that celebration is worthy to be marked as an epoch in our history.
Now it becomes a painful duty to record the most sorrowful event in all our history. Thus far no tragic event had occurred to mar the peace of our people. We had been noted for sobriety, industry, and general good behavior, notwithstanding we were drawn together from so many localities in our own country and foreign lands. With all our diversified peculiarities, and with all our different, and in many cases antagonistic, interests. no human blood had been shed in all our bor- ders until the sad event of which we now write. One beautiful morn- ing in the month of May, while all nature was smiling with gladness, and our little city was basking in the sun, enjoying the fragrance of the opening buds of spring, there breaks upon our ears the astounding news that a man, a neighbor, had been murdered. A chill of horror ran through the community as the news rapidly spread that Nathan Clough was the victim, and that he lay in the loft of the Blue Valley House barn wrapped in a bloody mantle of death. Suspicion was fastened upon various characters who harbored around the hotel, and a close surveillance was kept upon many while the coroner and his jury were trying to fathom the mystery.
The air was filled with rumors, and the people were almost wild with excitement. The jury was in session for about nine days. Mean- time the excitement spread from Seward throughout the county, and then to the uttermost bounds of the state, and far into adjoining states, and it was the absorbing theme of conversation everywhere through-
54
HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
out the country. The newspapers were full of it. The pleasant sun- shine of that morning was turned into a dark cloud that hung like a pall over our fair city. There was apparently an instantaneous suspicion arising in the minds of the people far and near that the foul deed was committed by the brother of the deceased. It seemed to float in the very air, without the aid of the telephone. The business men of Seward were wisely cautious of their words, but the women and chil- dren would indiscreetly say., upon the spur of the moment, "It's nobody but Warren Clough." People from far in the country would come in and whisper, "I believe it's Warren Clough." Traveling men on the cars would read in a daily paper of the murder in Seward, and they would exclaim, "It's Warren Clough." Without evidence, or in advance of evidence, it was whispered into the ears and hearts of thousands of persons that Warren Clough was the murderer of his own brother. We confess that the impression darted through our mind unbidden, and entirely without evidence, and fastened itself upon us so firmly that we have never been able to shake it off. Why it was so it is impossible to explain. The jury traced every shadow to its substance, or until it entirely disappeared in the mist, and finally fastened the crime where the multitude had placed it without evidence. Warren Clough, after a long and tedious trial in another county (York), was convicted and condemned to death, which sentence was commuted to imprisonment at hard labor for life. We hope the jury acted only on evidence, and not preconceived impressions. Now long years have passed, and Warren Clongh has become an old man. His punishment has certainly been severe. He was convicted entirely on circumstantial evidence or impressions. We are not certain which had the most weight. Is it not time to remember mercy? We do not know whether it would be a mercy to restore him to the world, considering that his friends and property are gone, but, should he desire it, would it not be proper to give him the last few days of his life to enjoy freedom ? Let us remember the sentiment of Pope's universal prayer, "That mercy I to others show, that mercy show to me."
The year of 1877 brought several changes of importance, and marked a new era in the development of the county. The Midland Pacific railroad passed into the hands of the B. & M. company, the road pushed on to York and the town of Utica was founded.
55
HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
Among the first settlers of Utica we mention Hon. G. A. Derby, who settled on a homestead, a little to the north and west of the town, in 1872, and was among the first to commence improvement on the great prairie between Seward and York. Mr. Derby made very cred- itable improvements for that early day, and his house was the genial home of many a weary traveler, it being the only stopping place be- tween Seward and York. He was a wide-awake man, and as soon as the railroad was assured, he projected the town of Utica. He saw at a glance that the rich farming country that surrounded the place must of necessity have a trading point, and he went to work with that energy and determination that always brings success, and the flour- ishing town is the result. Mr. Derby has always been to the front as an enterprising citizen of that part of the county, and has used the best energies of his life for its development and advancement. Utica has grown and prospered until it has become an important village, with many fine business houses, good schools, commodious churches, and many excellent residences, with an intelligent and busy popula- tion, and is the third town in the county in population, business, and wealth, beautifully situated, surrounded by a splendid farming coun- try on all sides. Of her business interests we will speak more fully in a future chapter.
Howard M. Colman was also one of the first to settle on a home- stead in the locality of Utica. The date of his settlement was May, 1871. Mr. Colman has been thoroughly identified with the improve- ments and progress of Utica. We remember him when he was a homesteader and had to haul wood from the Blue river to keep the family from freezing. We are happy to note the fact that he don't have to haul wood now fifteen miles to keep the wife and baby warm.
George Liggett, who commenced the grain trade in Utica in the fall of 1877, took up a homestead on Lincoln creek in 1869, and after one year's enjoyment of a farmer's life, he moved to Seward and tried his hand at making harness for a time; when he thought he could see wealth or glory in Antelope county, and removed to that county ; after securing all the glory he needed he gave up the idea of getting wealth there, and returned, like a sensible man, to Seward, and studied the art of buying grain, and after graduating among the grain-buyers of Seward, commenced the practice of his profes- sion at Utica, with marked success, as his ample possessions demon- strate.
56
HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
Oscar Ragan, another of the first business men of Utica, settled on Lincoln creek as early as 1867. Mr. Ragan commenced the grain trade on a small scale in the fall of 1877, and has gradually grown rich, and may fairly be counted as one of the rich and prosperous men of the county. We must tell a little story of him that demon- strates some of the hardships of pioneer life. Mr. R. was very poor when he located on the homestead, as were all the neighbors. Many times the entire settlement would get very short of provisions, and at this time Oscar's family had been without meat for a long time. The elk and antelope had taken their departure, but Oscar thought he must have meat, and he went hunting. A long day's tramp, and nothing could be found except a chicken-hawk. Oscar said to him- self: "We're out of meat. I don't know how hawk will taste. I have heard of politicians eating crow. Guess it's all right." So he takes the hawk home, and it was prepared for the next day's dinner. A nice hawk pie was prepared, and, as Oscar was a generous soul, some of the neighbors were invited to the feast. The good wife had made all things ready, and the guests were seated at the table, with Oscar in his place at the head of the table. Each person was served with a plate of the dainty dish, and all commenced eating at the same moment. One mouthful partly swallowed, and Oscar, with a heav- ing breast, found it necessary to find the way to the door. The hawk showed great discontent in his stomach. Oscar was quickly followed by his guests, but they were not going to see what was the matter with Oscar. They each had serious business interests of their own to look after. Oscar has always, since that dinner experience, wondered how it can be that men can eat crow without wincing, as so many politicians have to do. He is quite sure that he never hankers after a hawk pie.
Thomas Standard and Joseph Jones have the honor of erecting the first building on the new town site, and opened the first stock of mer- chandise in the month of August, 1877. These enterprising gentle- men were homesteaders, each settling, in the year 1870, on lands in the western part of the county. We remember Mr. Standard, at an early date, as being the Standard thresherman of the county, and we are glad to be able to say that he proves Standard in all his under- takings. These men have proved to be quite successful as farmers and business men, and have helped, in no small measure, in building
57
HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
up Utica. George Goodbroad erected the first hotel in the same month, and Fritz Beckord opened a lumber yard at the same time. In the month of September Messrs. Goehner & Wilkins opened the second store, and C. C. Turner opened a blacksmith shop in October. Wm. Alexander also opened a grain house, and some other business interests were inaugurated during the same fall, and Utica at once assumed quite respectable proportions as a business center. It enjoyed from the beginning a large grain trade, and what is peculiar, her grain dealers have been prosperous in a marked degree.
We believe that Rev. C. E. Phinney was the first resident minister. He located in the neighborhood in 1874, and organized a Protestant Methodist church. However, a class of the M. E. church was organ- ized in 1872, at what was known as the Kincade school-house, three miles east of town, in the summer of 1872, by Rev. A. J. Folden, which class was re-organized by Rev. G. M. Couffer, of Milford, and established its permanent quarters at Utica in 1878. The church was quite prosperous and built a very creditable church edifice in the season of 1881. They had previously built a parsonage. The United Brethren church was organized in the summer of 1873 by the Rev. E. W. John- son (now an honored presiding elder in his denomination), at the Oliver school-house. Rev. Father C. J. Quinn established a Catholic mis- sion about the spring of 1880, and they now have a very neat house of worship. Miss Clara Derby taught the first school in that section of the county, in 1873, and Miss Rosa Hartley was the first teacher of Utica, in the spring and summer of 1878. The schools of Utica have kept pace with other improvements, and they now have a first- class graded school and a commodious building, with ample accom- modations.
We can hardly forego telling how and when we got our impressions of the great prairie upon which the fair little city stands.
Early in the summer of 1864, while yet a resident of Lancaster county, a project was set on foot to open a great freight road from the Missouri river leading through Lancaster (now Lincoln) and prospective Seward, and to the west. Uncle Jacob Dawson, of Lan- caster, made terms with the Mormon freighters, who had established their outfitting headquarters at Wyoming, five miles north of Ne- braska City, and led one of their great freight trains through Lancas- ter, and then secured our assistance as a pilot to conduct the train
58
HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
over the unbroken prairies through Seward county, and to a western connection with the great overland trail to the mountains. We led the train in triumph as far as the mouth of Plum creek, a half mile south of the present city of Seward. Here we had hoped to find an easy fording place, but when the trainmaster saw the river, he said that it would be out of the question, and a bridge must be built. So we summoned the entire neighborhood to our assistance, consisting of Wm. Imlay, R. T. Gale, David and Joseph Imlay, with Grandfather Imlay to watch the maneuvers and give words of encouragement, and with the help of sixteen stalwart young Mormon teamsters, we slashed down a hundred or more fine trees and built a log bridge and crossed the river with the huge wagons, and wended our way to the westward. Night overtook us on the great plain a little to the south and east of the future Utica. A corral was formed and supper pro- vided, and it fell to our lot to be stationed as one of the outer pickets to guard the cattle. The night was exceedingly hot, and we were in our shirt-sleeves. A heavy thunderstorm was rapidly approaching. The heavens were all aglow with the flashes of lightning. The thunder drums began to play at a fearful rate. Only when the sharp flashes would light up the ghostly surroundings could a thing be seen. The very blackness of the darkness veiled all from our sight, when, all at once, a terrific peal of thunder, with stunning effect, stampeded the cattle, ninety-eight head of great steers, and they came directly toward us, with all the fury of a full grown cyclone. Few and short were the prayers we said, and we thought not of writing these reminiscences, but thought good-by to all this world, but fortunately for the reminiscences, when, like a solid wall, like a great avalanche, they had reached within twenty feet of us, there was a vivid flash that lightened np the whole heavens, and our white shirt, we suppose, caused the herd to divide, and they thundered by us on either side so close as to almost graze our shirt sleeves. We devoutly thanked God for that flash of lightning and the white shirt. We are free to acknowledge that we were badly frightened-so much so that it effectually stopped our growth, and perhaps that night's ex- perience accounts for our diminutive stature.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.