History of western Nebraska and its people, Vol. III, Part 105

Author: Shumway, Grant Lee, 1865-
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., The Western publishing & engraving co.
Number of Pages: 1056

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ROBERT H. FAIRBAIRN, Jr., who is ex- tensively and successfully engaged in farming and stockraising in Morrill county, has not been a continuous resident since he first came here, many years ago, but has never lost in- terest in this section, and though property be- longing to his mother, felt somewhat bound here before he invested on his own account. He is well known and highly respected citizen of Morrill county.

Robert H. Fairbairn, Jr., was born in Green Lake county, Wisconsin, October 23, 1867. He bears his father's name, who was also a native of Wisconsin and a well known minis- ter of the Congregational Church in that state. After moving to New Hampton, Iowa, he was editor of the New Hampton Courier for thirty-five years. The mother of Mr. Fair- bairn, Mrs. Lucy ( Beshee) Fairbairn, was

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born in Wisconsin and now resides at Red- ington, in Morrill county, Nebraska.

Mr. Fairbairn was reared in Wisconsin and Iowa and had excellent school advantages. He accompanied his mother to Nebraska in 1893, who homesteaded here, and he lived on her homestead and did some farming and im- proving, then went to Chicago, where he was employed until 1909, when he once more re- turned to Nebraska and again took charge of the homestead. He has devoted himself quite closely since then to general farming and stockraising, owning eleven hundred and sixty acres and employing two hundred and twen- ty-five acres in dry farming.

Mr. Fairbairn was married to Augusta Beck- er, who was born in Buffalo county, Wiscon- si11, October 11, 1834. Her father was born in Germany, came to the United States in boy- hood, was a soldier in the Civil war and after- ward a farmer in Wisconsin, where he died in 1893 ; the mother of Mrs. Fairbairn also being deceased. They have three daughters: Ruth, who is the wife of Earl Perkins, of Bridge; port; Grace, who is the wife of Charles W. Newkirk, a farmer in Morrill county ; and Ora, who is the wife of George Newkirk. Mrs. Fairbairn is a member of the Christian Church. While Mr. Fairbairn has never ac- cepted a public office, having no desire for political honors, he is an active, interested and useful citizen in private life. He is a Repub- lican.

THOMAS B. LANE, Jr., a representative citizen and successful general farmer of Mor- rill county, owns well improved land situated 011 section 22, town 22, to which he came in 1914. Mr. Lane was born in South Dakota, December 9, 1885, and is the son of Thomas and Carrie ( Foster) Lane. Both parents were born in Illinois and the father carried on farm- ing there for a number of years before moving to South Dakota. Later he came to Valley county, Nebraska, and both he and his wife now live there.

Thomas B. Lane, Jr., obtained his educa- tion in the public schools and has been a farm- er all his life. In 1914, he came to Morrill county, Nebraska, from South Dakota, and in the same year homesteaded eighty acres of unimproved land. Considering how short a time has elapsed since then, Mr. Lane has made remarkable progress in the way of de- veloping and improving and he now has forty acres irrigated. He feels well repaid by its added yield for all it has cost him and proba- bly the other forty will soon be equally pro- ductive.

In 1911, in South Dakota, Mr. Lane was united in marriage to Miss Annie Smitlı, who was born in that state and is a daughter of Conrad and Mary Smith, natives of Wiscon- sin. The father of Mrs. Lane was a farmer and both parents are deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Lane have three children: Vernon, Dorothy and Orville. Mr. Lane is an independent voter.

CHARLES H. SMITH, prosperous farmer and respected citizen of Morrill county, las been a resident of Nebraska for nineteen years. He has been a general farmer all his life, first in Wisconsin and later in Banner and Morrill counties, Nebraska, and his long ex- perience has served to make him a pretty fair judge of what it means to engage time, energy and money in agricultural industries in order to make tliem profitable. He was born on his father's farm in Green county, Wisconsin, June 1, 1872.

The parents of Mr. Smith were James H. and Polly ( Baily) Smith. Both were born in Wisconsin where their parents had been pio- neer settlers. For many years the father fol- lowed general farming in Green county, Wis- consin, where he was a man of more or less local importance. In 1900, he became im- pressed with the opportunities offered in Ne- braska and with his family came to Banner county and homesteaded. He continued a farmer during the rest of his active life and lived near Gering in Scottsbluff county at the time of his retirement and subsequent removal to California. He still resides there, being in his seventy-second year, but the mother of Charles H. died in the California home in 1919, aged sixty-four years.

Charles H. Smith was reared in Wisconsin and obtained a public school education. He accompanied his parents to Banner county, Nebraska, locating first near Gothenburg in Dawson county, from which place he came to Morrill county and homesteaded. At that time his hundred and sixty acres were wild prairie and for the first six years he found little compensation for all the hard work he put on the land, the lack of moisture being a continual setback. Then came irrigation and with the lifegiving water the really fertile soil was able to respond to cultivation and Mr. Smith now has one of the best farms in the county. He has a hundred and forty acres in his home place and all of this tract has been well improved. His buildings are commodious and substantial and on every side may be ob- served provision made for the carrying on of large industries in the best possible way.

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Mr. Smith was married to Miss Lizzie How- ard, who was born in Kentucky, December 15, 1885. Her parents, James and Eliza (Min- shall) Howard, were also born in Kentucky. In early manhood Mr. Howard worked on the railroad near Sidney, Nebraska, but later homesteaded in Banner county and still resides on his farm there. The mother of Mrs. Smith is deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have had children as follows: Lelia, deceased ; Mary, who is the wife of Ernest Foster, a farmer near McGrew, Nebraska; Henry, who assists his father on the home place; Arthur, de- ceased; and George, Roy, Luella and Leslie, all of whom reside at home. Mrs. Smith is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics Mr. Smith is a sound Republican. Although interested in all matters concerning the welfare of the county, he has never been willing to accept a public office, contenting himself with setting a good example of sensi- ble, practical citizenship.

CHARLES R. CHURCHILL .- From ev- ery state in the Union young men have come to Nebraska, and Kansas has many worthy representatives here who have bettered their fortunes through the opportunities she has offered. There was a time when certain sec- tions of the state were called too dry to prove profitable for farming purposes, but now that the great irrigation projects have succeeded, no land in the country could be more desirable. This was the judgment of Charles R. Church- ill when he invested in Scottsbluff county land and he is well satisfied with the decision he made.

Charles R. Churchill was born in Phillips county, Kansas, September 21, 1876. He is the son of Henry and Sarah (Brown) Church- ill, the former of whom was born eighty-four years ago, in Ohio, and the latter, seventy- nine years ago, in Illinois. They still reside on their farm in Kansas. Mr. Churchill ob- taincd his education in his native state and grew up on the home farm. In 1906, he came to Scottsbluff county, Nebraska, and liome- steaded one hundred and sixty acres and has lived here ever since, now owning two irri- gated farms, both of which he has improved, aggregating three hundred and eighty-nine acres. Mr. Churchill has been very successful in his agricultural undertakings and is num- bered with the substantial men of the county.

In 1892, Mr. Churchill was united in mar- riage to Miss Olive L. Dickson, who was born in Kansas, October 12, 1882, and died at the age of thirty-six years. Her parents were Frank and Lucy (Bruner) Dickson, the latter

of whoin still lives in Kansas, but the former died in 1918. To Mr. and Mrs. Churchill the following children were born: Edith, Maxine, Clyde, Richard, Bernadine, Arthur and Alice. Mr. Churchill is an independent voter and has never accepted any political office. He belongs to the order of Modern Woodmen.

GUSTAVE WIKSTON, a well known and highly respected resident of Morrill county, resides on his valuable farm in the Bayard district, situated on section 5, town 21, to which he came in 1900. Mr. Wikston was born on his father's farm in Sweden, February 1, 1858. His parents were Peter and Mary Wikston, neither of whom ever left their na- tive land. They were honest, hardworking people who brought their children up to be frugal and industrious.

While Mr. Wikston had no educational ad- vantages in his boyhood to compare with those he has been able to give to his own children, he had some schooling and was a well in- formed youth of nineteen years when he came to the United States. As he had had farm training in his own land, it was on a farm that he sought and found employment in How- ard county, Nebraska, and continued to work there, in the vicinity of St. Paul, from 1877 until 1888, when he moved into Box Butte county and homesteaded. From there he came to Morrill county in 1900 and shortly after- ward bought a quarter section of unimproved land. It is an interesting story that Mr. Wik- ston can tell of what hard work it was to get his land properly developed and substantially improved, and of the wonderful advantage that irrigation has been. His land is favorably sit- uated for crop growing and this property in- vestment in Morrill county has made him financially independent. He has practically re- tired from active labor, his eldest son having taken over the management of the farm.

At St. Paul, Nebraska, in 1882, Mr. Wik- ston was married to Miss Matilda Olson, who was born in Sweden, October 12, 1859. Her parents wert Olaf and Anna Olson, both of whom spent their lives in Sweden, where the father was a general farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Wikston have had children as follows : Elmer, who operates the home farm in Morril coun- ty ; Oscar, who is a farmer in Morrill county ; Ira, Thomas and John, all of whom live at home, and Edna, who is deceased. Mr. Wik- ston and his family are members of the United Brethren Church at Bayard. For many years he has been an American citizen and early identified himself with the Democratic party in politics. Wherever he has lived in the great

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country to which he came in youth, he has found good friends, for he has been peaceful, helpful and neighborly, ever endeavoring to do his full duty.

COLE HUNT, whose thorough farm meth- ods and general enterprise are making the old Hunt homestead one of the best farm proper- ties in Morrill county, was born in eastern Ne- braska, April 13, 1895, and has spent his life in his native state. With the good judgment that marks many young men in modern days, he has chosen agriculture as his life work and is devoting his best energies to the further de- velopment of the excellent property left by his father.

The parents of Mr. Hunt were John and Lillie (Gilmore) Hunt, the former of whom was born in Ohio, June 9, 1848, and the latter in York county, Nebraska, June 3, 1864. In 1875, John Hunt came to eastern Nebraska where he bought land and followed farming for some years, then moved to Box Butte county and homesteaded and the family lived there for eight years. In 1898, Mr. Hunt saw what he considered better opportunities in Morrill county, came here and bought two hundred and forty acres of land which, at that time, was entirely unimproved. He continued the practical development of his farm until the close of his life. He was widely known and highly respected. To John Hunt and his wife the following children were born: Eva, who is the wife of Elmer Bennett, of Minneapolis, Minnesota ; Lillie, who is the wife of Alexan- der Underwood, of Box Butte county ; George, who resides at Spokane, Washington; Susie, who is the wife of Arthur Jones, of Grand Island, Nebraska; John E., who was a soldier in the American Expeditionary Force in Europe during the World War and was in the army of ocupation in Germany ; Omar, who is deceased ; Cole, who operates the home farm as mentioned above; Nellie, who is the wife of Leslie Allen, a farmer in Morrill county, and Nettie, who is deceased. The mother of the above family still resides on the home farm. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Cole Hunt took charge of the farm for his mother soon after completing his education. He is a level-headed, serious-minded young man, a hard worker and close thinker. To him farming is not merely an occupation but a business that is deserving of a man's best ef- forts. He has been very successful in his work here, has the land all irrigated, makes

every acre return a profit. At present he is not particularly active in politics.

HARRY G. GREEN, who is a general farmer and stockraiser in Kimball county, is a highly respected, reliable citizen, and a good influence in his neighborhood. He was born in Maryland, February 14, 1870. His parents, Thomas and Rebecca Green, came early to Maryland and located in Harford county. The mother died in 1886, and the father in 1893. He followed farming and blacksmithing. Of his children, Harry Giles was the fourth born, the others being as follows: George and Wil- liam, both of whom are deceased; Thomas, who is connected with the creamery at Kim- ball; Robert, who is a farmer, is also in the monument business at Stewartstown, York county, Pennsylvania; and Margaret, who lives in the city of Baltimore.

Mr. Green obtained his education in Mary- land, from which state, when fifteen years old, he came to Cass county, Nebraska. In the following spring he began farming with a cousin and continued a farmer in Cass and Kearney counties until 1913, when he came to Kimball county. Here he bought a half sec- tion of land, situated two and a half miles west and one and a half miles south of Bushnell. where he has been engaged in general farming and stockraising ever since, carrying about thirty head of stock a season. Mr. Green owns also a tract of five acres in Columbia Heights, a choice residential suburb of Lin- coln, which ultimately will be a part of the city.

In 1904, at Plattsmouth, Nebraska, Mr. Green was married to Miss Levonia Bell Van- scoyor, who is a daughter of Owen Kinney and Rosa Ann (Lucas) Vanscoyor. The father of Mrs. Green was born in an eastern state and the mother was reared in Kansas. Both parents died at Lewisville, Nebraska. Mrs. Green has the following brothers : Charles H., who is a stonemason living at Lewisville : John F., who is in business at Lin- coln ; William H., who is a carpenter at Lew- isville; LeRoy, who has farm interests in- Colorado, lives at Dix, Nebraska ; and Dar- win J., who is a railroad elevator builder. Mr. and Mrs. Green had one child born to them but it did not survive infancy. They are mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Green has never taken a prominent part in pol- itics, his idea of good citizenship being the faithful carrying out of everyday duties and neighborly helpfulness and good will.

MR. AND MRS. F. O. WISNER

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

RAY A. WISNER, editor and proprietor of the Bayard Transcript, of Bayard, Ne- braska, has a fine property which he built up from the bottom. The paper came into his hands practically worthless a little over a de- cade ago, and now it is known and valued all over the county, is an influential political fac- tor and recognized advertising medium along progressive lines, while its large subscription list is constantly growing. By inheritance and training Mr. Wisner is a newspaper man.

Ray A. Wisner was born at Kilbourn, Adam county, Wisconsin, May 26, 1883. He is a son of Francis O. Wisner, who was a pioneer in the North Platte Valley and was one of the first and ablest newspaper men in Nebraska, and is well remembered for his journalistic enterprises and his determination to make a newspaper what he believed it ought to be. His standard was high but he maintained it as long as he lived. When he came to Bayard, the nearest railroads touched Alliance, forty miles away, and Sidney, sixty miles distant. Journalism was his chosen work and he had already started the first newspaper in Dakota, before the division of the state was made. He found at Bayard, which village was to be his home, a small newspaper which, for six months had been printed under difficulties, in a sod house. This paper he bought, in the hope of developing it into a great journal and conducted it as the Bayard Transcript, along the line of his ambition, almost until the end of his life. He was a man of intellectual strength but he was ahead of his times in thought and action, and never lived to see his journalistic hopes realized, nor to know that in his son there would finally be a worthy succes- sor.

Ray A. Wisner attended the public schools of Bayard, Gering and Hastings. He was brought up in the printing office, learned the trade and has been connected with the gather- ing and distributing of news all his business life. When his father bought a newspaper at Oshkosh, Nebraska, he disposed of the Trans- cript, but the new owner failed to maintain the standard of journalism Mr. Wisner had set, and in 1907, when Ray A. Wisner took charge of the Transcript it was necessary to bring about a complete reorganization. Mr. Wisner procceded with considerable vigor and now has a newspaper plant that is a credit to his enterprise and to the city. After plans of his own he had a substantial brick building erected which houses his newspaper and job presses, together with the modern machinery that belongs to a first class plant and with this

equipment he is doing a very large amount of business. Mr. Wisner has quite a reputation also as an editorial writer and does not liesi- tate to call attention in his columns to necded local improvements while, at the same time, he discusses calmly and intelligently the great problems in public affairs that concern every- one.

In 1913, Mr. Wisner was united in mar- riage to Miss Gertrude Clifton, who was born at Ewing, Nebraska, and they have one daugh- ter, Gwendolyn, who was born June 24, 1914. Mrs. Wisner is a daughter of Rev. C. W. Clif- ton, pastor of the United Brethren Church at Elgin, Nebraska.

In politics Mr. Wisner is a staunch Repub- lican. He has been an active citizen in many ways and has served as city clerk. In his busy life he has not found much time for recreation, but he enjoys his fraternal memberships in the Modern Woodmen, the Woodmen of the World and the Odd Fellows, being past grand in the last named organization. Mr. Wisner is in the Wisner Investment Company at Bay- ard.

ISAAC ROUSH. - In times of general un- rest, the thoughtful citizen is sometimes led to consider how the average substantial men of his acquaintance have attained their com- fortable competencies and their positions of public confidence. This friendly inspection generally leads back to hard industrial activity in youth, and in most cases, to continuance of the same until financial independence has been secured. Prominent as an example among Kimball county's substantial and honored citi- zens is Isaac Roush, county treasurer of Kim- ball county.

Isaac Roush was born in Snyder county, Pennsylvania, in August, 1863. His parents were George and Caroline (Page) Roush, the latter of whom died when Isaac was ten years old. She was a member of the Lutheran church. Isaac had one brother, Frederick, who died on his farm in 1888. For his second wife, the father married Elizabeth Bolich, and the three children live in Pennsylvania, where the father died in 1896.

The son of a hard-working father, Isaac Roush early learned to be useful, but had country school opportunities until he was thir- teen years of age. His home was in a mining district and it was no unusual matter for boys, even at that early age, to go to work in the iron ore mines, in which work he spent two years. Afterward he worked as a farm hand for three years, but as wages were better in the mining district, he went back to mine work

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for a time, although he had made up his mind to seek employment in a western state, having settled in Indiana, of which he had heard much. He had labored incessantly to the age of twenty years, yet, when he started west- ward had been able to save just enough to pay his railroad fare to Elkhart county, Indiana. He immediately went to work on a farm near Bristol and remained there two years, in the meantime making plans to move still further westward, working hard to earn the means to carry them out. In 1886 he left Bristol with the good wishes of many friends he had made there following him, and came to Kearney county, Nebraska. He was not looking for an easy job and during the next two years worked hard on a stock ranch, and also in a lumber yard for a time.

It was in the spring of 1890 that Mr. Roush came to Kimball county, which has been his home ever since. Here he worked in a lum- ber yard for three years and then began clerk- ing in the general store of L. A. Schaeffer until 1898. As his acquaintance widened, his business ability was further recognized and ere long public confidence was evidenced by his being mentioned for public office and his appointment by President Mckinley as post- master of Kimball met with universal ap- proval. Mr. Roush served in that office for seventeen years, retiring then for a season of rest after his many years of strenuous private and public effort. Very soon, however, he was called back to public life, being elected county treasurer of Kimball county in 1916, on the Republican ticket. As a resident of Kimball he has given encouragement to many worthy enterprises. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.

CLYDE E. MEGLEMRE, who has numer- ous and valuable interests in Morrill county, is one of Bridgeport's respected citizens, where he is well known in business and also in official life. He has been a hard worker all his life and through his industry has gained well carned financial independence. He was born in Harrison county, Missouri, November 15, 1870.

The parents of Clyde E. Meglemre were John E. and Sarah A. (Richardson) Megle- mre, the former of whom was born in Indiana and the latter in Virginia. Of their seven children Clyde E. is the third of the five sur- vivors. The mother and two sisters of the family are deceased but the father survives and lives at Oxford, Nebraska. He served three years in the Union army during the

Civil war, being a member of Company D, Twenty-third Missouri Volunteer Infantry, and was captured by the enemy but was ex- changed only to fall into the enemy's hands again at Atlanta, after which he was conhned in the dreadful prison pen at Andersonville, Georgia, for nine months. At the close of the war Mr. Meglemre became a farmer, a voca- tion he followed during most of his active life.

Clyde E. Meglemre went to school in Har- lan county, Nebraska, then went to work on a farm and in 1888, came to Cheyenne county, where his mother had homesteaded. He con- tinued a farmer for many years; in fact still overlooks his irrigated farm of a hundred and sixty acres, on which he raises cattle and horses. After coming to Bridgeport, in 1907, he embarked in additional enterprises, in 1908 beginning to work for the Standard Oil Com- pany and continuing to the present time, and also started a draying business. Mr. Megle- mre is a practical man and was the first to arrange for the delivery of ice, a business in which he has the whole field at Bridgeport, having made ample provision for supplying this necessity of life.

In 1896, Mr. Meglemre was united in mar- riage to Mary Rew, who was born in Wiscon- sin, and they have had seven children as fol- lows: Cecil, who works for his father as his right hand man; Treva, who is the wife of Frank Richards, who is in the oil business at Bayard; Sadie, Dela, Clyde Jr., and Vera, who are at home, and one who is deceased. The family belongs to the Church of the Lat- ter Day Saints. In politics Mr. Meglemre is a Republican. He has led too busy a life to have found time to give to public office to any extent, but he served as one of the town's most efficient marshals for a period of three years. He may well be numbered with the representative men of Morrill county.

FRED R. LINDBERG, one of Bridgeport's most substantial citizens, for many years has been extensively interested in raising cattle and horses, and has also been identified with banking enterprises. Mr. Lindberg has won his way to fortune and prominence through his own efforts and his whole career from boyhood to the present, may advantageously be studied by other youths who find themsel- ves forced to start out early with neither cap- ital nor influential friends.

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History of western Nebraska and its people, Vol. III, Part 105

Author: Shumway, Grant Lee, 1865- Publication date: 1921 Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., The Western publishing & engraving co. Number of Pages: 1056

Author: Shumway, Grant Lee, 1865-
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., The Western publishing & engraving co.
Number of Pages: 1056