History of western Nebraska and its people, Vol. III, Part 124

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

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Conrad Lindeman was born at Hazelton, Pennsylvania, November 28, 1853, his parents having come to the United States the previous summer. They were George and Maria S. (Woelner) Lindeman, natives of Germany, and the father was a locksmith and black-

smith by trade. He died when Conrad, the youngest of his five children, was still young, but the mother lived to the age of eighty-five years. Of Mr. Lindeman's four brothers, only one is living, George, whose home is in the city of Vancouver, British Columbia. Henry, who conducted a hotel at Crawford, died here, William died in manhood, and John died in infancy.

Until he was about ten years old, Conrad Lindeman attended the common schools of Lu- zerne county. That is a great coal mining section and in those days it was the custom to send little boys into the coal pits to act as drivers on the mule cars, and it was in that way that Conrad assisted in providing for the family for three years. He was an ambitious boy, however, and had a distinct leaning to- ward the printing trade, and after his coal mining experiences, succeeded in getting into a newspaper office, where he served an appren- ticeship in the old time way. Completing his apprenticeship at the age of sixteen, Mr. Lindeman went from Hazelton, Luzerne coun- ty, to Shenandoah, Schuylkill county, Penn- sylvania, and accepted a position as foreman in the mechanical department of the Shenan- doah Herald, the first paper published in that town, then a village of several hundred in- habitants.

In 1872, Mr. Lindeman took Horace Gree- leys advice and went west, locating in Cass county, Iowa, where he tried his hand at farm- ing, and where in April, 1878, he was married to Miss Mary Meister, who was born in Penn- sylvania, a daughter of Martin and Anna M. (Kreitzberg) Meister. Eight children, five sons and three daughters, have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Lindeman: Martha, who is the wife of George Patton, of Billings, Montana ; Otto, who lives at Hill Crest, Montana ; John A. and Daniel W., who are ranchmen of Dawes county ; Helena, who is the wife of Major C. J. Gaiser, of Camp Dodge, Iowa; Amelia, and Emma W., both of whom assist their father in the printing business, and Clar- issa R., who is the wife of Gilbert F. Marrall, of Crawford.

After several years on the farm Mr. Linde- man moved to Atlantic, the county seat of Cass county, Iowa, and secured a position as assistant foreman on the Atlantic Daily Tele- graph, published by Lafayette Young, wliere he spent a year, and then, in company with W. H. Saunders, published the Peoples Advo- cate, at Atlantic, lowa, for a short time, being succeeded by J. R. Soverign, later master workman of the Knights of Labor. He then

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

engaged in the news and stationary business and in 1886, came to northwestern Nebraska, locating on a homestead in Sioux county, three miles west of Montrose. Mr. Lindeman and his family suffered the hardships of early homesteaders and took a leading part in the struggles of the early settlers against opposi- tion by the ranchmen.

In 1889, Mr. Lindeman was elected clerk of the court and county clerk of Sioux county, in which offices he served until 1894, when he came to Crawford to enter the employ of C. E. Wilson, a clothing merchant, and later in Jan- uary, 1897, went to work at his old trade, es- tablishing the Crawford Buletin, which he published until 1904.

Selling the Bulletin plant to W. H. Ketchem, then publisher of the Crawford Tribune, which was established by Mr. Ketchem in 1887, Mr. Lindeman spent several years in the offices of the Tribune and Crawford Courier, then pur- chased the Tribune in 1910. Under Mr. Lindeman's ownership and direction the paper has become the chief organ of the Progressive Democratic party throughout Dawes and Sioux counties, while his subscription list shows that it circulates all through the coun- try as far as Canada on the north and Mexico on the south. He does a general printing busi- ness and has a well equiped plant. On numer- ous occasions his friends have urged Mr. Lindeman to accept political honors, but he has never accepted any office except those mentioned. His views on public questions have sometimes been modified through chang- ing conditions, but no one can ever accuse him of ever misrepresenting facts or, for his own benefit, concealing public matters on which should be thrown the light of publicity through the press. In addition to his printing plant, he is interested in a ranch of over a thousand acres, lying southwest of Crawford, in asso- ciation with his two sons, John A. and Daniel W. Mr. and Mrs. Lindeman are members of the Lutheran Church, but all the children are members of the Congregational Church.

WILLIAM SPOHN has been a resident of Garden county for nearly thirty-five years, and this statement in itself marks him as one of the pioneers of the county, which was still a part of Cheyenne county when he took up land and instituted the development of a pro- ductive farm. During the long intervening period he has been a foremost actor in the drama of civic and industrial development and progress, has stood exemplar of loyal citizen- ship and held precedence as one of the repre- sentative agriculturists and stock-growers of

this favored section of the Nebraska Pan- handle.

Mr. Spohn is a scion of sterling Swiss an- cestry and of a family that was founded in America in the colonial era of our national his- tory. He is a direct descendant of Philip Spohn, who was born in Switzerland and came to America when he was a boy. His loyalty was shown by his gallant service as a soldier of the Continental Line in the war of the Rev- olution, serving under the command of Gen- eral Washington.

The honored Nebraska pioneer to whom this review is dedicated was born in Sandusky county, Ohio, June 26, 1851, a son of Daniel and Catherine (Bachman) Spohn, the former of whom was born in Ohio, in 1826, while the latter was a native of Alsace, France, where she was born in 1828, and was about eight years old at the time her family immigrated to America, in 1836, and settled in Sandusky county, Ohio, where her father, John Bach- man, became a pioneer farmer, his wife, whose maiden name was Mary Mathena, died at the age of sixty-six years and he likewise having been a resident of Sandusky county at the time of his death. Daniel Spolın was reared and educated in Ohio, which state he represented as a gallant soldier of the Union in the Civil war, his service having been as a member of Company K, One Hundred and Sixty-ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. After the war he continued his active association with agricul- tural industry in the old Buckeye state during the remainder of his active carcer, and he was seventy-five years of age at the time of his death. His father, Henry Spohn, was born in the state of Maryland, March 12, 1787, and upheld the military prestige of the family by serving as a soldier in the war of 1812. He thereafter became a pioneer settler in Ohio, where he farmed in Perry county until 1829, when he became an early settler in Sandusky county, where he reclaimed a farm from the sylvan wilds and there passed the remainder of his life, having been eighty-six years of age at the time of his death. The mother of the subject of this sketch continued her residence in Ohio until her death, which occurred when she was about seventy-six years of age. Both she and her husband were earnest workers of the United Brethren Church. They became the parents of seven children, of whom two sons and one daughter are living at the time of this writing, in the winter of 1919-20.

William Spohn was reared to the sturdy discipline of the home farm and acquired his early education in the public schools at Fre-

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HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

mont, Ohio. He thereafter devoted about one year to independent farm enterprise in his na- tive state, and then he came to Nebraska, in 1875, and settled on a pioneer farm near the present town of Wood River, Hall county, where he continued his operations as an agri- culturist until 1885, when he became a pioneer settler in that part of old Cheyenne county that is now comprised in Garden county. Five miles northwest of the present county seat, Oshkosh, he took up homestead, pre-emption and tree claims, all wild prairie land, and here he has continued his activities as a farnier during the intervening years; his property gives evidence that he has kept in full touch with the march of development ard growth in this section of the state. He has been suc- cessful as an agriculturist and stock-raiser and also has the distinction of having been a pio- neer in the now important field of sugar-beet propagation in Garden county. His enterprise was shown by his construction of the indepen- dent irrigation ditch which affords excellent water facilities for his farm, which is known as the Spohn ditch, its supply of water being derived from the North Platte river. On his farm, which comprises eight hundred acres, he has erected good buildings and provided other accersories that mark the model farm of the present progressive day.

During all the years of his residence in Gar- den county Mr. Spohn has been liberal in his support of enterprises projected for the gen- eral good of the community, and while he has had no ambition for political preferment he is found aligned as a staunch supporter of the cause of the Republican party. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and botin he and his wife are zealous commun- icants of the Lutheran Church.

February 19, 1877, recorded the marriage of Mr. Spohn to Miss Florilla Thomas, the ceremony being performed at Grand Island, Hall county. Mrs. Spohn was born in Dodge county, Wisconsin, March 22, 1847, and is a daughter of Joshua Thomas, who was born in the state of New York, but who passed a con- siderable portion of his life in eastern Canada, where he was actively identified with lumber- ing operations. He was a resident of Iowa at the time of his death, at the age of fifty years, and his wife, whose maiden name was Matilda Borden, was born and reared at Brooksville, Ontario, Canada, where her mar- riage was solemnized, she having been about forty years of age at her death, which occurred in Wisconsin. Joshua Thomas became active in the field of lumbering in Wisconsin and

after the death of his wife he removed, in 1855, to Iowa and became a pioneer settler in Winnebago county, where he passed the re- mainder of his life. Mrs. Spohn was a girl eight years of age when she accompanied her father to Iowa, in which state she received her educational training in the public schools of the pioneer era, and in 1870 slie accompanied her sister Sophia to Hall county, Nebraska, where they settled in the Wood river district and where her marriage was solemnized a few years later. In conclusion is entered brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Spohn: Loren Rutherford Spolın, who was born in Hall county, this state, July 22, 1879, and completed his youthful education by a course of study at Hastings College, and was one of the patriotic young men of Nebraska who served as a soldier in the Span- ish-American War, having served as a soldier in Company K, Second Nebraska, Volunteer Infantry. Mr. Spohn was not yet twenty-six years of age at the time of his death, which accurred November 13, 1905. He married Miss May Bowman, and their one child Loren W., now resides in the home of his paternal grandfather, the subject of this re- view. Mabel Edith Spohn, who was born in Hall county, in 1880, passed away at the age of three months, so that the second generation of the Spohn family in Nebraska now has no represenative, while the third generation has but one member.

ANSON B. ALLEN .- The good old term, diligence, has been strictly applicable to the career of this well known and highly esteemed citizen of Garden county, where he has wrought out a goodly measure of success through his activities as a stock-raiser and ag- riculturist, besides which he is entitled to pio- neer honors incidental to the history of this section of the state.

Mr. Allen was born in Clarke county, Iowa, February 8, 1858, and is a representative of one of the early pioneer families of that com- monwealth, as the date of his birth discloses. His father. Saunders Allen, was born in Clarke county, Ohio, and was sixty-five years of age at the time of his death, which occurred in Taylor county, Iowa. Upon removal to the Hawkeye state he took up land, which he de- veloped and improved and became one of the substantial citizens of that state. His wife, whose maiden name was Nancy Rich, was born in Warren county, Ohio, but was reared and educated in Indiana, where her marriage was solemnized; she was about fifty-five years of age at the time of her death.

JAMES T. WHITEHEAD

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

On the home farm of his father in Taylor county, Iowa, Anson B. Allen passed the per- iod of his boyhood and early youth, and in the meantime he profited duly by the advantages afforded in the public schools of the locality. Soon after attaining his legal majority he there began farming operation in an inde- pendent way, and thus continued for five years, at the expiration of which he came to Ne- braska and engaged in farming in York coun- ty. Three years later he came to the part of old Cheyenne county that now comprises Gar- den county, and filed entry on a tree claim, in 1887, and a homestead the following year. He perfected title to this land, upon which he has made the best of improvements, includ- ing the erection of present attractive residence, on the homestead claim. Energy and good management have brought to him prosperity in his farm operations, which include the rais- ing of the crops best suited to this section and to the breeding and raising of horses and hogs, as well as a due contingent of cat- tle. He is now the owner of a valuable landed estate of twelve hundred and eighty acres, of which six hundred and sixty acres are main- tained under effeciive cultivation, the remain- der being range land. He is a stockholder in the farmers' grain elevator at Lisco and also in the Farmers Mercantile Company at Lisco, which is his postoffice address, his home being situated about nine miles northeast of this thriving village. Though he has had no desire for official preferment, Mr. Allen has been liberal and loyal in support of those measures that have conserved the general wellbeing of his home county, and in politics he gives his allegiance to the Republican party.

JAMES THEAKER WHITEHEAD, presi- dent of the Mitchell State Bank, of Mitchell, Scottsbluff county, of which he was the most prominent organizer, has since coming to the Panhandle been identified with the important financial enterprises of the upper Platte valley, and has also taken a place in the front rank of the men who are building up and developing this section of the state, as he is one of the officers of the Water Users Association which is placing water on the land, so that what was once known as the "Great American Desert," has become one of the most produc- tive spots of the whole country. Mr. White- head has established a high reputation for ability, judgment and general acumen and since his connection with banking affairs his rise has been rapid, sure and consistent.

The sons of Britain have always been men of thrift and industry and it is to "The tight

little Island," that America owes the greatest proportion of the best element of the popula- tion. Wherever they have settled the English have been found to be an asset to the com- munity, their sturdy traits of racial character contributing to the locality's development. Mr. Whitehead is descended from a long line of forebears who played an important part in the mother country and after reaching our shores they became prominent men of their localities and to James Theaker Whitehead has been giv- en this great heritage of many generations and he has run true to type, for today there is no man in the upper valley who is doing more for the community than this unassuming banker.

Mr. Whitehead was born at Wataga, Illi- nois, November 17, 1867, the son of Abraham and Dora (Brunt) Whitehead, the former a native of England, who came to America with his parents James and Hannah (Theaker) Whitehead about 1840. They had been born, reared, and educated in Great Britain and after reaching man and womanhood met and were married, but as they desired greater advantages for their children determined to emigrate, and set sail for the new World, the land of prom- ise to so many Europeans. James Whitehead came west to Illinois soon after reaching the United States, took up land near Wataga, Knox county, and there engaged in farming until his death which occurred when he was about sixty-five years old. Abraham White- head was reared on the farm in Illinois, at- tended the public schools of that locality and at the outbreak of the Civil War responded to the president's call for voluteer's to preserve the Union and enlisted in the Eighty-third Illi- nois Volunteer Infantry in 1861. He served until the close of hostilities and was neither wounded nor captured, though he participated in many severe engagement and battles, as he was a non-commissioned officer at the time he took part in the siege of Fort Donaldson. Abraham Whitehead was a staunch believer in the tenets of the United Presbyterian church of which he and his wife were members, while his fraternal affiliations were with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Ma- sonic order. Dora Brunt .Whitehead was born in Columbia, Missouri, in 1850, the daughter of William Brunt, a native of Eng- land who came to the United States as a child, and served his adopted country as a captain in the Union army during the Civil War. Mrs. Whitehead was reared in Black- hawk county, Iowa, where her parents moved when she was a small child. After the close

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HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

of the war Abraham Whitehead returned to farming in Illinois, but like so many of the men returned from the army he was restless. This is seen today in the men returned from France, so he left Illinois and in 1871 took up a homestead in Cloud county, Kansas, on which he made many good and permanent im- provements but lost his life in 1886, when fifty- one years old, trying to stop a runaway team. Mrs. Whitehead survived her husband until April 8. 1918, when she too was called to her last rest. There were four children in the Whitehead family: James T., the subject of this review ; Reginald H., a resident of Oak- land. California ; Edith E., who married Ray G. Slater; and Abraham L., of Denver Colo- rado.

James spent his boyhood on his father's farm, early learning habits of thrift, energy and the practical side of the farm industry ; as he was the oldest of the children many tasks fell to him as soon as his age and strength permitted him to work. Assisting his father on the farm during the summer time, he was sent to the district school nearest his home during the winter terms and laid the foundation of a good practical education so that when the family moved into Concordia, Kansas, when he was fourteen he was able to enter the high school from which he gradu- ated. When James was twenty he accepted a position with the Burlington Railroad, as he had learned telegraphy after leaving school. Being assigned to work at Omaha, he became familiar with railroad work and also had an opportunity to learn of the business advan- tages and openings in Nebraska. After a few years he came to Alliance and entered the lumber business ; for at that early day Mr. Whitehead believed there was a great future for a business man in the newly developing country here in the Panhandle. For six years he remained in Box Butte county, thoroughly learning the lumber business and such was his application that his ability was recognized in lumber circles. He was offered and accepted a much better position as secretary and gen- eral manager of the Forrest Lumber Company of Kansas City, Missouri, remaining with that concern from 1900 to 1906, when he sold his interests and returned again to the prairie country. Coming to Mitchell Mr. Whitehead interested several other moneyed men in the proposition of organizing and establishing a new bank to serve the city and contributing territory. In 1907, the Mitchell State Bank opened its doors, with Mr. Whitehead as one of the heaviest stockholders and the execu-

tive head of the institution. The surety of his vision and judgment have been demon- strated in connection with the practical side of the banking business, for while yet a young man he is well entitled to classification among the efficient and progressive men of the busi- ness and financial circles of Nebraska. Under his able guidance and policies the bank has gained the confidence of the people of Scotts Bluff county and the surrounding country, has a fine class of depositors, and the deposits have steadily and rapidly increased which shows in what high esteem the personnel of the bank- ing house is held. From first locating in the valley Mr. Whitehead has taken an active part in the development of this section and he is one of the best known and prominent figures in the irrigation enterprises in the northwest. He has been president of the North Platte Valley Waters Users Association for the past ten years, during the period when this country has been opened up to new methods of agri- culture, intensive farming and the introduction of the sugar beet industry along the Platte riv- er ; so that he is a recognized authority on irri- gation questions and as such was called to Washington, D. C. to confer with seven gov- ernors of the states interested in irrigation, being the representative from Nebraska at the conference in 1919. Mr. Whitehead is essentially a self-made man, his clear vision, ability to see and grasp the business opportun- ity of the minute and turn it to advantage as well as his visualization of the future of this section have made him one of the unusual figures in the financial world of the middle west, where his far sight in finance and his integrity have given him a well deserved, well earned and yet enviable position. In addition to his duties as banker, and irrigation manager, Mr. Whitehead is also treasurer of the electric light plant of Mitchell, which under his man- agement has been an efficient public utility.

In 1897, Mr. Whitehead married Miss Amelia Shetler, a native of Johnson county, Iowa, the daughter of Christian and Elizabeth Shetler, both natives of Pennsylvania, of Ger- man extraction. Mrs. Whitehead was reared and educated in Harvard, Nebraska. Today the Whitehead farms, consisting of close to four hundred acres not far from Mitchell, are considered some of the most productive prop- erties in the valley as they are both under water rights and so produce bountiful crops. Mr. Whitehead is progressive in his ideas as to farming and has introduced the latest and most improved methods on the farms, those advocated by the state and government experts

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

and his places look much like the beautiful and scientifically run farms of the agricultural stations, and really are demonstrating places so far as the efficiency of their management and results are concerned. In this manner Mr. Whitehead has encouraged the other men of the locality to adopt measures that assure in- creased production.

In political views Mr. Whitehead holds with the tenets of the Republican party but has never aspired to public office beyond taking the part he believes a duty in local affairs, having served on the city council and as a member of the school board. He is not bound by close party lines in local politics, believing that the man best suited to serve the people should be elected to office. He is one of the public spirited men who is living his patriotism, took an active part in assisting the government in the prosecution of the World War, assist- ing in the sale of Liberty Bonds and also in raising money for the Red Cross. He sets a high standard for an American citizen and lives up to it. In Masonic circles Mr. White- head stands high, belongs to the Scottish Rite Chapter, is a Shriner and also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. With his wife he is a member of the Congregational church. There are five children in the White- head family: Mildred, who married H. Ros- coe Anderson, and now lives at Mission, South Dakota; Dorothy Elizabeth, Helen, James Theaker, Jr., and William Shetler, all at home. The Whiteheads have a charming modern home in Mitchell, where they keep open house to their many warm friends.

GEORGE O. CURFMAN has been for more than a quarter of a century a resident of what is now Garden county, and this fact in itself proclaims him eligible for pioneer dis- tinction in this section of the state. Ile has been a forceful power in connection with in- dustrial development and progress; has stood as an exponent of loyal and liberal citizenship, and has become one of the large landholders and representative agriculturists and stock- men of the county ; has an admirably improved homestead farm, being situated fourteen miles northwest of Oshkosh, which is his postoffice address.

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History of western Nebraska and its people, Vol. III, Part 124

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