History of western Nebraska and its people, Vol. III, Part 133

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

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HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

method of arousing the people, and upor: in- quiry found that a prairie fire was sweeping over the country south of the city; she could not subdue her anxiety over her husband on the ranch. Her brother-in-law hitched up his horses but they refused to face the dense smoke. They started on foot and one mile from town found that William Birdsall had lost his barn and with the high wind that was blowing, it seemed certain that the Cockrell ranch could not have escaped. Fortunately, however, Mr. Cockrell had seen the danger in time, had turned his cattle loose and when Mrs. Cockrell reached him, worn out with fatigue and anxiety, having passed through lines of fire almost the whole distance, she fould him safe and protecting the buildings with plenty of water at hand. It was a marvelous escape.

It was also while living on the ranch that on many occasions the family thought it wise to prepare for possible Indiant attacks, and an occasion of this kind is humorously told of by Mrs. Cockrell It was during the uprising at the time of the battle of Wounded Knee and all the settlers were alert and watchful, hav- ing little confidence in the peaceful intentions of any wandering Indians. One night Mrs. Cockrell felt alarmed over shadows going over the neighboring hill and communicated her fears about Indians to Mr. Cockrell, and de- clared to him that rather than be scalped she would jump into the well if they came any closer. In his calm way he replied, "If you do, don't jump until I tell you." But her fears were so great that she had about made up her mind to jump anyhow, and told him that she would use her own judgment as to the proper minute. Fortunately the menacing shadows disappeared and on the following morning the family discovered that the intruders had been the Indians from the neighborhood going to tether their horses.

In 1892, Mr. Cockrell and family moved in- to Chadron. He had already assisted in the building of the court house, the high school building and the Blaine hotel, and was after- ward engaged on many of the most important construction work in that city. Late in 1889, he was called to Lost Cabin, Wyoming, to as- sist in the building of a fine residence for a sheep rancher, a Mr. Okie. The weather was very inclement and he fell ill with pneumonia. As soon as Mrs. Cockrell learned of his con- dition she started for Lost Cabin, which en- tailed a stage journey of two hundred miles, in January weather. She arrived too late, however, to see her husband alive, as he died suddenly, and after a rest of four hours she

started back to Chadron. This experience she considers the worst of many since coming to Nebraska.

In 1908, Mrs. Cockrell bought the store building she yet occupies, and ever since has conducted a novelty store with much success. She is prominent in other than a business way, being very active in club work, a member of the Women's Federation Club of Nebraska, which is affiliated with the National Fedcra- tion, and is somewhat interested in national politics. She belongs to the Order of Rebekah and Degree of Honor. She was one of the early members of the Congregational church in this section and later of the Christian Science church, with which latter organization she is identified. In politics Mr. Cockrell was a Democrat. He belonged to the A. O. U. W. and the Odd Fellows, and in the latter body had been an official. He was known all over this section of the West, having helped in the building of the Pine Ridge agency and also engaged in freighting.

THOMAS J. WILSON .- Wealth is rela- tive. When some individuals acknowledge possessing it, they refer to their gold, their jewels, their stocks and bonds, but when Thom- as J. Wilson, of Chadron, genially declares himself rich, he is not referring to his many acres of valuable ranch land in Dawes county, but to his pride in a large, intelligent, happy family, the sound health of himself and be- loved wife, the great esteem in which they are universally held, and the many ways in which he has been privileged to add to the welfare of his fellow citizens during the many years he has lived among them.

Thomas J. Wilson was born in Morgan county, Indiana, February 12, 1839, and was reared on a farm. When the Civil war came on, he enlisted for military service in Company C, Sixth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and served out that enlistment of three months, was honorably discharged and returned home. On November 14, 1861, he was united in mar- riage to Miss Elender L. Myers, who was born in Morgan county, Indiana, January 13, 1843. When Mr. Wilson realized that his country had still further need of his loyal ser- vice, he re-enlisted in July, 1862, volunteering in Company B, Indiana Sixty-seventh Infantry, for three years, and was stationed at Mobile, Alabama, when the war ended. On the day of his second discharge, he saw the barber who shaved him, wipe the lather off his razor with a ten dollar Confederate bill, gladly accepting the ten cents in United States money as pay for

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his services. Among his many interesting relics of those and other days, Mr. Wilson preserves a fifty dollar Confederate bill.

Mr. Wilson returned then to his home in Indiana and shortly afterward he and his wife moved to Missouri, in which state they lived as farmers for nineteen years. In the mean- tinie those great developing agents, the rail- roads, began to creep across the country, and both the Wabash and the Southern Pacific sent their representatives through the east and middle west to solicit business for their respec- tives lines as the emigration movement began to gather forces with the opening up of gov- ernment lands. In the neighborhood in Mis- souri where Mr. Wilson was living, much in- terest was aroused as to colonizing in north- west Nebraska, by a Mr. Sweat, who reported favorably from his investigations concerning land and climate. The colony was formed in the winter of 1883-4, a part of the colonists embarking on the Wabash lines and coming to Valentine, Nebraska, by way of Council Bluffs, Iowa, and the other on the Southern Pacific to Sidney, Nebraska. Mr. Wilson was one of the thirty travelers to come to Valentine, where the railroad ended, the train of sixteen cars being mainly loaded with household goods. Just prior to this a Mr. Schimahorn, with a body of colonists from Indiana, reached Val- entine, and as this little frontier town was merely a railroad terminus, there was nothing to do but for the travelers to put up tents.

Many difficulties arose and as days length- ened into weeks before goods could be ar- ranged for transportation across the country, a large proportion of the colonists expressed disappointment and dissatisfaction. Mr. Wil- son, like others, did not find prospects quite as he had pictured them and like others met with unexpected hardship and loss, but he never became despondent, always looked forward with hope and in every way in those early days set an example of the celebrated "show me" spirit for which Missourians are yet noted. The Indiana colony left Valentine before the Sweat colony, setting up camp on the present site of Gordon, the latter colony passing them on their way to Dawes county two days later. They found only four houses, no public roads or bridges for a distance of a hundred and fifty miles after leaving the Minniecadoose river.

After reaching Dawes county Mr. Wilson filed on a homestead on Bordeaux creek, which he sold at a later date, buying the ranch that he yet owns. In the fall after coming here. Mr. Wilson returned to his Missouri home.

After several starts, the next fall he went on a hunting party which resulted in the killing of plenty of antelope but no buffalo. Game was very plentiful but birds were few, the lat- ter following the settlers and the seeding of the land. In the spring of 1885, Mr. Wilson came back to Dawes county with his family, and was guide for the second colony of ten people and seven cars, from the same neighborhood. Although the country seemed desolate, there was water in the running streams and timber along the banks for building and for fuel, yet it required courage and hope to really believe in those early days, that this section could ever be developed and made as productive and val- table as some other parts of the state. To offset this, it may be stated that Mr. Wilson owns four hundred and eighty acres of land that is valued at a hundred and twenty-five dollars an acre and adjacent land is yielding from a hundred and twenty-five to eighty bushels of potatoes and two to three tons of alfalfa an acre.

Mr. Wilson set out his first orchard about thirty years ago and it is still bearing; later set out two others, the last one, set about eighteen years ago on his home farm, produced two hundred and fifty bushels of apples in 1919. Quails are plentiful all through this section and in South Dakota. When Mr. Wil- son came here first he brought two pair of the birds and set them free, the present abundance being the increase from that pair. In recalling early days here, Mr. Wilson refers to the lon- liness and anxiety of Mrs. Wilson when it was necessary for him to make the ten-day trip to Valentine for supplies. While the Indians were usually peaceable, they had the memory of one who proudly exhibited scalps of thirty white people as proof of his prowess at one time, and this sight was not very reassuring when a woman and little children had to be left for a length of time practically alone and defenseless.

To Mr. Wilson and his wife eleven children were born and of these the following are liv- ing: Citha Jane, who is the wife of John A. Butler, of Chadron : Edward J., who is a resi- dent of Portland, Oregon, married Sadie Jones ; Mary E., who is the wife of Grant Blinn, of O'Neill, Nebraska; Sarah C., who is the wife of William Jeffers, of Clifford, North Dakota ; Martha E., who is the wife of A. C. Riemenscneider, of Cody, Nebraska ; Thomas J., who lives at Spencer, Wyoming, married Grace Glinn; John E., who is of Edgemont, South Dakota, married Margaret Van Buren ; and James C., also of Edgemont,

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who married Laura Goble. In addition, there are twenty-three grandchildren in the family and twenty great-grandchildren, wealth indeed. as Mr. Wilson claims.

Mr. Wilson has always believed in the prin- ciples of the Republican party as the best for this country and has used his influence as a citizen to strengthen party control. He was one of the first prominent men of the country to be made a justice of the peace, and was sworn in in the old town of Chadron on the White river. The office in those days carried with it not only honor and responsibility but a large measure of personal danger, Judge Wilson, however, never failing in the strict performance of the law. He bravely met danger in other ways, an instance being given in the following occurrence. With his family he belongs to the United Brethren church and in Missouri, in addition to being superintend- ent of the Sunday school for fifteen years, was a local preacher. For some time after the colonists settled in Dawes county, there were neither schools nor churches and the only way to nourish the needed religious spirit, was to have meetings held occasionally in the homes of settlers. Upon one occasion he had prom- ised Dr. Gillespie to hold a meeting near his house. A big, burly cowboy objected. When the would-be worshippers had gathered, this man was seen to be present but Judge Wilson assured the crowd that there would be a meet- ing. During one of the services the call for some one to open with prayer and the cowboy had the audacity to offer to pray. Judge Wil- son quietly walked to his side and placed his hand on his head, and through his calm cour- age so reduced the bluster of the young man that he ever afterward avoided looking Mr. Wilson in the face. Among his Indian treas- ures Mr. Wilson shows a polished bowl made from a tree knot, and a spoon from an in- land stream clam shell, both showing artistic skill. Mr. Wilson moved to Chadron, Ne- braska, in 1911, and lives in a beautiful, mod- ern home on Morehead Street. He and his wife are enjoying the fruits of a well spent life, revered and honored by all who know them.

THEODORE R. CRAWFORD .- Among the younger educators of Dawes county, none have progressed more rapidly or surely in their profession than has Theodore Ray Crawford, superintendent of the entire school system at Chadron. A teacher from choice, he has been thoroughly trained for the work, and nature has assisted in endowing him with those qual- ities that inspire confidence and arouse am-

bition. When Professor Crawford tells his pupils that knowledge is the key wherewith they may unlock the greatest of earth's treas- ures, they are apt to believe him, and from that time on their progress is assured.

Theodore Ray Crawford was born August 23, 1892, near Clyde, Kansas, the only child of his parents, T. F. and Emma D. (Mickey) Crawford. His father was born in Illinois, and his mother in Wisconsin. His remote an- cestry was Scotch and Irish. His mother, who died in September, 1912, was a cousin of former Governor Mickey of Nebraska. In 1880, his father came to Kansas and for some years was head miller of a large milling plant in Kansas City, later embarking in a flour manufacturing business of his own. At the present time he is manager of the Farmers Elevator & Lumber Company, at Endicott, Nebraska. In his political views he is a zeal- ous Republican.

Following his graduation from the high school at Blue Hill, Nebraska, Theodore R. Crawford entered Hastings College, from which he was graduated with the degree of B. S., and subsequently took a post graduate course in the University of Nebraska. His first experience as a teacher was as principal of the high school at Edgar, Nebraska, where he continued two years, then as principal of the high school at Alliance and from that place, in 1918, he came to Chadron as superinten- dent. At Broken Bow, Nebraska, October 11, 1913, he was married to Miss Bertha Barrett, a daughter of Daniel S. Barrett, who still lives in Custer county, to which he came in pioneer days. Professor and Mrs. Crawford have two children : Dorcas E. and Theodore Ray. Po- litically he is a Republican and fraternally is a Mason. He is on the directing board of the Young Men's Christian Association, and both he and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. They are held in very high esteem at Chadron.

EUGENE A. PATTERSON, who now en- joys a life of peace and quiet in his comfort- able home at Chadron, to which he retired in 1916, requires no effort of memory to trans- port himself back to different times when he justly was acclaimed an Indian figliter. Al- though forty years have passed since he took part in what proved the massacre at Milk river, a tragedy that aroused the whole east- ern as well as western country, he still mourns for his brave comrades who fell victims of Indian treachery. For gallant conduct on that occasion, Mr. Patterson was awarded a medal

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that he preserves among his most treasured possessions.

Eugene A. Patterson was born at Massilon, Ohio, March 28, 1855. His parents were Will- iam and Mary E. (Warner) Patterson, the former of whom was a native of Canada and the latter of New York. A cabinetmaker by trade, the father followed the same in the east until 1876, came then to Otoe county, Nebraska, but shortly afterward settled per- manently in Minnesota and died there March 3, 1888. The mother of Mr. Patterson died September 16, 1890. Of their thirteen children Eugene A. is the only one living in Nebraska. The parents were members of the Baptist church, and the father was a Republican in politics.

Until he was twenty-one years old, Eugene A. Patterson lived at New Lisbon, Ohio, where he attended school and followed farming for a time. He came then to the west and on July 7, 1879, enlisted in the United States army for five years. From Cheyenne, Fort Russell, Wyoming, as a member of Company F, Fifth United States cavalry, he went to Fort Nio- brara, on the way to the Ute agency in Colo- rado. The Indians had become troublesome and this cavalry company, in charge of Ma- jor Thornburg, volunteered to drive them back to their reservation in Colorado. The Indians cut them off, corraled them for six days be- fore help came, killed all the horses and all but twelve of the pack mules and killed eigh- teen out of the twenty soldiers, including Ma- jor Thornburg. They held the Indians back, however, until relief came, nearly all the com- pany coming to the rescue also being wounded, Mr. Patterson suffering with the rest. While stationsd at Fort Niobrara, he assisted in mak- ing three surveys for the government road from Pine Ridge to Buffalo Gap, this being in 1881. It was at that time that the picture that is printed in the Indian chapters, through the courtesy of Mr. Patterson, of the last Indian Sun Dance permitted by the Government was taken, which, together with the picture of the burial place of Red Cloud's daughters, also loaned by Mr. Patterson, are exceedingly inter- esting bits of local history. Mr. Patterson served his full time of enlistment and was hon- orably discharged at Fort Robinson, July 6, 1884.

On July 24, 1884, Mr. Patterson was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Neu, a daugh- ter of Frederick and Charlotte (Schwaertfag- er) Neu, of near Nebraska City, the former of whom was born in Prussia and the latter in Indiana. From the age of five years Mrs. Pat-

terson was well acquainted with the family of Honorable Sterling Morton. Three children were born to this marriage: Frederick. who is a prominent citizen of Dawes county ; Myr- tle, who is the wife of F. W. Clark, manager of the Patterson ranch, and they have one son, Stanley Paul; and Harry, who is a ranchman in South Dakota, married Anna Davis, and they have three children, John, Harry and Ralph. All the children belong to the Presby- terian church, but Mrs. Patterson was reared in the Christian church.

For two years after his marriage, Mr. Pat- terson followed farming in Otoe county, Ne- braska, then for nine years was located thirty miles south of Chadron. In early manhood he had learned the barber's trade, and during the later years he was in the army worked at the same. At one time he was promoted to corporal but resigned after a few months, finding that he could provide a better income as a barber than he received as an officer. Af- terward, for many years he followed his trade both at Lincoln and Dunbar. In 1916, he re- turned to Dawes county, in the meanwhile hav- ing acquired a valuable ranch which is located between Chadron and Crawford. Mr. Patter- son belongs to the Modern Woodmen of Am- erica and takes part in the work of the lodge at Chadron. Although believing that politics has its established place in representative gov- ernment, he has never been unduly active, al- though ever, as in his early manhood, ready to do his full duty when accepting responsibility. He has a wide acquaintance and is held in high regard by all.

PEARL A. REITZ .- In marking the growth and rapid development of Chadron as a city, due credit must be given not only to its substantial older citizenship, but to the ambi- tion and enterprise of its younger business men. In this connection mention may be made of Pearl A. Reitz, who is president and manager of the Reitz & Crites Lumber Company of Chadron and Wayside, Nebraska.

Pearl A. Reitz was born at Barneston, in Gage county, Nebraska, and is a son of .C. J. and Mae (Beatty) Reitz, well known residents of Gage county. He was educated in the public schools at Reserve, Kansas, and later had advantages at Lincoln, Nebraska. In January, 1911, he came to Chadron and since then has been mainly identified with the lum- ber industry. He was connected with Robert Hood for two years, then was manager of the Morison Lumber Company, and in March, 1919, became president and manager of the Reitz & Crites Lumber Company, an enter-

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prise of large scope. The company operates in lumber, manufactures shingles and handles coal and wood. This business is one of the oldest in its line in the city, having been established by Robert Hood in 1885 and conducted by him until December, 1913, when he sold to the Schweiger Lumber Company. The new owner continued the business until March 1, 1919, at which time he disposed of his interests to Reitz & Crites. The present firm incorporated and elected the following officers : Pearl A. Reitz, president and manager; F. A. Crites, vice- president ; and E. D. Crites, secretary and treasurer. The company maintains yards at Chadron and also at Wayside.

On June 22, 1915, Mr. Reitz was united in marriage in Miss Edith Copeland, and they have one daughter, Priscilla. Mr. Reitz has advanced far in Masonry and is a Shriner. He has not been particularly active in poli- tics, having always been more wide awake to business opportunity, but he is thoroughly in- terested citizen and his influence is for law and order in every public movement.

ADDISON V. HARRIS, who for many useful, busy years was a man of high standing in Dawes county, came to the state of Nebras- ka in 1879, and to Dawes county four years later and ever afterward, until his tragic death while in the pursuit of duty, maintained his home here, acquiring a homestead and tree claim in 1884. He was one of the first men to start irrigation projects here, taking out the first water right from the White river and nam- ing the Harris Cooper Irrigation Ditch.

Addison V. Harris was born in Withe coun- ty, Virginia, November 11, 1856. His par- ents were John L. and Mary A. (Eskew) Harris, and his paternal grandfather was a Presbyterian minister. In 1880, the parents came to Nebraska and the mother died in Otoe county, March 11, 1892. The father followed the blacksmith trade and was variously en- gaged in different parts of Nebraska, but ultimately returned to his old home in Virginia and his death occurred there.

Addison V. Harris was a well educated, well informed young man of twenty-three years when he came to Nebraska in 1879, and lo- cated in Otoe county, where he worked as a blacksmith and also engaged in farming. He remained there until the spring of 1883, when he came to Dawes county, where he home- steaded and pre-empted land four miles west of Whitney, Valentine being the filing office. It was a lonely country at that time and all provisions had to be secured from Fort Rob- inson, then freighted to Sidney and Valentine,

from which points the settlers had to trans- port all supplies, the round trip often con- suming six days. At that time there was no town of Crawford, the mail courier leaving his packages with about the only resident, the gov- ernment then calling the mail station Red Cloud, and neither had Alliance nor Chadron made efforts to rise from the prairie.

At Lincoln, Nebraska, April 25, 1881, Mr. Harris was united in marriage to Miss Mary M. Mecham, whom he had met in Otoe county, Nebraska. She was born in Lee county, Iowa, in 1846, and was an infant when she was taken by her parents to Illinois during the exodus of the Mormons. They were Alonzo and Nancy (Martin) Mecham, the former of whom was born August 6, 1822, and the latter January 27, 1823. They were Mormons and when driven from Nauvoo, Illinois, went to Council Bluffs, then called Kanesville, Iowa, and from there to Washington county, Nebraska, where the fath- er bought land in Nebraska Territory and farmed it three years before he moved to Otoe county and settled on the middle branch of the Little Nemaha river. He died in Keyapaha county in 1904, when the mother of Mrs. Harris came to live with her and died in 1906. Mr. and Mrs. Harris had three children, the eldest dying in infancy. The second, Emma Leah, married David E. Norman and died May 8, 1909, in Chadron, Nebraska. The third, Albert Von, married Emma R. Grobe, of Texas, and they live at Salt Lake, Utah.

Mr. and Mrs. Harris-lived on the homestead, Mr. Harris owning three hundred and twen- ty acres of fine land and having an interest in several other tracts. He raised thoroughbred Poled Angus and Hereford cattle. Mr. Har- ris was a good farmer and careful stockman but he had other ambitions as may be indicat- ed by his mastering of the law through study at home and in the office of Judge Crites, and came into so much legal practice that he es- tablished a law office at Whitney and one at Crawford, hiring men to operate his farms. He was very active in Democratic politics and was as early as 1885, elected county commis- sioner with James Patterson and D. W. Sperl- ing and served three years in that office, also was a notary public and a justice of the peace. Mr. Harris was one of the men who assisted in the organization of Chadron and took an active part in civic affairs. Fraternally he was associated with the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen. He served in other official capacities and it was while operating as an officer from Judge Crites' office that he met his death on January 17, 1895. He had

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History of western Nebraska and its people, Vol. III, Part 133

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