History of western Nebraska and its people, Vol. III, Part 140

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

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

the children of Mr. and Mrs. Brown: James R. and his wife reside at Oshkosh, Garden county, and they have four children ; Ray B., of Lewellen, is married and has two children, he served as a member of the One Hundred and Ninth Engineers Corps in the late World War; Mrs. Pearl E. West passed away in 1910, leaving two children, one of whom, Hazel C., resides in the home of her maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Brown of this review ; Frank P., who has the active man- agement of his father's farm, as previously noted, is married and has two children; Louis E., who is now at home, likewise served with the One Hundred and Ninth Engineers in the late war, and Millard G. is the youngest mem- ber of the home circle.

FRED L. MELIUS is to be ascribed pio- neer honors in western Nebraska, where he did his part in connection with the social and in- dustrial development and up-building of this now opulent and progressive part of the States. He resides with his brother, Jesse P., on one of the fine farms of Garden county, which is situated six and one-half miles northeast of Oshkosh, the county seat. Mr. Melius is still arrayed in the ranks of eligible bachelors in the county, but it may be stated that this con- dition of celibacy in no degree impairs his per- sonal popularity, which is of unqualified order

Mr. Melius was born in Delaware county, Iowa, September 20, 1863, and is a son of Peter F. and Helen (Ingraham) Melius, both of whom were born and reared in the state of New York, where the father passed his entire life, his death having occurred in 1876, at which time he was forty-eight years of age. After the death of her husband, Mrs. IIelen Melius came with her children to the west and established her home in Nebraska, where she was a pioneer and where she reared her two sons and one daughter, to whom her devotion was unstinted and unselfish. This gracious pioneer woman passed the closing period of her life in Garden county, where she died in 1916, at the age of seventy-seven years, the gentle evening of her life having been bright- ened by the filial love and solicitude of her children.

Fred L. Melius was about seventeen years of age at the time he accompanied his widowed mother to Iowa, where he was reared to man- hood and received the advantages of the public schools. There he turned his attention to ag- ricultural pursuits, in which he was engaged four years and by means of which he was able to provide well for his mother and the two younger children. In 1880, Mr. Melius came

to Nebraska and settled in Nauce county, on the Pawnee Indian reservation. There he continued his farm labors until 1888, when he took up a homestead in Box Butte county and instituted operations as a pioneer agricul- turist and stock-grower. He filed on a tree claim also, and eventually perfected title to both claims, which he effectively developed and in the activities of which his brother, Jesse P., became associated as a partner. In 1916, Mr. Melius sold his property in Box Butte county, and has since resided in the home of his only brother, in Garden county, a sketch of the career of the brother being given in para- graphs that immediately follow this review. Mr. Melius has been one of the world's pro- ductive workers, and ample success has at- tended his efforts during the years of his resi- dence in Nebraska. He has hewed close to the line of his chosen vocation, and thus has had no desire for political activity or public office, though he is essentially loyal as a citi- zen and as a staunch supporter of the cause of the Democratic party.

JESSE P. MELIUS .- In the foregoing article is given adequate review of the family record of Mr. Melius, who is numbered among the vigorous exponents of agricultural and live-stock industry in Garden county, in which fields of industrial enterprise his initial exper- ience was acquired through close association with his elder brother, Fred L., to whom the preceding biographical sketch is dedicated.

Mr. Melius was born in Delaware county, Iowa, June 3, 1874, and was a child when he accompanied his widowed mother to Nebras- ka. He was about three years old at the time of the family removal to Nebraska, where he was reared to adult age and where he was af- forded the advantages of the public schools that marked the pioneer days in Nance coun- ty. As the preceding article indicates, he be- came actively associated with his brother in the live-stock business in Box Butte county, and in 1909, he took up a tract of land in Gar- den county, under the provisions of the Kin- caid act. He perfected his title to this land, and since that time he has acquired by pur- chase an entire section of land, as well as an additional quarter-section. A portion of his land he rents for farm purposes, and his spe- cial field of activity is in the raising of Poland- China hogs, in which field he has topped the Omaha market for the past two years (1918- 1919). He is developing also the admirable agricultural resources of his property, and with the assistance of his wife is proving very successful also in the raising of Columbia

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Wyandotte poultry. His home place is pleas- antly situated, six and one-half miles north- east of Oshkosh; he has erected good build- ings and made other modern improvements that denote his energy and progressiveness. Mr. Melius takes loyal interest in community affairs and is liberal and public-spirited as a citizen, his political allegiance being given to the Republican party.

At Alliance, Box Butte county, December 20, 1905, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Melius to Miss Sadie Campbell, who was born in Kansas but reared and educated in Garden county, Nebraska, where her parents, Thomas W. and Jessie (Stonehacker) Campbell were pioneer settlers, her father being still a resi- dent of the county and her mother having died in 1907. Mr. and Mrs. Melius have four children-Fern, Lester, Cloyd and Vernon. Mr. Melius has just completed a modern nine- room home where he and his family are pre- pared to enjoy the fruits of their labor.

WILLIAM N. CAMPBELL is another of the progressive and substantial pioneer citi- zens of Garden county, where he is the owner of a large and well improved landed estate and is specially well known as a successful stock- grower.

William Nelson Campbell was born in Mills county, Iowa, June 20, 1871, and is a son of James W. and Julia (Pack) Campbell, both of whom were born and reared in Iowa, where their marriage was solemnized and whence they finally removed to Kansas, where the father became a prosperous farmer. Since 1917, Mr. and Mrs. James W. Campbell have maintained their home in California, where he is living retired. William Campbell was reared to manhood in his native state, and there received the advantages of the public schools of the middle-pioneer period. In 1894, at the age of twenty-two years, he came to what was then Deuel county, Nebraska, and took up a homestead near Mumper, which later was included in the present Garden county. He improved this property and utilized the same as the stage of his successful activities in the raising of horses and cattle. His good judgment was shown in his investing in more land from time to time, as circumstances and opportunity justified, and one of his purchases was what is now known as the Lost Creek Ranch, of one thousand, three hundred and eighty acres. To this he has since added until he is now the owner of about five thousand acres of the valuable land of Garden county, and he conducts large and successful opera- tions in the raising of cattle, horses and hogs,

with special attention given to Hereford cat- tle, Percheron horses, and Duroc hogs which he raises and feeds for market. The agricul- tural department of his farm enterprise like- wise receives the attention that insures maxi- mum success, and Mr. Campbell is essentially a representative factor in connection with in- dustrial activities in Garden county. His poli- tical support is given to the Democratic party and he is affiliated with Oshkosh Lodge No. 286, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons.

At Aronoque, Kansas, February 26, 1895, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Camp- bell to Miss Linda J. McCabe, a daughter of James F. and Julia ( McMullen) McCabe, who were born and reared in Missouri and who became early settlers in Kansas, where they still maintain their home, as venerable pioneer citizens of Aronoque. Mr. and Mrs. Campbell have four children: Myron Vaile, married Mayne Nash, May 25, 1918, at Scotts- bluff, who was born 1901, at Oshkosh, Ne- braska, the daughter of Eli F. and Rhoda (Hunter) Nash of Garden county, and at present lives on the home place and is asso- ciated with his father in conducting the ranch ; and John Percy, Helen and Ruth remain at home, which is known for its generous hospi- tality and good cheer.

FREDERICK A. PICKERING has been a resident of Nebraska since his boyhood and in his career has manifested in a distinct way the progressive spirit that has ever marked the history of this commonwealth. He is to be designated as one of the pioneer exponents of farm enterprise in Garden county, where he still gives his active supervision to his large and well improved ranch which is devoted to diversified agriculture and the raising of live stock.

Mr. Pickering was born in Fulton county, Illinois, June 26, 1867, and is a son of A. G. and Sarah Jane (Strode) Pickering, both of whom were born in Ohio, though the latter was reared and educated in Illinois, where her marriage was solemnized. A. G. Pickering was a young man when he engaged in farming in Illinois, and, in 1881, came with his family to Nebraska, the first year having been passed in Cass county. Removal was then made to Phelps county, where he continued farm ac- tivities about five years, and he then became one of the pioneer settlers in Garden county, which was at that time still a part of Cheyenne county. Here he took up and improved a homestead, to which he perfected his title, and became one of the successful agricultur- ists and stock-raisers of this section of the

MR. AND MRS. ALBERT M. WRIGHT

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state, as well as a man whose ability and sterl- ing character made him influential in commun- ity affairs. He served about twenty years as postmaster at Kowanda and was one of the venerable and honorable pioneer citizens of the county at the time of his death, in 1913, at the age of eighty-three years. Mrs. Sarah Jane (Strode) Pickering died in 1874, when the subject of this sketch was but seven years old, he having been the fourth in a family of six children, three of whom-James A., Charles M. and Ernestine Helen-took up homesteads in Garden county and in due course proved up on the claims.

Frederick A. Pickering acquired his pre- liminary education in the public schools of II- linois and was fourteen years old at the time of the family removal to Nebraska, where he continued to attend school whenever oppor- tunity offered, at the same time giving his share of aid in the work of his father's pioneer farm. In 1893, he engaged in independent farming, in Phelps county, but two years later he came to that part of Deuel county that now comprises Garden county, where he has since given his close attention to agricultural and live-stock industry, through the medium of which he has achieved substantial and worthy success. In 1903, he entered claim to a home- stead of a hundred and sixty acres, and under the provisions of the Kincaid act he added to his holdings until he is now the owner of four hundred acres, his pleasant home being near Oshkosh, the county seat. Mr. Pickering is a bachelor, is affiliated with Oshkosh Lodge, No. 286, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons, and in politics he gives his allegiance to the Republican party. As a citizen he has shown his loyalty by supporting enterprises and meas- ures that have inured to the general welfare of the community, and in Garden county he has a wide circle of friends.

ALBERT M. WRIGHT, United States Deputy Marshall, pioneer of Dawes county, and prominent man of affairs in the Panhandle for many years, was born in Racine county, Wisconsin, January 20, 1847, the son of Eben and Julia (Merrill) Wright, both natives of Vermont. Albert was the eldest of the six children born to his parents. His father was a farmer and the boy was reared in the country. He was sent to the public schools and thus gained a good practical education. When only eighteen years of age he enlisted in 1864, in Company H, Fifth Wisconsin Volunteer In- fantry. He was on the battle front March 25, 1865, before Petersburg, Virginia, was in the

following battles which took place in that lo- cality when General Robert E. Lee was driven from his stronghold of Petersburg and was present when Generals Ewell and Fitz Hugh Lee surrendered with six thousand troops. Mr. Wright was in the army that followed Lee un- til he too surrendered. At the close of his- tilities he was mustered out at Madison, Wis- consin, June 26, 1865. Almost at once he re- turned to his farm near Portage, Wisconsin, remaining there in farm work until 1871, when he went into the timber country of northern Michigan, but in the spring of 1872, took a position as brakeman on the Northwestern Railroad on a run from Escanaba. He remain- ed with the road until 1885, and during that time was promoted to conductor. Mr. Wright was married December, 1872, at Milton, Wis- consin, to Miss Sarah L. Wood, who was born in Rock county, the daughter of Joel and Sarah A. (Butts) Wood, both natives of New York state. She was the youngest in a family of eleven children. Mrs. Wright was a graduate of the Milton Academy, of Milton. Mr. and Mrs. Wright became the parents of three daughters : Anna J., who married Joseph Robinson, had one daughter, who married E. M. Birdsall; Mary, who married G. T. H. Bab- cock, an attorney of Chadron, has two chil- dren, George and Jane. Mr. Babcock is a Mason and also belongs to the Modern Wood- men and the Elks. The third child is Gertrude S., who married E. L. Godsall, a passenger conductor for the Northwestern Railroad. He volunteered for service during the Spanish American War, and served as lieutenant of Company H, Second Nebraska Infantry. He volunteered during the World War as a mem- ber of Company H, Sixth Nebraska Infantry, then was transferred to the One Hundred and thirty-fourth Infantry, Thirty-fourth Division and went to France as captain of that company. He was promoted to Major in France and commanded prisoners at Fort Rougoune, France and Is Sur Tille. He returned to the United States October 20, 1919. Mr. Godsall is a Knight Templar Mason and a member of the Elks.

In 1885, Mr. Wright came to western Ne- braska, and located at Valentine, the end of the Northwestern Railroad at that time. He took charge of a construction train laying track west from Chadron and held the position un- til August 10, when he was assigned to the operating department of the railroad and re- mained in the freight department until pro- moted to the passenger service as conductor in 1886. Mr. Wright served in this capacity,

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and remained with the company until 1907, a long period of service. He had the honor of running the first passenger train into Dead- wood, South Dakota, when the road was com- pleted to that point, on December 29, 1890. After leaving the railroad, Mr. Wright was ap- pointed city marshall of Chadron, in 1908, served until June of the same year and then was appointed Deputy United States Marshall, a position he still holds. He has faithfully perfomed his duties in a most efficient man- ner and is regarded as a man of honor and marked ability. The Wright family have a good modern home on Bordeaux Avenue, in Chadron where they enjoy their many friends. Mr. Wright is a Thirty-second degree Mason, a Shriner and also belongs to the Elks. For one year he served as mayor of Chadron, an executive office which he filled to the satisfac- tion of the people. Being connected with the railroad for so many years he is well known from Chadron to Escanaba, Michigan, an un- usual honor.

J. FRANK BLAUSEY figures as a native son of what is now Garden county, though at the time of his birth the county was still a part of Deuel county, and here he has proved his loyalty as well as his full appreciation of the advantages and attractions of this section of Nebraska, by his successful association with agricultural and live-stock industry, of which he is one of the prominent and repre- sentative exponents in Garden county.

John Frank Blausey was born at Ramsey, Deuel (now Garden) county, May 12, 1889, a date that denotes conclusively that he is a representative of one of the pioneer families of this section of the state. He received his early education in the public schools of Gar- den county, and prior to initiating his inde- pendent farm career he was employed about six months in connection with the construction of a government irrigation ditch north of Scottsbluff, Scotts Bluff county. Thereafter he was employed about a year by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company, with headquarters in Nebraska's capital city. He is now the owner of a valuable farm of four hundred acres, four and one-half miles north- cast of Oshkosh, has made good improvements on the property and here is proving most suc- cessful in his operations as an agriculturist and stock-raiser. He has had no predilection for political activity or public office, but ac- cords loyal allegiance to the Republican party. His wife is an active communicant of the Lutheran church.

December 20, 1911, at Oshkosh, was re- corded the marriage of Mr. Blausey to Miss Martha Kaschke, who was reared and edu- cated in Sedgwick county, Colorado, being a daughter of Henry Kaschke, of whom indi- vidual mention is made elsewhere in this vol- ume. Mr. and Mrs. Blausey have two chil- dren-Beulah and Bernice.

JOHN C. HARTMAN was a lad of twelve years at the time when his parents established themselves as pioneers in what in now Garden county, and here he has risen to secure van- tage place as one of the prominent represen- tatives of live-stock and agricultural industry in this section of the state. In Clayton county, Iowa, whose eastern borders skirt the shores of the Mississippi river, John C. Hartman was born, October 26, 1875, and is a son of Sebastian R. and Marie (Herman) Hartman, both natives of Austria and both young peo- ple when they came to the United States, their marriage having been solemnized in the state of Illinois. Sebastian Hartman immigrated to America in 1865, and for two years thereafter he was engaged in farm enterprise in Illinois. He then removed to Iowa and became a pio- neer settler in Clayton county, where he was engaged in farming for the ensuing nine years. He then removed with his family to Kossuth county, that state, which was the stage of his successful farm operations for ten years, at the expiration of which, in the spring of 1887, he came to the part of old Cheyenne county, Nebraska, that now comprises Garden county, where he took up homestead and pre-emption claims and girded himself valiantly for the labors of a pioneer agriculturist and stock- grower in a new country. He improved his land, to which he perfected title in due time, and there he continued his activities until 1909, when he removed to Julesburg, Colo- rado, where he died at the age of sixty-nine years and where his widow passed away about two years later.

The rudimentary education of John C. Hart- man was obtained in the schools of Kossuth county, Iowa, and was rounded out by his attending the pioneer schools of what is now Garden county, Nebraska, where he was rear- ed to manhood and early began to assist in the work of his father's farm. When about twenty-six years of age he initiated his inde- pendent activities as an agriculturist and stock- raiser, with which basic industries he has since continued his close and successful association, energy and good management having brought to him substantial prosperity, of which evi- dence in given in his ownership of a thousand

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and forty acres of land, the major part of which is devoted to other phases of agricul- ture and to the raising of good grades of live stock.

Mr. Hartman has always taken loyal inter- est in community affairs, is a Democrat in his political proclivities and had the distinction of serving as the first assessor of Garden coun- ty, a position which he held three years.

December 7, 1904, recorded the marriage of Mr. Hartman to Miss Anna Krause, of Sedgwick, Colorado, whose mother contracted a second marriage and is now a resident of Pendleton, Oregon, her name being Mrs. Bertha Shumway. Mr. and Mrs. Hartman's cheery home circle includes their fine family of six children : Bertha A., Harman J., Clara M., Roy M., Howard E., and Herbert L.

CHARLES E. CARR, a representative agri- culturist and stock-grower of Garden county, is another man who has proved that metro- politan training and vocation do not pre- clude the achieving of a definite success and precedence in connection with farm enterprise, for he claims the great western metropolis, Chicago, as the place of his nativity, and while he gained in his youth a measure of experience in connection with farm industry, he eventual- ly returned to his native city, where he learned the metal-polisher's trade, to which he de- voted his attention about five years, after which he was engaged in business as a painter and paperhanger for a period of about ten years. He then came to that part of Deuel county, Nebraska, that now constitutes Gar- den county, and in the same year, 1902, took up a homestead, ten miles northeast of Osh- kosh. He has reclaimed and developed this tract into one of the excellent farms of the county, and has continued his successful ac- tivities along the lines of diversified agriculture and the raising of good types of live stock. He was a resident of Illinois at the inception of the Spanish-American War, and promptly manifested his patriotism by enlisting in the Second Illinois Volunteer Infantry, with which he continued in service until the regiment was mustered out and he received his honorable dis- charge. Mr. Carr has proved himself liberal in support of measures tending to foster the prosperity and advancement of the community, is independent in politics and has had no de- sire for public office of any kind.

Mr. Carr was born in the city of Chicago on August 4, 1860, and is a son of William F. Carr, who was born in England and who final- ly established his residence in Chicago, where he found employment in the McCormick agri-

cultural implement manufactory. He eventu- ally removed to Kansas, and his son Charles finally lost all trace of him, Charles having been an infant at the time of his mother's death. Mr. Carr continued his residence in Illinois the greater part of the time until he was about fifteen years old and he then went to Kansas, where he remained until he attain- ed his legal majority. It was at this stage of his career that he returned to Chicago, as noted in a preceding paragraph, and concern- ing his activities since that time ample record has already been given.

Mr. Carr chose as his wife, Mrs. Maude (McMannen) Brigham, who was born and reared in Iowa, where her parents, both now deceased, were pioneer settlers. Mr. and Mrs. Carr have one child, by a former marriage of Mrs. Carr, Mable Brigham, who is the wife of Edward Allen, of Oshkosh, and who has two children, Charles Merle and Verona Maude.

BIRD S. RODGERS is the owner of an entire section of land in Garden county and with the energy and progressiveness that in- sure success, he has here carried on vigorous activities as an agriculturist, stock grower and dairy farmer, of which lines of enterprise he is one of the substantial and popular repre- sentatives in the county.

Mr. Rodgers was born in Keokuk county, Iowa, August 10, 1877, and is a son of Joshua T. and Rebecca Jane (Perry) Rodgers, both of whom were reared and educated in Iowa, in which state Mrs. Rodgers was born, her par- ents having been pioneer settlers in that com- monwealth, as were also the parents of her husband, who was a native of Indiana, and who was a boy at the time of the family re- moval to the Hawkeye state. Joshua T. Rodg- ers continued his association with farm enter- prise in Iowa until 1879, when he removed to Missouri, later coming to western Nebraska and became a pioneer settler in 1888, in what is now Morrill county, where he engaged in general farming and stock-raising. Later he was engaged in the cattle business in the sandhill district of Morrill county, and finally he resumed farm operations, south of Lisco, that county, where he continued until his re- tirement from active labors and has since maintained his home at Bridgeport, Morrill county, the mother of the subject of this sketch having passed away in 1888, at the age of thirty-six years.

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History of western Nebraska and its people, Vol. III, Part 140

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