History of western Nebraska and its people, Vol. III, Part 142

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

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Mr. Gallogly was married in 1914, in Wy- oming, to Miss Erzinger, a lady of educa- tion and culture who was a welcome addition to Dix's pleasant social circles. Mr. Gallogly belongs to the Masons at Kimball and the Odd Fellows in Wyoming.

10 Bakken

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

JAMES O. BAKER. - Along manifold lines has this honored early settler exerted in- fluence during the more than thirty-six years since he came to Nebraska. He is a man of broad, intellectual, keen, high ideals and gra- cious personality, a financier of exceptional bus- iness ability-a citizen who commands the full- est measure of popular confidence and esteem. For many years he was a resourceful and pro- gressive executive of the banks with which he was associated and wielded a strong influ- ence in the upbuilding of the substantial finan- cial institutions of Scottsbluff county. Since disposing of his interests in the banking circles of the Panhandle, Mr. Baker has become known as one of the successful and promi- nent ranchmen of this section, and today is one of the largest landed proprietors in the valley and Scotts Bluff county, making his home in Mitchell.

James O. Baker was born in Whiteside county, Illinois, June 6, 1852, the son of Cap- tain Reuben and Elizabeth (Hubbart) Baker, the former a native of Ohio, while the mother was born in New York. They both came to Illinois with their parents when children, were reared and educated in that state and later met and were married there. At the outbreak of the Civil War Mr. Baker responded to the president's call for volunteers, and enlisted in the Seventeenth Illinois Cavalry and became captain of his troop. Most of his service was in Missouri, Arkansas and Texas. After peace was declared he was sent west to fight in the Indian country of Wyoming, western Nebraska and Colorado, as the Indians went on the war path in all these states and Kansas about the time the Civil War closed. Captain Baker was mustered out of the service at Fort Leaven- worth, Kansas, and soon resumed his profes- sion as a preacher of the Methodist Protestant church. He had been ordained before the war and continued to serve the church for many years thereafter, passing away at the hale old age of eighty-two years. He had been a mem- ber of the Abolitionist party during the troubled times of the late fifties and early sixties. Mrs. Baker died in Oklahoma in her eighty-eighth year.

James O. Baker was reared and educated at his boyhood home in Illinois. He was sent to excellent public schools for his elementary edu- cation and later to the Methodist Theological Seminary, at Adrian, Michigan, but left before completing his course in that institution. Af- ter leaving college the young man took up farming in Illinois and, in 1884, came west, locating at Phillips, Hamilton county, Nebras-

ka, taking a position in the right of way de- partment of the Burlington Railroad which was being built across the state at that time. Mr. Baker remained associated with the road until 1888, when he saw excellent opportuni- ties for the establishment of a bank at Phillips, being one of the organizers of the institution. He became its cashier and capably filled that position until 1901, when he disposed of his stock in the bank.

From the first Mr. Baker's business career was marked by courage, self reliance and pro- gressiveness, as well as by that dynamic initia- tive and executive ability that brings normally in their train a full measure of success ; and it was his far vision that led him in association with J. W. Wehn to establish banks at Bridge- port, Minatare, Bayard and Mitchell, for he foresaw that this country was to become rich and productive. Under the new organization Mr. Baker became cashier of the Mitchell bank, an association which continued until he sold his interests in the banks in 1903, to in- vest in irrigated land. In this new enterprise he has given his business the same attention and energy devoted to banking and has gained secure status as one of the representative fig- ures in agricultural circles in the upper Platte valley. As a banker he showed special con- structive talent, and through his effective poli- cies furthered the success of every financial enterprise with which he became associated; since taking up agriculture Mr. Baker has be- come recognized as one of the representative farmers and progressive and public-spirited citizens of Scotts Bluff county and as such he merits specific mention in a history of the county and the Panhandle.

Since first investing in land in this valley Mr. Baker has continued to add to his holdings until he is the owner of some nineteen hundred and twenty acres, most of it very valuable, worth from thirty to three hundred and fifty dollars an acre, depending upon its location with regard to the irrigation ditches. More than sixteen hundred acres of his property is rented. In the Ozark mountains Mr. Baker has purchased extensive tracts of heavily tim- bered land and now holds two thousand, three hundred and sixty acres which will bring in a fortune when the trees are cut for lumber.

In June, 1872, Mr. Baker's marriage with Miss Emily Robinson was solemnized on his birthday. Mrs. Baker was a native of Illi- nois and lived but a few years after her mar- riage ; her death occurred in 1878, at the age of twenty-five years. On December 23, 1882, Mr. Baker married Miss Minnie Brolliar, a

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native of Iowa. Mrs. Baker's father, Job Brolliar, was an Iowa soldier in the Civil War. Early in the war, he was discharged, came home sick and died. A few years later, when she was but a little girl, her mother died. She and her orphaned sister and brother attended the public school at Vinton, Iowa. Her edu- cation was finished at Iowa City, after which she taught school until she was married. She continued teaching two years after her mar- riage. She was the first postmistress at Phil- lips, Nebraska, and held the position for six years. Then she took an active part in her husband's banking business. She was the bookkeeper who never closed up her books un- til mistakes, if any, were corrected. When the bank at Minatare was started Mr. Baker's partner, Mr. Welin, wanted her to take charge, insisting that she was a better banker than her husband. Since the Bakers sold their banking interests, she has been prominently identified with all social interests in Mitchell. For two or three years, she was president of the Woman's Club in Mitchell and was the first president of the Red Cross organized at Mitch- ell. Mrs. Baker is a Past Matron of the Eastern Star. She probably did more than any one woman to make a success of the Scotts Bluff County Fair. A woman of unusual business ability and entitled to a full share of credit for what success Mr. Baker has had. Mr. and Mrs. Baker have a beautiful home in Mitchell, where they dispense a gracious hos- pitality to their many old, warm friends.

Mr. Baker is known throughout the upper valley as one of the men who has played an improtant part in the opening up and develop- ment of this section. His faith in the future of the irrigated land led many other men to invest along the Platte and their faith in this section has been justified, for by holding his land Mr. Baker became wealthy. He has taken an active and influential part in civic, county and panhandle affairs from first locat- ing here. He advocates and supports all move- ments for the benefit of the country and has given liberally in support of all the activities he believed worthy. For many years Mr. Baker has taken part in the councils of the Democratic party and though he has been urged to do so will not hold office. He makes his headquarters at Mitchell, from which point he superintends the management of his farms. It can well be said that Mr. Baker is self-made, for when he came to Nebraska he had little of equipment in the way of worldly goods, but did have a fair education, the determination to make good and succeed. He made many

friends for people soon learned that his word was as good as his bond, and today is rated one of the best known and popular men in western Nebraska. Mr. Baker is a member of the Masonic order, having taken his Thirty- second degree in the Scottish Rite.

WILLIAM J. EWING, president of the Dalton State Bank, at Dalton, Cheyenne coun- ty, Nebraska, has been identified with com- mercial affairs in the state for many years and since assuming his present office February 1, 1919, has become well known and is held in high esteem by the banking circles over the Panhandle.

Mr. Ewing was born in Fayette county, In- diana, July 27, 1875, the son of John G. and Emmiline (Shotridge) Ewing. His father was also a native of Indiana, reared and edu- cated there and when President Lincoln called for volunteers to help preserve the Union at the outbreak of the Civil War, he responded when only a boy of fifteen by running away from home and enlisting in an Indiana regi- ment. He saw some of the hardest fighting during that memorable conflict but lived and returned to his home when peace was declared, to engage in peaceful pursuits. He was a practical farmer by vocation and also an ex- · pert saw mill man, an industry in which he was engaged for several years at the same time conducting his farm. During President Harrison's administration Mr. Ewing was en- gaged by J. N. Huston, treasurer of the United States, to carry on agricultural business and the diversified interests on his land. Being a natural farmer, having tastes that fitted him to make the most of every opportunity available in agricultural pursuits, it was but natural that Mr. Ewing wanted landed property of his own and as Indiana was well settled up, the land there was high so he determined to take ad- vantage of the government land in states far- ther west. In 1882, he came to Nebraska with this end in view, locating in Polk county where he at once actively engaged in farm activities. Now he is a retired man living at Exeter, Nebraska.

William J. Ewing was reared in Kansas and Nebraska, attending public schools of both states and thereby gaining an excellent practical elucation which has been of benefit to him in his varied and active commercial life. While living at home he gained practical knowledge of farm business and when only twenty years old established himself independently in busi- ness on a farm in Jefferson county, where for nine years he raised varied farm crops and tells that he sold his corn for nine cents a

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bushel and managed to make money at that, so that we know he naturally had great ability in financial dealings. Following this he re- moved to Fillmore county and again was oc- cupied as a farmer but left the country to engage in mercantile pursuits, running a gro- cery store for a year, where he gained profit- able experience and knowledge with regard to business methods and commercial life. By 1904, Mr. Ewing had gained such an excellent reputation and the confidence of his business associates that he was asked to invoice the store owned by Dan McAleese, for Harry Brown, and the following year was engaged to run the electric light plant in Sidney, but was induced to resign by Mr. Brown and go to Dalton where he became the manager of a store owned by Mr. Brown and several other men. This was a successful undertaking and he determined to branch out in business life, first putting in a lumber yard for the Bridge- port Lumber Company. The active manage- ment of the yard was placed in his efficient hands and for nearly thirteen years he was manager of the business. During this time he had accumulated considerable capital by thrift, good investments and a frugal manner of living. Mr. Ewing looked the financial field over and decided that the banking busi- ness appealed to him most; he had gained a wide and varied circle of friends during his business life in Dalton, all of whom held him in high esteem due to his careful methods, absolute honesty in all dealings with custo- mers and they all recognized in him excep- tional qualities that are necessary for finance. In 1919, on February 1st, he bought an in- terest in the stock of the Dalton State Bank and at once assumed the management of that thriving institution as president. With his varied experience in financial circles and his marked executive ability the future of the bank looks very bright under the capable guidance of such a man as Mr. Ewing. He has not confined all his energies to business alone, but has willingly and capably taken part in civic and communal affairs as he has been a member of the town board for eight years. In politics Mr. Ewing is a Republican and takes an active part in all local political af- fairs which tend to the benefit of the commun- ity. His fraternal affiliations are with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Lodge No. 385 and the Modern Woodmen of Amer- ica.

On November 14. 1908, Mr. Ewing mar- ried Miss Elsie Poole, at Dalton, the daugh- ter of Sidney and Dora Poole, who were pioneers of Cheyenne county ; the former pass-

ed away in 1918, at the age of seventy years while the mother now resides near Julesburg. Mrs. Ewing was born in Illinois but her per- ents brought her to Nebraska when she was very young and thus she is nearly a native daughter of this state, having been reared and educated in this western section of the great commonwealth. She spent her girlhood on the home farm and attended the local school ; subsequently she graduated from the high school in Sidney and having qualified herself to teach was engaged in that profession for seven years previous to her marriage. She is a woman of high attainments and a worthy partner of her successful and progressive hus- band. They are wide readers of modern litera- ture and the current periodicals and thus keep up with all the progressive movements of the state and nation. There are two girls in the family : Bessie L., at home and Clara V., to whom all the educational and social advan- tages of the town and state have been accorded by their parents.

WILLIAM H. ZILMER, the owner and manager of the Gates City Hotel of Craw- ford, is one of the most popular hotel men in western Nebraska where he is well known and has a wide clientele among the travel- ing public. He is an excellent business man of marked ability, who has made a success of various lines of enterprise and is consid- ered one of the substantial and progressive men of Crawford, where he takes an active part in all civic affairs.

He was born in Stanton county, Nebraska, July 8, 1881, and is one of the typical native sons of this commonwealth, with all the en- ergy and initiative that are credited to the Ne- braskan. Mr. Zilmer's parents were August and Amelia (Bramer) Zilmer, both natives of Germany, the mother being born at Potsdam. August Zilmer came to the United States in 1861. Within a short time Mr. Zilmer went to Michigan and secured employment in an iron ore mine, working fifteen hundred feet under ground. Having a sister and brother- in-law in Wisconsin, Mr. Zilmer determined to go to them, but as he had no money made the trip on foot from Michigan to Shell Lake. The soil of that locality is poor so Mr. Zil- mer, his sister and her husband, Ludwig Beltz, hearing of the rich, fertile lands of Nebraska, determined to come here. They drove through the country in true pioneer style with an ox team and wagon and reached Omaha when that city was a town of only two hundred and fifty inhabitants. The Union Pacific Railroad was laying rails on an ex-

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HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

tension at the time, and Mrs. Zilmer obtain- ed work with the road, soon becoming noted for his great strength, as he could alone lift a rail into place from the ground. For about a year he remained with the railroad and then came to Stanton, Nebraska, and took up a homestead on which he made improvements and proved up. The grant to his land was signed by President U. S. Grant. After liv- ing alone for four years Mr. Zilmer married and eleven children were born to the union, only four of whom are now living, two boys and two girls. William was one of the young- est children and had a twin sister.

William Zilmer was reared on his father's homestead in Stanton county and when a small boy he raised three pigs to make some money, using it to buy some clothes as times were hard. He attended the public schools for his education and worked on the farm in summer time. After attaining his majority Mr. Zil- mer remained at home and when he was twenty-seven years old his father gave up the active management of the farm and retired. Mr. Zilmer then took charge and farmed the land on shares. He well remembers the grasshop- per years when the pests ate everything, even making holes in the fork handles. A year after taking over the farm Mr. Zilmer was married at Twin Falls, Idaho, to Miss Agnes Boha- boy, a native of Bohemia, who came to this country with her parents. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Zilmer, Ilo, Au- gust and Esther. Leaving the farm Mr. Zil- mer lived three years in Idaho, before re- turning to Nebraska to locate at Valentine. There he ran a hog ranch three years, meet- ing with success but was offered a good price for the place and sold out to come to Craw- ford, February 15, 1918. Soon afterward he bought the Gate City Hotel, which is one of the first class houses in western Nebraska. It is modern throughout, has a good reputation for its pleasant accommodations and Mr. Zil- mer has gained a fine reputation as host. He is genial, ever ready to accommodate his guests and has so gained a good reputation as an up- to-date hotel man. For some years now he has been well known over this section where he has made many warm friends not only with the usual travelers but through the large auto- mobile trade which is growing each year. His house is a model in its way and no one leaves who has not a good word for the Gate City.

Since first coming to Crawford, Mr. Zilmer has taken an active part in the affairs of the town, is ready and willing to help in any move- ment for the upbuilding of the town and its

development and is wide awake to all business opportunities. He is a Republican.

SOLOMON D. HICKEL, one of the pro- gressive and prosperous young farmers of Dawes county, who is making a success of his business due to his ability and attention paid to farming, is a native son and in his career is displaying all the initiative credited to Ne- braskans.

He was born in Saunders county, July 2, 1884, the son of Granville and Malinda (Woods) Hickel, being the fifth in a family of eight children consisting of five boys and three girls. His father was a pioneer settler of Saunders county, locating there in 1871. He took up a homestead near the present site of Wahoo. Granville Hickel was a success- ful farmer and man of affairs, taking part in his community and served one term as State Representative and one term as State Senator, being elected on the Democratic ticket.

Solomon Hickel was reared on his father's farm and educated in the public schools near his home. He then entered the high school at Ashland and graduated. While still a boy he began to trap animals for their pelts, sell- ing the muskrat skins at a profit, so that he early learned to make money. He remained at home until he was twenty years old and a year later, March 11, 1905, was married in Ash- land to Miss Gertrude Sherman, the daughter of John and Mattie (Wood) Sherman, being the oldest of their five children. Mrs. Hickel was educated in the public schools and at Ash- land. Her father was descended from General Sherman and was one of the pioneer settlers of Lancaster county, where he farmed for many years. He lived to see the many changes come to Nebraska and sold his land for two hundred and fifty dollar an acres in 1920. Mr. Sherman has now retired from active life and lives in Lincoln.

Solomon Hickel came to Dawes county in 1918, bought a half section of land eight miles north of Whitney and later leased another half section nearby. He has placed good im- provements on his farm, introduced modern methods of farming which he finds pay and is regarded as one of the substantial men of his locality. He is keeping abreast of all agri- cultural business, is energetic and a hard work- er so that his farm is paying a good income to him for the capital invested. General farm- ing is carried on at the Hickel place also some stock is raised, all with an eye to the eventual success of the ranch. Mr. Hickel has made his own success and it has been through his

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

own initiative and the determination to succeed that he has taken a place in the ranks of the prominent agriculturists of the Whitney lo- cality where young men are coming to the front as the great producers of the day. Mr. Hickel takes active part in all civic affairs connected with his community and supports all the movements for the development of the county and his home district. He is a men- ber of the Methodist church.

FREDERICK N. SLAWSON, the efficient county clerk of Cheyenne county, who resides at Sidney is a man of diversified talents. Along manifold lines has this pioneer school teacher of Nebraska exerted benign influence during more than a quarter of a century of continu- ous residence in Cheyenne county. He is a man of broad intellectual, keen, high ideals, and gracious personality - a citizen who com- mands the fullest measure of popular confi- dence and esteem.

Mr. Slawson is a native of the Keystone state born at Clara, Potter county, August 14, 1873, the son of Hugh and Alice E. (Brooks) Slawson, also natives of Pennsylvania who were born, reared, educated and married in that state. They were ambitious people, who believed that a greater future and fortune lay before them in the west than among the moun- tains of their youth and with stout hearts, high courage and a determination to succeed over every obstacle came west, locating in Cheyenne county near Lodgepole in 1884. Here Hugh Slawson used what money he had in the purchase of land and also homesteaded a hundred and sixty acre tract. He erected the usual sod house of this locality for the first home and began breaking the soil in order to put in his first crop. Mr. and Mrs. Slawson worked together to make a success of their farm; they soon had good and permanent improvements for that day and when bliz- zard, drought and insect pests drove many of the other settlers to sell out and return to their old homes in the east, they held on, their faith in this section could not be broken and though they suffered and endured privations and hardships kept their courage high and in the end won a comfortable fortune which they enjoyed in their later years. Mr. Slaw- son became recognized as a progressive and prosperous farmer and stockman in this sec- tion, specializing in high grade stock. In later years, after the country was better settled, he also engaged in the dairy business, in which line he met with marked success. From time to time, as his capital permitted, he purchased land adjoining the original homestead until he

had six hundred and forty acres of the finest farming land in the Pole Creek valley. A considerable estate for a man to accumulate in twenty-five years by his own unaided cfforts. Mr. Slawson was a member of the Democratic party but never aspired to office, as his time and energies were entirely taken up by the varied agricultural pursuits in which he en- gaged. He died at Lodgepole, Nebraska, a man of honor and years. Mrs. Slawson sur- vives her husband and is still living on the old home place near Lodgepole. She has been a devoted mother and loving helpmate and companion for more than a half-century - a woman whose strength has been as the number of her days and who had a remarkable share in pioneer experience in the great west and the development of this section of Ne- braska.

Frederick was twelve years of age when he accompanied his parents to the pioneer home in Cheyenne county. He had already attended school in the east and after coming to the Lodgepole community received such instruc- tion as was available in the frontier commun- ity. His career as a representative of the pedagogic profession began at an early date as he was but seventeen years of age when he began to teach school in a sod house without floor or plaster for the munificent sum of twenty dollars a month, and boarded himself. He became a well known and popular teacher in Cheyenne and Keith counties, spending sev- eral years in professional life before he de- termined to establish himself independently as a farmer. He filed on a homestead in the vi- cinity of Lodgepole, made some good and per- manent improvements on it, proved up and was engaged in general farming pursuits for nearly ten years, meeting with gratifying suc- cess in this business venture. After this con- siderable period on the farm he rented the property and again taught school in Cheyenne county and Lodgepole, following this voca- tion until the fall of 1896, when the residents of his community elected him to the respon- sible office of county clerk which he filled in such an able manner that he was re-elected in 1918, and is still the incumbent of that office. Mr. Slawson is a farsighted man of varied at- tainments who has ever had faith in this western country, he keeps abreast of the times and does not confine his interests to one line nor his activities either for he was one of the prime movers and an organizer of the Liberty State Bank of Sidney. During his agricultural life and also while professionally engaged he had accumulated a large capital and with the growth of food production in the

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History of western Nebraska and its people, Vol. III, Part 142

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