History of western Nebraska and its people, Vol. III, Part 47

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

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In 1906, Mr. Garrard married Miss Mar- garet Schultz who has been a loving and de- voted wife as well as brave helpmate in build- ing the comfortable fortune to which they may look with pride as the result of their own unaided labors. In politics Mr. Garrard is a supporter of the principles of the Republican party though he is bound by no strict party lines when it comes to local elections. Fra- ternally his affiliations are with the Ancient Order of United Workmen.

JOHN N. HUDSON. - As a follower of the oldest vocation of the human race, John Hudson has achieved that success which comes to a man who finds his work congenial and who invests it with determination, enthusiasm and natural ability. The agrculturist has ever before him the opportunity of making himself an enormously useful factor in the production of a community, and a realization of this fact has come to Mr. Hudson in Scottsbluff county and the Panhandle, as he is one of the pioneer

settlers of this section who have played such an important part in opening up and develop- ing the western part of the state of Nebraska which for so many years was regarded as not only non-productive but a veritable wilder- ness by residents of the middle and eastern states. That his vision was far and keen is testified by the fact that today the valley of the Platte is one of the garden spots of the earth and during the recent World War, when all farmers were called upon to aid in feed- ing the starving hords of Europe, this section not long since regarded as worthless for pro- ducing anything but jack rabbits and grease wood, responded with food products in such quantities that it seemed incredible that land could produce such bountiful crops. But it was not the land alone, it was the men who owned and operated it with their modern intensive farming methods, their hard work and deter- mination to show the world what the American farmer could do and today the men who are engaged as agriculturists in the United States lead the world in every branch of this great enterprise. Mr. Hudson is one of the best representatives of farming business in the middle west. He is descended from a long line of fine old Virginia stock that settled in the Old Dominion at an early day and its members have taken a dignified and active part in the history of the activities of that fine old state.

John Hudson was born n Marion county, Iowa, in 1866, just after the close of the Civil War, being the son of William J. and Jane ( Moreland) Hudson, the former born in Virginia and now living, hale and hearty at the advanced age of eighty years, while the mother was a native of the Hoosier state, born in Indiana in 1844, and now a woman of advanced years, having passed the psalmist's span of three score years and ten, but is still vigorous in mind and body as though she were twenty years younger. William J. Hudson came west at an early day to take advantage of the many opportunities to obtain land on the, then, frontier of Iowa, and after locating in that state began his business career as a farmer, planting the diversified crops which brought the greatest returns in that section and became known as one of the substantial and prosperous men of his community. Sub- sequently he became interested in a mining industry in Iowa, to which he devoted con- siderable time for some years. The following children were members of the Hudson fam- ily : Alice, the wife of William Sratton, who lives near Lake Alice; Clyde a farmer near

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Mitchell and John. The family were members of the Baptist church to which they have ever been liberal contributors while Mr. Hudson was a Democrat in politics.

John N. Hudson was reared on his father's farm in Iowa, attended the excellent public schools where he laid the foundation of his education which has been of priceless value to him during the many years of his business life. He grew up sturdy, self reliant and strong, early learning the practical side of farm industries and at an early age assumed many of the duties to be found around a country home. While still a youth he was a good capable farmer, so that when he decided to establish himself in an independent busi- ness of his own he wisely chose that vocation which he knew best and to which his tastes in- clined and became an agriculturist. As land in Iowa was already high in price, the young man hazarded his fortunes farther west, where cheaper land was to be obtained from the government. Coming to Nebraska, Mr. Hud- son first located in Platte county, where he opened up and operated a frontier farm for some time before he again responded to the lure "of the farther on" and coming up the river settled in Buffalo county. He proved up on his land and became one of the well-to-do men of his section. Living near the river, Mr. Hudson began to study the question of water for the land, for he had long since realized that with the fertile lands of the river bottoms, the never failing sunshine of western Ne- braska that all the farmer needed to reap golden harvests was water, in sufficient quan- tity and at just the right time for the growing crops, for the only drawback to handcap the agriculturist of the high plains was his de- pendence upon the uncertain rains of this sec- tion. Becoming interested in irrigation and watching the success of men who were owners of land under ditch, after the canals had been dug in the Panhandle, Mr. Hudson became convinced that the greatest future for him laid in such a locality and disposing of his holdings in the central part of the state came to Scottsbluff county in 1907. He filed on a homestead of one hundred and ten acres in the Morrill district, on section eighteen, town- ship five. Being a man of experience, he at once began permanent and good improvements on the place, erected the necessary farm build- ing for carrying on his business, built a com- fortable home and soon had his land well work- ed. As his returns from his labor permitted he invested in more land, adjacent to his first homestead, on which he believed money could

be made, so that today he is the owner of a landed estate of two hundred and ten acres of rich farming land, ninety-six of which are un- der ditch, producing abundant and assured crops each year. Mr. Hudson has not con- fined his energies to one line but is engaged in diversified farming and stock-raising, havng a good grade of horses and cattle, he is a shrewd buyer and studying his business, is usually a good seller, shipping so that he obtains the benefit of the long side of the market in Omaha or Kansas City.

Mr. Hudson is a public spirited man who lives up to his standard of what an American citizen should be as he takes an active part in all local affairs, and being a man of educa- tion is well qualified to hold the office which he has been willing to accept as he is school director of his district, advocating the best and most modern methods and studies for the rural schools, as he fully unerstands that the education of the youthful farmer means a successful man in later life. In politics he is a staunch supporter of the principles of the Republican party while his fraternal affilia- tions are with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Ancient Order of United Workmen.

On April 14, 1887, Mr. Hudson married Miss Minnie Beye, a native of Illinois, being the daughter of George Henry Beyer who came to Nebraska in the early eighties and located on a homestead in Platte county. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hudson: Earnest G., a farmer in the state of Wyoming ; William C., who served as a military police- man in the 338 field artillery 88th Division, A. E. F., in the United States army during the war with Germany; Olive E., the wife of J. N. Shaver, a resident of Scottsbluff county ; and John W., who is at home. Bessie Alta died in infancy.

In recording the lives of men who have been instrumental in the development of the Pan- handle to what it is today, the historian would be remiss in his duties if he failed to give a prominent part to Mr. Hudson who has been a pioneer across this great state as he helped its settlement at three distinct places along the great valley of the Platte.

CHARLES N. WEST, is one of the well known farmers of Scottsbluff county whose industry, energy and good management has placed his in comfortable circumstances and gained for him a reputable standing in this progressive section of the Platte valley.

Charles West was born on a farm in Doug-

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las county, Illinois, in 1873, being the son of A. J. and Sidney (Campbell) West. The father was one of the gallant sons of this great country who responded to President Lin- coln's call for volunteers to preserve the in- tegrity of the Union when the United States was threatened with disintegration. He was born, reared and educated in Indiana, but be- fore the outbreak of hostilities had established himself as a farmer in Illinois and it was as a member of the Twenty-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry that he entered the Union army, serv- ing for three and a half years and thus par- ticipating in many of the hardest battles of that memorable conflict. Today Mr. West is still living a hale, hardy, well preserved man of seventy-seven and from the sunset years can look back along the decades and feel that he has played a worthy and important part in the history of his country. Sidney (Camp- bell) West was born in Ohio in 1844, is living at Osceola, Iowa.

After the close of the war A. J. West moved to Iowa where he was able to get land for a reasonable price and there established himself as a general farmer and stock man. There are nine children in the West family : John, a farmer in Iowa; James, a locomotive engineer who went to Japan when the great Trans-Si- berian railway was built and has since been as- sociated with that company. Charles; Ed- ward, the sheriff of Clark county, Iowa ; L. S., who resides. in Iowa; Nellie who is living at home with her parents; Minnie, the wife of True Wood, an Iowa farmer; George, a car- penter who was in the service of the govern- ment during the war with Germany, serving twenty months in France with the engineer- ing corps ; and Walter, who is in the govern- ment mail service at Osceola, Iowa.

Charles West gained his early education in the common schools of Illinois and while go- ing to school also assumed many duties on the home farm, thus early becoming a potential business man while a youth in years. After finishing school he chose agriculture as the vocation toward which his inclinations turned also as the business with which he was most familiar, but he was ambitious to get ahead in the world and as Iowa was so well settled up that land was high in price, decided to hazard his fortune in Nebraska and in 1905 came to Sioux county where he took up a homestead of eighty acres on which he proved up. Later he purchased the Royce place in township 23- 58, section 10, which gave him a landed estate of four hundred and fifty-three acres of which two hundred acres are under ditch. Mr. West

has made this one of the valuable farm prop- erties of his neighborhood and engages in gen- eral farming and stock-raising.

In 1912, was solemnized the marriage of Charles West and Miss Polly Johnson, the daughter of David Johnson, who was a resi- dent of Iowa when his daughter was born. Both Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are now deceased. Mrs. West is a member of the Baptist church, one of the substantial progressive women who are making their mark in this twentieth cen- tury and demonstrating that it is the woman at the wheel who helps make the world roll on to a greater and better development. Mr. West is a Republican in politics and his fra- ternal affiliations are with the Masonic order, beng a Thirty-second degree Mason and also a member of the Odd Fellows.

JOHN BOATSMAN. - Definite efficiency has characterized the service of the Boatsmann in the responsible office of president of the Farmers and Merchants State Bank of Morrill, and his administration has done much to con- serve the success that has marked the history of this important and representative financial institution of Scottsbluff county, the while his personality and civic loyalty have gained for him an enviable place in the popular confi- dence and esteem of the residents of the val- ley. Mr. Boatsman was born in Iowa, Sep- tember 5, 1875, being the son of Deark M. and Margaret ( Menken) Boatsman, both of whom were natives of Iowa, where they were reared, educated and later met and married. There were five children in the Boatsman fam- ily four of whom are still living: Mangel; Fannie, the wife of Menhard Ehmen, who re- sides at Sterling, Nebraska; John, the subject of this review : Minnie, who married Henry Eilers of Sterling, Nebraska, and Carrie, the wife of Edward Johnson, Mr. Johnson himself is now associated with the management of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of that city of which D. M. Boatsman is president. The par- ents were members of the Evangelical Lu- theran church, a faith in which the children were reared. The father was and adherent of the principles of the Democratic party with which he usually cast his vote. Margaret Menken Boatsman died November 12, 1899, leaving a sorrowing family and darkened home, as she had been a devoted wife and mother and worthy helpmate for her husband during the years of their married life.

John Boatsman was reared in his native state and there in the common schools laid the foundation for the excellent practical educa-

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tion that has proved of inestimable value to him during the years of his commercial life. At an early age the boy determined upon a career in the realms of finance and as soon as his school days were over entered a bank to there learn the practical side of the business and soon became a business man of marked circumspection and progressiveness, so that success has come to him as a natural peroga- tive. That this choice of a vocation was a wise one needs no telling to the friends and business associates of this man who while yet young in years bears the responsibilities that so long were regarded as only to be held by the grey beards, but new blood was needed in financial circles and it has been such youthful bankers who have written his- tory in the Panhandle and Nebraska. In 1909 Mr. Boatsman decided that a great future was in store for the irrigated sections of the Platte valley not only for the agriculturist but for allied interests and one of the most important of them was the banks, which play such an important part in opening up and developing any section of the country. With this idea in mind Mr. Boatsman located in Morrill where he became the prime mover in the or- ganization of the Farmers and Merchants Bank and its heaviest stockholder assuming from the first the guiding hand in its policies as he was elected first president of the institu- tion. The bank, founded the same year Mr. Boatsman came to the city, based its early operations upon a capital stock of $25,000, has surplus of $20,000 and deposits of $25,- 000, an aggregate that is fairly large for a young institution and well demonstrates the able management that has established a policy which has given the bank the confidence and hearty support of the resident of the entire Morrill valley.

As a broad minded and progressive citi- zen Mr. Boatsman manifests lively interest in all things touching the communal welfare and the development of the many and varied in- dustries of this rich, teeming agricultural dis- trict that has so well demonstrated what the American farmer and business man can ac- complish when they set out to pace the world in production and modern business. Mr. Boatsman is too wide guaged a man to be tied down by strict party lines in casting his vote in local elections though nationally he advocates the principles of the Democratic party with which he usually voted. His fra- ternal affiliations are with the Masonic order of which he is a member of high degree, being a Thirty-second degree member of that order

and is also associated with the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of Scottsbluff.

On September 5, 1899, Mr. Boatsman mar- ried Miss Emilie Ehmen, who was born in Illinois, and to this union one child has been born: Joy Sterling, who, after completing the high school course of four years entered the State University of Nebraska, where he ex- pects to spend another four years and gradu- ate with his Bachelor's degree. Mrs. Boats- man, a woman of refinement and culture is a leader in the social activities of her city, being the popular chatelaine of one of the most attractive and hospitable homes in Morrill, a position in which she is ably supported by her husband who has made a host of friends in the Panhandle and is held in high esteem by the many men of his wide and varied busi- ness acquaintance as well as the warm friends of Scottsbluff county, where he is winning an enviable position as one of the younger and progressive members of the banking fraternity.

HENRY G. KARPF, cashier of the First National Bank of Morrill, is one of Scotts- bluff county's young and progressive citizens who have created a favorable impression in banking circles and established themselves in positions formerly held by men many years their senior. Mr. Karpf is not a product of the Panhandle though he is a middle western man and thus has the push and energy that is the most striking characteristics of men born and reared west of the Allegheny mountains. He is a native of the Buckeye state, born in Conneant, Ohio, July 22, 1891, being the son of Charles and Hattie (Daniels) Karpf, the former born and reared in Colorado while the mother like her son first saw the light of day in the Ohio valley and is a worthy repre- sentative of one of the hardy pioneer families that located in Ohio when that state was close to the American frontier. Three children formed the younger members of the Karpf family: Louise, who is married to O. K. Collerick, a resident of Ohio; Henry, the sub- ject of this review: and Marion, who is still in Ohio. Charles Karpf was for many years a merchant in Ohio and still continues the busi- ness to which he has devoted his time and energies to a result that he is now one of the well known and substantial business men of his district. He takes an active interest in the civic and communal affairs of his locality and in politics is an adherent to the princples of the Republcan party.

Henry Karpf was reared in his native state

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and as his parents lived on a farm was thus enabled to secure the best educational advan- tages during his youth in the community's pub- lic institutions and soon after completing his schooling started in to attain his business train- ing in local banking institutions, where his early career reflected credit upon the schools in the excellent foundation that he had been enabled to establish and upon which his later finan- cial career was erected. From first entering business life the influence of his early training has been of inestimable advantage to Mr. Karpf and his career thus far has in turn reflected credit on those who instructed him and also upon his own ability and character.

Desiring a broader field for his endeavors while still a youth of sixteen, he determined to enter the realms of finance and believed that there were many more opporunities in the newer country west of the Mississippi river, came to Nebraska in 1907, to accept a posi- tion in the First National Bank of Mitchell where he became acquainted with this section of the country and the banking business at first hand and within a sort time had become established as one of the rising younger men in banking circles of the Panhandle. Devot- ing not only much time but deep study to the many problems that arose in his business Mr. Karpf became an authority on many of the intricate problems that arose in the bank. He was conservative in policy and at the same time was far sighted enough and also progres- sive in his ideas and methods that few oppor- tunities for increasing the business and estab- lishng the prestige of his institution escaped him so that in 1913 when he came to Morrill to accept the position of cashier of the First National Bank of this city Mr. Karpf had an enviable reputation and his high standing among the men of importance in the financial circles not only of the Panhandle but through- out western Nebraska and the neighboring states to the west and north. The First Na- tional Bank has a capital of $25,000, surplus of $5,000 and deposits of $400,000, which estab- lishes it in the front rank of banks in the mid- dle west. Mr. Karpf is a man of marked busi- ness ability, strict integrity, personal probity and sound citizenship, and he well merits the success and respect which he has won among the citizens of the Morrill valley and Scotts- bluff county. In his political views Mr. Karpf is independent, not bound by close party lines when he votes in local elections, choosing the man best qualified to serve the community rather than a party candidate. His fraternal associations are with the Masonic order in

which he has taken his Thirty-second degree.

On August 21, 1916, Mr. Karpf married Miss Lodicea Babcock, a native of Colorado, where she was reared and educated. Mr. Karpf is one of the coterie of young business men who are making history in the Panhandle today and it is to them that we must look to maintain the high standard set during the great war and which for the development of our country must be maintained in the future and this torch of success which they are so ably carrying will then be handed down the years to posterity.

EDWIN A. BEARD, M.D., is one of the fa- vored mortals whom nature launches into the world with the heritage of sturdy old colonial ancestry. a splendid physique, a masterful mind and energy enough for several men. Added to these attributes are excellent intellectual and professional attainments and the useful les- sons of a wide and varied experience which he has stored away and which are within call whenever an emergency arises. He is the true type of the natural physician and gentleman, using the word in the older and best accepted sense, and today is a worthy representative of the best in professional and communal life, dignified and yet possessing an affability and abiding human sympathy that have won him warm friends among all classes and conditions of men in the Morrill valley and all over Scottsbluff county.

Mr. Beard was born in the state of Wiscon- sin, February 3, 1871, being the son of Abra- ham and Sarah F. (Hays) Beard, the former being a worthy scion of one of the old colonial families of Virginia, where he was reared and received excellent educational advantages dur- ing his younth and upon attaining manhood's estate decided to seek his fortune farther west, he crossed the Allegheny mountains, then pass- ed along the southern shores of the Great Lakes, but did not find that which he was seek- ing until the great pine forests of Wisconsin were entered and there, in 1841, he became a pioneer of the Badger state. Nothing daunted by the work required to claim a home and farming land from the wilderness, Abraham Beard gradually cleared his land, planted his crops, erected a good though primitive home for his family and with the passing years be- came a man of prominence in his section. He was a hard worker, had excellent executive ability and with the passing years accumulated a comfortable fortune and in his later life could look down the passing decades and feel that his was a life well spent, that he had

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played no unimportant part in opening up and developing the west for settlement and the cul- ture and civilization that have since become so firmly established in that great commonwealth bounded by two of the greatest bodies of fresh water in the world. It was such men as Mr. Beard who blazed the way for Wisconsin to become a state in which some of the best and greatest reforms of our great country have had their inception and later been adopted by other states and the nation itself: He was a staunch adherent to the tenets of the Republican party and a loyal member of the Presbyterian church, to which both he and his wife belonged. Passing away in 1880, Mr. Beard had lived long enough to realize that the work, privations and hardships of the pioneers had not been in vain and hand- ed on to posterity, through his cihldren a heri- tage of inestimable value. Mrs. Beard was born in Indiana where she was educated and passed her girlhood ; she proved a woman of courage and resource, as she accompanied her husband to the pioneer home in the wilderness of, Wisconsin and there became the helpmate every man needs who is combating nature and the primitive and for all the years of his life was the one to encourage in dark hours and en- joy in the happy ones. She survived her hus- band, living beyond the psalmist's span of three score years and ten, as she was not called to her last long rest until 1903, a woman whose good deeds were as the number of her days.

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History of western Nebraska and its people, Vol. III, Part 47

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