History of western Nebraska and its people, Vol. III, Part 54

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

USA > Nebraska > History of western Nebraska and its people, Vol. III > Part 54

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

GEORGE SOWERWINE is most consis- tently to be accorded consideration in tihs history, by reason of his being one of the sterling pioneer agriculturists and stock-grow- ers who have aided greatly in the civic and industrial development of Scottsbluff county. He owns one of the well improved and valuable landed estates of the county and is a venerable citizen to whom is accorded the fullest measure of popular confidence and esteem in the coun- ty that has long been his home. He not only gained wide and varied pioneer experience in the west, but also rendered valiant service as a soldier of the Union during the stormy epoch of the Civil War. Mr. Sowerwine is now living virtually retired, in a pleasant home at Gering, the judicial center of the county.

George Sowerwine was born in Delaware county, Indiana, on the 19th of June, 1843, and is a son of Christian Sowerwine, who was born in Virginia, who became a farmer in Indiana and who later was a pioneer agricul- turist in Iowa, where he died when about sev- enty-seven years of age. The subject of this sketch was about eight years old at the time of his mother's death and was a child at the time of the family removal to Iowa, where he was reared and educated under the conditions and influences of the pioneer days. In 1859 he equipped himself for the long and perilous journey across the plains to California. He was at the time a lad of sixteen years and from Council Bluffs he started forth with an ox team for the New Eldorado. In due time the plodding train of ox teams reached California, and there Mr. Sowerwine contin-

275

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

ued in the quest of gold until a higher duty confronted him, when the Civil War was pre- cipitated upon a divided nation. At the age of eighteen years he enlisted in the United State Cavalry and with his command, under two enlistments, he served in the Indian cam- paigns in the west during the progress of the war between the north and the south. He continued in military service four years, two months and seven days, and had many trying and hazardous experiences in campaign work. By reason of this valiant service during a stir- ring period in the history of the nation he is eligible for and affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic, in the affairs of which he has maintained deep interest as its ranks have been rapidly thinned by the one invincible an- tagonist, death.

After the termination of his military career Mr. Sowerwine returned to Iowa, where he engaged in farming and where also he was identified with coal mining for some time. In 1886 he came to that part of Cheyenne county, Nebraska, that is now comprised in Scotts- bluff county, and as a pioneer he filed entry on both homestead and pre-emption claims, to which he eventually perfected his title. He here engaged in general farming and stockgrow- ing under the adverse conditions that mark- ed the early period in the history of the coun- ty, but the passing years brought to him cumu- lative success and he developed one of the fine farm properties of this section of the state. He has been specially active and influential in the development of the irrigation facilities of the county, assisted in the construction of the Winter Creek ditch and was president of the company which built the same. He also aided in the construction of the Central ditch on the south side, and this supplies irrigation for his fine ranch of 422 acres, which he now rents. He is also interested in an oil pros- pect in this part of the county, and though he is living retired at Gering he still takes lively interest in all things that touch the welfare and progress of his home county and state. He is Republican in politics. At Gering he is affili- ated with Post No. 265, Grand Army of the Republic.

December 27, 1868 recorded the marriage of Mr. Sowerwine to Miss Elizabeth C. Mar- quis, who was born in Michigan and who was reared and educated in Iowa, where she was a popular school teacher prior to her mar- riage. She is a daughter of John W. and Mar- garet (Scott) Marquis, who were born and reared in Ohio, where their marriage was sol- emnized and when they removed to Michigan,

where the father became a farmer, as he did later in Iowa, whence he came as a pioneer to whas is now Scottsbluff county, Nebraska. In 1888 Mr. Marquis here took up a home- stead, which he developed and improved and which he finally sold to Nellie M. Richardson. When well avanced in years he removed to Grand Island, and there he died when about eighty-four years of age, his wife having died at Palisade, Hitchcock county, when she was sixty-seven years of age. Of the seven chil- dren of Mr. and Mrs. Sowerwine four are living : Clarence and his wife live in Oklahoma and have one child; Morris is a resident of California and is the father of four children ; Eugene, who resides at Gering, Scottsbluff county, has two children ; Mabel is the wife of Elmer Sherman, of Gering, and they have five children. Mr. and Mrs. Sowerwine lived up to the full tension of the pioneer days in Scotts- bluff county, and here their circle of friends is limited only by that of their acquaintances.

MELVIN MILLER was an infant at the time when his parents became residents of Nebraska, and as this removal occurred some- what more than forty years ago it must be conceded that pioneer honors are to be ascrib- ed to the parents. Mr. Miller has been active- ly identified with farm enterprise in various counties of the state since he arrived at ma- turity, he became successful as the owner of one of the best equipped barber shops in Scottsbluff county, and in the city of Scotts- bluff he served two years as chief of the po- lice department, an office in which he gave a most satisfactory administration and from which he retired several years ago.

Mr. Miller was born in Henry county, Iowa, June 24, 1877, and in the following year his parents came to Nebraska and located near Fairmon, Filmore county, where the father was engaged in farming for a year thereafter. Melvin Miller is a son of William J. and Cal- frenia (Welch) Miller, both natives of Scott county, Illinois, where the former was born April 7, 1843, and the latter on the 19th of January, 1848. - datesthat show that the re- spective parents were numbered among the pioneers of that state. William J. Miller was reared and educated in Illinois and there be- caine the owner of a farm, as he did later in Henry county, Iowa, where he remained until 1878, when lie came with his family to Nebras- ka, as noted above. From Filmore county he removed to York county, where he purchased land and was successfully engaged in farming for fourteen years. The following five years

276

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

he passed in Gosper county and he then sold his farm in that county and removed to Phelps county, where he passed the residue of his life, he having been seventy-three years of age at the time of his death and his widow being now a resident of Scottsbluff, where she is a revered member of the family circle of her son Melvin, whose name introduces this sketch.

The public schools of Nebraska gave to Melvin Miller his early educational advan- tages and he was reared to the sturdy disci- pline of the home farm. At the age of eighteen years he initiated his independent career as a farmer in Gosper county, and in 1901 he came to Scottsbluff, where he engaged in the barber business, to which he gave his at- tention for four years. For the ensuing four years he was again a devotee of the basic in- dustry of agriculture, and at the expiration of this period he sold his farm, in Phelps county, and returned to Scottsbluff, where he was en- gaged in teaming for two years. He then re- sumed liis active alliance with the barber trade, and his ability and popularity enabled him to build up a very prosperous business, with a well equipped and essentially modern shop of five chairs. After conducting this shop two years he was elected chief of police of the city, and of this office he continued the in- cumbent two years. In politics he is a staunch Democrat and has taken an active part in the local campaigns of his party. Fraternally, he is found affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America.

At Lexington. Dawson county, on the 26th of July 1902, Mr. Miller wedded Miss Ethel J. Godsey, a daughter of Samuel Godsey, now a resident of Scottsbluff. Mr. and Mrs. Mill- er have two children - Donnell, born in July, 1903, and Louise Imogene, born November 19, 1904.

LABANNAH A. MONTZ, who is one of the progressive representatives of agricultural and live-stock enterprise in Scottsbluff county and who is a citizen of marked intellectuality and civic loyalty, is a scion of a family whose name has been worthily linked with Nebraska history for nearly two score years, his par- ents having come to this state in the year of his birth and he being a twin brother of Martie R. Montz.

Labannah Alvesta Montz was born in Clin- ton county, Missouri, on the 7th of February, 1884, and a few months later his parents estab- lished their residence in Hall county, Nebras- ka. His father, Martin Montz, was born in

the state of New York, July 22, 1858, and was nine years old at the time of his parents' re- moval to Missouri, where he was reared to manhood and received the advantages of the common schools of the locality and period. At the age of sixteen years he found employ- ment as a farm hand, and in Missouri he con- tinued his association with farm industry until his removal to Nebraska. In 1881 was solem- nized his marriage to Miss Gertrude Ossman, who was born and reared in Missouri, and of their children, three sons and three daughters are living. In the summer of 1884 Martin Montz came with his family to Nebraska and engaged in farming in Hall county, but in 1886 he removed thence to Banner county, where he filed entry on a homestead and a tree claim, which he developed into a productive and valu- able farm. There he continued his activities as an agriculturist during a period of about fifteen years, at the expiration of which he re- moved to Scottsbluff county, in 1901, and es- tablished his residence upon the farm which was the home of himself and his, wife for several years when they moved to Scottsbluff, where they now reside.

Mr. Montz was reared in Banner county, where he profited fully by the advantages of the public schools, and after the family removal to Scottsbluff county he was for one year a stu- dent in the high school in the city of Scotts- bluff. For more than four years thereafter he rendered effective service with a government corps engaged in making geographical sur- vey in western Nebraska, and in 1905 he filed entry on the homestead which is the stage of his present successful activities as an agriculturist and stock-grower. He has made good improvements on his farm, which comprises eighty acres and which is situated in section ten, township twenty-three, range fifty-five, about eight miles distant from Scotts- bluff, which is his postoffice address.

Mr. Montz is a man of well fortified opinions concerning public affairs, is actively affiliated with the Nonpartisan League and is an in- fluential member of the Farmers' Union in his locality, he having been one of the organizers of the same. On his farm he has an attrac- tive home that is known for its generous hos- pitality, with his wife as its gracious and popu- lar chatelaine.

On Christmas day of the year 1918, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Montz to Mrs. Julia A. Wallace, of Scottsbluff, she being a daughter of George Dunham, a well known citizen of Scottsbluff.

MR. AND MRS. JAMES N. HOWARD

277

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

JAMES N. HOWARD, who has been a res- ident of Nebraska for many years, an early settler and freighter, now owns valuable, well improved property in Scottsbluff county and still takes part in operating it although the heavy responsibilities are borne by his sons. James N. Howard was born in Owen county, Kentucky, May 17, 1851. His parents, John and Martha (Carter) Howard, were born in Kentucky. Both are deceased but Mr. Howard has three brothers and one sister.

Mr. Howard's early years were passed in Kentucky. Afterward he went to Missouri, where he remained until 1879, when he re- moved to Sidney, Nebraska. It was while liv- ing at Sidney that he engaged in the freighting business and took part in many adventures that were not unusual at that early day in that sec- tion. He homesteaded in Cheyenne county, but later sold his first 160 acres and afterward bought another 160 in Scottsbluff county. During his eight years at Sidney Mr. Howard went through many of the hardships that are a part of the history of almost every pioneer, but he philosophically accepted them and in com- paring those times with many of the conditions of present-day life, is disposed to think they were not so bad after all. Like many other early settlers he remembers the mutual good feeling that existed, when every one was kind and neighborly. Mr. Howard has raised as many as 100 head of cattle yearly on the range.

Mr. Howard married Elizabeth Minshall, who was born in Wisconsin and died at the age of fifty-six years. Their six children survive : Mrs. Lizzie Smith, who lives in Morrill county ; John, who lives in Northport, Morrill county ; George and Albert, both of whom live in Scottsbluff county ; and Sarah and William, twins. The former married Marian Fisher and lives in Scottsbluff county ; the latter at home. Mr. Howard and his family belong to the Pres- byterian church. He served four years on the school board and at times has otherwise been useful in public matters in his neighborhood.

JAMES S. ROSENFELT is the owner of an irrigated and well improved farm of 220 acres in Scottsbluff county, where he has maintained his residence nearly twenty years and where he has so improved his land and so directed his productive energies as to gain a secure place as one of the representative agri- culturists and stock-growers of the county, his home being situated five miles northeast of the city of Scottsbluff.

The native sons are accounting well for themselves in connection with industrial and civic affairs in the famous Panhandle of the

state, and one of the number is James Samuel Rosenfelt, who was born in Lancaster county, this state, on the 23d of February, 1874. His father, Henry Rosenfelt, was born in Hamburg Germany, December 10, 1824, and was a sturdy and ambitious youth of nineteen years when he immigrated to America. He located near the city of Albany, New York, where he en- gaged in the work of his trade, that of broom- maker, in which connection he raised his own broomcorn. He continued his residence in the Empire state and later in Illinois until 1871, when he came to Nebraska and took up a homestead in Lancaster county. There he im- proved a productive farm and there he con- tinued his successful activities as an agricul- turist and valued citizen until his death, in October, 1900. In the state of New York, in 1850, he wedded Miss Sophia Newman, who is now deceased, and of their fine family of sixteen children all are living except three, there having been eleven sons and four daugh- ters and the subject of this review having been the thirteenth child.

James S. Rosenfelt gained his youthful educa- tion in the schools of Lancaster county, where he remained until he was twenty-two years of age, when he removed to the western part of the state and established his residence in Fron- tier county. There he followed farm opera- tions until September 20, 1900, when he es- tablished his residence in Scottsbluff county. In the following month he located on the home- stead which is still his place of abode, and to the original tract he has added until now he has a well improved and valuable farm of two hundred and twenty acres devoted to diversi- der effective irrigation. Mr. Rosenfelt assisted in the construction of the government irrigation system in this county and has otherwise been progressive and public spirited in his civic at- titude. In politics he is a Republcan, and he has been for twelve years a member of the school board of his district. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America, his wife holding membership in the Daughters of Rebekah and the Royal Neighbors and being also president of the Domestic Improvement Club of her neighborhood. Both are active members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Rosenfelt is a stockholder in the Farmers' Union Exchange and is secretary of the Farm- ers' Union local organization. No. 963.

August 30, 1899, recorded the marriage of Mr. Rosenfelt to Miss Dora E. Marlin, a daughter of William M. Marlin. now a resi- dent of Scottsbluff. Mrs. Rosenfelt was born

278

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

in Indiana, September 24, 1876, and was about one year old at the time of her parents' re- moval to Nebraska. She continued her studies in the public schools until her graduation in the high school at Cambridge, Furnas county, and was a resident of Frontier county at the time of her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Rosen- felt have six children, who names and respec- tive dates are here noted: Laura A .. April 1, 1901; Marion T., November 18, 1902; Cecil Carl, December 28, 1907; Alice Z., July 2, 1909; Mabel L., May 26, 1913 ; and James L., June 1, 1919. All of the children remain at the parental home, which is a center of gener- ous hospitality and good cheer.

JOHN H. HALL, a popular pioneer citi- zen of the city of Scottsbluff, where he is now living virtually retired, has had a plethora of experience in connection with pioneer activi- ties in western Nebraska and has been a resi- dent of this state since childhood, his parents having come to Nebraska prior to the admis- sion of the territory as one of the sovereign states of the Union. As a cowboy on the great cattle ranges that marked the early period of the history of the Nebraska Panhandle, and as a ranchman and farmer, Mr. Hall has contri- buted his quota to the march of progress in this section of the state, and both he and his gracious wife are specially entitled to recogni- tion in this publication, Mrs. Hall being a stockholder of the Western Publishing & En- graving Company of Lincoln, by which cor- poration this edition is issued.

John H. Hall was born in Clarke county, Iowa, on the 8th of March, 1861, a date that denotes that his parents were pioneer settlers in the Hawkeye state where his father, James Hall, served as sheriff of Clarke county from 1858 until 1862, besides which his was the honor of having been a member of a regiment of Iowa infantry that gave valiant service in defense of the Union during the climacteric period.of the Civil War. James Hall was born and reared in Indiana and was a young man when he numbered himself among the pio- neers of Iowa, where he continued his resi- dence until 1866, when he came with his fam- ily to Nebraska Territory and settled near Plattsmouth, Cass county, where he secured a tract of land and became a pioneer farmer. He became one of the influential citizens of his county, commanded unqualified popular esteem, was active in local politics and served two terms as a member of the state legislature. He passed the closing years of his life at Elm- wood, Cass county, where his death occurred

in July, 1906, his wife having passed away in 1893, at Plattsmouth ; she was a native of Ken- tucky and her maiden name was Elizabeth Castle.

John H. Hall was a boy of five years at the time of the family removal to Nebraska, and was reared under the conditions and influences that marked the pioneer period in the history of Cass county, his educational advantages having been those of the public schools of the locality and period. He continued his resi- dence in Cass county until October, 1885, when he came to old Cheyenne county and set- tled in that part of the county that now con- stitutes Scottsbluff county. In this wild and thinly settled section of the state he filed en- try on homestead, pre-emption and tree claims, to which in due course of time he perfected his title. Wihle making preliminary improve- ments and development work on his land, he added to his financial resources by riding on the cattle ranges of this locality, in which connection he made an excellent record for effective service as a cowboy. In the spring of 1886 he drove through from Cass county to the present Scottsbluff county with team and wagon, and incidental to this trip he brought from Gothenburg a load of corn. Eventually he made advantageous sale of his original claims, after which he purchased a quarter-sec- tion of land where the Scottsbluff beet-sugar factory is now situated, and there he contin- ued to reside until 1903, successfully engaged in agricultural enterprise and the raising of cat- tle, horses and sheep. In the year last men- tioned Mr. Hall removed to Scottsbluff where he became associated with George W. King in the hardware and furniture business. About six years later he sold his interest in the busi- ness to the firm of Ebert & Gamble, and for a few years thereafter he was actively engaged in the cattle business in Banner county, While residing on his farm in Scottsbluff county he assisted in the building of the Minatare and · Winter Creek irrigation ditches.

In politics Mr. Hall gives his allegiance to the Republican party, and he is affiliated with the lodge, Encampment and Canton bodies of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mrs. Hall is affiliated with the Order of the Eastern Star and the Ladies of the Maccabees, in which latter she is a past commander of the Women's Benefit Association. Mrs. Hall is an earnest and active member of the Christian Science church.

March 3, 1895, recorded the marriage of Mr. Hall to Mrs. Ella ( Fasha) Stone, widow of William E. Stone. Mrs. Hall was born in

279

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

Ogle county, near Freeport, Illinois, and her early education was obtained in the schools of Illinois, Kansas and Iowa. She is a daughter of William and Salina ( Hanky) Fasha, the former of whom was born on shipboard while his parents were crossing the Atlantic ocean to America, and the latter having been born and reared in Maryland, where she received her education at Frederick. Mr. Fasha was rear- ed to manhood in the state of Illinois, and his higher education included preparation for the ministry of the United Brethren church, as a clergyman of which he gave effective and de- voted service in both Kansas and Iowa, he having been a resident of Story county, Iowa at the time of his death, when forty-six years of age, and his widow having passed the remainder of her life, she having been sum- moned to eternal rest at the age of forty-nine years. They became the parents of two sons and eight daughters, of whom Mrs. Hall was the second in order of birth. On the 13th of March, 1886, Miss Ella Fasha became the wife of William E. Stone, and they established their residence in Wyoming, where Mr. Stone took up a homestead and engaged in the raising of cattle and horses. His death occurred there in March, 1891, and he is survived by one son, Frederick W., of whom individual men- tion is made on other pages of this work. Af- ter the death of Mr. Stone his widow sold the Wyoming property and came to Scottsbluff county, Nebraska, where she established her home at Gering, of which place she was a resident at the time of her marriage to Mr. Hall. Mr. and Mrs. Hall have one son, Dono- van G. A., who is in the employ of the Great Western Sugar Company at Scottsbluff.

JOHN KONKLE. - Along manifold lines has this honored pioneer exerted good influence during more than a half century of residence in the west and he is now living vir- tually retired, his attractive home being in the city of Scottsbluff. He is a man of broad in- tellectual, keen, high ideals, and gracious per- sonality - a citizen who commands the fullest measure of popular confidence and esteem. More than sixty years have passed since John Konkle and his parents drove into Page county, Iowa, in true pioneer style and settled on a homestead amidst a veritable wilderness where inhabitants were few and where civilization was still in its primitive form, and thus he stands out as one of the prominent figures among the men who have played such an im- portant part in the development and advance- ment of the middle west.

John Konkle was born in Knox county, Illi- nois, September 12, 1846, the son of Michael and Ann ( Buller) Konkle, the former a native of the Buckeye state, where he was reared and educated. The mother was also a native of Ohio, where she grew to womanhood, was edu- cated and there met and married Michael Konkle, but she lived but a short time to en- joy her family as she passed away when John was a small boy of three years. After attain- ing manhood's estate Michael Konkle engag- ed in farming in Illinois and in 1856, became one of the pioneer agriculturists of Iowa, as he located on a homestead in Page county when the country was thinly populated and the nearest town was St. Joseph, Missouri, ninety miles away, and it was to this river settlement that the early settlers of the locality had to take their produce for sale and there buy the necessary farm implements and supplies for the households and families. After about eight years a railroad was built through the coun- try nearer the farm and then life was a little less strenuous and conditions more favorable. Michael Konkle was invigorated by his out- door occupations and the struggle he had to make to meet the hardships and privations of frontier life and lived out the psalmist's span of three score years and ten, as he passed away in Page county at the age of seventy-five years, a man whose good deeds were innumer- able.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of western Nebraska and its people, Vol. III, Part 54

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