History of western Nebraska and its people, Vol. III, Part 73

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

and this gained him confidence both with his customers and the wholesale houses with which he dealt. He soon gained a reputation for handling the best lines of goods, and kept such attractive displays that his business grew very rapidly and soon became most satisfactory from a financial point of view. Mr. Rodgers has the delightful cordiality of the southern- er, inherited from his father. He manages to make every customer feel at home, no matter though the purchase of the moment be small, and by this faculty has gained many new cus- tomers and always holds the old ones. His trade increased so that he found it necessary to build the present fine two story brick building, with nearly two thousand square feet of floor space on each floor, where he has been located since 1901, at 122 Box Butte Avenue. Froni first locating in Alliance, Mr. Rodgers has taken an active part in civic and communal affairs, advocating every progressive movement for the upbuilding and development of the city and the confidence and position he has gained may be understood when we know that in 1913 he was elected executive officer of the munici- pality, was re-elected mayor in 1914, and by his economic management of the city finances in the matter of the light and water plant saved the tax payers at least twenty-six thou- sand dollars. Mr. Rodgers proved so efficient an official of Alliance that he was re-elected mayor in 1919 and is serving at the present time. He has shown such marked executive ability in his business and as municipal officer that he was unanimously elected as one of the executive officers of the Nebraska Retailers' Federation, another office which he has well filled. Mr. Rodgers is an adherent of the prin- ciples of the Democratic party and while he is in sympathy with the party is too broad minded to be closely tied in local elections, believing that the man best fitted to serve the interests of the people should be placed in office. Mr. Rodgers is a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and the Be- nevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and has taken seventeen degrees in the Masonic lodge.

ROY BECKWITH, the leading men's fur- nisher and haberdasher of Alliance and one of its solid and reliable business men, is an early pioneer of Nebraska and one of that famous band of men, the "cowboys," who herded cattle in the Panhandle and along the great "cattle trail," of the seventies and eighties. He has had many and varied experiences in this great commonwealth since brought here as a small

child by his parents and is representative of that spirit that has opened up this state to settlement and development. In all of these changes Mr. Beckwith has taken an active part. He is a native of the Keystone state, born at Smethport, McKinn county, Pennsyl- vania, March 24, 1863, the son of Daniel E. and Elizabeth (King) Beckwith, both natives of that state, where they were reared and edu- cated, later married and lived there for sev- eral years. Roy was the second child in a family of seven children born to his parents. His father enlisted in the One hundred and Twelfth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry at the outbreak of the Civil War; he participated in many of the most severe engagements and battles of the conflict under the famous gen- eral, Roy Stone, and Roy Beckwith is named in memory of that officer. Mr. Beckwith serv- ed at Gettysburg and in the Battle of the Wild- edness, where he was under fire twenty-eight days out of thirty. When peace was declared he returned to peaceful pursuits, but like so many of the returned soldiers was not con- tented with conditions as they existed before the war, as he desired greater advantages for himself and family ; and knowing that land was to be had for the taking on the newly opened frontier in Nebraska, came to this state in 1866, when the country was a veritable wilder- ness. He located in Saunders county and the first year on the plains was a sub-contractor in getting out ties for the Union Pacific Railroad, which was then pushing toward the west across the state. The next fall he took up a home- stead on Pebble creek, twenty miles west of Fremont, near the present site of Scribner. Roy and his brothers and sister were reared on this frontier farm and attended the pioneer school nearest their home when a teacher could be secured for it. While still a small boy he began to be useful around the farm and his first money independently earned was herding cattle when only eight years old and that two dollars looked very large to him. In 1872 the family moved to Antelope county within about a half mile of the famous "cattle trail," that led north from the Pecos in Texas to the Yel- lowstone river, along which the great herds of cattle were drifted north with the summer season and in the fall sold at a northern market. Cattle for the reservations used this same trail when being driven up for the Indians' meat supply and sometime cows would hide their calves near the bedding grounds and they were left behind when the herd moved. Roy found one of these while herding for his father and brought it home on his pony. When it was

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a year old Mr. Beckwith took it to market when he sold his grain at Columbus, sixty miles away, and Roy bought a suit of clothes with the money. The boy worked on the farm in summer while attending school in the winter until he was seventeen ; but he heard such won- derful stories from the cowboys who were driving the herds of cattle from northwestern Nebraska to the settlements that his young blood was fired with the spirit of adventure and the picturesque cow men decked out in "chaps" and spurs, big hats and six shooter guns lured him on and as he expresses it, "I got the fever," and nothing would do but that he too must join a cattle outfit. He hired out on a ranch near the present site of Valentine, where he remained two years before changing to the "Boiling Springs" ranch owned by Major Mayberry, but the cowboys were a changing lot of men and the next year he joined the N Bar Cattle Company and while working there took up a homestead near Gor- don.

In 1884, he joined the trail herd that the company was bringing from Texas to the In- dian Nation and thus early traversed that fam- ous highway that has gone down in history, unique in its inauguration and different from any trail in the whole world. They had about eight thousand cattle in the herd, branded on the Cimaron river near the Kansas boundary, then drove two hundred miles west of Miles City, Montana, to the Mussle Shell river. The country was a wild expanse with practically no settlers, filled with rough cattle rustlers, French-Canadian and Indian trappers who wintered where snow found them and set traps along the streams. For three years Mr. Beckwith trailed cattle then, in 1887, came to Sheridan county and tried farming with, as he expresses it, "a varied amount of success." In 1900, he disposed of his place and estab- lished himself in Gordon in the clothing busi- ness, meeting with gratifying success from the first. Four years later he came to Box Butte county, settling in Alliance, where he opened one of the finest men's furnishing houses in the northwestern part of the state. He has a most attractive store, with a stock that would be hard to beat in a much larger city, is a man who reads human nature and by his cour- tesy, tact and reputation for giving everyone a "square deal," has built up a fine trade, which is most satisfactory from a financial point of view.

January 9, 1891, Mr. Beckwith was married at Rushville, Nebraska, to Miss Emma Flex- ing a native of Pennsylvania and two children

have been born to this union: Ora Fay, de- ceased, and Blaine G., who went through the Alliance schools and then attended a military academy for three years. He is now associ- ated with his father in business and married Helen Rice. For his second wife Mr. Beck- with married Miss Maude Howell, at Chicago, Illinois on September 23, 1911. Mr. Beck- with owns a hundred and sixty acre farm of good Box Butte county land, has a modern home in Alliance is an Elk, a Mason and a Shriner.

GRANT G. MELICK, one of the progres- sive business men of Hemingford, who, though a late comer to the town, is doing his part in the upbuilding of the town and county, is the owner and manager of the Miller Hotel and Cafe, one of the up-to-date hostelries of the Panhandle. Mr. Melick was born in Finney county, Kansas, November 16, 1892, which places him in the younger generation of busi- ness men of today who are making financial history in this section. His parents were Franklin and Christiana (Larson) Melick, the former a Jerseyman, born in Hunderon county, New Jersey, while the mother was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. Grant was the sev- enth in a family of nine children born to his parents. When the boy was two years old, the family moved to Nodaway county, Mis- souri, locating on a farm where he grew up in the healthy environment of the country, attending the district school in the winter time and helping on the home farm as soon as his age and strength permitted, so by experience he was a good practical farmer while yet a boy in years. All the boys worked at some- thing when he was young and Grant says that the first money he earned was making the fires and doing janitor work at the school which he attended. For this he was paid a dollar and a quarter a month. Grant remained at home with his parents until he was fifteen, then be- gan to work on farms near his home indepen- dently during the summer seasons and con- tinued his education during the slack period of the winter months, and thus he laid the foundation for a good practical education that has been invaluable to him in later years. He was strong, and ambitious, not afraid of work and the year he was sixteen cribbed a hundred and twenty-five bushels of corn in a working day of nine hours, a feat that a full grown man would have been proud to accomplish. The next year he established himself indepen- dently as a farmer and while he gained quite a satisfactory remuneration financially the

FRANCIS M. TROY

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spirit of adventure inherent in every youth called out to him and he responded and for several years was as he termed it, "a rambler." He was engaged in farming in several localities for a period of years and in the fall of 1910, came to Box Butte county to visit his brother Fred, but did not settle as the following year he went east to visit New York and New Jersey, thinking that perhaps he might locate there, but the lure of the west was in his blood, the east was too crowded with settlers for him and he returned to Nebraska in 1912, to take up land and begin agricultural pursuits in Box Butte county. Mr. Melick soon be- came recognized in his section as one of the prosperous farmers, who was well qualified for his vocation and received gratifying returns from the soil for his labor. The family re- mained in the country until the spring of 1919, when they came to Hemingford, soon after which Mr. Melick purchased the Miller Hotel. He had it thoroughly refitted, put in a cafe and now runs one of the best European hotels in the Panhandle where guests have every comfort and convenience. All his rooms are steam-heated with hot and cold water and electrically lighted throughout. The cafe caters to the residents of Hemingford, and the travel- ing public and all are to be congratulated on having such service in the hands of a capable and progressive man whose slogan since es- tablishing himself here has been "service." From the volume of business already handled a bright and prosperous future is in store for Mr. Melick.

In the fall of 1913, Mr. Melick married Miss May Grimes at Hemingford. She was born in Lucas county, Iowa, the daughter of Sid- ney and Winifred (Patterson) Grimes, the former a native of Lucas county, while the mother was born in Marion county, Iowa. Mrs. Melick was the oldest in a family of six children, was reared and received her educa- tion in Iowa and later graduated from the Sheridan high school at Sheridan, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Melick have one daughter, Chris- tiana.

FRANCIS M. TROY, a resident of Gering since 1898, and who has been a public official for many years, came first to Scottsbluff coun- ty in 1886, settling here permanently in the following year. Few of the settlers of that date brought a large amount of capital with them and Judge Troy was no exception, but in his case the lack of money was made up by the possession of rare business judgment which guided his early investments and in later life

has made him the choice of his fellow citizens for responsible offices. At present he is serv- ing, as he has been for years past, as police magistrate and justice of the peace.

Judge Troy was born at Oskaloosa, Iowa, March 3, 1856, the second in a family of nine children born to Abraham and Miranda (Ma- lona) Troy, both of whom came of Irish an- cestry. The mother of Judge Troy was born in 1846, while her parents were voyaging to the United States, and died in 1909 in Iowa. The father was born in 1832, in Pennsylvania, a son of Benjamin Troy, whose father died in Ireland. He died at Oskaloosa, as did his wife, surviving her five years. Six of their children are living : Mrs. Louisa Carter, of Hutchinson, Kansas; Francis M., of Gering; George M., a farmer in Iowa ; Edward, a farmer near Lacey, Iowa ; Harry, a farmer in Iowa, and Abraham L., a farmer and stockman near Little River, Kansas.

Francis M. Troy attended school in Iowa and assisted his father on the farm until he came to Nebraska. Following an inspection visit to Scottsbluff county in 1886, he returned in 1887 and took up a homestead and tree claim and settled down determined to make a suc- cess of his undertaking. Evidence of the ac- complishment of his purpose was shown ten years later, when his ranch fence extended seven miles in length and three miles in width, and beside other· stock, he had seven hundred fine horses in his pastures. He says little about the hardships he encountered, but on account of the conditions at that time they were numer- ous, but by 1898 he felt ready to give up so hard a life and in that year took advantage of an opportunity to dispose of his farm and stock interests. He came then to Gering and for a few years engaged in no particular business, although somewhat interested along a line which he has subsequently developed. Situated about five miles from Gering and east of the city, he maintains an apiary, with one hundred and twenty-five stands of bees, some of his colonies being pure Italian. It has been much more than a recreation with Judge Troy, al- though he enjoys caring for his bees, as last year he realized two tons of fine honey from forty-five stands. In the meanwhile, however, he has led a busy and serious life in other direc- tions. After serving for ten years as deputy sheriff, he was made police magistrate and jus- tice of the peace.

In 1880 Mr. Troy was united in marriage to Miss Lizzie Akins, of New Sharon, Mahaska county, Iowa, and they have four children : C. E., operates a meat market at Minatare, Ne- braska; Ida M., resides with her parents; Asa

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S., has recently been welcomed home from mil- itary service, is cashier in the Union Pacific station at Gering, and Frances M., is the wife of R. L. Beeman, a foreman in the sugar plant at this place. The family belongs to the Meth- odist church. In his political views Judge Troy is a sound Republican.

JOHN VOGEL, for many years one of Box Butte county's best known pioneer farm- ers, and one of the representative and sub- stantial business men of the Panhandle, came to this section as a youth when settlers were few in the upper valley of the Platte. He was a member of a family that drove into the county in true pioneer style in 1876, set- tling on a homestead. He and his wife were residents of Nebraska from the time when the only buildings known in the central and western part of the state were composed of sod and they watched the various changes that have been wrought and the sturdy and progressive work of the settlers, and themselve bore a full share of the labor of development. Mr. Vogel was one of the large landholders and successful agriculturists of Box Butte county, and is entitled to the respect and es- teem in which he was uniformly held by his fellow citizens during life. To his sons Mr. Vogel left the example of an honorable and useful life, to his family, the memory of his loving care as a husband and father will re- main forever as a blessed inheritance. And now in the beautiful city of the dead, he sleeps the sleep that knows no awakening, awaiting the Master's call.

John Vogel was born in Dubuque, Iowa, November 16, 1862. He was the son of John and Mary Vogel, both born in the German Empire. They were reared and received their early educational training in that country and later came to the United States. John, Jr., was the second boy in a family of five boys born to his parents. His boyhood and early youth were passed on his father's farm. He early assumed the tasks on the home place that his age and strength permitted and under his father became a good, practical farmer while yet of tender years. He attended the district school near his home until his four- teenth year, when the family came to Nebras- ka, locating in Stanton county. Mr. Vogel en- tered the frontier schools after coming west and helped his father on the farm out of school hours and in the summer vacations. As the country was little settled at that period John, like most other lively boys, became a trapper of small game and the first money he

earned was trapping muskrats, which he sold and thus had spending money of his own. Mr. Vogel remained at home with his par- ents assisting his father after his schooling ended until his marriage in May, 1884, at West Point, Nebraska, to Miss Mary Jannuch, who also was born in Germany, being the daughter of Herman and Augusta (Newbow- er) Jannuch, both natives of that country, Mrs. Vogel was the second child in the fam- ily which consisted of four boys and two girls.

The father was a stone mason in his native county who died when Mary was ten years old. She had already attended school and was very capable and of much help to her mother, who finding it difficult to gain a living for herself and her family in her native land emigrated, as she had heard of the many op- portunities for ambitious you men and women in the new world. After landing on our shores, Mrs. Jannuch came west to Chicago, where she had old friends and knew a number of people, settling in that city in 1878. When the family arrived they had some money but the mother, with the well know and admirable thrift of the German people put this away as a nest egg and set to work to save all she could so as to have capital to establish the children in business when the right time came. She secured a position herself and also had the oldest children work, so that they were self-supporting and helped her care for the younger ones who were still too small to do much and were of course sent to the good American schools. The oldest boy, Otto, was established with a cigar maker to learn the trade, and he found it so congenial and finan- cially satisfactory that he still follows that vocation in Chicago. Mary, now Mrs. Vogel, secured work in a tailoring establishment, learned the business and worked at it four years before making a visit to Stanton, Ne- braska, to some of her relatives. While there she met John Vogel, a fine sturdy young farm- er at that time, who could not resist the charm of the attractive German girl and persuaded her that she would be happy out on the high plains with him and they became engaged. On May 7, 1884, their marriage was solemnized at West Point, and the happy groom with his bride established themselves on his farm. Mr. Vogel was an industrious man and after his marriage his beloved wife became his devoted companion and helpmate, sympathizing when the way was hard and long and not only en- couraged her husband but worked with him to build up their fortune, being his mainstay for thirty years. Mrs. Vogel is a woman

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whose strength and good deeds are as the num- ber of her days and who has had a remark- able share in pioneer experiences in the great west, for she has taken active part in the de- velopment of her husband's land. Mrs. Vogel found a great part of the Panhandle still known as the "Great American Desert," and has seen the marvelous transformation of what was considered prairie become valuable farm land. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Vogel: Ida, deceased; William H., who married Rose Knapp and they now live on a fine farm which they own near Alliance, hav- ing three children, all girls; Walter, married Beulah Reeves and they live on his ranch not far from town, and have a son, Ervin E .; John O., married Fern Johnson and they have twin girls. They make their home on a farm and Mr. Vogel also is a well known and prominent hunter and trapper not far from Alliance. Edward is the next child, who is now a machinist and makes his home with his mother in Alliance, and Herbert, a farmer who also resides with his mother. Mr. Vogel and wife lived on their farm for many years and there reared and educated their children in great prosperity. They were a happy loving family and it was a great blow when he was hurt by being thrown from a hay stacker on his farm ten miles west of Alliance, August 30, 1914, and died from the effects of his injury on October 12, of that year leaving his widow the management of their twelve hundred and eighty acre ranch. Help be- came very hard to secure after the outbreak of the war. Mrs. Vogel found that she and the boys could not possibly carry on such a large place alone and before long discovered that the strenuous work was undermining her health, so in 1918 she leased the ranch and came to Alliance, buying a fine home at 804 Big Horn Avenue. She is resigned to taking life a little more easily after the many years of endeavor of which few women can show a similar record. She is a charming, gracious woman who keeps well abreast of all move- ments of the day in both the social and busi- ness world. For many years she has had a large circle of acquaintances in this section of the country and since coming to Alliance has made many more and in recounting the experiences of the early days she ever gives the humorous picture of the hardships and privations she endured rather than the true situations for the events have become mellow- ed by time and as she looks at her fine, up- standing boys, feels well rewarded for what- ever may have happened in the early years.

Mrs. Vogel dispenses a cordial hospitality to all the old friends and is an addition to the residents of Alliance for which the city may well congratulate itself.

MILLARD F. DONOVAN, pioneer front- tiersman, buffalo hunter, early settler, ranch- man and now one of the best known and wealthy real estate dealers of Alliance and Box Butte county is a man whose varied ca- reer has given him many and interesting ex- periences on the plains. Few men today, twen- ty years his junior bear so few of the scars of life. Mr. Donovan is a Hoosier, born in Owen county, Indiana, November 15, 1857, the son of Harvey and Emaline (Berry ) Donovan, the former a son of Ireland where he was rear- ed and received his early education before coming to America. It is from his father that Mr. Donovan has inherited his ready wit, sense of humor and the ability to look matters in the face and then work out his problems of life. Millard was the third in a family of five children. His boyhood was spent on the farm and he was given but two terms in school, but his Irish genius led him to become a wide reader and he learned more from books, and newspapers than many a boy in years at a desk under a good teacher. His mother died when Millard was twelve year old and from that time he had to shift for himself al- most entirely. His father moved into Indian- apolis and the boy sold papers in that city and also worked in a furniture factory, but he loved the country and returned to it, working on a farm in Johnson county for three years at six dollars a month, but when he came to settle up with the farmer, the latter said Mr. Donovan owed him money but gave him. sev- enty-five cents. When only seventeen years of age the young man joined the regular army at Indianapolis, was sent to Newport, Ken- tucky, and before long was transferred to Aus- tin, Texas, and from there the new recruits marched a hundred and eighty-five miles to Fort McCavit, with their heavy equipment and Springfield rifles. Mr. Donovan was assigned to Company I Tenth United States Light In- fantry which was assigned to service at Fort McCauitt on the extreme frontier, to hold back the Comanche and Kickapoo Indians, where he served until 1877. The spirit of the west and of adventure had entered into Mr. Dono- van's soul and wanting to see more of the country he joined a party of four other ad- venturous youths who went to the Texas Pan- handle, near the south fork of the Sweetwater river. They established a camp and built two

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History of western Nebraska and its people, Vol. III, Part 73

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