History of western Nebraska and its people, Vol. III, Part 82

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 1895, Mr. Van Pelt built a sod addition to the log residence and in 1900, a very large, modern dwelling. All the farm buildings are complete and substantial, and the last govern- ment survey gave this homestead as the highest point of altitude, in Nebraska. Mrs. Van Pelt owns six hundred and forty acres, three hundred of which is farm land, and is now homesteading an additional one hundred and sixty acres of grazing land. Mr. Van Pelt belonged to the Modern Woodmen lodge, was

interested to some extent in the organization of the Farmers Alliance. He was a man of sterling integrity, after a lite of useful effort, left an honorable name behind him.

FRANKLIN W. SCHUEMAKER, who is well known and highly esteemed in Banner county, was born at Osceola, Iowa, August 15, 1889. He is the seventh member of a family of eight children born to . Martin and Mary C. (Wakeford) Schuemaker, the others being : Alexander, who lives in Canada, married Tena Heatthly ; William J., who lives near Mitchell, Nebraska, married Sarah J. Yoe; Mary A., who is the wife of John Shiestel, lives in north- eastern Canada; George, who lives at Black- foot, Idaho, married Nancy Smith; Margaret, who is the wife of Philo Gallup, lives at Kan- sas City, Missouri; Angeline A., who is the wife of Ernest Preston, lives in Montana ; and Sarah, who is the wife of John F. McComsy, lives northwest of Hull, Nebraska. The father moved from Iowa to Canada in 1890, and lived there seven years as a farmer. In 1898, he came to Kimball, Nebraska, then spent a year at Gering, before going to Dorrington, near Hull to live on his brother's place for several years, returning then to Gering, where his death occurred in 1900. The mother re- sides near Hull.

Franklin W. Schuemaker obtained his edu- cation at Gering. All his life he has been con- nected with farm and cattle, and for years, up to 1914, he rode range. After that he operated land for Mrs. Lottie Van Pelt and is a successful farmer and stockraiser on sec- tion four, town seventeen, with post office at Bushnell, Nebraska.

Mr. Schuemaker was married November 14, 1915, to Miss Luella Van Pelt, a daughter of Cyrus and Jennie (McKee) Van Pelt, who are well known pioneers of Banner county, and they have three children: Cyrus A., Juanita I. and a baby. Mr. Schuemaker is a Repub- lican in politics, and is a member of the order of Knights of Pythias.

CARL A. WAGONER is one of the hon- ored pioneers of Morrill county and one of the successful exponents of agricultural and business enterprises in this section of the state, an influential citizen who resides in the vicinity of Broadwater.

Mr. Wagoner was born in the Buckeye state December 14, 1857, the son of Thomas and Amanda (Miller) Wagoner who were residing in Coshocton county. Both parents were na- tives of Ohio and are still living at the ages

SAMS AND MCCAFFREE

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

of eighty-three and seventy-nine years respec- tively. Thomas Wagoner was a wealthy land- ed proprietor in Ohio, who engaged in agri- cultural pursuits. He was a staunch adher- ent of the Republican party of Ohio and dur- ing his prime took part in shaping party policy ; he was an active participant in all movements that tended to develop the country, early adopted modern methods in his farming operations and was a man of civic reform and progress. There were twelve children in the family, of whom Carl was the eldest. The others who survive are: Frederick, now a stockman in Colorado; Lawson and Nels, both farmers in Morrill county; Gaty, who married Ed. Saunders, lives in Kansas ; Clara McConnell of Overton, Nebraska; and Dora Stiles of Morrill county.

While irrigation was yet a question of the future, Mr. Wagoner came west and was farsighted in the selection of his location. Af- ter looking the country over he selected land near the Platte river in Cheyenne county on a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres ; he pre-empted another one hundred and sixty and filed on a tree claim of one hundred and sixty. He at once began improvements which increased the value of his holdings until today his farm is one of the most fertile in the val- ley. Mr. Wagoner put his earlier knowledge of agriculture to good use on his prairie farm ; became a careful business man ; studied up on the best stock for this climate and decided that thoroughbreds did the best and brought the greatest returns on the market, and pur- chased pure bred Durham and Hereford cattle. He engaged in diversified farming also and has been exceptionally successful in raising meat animals for the market. With new meth- ods introduced by the irrigation carried out along the river, Mr. Wagoner has begun raising varied forage crops, as he was the first to promote beet culture and this season had about two thousand tons. He has appre- ciated the advantages of this country even when suffering from the drought and insect pest of earlier days, and today is one of the wealthiest men of the Morrill section. Mr. Wagoner is an independent in politics. With his family he is a member of the Episcopal church while his fraternal affiliations are with the Masonic order, as he is a member of the Blue Lodge, also the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.

In 1881, Mr. Wagoner married Miss Mary A. Durell, a native of Illinois; the marriage taking place in Nemaha county. Close at- tention to business, thrift, prudence and able

management of his affairs are the rungs of the ladder of fortune up which this able man has climbed to his present affluence. Mr. Wagoner is too broad gauged to confine his ambitions to one line of endeavor and as his fortune has grown he has taken part in the commercial enterprises of his community, as he is interested in extensive oil properties, is the owner of a large block of stock in the Union State Bank, the Globe Insurance Com- pany, the elevator, the electric light plant and the Wyoming Refining Company and may be considered one of the progressive capitalists of Broadwater.

HARVEY L. SAMS, prominent in the af. fairs of Scottsbluff, has large private business interests that demand close attention, neverthe- less he is one of the most active citizens in public effort. His enterprise and progressive- ness have been of vital importance in the de- velopment of Scottsbluff, and his judgment concerning civic measures is very generally consulted. Mr. Sams has been a resident of Nebraska since boyhood, and of this city for seventeen years. He is president of the Sams- McCaffree Company, dealers in real estate and general insurance.

Harvey L. Sams was born at Anamosa, Iowa, October 21, 1869, the son of Stephen and Mary (Wagner ) Sams, the former of whom was born in 1837, in Ohio, and the latter in 1842 in Pennsylvania, and both died in Ne- braska, the father in January, 1914, and the mother in 1910. Stephen Sams went to Iowa in 1844 and married in Jones county, and his children were as follows: Mrs. L. R. Porter, of Bartlett, Nebraska; Albert E., of Nowata, Oklahoma ; Harvey L., of Scottsbluff ; Milton A., of Blair, Nebraska ; Mrs. E. E. Gaines, of Valley, Nebraska; Mrs. Nellie Shoaf, of Ran- dolph, Nebraska, and one deceased. Stephen Sams and his wife were members of the Meth- odist Episcopal church. He came to Nebraska with his family and settled in Nemaha county, coming from there to Scottsbluff county in 1904. He was a farmer all his life.

Harvey L. Sams attended the public schools and the State Normal School at Peru, after- ward passed two years in the State University at Lincoln, and in 1900 secured his A.B. degree in the Wesleyan University. In the meanwhile he had taught school, eight years in all, leaving the educational field in 1902, when superin- tendent of the schools of Red Cloud, Nebraska. It was then he came to Scottsbluff and for four years was identified with the First National Bank, first as assistant cashier and afterward as cashier. Upon leaving the bank Mr. Sams

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formed a business partnership, incorporated, with F. S. McCaffree, under the style of the Sams-McCaffree Company, in the real estate and insurance line, and they have been very prosperous. Mr. Sams owns a large amount of valuable property in the county, somne 2000 acres, including a whole section south of Ger- ing, where he feeds two hundred head of cattle for shipment to the eastern markets.

In 1905 Mr. Sams was united in marriage to Miss Cora V. Slates, who was born at Broken Bow, Nebraska, a daughter of John B. Slates, a pioneer of Custer county. They have five children : Eldon, Angeline, Lenore, Josephine, and an infant son, unnamed. Mr. and Mrs. Sams are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is a Knight Templar Mason, past master of the Blue Lodge, and past patron of the Eastern Star, to which organization Mrs. Sams also belongs. He has always been some- what active in the Republican party, believing politics a necessary part of national life, but has never sought political preferment. The substantial development of the city has inter- ested him from the time he came here and he has given encouragement to many worthy en- terprises. He is president of the library board and is urging immediate action concerning the erection of a public library building that will be creditable to the city and fulfill the terms on which Andrew Carnegie made a very accept- able donation. It was Mr. Sams who was one of the leading factors in the organization of the Commercial Club here and was its first presi- dent, and was also instrumental in starting the Water Users association, of which he was first president. He is a man of sound, practical ideas, remarkably unselfish as to his personal interests, and it is evident that with its general welfare, the development into one of the state's great centers is his cherished hope for Scotts- bluff, which from present indications looks very reasonable.

STEPHEN BURROUGHS SHUMWAY was born at Spring Hill, Bradford county, Pennsylvania, April 15, 1822. He came with his parents to Lee county, Illinois, at a very early date. With his father he farmed and hauled wheat to Chicago with ox teams, and once their loads were mired down in the mud of State street in that city.

In 1849, he quit Knox College, in his senior year, where he was working his way, shaving shingles, and went to California, passing through western Nebraska in 1850. He re- membered a terrific rain the night they were encamped at Chimney Rock. They sat up in their tents for hours with their blankets over

their shoulders and the water running under their feet.

After a year in California and accumulating about two thousand dollars worth of gold, he returned home by way of Panama. On the trip down the Pacific ocean, he was impressed with the fact that it was anything but a peace- ful ocean. The stokers kept the pipes red hot and several times the vessel took fire. In the storms the ship would crawl up an advancing wave for several hundred feet, to the top, and ahead of them there would be a trough in the water that seemed like a bottomless pit. Down into this the ship would plunge and when it hit the bottom the water would sweep over the decks carrying away anything loose. Then around the vessel, the water would begin to boil and the ship would again begin its la- borious climb up another wave.

Crossing the isthmus, he rode a Spanish mule in a path worn so deep that its banks were often as high as his shoulders, the ver- dure of the tropics was matted overhead so dense that it was fairly dark in places.

On arriving in Illinois, he, and Alson J. Streeter, afterward Union Labor candidate for President of the United States, gathered to- gether one hundred head of cows, and in 1852, drove them to California. This trip was made through the North Platte valley, on the north side of the river to Fort Laramie. They had plenty of adventure, but no losses, and ar- rived at the golden mecca with more cattle than they started with, for some of the cows dropped calves, which were taken in the wag- ons and carried when they showed sign of fa- tigue.

On February 28, 1854, he was married to Lydia Jane Streeter, a sister of Alson J. Streeter. She was born at Rock Hill, New York, October 1, 1835, and removed to Lee county, Illinois, about the same time that the Shumways moved there from Pennsylvania.

Mr. Shumway went into mercantile business at Oxford, Henry county, Illinois and later retired to his farm adjoining the town. The old farm house where he lived, and which was burned recently, was the home for many years, and here the family of eleven children were born, three of whom died while quite young. Those who grew to maturity were Clara Grace, Roswell, George, Grant, Minnie Mae, Alson and Mabel.

For about ten years S. B. Shumway served as county supervisor in Henry county, being elected as an independent, he being an inde- pendent in politics since the greenback days. He was once independent candidate for Con-

MR. AND MRS. S. B. SHUMWAY

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

gress. In 1886, he came to Banner county, then a part of Cheyenne county, and filed on a homestead. After the organization of the new county of Banner, he was elected county judge and served two years.

Mr. and Mrs. Shumway affiliated with the Congregational church in Illinois but there be- ing none of that denomination here at that time, they attended Methodist services, and occasionally the Presbyterian. He was a Thirty-second degree Mason before coming west and was for many years High Priest of the Chapter at Rio, Illinois.

Clara A., the eldest daughter came to Ban- ner county, and filed upon a homestead in 1887. She was married to George B. Luft December 10, 1890. Mr. Luft was a pioneer merchant, and continued in business until his death at Scottsbluff. Clara Shumway was the first superintendent of public instruction in Banner county, being elected without opposi- tion and served two terms. She has always been active in educational, mercantile, lodge, club and civic endeavor.

Grace F., who was inclined to literary pur- suits, and prominent in the W. C. T. U. was married at Woodhull, Illinois to C. L. Burgess, and was killed by the accidental discharge of a revolver August 13, 1899.

Stephen Roswell, the oldest son except Gano, who died in infancy, was married to Mary E. Brown at Woodhull, Illinois, and has been engaged in mercantile pursuits for the greater part of his life. He now resides at Oklahoma City. He attended Monmouth college.

George O., who attended Knox College, was married to Lena Hoadley at Galesburg, and took up the practice of law. He was seven times mayor of Galesburg, and once candi- date for lieutenant governor of Illinois. He now resides in northern California.

Grant Lee, the writer of the history of western Nebraska, and Alson J. have sketches elsewhere in this volume.

Minnie Mae, now Mae Shumway Enderly, resides at Lon Angeles, where her husband, Fred W., has mercantile interests. She is pro- fessionally an entertainer for chautauquas, singing, reading, and high class vaudeville.

Mabel (Raymond) is at Los Angeles, and is a student and practitioner of therapeutics, and active in civic affairs.

The ranch of nine hundred and sixty acres in Banner county was sold and Mr. and Mrs. Shumway moved to Gering, where he died August; 5, 1897. Mrs. Shumway lived at Gering, Scottsbluff land Los Angeles, until October 22, 1904, when she died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Luft at Scottsbluff.

MARTIN L. WEHN .- One of the younger but prominent and truly representative men of Morrill county, who is president of the Broadwater Bank of Broadwater, and who has had other important interests in the county and city, is a native son of Nebraska, born in Aurora, October 5, 1885, the son of George H. and Susan C. (Hartzell) Wehn, who are descended from a long line of fine Pennsyl- vania stock, where both were born. The fath- er was a minister of the gospel and lived in different places in the middle west as he was called to various charges. The Wehn family first came to this section of the country in 1865, when George Wehn assumed charge of a church in Beatrice and from that date to the present has been an influence for good living, progress and the advancement of re- ligion and education wherever he has been lo- cated. Having spent forty-five years in min- istration to the spiritual life of mankind he lives a retired life, passing the declining years in the homes of his devoted children.

There were seven children in the Wehn family : Margaret, who married J. W. Beggs, now lives at Whiting, Iowa; Daisy, the wife of B. C. Brons, also of that city ; Susan, mar- ried Herbert Scott of Hampshire, Wyoming ; Martin, the subject of this review; and three who died in infancy.

Being the son of educated parents, Martin Wehn was given advantage of every educa- tional facility afforded in the public schools of Iowa and Missouri where the family lived while he was a boy and youth. After complet- ing his practical education the young man en- tered the general mercantile business, open- the first store in Broadwater, but after building up an excellent patronage within the short space

of some eighteen months his interest was di- rected to financial circles by his uncle J. W. Wehn. Having made a marked success of a retail business and having great faith in the future of this section of Nebraska, Mr. Wehn purchased a large block of stock of the Broad- water Bank from J. W. Wehn who had owned the controlling interest in that splendid finan- cial institution, and became its president. The bank has a capital of $25,000. surplus of $7,000 and deposits of over $250,000.

Mr. Wehn has become a leading financier of the county and as president of the bank, enjoys the confidence of the public generally. He has taken an active part in all local enterprises of recognized merit and his public spirit has many times been sufficiently exercised to warrant his reputation as an earnest and able citizen of this progressive community.

In politics he is a Republican and while he

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HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

is interested in all political questions that per- tain to the progress of Broadwater, Nebraska, and the nation has no time to enter political life as his entire energies are concentrated on the business of the bank and its allied financial activities. Fraternally Mr. Wehn is allied with the Masonic order while he and his wife are liberal supporters of the Presbyterian church.

On September 4. 1907, Mr. Wehn married Miss Mary Evans, who is a charming, gracious woman and the family have a large circle of friends, while Mr. Wehn stands high in bank- ing circles due to his constructive yet con- servative policy, his universal courtesy to de- positors and borrowers and his interest in the civic improvements of Broadwater and the county.

JOHN H. ADAMS, who has been promi- nently known in business circles in Broadwat- er for a decade, is a broad minded citizen and progressive man of affairs who manifests live- ly interest in all things touching the commun- al welfare and the upbuilding of the city.

John Adams is descended from fine oid English stock and displays many of the ex- cellent characteristics of that race. He was born in Kansas, November 30, 1884, the son of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Bluer) Adams, both of whom were born and reared in Eng- land. They were ambitious people who desired greater opportunities both for themselves and their children than could be obtained in the is- land of their nativity and immigrated to the United States. Soon after arriving in this country they came west, locating on a Kansas farm, where the father lived all his life, pass- ing away in 1892, while the mother still lives residing .in Wakefield, Kansas, a sturdy, worthy, old woman.

The youthful years of John Adams were passed on his father's farm, where he assisted in the farm work during the summer and at- tended the public schools of that state, and to this preliminary education he has been con- stantly adding, by extensive and well directed reading. He was one of a family of twelve children and grew up inured to the happy strife of a big family until his majority was attained when he decided to start out on an indepen- dent career and learned bookkeeping ; after completing this course he entered the employ of a hardware house at Bayard, where, in 1905, he gained the practical knowledge of its ad- ministration. After residing in this state for two and a half years he felt the call of the west, and with an idea of looking for

business openings as well as seeing the country, Mr. Adams left, going to Nevada, then on to . California and the Pacific coast, returning by way of Idaho. No country looked as good as the Panhandle and as he had faith in the fun- ture of this section he settled in Broadwater on his return. The two years and a half spent in travel had broadened his vision and he saw that a great future was in store for this section of fertile soil, with its assured sunshine and the irrigation which is being developed in the valley of the Platte. A year after his re- turn Mr. Adams opened his present grocery and dry goods house. This business dates from 1910, and in the decade since its establishment the store has grown to most satisfactory and gratifying proportions. Today it is regarded as one of the leading commercial enterprises in the Panhandle, due to the excellent policy of its proprietor, who won and holds his trade by his unqualified personal popularity. He is ever courteous, is regarded as a progressive man in ideas, an enterprising citizen as well as a successful business man. Mr. Adams is still young, the years of a broad commercial career are still before him and the past makes this more of a statement than a prophecy.

In 1912, Mr. Adams married Miss Bertha Rogers, a native of this state and they have one child, Harland. The family is connected with the Presbyterian church, to which they are liberal contributors. Politically Mr. Adallis is affiliated with the Democratic party but he is an idependent Democrat, not drawing close party lines when voting in local elections as he picks the best man for the position to be filled. He takes pride in the record made by the party during the war.

JESS R. MINSHALL, has identified him- self with the civic, financial and material in- terests of Morrill county, for he has not only been a representative merchant of this section and a banker of prominence but has held a pub- lic position of trust in the county. He is a na- tive son of the west and has exemplified its progressive spirit in the varied activities that that have brought him such a generous share of temporal prosperity.

Mr. Minshall was born in the Sunflower state, February 12, 1881. the son of James R. and Mary (Hogan) Minshall, the former born in Wisconsin, while his mother was a native of Missouri. There were five children in the family: Ralph, who lives in Tacoma, Washi- ington ; Nola, who married H. W. Benett ; Ben- jamin, who lives near McGrew, Nebraska ; Jess, the subject of this review, and Dora, deceased.

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The family resided in Kansas for a number of years, then removed to North Platte, where the father was employed as a machinist, an oc- cupation which gave him a comfortable inconie so that he saw his children had good, practical educations.

Jess Minshall attended the public schools of North Platte and after graduating from the High school he entered the Fremont Normal school, spending four years there in advanced study, making a specialty of commercial sub- jects. After completing his course in this in- stitution he entered upon a financial career by becoming interested in a mercantile house, where for ten years he was engaged in varied commercial pursuits gaining invaluable knowl- edge in business methods. He was ambitious and decided to establish himself independently and in 1906 came to the Panhandle, for he be- lieved there was a great future for this part of the state, due to the new intensive farming be- ing introduced with irrigation. Mr. Minshall initiated his career in this section by opening the Blue Creek Mercantile Company at Lewel- len, on the north bank of the Platte. His store flourished from its initiation but commercial life was not the goal of his ambitions and after studying the situation over he entered the bank at Lewellen, to learn in a practical manner, the administration and policies of the banking busi- ness. Leaving this institution he came to Broadwater in 1909, and established a hard- ware store but gave up active participation in its management when he was elected clerk of the district court. Mr. Minshall performed his public duties as a worthy citizen who had the best interests of the community at heart, and at the expiration of his term of office returned to Broadwater, becoming one of the stockholders and organizers of the Union State Bank of this city. From the initiation of this substantial and progressive banking house Mr. Minshall has been cashier, with Mark Shanogle as presi- dent. The institution is capitalized at $25,000, with deposits in excess of $100,000, which at- tests to the popularity of its officers as well as the high standing of the men who direct it and to the confidence the public has in their sound business methods. Mr. Minshall has been active and liberal as a citizen, is inten- sively patriotic and public spirited, contributing liberally to all progressive movements of the community, and commands high place in popu- lar confidence and good will.

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History of western Nebraska and its people, Vol. III, Part 82

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