USA > Nebraska > Lancaster County > Lincoln > Lincoln, the capital city and Lancaster County, Nebraska, Volume I > Part 42
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Oren Snyder, Wisconsin, '62 Major Moore, North Carolina, '74 John G. Stine, New Jersey, '68 George Seifert, Germany, '72 Pat McGerr, Ireland, '69 R. J. Campbell, Ohio, '72 Sam Arbuckle, Illinois, '75 Celestine Theibeaut, France, '71 G. H. Butler, England, '71 R. H. Oakey, New York, '70 Andrew Bayless, Tennessee, '72 W. P. Phillips, Ohio, '71 N. S. Harwood, Michigan, '71 P. J. Grant, Ireland, '69 Charles W. Woodward, Iowa, '74 J. F. Egger, Switzerland, '71 Wm. B. Harlow, New York, '72 Mrs. Jennie May, New York, '67 H. T. Davis, Ohio, '67 G. H. Augdin, West Virginia, '75 J. P. Munson, Kentucky, '66 John Naderhoff, Illinois, '70 James Giles, England, '69 E. S. Hudson, England, '69 Solomon Kirk, Tennessee, 57 IV. E. Bates, Michigan, '74 John Lemke, Wisconsin, '59 S. Westerfield, Missouri, '72 G. W. Pleasant, North Carolina, '74 John Gesler, Iowa, '68 Joel N. Converse, Ohio, '70 S. J. Dobson, '71 M. W. Griswold, New York, '69 Herman M. Reeves, New York, '70
Dr. W. Queen, '60
W. J. Knowlton, '69 Henry Waterman, '70
Wm. Robertson, '71 Myron Tower, '68
W. W. Carder, '67
Thomas Hornby, '74
W. Smith, '70 A. L. Pound, '66
G. C. Hickox, '72
J. J. Hunt, '69 Michael Noonan, '69
Il. H. Wilson. '73 J. P. Hebard, Connecticut, '69
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N. Carpenter, '69
F. H. Bohanan, '68
D. A. Cline, '70 T. R. Burling, '68
E. G. Clements, '69
Alexander Buchanan
Isaac Johnson, '71
C. H. Gere
W. W. English, '71
George Gardner
M. D. Tiffany, '70
L. J. Byre
Wm. M. McLaughlin, '68
W. W. Holmes
John Morrison, '69
Louis Helmer
J. L. McConnell, '58
D). J. Hunt -
C. Kellar, '69
J. A. Leonard
John Dee, '56
J. F. Erecson
Thomas Maloy, '67
Ira J. Hunt
John W. Crist, '71
In 1889 Mr. T. H. Hyde, editor and founder of the Lincoln Daily News, compiled a list of business and professional men who were engaged in business prior to 1875 and continued at that time. This list follows :
Rev. H. T. Davis, Methodist minister.
L. K. Holmes, manufacturer of brick.
J. B. and E. L. Trickey, watchmakers and jewelers.
Leopold Barr, same.
Bohanan Brothers, meat market, livery and sale stables, hacks, omnibusses, etc.
William Hyatt and Frank Rawlins, same.
W. H. Brown. W. J. Turner, J. H. Harley, druggists.
W. N. Rehlaender, pharmacist.
J. and D. Newman, dry goods.
Fred Schmidt, dry goods and general merchandise.
L. H. Robbins, M. D.
James Ledwith, grocer.
William D. Gulick, baker and grocer.
Henry Veith, baker and grocer.
William Harlow, baker.
Charles Spicer, grocer.
J. A. Bailey, house painter and decorator.
Hunphrey Brothers, hardware and farm implements.
Raymond Brothers, wholesale grocers.
A. S. Godfrey, C. C. Munson, lumber.
J. W. Hedges, founder.
H. W. Hardy, furniture.
A. E. Hargreaves, retail grocer and also wholesale.
E. G. Clements, photography.
S. HI. King, dental surgeon.
F. H. Hohmann & Sons, musical instruments and teaching.
A. M. Davis, carpets, etc.
P. H. Cooper, ice.
D. L. Peckham, L. J. Byer, Sam McCord, carpenters and contractors.
E. W. Rykert, '67 Levi Small, '69
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J. J. Butler, architect and builder.
J. P. Lantz, J. F. Lansing, real estate and insurance.
J. 11. McMurtry, same.
J. H. Woodworth, saddler.
J. E. Philpott, S. B. Pound, C. C. Burr, S. J. Tuttle, Harwood & Ames, J. H. Foxworthy, T. M. Marquett, L. W. Billingsley, T. F. Barnes, W. J. Lamb, attorneys.
R. L. Smith, machinist.
David May, A. Hurlburt, clothiers.
John Morrison, John McWhinnie and C. F. Damrow, tailors.
T. W. Lowrey, grain elevator.
R. C. Manley, fruit, cigars, etc.
Louie Meyer, dry goods.
E. T. Roberts, undertaker.
George Seifert and George E. Fischer, harness and saddles.
J. A. Buckstaff, lumber.
Joseph Whitman, harness.
Vol. 1 -22
CHAPTER XXXI
REMINISCENCES
The following reminiscences are, in greater part, taken from the Lancaster County Plat Book, published in 1907.
JOHN W. PREY
Could you look back to June, 1856, you might see a canvas top wagon, to which was attached a span of horses at the pole and a yoke of oxen in the lead, wending its way along buffalo trails and crossing unbridged streams. Its objec- tive point being the Valley of Salt Creek, Nebraska, then a part of the great American desert. Its occupants, the pioneer settlers of what is now Lancaster County.
In the spring of 1856 my father. John D. Prey, a Scotchman by birth, accom- panied by myself, John W. Prey, started west from Milwaukee, Wis., to seek a location. expecting to locate at or near Council Bluffs. Ia. We went by boat to Chicago, from there by rail to Alton, Ill., and from there by steamboat to St. Louis and Council Bluffs. At the latter place we fell in with Zebedialı Buffington, who, with his family, were also seeking a location, his conveyance being a good span of horses and wagon. With him we concluded to travel and crossed the river to Omaha. Here we purchased an ox team for which we paid $105. They were placed ahead of the horses and a start was made for the Elkhorn Valley. On our arrival there, finding that section of the country too much occupied and hearing that there was a large body of timber on Salt Creek, south of the Platte, we headed this way, and entered Lancaster County from the north and on the night of June 15th struck camp on Salt Creek about three miles south of where the City of Lincoln is now situated.
At that point we found a rude log house that had just been erected by some land hunters from about Plattsmouth, among them James Cardwell, Simon Thrapp, a man named Whitman and others, seven in all. We had met them on their way out, as we were coming in. They had been staking out all the best claims from about where the Village of Hickman is now located north along Salt Creek to the salt basins. We supposed these people would soon become per- manent residents, but found later that they only held their claims for sale.
Mr. Buffington took a claim on Salt Creek about one mile north of where the Village of Roca is now situated, remained a short time and returned East. Our claims were located in what is now Centerville Precinct, on the west branch of Salt Creek. The claim of John D. Prey was on section 34 and John W. on section 24. We also staked out claims for my four brothers, Thomas R. Prey's
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being on section 25. After we had filed our claims, my father returned to Wis- consin for the rest of the family. I remained with Mr. Buffington and during the absence of my father assisted him in erecting the log house. The first Fourth of July we spent on the American desert was in cutting and hauling logs for this cabin.
The family arrived July 26th. The first move to be made then was to build a bridge across Salt Creek to enable us to get to our claims, which was a short job for seven strong and hardy pioneers, and was completed in one day. We next set posts in the ground, around which was stretched common muslin ; a roof was formed of brush and hay, and our first temporary dwelling on section 24 was complete. This answered for a shelter for the family from the sun and the rain for a period of six weeks, during which time we completed our first log cabin and had put up a considerable amount of hay. By the time winter set in we had secured for ourselves reasonably comfortable quarters.
The winter of 1856-7 is known the country over as the winter of the deep snow. The first three days of December were probably the most severe days of blizzard ever experienced in this section of the country. When the storm was over the snow was over two feet deep in the timber and the draws and creeks were on a level with the high ground.
Game was quite plentiful at that time. Our meat during the winter consisted almost entirely of venison, and wild turkey, which were easily captured on account of the severe cold and the extreme depth of the snow.
The following spring quite an addition was made to the neighborhood. Among the settlers were J. L. Davison, Joseph Weeks, John G. Haskins, James Goodwin, C. L. Bristol and others. John Davis, a bachelor, also located on the creek about eight miles south of the present site of Lincoln. He made his brags that he would shoot an Indian before he left Salt Creek. One day, very uncalled for. he resented the entrance of two marauding Pawnees, and killed one of them. This aroused the wrath of the Indians, and the settlers made a quick trip to Weeping Water and Missouri River points, without stopping to pack up their belongings. A few weeks later, on their return to their claims, they found that three miles north of Prey's the Indians had rifled, breaking and destroying any- thing they could not use. Clocks were torn to pieces and scattered about. The contents of straw and feather beds could be found strewn all over the prairie.
We left our claims, and upon our arrival at Weeping Water we found several settlers there from all sections of the country. Major Downs from Nebraska City was acting as military instructor. . After a few days scouts were sent out. who encountered one lone Indian, who was brought in as prisoner of war. John W. Prey and two others were stationed guard over him, and were in- structed to shoot without mercy if any attempt was made to escape. In the evening, however, the fellow made some desperate efforts in that direction. Selveral shots were fired, none of which took effect. It was then discovered that one man had been standing guard without a load in his gun. The Indian escaped, noine the worse for bad marksmanship of the guards.
·When the excitement had subsided and the settlers began to feel a desire to return to their claims, Cicero L. Bristol and myself were delegated to precede the return of the others and see if the coast was clear for their return. This we did and after a day and a half walk we arrived at our destination and found
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that there were no Indians in the country. Ten days later, on our return from a short hunting expedition, we were surprised to find about our house a large company of Government surveyors, sitting about, smoking their pipes and making themselves generally at home. During that summer, 1857, they surveyed this section of the country and remained until late in the fall.
In the spring of 1859 the Indians were quite troublesome. One Indian was shot that spring by a man named Garritt, about two miles southwest of the pres- ent site of Sprague. Farther down the creek considerable trouble was experi- enced. The settlers succeeded, however, in routing the Indians, driving them clear to the Platte River, and obliging them to swim the stream to get away.
In July, 1859, a band of Redskins came through our section. At our house there was no one about except my mother, my brother David, then about sixteen, and my youngest sister. Rebecca, then about thirteen. The girl was badly frightened and tried to conceal herself in a wheat field. She was soon dis- covered, however, and taken by the Indians, who started away with her. Mother, however, had sent brother David down the creek about one mile where four men were at work, to notify them that their assistance was needed. Seeing the girl taken by the Indians, mother concluded to accompany her. They were headed down the creek toward where the men were working. They had pro- ceeded not to exceed a quarter of a mile when they discovered the men and the boy returning. The Indians, seeing they were about to be resisted, allowed the girl to accompany her mother home, and the Indians went their way.
CHARLES L. RETZLAFF
In the fall of 1858 Joseph Gilmore and wife, Robert Farmer, Henry Pettit and myself fitted out three wagons, consisting of three yoke of oxen to each wagon, in Walworth County, Wisconsin, and started for the "American Desert," then the Territory of Nebraska. It took seven weeks to make the trip, which was filled with many incidents of hardship. The streams were then unbridged, and at nearly every one of them we were obliged to swim our oxen and considered ourselves very lucky many times that they were not drowned. We crossed the Mississippi at a small town above Dubuque and got along fairly well until we reached the Skunk Bottoms in Iowa. These were crossed in what is now Jasper County. They were wide, muddy and covered with water for a distance of nearly three miles. Our route we picked out by means of a boat, one man going ahead and sounding, sticking stakes, with rags or grass on the top, where it seemed most safe.
One of the early pioneers of Jasper County, in speaking of this route across the bottom says: "In 1859 this same road was lined from morning to night, week in and week out, with Pike's Peakers, and during the entire season the bottoms were almost impassable. The amount of real suffering they caused is almost beyond human understanding. If you will go to Denver, Colo., and attend the meeting of the fifty-niners you will be sure to hear some horrible stories of misery and suffering while crossing the Skunk Bottoms." We suc- ceeded in crossing, however, only to encounter other obstacles almost as bad.
At the Des Moines River, at Ft. Des Moines, our cattle were carried by the current and landed about one-half mile below our starting point. The Missouri
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River was crossed at Plattsmouth on a ferry boat. After crossing the "Big Muddy" we remained for a few days about Plattsmouth, and then pushed farther west, our objective point being the Valley of Salt Creek.
We struck Lancaster County on the old Mormon trail and stopped at Salt Creek just above where Waverly stands, and where we found a shanty inhabited by John Loder. The prairies were broad and barren of trees and as void of set- tlement. Nearly every pioneer coming from the east thought he must have a claim with some timber, therefore most of the early settlers located along the streams. We spent some time in this locality looking for suitable locations. Joseph Gilmore located near Loder's, making some improvements the following spring, where he remained for a few years and went to freighting for a Mr. Porter from Plattsmouth to Denver. Robert Farmer also located near Loder's and made Lancaster County his home until a few years ago, when he removed to Kansas. Henry Pettit remained in Plattsmouth for a number of years, then took land in Lancaster County, buying out the Captain Donovan claim. After a few weeks' stay here, I came up to the month of Stevens Creek, and gave $50 for a claim of 160 acres, the east one-half of the southeast quarter of section 5, and the west one-half of the southwest quarter of section 4, buying it from a man named Brown. After placing two logs for a foundation for a cabin, I filed my claim and returned to Wisconsin. During the winter I was married, and the following spring, accompanied by my brother Carl, Peter Gardner and John Lemke, I again started West to establish a permanent home. On our arrival here my companions, not finding timber enough in this section, located in different parts of the state, my brother at Table Rock and the others in Pawnee County.
We supposed when we first took our claims here that we would have the use of them for at least a year or two before they would come into market. The following year we understood they would soon be on the market, and many of the settlers, not possessing money enough to buy land and make improvements too, the latter suffered very materially. Our first crop consisted of a few potatoes, some melons and pumpkins. In the spring of 1860 our land not having been sold from us, we made some substantial improvements. I broke out seven aeres and planted it to corn, chopping it into the sod with an axe. This crop was an entire failure owing to the dry season. I succeeded, however, in raising a four-acre patch of wheat that went sixty bushels to the acre. Fifteen bushels of this was traded for corn, which we had ground into meal. This, with our wheat, furnished out breadstuffs until the following crop, prairie chickens sup- plying us with meat.
Indians were plenty in those days, but all were friendly. The only thing I ever knew of their doing was to kill a neighbor's cow, which they cut to pieces and carried away. We had one Indian scare in 1862, when it was reported that the Indians were going to drive all the whites from Nebraska. Many of the settlers left their homes and went to Nebraska City. I loaded my rifle, a single shot affair, after which 1 felt secure from a thousand redskins, remained on my claim and never saw an Indian.
Now that we have ourselves located we will look around a bit. Our market place was Nebraska City, our mill at Weeping Water. It would take five days to go to market and three days to go to mill. These were some of the disadvantages
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of pioneer life, but there were as many advantages and the pioneer that stayed by his claim, almost to the man, succeeded well.
W. J. WELLER
August 1, 1869, found the writer with his wife and two small children in Greenwood, Neb., doing grading on the B. and M. Railroad. After viewing the beautiful prairies that surrounded ns, we concluded that Nebraska would eventu- ally be our permanent home. I tried to induce some of my Eastern Iowa friends to come to the same conclusion, but, as they were reasonably well fixed at their homes, they declined my kind invitation. I left Greenwood, which was then simply a camping place, September Ist, for, I knew not where. Our conveyance was a mule team and wagon. On arriving at Lincoln, which was then a town of about seventy houses, we concluded to stop and find what we could learn. I met a man by the name of Elijah Hull, and after explaining to him that I was looking for a range for cattle, he informed me it was not necessary to go out- side of the bounds of Lancaster County to find good land, and plenty of range, and invited me to call at his house which was then on section 20, in what is now Little Salt Precinct. The following day we started for his place and on our way there we stopped at the house of Alva Brown. His wife, after finding out what we were in pursuit of, informed us that if we wished to raise cattle in that location we would not make a mistake, but in general farming she believed we would starve to death, as it was considered then that no grain could be raised outside of the valley land in Nebraska. We followed Oak Creek and found Seth Linderman and Silas Pratt living where the Village of Raymond is now situated. Further on we found Ezen Tullis on the farm now owned by Willard Kenyon. We stayed that night with a man named Laymond ; that was the first night I ever stayed in a dug-out. We resumed our journey the next morning and on crossing the divide between Oak Creek and Little Salt we got a grand view of the latter; not a house or a living thing in sight. The creek was skirted here and there with cotton-wood, ash, box-elder and plum thickets, an ideal place for stock raising. On arriving at Mr. Ilull's we found them located in a large dug- out. We traveled three days looking for land, located the north half of section 20, 12, 6, and returned to Lincoln. In November I went to Plattsmouth for Inmber. On my return I found that a claim had been taken on section 8 by Joseph Carter and a small shanty erected. Another claim had been made on section 28.
My shanty was completed in December and when we moved in the floor, which was Mother Earth, was considerably frozen. When the fire was made we soon had a mortar bed to walk through. This became dry, however, in a few days. That winter I spent in cutting and hauling wood, which I borrowed from the B. and M. Railroad land, and which has not, to this day, been returned. There were plenty of deer and antelope at that time, but as I was not a successful hunter very little of my time was spent in hunting. The following year I succeeded in raising twenty acres of wheat and ten of oats, but when harvest time came we were entirely out of eatables and only a $2 bill in the pocketbook. How to secure the necessaries of life for a time was a question. This, however, was again solved by again borrowing a cord of wood, which was hauled to Lincoln and
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sold for $9 to Charles Griffith. I came home that night loaded down with catables and was happy.
My first trip to mill was in October, 1870. I loaded forty bushels of wheat and started at 3 A. M. That night I became lost on the prairie and slept under the wagon. On my arrival at Milford the next morning, I found the mill with plenty of grain to grind for six weeks. I then drove to Camden, where I found I could get my grist ground within the next ten days. I borrowed 100 pounds of flour and returned home, having spent three days on the trip.
In 1872 we had a fair prospect for small grain; corn, however, had suffered considerably by the drouth. About the ist of August the grasshoppers came by the multiplied millions, which sounded like a train of cars and in such dense clouds as to obscure the sun. Most of the wheat was in the shock but was dam- aged very materially by these pests. No pen can thoroughly describe the trouble they caused. They would fall into the well in such quantities as to render the water unfit for use, and apparently in no way could you guard against their rav- ages. Cottonwoods two and three years old would be bent to the ground by their weight.
The winter of '73 and '74 was a trying time for the settlers. It was a problem to obtain the necessaries of life for both man and beast. Horses were fed their grain by measuring it out with tin cups instead of peck measures. The crops raised in those days, if they could be set beside the crops of today, would give the present generation a much better idea of the hardships passed through, than can be given in a pen picture.
WILLIAM KRULL
The traveler, in passing through Centerville Precinct and seeing the large and well managed farms, commodious houses and barns, churches, villages and schoolhouses, and all other things which make life a pleasure, never fails to receive a favorable impression of this section of Lancaster County. The present condition of the precinct, however, is not a matter of luck, but it is the fruits of many years of persistent hard labor, combined with hardships and sometimes of untold hard suffering, which was endured by the pioneers, the present generation following up with energy and zeal, assisted with modern machinery.
In the year 1863 the parents of the writer of this article cast their lot among the settlers of Centerville Precinct. The quarter section taken by Frederick Krull, as a homesead, is still the home of his widow and part of the family.
From 1864 the emigration from the East became steady. They came from Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa and Missouri, mostly from the two latter states. Many only stayed one or two years, and packed up their few be- longings, which in every instance was less than it was when they came, and returned East. Many more would have left but were too poor to get away. It required more courage than a great many of them possessed to stand up under the hardships which they had to bear. The country was a wild wilderness in which deer, antelope, wild cats and catamount roamed in abundance. White men were scarce, while Sioux Indians were plentiful. Houses were a thing unknown with the exception of an occasional log hut. The others were dug-outs. One would hardly question, under these circumstances, why the people should become
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disheartened. My father constructed his dug-out in the middle of December, but did not get it quite finished, when on Christmas Day a heavy shower of rain filled it with water to the depth of a foot. That night it turned bitter cold and in a short time the water was frozen solid. There was no thought of finishing the digging until the following spring. There was nothing left to do but move in as it was, so on the 7th of January, 1863, in the most severe kind of winter weather, the family, which consisted of father, mother and two small children, moved into their humble quarters. Rude as it all seemed, they had the satisfaction of knowing that it was their own home, something they had never possessed up to that time. Instead of springs and a comfortable mattress to sleep upon, they covered the ice in the dug-out with hay and a few old blankets, and spent their first night without a fire, a night never to be forgotten. The suffering was intense, for all the clothing that could be spared was given to the children. In thinking back over it now they say, "It seems like a long, miserable nightmare." The following day a fireplace was built in the corner, and by keeping a good fire they managed to get the ice warmed up enough so that it could be broken up in chunks and carried out. The following spring the dug-out was completed and served as a shelter for the family for over seven years, when they began the construction of the present house, which was built entirely of limestone. The stone was quarried near Roca and two years elapsed before the stone was on the ground ready for the building. All the lime used in its construction was burned by my father. He had no thought of buying anything which he could make himself, as money was scarce and all other building material must be hauled from Nebraska City, nearly sixty miles distant. There were only two loads of lumber used in the entire building and that was the only material that required a cash expend- iture. The poorest grade of lumber cost at that time from seventy-five to ninety dollars per thousand.
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