USA > Nebraska > Lancaster County > Lincoln > Lincoln, the capital city and Lancaster County, Nebraska, Volume II > Part 27
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As in Sarpy county, Mr. Briscoe became actively connected with the public life of the community following his removal to Lincoln. He was one of the members of the city council who disobeyed the restraining order of Judge Brewer of the United States district court in regard to ousting from office the police judge of Lincoln for dereliction of duty. Judge Brewer regarded their action as contempt of court and imposed on the council a fine of five thousand dollars, which they refused to pay! gudge Brewer/tlivnicommended the United States marshal to place them in custody until the fine was paid. The case was taken
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to the supreme court at Washington, D. C., and the decision was that the action of Judge Brewer was that of judicial usurpation, so that the council was released. It is characteristic of Mr. Briscoe that he stands ever loyally for what he believes to be right and neither coercion, fear nor favor can turn him from the faithful performance of what he believes to be his duty.
On the 16th of September, 1858, Mr. Briscoe was united in marriage to Miss Eleanora Brandt, who was born in Bloomington, Virginia, April 9, 1840, a daugh- ter of Elijah P. and Sarah ( Kite) Brandt, who were natives of Maryland, in which state they spent their entire lives, the father there devoting his attention to the occupation of farming. To Mr. and Mrs. Brandt were born six children : Hettie M., Eleanora, Martin, Thomas, Ptolomy and John. Mr. and Mrs. Briscoe had one child, Florence V., who was born September 4, 1859. She grew to womanhood and was graduated in art from the State University and passed away December 17, 1891.
The parents are members of the Christian church, in which Mr. Briscoe has been an ordained elder for thirty-four years, and he has taught in the Sunday school for many years and is now a teacher of the Bible class. He was largely in- strumental in bringing about the erection of the First Church of Christ in Lincoln and was one of the founders of Cotner University at Bethany, generously en- dowing the Bible chair of the university with the munificent sum of twenty-five thousand dollars. He was the first superintendent of the Sunday school of the Christian church in Lincoln and through a period of forty years he has been actively engaged in giving Bible instruction in the school, planting many seeds that have borne rich fruit in honorable, upright lives. His political allegiance has always been given to the democratic party. If there is one more strongly marked characteristic in the life of Mr. Briscoe than another it is perhaps his unfaltering honesty. He stands loyally for every cause which he believes to be right, is steadfast in the support of his opinions and convictions, and his influence has ever been on the side of truth, reform, progress and improvement.
GRANVILLE ENSIGN.
Among those men who have contributed to the business development of Lincoln and whose worth as citizens has been widely acknowledged is num- bered Granville Ensign, who here passed away in 1906. He was born in the state of New York in 1835 and when a young man of eighteen years removed westward to Niles, Michigan, but after a short period there passed he established his home in Wyoming. Jones county, Iowa, where he owned and operated a farm. In 1858 he drove across the country to California, joining a party that left Wyoming, Iowa, and made the long trip over the hot stretches of sand and through the mountain passes to the Eldorado of the west. He had driven from New York to Michigan and from Michigan to Iowa, and thus on reaching Cali- fornia he completed an entire journey by wagon across the continent. For three years he remained a resident of the Golden state at a period when mail was brought across the country by pouy express and the cost of sending a letter was five dollars. On receiving word that his wife was ill at Wyoming. Iowa. he
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took a boat at San Francisco, sailed around Cape Horn and thence northward to Boston and by rail proceeded to his home, where he arrived after three months en route to find that his wife had recovered. Following the outbreak of the Civil war he responded to the country's call for troops, enlisting at Wyoming, Iowa, as a member of Company I, Fifth lowa Volunteer Cavalry, with which he served for three years. He was on detached duty nearly all of the time, being stationed at the commander's headquarters.
When his military service was ended Mr. Ensign returned to lowa, where he conducted a hotel for some time. Ile then decided to go to Denver, Colorado, but on reaching Des Moines found that trains were late and white there waiting he heard favorable reports of Lincoln and decided to come to this city, which was then scarcely three years old. He arrived on the 24th of March, 1870, and embarked in the livery business, for six months having a stand on the north side of P street, opposite the present site of the Federal building. He then removed to 221 South Eleventh street, where he purchased a building which he converted into a livery barn. Ile gradually increased his business until it became the largest of the kind in the city and he extended its scope to include the omnibus and transfer business, in which he continued actively to the time of his death. The business is still continued by his son, Il. A. Ensign, and is the largest undertaking of the kind in Lincoln. Still other business interests occupied the time and attention of Granville Ensign, who in his later years purchased four hundred acres of land south of Lincoln and engaged extensively in dairying. In all his business career he displayed unfaltering enterprise, keen discernment and unabating energy and these qualities brought to him substantial and grati- fying success.
At Wyoming, Iowa, Mr. Ensign was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Ann Eastman, born in 1837 in Cleveland, Ohio, who passed away in Lincoln in 1901. To them were born two children, H. Archie and Forest W., the latter deceased.
Mr. Ensign always gave his political allegiance to the republican party and in 1880 he was elected sheriff of Lancaster county, in which position he was continued by reelection until he had served for four years, discharging his duties in a most prompt and fearless manner. Ile was also a member of the city council when A. J. Sawyer was mayor and he was long prominent in political circles. He belonged to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and he pos- sessed all the sterling traits which marked him as a valued citizen, a representa- tive and progressive business man and a faithful friend.
MURRY K. HOLLEY.
Murry K. Holley, the popular and efficient postmaster of Waverly, was born in Clarence Center, New York, on the 5th of April. 1852. a son of John and Leonora (Ketcham) Holley, natives respectively of Chestertown, New York, and Sudbury, Vermont. In his early manhood the father drove the stage from Buffalo to Batavia,-New York, over the old plapk road which was maintained from receipts at the various WolfgallICSm.S@ttithe engaged in
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inerchandising and also served as postmaster of Millgrove, New York. He passed away in Vermont in 1858, and his wife also died in that state. They were the parents of seven children, of whom Murry K. is the fifth in order of birth.
The last named attended the public schools of Rutland, Vermont, in his early boyhood but when eleven years of age began working as a farm hand, in which capacity he continued for six years. He then entered the employ of the Central Vermont Railroad Company and was connected with that corporation for twelve years, but in 1881 migrated westward and for a short time lived in Indianapolis, Indiana. In January, 1882, however, he came to Waverly, Nebraska, where he resided with a brother for three months. At the end of that time he went to Kansas and accepted a position with the Burlington Rail- road. Not long afterward, however, he entered the employ of the Missouri Pacific, with which he was connected for seventeen years, or until January, 1899, when he took up his residence in Chicago and began working for the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad. In April, 1904, he gave up railroad work and came to Waverly, Nebraska, where for three and a half years he was employed by the firm of Loder & Son. In 1907 he removed to Denver, but after engaging in business there for four years returned to Waverly, where he has since resided. On the 28th of September, 1913, he received the appoint- ment as postmaster, and he is still serving in that capacity and is making a highly creditable record. Ile owns the building in which the postoffice is located and also holds title to his attractive residence.
Mr. Holley was married on the 18th of November, 1874, to Miss Ida Coppins, who was born in Rutland, Vermont, and is a daughter of Cuhner and Mary (Hagar) Coppins, the former of whom was born in England and the latter in Vermont. The father became a resident of America in his early manhood and engaged in carpentering in the east until the outbreak of the Civil war, when he offered his services to the Union. He took part in much hard fighting and died while at the front. His wife is still living and makes her home with Mr. and Mrs. Holley at the age , of eighty-three years. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Holley but all are now deceased.
Mr. Holley votes an independent ticket, supporting the candidates who in his judgment will make the best officials. He is a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church and fraternally is connected with the Masonic lodge at Atchison, Kansas. He has been a member of the craft since 1873 and was made a Master Mason in the lodge at Rutland, Vermont. During his residence in Waverly he has gained a wide acquaintance, and his genuine worth is attested by the fact that he is most highly esteemed where best known.
BYRON CLAY CHARLTON.
Byron Clay Charlton, who is a representative of a well known pioneer family of Lancaster county, is successfully engaged in farming and stock raising in Centerville precinct. He was born in that precinct upon the Charlton homestead, on the 25th of September. 1874. a son of William and Mary (Lidolph) Charlton,
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the former born in Bonaparte, Iowa, on the foth of August, 1845. When a young man of eighteen years he went to California and there engaged in farming and stock-raising for five years. At length he returned to Iowa and thence came to Lancaster county, Nebraska, and bought a fine farm on section 26, Centerville precinct. He purchased other land from time to time and became one of the most extensive land owners of the county. He specialized in feeding cattle for market and derived a handsome income from that business. In 1906 he retired from active life, but still resides upon the home farm. Ile was married on the 13th of May, 1872, in Bonaparte, Iowa, to Miss Mary Lidolph, who passed away upon the home farm in Centerville precinct, on the 3d of March, 1877, and is buried in the Centerville churchyard.
Byron Clay Charlton received a good education, attending the schools of district No. 77 and also the city schools of Lincoln and supplementing the knowledge thus acquired by study in business college at Lincoln. He also gave much of his time during his boyhood and youth to assisting his father and gave him the benefit of his services until he was twenty-six years of age, when he was married and began farming for himself, taking charge of two hundred acres of land in section 25, Centerville precinct, which was given to him by his father. He is still operating his place and is meeting with gratifying success as a stock- raiser. He annually feeds large numbers of cattle for the market and also breeds registered Poland China hogs. He keeps informed as to the results of experi- ments in regard to the grade of stock and is a factor in development of stock- raising interests in Lancaster county. In. 1914 he erected a fine two-story resi- dence which is the handsomest farm house in Centerville precinct, and which is provided with steam heat, hot and cold water and gas light from a private gas plant, and all of the furnishings are of fine quality and attractive design. The barns and other buildings and the general appearance of the place is in keeping with the house and his farm demonstrates how attractive country life may be made.
Mr. Charlton was married on Christmas day of 1900, at Roca, to Miss Dora Coral Pepple, who was born near Findlay, Ohio, on the 4th of October. 1881, and is a daughter of Rufus and Clara Pepple, natives respectively of Michigan and Ohio. Her father removed to the Buckeye state and there engaged in farm- ing until 1885, when he came to Nebraska and turned his attention to railroading. He is now in the mechanical maintenance department of the Union Pacific Rail- road and has charge of the water supply for the railroad at Roca. His wife grew to womanhood in Ohio and engaged in teaching school there for some time. After her removal to Lancaster county with her husband and children she taught in Centerville and Saltillo townships and followed the teaching profession in all for over two decades. She also still survives. Mrs. Charlton was but four years of age when she was brought to Lancaster county and was educated in the public schools of Roca and in the Lincoln high school and the State University at Lin- coln. She has become the mother of four children : Clay William, who was born on the 14th of August, 1901, and is now attending school: Marjory May was born on the Ist of March, 1906, and is attending school : Dorothy Flizabeth, who was born February 7, 1912; and Ruth, November 22, 1913.
Mr. Charlton is a republican in politics and takes the interest of a public- spirited citizen in affairs of local government. Butit
crosoft ®) 4 fe belong to the
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Methodist Episcopal church and fraternally he is connected with Damocles L( ve, Knights of Pythias, at Roca, in which he has served as prelate several ns and has also held other offices. His interest in the public schools is ind ed by the fact that he has served as treasurer of district No. 94 for two rs. He believes in progress along all lines of endeavor and can be counted ·on
to support any movement seeking the advancement of his community.
JUDGE LINCOLN FROST.
High on the legal arch of Nebraska is written the name of Judge Lincoln Frost, who for thirteen consecutive years sat upon the bench of the district court and for five years presided with marked success over the division having charge of the juvenile court. He has ever regarded the law as a force not only for checking crime, but a force for the uplift of the individual and a factor in pro- moting higher standards of citizenship, and he has ever administered justice with that aim in view, believing that there is in each individual seeds of good which may be awakened into life. In his law practice he has ever attempted to follow constructive methods, administering justice with mercy and calling forth the best qualities of the individual.
Judge Frost was born in Delaware county, Iowa, January 14, 1861, and was seven years of age when his father, Lyman Frost, settled in Lancaster precinct, Lancaster county, Nebraska, establishing his home on a farm a mile and a half east of the present state capitol, becoming one of the pioneer settlers of the county. He purchased the eighty acre tract of land on which he took up his abode and which had previously been homesteaded. Lyman Frost not only fol- lowed farming but also owned and operated a sawmill during much of his active career. The frame material out of which he built his first home on that eighty acre tract was sawed in his own mill located on Oak creek. a few miles distant from his residence, near what is now the town of Raymond. A part of the old Frost homestead is now within the corporate limits of Lincoln. Twenty acres of the tract remained for a long period in possession of Judge Frost and one of his sisters. In 1915 they converted this into a subdivision of the city of Lin- coln and named it Lyman Park, in honor of their father. On this have been erected many handsome residences, one of which was built at the cost of twenty thousand dollars. The entire eighty acre tract, originally in the farm, is known as Frost's subdivision to Lincoln, Lyman Frost having first platted this in 1886. It will thus be seen that the family name is closely associated with the pioneer development and later progress of the city.
Lyman Frost was born in New Hampshire, February 10, 1821, a son of Dr. Ephraim K. Frost, who came to Lancaster county with his son Lyman's family in 1868, and here passed away a few years later. His entire life was devoted to the practice of medicine and he followed his profession in New Hampshire. New York and Jowa. The Frost family, which is of English origin, is represented by numerous members in New England, many of whom are prominent, and anni- ally there is held in Massachusetts a Frost family reunion. Lyman Frost was married in New York about 1850 to Laura Augusta Gray, and to them have
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bee born six children, four of whom are now living. The family record includes Có Alia P., the widow of the late Henry D. Blakeslee of Upland, California ; .M., the wife of George E. Howard, Ph. D., a member of the faculty of
th niversity of Nebraska; Charles Sumner, deceased; Flora E., the wife of N. Snell, president of The Midwest Life Insurance Company of Lincoln;
ļu Lincoln Frost, of this review ; and John C. Fremont Frost, now deceased. The father passed away December 1, 1897, his wife July 17, 1899, and both are interred in Wyuka Cemetery of Lincoln. The father was originally an old line whig and became one of the first members of the republican party. Naturally he was a great admirer of John C. Fremont, Charles Sumner and Abraham Lin- coln and named his three sons for these distinguished American statesmen. How- ever, about twenty years ago, Judge Frost dropped the initial A. from in front of his name and has since been known as Lincoln Frost.
He was reared on the old Frost homestead and obtained his early education in what was known as the Frost school, which stood near the family home. About the time he attained his majority he taught two terms of school. Prior to this he had spent one year in the Lincoln high school and two years in the preparatory department of the State University and was graduated from the University of Nebraska with a Bachelor of Arts degree in the class of 1886. He spent the school year of 1886-7 doing post graduate work in Johns Hopkins University at Baltimore, and while there he was the room mate of the late Dr. Amos G. Warner of Lancaster county, a man known to all. In the summer of 1887 Judge Frost entered the law office of Sawyer & Snell of Lincoln, com- posed of A. J. Sawyer and N. Z. Snell. In 1889 he was admitted to the bar, and soon afterward became a partner of his former preceptors, at which time the firm style of Sawyer. Snell & Frost was adopted. This relation continued until 1898, when Mr. Frost was elected judge of the district court of Lancaster county. He served on the bench for thirteen years, retiring in 191, and during five years of that period he also served as judge of the juvenile court at Lincoln. He made a study of the juvenile courts in many different cities, including that presided over by Judge Ben B. Lindsay of Denver, and during the period in which he sat on the juvenile court bench in Lincoln he built up the local court to a high state of efficiency and made it one of the model courts of this character in the country. Upon his retirement from the bench he resumed the practice of law in Lincoln, and his record is that of a distinguished member at the bar. He has ever been faithful to his clients, fair to his adversaries. and candid to the court. In various cases he has exhibited the possession of every faculty of which a lawyer may be proud-skill in presentation of evidence, extraordinary ability in cross examination, persuasiveness before the jury, strong grasp of every feature of the case, ability to secure favorable rulings from the judge, combined with unusual familiarity with human nature and with untiring industry.
On the 19th of November, 1890, Judge Frost was married to Miss Jennie C. Connell of Lincoln, who is also a graduate of the University of Nebraska. They have three children : Florence, who became the wife of John E. Baird and died a few months later ; Flarold Bonnell, at home ; and Lincoln, who was born January 14, 1907, the anniversary of his father's birth, and is now nine years of age.
In politics Judge Frost is a republican and has always been a stalwart cham- pion of the party, but never Mind bekeMicrosoft® never been a
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candidate for office save that of judge and on one other occasion when he was a candidate for the congressional nomination. Fraternally he is a Mason and a Modern Woodman of America. He belongs to the Lancaster County and the State Bar Association and to the Commercial Club. He is likewise president of the Social Service Club of Lincoln, a position which he has filled for five years, or since its organization, in 1911. This is Lincoln's leading organization of this character and has been addressed by many of the most notable social service experts in the United States. The life work of Judge Frost has been of marked value to his fellow townsmen. He has been a close student of the great political, economic and sociological problems of the day, and has kept abreast with the best thinking men of the age. His work for uplift has been productive of splendid results, and in all things he is animated by that broad human sympathy which is based upon an intelligent understanding of human nature.
JOHN FREDERICK BRAHMSTADT.
John Frederick Brahmstadt was a well known farmer of Olive Branch precinct and his demise was the occasion of much sincere regret. A native of Germany. he was born in Mecklenburg on the 7th of November, 1838, a son of Frederick Brahmstadt, who engaged in blacksmithing in Germany. Our subject remained in the fatherland until he was seventeen years old, when, in company with his brothers, Henry and William, he came to America and made his way to Chicago, Illinois. Ile worked as a laborer there for a time and subsequently was employed as a farm hand. Following his marriage, which occurred in Chicago, he farmed in Cook county for several years and then went to Effingham, Illinois, where he established a general store. He engaged in business there for a number of years but at the end of that time lost his store by fire and in 1870 he became a resident of York, Nebraska, which was then but a tiny hamlet. He built the second house in the town and started a general store, which he conducted for eight years.
In 1878 Mr. Brahmstadt removed to Cherry county, Nebraska, and became the first settler in that county. Previous to his arrival there the only white residents of the county were the soldiers in the fort, and he experienced all of the hardships and dangers incident to life upon the western frontier. For four- teen years he operated a cattle ranch but disposed of that place in 1892 and went to Blair, Nebraska, where he purchased ten acres of orchard land. Eight years later, in 1900, he came to Lancaster county, Nebraska, and began farming three hundred and twenty acres of land on section 9, Olive Branch precinct, which belonged to his wife. He concentrated his energies upon the operation of that farm during his remaining years, dying there on the 6th of November. 1913, and was buried in the Methodist cemetery at Kramer.
Mr. Brahmstadt and Miss Henrietta Fritz were married in 1857, in Chicago, Illinois. She was born in Germany but emigrated to America in her girlhood and located near Effingham, Illinois. She passed away in Chicago in 1876, leaving six children : John, who is a horse trainer by occupation ; Gustave, who is farm- ing in Idaho: Edward! deceased, who was@francherfof Cherry county, Nebraska ;
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MR. AND MRS. JOHN F. BRAHMSTADT
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HENRY KRAMER
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Louis, who is operating a sawmill in Arbor, Washington; Emma, the wife of Henry Hollman, a farmer of Olive Branch precinct, Lancaster county Nebraska ; and William Henry, who is operating the home place in Lancaster county. Mr. Brahmstadt's second marriage occurred on the 2d of May, 1877, on the old Kramer farm in Olive Branch precinct, his bride being Mrs. William Hollman, nee Sophie Kramer. Her parents, Henry and Margaret ( Schaeper ) Kramer, were born in the province of Westphalia, Germany. The father engaged in farming there for some time but in 1845 came to America and first located in St. Louis, Missouri, whence he went to Clayton county, lowa. There he bought government land which he farmed until his removal to Lancaster county, Nebraska, in 1865. Ile filed on ninety acres of raw land on section 9, Olive Branch precinct, and at once began improving his place. For three years he lived in a dugout but at the end of that time erected a log house. He resided upon the homestead during his remaining days, his death occurring on the 6th of January, 1914, when he had reached the venerable age of ninety-three years. He was buried in the Methodist cemetery at Kramer. llis wife passed away on the 6th of August, 1900, and was also buried at Kramer. He gave the land on which the town of Kramer is built to the Missouri Pacific Railroad and the town is named in his honor. Mrs. Brahmstadt was born in Clayton county, lowa, on the 2d of April, 1852, but when thirteen years of age came with her parents by wagon to Lancaster county, Nebraska. By her marriage she became the mother of eight children, of whom four survive, namely : Benjamin, who is operating an elevator in Kramer; Sophie, the wife of Frank Thompson, who is depot agent at Kramer ; Elsie, who married Edwin Hollman, a farmer of Gage county ; and Justus Fred, who owns the elevator at Kramer in connection with his brother.
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