USA > Nebraska > Lancaster County > Lincoln > Lincoln, the capital city and Lancaster County, Nebraska, Volume II > Part 83
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Jason L. Claflin spent his boyhood in Pennsylvania to the age of seventeen years. when, ambitious to start in life on his own account, he came to the west
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and homesteaded in Ilall county, Nebraska, securing a tract of raw land from the government. His first residence was a little sod house in which he lived for ten years. On the expiration of that period he removed to St. Paul, Nebraska, and was employed in the office of the St. Paul Phonograph for a year, at the end of which time, or in 1884, he became owner of the paper. Since then he has continuously been connected with the printing business. In 1894 he became owner of the Ord ( Neb. ) Journal, which he edited and published for a decade, and in 1904 he removed to University Place, where he established himself in a printing business which constituted the nucleus of his present interests of that character. In 1909 The Claflin Printing Company was incorporated with Jason L. Claflin as its president and he has since conducted a general printing and bookbinding business, making a specialty of the printing of journals and like books. His trade has steadily grown in the intervening period and his interests have now reached large and substantial proportions.
In 1886 Mr. Claflin was united in marriage to Miss Mamie M. Perkins, a native of Kentucky and a daughter of Richard C. and Jennie ( Blythe ) Perkins, who were also born in that state. The father. an honored veteran of the Civil war, became a homesteader in Hall county, Nebraska, and in 1886 took up his abode in St. Paul, this state, where he served as postmaster for eight years. He now makes his home with his daughter, Mrs. Claflin, and also with a son at Aurora, Nebraska. Mrs. Claflin, after attending the public schools of llall . county and graduating from the high school at Grand Island, became a teacher in Howard and Hall counties, displaying marked ability in that connection. Since 1806 she has been prominently identified with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and for sixteen years has been editor of the Union Worker, the official organ of the Temperance Union of Nebraska. In 1912 she was elected to the office of state president and still occupies that position, and she is also a member of the executive committee of the Dry Federation of Nebraska. She maintains an office in Lincoln and has charge of the literature department of the prohibition campaign of 1916. She is an earnest and zealous worker, a fluent and forceful speaker, and her arguments and pleas for the cause are based upon a thorough understanding of conditions, needs and possibilities. Mr. and Mrs. Claflin have become the parents of two daughters: Faith. now the wife of Wayne J. Atwell, an instructor in the medical department of the Michigan State University at Ann Arbor; and Mildred, who received the Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Elocution degrees at Wesleyan University of Nebraska. She taught for two years in the public schools of University Place. She is the wife of Weldon F. Crossland, also a graduate of the Wesleyan University, who has just completed a three years' course at Oxford, England, having received a Rhodes scholarship.
The religious faith of the family is that of the Methodist church and from the foregoing it will be seen that the interest of the family centers in those movements which have for their object moral and cultural uplift. Mr. Claflin belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen and in politics maintains an independent attitude. His fellow townsmen, recognizing his public spirit, elected him to the office of amayor of University Place in, 1915, and so excellent was his service in that position that he was reelected in 1916. He has been active in many of those wholesome reforms which have been growing up in the social.
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political and civic life of the community and with that movement toward higher polities which is common to both parties and which constitutes the most hopeful political sign of the period. He belongs to that class of men who wield a power which is all the more potent from the fact that it is moral rather than political and is exercised for the public weal rather than for personal ends. Retiring rather than aggressive, he prefers a quiet place in the background to the glamour of publicity, but his aptitude and ability in achieving results make him constantly sought and often bring him into a prominence from which he would naturally shrink were less desirable ends in view.
ARTHUR H. EDGREN.
Lancaster county on the whole has been fortunate in the class of men who have occupied her public positions, in which number Arthur Il. Edgren is counted, being the present county surveyor. He was born in the city of Lincoln, March 24, 1884. and has been continuously a resident of this city. The old home in which his birth occurred is situated at the corner of Fourteenth and () streets and is now occupied by his mother, who is a widow. His father was the late Professor August H. Edgren, who erected that residence in 1882. He was born in Sweden, October 18, 1841, and was graduated from the Royal Military Academy of that country and also from the Lund University. At the time of the outbreak of the Civil war in this country he was a lieutenant in the Swedish army but at once came to the United States and volunteered for service in the Union army, being for two years a member of the Ninety-ninth New York infantry. Owing to the expiration of his leave of absence from the Swedish army he then resigned and returned to Sweden. Following the close of hostili- ties in America he again came to the United States and entered Yale University, in which he won the Bachelor of Arts degree. Subsequently he entered Cornell University of Ithaca, New York, and took the degree of Ph. D. He after- ward became commandant of the Riverview Military Academy at Poughkeepsie. New York, and subsequently he was professor of English in the university of Paris, France. In the early 'Sos he became professor of romance languages in the University of Nebraska and occupied that position for about twenty years. In 1901 he was sent as the representative of the United States to the Nobel Institute at Stockholm, Sweden, for the purpose of serving on the prize award board for the Nobel prizes. While filling that office he died December 9. 1903, and his remains were interred near his old home in Sweden. His wife in her maidenhood was Mary Ann Steendorff, a native of Copenhagen, Den- mark, and now a resident of Lincoln. In the family were but two children, a son and daughter, the latter Miss Verna Edgren, now a senior in the University of Nebraska residing with her mother.
Arthur H. Edgren was educated in the public schools of Lincoln, in the University of Nebraska and the University of Chicago. IIe won the Bachelor of Science degree on his graduation from the State University in 1909, his course embracing civil_engineering. In the meantimeChet had also spent one term in the University of Chicago in the year 1908, and from 1909 until 1911
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he was employed in the engineering department of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad and he had spent his previous summer vacations in the service of that railroad from 1903 until he received his degree. In 1911 he became assistant city engineer of Lincoln, holding the office for a year, and during. 1912 and 1913 he was assistant engineer of the Nebraska state railway commission. During 1914 he was engaged in the capacity of a commercial engineer in Lincoln and in the fall of that year was elected to the office of county surveyor of Lan- caster county, assuming the duties of the position on the ist of January, 1915. He has proved himself capable and his course has been highly commended.
On the 9th of February, 1912, Mr. Edgren was united in marriage to Miss Effie L. Powell, of Lincoln, a native of Indianola, Nebraska. He belongs to the Lincoln Commercial Club, the Lincoln Engineering Club and the Nebraska Engineering Society. He is well versed in all the practical and scientific phases of the profession to which he is devoting his life and is making an excellent record in office.
GEORGE SEIFERT.
Among the early and prosperous merchants of Lincoln was George Seifert, who conducted a harness store here for many years and whose sons are still carry- ing on the business. He was born in Germany and received his education in that country but in early manhood came to the United States and learned the harnessmaker's trade in Pennsylvania. He removed from one state to another and in 1872, when he came to Lincoln, Nebraska, from St. Joseph, Missouri, he had already resided in six states of the Union. During the time of the Civil war he lived in Missouri and as he was in sympathy with the Union, served in the home guards. A short time after his arrival in Lincoln he estab- lished a harness business on Eleventh street on the present site of the American Savings Bank. A year later, however, he removed to the Haberlin block on Tenth street and subsequently to the Strickland building, also on that street. In 1874 he purchased a lot on Ninth street and erected the building in which the store has since been conducted. Ile continued to own and manage the busi- ness until 1890, when he turned it over to his son Charles and went to Oklahoma, whence he removed to California. He passed his last days in that state and his death occurred there.
Mr. Seifert was married in Pennsylvania to Miss Anna Dorothea Elizabeth Ernst, who was born in the same part of Germany as her husband but they met for the first time in the United States. To their union were born the follow- ing children : Louisa, who died in Wisconsin ; George, a native of Iowa and now a resident of Los Angeles, California, who is married and has two children ; Mrs. August Ilagenow, a resident of Lincoln ; and Charles. Mrs. Seifert survived her husband for several years but in the winter of 1915 passed on to the life beyond.
Mr. Seifert was not active in politics, concentrating his energies upon his business. He possessed the qualities characteristic of the pioneer, being self- reliant, optimistic fog the future and Mdetermined in the carrying out of his plans. He lived in various parts of the new west during the early days of the
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history of this section and could relate many interesting stories of conditions at that time. In 1854 or 1855 he passed through Chicago which was then a small village built in a marsh and the sidewalks were of board and laid upon piling. When he located in Lincoln it was nothing more than a small frontier town but as years passed he saw it develop into a progressive city and did his part in bringing about the advancement of its business interests.
J. REID GREEN.
J. Reid Green is practicing law at the bar of Lincoln, to which city he came . in 1909, after having previously resided at De Witt, Saline county, Nebraska. where he was born January 8, 1881. His father, Joseph Edwin Green, was born near Cherry Valley, Otsego county, New York, September 1, 1842, the eldest child of James Edwin and Sarah (Sherman) Green. Joseph E. Green was married in 1866, at Rochelle, Illinois, to Corada J. Walrath, who was born at Sandy Creek, Oswego county. New York. July 1, 1849, a daughter Obadiah and Kate ( Widrig) Walrath. In 1868 they removed to Swan City, Saline county, Nebraska, a town which no longer exists, having been superseded by De Witt when the railroad was built through that locality. Mr. Green took up a homestead and became one of the pioneer settlers of the county, developing his farm and converting it into a rich and productive tract of land. He taught the first private, and later the first public, school in De Witt district and sub- sequently served on the school board of De Witt for a number of years. He was also postmaster at one time. In 1873 he purchased a hardware and furni- ture store, which business he conducted until a short period before his death. He passed away February 6, 1915. Mrs. Corada Green died March 28, 1885, and Mr. Green was afterward married to Miss Elizabeth Haynes, who survives him and still lives at De Witt.
J. Reid Green was reared in his native town, where he secured his elementary education, but his high school work was pursued at Red Oak, Iowa, where he was graduated with the class of 1901. He then began preparation for the bar and completed the course in the College of Law of the University of Nebraska in 1907. Ile opened an office and engaged in practice in De Witt and Crete until 1909, when he came to Lincoln, since which time he has been an active member of the bar of this city.
On the 3d of August, 1910, Mr. Green was united in marriage to Miss Irene Geraldine Courtnay. the only child of the late D. G. Courtnay and Martha Irene (Atkins) Courtnay. Mr. Courtnay was a pioneer lawyer of Lincoln who passed away November 13, 1906. Mrs. Courtnay still resides in Lincoln.
Mr. Green enjoys the distinction of being a genuine American, his ancestors on both sides having come to this country in early colonial days. On the paternal side he traces his descent through Joseph Edwin. James Edwin, Joseph, Joseph, John, James and John directly from John Greene, surgeon, of Warwick, Rhode Island. who was born at Bowfidge Hill. Gillingham, Dorsetshire, England. He embarked at Hampton, with his wife and children, on the ship "James" and
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arrived at Boston, June 3, 1635. During a brief residence at Salem he formed a lasting friendship with Roger Williams and after the latter's flight from Massachusetts John Greene joined Williams at Providence. He became one of the prominent men in the public affairs of the town and colony. Ile held office almost continuously till his death and was one of the twelve founders of the Baptist church in this country. General Nathanial Greene was his great- great-grandson. On the maternal side J. Reid Green is descended from the Walraths, Widrigs and Klocks, early Holland settlers in the New Netherlands, and many of his ancestors fought in the Revolution.
Mr. Green was a charter member and is now registrar of Lincoln Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution and is also a member of the state board of directors of the order. In politics Mr. Green is a republican and for two years he was secretary of the Saline county republican central committee. After coming to Lincoln he served for one year ( 1911) as secretary of the Lancaster county republican central committee. In 1912 he was president of the Young Men's Republican Club, in 1913 he was assistant secretary of the Nebraska state senate and since 1914 has been chairman of the republican county central committee. At the primary in 1916 he was elected delegate from the first Nebraska district to the republican national convention held in Chicago in June, 1916, and while there he was chosen a member of the committee to notify Hon. Charles W. Fairbanks of his nomination for the vice presidency.
EVERETT ELDON DRAKE.
Since the spring of 1914 Everett Eldon Drake has operated a well improved farm in Mill precinct, and he has fully demonstrated his right to rank among the successful agriculturists of his locality. He was born on the 6th of December, 1801. in Bee, Seward county, Nebraska, and is a son of Thomas J. and Mary ( Reinhart ) Drake, both of whom were born near Jefferson, Wiscon- sin. The father located in Seward county, Nebraska, in pioneer days, but later removed with his family to Lancaster county and located about seven miles south of Raymond. Subsequently he took up his residence in University Place, but is now living retired in Havelock, where he owns valuable residence property and also a twenty acre tract of land adjoining the town. Moreover he holds title to the farm of one hundred and sixty acres which our subject is now operating. His wife is also living.
Everett Eldon Drake, who is the youngest in a family of six children, attended school at Crounse, Nebraska, and also gave much time during his boy- hood and youth to assisting his father. When nineteen years old he went to Iowa and for four years worked for his brother in a hardware store, but at the end of that time went to Havelock, where he was employed by others for a year. In March, 1914. he took up his residence upon his father's farm in Mill precinct and has since concentrated his energies upon its operation. The place is well improved and comprises one hundred and sixty acres of valuable land. Mr. Drake is both/up to datehand practicarm Bis methods and derives a good income from the sale of his grain and stock.
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Mr. Drake was married in October, 19Io, to Miss Christie Herman, who was born in Modale, Iowa, where her father, King Herman, removed in the early days. To Mr. and Mrs. Drake has been born one child. Shirley Fay.
The democratic party has a stanch supporter in Mr. Drake, but he has not taken an active part in politics, as his private interests have demanded his entire time. He is well known and his many excellent characteristics have won him a high place in the estimation of those who have been intimately associated with him.
ALFRED E. SUTIIERLAND.
Alfred E. Sutherland has built up a large and extensive business as a dealer in agricultural implements in Waverly, Nebraska, and has been an important factor in the business and civic progress of the town. His birth occurred at French Grove, Peoria county, Illinois, on the 22d of September, 1864, and he is a son of Elisha J. and Rachel ( Reed ) Sutherland. The father was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1820, but when fourteen years of age went with his parents to Illinois. He grew to manhood in that county and engaged in farming, acquiring title to a large amount of land which he brought to a high state of cultivation. In 1885 he became a resident of Sedgwick county, Kansas, and resided there for a number of years but at length sold out his interest and made his home with his children. He was a farmer possessed of a judicial mind and in the pioneer days in Illinois many revered his judgment and sought his opinion, and he was at one time the nominee for county judge on the greenback ticket. He was well versed in medical science and his aid was often called for, which he tenderly gave without recompence. He was a member of the Masonic lodge and a man imbued with a deep sense as to right and wrong. He gave the land upon which the Presbyterian church at French Grove was erected and also donated the land for the cemetery. He was characterized by liberality and public spirit, and was always willing to further movements which sought the general good. His wife died on the 12th of February, 1873, leaving eight children, of whom our subject is fifth in order of birth. Subsequently the father remarried and three children were born to his second union. He reached an advanced age, but was called to the great beyond in 1903.
Alfred E. Sutherland attended school at French Grove in the acquirement of his education and remained with his parents until he was twenty-one years of age when he began his independent career, first at Goddard then in Wichita, Kansas. For a time he engaged in the real estate, loan and insurance business there, but later held a position in a grocery store. Ife took sick with typhoid fever and after recovering decided upon an outdoor life, and removed to a farm in the vicinity of Wahoo, Nebraska, which he operated for two years Here he married and removed to a farm three and one-half miles north of Waverly, which received careful attention until 1901. In that year he came to Waverly and established an implement business which he has since successfully conducted. He carries a complete line of standard agricultural farm implements and the excellence of his stock, combined with his fair business methods has commended his store to the general public. Mr. and Mrs. Sutherland started with eighty acres and now own one hundred and sixty acres, and their residence in Waverly is one of the finest and
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most up-to-date homes in the city, being provided with hot water heat and other modern conveniences.
Mr. Sutherland was married on the 6th of February, 1890, to Miss Minnie F. Olson, who was born in Knox county, Illinois, near Victoria in 1864 and is the daughter of P. P. and Bertha ( Matson ) Olson, natives of Sweden, who settled in Illinois upon emigrating to the United States. Later they became pioneer settlers of Saunders county, Nebraska, and there both passed away. Mr. and Mrs. Suther- land have three children : Rachel Viola and Allen Jennings, who this year, 1916, enter upon their junior year in the University of Nebraska at Lincoln; and Blanch Minnie, who is attending the Whittier school at Lincoln.
Mr. Sutherland is a prominent democrat and in 1897 came within four hundred and five votes of carrying the county as a candidate for county commissioner, although at that time the republican majority was two thousand. For years he has served as clerk of the board of education and is now the democratic candidate for county clerk. He was appointed to a position at Omaha in connection with the collection of the new income tax, being the first man in Nebraska to receive such an appointment, but resigned as he did not wish to take up his residence in that city. His religious faith is indicated by the fact that he holds membership in the Congregational church and fraternally he is connected with the Modern Woodmen of America. He is a man of determination and initiative and the large measure of success which he has gained is the natural result of the exercise of those qualities. He is a devoted father of a fine family.
JOHN OLSON.
John Olson, a resident of Rock Creek precinct is devoting his time and energies to the development and improvement of a farm of three hundred and twenty acres, which he owns in connection with his brother, and they are also operating the old homestead property of the Olson family. He was born in Skåne, Sweden, on the 6th of August, 1877, a son of John and Edna Eleanor Olson, both of whom were also natives of Sweden. The father was a farmer and in 1881 brought his family to America, making his way direct to Lincoln, Nebraska. For a year and a half he was employed at railroad work and then turned his attention to general agricultural pursuits on the present site of the town of Davey. After about three years he purchased the farm upon which his son John now resides, and there throughout his remaining days he carried on general agricultural pursuits, passing away on the 22d of February, 1908. His widow still survives and makes her home with her son John, who is the sixth in order of birth in a family of seven children.
In the district schools of Rock Creek precinct John Olson pursued his edu- cation, and when a lad of about six years he began working for others. His entire life has been one of unremitting industry and thrift. After his father settled upon the homestead farm he worked with him in its cultivation and improvement and he has always continued active in the labors of the fields. He now has one hundred and sixty acres of land on which he and his mother reside, and in connection With his brother RSowns three hundred and twenty acres besides operating the home place. his brother Charles being his partner
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in all of his business undertakings. He devotes his entire time to the farm and the result of his unfaltering labor and diligence is seen in the excellent appear- ance of the place, the fields annually bringing forth good returns for the care and labor bestowed on then.
Mr. Olson is a member of the Swedish Mission church in Rock Creek pre- cinct, and in politics he is a republican, but he does not consider himself bound by party ties and votes independently if his judgment dictates such a course.
FRANKLIN C. HAMER.
Franklin C. Hamer, attorney at law of Lincoln, his native city, was born June 9, 1878, and is the younger of the two sons of the late Ellis P. Hamer, who at the time he settled in Lincoln, in 1877, was a retired physician, passing away here in 1901. He is mentioned elsewhere in this volume.
After attending the public schools of Lincoln, Franklin C. Hamer entered the law department of the University of Nebraska and completed his course there by graduation with the class of 1901. He then entered upon the practice of law and is recognized as a man of ability in the profession. Other interests, too, have claimed his attention and he figures prominently in financial circles as the president of the American Safe Deposit Company of Omaha and as an invest- ment broker, buying and selling securities. He is also the owner of extensive real estate holdings in lincoln and his business interests have ever been most judiciously managed.
In September, 1915, occurred the marriage of Mr. Hamer and Miss Minnie L. Sawyer, of Michigan. In his political views he has ever been an earnest and stalwart republican and in 1914 was his party's candidate for the office of city treasurer, but the whole ticket went down to defeat in the democratic landslide of that year. He is well known in club circles, being a member of the Lincoln Commercial Club, the Lincoln Country Club and the Omaha Club of Omaha. Ile exercises a strong influence over the business and professional life of the community, his ability well qualifying him for the position of leadership which he occupies.
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