USA > Nebraska > Platte County > Past and present of Platte County, Nebraska : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 6
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37
Edward A. Gerrard, a brother of Leander Gerrard, located near Columbus in 1859, and in the city in 1868. Having become familiar with the country northwest to the Indian reservations, by following bands of Indians who often came down and stole the settlers' horses, he was engaged as guide and made the first trail for cattle west of the sixth principal meridian, from the Platte to the Indian reservations northwest. He went to California in 1876 and, with C. W. Zeigler, drove a herd of ponies from San Luis Obispo, California, to Colum- bus. He was installed as postmaster at Columbus in May, 1878. Mr. Gerrard was county clerk of Monroe County. For the past several years he has been furnishing the people of Monroe with a newspaper of no little merit. His military record is a good one, and he is one of the very few from Nebraska who served in the Civil war. He was a member of the Second Nebraska Cavalry, Company D, and was a resident of Platte County at the time of his enlistment.
Patrick Murray came to this country from Ireland when eighteen years of age and settled in Platte County early in the spring of 1857. On the 4th of July of that year, he married Bridget Hennessey, at Omaha, and began farming and stock-raising; his first crop of wheat was garnered the following year. Before "proving up" on his claim, this hardy pioneer built a barn 100 feet square, paying $75 a thousand Vol. I-4
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feet for his lumber, which he hauled from Omaha with ox teams. In 1865 he took a contract for putting up hay for the Government forces and while so engaged along the Looking Glass went to Omaha, leaving his wife and a number of hands at the hay. During his absence a band of Arapahoe Indians attacked his wife and the hands in the field, after taking supper with them and displaying every evi- dence of friendship. Their treacherous intentions, however, were soon made manifest, as they killed Mr. Murray's brother-in-law, Adam Smith, a brother of Michael Smith, of Columbus, and wounded his wife and several others by shooting them with arrows. Before tak- ing their departure, the Indian miscreants destroyed the tent, bed- ding, harness and everything not needed by themselves, and took away the mules and other articles that struck their fancy. As soon as word of this calamity reached Murray at Omaha, he started for home with a squad of soldiers in pursuit of the Arapahoes. The officer in command promised to return to Murray his property, but the Government sent commissioners, who made a treaty with the red marauders and murderers, permitting them to retain the stolen prop- erty and proposing to pay the owner its value in money. Mr. Mur- ray filed his claim for the mules and other chattels but never got any satisfaction, although it was part of the agreement between him and the Government agents, that while preparing the hay he would be protected from the Indians. Notwithstanding his severe loss, the pioneer became prosperous and influential, at one time owning over two thousand acres of the finest land in Platte County. His home farm consisted of 600 acres and was finely improved. At the first land sale in Omaha, he purchased $4,000 worth of land. He then started four teams breaking the tough prairie sod and in a few weeks had 100 acres turned over. In the spring he sowed this land to wheat and sold 1,000 bushels of the yield at $1.02 a bushel, on the track at Columbus. IIe was a member of St. John's Catholic Church and hauled the lumber for the building from Omaha at his own expense.
Dr. Charles B. Stillman was the first man of his profession to locate in Columbus and was one of the original pioneers of Columbus, coming to the place in March, 1857, a few months after its founding. He was a native of Connecticut, first seeing the light of day in the year 1831. His parents moved to Illinois when he was three years of age and obtaining a common-school education, the young man, in 1856, graduated from the medical department of the Iowa State University. For nine years after his arrival in Columbus he was the only physician and druggist in the county. IIe had his office and
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small stock of nostrums in a "lean-to" of a log cabin, which was the home of the priest. Charles A. Speice had a log house, then standing on the site of the Catholic Church afterwards built on the south side, into which Stillman later moved and remained until he built his drug store in 1866. Doctor Stillman was a good physician for his day and generation and had a large practice. As a man and citizen he was a valuable adjunct to the community. He held the office of county clerk from 1868 to 1872 and was also register of deeds, the two offices being combined. He served some time as surgeon for the Govern- ment, was coroner of the county and the first mayor of Columbus, so it is said.
Henry J. Hudson was born in London, England, in 1822. With his wife, Sarah, and children, he settled in the county in 1857 and became one of the prominent men of the community, filling many offices of note. He was county commissioner, county clerk, county judge, postmaster ten years; probate judge, police judge, justice of the peace, a member of the Legislature, minister of the Latter Day Saints Church, a fluent writer, an orator of no mean ability and an exceptionally good citizen. He was of the band of Mormons who were displaced from their holdings by the Pawnees, when their reser- vation was established in Nance County. He died several years ago.
Martin Heintz was one of the men who settled in Columbus in 1858 and helped build the town. His twin brother, Chris, came with him. Heintz never married and was considered an eccentric char- acter, but withal, he made a good citizen and a generous neighbor. He died in 1892, his brother preceding him to the grave.
J. E. North, an early settler, became a leading and influential citizen of Columbus in 1858, and first engaged in running a ferry across the Loup River, carrying overland immigration. In this he continued one year, spent a year mining in Colorado and then re- turning to Columbus, in 1859, married Nellie Arnold, his being the second marriage in the county. He then followed freighting, from Omaha to Fort Kearney, until the completion of the Union Pacific Railroad to that point. Three years were spent trading with the Pawnee Indians on their reservation, after which he went into the real-estate business at Columbus. He served as one of the early sheriff's of this county, was county surveyor eight years, a member of the State Legislature in 1876-7, was in the city council and mayor of Columbus. J. E. North passed away July 5, 1913, and thus an- other landmark is missing.
Charles A. Speice, who came to Columbus in 1858, proved to be
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a valuable addition to the little settlement of sturdy men and women who were engaged in building a town on the Nebraska prairie. He was a native of Pennsylvania and when twenty-six years of age, migrated to Nebraska, landing in Omaha, May 12, 1856, on the steamboat Omaha, which had just made her maiden voyage up the river. The first man he remembers seeing on his arrival was Governor Cuming, who had his trousers tucked into the tops of his boots and, though so late in the spring, was enveloped in a buffalo overcoat. Mr. Speice remained in Omaha until the 1st day of January, 1858, and arrived at Columbus on the third day of the month. During his boyhood he had learned the carpenter's trade and this was his avocation for several years after reaching Nebraska. In the mean- time he studied law, was admitted to the practice in all the courts of the state, and the Federal courts. About the year 1865 he formed a law partnership with Oliver T. B. Williams, which lasted two years. He then became associated with James E. North, the firm name being Speice & North. The business of the firm was law, real estate and real-estate loans and continued until June, 1893.
Charles A. Speice was often called into service in the protection of the settlement against anticipated Indian raids. In the so-called Pawnee war, which occurred in July, 1859, Platte County turned out fifty men. Only four men remained at home in Columbus, and there were less than a dozen stay-at-homes in the entire county. His political affiliations were with the democratic party and he was called upon to fill numerous offices of trust and responsibility. He was a member of the board of county commissioners from 1862 to 1866, a member of the lower house of the Legislature in 1869-71; a member of the State Constitutional Convention of 1872, which framed a con- stitution that was rejected by the people; county superintendent of schools from 1871-75. He was also a member of the Board of Edu- cation of Columbus from the early '60s until late in the '70s. During the years 1886-7, Mr. Speice was county judge. In January, 1893. he was appointed to the board of supervisors to fill a vacancy and at the general election following was returned for the office.
It is said that Louis Phillipps, a native of Germany, was the first shoemaker to locate in Platte County, coming in May, 1861. He opened a shop on Seventh Street soon after his arrival. Mr. Phillipps worked on the bench at his trade until 1864, when he took up a home- stead south of the Loup River and lived there the following five years. After proving up on his land he returned to Columbus, where he opened a shoe store and continued in business a number of years.
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Rev. J. M. Ryan, a pioneer priest of Platte County, was well known from Omaha to Denver, and in fact, throughout the West. He was pastor of St. John's Catholic Church, of Columbus, over a quarter of a century, having taken charge of the parish in 1866. Father Ryan had charge of mission work from the Elkhorn River to Julesburg, along the line of the Union Pacific Railroad. The priest retired from active duties to St. Joseph's Hospital, Omaha, in 1891, and died there two years later. Memorial services were held at St. Bonaventure Church at Columbus, attended by many pioneers and old settlers of Platte County.
Michael Erb, a native of Germany, arrived in Columbus about the middle of May, 1857. He had been here, however, in the previous fall, walking from Omaha to Shell Creek and back to look over the country before bringing his family. In April, 1857, he repeated the journey in the same manner, and at the time stated, with his family, in a covered wagon, he arrived here and located on a farm in Colum- bus Township. He and his family lived in a covered wagon four weeks, during which time work had been going on diligently in the erection of a log cabin. There were but two other settlers on the creek at this time-Carl Reinke and Henry Lusche. In 1884 Mr. Erb purchased a farm three miles east of Columbus, on which he lived until 1892 and then removed to Columbus. Mrs. Erb immi- grated to this country from Germany in 1851 and was married at Columbus, Ohio, in 1853. She became the mother of fifteen children, one of whom was named Louis; the first white boy born in Platte County.
Peter Myer married Ellen Sheehan in London, England, in 1850. He was a native of Germany, and his wife of Ireland. They came to the United States in 1852, lived in New York City, New Orleans, in Illinois and Omaha, and in May, 1857, located in Columbus. Mrs. Myer was the second white woman to arrive in Platte County and take up a permanent residence. A log house was built on Eighth Street, in which the young frontiersman and his bride lived three years, after which a year was spent on Shell Creek, and then four years followed in Columbus. He again tried farming, this time on a homestead over the Loup, where he remained eleven years and then retired to Columbus, which place was his residence until death called him away in 1892.
Andrew Mathis was one of the hardy, adventurous spirits who, after arriving in the land of the free, from Switzerland, came West and in March, 1858, took up his residence in Columbus, where he first
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worked at whatever he could find to do. In 1861 Mathis removed to Shell Creek and pre-empted 160 acres of land on section 19. In 1863 he took the same piece of land as a homestead and continued to live there until March, 1892, when he became a citizen of Columbus. In 1855 Mr. Mathis married Susan Gruenther, at Columbus, Ohio. She was a native, however, of the Canton of Berne, Switzerland, the birthplace of her husband. Andrew Mathis was a successful farmer and during the many years of his activities in Platte County, passed through all the trials of pioneer life. He hauled grain to Fort Kearney, Fort Calhoun, Papillion, and to Genoa to get it ground, when streams had to be forded and wild savages encountered. He lived in a sod house for seven years and then for many years in a log house. His neighbors and friends gave him the character of a good neighbor, citizen, friend and a kind husband.
James H. Galley, still in the harness and one of the early mer- chants of Columbus, came to Platte County from Salt Lake City in the fall of 1859. With him was his father, James, his wife and two other sons, George W. and Samuel. The elder Galley bought 389 acres of government land near Columbus and in the same township. Both the parents died in 1861. When the Galley family located on the raw and boundless prairie of Columbus Township, the nearest trading point was Omaha; Columbus had but one little store, that of Frank Becker. For mill stuff the settlers were compelled to go to Calhoun or Milford, the trip often consuming a whole week. Upon one occasion, after reaching the mill, James H. was obliged to go to the woods, to secure fuel for use in grinding his grist. The first win- ter he spent here was the memorable one of 1860, made so by its extreme severity. In January of that year Galley and companions started for Fort Kearney to sell their corn, as that place was a good market for farm products. In the party with Galley was his brother, Samuel, brother-in-law, William Draper, Tom French, of Plum Creek, and Pat Malloy. They had three wagon loads of corn, each drawn by three yoke of oxen. After crossing the Loup River on the ice, they went into camp for the night. Soon after getting comfort- ably settled a blizzard came up and for three days the young men were snow bound, only being able during this time to crawl out of their wagons to make coffee and fry some bacon; they would then lose no time in seeking the shelter of their "prairie schooners" and wrapping themselves in buffalo robes to keep from freezing. In the meantime the storm continued furiously, making it impossible for anyone to see objects two rods from the camp. The faithful animals
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were left to shift for themselves, no other course being safe or pos- sible. However, they were found in safety and hitched to the wagons. When the Platte River was reached at Kearney, all day was con- sumed in fording the stream and that feat was only accomplished by putting the nine yoke of cattle to each wagon and hauling it through the boisterous water and tumbling ice-cakes.
The Galleys have figured quite largely in Platte County affairs. George W. served on the board of county commissioners and James H. and Samuel became merchants in Columbus. In 1873 the mer- cantile firm of J. H. Galley & Brother was formed and for a number of years was in business on the south side. In 1912, James H. Galley erected a building on East Thirteenth Street and is today the leading dry-goods merchant in Columbus. This pioneer farmer and business man has a Civil war record of which he may be proud, being a mem- ber of Company K, Second Nebraska Cavalry. His wife, Helen, whom he married in 1871, was a daughter of Henry J. Hudson.
A. J. Arnold came to Columbus from Florence in the spring of 1858, and entered a claim. That summer he was employed at the Rickly Mill, sawing lumber, and in the fall took charge of the old emigrant ferry. In 1862 he fought depredating Indians and in 1864 received orders to raise a company of cavalry. He was later assigned to Company C, Seventh Iowa Cavalry, and made first lieutenant; later fought the Sioux and was so engaged when twenty-five lodges of the tribe surrendered. He was assistant provost marshal for Western Nebraska, with headquarters at Fort Kearney. Mr. Arnold was elected sheriff of Platte County in 1872.
One of the pioneers of Columbus was C. D. Clother, who located in that city in the spring of 1859. He chopped cord wood and worked at carpentry and joining until 1862, when he went on a claim two miles west of Columbus, remaining there about six years. He re- turned to Columbus and in 1868 built the Clother House, which stands on the corner of Platte and Twelfth streets. He was enterprising and successful in his undertakings, and in no small degree contributed to the upbuilding and substantial growth of the county seat. His son, George W. Clother, was with him in 1859 when he came to Columbus and was identified with him in his business plans. The younger Clother established a lumberyard in 1877 and later built up a large trade in furs. In 1878 he practically took over the manage- ment of the Clother House, then the leading hotel in Platte County.
Judge John G. Higgins may be placed in the class of old settlers deserving special mention. He came to Columbus in 1870, where he
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engaged in the practice of law. For many years he served the people faithfully as county judge. He was an able lawyer and stood high in the community long his home. Judge Higgins died in November, 1893.
James Warner died at his home in Columbus, August 23, 1899. He was one of Platte County's pioneer citizens. Mr. Warner came to the United States from England in 1851, and in June, 1856, passed through Columbus with his bride, in a covered wagon, drawn by a yoke of oxen, on his way to Genoa. In 1863 he took up a home- stead three miles northwest of Columbus and for the following five years worked for Patrick Murray. Then proving up on the home- stead, he lived there until 1884, when he became a resident of Columbus.
Philip B. Bonesteel, a native of Canada, settled in Columbus in March, 1868. For one year he farmed and then opened a dry-goods store, in the first business building erected north of the track; it stood on the site of the present Friedhof store, corner of Thirteenth and Platte. Mr. Bonesteel died in 1878.
Edward J. Baker located in Columbus in 1870, and engaged in the grain and mercantile trade. He had a large ranch on the Loup and became an extensive dealer in live stock.
Moses K. Turner may be said to have been the pioneer newspaper man of Platte County, as his founding of the Platte Journal in 1870 and putting it upon a firm and enduring footing justly entitles him to that distinction, others' efforts in this direction failing in their incipiency. Mr. Turner was born in the State of Ohio, where he re- ceived a collegiate education and then taught school. He read law in the office of his father at Cadiz, Ohio, and in 1870 located in Colum- bus. On the 11th day of May, 1870, Turner issued the first number of the Journal and by the same token it may be said, put Columbus firmly on the map. Later, Mr. Turner moved to a farm of several hundred acres, was sent to the Legislature and a few years ago death ended a life that had been active and of great value to this community.
David Anderson with nine other adventurous young men traveled with mule teams over the Canastota Pike and Allegheny Mountains to Pittsburgh. Here they, with hundreds of others, embarked on board a steamboat bound for Leavenworth, Kansas. At this city. then a mere hamlet, a week was spent outfitting and preparing for a long, tedious and dangerous trip over the "plains." to Pike's Peak, the new "El Dorado." They were confronted with 600 miles of a barren waste, inhabited only by wild animals and hostile Indians, but
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these brave emigrants dared to risk poverty, starvation and death to gain their desires. Fifty-two days were consumed on this voyage of uncertainty and vicissitude; all manner of hardships, privation and danger were experienced in many deadly conflicts with the wily Arapaho and Cheyenne Indian tribes. Cyclones and the ever present scarcity of water for man and beast were dangers added to the other perils. At last Pike's Peak was seen eighty miles in the distance. A few more days of travel and the train arrived at Cherry Creek, on the present site of Denver. Here were a few log huts, built and occupied by some sturdy mountaineers and prospectors who had pre- ceded them. Mr. Anderson painted the first building erected in Den- ver; he established and operated the first mail route in the Rocky Mountains; and he discovered the only feasible wagon road leading from the valley into the mining districts, thus averting the herculean task of climbing the almost perpendicular heights of the lower moun- tain range. This important enterprise eventually opened up what is denominated "Eight-Mile Gulch," terminating at Guy Hill. After- ward, however, it was operated as a toll road by a speculative genius, who reaped the benefit of Mr. Anderson's exploit. Mr. Anderson was present at the first marriage ceremony and observed the first hanging bee at Golden City. He assisted in cutting down, off one tree, three evildoers who were hung by the vigilance committee. He also occupied a seat in the first territorial convention that met in Golden City. He counted among his friends Mr. Gregory and Green Russell, who made the first discovery of quartz and gulch gold dust; Amos Stock, Denver's pioneer postmaster; Kit Carson, and many other noted personages who figured prominently in the early settle- ment of Colorado. He was the owner of an original share (thirty- two lots) in Denver, which he allowed to be sold for taxes during the war. In the spring of 1861 Mr. Anderson settled with his family on a ranch and farm in the Platte Valley, eight miles east of Columbus, Nebraska. This farm lay on the old California trail and at that time the whole locality was beyond the rain belt, consequently the labor of many seasons was entirely lost on account of severe droughts, grasshopper raids, etc. He freighted the lumber from Omaha at a cost of $80 per thousand feet, to build a schoolhouse within a half mile of his home. The Pawnee braves were continually pilfering from the settlers, but the squaws were of great benefit, especially during the war, in performing the menial labor of the farms, such as chopping wood, digging potatoes, etc. The faithful wife and little ones contributed largely to the outdoor labors. A large grove of
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timber stands today on that farm as a stately monument to the in- dustry and foresight of that frugal family of pioneers. Fifteen years were spent by the family on that old homestead in stock-rais- ing, farming and ranching. In 1876 the farm was disposed of and Mr. Anderson moved into Columbus, immediately engaging in the shipment of live stock. Soon he gained a prominent position as the largest stock shipper in the state. When the Stock Shippers' Asso- ciation was organized at South Omaha in 1885, Mr. Anderson was elected its first vice president. On the establishment of the stock- yards and packing plants, he was among the first patrons of that market. On account of old age, together with the hardships and per- sonal risks incident to the shipping business, he abandoned that line and removed with his family, in the fall of 1886, to South Omaha, intending to make that rapidly growing young city his permanent home. Here he engaged in the real-estate and loan business. In his new field of labor he soon became an important factor in the upbuild- ing and progress of the town.
In 1875, while on his farm, Mr. Anderson wrote the manuscript for a book of four pages entitled "Over the Plains," "Roughing in the Rocky Mountains" and "Fifteen Years in the Wilds of Ne- braska." Owing to the pressure of business Mr. Anderson never expended time or money to have this work published. These writ- ings were not of fiction, but minutely described the stern realities of his checkered and romantic career. They related to his own experi- ences and observations during a long and strenuous life of toil, hard- ship and deprivation.
CHAPTER IV
ORGANIZATION OF PLATTE COUNTY
Platte County was created and separated from Dodge County in 1855, and was twenty-four miles square, including sections 17, 18, 19 and 20 north, of ranges 1, 2, 3 and 4 east, of the fourth principal meridian. Under a law passed and approved January 26, 1856, the boundaries of Platte County were defined as follows:
From the southeast corner of town 17, range 5 east, north to the northeast corner of town 20, range 1, south to the southwest corner of town 17, range 1, thence east to place of beginning. In 1858 Platte was made to include all of Monroe County on the west not included in the Pawnee Reservation.
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