USA > Nebraska > Platte County > Past and present of Platte County, Nebraska : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 16
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65
159
PAST AND PRESENT OF PLATTE COUNTY
that command Mr. Clark was mustered out at Savannah, Georgia, December 29. 1864.
He then returned to Illinois and began farming in La Salle county, where lic lived for about fifteen years, owning land in that state until 1880, when he sold out and came to Platte county, Nebraska, where he purchased property and engaged in farming until 1900. His home was in Columbus township, where he had two hundred acres, upon which he extensively engaged in raising stock. His business affairs were carefully and systematically conducted and success in gratifying meas- ure attended his efforts. When he put aside all business cares in 1900 he took up his abode in Columbus, where he has since enjoyed a well earned and well merited rest.
In February, 1886, Mr. Clark wedded Miss Elizabeth C. Westcott, who was born in New York, a daughter of George W. and Miriam (Eddy) Westcott, also natives of the Empire state. During the greater part of his life her father followed blacksmithing. Removing to Illinois, he lived for a time in Aurora and afterward followed his trade in different towns in La Salle and other counties. He lived for a time at Marseilles, Illinois, but in 1879 came to Platte county, settling on a farm two miles north of Columbus, where he owned one hundred and sixty acres of land. He was a very active and progressive citizen of his township and served as asses- sor, to which position he was elected on the republican ticket. Mr. and Mrs. Clark have become the parents of eight children, five of whom are still living: Addie L., who became the wife of J. F. McGill, a farmer of Platte county and died in April, 1914, leaving four children; Otis, of Columbus, who is married and has four chil- dren; Clarence J., a carpenter of Columbus, who is married and has one child; Eugene A., who is married and is a carpenter and millwright of Columbus; and Hazel, at home.
Mr. Clark has been an active member of the Masonic fraternity for many years and belongs also to the Modern Woodmen of America. His political allegiance is given the democratic party and he was active in politics in Columbus township, where he served as clerk for eight years, as township supervisor for a similar period and as township assessor. He also filled the office of assessor in the city of Colum- bus, and he served as councilman for seven years, during which period he was also a bailiff of the Platte county district court. He has long been a devoted member of the Grand Army post at Columbus, of which he has served as commander and is now chaplain. He proved a valiant soldier when he followed the nation's starry banner on southern battlefields and he has also been equally loyal to the best inter- ests of the country in times of peace, and stands as a splendid representative of American manhood and chivalry.
GEORGE H. BENDER.
George H. Bender is an enterprising general merchant of Cornlea, where he now conducts a business of large and gratifying proportions. He was born in Henry, Marshall county, Illinois, February 11, 1879, a son of Peter and Kate (Hatzbuehler) Bender, the former a native of Menamebach, Germany, born June 12, 1852. When four years of age he was brought to America by his parents.
160
PAST AND PRESENT OF PLATTE COUNTY
the family home being established near Henry, Illinois. He became a farmer, de- voting his life to that occupation.
George H. Bender attended school in the home district until he had mastered the branches of learning therein taught and subsequently he entered the normal school at Fremont, Nebraska, from which he was graduated in 1901. In 1903 he came to Cornlea, where he established a general mercantile store of which he has since been the proprietor. In 1907 he was joined by his father in a partnership that has since been maintained under the firm name of Bender & Son. They enjoy a large patronage and carry an extensive stock of dry goods and general merchan- dise. Their store is well appointed and tastefully arranged and the reasonable prices and honorable business policy of the firm bring to them a constantly increas- ing patronage which makes the undertaking a profitable one.
On the 15th of February, 1901, Mr. Bender was united in marriage to Miss Celia Ratterman, a daughter of John and Kate (Zavadil) Ratterman, the former a native of Germany and the latter of Bohemia. John Ratterman is now serving as judge of Platte county, but his wife has passed away. To our subject and his wife have been born six children, as follows: Elnora, who attends the school of the Sacred Heart church at Cornlea; Francis; Theodore; Margaret; Ethel and Celia.
In his political views Mr. Bender is a democrat and for the past ten years has served as secretary of the democratic conventions held in Platte county. He has long been recognized as an active worker in party ranks and his opinions carry weight in the local democratic councils. He is now clerk of the town board and has also served as clerk of Granville township. He and his family are all members of the Catholic church of Cornlea and he belongs also to Humphrey Council of the Knights of Columbus and the Modern Woodmen camp of Cornlea. His time and attention, however, are given in largest measure to his business affairs and he is an alert, energetic business man who early in his career recognized the eternal principle that industry wins and has made industry the beacon light of his life.
RUDOLF FRIEDERICH LEOPOLD JAEGGI.
Rudolf Friederich Leopold Jacggi is the owner and editor of the Nebraska Biene, the only German paper published in Platte county. He is well known to the German-American citizens of the district and is one whose efforts have been a force- ful factor in upholding the standards of citizenship and in advancing public prog- ress in his part of the state. He was born July 29, 1850, in Bueren, Canton Bern, Switzerland, and by inherited right became a full citizen of the city of Bern. He belonged to the Guild of Pfistern (bakers and millers). His parents were Carl Ludwig, a minister of the state church of Switzerland, and Margarethe Rosina (Kistler) Jaeggi. The paternal grandfather was also a minister. He had a coat of arms and the genealogical history of the family can be traced back for six cen- turies, one of the original ancestors having aided in building the city of Bern. The maternal grandfather was a military man and was captain of the Swiss guards of Napoleon. Mrs. Jaeggi was a granddaughter of Colonel Von Tillier, who was the commander of one of the three regiments of Swiss guards that defended the Tuil-
STATE MAPS
RUDOLF F. L. JAEGGI
163
PAST AND PRESENT OF PLATTE COUNTY
leries in the French revolution in the last decade of the eighteenth century and was saved by a French nobleman when laying unconscious on the sidewalk suffering from twenty-two wounds. One of his ancestors was Schultheiss, of the old repub- lic of Bern in the middle ages, who was the chief officer of the town, his position being practically that of head of the republic. Medals, scepters and other rewards of bravery were adornments on the walls of the home of Carl Ludwig Jaeggi. He in turn, when a young man, before becoming a minister of the gospel, was stenog- rapher at the great council in Bern for a number of years. He afterward became a higher grade teacher at the gymnasium at Burgdorf, Switzerland, and for a time was one of the political leaders of the country, aiding in the overthrow of the old patrician government in Switzerland in the '30s. At that time Switzerland was not a democratic republic and the common citizen did not have equal rights with the nobleman. After becoming a clergyman Carl Ludwig Jaeggi did not take part in politics and never discussed political questions, but at one time he was candidate for the national council but was defeated by the party of Jacob Staempfli, who became a most brilliant president of Switzerland and famous as international judge in the settlement of the Alabama question between England and the United States.
Leopold Jaeggi pursued his education at Bueren on the Aare river, passing through eight grades of the primary schools and two grades of the secondary school. Later he pursued the work of the fifth grade of the leading cantonal school in Bern, the capital of the county, and in Neueville, the French part of the canton of Bern, where he finished his education in a boarding school or college. After serving a two years' apprenticeship in a wholesale business house in Burgdorf, Canton Bern, Switzerland, he also spent two years as an apprentice in a confectionery establish- ment at Geneva, Switzerland, where he continued from the spring of 1869 until the Ist of March, 1871. Subsequently he was employed at Bex, in the canton de Vaux, Switzerland, in Bern, in Strausburg and Weissenburg in Alsace, and in Aarau, Switzerland. While in Geneva he witnessed the war between Germany and France and registered as a volunteer to help protect the Swiss neutrality but was not called upon for active military service. The next fall, however, he had to enlist in the regular army, as it was the law that every young man must serve in the Swiss militia. In that connection he advanced to the rank of sergeant and in that capacity served for two or three terms of from seven to eight weeks each with new recruits. He was ordered for another term, with the possibility for advancement to the rank of lieutenant, but in 1873 he left his native country for the United States, arriving at Columbus, Nebraska, on the 1st of November, of that year.
When the family came to this state the mother and two brothers each secured an eighty acre homestead in Polk county near the Platte river, their tracts adjoin- ing, but the grasshoppers destroyed their crops in 1873 and again wrought devasta- tion in 1874. Leopold Jaeggi then returned to Omaha to work in a confectionery establishment, but, not liking the methods of conducting the business, he left the position and established a flour store on Thirteenth street between Farnum and Harney, handling the flour of the Sarpy county and other mills. He did not earn more than a living in that connection. however, and, accordingly, accepted a posi- tion as clerk in the Columbus State Bank, where he remained for four years. On the expiration of that period he entered the lumberyard of Jaeggi & Schupbach and later managed a yard for them at Genoa and afterward in Humphrey, Nebraska.
164
PAST AND PRESENT OF PLATTE COUNTY
In January, 1880, he purchased an interest in the business of Gus G. Becher & Com- pany, insurance and loans, and in 1883 he was called back to Bern by a relative, who wished to enter into business relations with Mr. Jaeggi's firm and who assisted him to enter into a like business relation with a leading bank in Basel, Switzerland, for which the firm of Becher, Jaeggi & Company, loaned money to the farmers until the year 1897. For a time the company did a large and satisfactory business, never losing a dollar for the Switzerland firm which they represented, but finally interest became so low that Europe could not compete.
Mr. Jaeggi is now the owner and editor of the Nebraska Biene, which com- menced its twenty-first year with the issue of May 15, 1914. It has celebrated the thirty-sixth anniversary of its origin under the name of the Columbus Wochenblatt. which makes it the oldest paper of Columbus still in existence. Thirty-seven years ago a young German-Pole of culture and education by the name of Robert Lange established the Columbus Wochenblatt with three patent pages that were furnished him and, adding the front page of local news, addressed it to his subscribers. Emil Pohl, then a well known musician and director of the Columbus Maennerchor, the first German singing society in Columbus, was his assistant editor and wrote his political articles. Although Platte was in those days already considered one of the prominent German counties of Nebraska, still the county was just in the making, was not thickly settled and the German homesteaders could not afford to spend much time in reading newspapers and they needed their money in order to gain a start, so that Mr. Lange sold his paper to Dr. Schonlau, an old German physician with a large family, who conducted the paper until his death in 1890. Up to that date the Wochenblatt had been a democratic paper, but after the death of Dr. Schonlau the late Major J. N. Kilian bought the paper and in 1893 changed its politics as well as its name and made it a republican paper under the style of the Nebraska Biene. In 1898 Mr. Kilian was made captain of Company K, of the First Nebraska Militia Regiment and went to the Philippine islands to participate in the war. His local agent, J. H. Johannes, became his successor as owner and manager of the Nebraska Biene. Having been raised on a farm among the German settlers on Shell creek, understanding the needs of the paper and being a hard worker, he succeeded in raising the subscription list above the two thousand mark and made it a well established journal. He also changed its politics back to democratic. On the 12th of February, 1908, Mr. Johannes died after a brief illness and Henry Wilkens became owner of the paper but left its management and publication to Otto Kinder, now on the staff of the Omaha Tribune, who remained for a while as foreman after E. A. Harms, now a real-estate dealer of Norfolk, became its owner and made the paper independent as, to politics.
On the 11th of January, 1913, Leopold Jaeggi became the owner through pur- chase of the paper, which he continues as an independent journal, not interfering with the political views of his subscribers who represent different political parties. It is his effort to further the interests of the German speaking citizens of the community and of the state regardless of political or religious creeds. As he comes from the oldest republic-the republic of Switzerland-a country widely respected and composed of three different races, using as many languages, all having learned in past centuries to unite as true citizens of the one country, beloved by all for its splendid organization of free and human institutions, he hopes to make the Nebraska Biene a true servant of this great land of the brave and the free by helping its citi-
165
PAST AND PRESENT OF PLATTE COUNTY
zens to better understand each other when prejudice and false national pride threaten to disturb their harmony. He holds to the viewpoint of the former very patriotic secretary of state, Carl Schurz: "My country, right or wrong; if right to be kept right, if wrong to be set right."
In October, 1885, Mr. Jaeggi was married in Aarburg, Switzerland, to Miss Bertha Meyer, a daughter of Dr. Arnold Meyer, a citizen of Herisau in the canton of Appenzell, Switzerland, whose father was also a minister. Mrs. Jaeggi pos- sesses considerable musical skill as a pianist and also displays talent in painting and in household arts. To Mr. and Mrs. Jaeggi have been born three daughters: Gertrude, now the wife of Dr. F. Conrad Krüger, of the State University of Cali- fornia at Berkeley; Hedwig, a well known violinist and the wife of Maurice Fon- tein, a dealer in pianos, violins and player pianos; and Else, who has engaged in teaching school and is now soliciting manager and bookkeeper for the Nebraska Biene.
For the past thirty years Mr. Jaeggi has been a notary public, his commission expiring January 9, 1918. In former years he was a member of the Omaha lodge of Odd Fellows and he now holds membership with the Woodmen of the World. He is also a charter member of the Columbus Maennerchor Singing Society and is still one of its active representatives. He possesses musical talent which has made him a valued factor in the musical circles of the city. He is somewhat inde- pendent in thought along religious and political lines but holds membership with the Evangelical German church. He does not hold to any political party but is a be- liever in personal liberty and that education alone makes men wise and moral.
M. E. COONEY.
M. E. Cooney is the owner of one of the model farm properties of Burrows township, his home being on section 33, where he has two hundred and fifty acres of valuable and productive land. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, March 14, 1854, a son of John and Ann (Murray) Cooney. The father was a native of Ireland and in 1846 bade adieu to the Emerald isle and to his friends of that country and sailed for the United States, with Chicago as his destination. There he engaged in teaming and continued to make his home throughout his remaining days, bis death occurring in 1880. His wife, who was also born in Ireland, died in Cook county, Illinois, in 1890.
M. E. Cooney attended school in Chicago and afterward worked upon a farm in Lake county, Illinois, which his father had purchased. His time was thus spent until he reached the age of twenty-four years, when he began working for other farmers, continuing in that employ until 1878, when he removed to Nebraska, settling in Platte county. Later, however, he returned to Chicago and drove a bobtail car for the Chicago City Railway Company. In 1881 he once more came to Platte county and invested his earnings in one hundred and sixty acres of land on section 33, Burrows township, where he now lives. Later he extended the boun- daries of the place by additional purchase until he now has two hundred and fifty acres of valuable land devoted to general farming and stock-raising. He keeps good grades of stock but feeds hogs only. His place has undergone a marked transfor-
166
PAST AND PRESENT OF PLATTE COUNTY
mation, owing to the care and labor which he bestows upon it. He is thoroughly progressive in his farm work and upon his place are laeking none of the accessories and conveniences of a model farm property. In 1904 he built large barns and in 1905 he erected his present residence, which is a very modern and attraetive country plaec. In 1914 he gave up the hard work of the fields, turning over the manage- ment and cultivation of the farm to his sons.
Mr. Cooney has been married twice. In Chicago he wedded Miss Nora Kear- ney, who passed away in 1890, after he had located on his present farm. To them were born four children, as follows: John, who is engaged in farming in Lost Creck township; Frank, an agriculturist residing at Pinebluff, Wyoming; Eliza- beth, living in Chicago; and Genevieve, who is deceased. In 1892 Mr. Cooley was again married, his second union being with Miss Jennie Macken, of Lost Creek township, by whom he has the following children: Cyril, a farmer residing in Montana; Aliee, a school teacher of District No. 17, Lost Creek township; and Mary, Walter, Alvin and Irene, all at home.
Mr. Cooney votes with the democratie party and fearlessly espouses his honest convietions. He is a member of the Platte Center Catholic church, as are all of his family, and he and his son Frank belong to Columbus Council of the Knights of Columbus, while the father has membership with the Modern Woodmen of America at Platte Center and is a member of the Guarantee Fund Life Association of Omaha. He has filled the office of town clerk for four years and has given active aid and support to many. measures and movements for the general good, being re- garded as one of the worthy citizens and highly respected residents of Burrows township. He may truly be called a self-made man, for he has always depended entirely upon his own resources sinee starting out for himself, and it is because he has not been afraid of hard work but has displayed diligence and determination that he is now numbered among the men of affluence in Platte county.
M. BRUGGER.
M. Brugger, president of the Columbus State Bank, has through the steps of an orderly progression reached his present position of trust and responsibility in business circles. He is alert, enterprising and energetic, readily recognizes the opportunities of modern life and improves his chances to the benefit of his individ- ual fortunes and to the advancement of the publie welfare. Mr. Brugger is of Swiss birth and ancestry. He was born at Meyringen, in the canton of Bern on the 27th of November, 1854, his parents being John and Elizabeth (Zwald) Brug- ger, who in the year 1872 left the land of the Alps and sailed for the new world. In 1874 they became residents of Platte county, Nebraska. The paternal grand- father was a Swiss soldier in the army of Napoleon at the battle of Waterloo. John Brugger departed this life in 1900 and his wife died in 1876.
M. Brugger, whose name introduces this review, acquired his education in the schools of Switzerland and upon becoming a resident of Platte county, Nebraska, at the age of twenty years, he took up the profession of teaching, which he followed until 1884, being recognized as one of the successful early educators of the county. He next entered the Columbus State Bank in the position of bookkeeper and gradually
M. BRUGGER
169
PAST AND PRESENT OF PLATTE COUNTY
worked his way upward until he was made eashier in 1894 and was chosen for the presideney in 1903, sinee which time he has been the chief executive head of the institution. He is a very progressive business man, watchful of opportunities, which he improves to good advantage, and he has made the institution of which he is the president one of the strongest financial institutions of his part of the state.
In June, 1884, at Columbus, Mr. Brugger was united in marriage to Miss Ma- thilda Stenger, a daughter of Martin Stenger, and they have two sons, Albert and Melvin, who are mining engineers and graduates of the Colorado School of Mines. The former is now following his profession in eentral Afriea, and the latter in old Mexico. The three daughters of the family are: Elsie, Helen and Florence.
The family attend the Congregational ehureh, of which Mr. Brugger is an aetive and earnest member. Fraternally he is a Master Mason and his life measures up to the standards which constitute the basic elements of church and lodge. He has served on the school board of Columbus for many years, and the eause of education finds in him a stalwart champion. He is himself highly educated, hav- ing gained that broad eulture which comes from wide reading and study of the questions of the day as viewed in the light of history and experience. In polities he is independent but is a stalwart temperanee worker, and, in faet, his influence is always on the side of those uplifting regenerative forces which eount most in human progress and in the world's civilization.
WILLIAM SHERMAN DIXON.
William Sherman Dixon owns and eultivates a farm adjoining Humphrey, com- prising fifty-seven aeres of rieh and productive land. He has been a resident of Platte county sinee 1886, arriving here when a young man of about twenty-one years. His birth occurred in Marshall county, Illinois, October 21, 1865, his parents being John and Margaret (MeVieker) Dixon, natives of West Virginia and Illi- nois respectively. The father was a farmer by occupation and in early life went to Illinois, purchasing land in Marshall county, where he continued to engage in gen- eral agricultural pursuits until his life's labors were ended in death in 1884. He had long survived his wife, who passed away in 1867.
William S. Dixon was reared in the usual manner of farm lads, spending his boyhood and youth in Marshall county. He was only two years of age at the time of his mother's death, when he went to live with his grandparents, with whom he remained until fourteen years of age. He then returned home and lived with his father until the latter's death in 1884, assisting him in the work of the fields and becoming familiar with every department of farm labor. At the father's death he and his brother took charge of the home place, which they cultivated for two years or until William S. Dixon attained his majority, when they sold the farm and divided the estate. In 1886 William S. Dixon came to Platte county and invested in eighty aeres of land in Humphrey township, upon which he took up his abode, bending his energies to the further development and improvement of that place for ten years. He then sold out and went a mile south, where he purchased one hundred and sixty aeres of land which he further developed and cultivated until 1913. He then rented that farm and removed to his present place, which is a traet of fifty-seven aeres
170
PAST AND PRESENT OF PLATTE COUNTY
adjoining the corporation limits of Humphrey. He is now pleasantly located here, his home being conveniently situated just outside the city limits, while the place is supplied with many modern improvements, including an attractive residence. He still retains the ownership of his other farm and derives from it a good rental.
On the 21st of October, 1891, Mr. Dixon was united in marriage to Miss Clara F. Morris, her parents being Bluford and Sarah (McPherson) Morris, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Dodgeville, Wisconsin. They came to this county from Wisconsin in an emigrant wagon in 1872, taking up their abode among the first settlers here. Mr. Morris took up a homestead claim and cultivated the same during the remainder of his life, carrying on general agricultural pursuits with gratifying success. During the period of the Civil war he served for three years as a member of Company F, Third Wisconsin Regiment. His demise occurred in 1908, while his wife was called to her final rest on the 8th of June, 1911. To Mr. and Mrs. Dixon have been born three children, as follows: Lester B., whose natal day was July 1, 1892; Neva E., born June 15, 1897; and William S., whose birth occurred September 15, 1900.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.