USA > Nebraska > Platte County > Past and present of Platte County, Nebraska : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 41
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His son, Jacob Tschudin, acquired a good education in the public schools of his native country and for four years in early manhood served in the army, being a mem- ber of the band. He was twenty-nine years of age when he bade adien to friends and native country and in 1869 came to the new world, making his way to Illinois. For two years he was a resident of Aurora, King county, and in 1871 he came to Nebraska. He settled in Lonp township, Platte county, which at that period was a frontier district largely nndeveloped and unimproved as is indicated by the fact that much of the land was still in the possession of the government. He entered one hnn- dred and sixty acres and began improving the farm, to which he has added as oppor- tunity was offered and his financial resources have increased until he now has seven hundred and fifty acres in his home place. He also has six hundred and forty acres of cattle land with four hundred and ten acres on the Platte river. He is one of the extensive cattle raisers of this part of the state and is a most prominent and pro- gressive farmer, holding to high standards in all departments of his work and utilizing modern scientific methods in the care and cultivation of his crops and also in his stock-raising.
In 1871 occurred one of the most important events in the life of Mr. Tsehndin- his marriage to Miss Rosa Blaser, who was born in Canton Bern, Switzerland, in 1848. She spent her girlhood there and then took np the profession of teaching,
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which she followed with success for two years in the land of the Alps. In 1866 she accompanied her parents to the United States, the family home being established six miles from Aurora, Illinois, where she attended school for a time. She had a sincere love for teaching and for seven years after her marriage she taught in the schools of Platte county, Nebraska, her labors resulting most beneficially among the people of foreign birth living in the district in which she was employed. She had the ability to impart clearly and readily to others the knowledge that she had acquired and to inspire her pupils with deep interest in their studies. To Mr. and Mrs. Tschndin were born seven children, of whom three are yet living: Mary, who was born April 16, 1875, and is the wife of Fred Nyffeller, of Duncan; Gertrude, who was born April 26, 1877, and is the wife of Frank Bass; and Walter, who was born October 16, 1879. Four of the children have passed away and the family circle was again broken by the hand of death when, on the 26th of April, 1915, the wife and mother was called to her final rest. She had always been a valued helpmate to her husband, who consulted her concerning many of his business transactions. She surrounded her home with flower beds 'filled with many kinds of beautiful flowering plants, and in every possible way made her home the most attractive place on earth to her husband and children. She was a devoted wife and mother, a kind neighbor and a faithful friend, and her many good qualities of heart and mind endeared her to all with whom she came in contact. Many speak of her in terms of highest praise and her memory will be cherished for years to come by all who knew her. Her influence was like the odor of the violet, delicate but permeating, and it ever constituted a force for good among those who knew her.
Mr. Tschudin is a republican in his political views, but not a strongly biased partisan. He filled the office of justice of the peace for eight years and for many years was county supervisor, in which connection he made a capable official, looking ever to the interests and welfare of the county and exercising his official preroga- tives for the public good. He holds membership in the German Reformed church, in which he has always been very active, and his influence is ever on the side of right, progress, reform and truth.
JOHN ADOLPH HAUSER.
Along well defined lines of labor, actuated by a spirit of enterprise and laudable ambition, John Adolph Hauser has reached a creditable place in business circles of Platte Center, where he is known as the popular cashier of the Farmers State Bank. He was born in Fremont, Nebraska, November 18, 1887, a son of John and Margaret ( Launer) Hauser, whose family numbered six children, of whom he was the second in order of birth. The father was born in Germany and there spent the first fourteen years of his life, after which he came to the new world, making settlement in La Salle county, Illinois. Later he removed westward to Nebraska, taking up his abode in Fremont, where he has since resided and where he is now engaged in the book and stationery business. He is one of the oldest and most interesting merchants of Frement and is the owner of considerable real estate there.
John A. Hauser acquired a high-school education and afterward spent a year in further study in the Fremont Normal School. He made his initial step in connec-
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tion with banking when a youth of sixteen, securing a position in the Farmers & Merchants National Bank of Fremont, in which his father and brother were stock- holders, and the latter is now a director. Two years later, or in 1905, when the First National Bank of Fremont secured control of the bank at Nickerson, Nebraska, Mr. Hauser was sent to that place to become cashier, in which capacity he continued for two years. That institution had been organized for three years and had never paid any dividends. Through Mr. Hauser's efforts, however, it was placed upon a paying basis and made one of the profitable financial concerns of the district. In 1907 Mr. Hauser returned to Fremont as manager of the collection and the remit- tances departments at the First National Bank and remained there until 1910, when he became cashier of the Farmers State Bank of Platte Center, which had been organized at that time for only six months. He is now one of the large stockholders of the bank and is very active in its control, directing its policy and bending his energies to the wise administration of its affairs. In addition to his bank stock he also owns some real estate in Platte Center. The stockholders of the Farmers State Bank are worth more than one million dollars and own over five thousand acres of Platte county land. During the five years in which the bank has been organized they have paid over eight dividends and placed over three thousand dollars in the surplus fund. They recently installed a six hundred and twenty-five dollar posting machine and the equipment of the bank is thoroughly modern in every respect.
On the 25th of October, 1911, in Omaha, Nebraska, Mr. Hauser was married to Miss Emma Carstensen, a daughter of John and Alvina Carstensen, who are now living in South Dakota. The father was formerly a resident of Fremont. Mrs. Hauser is now acting as vice president of the domestic science department of the Farmers Institute. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hauser are well liked and highly respected in the city in which they reside and in fact, throughout the county. They are now erecting a thoroughly modern bungalow which will be one of the finest residences ot Platte Center. In his political views Mr. Hauser is an earnest republican and for the past three years has been filling the office of village treasurer, being now the incumbent in that position. He is also serving for the fourth year as township clerk. He belongs to St. Joseph's Catholic church of Platte Center and fraternally is identified with the Modern Woodmen Camp of Platte Center and the Fraternal Order of Eagles at Columbus. He likewise has membership in the Platte Center Gun Club, in which he is serving as the treasurer. His business and political affairs have brought him prominently before the public and the sterling traits of his charac- ter, as manifest in his business, social and public connections, recommend him to the goodwill, confidence and friendly regard of those with whom he has been brought in contact.
JOHN R. BROCK.
John R. Brock is a well known resident of Columbus. He wears the little bronze button that proclaims him a Civil war veteran and he is active now in government service as a rural mail carrier, displaying the same spirit of loyalty to duty which characterized him in more strenuous times when it vas necessary to protect the life of the country at the point of arms. He was born in Switzerland,
JOHN R. BROCK
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January 20, 1841, his parents being John and Katherine (Tuple) Brock, in whose family were eight children, of whom John R. Brock is the eldest. The father served as a soldier in the Swiss army and the grandfather was with Napoleon on the march into Russia. In 1849 the family came to America, settling first at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the father, who was a landscape gardener, entering the employ of James Buchanan, later president of the United States. Both he and his wife con- tinued residents of Pennsylvania until called to their final rest.
In early life John R. Broek learned the butcher's trade, at which he worked until 1866, when he removed with his family to Osage county, Missouri, and there settled upon a farm which he owned, remaining upon that property for twenty-six years. He then came to Columbus, Nebraska, in 1892, and for the past ten years has served as rural mail carrier on route No. 5.
Before removing to the west Mr. Brock had served as a soldier in the Civil war. Hardly had the smoke from Fort Sumter's guns cleared away than he responded to the president's first call for troops, enlisting at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on the 16th of April, 1861, as a member of Company E, Tenth Pennsylvania Infantry. He was mustered in at Harrisburg and with his regiment was sent into the Shenandoah valley. He served as orderly on the staff of his colonel and while engaged in active duty at the battle of Chancellorsvile had his horse shot from under him while he was carrying dispatches. He took part in the second battle of Bull Run and in the engagements at Fredericksburg, Winchester and Charleston. It was in the battle of Chancellorsville that General Whipple was killed while directing the elevation of a battery, on the 4th of May, 1862. His remains were conveyed to Washington, being taken down the Potomac on the Ironclad Mohawk, and Mr. Brock was appointed to act as bodyguard. It was on that trip that he lost his diary, which he had kept from the beginning of his service. After acting as bodyguard to the remains of General Whipple he was on duty for a time in Washington and during that period met Lincoln personally. Subsequently he was transferred to Company D, One Hundred and Ninety-fifth Pennsylvania Infantry, assigned to the Third Army Corps, and saw active service on Emmetsburg road during the battle of Gettysburg, which was being fought two miles distant. After the engagement at that place the Union troops followed Lee's army southward, participating in the battles of Petersburg, Spottsylvania and other engagements. Mr. Brock was at Staunton, Virginia, when General Lee surrendered, and he afterward participated in the Grand Review in Washington, where the victorious Union troops marched through the streets of the capital, cheered by the thousands who lined the highways. From the time of Lee's surrender until the following September his company went to different towns and cities, reestablishing home governments. They were also on guard duty at the war department and at the treasury building in Washington from September, 1865, until January, 1866, and on the latter date Mr. Brock was honorably discharged, having been with the army from the outbreak of the war until some months after the close of hostilities, his record being a most creditable one.
On the 3d of August, 1862, occurred the marriage of Mr. Brock and Miss Louisa Moesch, a daughter of Conrad Moesch, one of the early settlers of Pennsylvania, living in the vicinity of Lancaster. Mrs. Brock passed away in 1914, leaving two daughters and a son: Katherine, the wife of John Wuethrich, who since 1880 has been a resident of Platte county and is now living in Columbus; Rebecca, the wife
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of Christian Wuethrich, who follows farming four miles southwest of Columbus; and John, who married Emma Smith and is mentioned elsewhere in this work.
Mr. Brock holds membership in the Methodist church, while his political belief is that of the republican party, and for two terms he served as sheriff of Osage county, Missouri. Fraternally he is connected with Baker Post, No. 9, G. A. R., of Columbus and thus maintains pleasant relations with his old army comrades. In days of peace he is as true and loyal to the interests of his country and of good government as when he followed the nation's starry banner on the battlefields of the south.
DAVID T. WILLIAMS.
David T. Williams has now reached the eightieth milestone on life's journey and his has been an active and well spent life, rewarded by the fruits of earnest, persistent labor. He is still successfully engaged in farming on section 36, Joliet township, where he has an excellent property that in its well kept appearance indi- cates his careful supervison and practical methods. He early recognized the fact that industry wins and he made industry the guiding principle of his business career. He became one of the early settlers of Platte county, arriving here in 1879, and through the intervening years has been closely associated with its agricultural interests, his labors contributing to its progress along that line.
Mr. Williams was born in Newcastle, Wales, on the 6th of November, 1835, a son of John and Margaret (Evans) Williams, who in 1852 emigrated to the United States and settled in Waukesha county, Wisconsin, where both passed away. The subject of this review spent the greater part of his boyhood and youth in Wales but attained his majority in Wisconsin. In 1864 he entered the employ of the federal government, driving a hospital ambulance at Nashville, Tennessee. He remained in that city for three years but following his marriage in 1869 began farming the home- stead in Wisconsin. He was so occupied for ten years and remained in the Badger state until 1879, when he removed to Platte county, Nebraska, and purchased railroad land near Platte Center, which he cultivated for two years. At the end of that time he bought his present farm, comprising two hundred and forty acres in Joliet town- ship, and in the intervening years has transformed a tract of wild prairie into a well improved and highly cultivated farm. He raises both grain and stock and receives a good annual income from his land. His business affairs are carefully conducted. He has studied the conditions of the soil, recognizes what is needed for various crops and plants and cultivates his fields accordingly, practicing the rotation of crops in order to keep the soil in good condition.
In 1869 Mr. Williams was united in marriage to Miss Achsa Rees, a daughter of Rees Rees. She was born in Wales and came to the United States in 1867. To Mr. and Mrs. Williams have been born nine children: John, who is married and resides in South Dakota; Elizabeth, the wife of Owen Parry; Rees, who is farming in Joliet township; Mary, the wife of W. W. Parry, of the state of Washington; David, a resident of Monroe, Nebraska; Annie, the wife of William Williams, of Joliet township; Margaret the wife of William Owens, of Waukesha county, Wis-
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consin; Helen, the wife of William Griffith, a Methodist Episcopal minister stationed at Dodgeville, Wisconsin; and Walter, at home.
In politics Mr. Williams has always been a stanch republican but has never been an office seeker. In religious faith he leans towards the Society of Friends. While his mother was a Methodist, his father was a Quaker, the family having been con- nected with the Society of Friends for many generations. His ancestors came to the new world in the seventeenth century with other Quakers that settled in South Carolina and other parts of the south.
Mr. Williams has come to an honored old age, for his has been a well spent life. For thirty-six years he has been numbered among the residents of Platte county and is classed with the representative and valued citizens. He has worked persistently and energetically in carrying on and developing his farm and has thus contributed to agricultural progress in the county. After coming to the new world he early became imbued with the spirit of enterprise which has been the dominant factor in the upbuilding of the middle west and throughout the intervening years that spirit has characterized his business affairs. He has lived to see many changes in Platte county during the period of his residence in this state, where for more than a third of a century he has now made his home. At the time of his arrival here there were still large tracts of land that were undeveloped and uncultivated and there were many sod houses and other primitive dwellings, showing that the county had not passed beyond the pioneer period. All this has now changed. Upon the great majority of the farms are commodious and substantial residences with ample barns and outbuildings for the shelter of grain and stock. Towns and villages have sprung up and the work of improvement and civilization has been carried forward. Mr. Williams has at all times been an interested witness of the changes which have occurred and has done his part toward bringing about general development and improvement, being especially active as an agriculturist.
ROBERT EDWARD WILEY.
For a long time Robert Edward Wiley was actively engaged in farming in this county. where he settled in pioneer times when the land was still in possession of the government. He secured timber and homestead claims and in the course of years became one of the extensive landowners of the county but is now living retired, enjoying in well earned rest at Monroe the fruits of his former toil. He was born in Kewanee, Henry county, Illinois, February 5, 1850, a son of Robert and Sarah (Wiley) Wiley.
Robert E. Wiley acquired a good common-school education, supplemented by four years' study in the Kewanee Academy. and was thereby well equipped for life's practical and responsible duties. In early manhood he engaged in railroading and afterward was employed in the Henry County Nursery, but in the spring of 1873 left his native state for Nebraska, making his way to Monroe township, Platte county, where he homesteaded eighty acres. He also secured a timber claim of eighty acres and later an additional homestead of eighty acres and as the years passed he prospered in his undertakings, becoming the owner of one thousand acres of rich and valuable land, his property yielding to him a most gratifying annual
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income. Year after year he carefully tilled his fields and cared for his crops, but at length retired and took up his abode in Monroe. However, he still owns six hundred and forty acres of his land, having sold three hundred and sixty acres. He is also connected with financial interests in the county as vice president of the Monroe Bank. He is likewise a director of the Farmers Elevator at Monroe and is president of the Monroe Coal Company, his investments having been judiciously made.
In January, 1881, Mr. Wiley was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Jane Brown, who formerly lived in the vicinity of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are well known socially and have an extensive circle of warm friends. Mr. Wiley is an independent democrat in his political views, usually voting with the party yet not considering himself bound by party ties. For two terms he served as county super- visor and made an excellent record in office, but the greater part of his attention has been given to his business affairs, which, wisely directed, have brought to him very gratifying success. Moreover, in all of his business dealings he has sustained an unassailable reputation for integrity.
HON. HENRY CLAYBURN.
Hon. Henry Clayburn, identified with farming interests in Lost Creek town- ship, has made his home on section 28 for a period of forty-one years. His place is known as Shady Nook Farm and is one of the desirable properties of the town- ship. In community affairs Mr. Clayburn has also been active and has represented his district in the state legislature, to which office he was called by the vote of his fellow townsmen, who have recognized his public spirit and his devotion to the general good. He was born in Yorkshire, England, February 27, 1855, a son of John and Ann (Hampshow) Clayburn, who were also natives of that country. The father worked as a laborer on farms there and never came to the United States.
Henry Clayburn attended school in Yorkshire but his educational opportunities were limited, for he started to make his own living at a very early age. He left home when but thirteen and was never home for more than two weeks at a time afterwards. He was employed on farms in his native land until 1869, when he crossed the Atlantic to the United States, arriving at New York on the 11th of February. He did not tarry long in the east, however, but made his way at once to Du Page county, Illinois, where he remained until April 1, 1870, when he went to Missouri Valley, Iowa, and soon afterward secured employment as a farm hand in that vicinity. On the 11th of August, 1870, he arrived in Platte county and secured a homestead claim on section 28, Lost Creek township. All was wild prairie covered with the native grasses, which often grew to a great height. There were no schoolhouses and the work of development seemed scarcely begun. Mr. Clayburn helped to build the first schoolhouse in his neighborhood and with char- acteristic energy started in to make a home, living in a dugout. At that time Columbus was the nearest postoffice and he had to go there for his supplies and to market his producc.
On Thanksgiving Day of 1873 Mr. Clayburn was married and on the 11th of
HON. HENRY CLAYBURN
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March, 1874, he and his bride began keeping house on the farm which has since been their home. He has set out all of the trees upon the place, which is now appropriately named Shady Nook Farm. He has made all of the other improve- ments upon his two hundred and forty aeres of land, bringing his fields to a high state of cultivation, erecting good barns and outbuildings and dividing his farm by well kept fences so that his fields of convenient size are thus easily cultivated. He also owns one hundred and twenty acres west of the home place. In connec- tion with farming he has raised Duroc-Jersey hogs and in the early days he engaged in the dairy business, keeping Holstein cows. He won success in that undertaking. At a later period, however, he handled shorthorn cattle. He now largely leaves the cultivation, operation and management of his farm to his sons, which enables him to enjoy more leisure and take part in those things which are a matter of interest and recreation to him.
Mr. Clayburn was married. as previously stated, on Thanksgiving Day of 1873, the lady of his choice being Miss Anna Jane Wright. who was born in New Jersey, a daughter of Ansel J. and Mary S. (Hill) Wright. The mother, also a native of New Jersey, died September 18, 1880. The father, who was a school teacher, was married in the east and then removed to Illinois, living in Stark county, becoming one of the pioneer farmers of that district. He was also a Baptist min- ister and he took an active and helpful part not only in promoting the moral progress of his community but in establishing standards of civic virtue and pro- moting the growth and development of the district in which he lived. From Stark county he removed to Henry county, Illinois, where he engaged in both preaching and farming. He enlisted in 1861 at Toulon, Stark county, for one hundred days' service in the Civil war. In 1871 he came to Nebraska and secured a homestead in Lost Creek township, Platte county, where again he took active and helpful part in promoting the welfare of the community along material and moral lines. He preached the first sermon ever delivered in his neighborhood. There were only a few houses in the district and all of the families joined in the service. He was also the organizer of the first church of the neighborhood and his teachings were influences for good. His political support was given to the republican party, which found in him an earnest advocate. At the time of his death he was a resident of Davis county, Nebraska, and in his passing the state lost a citizen of sterling worth, whose memory is still enshrined in the hearts of all who knew him.
To Mr. and Mrs. Clayburn were born twelve children, ten of whom are yet living: John William, who was born September 11, 1874, and is a thresher and farmer living on the old home place; Carrie Belle, the wife of Ai E. Glines, a railroad man of Grand Island, Nebraska, by whom she has three sons; George H., who was born March 1, 1877, and died at the age of ten years; Robert E., who was born December 3, 1878, and was educated in the Boyles Business College at Omaha, and is now conducting a branch tailoring establishment at South Omaha; Lelia L., who is the wife of Ed Hill, a farmer of Monroe township, and has four children, two sons and two daughters; Luther M., who was born January 6, 1882, a farmer of Lost Creek township, who is married and has two sons; Clarence W., who was born January 21, 1884. and is deceased; Birt A., who was born May 17, 1887, and is upon the home farm; Leroy H., who was born December 25, 1889, and attended the Columbus Business College, while at the present time he is a salesman for the Union Switch Signal Company of San Francisco, California; Myrtle E., the
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