USA > Nebraska > Gage County > Portrait and biographical album of Gage County, Nebraska : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county > Part 10
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Few men ever felt more the need of education for a people who governed themselves than Gov. Dawes. The absolute necessity of universal educa- tion, wide in scope, complete in curriculum, ex- haustive in detail, practical in its aim and general utility, was evident to him, and he was therefore deeply interested in educational matters, and his sympathies were always assured for matters con- nected therewith. He lias served in several offices connected with this department, the most important, perhaps, being those of Trustee and Secretary of the Doane College, which is situated at Crete. The duties of these offices have engaged his attention since the year 1875.
The crowning glory of the official life and public service of the subject of our sketch was that which identified him with the chief office of the State. In the year 1882 he was nominated hy the Republican party for Governor. His life was well known, his character thoroughly understood, his past services remembered and appreciated, and accordingly he was received with much favor, and elected amid the plaudits of the whole people. He entered upon the duties of his high office in January, 1883, continu- ing to discharge the same throughout the usual pc- riod of two years. At the expiration thereof he was again nominated by his party and re-elected by the people, and for a second term continued to discharge his duties as before. Is any further proof of his ability, honor, manhood and faithful- ness demanded? Can any more verbose compli- mentary eulogium express as much as this, especially when it is reinforced by all the accompanying marks of confidence and regard of the people? Gov. Dawes will long be remembered, having won a warm place in the hearts and memories of the people, together with his most excellent administration of affairs, which from first to last materially assisted the onward march and development of Nebraska as a State, and aided in placing her among the very first of all States of the greatest Republic the world has ever known.
John M. thayer
JOHN M. THAYER.
ON. JOHN M. THAYER. This distinguished gentle- man, whom Nebraska de- lighted to honor by the gift of the highest office in its power to bestow, was elected thereto by an overwhelming majority in the autumn of 1886, and by his wise administration of affairs, his excellent executive ability, has since fully justified this enthusiastic choice. The place of the nativity of our subject is Bellingham, Norfolk Co., Mass. ; he is the son of Elias and Ruth (Staples) Thayer. The chosen occupation of the father was farming, and in the physical and moral healthful environment of pasto- ral life our subject was brought up.
The smallest part of man is the physical, that can be weighed avoirdupois and measured with a tape line; a far greater and nobler is that of stamp di- vine-the mind, which is the true "standard of the inan." Having in mind the importance of proper instruction, in order to the proper use of this most wonderful instrument, our subject, after the usual preparatory instruction, attended the classes at Brown University, from which institution he was graduated in 1847. The law was the chosen profession of our subject, and at it he worked assiduously un- til the year 1854, still continning a resident of his native State, and at that time he removed to the State of Nebraska.
Omaha, then a rising young town, with a newly opened and undeveloped territory all around it, afforded a good field for a young man of education, enterprise, enthusiasm and energy, to " rise up with the country." In the year 1855 the political arena was entered. Mr. Thayer became one of four can- didates for Congressional honors; a splendid run for the office, however, resulted only in defeat, the suc- cessful candidate being Fenner Ferguson. The fol- lowing year was remarkable as that in which the now "grand old party" was organized. The con- vention was held at Bellevue, and our subject was a candidate for the party nomination, but was de- feated by Mr. Daily. This experience was repeated in every particular in June of 1860. He was suc- cessful in receiving the nomination to the Territorial Legislature, and served the session of 1860-61. .
Our subject entered the service of the United States at the beginning of the Civil War, and re- ceived the commission of Colonel of the 1st Ne- braska Infantry. In the year 1855 he had been elected by the Territorial Legislature Brigadier General of the Territorial Militia, and afterward promoted to that of Major General of the militia. While in these positions he was frequently led into engagements more or less serious on the frontier, the enemies being the aborigines of that section, who at that time had not entirely ceased their old habits of depredation. The intimate knowledge of our subject concerning the Indians, their surround- ings, their attitude, their feelings, and their chiefs, were all of immense value to him. As a case in
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point, which we might mention, our subject was ap- pointed by Gov. Izard to act in conjunction with Gov. O. D. Richardson, to inquire into certain out- rages by Pawnees, to meet them in council and ef- fect a treaty with them; in this they were fairly successful. But later events proved the lesson was but poorly learned by the Indians. In 1858, with a command of 194 volunteers, our subject went out after the same tribe, certain of their number having murdered, maltreated and robbed the settlers. He captured the entire tribe after a stubbornly con- tested battle, which was fought on the grounds oc- cupied by the town of Battle Creek, which derives its name from that event.
As Colonel of the 1st Nebraska Infantry, our subject did good work in behalf of the Union, and it was not long before his superior military powers attracted attention, and he was promoted to be Brigadier General and breveted Major General. At Ft. Donelson and Shiloh he commanded a brigade in such excellent manner as led to the above honor. Through the siege of Vicksburg and the capture of Jackson, Miss., he also commanded a brigade, and for a time a division. The confidence of the com- manders in him was such that at the assault at Chickasaw Bayou, one of the storming columns was confided to his care. In this fight he had his horse shot under him, and again while leading a charge at Arkansas Post. All the essential features, charac- teristics and traits of the successful soldier were possessed by him, and this being recognized resulted in the Army of the Frontier being given him to command. Throughout his service in military . life he was a true soldier, a favorite with his meu, who were confident that he would lead them to success and victory; respected by his officers, who well knew his sagacity and military genius, largely the result of his long experience on the frontier.
In political matters our subject was a Democrat until the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. He sympathized with the Free-Soil movement, but be- ing in the Territory he could not vote. In the year 1856 he supported Fremont, and since that time has continued a stanch Republican. Upon the admis- sion of Nebraska as a State, Mr. Thayer was elected United States Senator in the election of 1866, and served faithfully until the close of his term. At the
expiration thereof he was appointed by Gen. Grant the Governor of Wyoming Territory. In this office the qualities that had made him successful in civil life, that had made him a military leader and com- mander, the ability that had been developed for the handling of large bodies of men, the harmonizing of heterogeneous elements, combined to make his Governorship one worthy of note, and, doubtless, was the cause of the confidence expressed by the peo- ple of Nebraska in after days.
The home of our subject is one that bears in its every-day life and happiness a brightness and com- pleteness that is more to be desired than the amass- ing of riches, the accumulation of power, or the right to sway the scepter of authority. He was united in the holy bonds of matrimony with Mary T. Allen, a lady possessing a disposition, character and intelligence, most beautiful, admirable and clear, one who has been trained to follow closely the Great Exemplar of the true life. She is the daughter of the Rev. John Allen, a clergyman of the Baptist Church, a native of Massachusetts.
Gov. Thayer, though not a member of any spe- cial denomination, is a firm believer in the Christian religion, and always has been. His family adhere to the faith of the Baptist Church, of which also his parents were members. In that communion, also, he was trained and brought up, and he has al- ways retained a great desire to help forward every movement of religious nature ; whenever it has been possible to elevate the moral standard of the people, his active sympathies were engaged. One feature of his Governorship has been his evident anxiety that a more general and hearty acquiescence to a higher moral and religious standard should obtain, and whatever enterprises, projects, societies or asso- ciations, looked to this as their aim and object, were at all times sure of his hearty sympathy and support.
As noted above, our subject stood before the people of Nebraska in the year 1886 as candidate for Governor. He was warmly received, actively and heartily supported, and enthusiastically elected by a majority of 25,000, in which he ran about 2,000 ahead of his ticket. His administration has revealed the wisdom of this choice, and it is not too much to say that the citizens of Nebraska have at no time had occasion to repent of their choice.
GAGE COUNTY,
NEBRASKA,
INTRODUCTORY.
SHE time has arrived when it becomes the duty of the people of this county to per- petuate the names of their pioneers, to furnish a record of their early settlement, and relate the story of their progress. The civilization of our day, the enlightenment of the age and the duty that men of the pres- ent time owe to their ancestors, to themselves and to their posterity, demand that a record of their lives and deeds should be made. In bio- graphical history is found a power to instruct man by precedent, to enliven the mental faculties, and to waft down the river of time a safe vessel in which the names and actions of the peopie who contributed to raise this country from its primitive state may be preserved. Surely and rapidly the great and aged men, who in their prime entered the wilderness and claimed the virgin soil as their heritage, are passing to their graves. The number re- maining who can relate the incidents of the first days of settlement is becoming small indeed, so that an actual necessity exists for the collection and preser- vation of events without delay, before all the early settlers are cut down by the scythe of Time.
To be forgotten has been the great dread of mankind from remotest ages. All will be forgotten soon enough, in spite of their best works and the most earnest efforts of their friends to perserve the memory of their lives. The means employed to prevent oblivion and to perpetuate their memory has been in propor- tion to the amount of intelligence they possessed. The pyramids of Egypt were built to perpetuate the names and deeds of their great rulers. The exhu- mations made by the archeologists of Egypt from buried Memphis indicate a desire of those people
to perpetuate the memory of their achievements The erection of the great obelisks were for the same purpose. Coming down to a later period, we find the Greeks and Romans erecting mausoleums and monu- ments, and carving out statues to chronicle their great achievements and carry them down the ages. It is also evident that the Mound-builders, in piling up their great mounds of earth, had but this idea- to leave something to show that they had lived. All these works, though many of them costly in the ex -- treme, give but a faint idea of the lives and charac. ters of those whose memory they were intended to perpetnate, and scarcely anything of the masses of the people that then lived. The great pyramids and some of the obelisks remain objects only of curiosity ; the mausoleums, monuments and statues are crum- bling into dust.
It was left to modern ages to establish an intelli- gent, undecaying, immutable method of perpetuating a full history-immutable in that it is almost un- limited in extent and perpetual in its action; and this is through the art of printing.
To the present generation, however, we are in- debted for the introduction of the admirable system of local biography. By this system every man, though he has not achieved what the world calls greatness, has the means to perpetuate his life, his history, through the coming ages.
The scythe of Time cuts down all ; nothing of the physical man is left. The monument which his chil- dren or friends may erect to his memory in the ceme- tery will crumble into dust and pass away ; but his life, his achievements, the work he has accomplished. which otherwise would be forgotten, is perpetuated by a record of this kind.
To preserve the lineaments of our companions we engrave their portraits, for the same reason we col- lect the attainable facts of their history. Nor do we think it necessary, as we speak only truth of them, to wait until they are dead, or until those who know them are gone: to do this we are ashamed only to publish to the world the history of those whose lives are unworthy of public record.
A.S . PADDOCK. .
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GAGE COUNTY.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
ON. ALGERNON SIDNEY PADDOCK. Every ex- pression of life, and even the very secret thoughts of the soul, are revealed through the light and shade and form of the human brain, face and figure. We have in this instance an expressive, not to say speaking, countenance. Through it we have a sure and complete reve- lation of character. Mr. Paddock has a large head, supported by a robust. athletic frame. The mass of brain occupies the frontal or in- telleetual cavity. Broad between the ears indicates a degree of hæcceity that insures him against all unnecessary eneroachments; is rather neurotic for a man of lymphatie temperament; prefers some noctic pursuit to manual labor without a tinge of the groutnol; is jocose without being hattle, and de- spises nugacity in every form. In disposition he is temperate with a liberal degree of jocundity, and is inclined to the sunny side of life; a little tinged with adiaphorous tendencies, but large per- ceptive faculties insure accretive results. Individ- uality, eventuality and human nature are strongly marked, with scarcely a tinge of the marvelous, and a reverence for only what is right and true. His religious professions would be from association rather than inclination. He is no political kablah,
assuming a recumbent position at the feet of politi- cal blatherskites. He would as soon beg for bread as for office, and detests the one as he justly loathes the other. In life he has but one course, and that is indicated by the word manhood. If he obtains an office it must seek the man. A thick upper lip and full eyes indicate a frank, generous nature ; an aquiline nose and a well set brow indicate firmness and decision. He has a wonderful degree of con- fidence in man, and does not believe his condition to be as deplorable as represented in the creeds of the churches. He interprets God by the light of nature, and the Bible by the rule of Universalisin, although he may be ignorant of the name or tenets of that faith, yet his head and his heart are full of it, and outward forms cannot disguise the fact. In his mental composition there is a good share of the poetry of life; is possessed of good language, and a little more self-confidence, with the necessary ex- perience, would make him a successful public speaker. The magnetism of his presence always commands respect; his earnest expression secures friends, and his free and social nature retains them. Opposite his name we write "snecess," be his undertaking what it may.
A. S. Paddock is a native of the Empire State, and was born at Glens Falls, Warren County, Nov. 5, 1830. He is of English ancestry, on his father's side springing from the early Puritan colonists of Connecticut; on his mother's side he is also of Puritan blood, her name being Wells and a de-
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scendant of the Sherman family, being through his ancestors remotely connected on one side with Gid- eon Wells, and on the other with Gen. W. T. Sher- man. Ira A. Paddock, the father of the subject of this sketch, was a native of Glens Falls, where his father lived for many years, but removed to the Green Mountain State when Ira was a mere lad. Growing to manhood he began life for himself, settled in Glens Falls, married him a wife, and en- gaged in the practice of law as a means of liveli- hood, which he followed for thirty years. He was a man of marked character and ability, one of the most prominent leaders of the old Whig party in Northern New York, and assisted in organizing the Republican party afterward. He died where he had spent the vigor of a lifetime, in August, 1862, full of the glory that crowns a royal life.
Young Paddock entered Glens Falls Academy at the age of thirteen years, and pursued the usual academical studies until his eighteenth year. During this time he paid his own tuition by sweeping and keeping otherwise in order the rooms occupied by the male department of the academy. He made ar- rangements to enter Union College, advanced to the senior year, but finally gave it up and turned his face westward, locating in Detroit, Mich., to which place an elder brother had preceded him, a grad- nate of Union College and now a prominent lawyer in New York City. In Detroit he assisted his brother for eight months in the school-room, and then returned to New York and engaged in teach- ing in a district school with marked succees. Dur- ing his term of teaching he devoted his leisure time to the study of law. He continued his readings for over a year, but not with the full intention of en- tering the profession. In May, 1857, Mr. Paddock came to Nebraska and pre-empted a beautiful farm at Ft. Calhoun, which he yet retains. He took an interest in the growth and development of that town, with which he was closely identified for several years. In 1856 he worked and voted for Fremont for President. He was also a participant in the organization of the Republican party in Ne- braska, and has ever been devoted to its policy as enunciated by party platforms from time to time. Mr. Paddock engaged on the editorial department of the Omaha Republican, for which he was a regu-
lar contributor, doing a liberal share of the edito- rial work during a part of the years 1858 and 1859, and for some time afterward. He attended the first informal meeting of Republicans in 1859, for the purpose of a permanent organization, and was a delegate from Washington County in the conven- tion for the perfection of the work. This conven- tion, held at Bellevue, nominated S. G. Daily for Congress, supported him earnestly, canvassing the entire North Platte country with him. After the certificates of election had been given to Experience Estabrook, he superintended the getting of testi- mony for a contest, and furnished the means to defray the expenses of the same. Mr. Daily was successful and obtained his seat. Mr. Paddock was a delegate to the Chicago Convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln for President in 1860, but voted for W. H. Seward on every ballot. After the nomination of Lincoln he went to New York and spent three months in canvass and work for the success of the Republican party. The papers were exceedingly complimentary of his efforts in the city and northern counties of the State.
Through the influence of the members of the New York Legislature, United States Senators, Presi- dential Electors and Central Committee, he was nominated for the position of Secretary of Nebraska Territory. This nomination was endorsed by Sec- retary Seward, a warm personal friend, and his nomination confirmed by the Senate. He entered upon the discharge of his duties April 1, 1861. He attended faithfully to business, and during the frequent absence of Gov. Saunders performed the duties of Governor. He took an active part in the organization of the 1st Nebraska Regiment; bonded the Territorial debt, raising the value of bonds from thirty cents to par; obtained orders for organizing two companies of cavalry, and after- ward the 2d Nebraska Cavalry. In 1864 he: re- ceived a majority of votes in the convention for nomination as delegate to Congress, but was de- feated by a mistake in the counting of votes, which was afterward discovered and admitted. He was a delegate to the Baltimore Convention, which re- nominated Lincoln for the Presidency. He took an active part in the canvass for the organization of a State government. The nomination for Gov-
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GAGE COUNTY.
ernor was unanimously tendered to Mr. Paddock, but was declined and Butler placed on the ticket. Ile was the first choice of six votes, and the second choice of a majority in the Republican caucus for United States Senator, but was finally defeated by John M. Thayer. The known conservatism of Mr. Paddock had much to do with this result. He was afterward nominated for Congress, but defeated by John Taffe. No supporter of John Taffe, in public speech or otherwise, ever complimented him more highly than did Mr. Paddock. Mr. Paddock was nominated by President Johnson for Governor of Wyoming, but the nomination was withdrawn on account of there being no appropriation to defray the expenses of a Territorial Government. This nomination was confirmed at an extra session of Congress in July, 1868, before the withdrawal of his name. When Congress met again in Decem- ber, Mr. Paddock wrote to the President declining the appointment. In 1868 he worked for the elec- tion of Grant, and for the re-election of Taffe for a third Congressional term. He has always been a consistent, conservative Republican, doing what he deemed to be for the best good of the country, in whose prosperity he felt an abiding interest.
In the absence of the chief executive of the Ter- ritory, it became the duty of the Secretary to as- sume the duties of the executive office, and in this capacity he served during the Twelfth Territorial Council, convened at Omaha, Jan. 10, 1867. His message to the Legislature was judiciously framed, setting forth plainly the varied interests of the young Territory. He considered a union of North and South Platte of paramount interest, in refer- ence to which he said :
"The construction of a bridge over the Platte River is a much needed improvement. The eross- ing of this stream, always difficult, is at certain seasons of the year an utter impossibility, and com- munication between two great sections of the Terri- tory for this reason extremely limited. A journey to the Territorial capital from some of the most populous counties south of the Platte is considered quite as difficult to perform, on account of the dangers and delays in crossing the Platte, as one to St. Louis, 500 miles distant, and from the North Platte the journey to Chicago is quite as cheerfully
undertaken as one aeross the Platte into the rich grain-growing districts below it. Such an obstacle to commercial intercourse between the two sections should be immediately removed, if it is in the power of the people to do it. It is not at all strange that with such a barrier in the way of travel and com- merce, the people of both sections should not only lose their active sympathy for and interest in each other. but that they should be easily led into mis- understandings and jealousies, rivalries and strife. The whole Territory would be inconceivable bene- fited by this improvement. The people have it in their power to accomplish it withont an additional dollar of taxation, and I think we may, during this session, very easily and very properly fix the day for the celebration of the union of the two sections by a good and substantial free bridge over the Platte. I urge upon you, therefore, the carly con- sideration of this important subject, with the as- surance that you will have the bearty concurrence of the Executive in any well considered measure which will result in securing this great improve- ment to the Territory. In my opinion this bridge should be free to all who may desire to use it. If we were obliged to borrow money for its construc- tion, thereby entailing a debt upon the Territory with annual payment of interest, the case would be different; but, having the money in band, and knowing as we do that the interests of all sections are involved, I think there can be no good reason offered against a free bridge. The revennes from Government toll bridges are not infrequently less than the expense of collection, and a bridge over the Platte, at best, could not be expected to yield any considerable revenue; but even if it were sure to do so, it would be more in consonance with the liberal and progressive spirit of our people to make it free to all."
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