Portrait and biographical album of Gage County, Nebraska : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, Part 37

Author: Chapman Brothers (Chicago, Ill.)
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Chicago : Chapman Brothers
Number of Pages: 794


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 37


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this time to Gage County, Neb. The land of High- land Township appeared to meet his requirements. and he pre-empted eighty acres on section.32, where he built a good homestead and has since remained. In addition to the cultivation of the soil he added to his possessions as his capital justified, and is now the owner of 1,440 broad acres, which are devoted largely to farming and stock-raising.


Mr. Barkey entered Illinois a poor man, being able to purchase only sixty acres of land at $3 per acre. There as liere he was very successful, and before leaving the State was the owner of 750 acres, During the Civil War he was engaged largely in stock-raising, supplying the army with calves and grown cattle. He has met with his reverses in com- mon with most men, but his indomitable will enabled him to rise above misfortune and discour- agement, and his fine property to-day is the best evidence of his strength of character and resolute spirit. He is known far and wide as a man of ster- ling integrity, is a member of the Church of God, and a stanch supporter of Republican principles.


Mrs. Eve Barkey departed this life at her home in Highland Township, March 18, 1885, greatly mourned by her husband and family and all who knew her. She was a most devoted wife and mother, and the encourager and supporter of her husband in all his worthy efforts. It is hardly nec- essary to say that the name Barkey was given to the post-office at that place in honor of our subject, as he is one of the representative pioneers of Highland Township, and has been no unimportant factor in bringing about its prosperity.


HOMAS GRACE is an energetic farmer and aspiring politician of Rockford Township, where he resides in very comfortable cir- cumstances, with surroundings of wealth and refine- ment. His father, Martin Grace, was born in the county of Tipperary, Ireland, and his mother, Dolly (Eddy) Grace, in Canada, near St. Rays, not far from Montreal. The father came to Canada when he was a young man, where he made the ac- quaintance of the mother of our subject, and after


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their marriage they remained in Canada until 1853, when they removed to Dubuque County, Iowa. There were twelve children in the family, named Thomas, John, Mary A., Elizabeth, Minnie, Agnes, Sarah, Joseph, Frank, Teressa and Bridget, the last- named of whom died when young, and one named Bridget living.


Our subject was born on the 2d of February, 1845, near St. Rays, Canada, and his mother died when he was but three years old. His father was married a second time. to Elizabeth MeNalley, who is the mother of the above-named children, with the exception of our subject. He attended school in his native country, and was eight years old when he came with his parents to Iowa, continu- ing the pursuit of his education in the common schools of the new locality. He then began to work on the farm, and remained at home until the 3d of October, 1867, when he was married to Miss Anna M. Kurt, a daughter of Michael and Mary Kurt, who were natives of Germany. Mrs. Grace was born on the 20th of August. 1847, in Lux- emburg, Germany, and was one year old when she came with her family to America. She had three brothers and sisters, and after the death of her father her mother married a second time, and had five children by the last union. She was edu- eated in both the German and English tongues, and is as well acquainted with one as with the other.


Our subjeet and his wife have seven children, on whom they have bestowed the names of William H., Mary P., Clara F., Jobn B., Thomas P., Anna A. and Emil L. They came to Nebraska on the 10th of May, 1868, and from that year until 1874 they resided in Holt Township, in the fall of the latter year removing to their present farm of 160 aeres. Our subject has made a great many im- provements, having built a one and a half story house in 1880, and a good horse barn in 1883, the other buildings also being in a good condition. He has a fine orchard of 150 trees, and has planted groves of maple, ash, box-elder and catalpa trees, which add much to the appearance and value of the place. He has also taken an active interest in pub- lic affairs, having been elected Moderator of his school district, and sent three or four times as a delegate to the Democratic County Conventions,


where he represented his constituents in an able manner. He is a member of the Catholic Church, of Beatrice, and bears a very excellent reputation among his fellowmen.


ORACE M. WICKHAM. The life of this gentleman, whose history is herein sketched, has been spent largely amid the scenes of frontier life, in the double experience of frontier soldier and pioneer settler. He is one of the most successful of the older residents, and is not unknown in the annals of the history of the district in which he resides. He continues to operate along the line of general farming 160 aeres of excellent agricultural land, situated on seetion 3 of Blakely Township.


The residence of our subject in this county dates from the year 1859, and having been in the militia service several years. he took advantage of the Homestead Aet and settled as above. During his time of service he was stationed at Pawnee, Little Blue and Ft. Kearney, and engaged in a num- ber of skirmishes and more serious battles with the Indians that have given him quite an experience in this line, and furnish one of the most thrilling chapters of his history. Upon leaving military serv- ice and settling upon his farm, he brought with him all the enterprise, determination and spirit that have made him successful as a soldier, and in due time reaped his reward in the success that crowns his efforts.


The father of our subject, Thomas Wickham, was a farmer by occupation, and a native of New Jersey. Ile was born on Long Island in the year 1797, but spent his boyish days in the above-named State, removing thenee to Ohio and settling in Muskegon County. He became the husband of Miss Clarissa Zane in the year 1824. This lady was a native of Ohio, and daughter of Isaac Zane, the gentleman who first settled on the site and platted the town of Zanesville. Mr. Wiekham, Sr., and family continued to live as above until the year 1845, when they journeyed overland by wagon and team to Missouri, making their home first in Andrew and later in Holt County. Mr. Wickham


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was removed from his family by death at the age of fifty-six years, while living in Andrew County, in the year 1853. Mrs. Wickham is still living, and makes her home with her children in Nebraska. Although she has reached the advanced age of eighty-four years, she still enjoys a large measure of health and strength.


The native State of our subject is Ohio, there he was born Sept. 2, 1832, in Licking County. He was thirteen years of age when his parents removed to Missouri, where he finished his education and began to work upon the farm, continuing this until he arrived at man's estate; thence he went to Iowa in 1856, and for two years lived at Glenwood, and at the end of that time came to this State, although he did not finally settle down to farm- ing until 1865, after the military experience noted above.


Upon the 8th of May, 1859, our subject was married, at Bear Creek. three miles northeast of Beatrice, to Miss Lavinia Young, by Nathan Blake- ley. then acting as Probate Judge. This was the first marriage celebrated in the county. The lady of his choice was a native of Kentucky, although educated and brought up in Iowa. At the age of twenty-four years she came to Nebraska, and after a time formed the acquaintance that resulted in her marriage. The same year of her marriage she went with her husband to the State of Colo- rado, and was taken sick near South Park, in the mountain district, and died on the 7th of August, 1860, while apparently in the prime and strength of her life and womanhood; she left no children.


Mr. Wickham contracted a second alliance while at St. Joseph, Mo., the name of the lady being Mrs. Isabel Bebee, nee Alexander, a native of Ohio, where she lived until her marriage with Mr. Perry Bebee. After her marriage she came to Gage County, Neb., with her husband and only son. They, while traveling en route to Santa Fe, were attacked by Indians in the Smoky Hills, who stopped the train, and massacred the crew and passengers, among them the husband and son of Mrs. Bebee. After this tragic event Mrs. Bebee removed to Illi- nois, and shortly before her marriage to St. Joseph. She died at the Blakely Township farm in 1873, leaving two children, who were named Clarissa and


Frank; the former is keeping house for her father, and the latter, also at home, assists upon the farm. By her former husband Mrs. Wickham gave birth to a daughter, who is the wife of William Connoly, a prosperous farmer in Grant Township.


Quite naturally, from his long residence and ex- tensive experience, our subject has figured quite prominently in the history of the county during its development, and, besides township offices, was County Commissioner for three years. With his wife he was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and they enjoyed, as he continues to do, the very hearty esteem of the church and com- munity at large. In matters of civic import and State Government, as in general political affairs, he is ever a stanch Republican, and has always devoted his best energies to the success of his party.


E DWARD HELLER. one of the oldest pio- neers of Highland Township, settled on his present farm on section 7 in the spring of 1874. His birthplace and carly home were on the other side of the Atlantic, in the little Province of Hanover, Germany, where he first opened his eyes to the light Sept. 19, 1836. His parents, William and Catherine (Kuhl) Heller, were of German birth and parentage, and he was their elder child. Their family included a boy and girl; the latter is now residing in Philadelphia, Pa.


The laws and customs of the Fatherland required the children of all citizens, both rich and poor, to enter school at an early age, where they prosecute their studies usually until fourteen years old. Young Edward was no exception to this rule, and consequently acquired a good education in his mother tongue. He continued in Germany until a man of thirty years, and then, not being satisfied with his condition or his prospects, resolved to emi- grate to a country whichi held out better induce- ments to the enterprising and industrious citizen. In the fall of 1866 he took passage at the port of Bremen on a sailing-vessel, and after a tedious ocean voyage of fifty-three days set foot first upon American soil in the city of New York.


Mr. Heller, leaving the Empire State shortly after-


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ward migrated to Philadelphia, Pa., and prosecuted his trade of bricklayer in that city for a period of five years. The young and growing State of Ne- braska was now coming into prominence as a desir- able place for the man of limited means, and our subject concluded to seek the farther West. First locating in Lincoln, he followed his trade for a time, in the meantime saving what he could of his earn- ings, which he purposed to invest in land. About 1875 he purchased 160 acres at $6 per acre, of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad Company, this land lying on seetion 7, in Highland Township. He took up his abode in a shanty on the raw prairie when a furrow had not been turned as far as he could see around him, and commenced in earnest the improvement of his property. By the exercise of the most rigid economy, and the industry which is one of the characteristics of his excellent German ancestry, he in time began to realize those results which are ever attendant upon him who is willing to labor and to wait. The splendid homestead which the admiring traveler views to-day is a stand- ing monument to his resolution and perseverance, and is numbered among the valuable estates of this region. As a business man and a citizen Mr. Heller has acquitted himself most admirably, hav- ing been prompt to meet his obligations and con- ducting his business affairs in that straightforward manner which has won him the confidence and es- teem of all who know him.


Our subject while a resident of Philadelphia was united in marriage with Miss Lina Busman, the wedding taking place Dec. 12, 1869. Mrs Heller was born not far from the early home of her hus- band, in Hanover, Germany, on the 23d of April, 1844, and is the daughter of George and Lena Bus- man, who were of German birth and ancestry; the father spent his last years in Germany. The mother is with our subject; she was born in 1800. Mr. H. is a member in good standing of the Lutheran Church, and after becoming a naturalized citizen identified himself with the Democratic party, which he still supports. He was present at the organiza- tion of Highland Township, and was elected its first Supervisor. He is at present a Director in his school district, is serving his third term, and ac- quitting himself with satisfaction to those con-


cerned. Although not the hero, perhaps, of any very thrilling event, he has distinguished himself as a peaceable and law-abiding citizen, and in the establishment of one of the finest farms in his town- ship. has thus added to its advancement and pros- perity.


G EORGE F. COLLINS. The stranger to Western life is frequently surprised in tak- ing his initial journey in sueli districts to observe the advanced state of "civilization," as they usually persist in calling it. so apparent in the met- ropolitan, suburban, and even remote rural districts, when, upon journeying to some farm far removed from the bustling, noisy city, they are greatly sur- prised to be introduced into homes as handsome architecturally, and evineing in their interior deco- ration, furnishing and embellishment the presence of some mind trained to high perfection of artistic discernment, and naturally possessed of every in- stinet of refinement and culture. Into such a home it is our pleasure to introduce the reader, also to present some of the more salient features in the life of its owner, the gentleman whose name appears at the head of this sketch.


Mr. Collins comes of an ancestry successful in life, honorable in career, and heroic in national loy- alty. The father of our subject was Moses F. Col- lins, and was born at Windsor, Vt., of English ancestry, his immediate progenitors having settled in Vermont in the Colonial days, when the English standard floated from the flagstaff, before the stars and stripes were devised. The maiden naine of the mother of our subject was Mary Wade, a native of Connecticut, and a cousin of Benjamin Wade of historie memory. She was the mother of seven children, three of whom were girls, and after a happy wedded life of sixty-three years died, in 1879, at the ripe age of eighty years.


The father of our subject removed with his par- ents to Wayne County, N. Y., while still young. and was there educated. Ile received all the ad- vantages of a good and thorough education, and one that in after years greatly enhanced his success. One of his schoolmates was he who afterward be- came Gov. Dewitt Clinton, who, while in that office,


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gave to his schoolmate the commission of Colonel of Militia, and at the head of his regiment Col. Collins fought in the War of 1812 with Gen. Win- field Scott, and, among other engagements, that of . the terrible battle of Lundy's Lane. His military address and bravery were such in the estimation of his superior officers as to warrant special mention of the same in their dispatches. In 1834 he settled with his family near Ann Arbor, Mich., where they were in the midst of the hardships, privations and difficulties of pioneer life. He took all his family with him, and one child was born during their life there. He was a man very positive in both his be- lief and disbelief, and was an old-line Abolitionist. Ile died in 1878, with the distinctive honor of be- ing the last of the veteran heroes of Lundy's Lane to pass through the " dark valley." This honor was at one time nearly being deprived him, owing to a duel he was to fight with one of the adjutants, but for the happy connivance of the seconds, who so placed the duelists that the shedding of blood was almost an impossibility. But for this his career might have been cut short in those years that sup- ply the military experiences.


Our subject was the youngest son born to Col. Collins; this happy event occurred on the 21st of March, 1834, at Rose, Wayne Co., N. Y. He was eight months old when the family removed to Michigan, and the first impression upon his mem- ory of places, events and people upon the revivable plates of memory is connected with this Michigan home. His father, being very anxious that his chil- dren should receive a very good education, was es- pecially careful to provide the same. He was first initiated into the classes of the common schools and subsequently attended the Ann Arbor High School. At the age of twenty-one he went to St. Clair, Mich., and there studied law with Marcus II. Miles, and after passing a rigid and lengthy examination he was admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-four, and began immediately to practice law in St. Clair County, and it was not very many months before he had a very extensive clientage.


The practice of law was not entirely congenial to our subject, although his mind was of that ana- lytical cast that delights itself in the elucidation of difficult and often paradoxieal points, and is never


more at home than when following the ratiocination of evidence or argument. It was not very long, therefore, before he left his profession to enter upon a political career, which has in more than one instance surpassed his expectation. Previous, how- ever, to this secession from the profession, he was elected Clerk of his county, in the year 1859, and was on record as the youngest to hold that position. This election was noteworthy because the county was strongly Republican, and he ran upon the Dem- ocratic ticket, and yet was elected by a large major- ity; and what is even more noticeable was that under similar circumstances he was re-elected by an increased majority.


As a result of unanimity of sentiment, our sub- ject and Miss Elvira L. Gould entered the felicitous relation of husband and wife, March 23, 1854, at St. Clair, Mich., our subject being at that time twenty years of age. This lady is the daughter of Joseph and Elmira (Tolcott) Gould. Upon her mother's side she is of English extraction: It was her misfortune never to know her father, who died before she was born. By a previous marriage her father was the parent of three children; by this the wife of our subject and her twin sister, Elmira, who became the wife of George Carlton, whose home is near St. Clair, Mich. They are the parents of eight children. Mrs. Carlton died at Des Moines, in the year 1880. The wife of our subject was born June 22, 1833, at Williston, Vt. Her mother settled in Madrid Township, St. Lawrence Co., N. Y., when her daughters were five years of age. Here they enjoyed the privilege of the rate schools until they were thirteen, after that attending a select school at Troy, N. Y. Mr. and Mrs. Collins are the parents of two sons, who have been named Charles F. and George C. The younger died at the age of eight- een months.


In the offices to which our subject was elected he so conducted affairs that he grew in public favor, and was shortly elected Supervisor, Circuit Court Commissioner and County Assessor. These offices extended over a long period of the nineteen years of his residence at St. Clair, and during that period it is needless to add his friends were very numer- ous. In 1870 he became the Secretary of the Michi- gan Midland Railroad Company, and served them


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in that capacity until the financial crisis in 1873. in which he sustained a very heavy loss, and was the immediate cause of his determination to come West. In 1874, while it was yet spring, Mr. Collins came to this State and purchased 320 acres of unimproved land. His son was at that time a young man nine- teen years of age, and this course of action was de- cided partly on his account.


Pioneer life, although brightened by a thousand unexpected glints of the sunlight of happiness, is hard at the very easiest, even to those best prepared for and most inured to it, but in the case of Mr. and Mrs. Collins, whose acquaintance with farm life was practically nil, the transition from the gay, social city life of St. Clair to the comparatively lonely, unbroken prairie, was a transformation suf- ficient to discourage the stoutest heart and turn back the most resolute. It was in this honr that the sterling worth and affection of his faithful wife were revealed, and by the inntual inspiration and strengthening of purpose the original plan was adhered to, and after repeated failure, defeat and difficulty, the golden harvest of success was reaped. By the fall of that year he, who had never previ- ously broken a single acre, had broken seventy ; the reflex influence of this struggle and victory was such as to make itself felt in their home, and in the happy development and upbuilding of each in the individual character. Who but those who have passed through the same experience can realize the loneliness, the homesickness, the hardship and pri- vation of that experience.


Later, owing to the drouth and ravages of the grasshopper plague, our subject transferred his land back to the railroad company, from whom it had been purchased, and in 1882 purchased his present homestead, which comprises 168 acres on section 4 of Nemaha Township, subsequently purchasing also 165 acres on section 3, and 160 on section 5, all owned by our subject and his son Charles, and op- erated by them jointly. Despite all the experiences and disappointments, our subject retains all the vigor and activity of the days when he first started in life's race. He was deeply interested and pro- portionately energetic in his endeavors to introduce township organization in Gage County in 1884. He was elected Supervisor of his township in Novem-


ber, 1885, and has continued to hold the office ever since. His political sympathies and influence are always in the interest of the Democratic party, and yet at all times his manhood determines rather upon the line of principle than party, where his suffrage shall be placed.


As before remarked, although living in the Far West, and in a country still largely undeveloped, and in the formative era of its history, thanks to the innate refinement and love of the beautiful, the true esthetic, of Mrs. Collins, their home is in its arrangements and appointments upon a par with, if not in advance of, many in Eastern cities making far more pretentions to such effect. Socially, our subject is connected with the Masonic fraternity, and is a member of the Livingston Lodge No. 66, of Firth, and it is evident from his life that he has been ever mindful of and constantly walking in the light of its tri-luminous altar.


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C HARLES CRUSE. If the late war revealed nothing more, it certainly did make mani- fest the fact that the American people on either side of Mason and Dixon's line were men of hearts, brains and heroism. Among those who have borne the brunt of the conflict, toiled and suf- fered in camp and on march, in behalf of the Union, is the subject of the present sketch, uow engaged in the more peaceful avocation of farming on sec- tion 21 of Liberty Township.


Franklin County, Ind .. was the place where. upon thie 23d of September, 1839, our subject made his debut into life. His father, Henry Cruse, now deceaseil, was a native of Germany, and emigrated to this country at an early day. The maiden name of his wife was Christina Miller. She was born in Germany, and there she was married to the father of our subject. They became the parents of tive children. our subject being the youngest child.


The only education received by our subject was that obtainable in the public school, and of this he had full advantage, its tasks being supplemented by various " chores" and minor tasks upon the farm or among the stock, so that he was in some measure prepared for the battle of life. From the time of


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his leaving school in Franklin County, Ind., until the outbreak of the war, he was engaged at farming in Indiana.


When the bugle note of war was heard through- out the land, in response to the reverberating echoes of the crashing thunder of the cannon and mortars before Ft. Sumter, Mr. Cruse was one to step forward in response. He enlisted on the 13th of October, 1862, in Company M, 3d Indiana Cav- alry, for a term of two and a half years, and during that period was engaged in quite a large number of battles, beside lesser engagements. Among these might be mentioned the battles of Big Spring, Tenn., Wautauga River Bridge, Morristown, Resaca, Al- toona Pass, Sand Creek Station. Jonesboro, Van Worth, Ga., Sisters Ferry and Eversboro, S. C. Ile served during the greater part of the time as Duty Sergeant, having received promotion to that grade. At Jonesboro he was one of the hundred who volunteered to cut the railroad near that place. This exploit was conducted from first to last under fire; the band divided into two parties, each of fifty men, the one to do their work of destruction upon the railroad, the other to do theirs npon the enemy. Their work was done and their object at- tained without the loss of one man. excepting that one was captured but effected his escape the same night.




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