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 43
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Mr. Funk is a gentleman of enterprise and in- dustry, and although not a politician and somewhat independent in the disposition of his vote, he is everywhere received as an honorable, useful and valued citizen. In representative politics our sub- ject is a decided Democrat.
OSEPH M. MESERVE. Our subject is one of the largest. most enterprising and wealth- iest farmers in the county. lle comes from a family and ancestry who have occupied prominent positions since anti- Revolutionary times.
The great-great-grandfather, Col. George Meserve, came to America in 1745, a Colonel in the British army, and fought through the French and Indian War. When this was over he settled in the south- eastern part of New Hampshire, near Dover, and the estate is still in the hands of a distant relative of the family, and bears the family name. In the agi- tation which led to the Declaration of Independ- ence, the Colonel took his stand with the Colonists. and the old "garrison" house or barrack, a large, commodious, and especially strong building, is still standing.
In the Revolutionary War all the sons of Col. Meserve took part; he served with them at Concord, Bunker Hill, and in the major part of the engage- ments, and at the close retired to his estate, where he died about the year 1790. His son Joseph, the grandfather of our subject, took up as his chosen occupation agricultural pursuits, and lived upon the old homestead. His family comprised three sons and two daughters, whose names are recorded as follows: Samuel P., Joseph. William, Eliza and Mary. The father of our subject was Joseph, the second son of the above; he also was born in the New Hampshire home, the same as that of Col. Meserve. The father of our subject as a young man devoted himself to farming, but afterward entered into mercantile life. As a business man he was very successful, but his health failed him, and his physicians advised a change of climate. Fol- lowing this advice, in the spring of 1850 he re- moved with his family to Illinois, settled in LaSalle County, and returned to farming. Hle became the owner of a yery unusually large estate. which npon his demise he left to his wife. He was twice mar- ried; by the first nnion he became the parent of four children, who were named as here subjoined : William 11., Jolin W., Joseph M. and Marietta.
Our subject is the third son of the above family, and was born in Coos County, N. II., upon the 20th of December, 1833. This district is one of the most beautiful in the East, perhaps in America. The estate is situated about fifteen miles from the White Mountains, sometimes called the Switzerland of America. Amid the magnificent surroundings and stupendous grandeur of Nature's work in this dis- trict our subject was brought up. Ilis education
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was received in the schools of his district, supple- mented and completed by the full curriculum of instruction at Lancaster Academy, in the city of that name in New Hampshire, and Wilson Collegiate Institute, of Wilson, Niagara Co., N. Y. He was eighteen years of age when he went with the family to Illinois; there he began to teach school, but find- ing there was little money and less glory in that work, he abandoned the profession, and turned his attention to the fertile, widespread prairie of Illi- nois, and set to work to solve the problem of the adaptability of three or four yoke of oxen, aided by the usual implement, to breaking the surface of the same.
Until he reached his majority the subject of our sketch remained with his father, but then started for himself, bought land, and soon had a very fine farm of his own. He was married, Feb. 29, 1855, to Miss Elizabeth Call, a lady of exceptional refine- ment and womanly grace. She was born in Essex County, N. Y., Jan. 1, 1833, and is the daughter of William and Olive (Trumbull) Call. Her mother was a native of the same county ; her father of Clinton County, of the same State. By occupa- tion her father was a farmer, and settled in Essex County, after a time removed to Clinton County, which was their home for about five years, then removed to LaSalle County, and beeame neighbors of the Meserve family, purchasing a farm in their immediate vicinity. She has presented her hus- band with ten children, who have received the names here appended : Amelia A., Joseph M., Will- jam Henry Harrison, Marietta M., David W., Harriet L., Jessie A., Archie, Charles S. and Min- nie C.
After his marriage our subject continued upon the Illinois farm until 1863, but in the latter years, owing to the general depreciation of values, he suf- fered large financial losses. He therefore sold out his interests in LaSalle County, and went to Iowa, settling in Poweshiek County, and there continued his farming with a much better outlook and success than was expected. This was their home for about twelve years, and the birthplace of nine of their children. Then they came to this county. and set- tled upon section 20 of Nemaha Township, which is still their home. At the time of their settlement,
in common with the greater part of the county, this land was in its original condition, but before very long there were abundant evidences of the fact that a master mind, strong will and ripe intelligence were at work, resulting in even larger prosperity and success than ever before.
The primitive building material provided by the prairie is frequently used in the construction of the dwelling of the pioneer farmer, and in entering upon that life our subject, although used to a dif- ferent order of things, bad determined to follow the usual custom of that time in this regard. There are sod houses and sod houses, everything depend- ing upon the builder. Concerning that of our sub- ject, it is sufficient to say that after being in use for fifteen years, it is still better than many in the first year of their erection. There is something particu- larly picturesque and refreshing to the traveler who has been riding over the prairie for hours, and, wearied with his journeying, sees before him in the distance what at first appears a beautiful green bank, but upon nearer approach resolves itself into a human habitation-a home. A sod house can be made not simply habitable, or even comfortable, but " a thing of beauty, and a joy," for the term of its existence. Such is the home of our subject. The site of this sod house measures 20x50 feet, and, as above stated, is still the home of our subject, and has continued to be thus used for fifteen years, and within it have been spent the happiest years in the whole history of Mr. and Mrs. Meserve.
The farm of our subject comprises 390 acres, all under the plow. The remainder of the section he has filled np with two tenant houses and their grounds. Near his own house our subject has an unusually fine grove of cottonwood trees, and upon the east side of the section he has fifteen acres, in which he has planted fruit trees, including apple, pear, plum, apricot and similar fruits. He has also set out groves of shade trees in different parts of the place. An additional feature of beauty and utility is the fish pond he has constructed upon the most scientific principles, and has stoeked with much care. In the operating of his farm Mr. Meserve keeps five teams constantly employed. The barns, stabling, granaries, cattle sheds and other necessary farm buildings are models in their line,
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and are fully supplied with everything necessary for their efficiency. One of the chief products of the farm, beyond that of the grain growth, is the raising of hogs, and of these our subject ships seldom less than three or four carloads per annum. Mr. Meserve has preserved one exceptionally fine and well-situated piece of ground, upon which, in the near future, it is proposed to ercet a handsome and commodious dwelling, which will then take the place of the present residence.
For ten years Mr. Meserve has been serving as Postmaster of the Meserveville post-office, the office being situated at his residence. He has at all times been exceedingly active in every enterprise for the advancement of the interests of the community, as is evidenced in the work he did in order to aid the organization of the township. He was one of the first Justices of the Peace appointed under that organization, and has been School Director for cight years; also a member of the Circuit and Petit Jury several times. At the Republican Conven- tion of the county he was selected as a delegate to that body ; he was a member of the State Conven- tion at Des Moines, Iowa, and moved the nomina- tion of Abraham Lincoln for the second term. By a family connection on the father's side he is a second cousin of ex-President Hayes.
The political sympathies of our subject have al- ways been with the Republican party ; he has always been one of its strongest supporters and stanchest friends. His first Presidential vote was cast for John C. Fremont, in 1856. A brilliant success has attended our subject as a result of his manly effort, coupled with the encouragement lent hin by Mrs. Meserve. Often, especially at the time of their financial trial, has the faithful and affectionate part- ner of his life infused new hope and brightness into the counsels and plans of her husband, by which he has taken fresh heart, and once more braced him- self for the struggle that has resulted so favorably.
In the Christian Church Mr. and Mrs. Meserve are among the most energetic, consistent and devout members. A new church of this communion is to be built upon the northeast corner of section 20, the site being the gift of our subject, who is an Elder of the church, and has served in that office, and also as Sunday-school Superintendent in Illi-
nois, Iowa and Nebraska. The portrait of this es- teemed gentleman appears on an accompanying page.
ACOB W. MUMFORD. Upon section 8 of Logan Township is found the stock farm of the gentleman whose life is here briefly sketched, who, in addition to the responsibill- ties devolving upon him in connection therewith, is the popular, much respected and most efficient Post- master of Freeman. The father of our subject, John Mumford, was born in Worcester County, Md., in 1785, and afterward followed the occupa- tion of farming. In 1840 he migrated to Adams County, Ohio, but was taken sick upon the way with measles, while in Westmoreland County, l'a., and died. llis wife, who accompanied him, re- mained in Ohio for some time after his death. In 1853, accompanied by two sons, she removed to Argyle, Wis., and died at Willow Springs in the same State, in 1863. Iler maiden name was Mary Perkins, and she was born in Worcester County, Md., July 4, 1794. Besides our subject, there were four children born to his parents, one of whom died about 1873. The names of the surviv- ing children are as appended : George W., John B., our subject and Mary.
Our subject was born on the Maryland farm, on the 20th of October, 1834, and made his home with his mother until he was twenty years of age. Ile had received a good practical education in the usual institution, where he had shown an aptitude for study, and had developed a mental power and ability for work that was prophetie of his future. Upon the removal to Argyle, above mentioned. he farmed for one year, and then went onto a farm at Willow Springs, which is situated near Darlington, where he continued until 1865, although part of the time from the year 1862 had been spent in military service.
The date of the admission into the 23d Wiscon- sin Infantry of the gentleman whose history is here presented, dates from the 29th of August, 1862, and he was a member of Company B. He was mustered in at Madison, Wis., leaving his brother, John B., in charge of the farm. After seeing much hard
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service and enduring cheerfully the many privations and hardships of campaign life for three months, he was taken sick from the exposure and strain, but after lying ill for some weeks in the third ward of the hospital at Louisville, Ky., he returned to duty, and served until the 6th of January, 1864, when he received an honorable discharge, owing to physical disability. In this period he had been one of the act- ive campaigners, and had been an active combatant in quite a large number of the more memorable battles, besides an innumerable number of lesser but no less dangerous fights.
In 1865 our subject came to Logan Township, of this county, and took land on section 8, and also pre-empted a second claim. His prosperity has been marked; since that time he has purchased 400 acres of land in the same township, has erected a very pretty and commodious residence, has set out a very large orchard of choice trees, and many other improvements, in addition to the cultivation of his farm, which is all well fenced and hedged, and is constantly watered by a live stream, Bear Creek, which runs through his property. His farm is further improved and beautified by some excep- tionally fine natural groves of forest trees, that are invaluable to him in addition to the elegance of their appearance.
In Fayette County, Wis., our subject was mar- ried, on the 3d of July, 1870, to Sarah M. Lindsey, a school mistress, who had taught school about fifteen terms. This lady was born in Pennsylvania, on the 20th of June, 1840. Her parents, Thomas and Mary (McFatridge) Lindsey, also natives of the Keystone State, were spared to reach an ad- vanced age. Her father died some years ago; her mother, who is still living in Wisconsin, is seventy- five years of age. Mrs. Mumford died upon the 1st of February, 1874, leaving two children, to whom had been given the names Emma and Burton.
A second marriage was entered into by our sub- ject on the 22d of December, 1876, when he be- came the husband of Annie R. Newton, who was born in Chester County, Pa., upon the 12th of June, 1850. Previous to her marriage she had taught school for two years. Her father, John Newton, was a native of Manchester, England, where he was born in 1826. He was by trade a hatter, but upon
coming to this country and settling in Fayette County, Wis., he followed the pursuit of husbandry, and still resides upon his farm, although for some years he has lived a retired life. Her mother, Re- becca (Wilde) Newton, was born in the city of Manchester, in 1823, and died on the farm in Fay- ette County, in 1886. Besides her daughter Annie, the wife of our subject, she was the mother of two sons, named respectively Isaac and John. The fam- ily of our subject has by this second marriage been increased by the birth of four children, who still re- side with their parents, and have received the names here appended: George S., John N., Stella and Oliver C.
In addition to his position as Postmaster, to which he was appointed some three years since, Mr. Mumford has filled the office of Assessor for three years, and School Director for twelve years; in each and every instance his attention to the business of his office, and manner of discharging the same, have won for him the hearty esteem of his fellow-citi- zens. Socially, he is connected with the order of the Grange, and has been Master of his Assembly. It will have already been surmised, and that cor- rectly, that our subject's political sympathies are Democratic. Of this party he has for many years been a member, and by every effort in his power has done all that was possible for the advancement of the same, and will not be found wanting in the on-coming campaign or any future one, so long as he is spared in health and strength to participate. He recognizes fully the privilege of his citizenship, and will utilize the same to the fullest extent.
AMES I. SHAW comes of a family of mili- tary heroes, his ancestors having distin- guished themselves in the French and In- dian War, the Revolutionary War, and the Wyoming Massacre, and thus he inherited a military zeal and fervor by which he served his country in the capacity of a loyal soldier for a period of five years less one day. His parents, Stephen P. and Hannah (Hicks) Shaw, were natives of New York, the former having been born near the celebrated springs in Saratoga County, and the latter in
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Dutchess County. The Hicks family of the present trace their ancestry to the licks family which came over to America on the second trip of the " May- flower," landing at Plymouth in 1622. The great- grandfather of our subject was a soldier in the English army, and was among the men who sus- tained the loss known as Braddock's defeat in 1755. Being discharged he settled in the Wyoming Valley, Pa., and afterward served in the war of the Revo- lution, also in the Wyoming Valley massacre, in which he had two sons killed. The grandfather of our subject. Benjamin Shaw, also lived in the Wyoming Valley, and after the massacre he moved to Saratoga County, N. Y. The parents of our sub- ject were married in Dutchess County, and in 1850 they moved to Wisconsin, making their home in Kenosha.
In 1857 the parents of our subject. in company with their sons and sons-in-law, came to Nebraska bringing their families with them. The father had two wagons and four teams of oxen. John had one team, William one team and wagon, and James and William Silvernail, the sons-in-law, had each a team and wagon. Thus with all their worldly effects, and happy at the thought that they were soon to he located in their new homes, they made their way through Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa to Nebraska, with their procession of six wagons. Once in Ne- braska the question of location was to be decided, and the father bought 180 acres on sections 20 and 21 in Adams Township, Gage County, arriving at his new home on the 6th of July. 1857. He died in 1863, almost sixty-three years old, but the mother survived until 1886, and had reached the age of eighty-five years, longevity being a char- acteristic of her family. This household comprised a family of ten children. who were named William, Egbert, Margaret, Emaline, John, Almyra, Hannalı, Rebecca, James I. and Stephen.
Our subject was born on the 30th of November, 1838. in LaGrange Township, Dutchess Co., N. Y., and was ten years old when his parents moved to Litchfield County, Conn. He resided there until he was thirteen years old, at which age he went to Wisconsin, thence to Nebraska when he was eight- een years old, and having attended the schools in New York, Connecticut and Wisconsin, he has had
abundant opportunity to compare the educational systems of the different States. He ranks the schools of Wisconsin as best, those of Connecticut second, and of New York third in point of excel- lenee. When he came to this State he drove a team for his father all the way, crossing the Mississippi River at Rock Island, and pursuing their course westward they passed through Iowa City, Des Moines, and crossed the Missouri River at Nebraska City. After locating in Nebraska he remained at home until 1860, when he went to Colorado, pros- pected there one summer, and returned to his home in the fall of the same year.
In 1861 the call was made for men to hasten to the defense of the country, and in response our sub- ject enlisted in Company II, 1st Nebraska Regiment, under Gov. Thayer, who went out as Colonel of the regiment. They drilled at Omaha, departed for the field of battle, going south down the Missouri, and entered the Army of the Tennessee in 1862. In 1863-64 our subject was in the Department of the Missouri, and in 1865-66 he was in the De- partment of the l'latte. His first engagement was at Ft. Donelson, and the next at Shiloh, where he was promoted to the rank of Orderly Sergeant, having been promoted Sergeant at Omaha. By order of the War Department his regiment was mounted and changed from infantry to cavalry, then trans- ferred to the Division of the Missouri. He partici- pated in the engagements at Cape Girardeau, Jackson Point, Clarendon, Ark., and Grand Prairie, besides assisting in a great deal of skirmishing. In the summer of 1864, his first term of three years having expired, he re-enlisted and came home on a veteran furlough. While he was at home the Indian troubles began, and his regiment was sent to the plain of the Platte to look after the mail service and protect it from the depredations of the In- dians, with whom they had numerous skirmishes. The winter of 1864-65 will long be remembered by our subject and the other boys of the regiment as one in which they suffered extreme exposures, not being provided with winter quarters. and away off on the plains, cut off from communication with the rest of the country. Ilaving re-enlisted for three years or during the war, our subject remained in the service until he was discharged at Omaha, having
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served five years less one day, and received an honorable discharge with the rank of First Sergeant.
In 1867 our subject was married to Mrs. Vir- ginia Stewart, daughter of John and Ann Amelia (Gray) Douglass, both of whom were natives of Scotland. The parents were married in Canada, then returned to Scotland, where they remained for four years, after which they returned to America. Mrs. Shaw was born on the Atlantic Ocean on the 10th of February, 1838, and spent her girlhood years in Canada, on the banks of the Chautauqua River, in the Province of Quebec, forty miles from Montreal and three and a half miles from the State of New York. She attended a graded school con- ducted on the rate system in Canada, and received a thorough education in the elementary branehes of learning. Her parents had a family of eleven children, five boys and six girls, she being the third born. The father died in 1849, at the age of fifty years, and the mother in 1857, at the age of forty years, she and her children making their homes with her father after the death of her husband until the time of her death. Mrs. Shaw was married at the age of fourteen years to Edward Stewart, a young man of nineteen years, and they went to Quebec, where, through the influence of a wealthy uncle, Mr. Stewart obtained a situation as steward on a sailing-vessel. They then knew no home but on the watery deep for a period of three years, after which they went to Kenosha, Wis., thence removed to Chicago, in which place the husband died, leav- ing four children to the care of the young mother, none of whom, however, are now living. From Chicago Mrs. Shaw came to Omaha in 1867, where she met our subject, and by their marriage they are the parents of one child, named Egbert John.
Mr. Shaw owns 360 acres of land on section 30, Adams Township, which is devoted to the purposes of general farming, He is a Republican in politics, and is a man of broad views, generous and consid- erate, combining with his intellectual force a great deal of executive ability. The citizens of Adams Township have chosen him for Assessor and Justice of the Peace, which offices he has held with satis- faction and credit, and he has also served as Treas- urer of the School Board for five or six years. He is one of the prominent members of the G. A. R.
Post, of Adams, of which order he was chosen the first Commander, and as it fell to his lot to name the post, he bestowed upon it the name of his com- rade, Sergt. James E. Cox, who was the first man from the Nebraska regiment killed in the battle of Shiloh. Under his command the post prospered well, and has become an organization of twenty- five members, our subjeet having been Adju- tant of the post for the past three or four years- Two of his brothers, William and Egbert, enlisted in the 1st Regiment with him at the breaking out of the war, the former meeting his death at St. Louis by the running away of a team, and the latter serving out his time of three years.
Mr. and Mrs. Shaw are very courteous and hos- pitable, kind and considerate of the comfort and happiness of others, and are situated in such a manner as to enable them to spend their remaining days in ease and comfort. They are living happily without making a great show or pretension, and are always ready to welcome the coming guest. Our subject took up his homestead of 160 acres in 1869, which was among the last issued in the township as well as in the county. As a man descended from brave and illustrious ancestors, as a distinguished warrior and a most loyal citizen, as a man of ex- ecutive ability and principles of the strictest integ- rity and philanthropy, he is entitled to the esteem and admiration accorded him by his fellowmen.
OEL SCHOCK. One of the best improved farms in Sicily Township, one of the most beautiful for situation, is that which is the property of the Assessor of the township, whose biography is herein epitomized. This gentle- man is the son of George and Lucy Ann (Ware) Schock, who are natives of Pennsylvania, he of Union County, and his wife of Lehigh County. At the age of sixteen years the father of our subject accompanied his parents in their migratory journey to Ohio, and Miss Ware, at the age of thirteen, re- moved to the same State under similar circum- stanees, and in Seneca County, that State, the ac- quaintance and friendship which had grown up between them were transformed into the golden
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