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 63
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The same energy and spirit of progress that has made him so successful as a farmer and stock-raiser, he has brought to bear upon his surroundings, and has been delighted by it to advance the interests of the county at large, and quite a large number of the neighboring farmers and citizens are located as the result of the hospitality, courtesy and intel- ligent information communicated and extended by our subject, and at all times he has been ready to sustain such enterprises as were for the benefit of the county or community.
Mr. Dibble is a native of Somersetshire, En- gland, where he was born in Mark Parish, March 1, 1836. The father of our subject was Richard Dibble, a native of the same county, where his family had lived for generations. a thrifty, sturdy race, as the oak. the national tree. As a young man he entered the employ of the "lord of the manor," and later married Charlotte Banfield, who was born in the same parish as himself and had grown up to mature years with him. She first saw the light in the house of the old Temple farm, ;round which gather a thousand sweet, lingering memories of the family. This farm was part of the property of the Diocesan Bishop of the Es- tablished (Episcopal) Church, which church was the
religious home of both families for generations. The Temple farm had throughout all its history been the home of the Banfield family, as, likewise, the old farmhouse near the Plach farm, where our subject was born, had been to his family. It is not, therefore, surprising that Mr. Dibble looks for- ward with a pleasurable delight that thrills his en- tire being to revisiting in the near future these well-remembered scenes and places. Whenever this occurs it will be the happiness of our subject to be able to impart to his friends and relatives upon the other side much practical information regarding America and Americans, and to describe with graphic lucidity the varied phases of pioneer life 'in the Great West, as well as that of its unparal- leled progress and development.
After the marriage of the parents of our subject they settled near their native place, and Mr. Dib- ble, Sr., continued after the death of his first, and also his second wife, and there also married his third. After some years, during which several children were born of this third family, Mr. Dibble removed, and with his wife and family emigrated to the United States and located in Yorkville, Ra- cine Co .. Wis. In this place, after a settlement of some years, the father and step-mother of our sub- ject went to their last rest. The third wife died in 1881, at the age of fifty-three years, the father having preceded her to the better land in 1870, aged about seventy years. The first and second wives of Mr. Dibble, and seven of his children, repose beneath the sod in the churchyard of St. Mark's Church in Somersetshire. The family of this gentleman included about twenty children.
Our subject was one of two children by the second marriage, the other being his sister Char- lotte, now Mrs. Ostrom, of Grand Rapids, Mich. The brother and sister were separated for a period of twenty-one years, and met at Grand Rapids but a few years since, and from that time our subject has made a practice of visiting her at regular in- tervals. He was sixteen years of age when he came with his father and step-mother to the United States, and settled at Yorkville, where he continued until he attained his majority. Then for a few years he traveled throughout the South and West, and being of an observing and inquiring disposi-
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tion, he gathered a vast store of eurious. amusing and instructive information. In his Western jour. neyings he stood amid the stupendous and over- whelming magnificence of the Rocky Mountains, and also crossed the apparently limitless extent of Nebraska's rolling prairies. This was as early as the year 1857, and while he was yet unmarried. From thence he drifted back to the Wisconsin home, reaching it in the year 1859, and from that time on continued industriously and steadily in farming nutil 1864, when he went into the service for the defense of his adopted country, serving in the 1st Wisconsin Heavy Artillery, but although in the service for about eight months, he did not happen to be in many major engagements, and in April of 1865 received an honorable discharge.
At Waterford, not far from the Wisconsin home of our subject, he was united to Miss Johanna Johnson, on the 23d of April, 1860, who was born near the city of Christiania, Norway, Nov. 15, 1833. She is the daughter of John Johnson, a native of the same county, by occupation a farmer. The maiden name of her mother was Anna Hanson, a native of the same place. Her father died at the same place in which he was born. in the year 1839, while yet in middle life. His widow survived him many years, and died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Dibble, and had then attained the advanced age of eighty-one years and six months, dying March 21, 1885. She had spent the last year and a half of her life with her daughter, from whom she had been separated for thirty-three years by the Atlantic and half the western continent. Such a journey at so advanced an age is very unusual, and is only possible by reason of the facile transit in the floating and rolling palaces of modern travel. Un- til that date she was the oldest lady who had crossed the Atlantic. She had all her life been a devout member of the Lutheran Church, and died in the comfort of the Christian faith; she was a grand, noble, motherly woman, and greatly be- loved in her own land, and although her life in this country was of such short duration, the same womanly graces had won for her a large circle of friends.
After Mr. and Mrs. Dibble were married their efforts were united and their ambitions one in re-
gard to the desire to build a home for the future. They decided therefore, to brave the West with its pioneer hardships, trials and difficulties, and pro- ceeded hitherward even before the aborigines had deserted it. They accordingly settled in what is now Nebraska. It was not altogether unusual for Indians to camp upon his farm, and once or more as many as 400 or 500 of the Otoe tribe made their camp in the vicinity of his home. Upon one occasion our subjert was badly scared while returning from the settlement that has since grown to be the city of Beatrice. He was nearing his house. where he had left his wife and family, and heard near by a noise, strange, unusual and unaccountable. His fears taking shape in a moment, he supposed that his family were being massacred, and leaving his team rushed to the house, where his affectionate solicitude was satisfied to find that there was no danger; but the noise was still unaccounted for, and it was only later that he discovered that the scare was needless and without foundation, its cause and originator being a strange animal of the bovine tribe that had strayed into the neighborhood. This Mr. Dibble tells partly as a joke upon himself, and yet it points to the fact that their life was not without danger nor lacking in adventure.
The family of Mr. and Mrs. Dibble includes six children, whom it has been their pleasure to see well started in life, and who evidence those manly traits and womanly attributes that are so desirable and indispensably integral factors of the true no- bility. The names are as follows: Charlotte A., Alla M., Harry A. J., Etta M., Lillie D. and Lucy F. A. The eldest daughter is the wife of Palmer Stevenson, a builder and contractor at Lincoln; her sister Alla is happily married to Oliver C. Sher- man, a farmer of Blakely Township, operating a part of the homestead, together with her brother. The latter is the husband of Ellen Shattenkirk. The three younger members of the family are still at home.
Mr. Dibble still continues his faithful allegiance to the religious faith in which he was reared, and which has been to him a guide and comfort through- ont the years of his life. His wife, likewise, con- tinues in the faith of her fathers. He is socially connected with the fraternity of the A. F. & A. M.,
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and is a member of Blue Lodge No. 26, in Bea- trice. Ilis politieal faith is along the line of the principles of the party founded by Jefferson, and so ably represented at the White House in the per- son of President S. Grover Cleveland and his most estimable lady. Enough has been said concerning our subject to indicate to the reader the character, aspirations and disposition of the man, and further remark would be superfluous. While such men are at the head of our households, while such wives and mothers as Mrs. Dibble have the care and training of the children of the Republic, America must and will rise in the scale of nations, and advance in every quality, attribute and power that makes a nation great, and that without any fear of retro- gression.
At one time Mr. Dibble acted as reporter for the Agricultural Department at Washington, D. C., for Southeastern Nebraska, many of which have ap- peared in the monthly reports from the department of agriculture.
OHN L. HILL. The home surroundings of this gentleman are more than ordinarily pleasant, and as the natural consequence in the case of the man who helps himself. he has been assisted by "all the favoring winds that blow" to a generous portion of the good things of this life, namely, a competency and a host of friends, which comprise a large proportion of this world's treasures.
Our subject is the offspring of a good family, he- ing the son of Nathan Ilill, who was a native of Luzerne County, Pa., where he was reared to man- hood and married Miss Judith Billhimer, whose birthplace and childhood's home was not far from that of her husband's. They lived in that locality for a time after their marriage, the father engaging in farming, and about 1853 emigrated to Lee County, Ill. There also Nathan Hill pursued his former occupation of farming, and departed this life at his home in South Dixon Township, in June, 1876. The mother still survives, and makes her home on the old homestead in Lee County, Ill.
To Nathan and Judith Hill there were born eleven
children, seven sons and four daughters. Of these all are living; six are residents of Illinois, one of Minnesota and four of Nebraska. John L., our subject, was the fifth child, and was born in Luzerne County, Pa., Dec. 27, 1845. He was a little lad eight years of age when his parents removed from the Keystone State to Illinois, where he was reared to manhood and acquired his education in the com- mon schools of Lee County. Early in life he be- came familiar with farm pursuits, and with the exception of one year spent in St. Joseph, Mo., was a resident of that county until going to Iowa, in March, 1873.
In the Hawkeye State Mr. Hill followed farming for a period of four years, then determined to cast his lot with the people of this county. In 1879 he selected a tract of land 160 acres in extent, and embracing the east half of the northwest quarter of the west half of the northeast quarter of section 31, in Glenwood Township, and since that time has given his attention to its improvement and culti- vation. He has now a neat and substantial set of frame buildings, fruit and shade trees, improved farm machinery, a fair assortment of live stock, and the other essentials of the modern profitable farm estate. The evidences of enterprise and in- telligence are to be seen on every hand, and the homestead in all its appointments forms one of the most attractive pictures in the landscape of this region.
In addition to the other good things which have fallen to the lot of our subject he has been fortu- nate in the selection of a wife and helpmate, Mrs. Hill possessing those qualities most essential to the comfort and happiness of a home, namely : thrift, industry, neatness and cheerfulness. She was in her girlhood Miss Frances J. Black, and they were married at the home of the bride, in Page County, Iowa, Dee. 25, 1878. Mrs. Hill is the daughter of James and Susan (Wolfe) Black, who were natives of Washington County, Pa., where they settled after their marriage and lived until emigrating to Lee County, Iowa, at a very early day. Thence they went into Page County, Iowa, about 1853, where they now reside, the father carrying on farm- ing. They are the parents of seven children, four sons and three daughters, of whom Mrs. Hill was
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the fifth child. She was born in Page County. Iowa, Oet. 29. 1859, and reared to womanhood in that county. Her education was acquired in the common schools, and she remained a member of the parental household until leaving it to preside over one of her own.
To Mr. and Mrs. Hill there has been born one child only, a son, Raymond, March 31, 1880. He is now a bright boy eight years of age, and it is hardly necessary to say, the light of the household. Our subject keeps himself posted upon matters of general interest to every intelligent citizen, and ยท withont meddling much in politics, gives his uni- form support to the Democratie party. He believes in education and all the moral reforms of the age, and is a man whose opinion is generally respected. Although having served as School Treasurer in his district, his preference is to leave the responsi- bilities of office to those less absorbed in the peace- ful pursuits of agriculture.
W ILLIAM N. ACTON, a respected resident of Paddock Township, is prosperously en- gaged in agriculture, owning a valuable farm, which lies partly in Gage County, Neb., and partly in the adjoining county of Marshall, in Kan- sas. He is pre-eminently a self-made man, as all lie is and all he has he owes to his own tireless and energetic labors, he having had to encounter many adversities, and to endure many hardships in his early life that would have daunted a less resolute and courageons mind, and his personal history should serve to awaken the emulation of the youth of to-day, or of future generations, who may peruse these pages.
Our subject was born in Charles County, Md., Randall and Sedocia (McDonald) Acton, natives of Maryland, being his parents. Very early in life that saddest misfortune that can happen to a child befell him, as he was deprived by death of a kind mother when he was very young. As soon as he was large enough to work he was thrown on his own resources, as his honest, hard-working father found life too severe a struggle with poverty to properly care for his son. Under this discipline he became
a manly, sturdy. self-reliant lad, well able to eope with the difficulties that beset his pathway. When William was seventeen years old the death of his father severed the last tie that bound him to the old home in Maryland, and he started on foot on the long journey across the Alleghany Mountains to Richland County, Ohio, arriving at his destina- tion footsore and weary, having traversed a distance of 600 miles, mostly over wild and mountainous country. He subsequently went to Franklin County, Ohio, and being an honest, open-hearted lad, will- ing to labor, he found no difficulty in securing a position as a farm hand, and was thus employed by the month until his first marriage, which took place Sept. 9. 1839, to Miss Almira Wilcox. He then rented a farm, on which he lived until 1842. In that year he removed with his family to Henry County, Iowa, and there his first wife, a most esti- mable woman, passed away July 9, 1846, after a few years of happy wedded life. Two children had been born to that marriage -- Emeline, who died in 1843, and George. The son, now a conductor on the Northwestern Railway, did valiant service in the late war for three years, having been a mem- ber of the first cavalry company organized in Henry County, lowa. The second marriage of our sub- ject, which took place in Iowa, Dec. 23, 1847, was to Miss Jemima E. Cook, who has ably seconded his efforts in establishing a pleasant and comfortable home. Their union has been blessed to them by the birth of six children, namely : Frank W., Albert B., Ella M., Oscar D., John L. and Charlie M.
In the spring of 1873 Mr. Acton removed to Wichita, Kan., and resided in that then small ham- let, a mere trading-post, until the fall of 1874, when he returned to Montgomery County, Iowa. He continued to live in that State until 1882, and then returned to this part of the country, and se- curing a suitable location in the northern part of Marshall County, Kan., ,he bought a farm, com- prising eighty acres, in the Indian reservation, ad- joining Gage County. In the few years that have since intervened he has been more than ordinarily successful as a farmer, and by incessant labor and able management he has made many fine improve- ments and brouglit his land to a high state of cult- ure. He has besides made money enough so that
RESIDENCE OF EDWARD ROBERTS , SEC. 28. BARNESTON TOWNSHIP.
RACETRACK S. E. OF RES
RESIDENCE OF G. H. GALE, SEC. 10. FILLEY TOWNSHIP.
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he has been enabled to increase the original acre- age of his land by the purchase of eighty acres of adjoining land on seetion 35, and forty acres of land on section 36. buying his present home in this county in the spring of 1887.
This brief record of the life of our subject shows him to be a man well worthy of the respect and confidence of his fellow-citizens. In his political sentiments he is an earnest Republican, although he was reared in the midst of slavery.
It is worthy of remembrance in view of the pres- ent Presidential campaign of 1888, and of the illus- trious candidate of the Republican party, that Mr. Acton cast his first vote for William Il. Harrison. Our subject takes a deep interest in the develop- ment of this part of the country, to which he has contributed so much time and energy, and he cheer- fully aids all proposed improvements, but he is not an aspirant for office, preferring the peace and com- fort of his own fireside to the responsibilities and worries of public life.
ILLIAM WOOLSEY, Supervisor of Lin- coln Township, is also one of its leading farmers, and owns 160 acres of good land on section 6. Ile came to this place in the winter of 1880, and has since bent his energies to its im -. provement. He has now a good farm dwelling with barns and out-buildings to correspond, a fair assortment of live stock, and all the other appliances of the modern agrienlturist.
Mr. Woolsey came to this section from MeKean County, in the northwestern part of Pennsylvania, where for a period of five and one-half years he had been engaged with the State Line Oil Company. In his capacity as foreman he became thoroughly familiar with this valuable product of the subter- ranean earth, and was greatly interested in the ex- periments and discoveries made throughout the oil regions in general of the Keystone State. From 1864 until 1880 he was almost uninterruptedly en- gaged in the matters pertaining to the development of this product.
Our subject was born in Fairview, Erie Co., Pa., March 8, 1843, and is the son of Joseph Woolsey,
a native of Dutchess County, N. Y. His paternal grandfather and his great-grandfather bore the Christian name of Sampson. The latter was a na- tive of England, and crossed the Atlantic as an officer of the British Revenue under King George III. Being an intelligent man, he soon perceived the justice of the cause of the Colonists, and accord- ingly arrayed himself on their side. A large re- ward was offered by the King for his capture, dead or alive, as he had been a very efficient officer, and was a man of more than ordinary capabilities. Ile eluded the vigilance of the British, however, did good service as a Revolutionary soldier, and after the conflict was ended settled in Dutchess County, N. Y., where he spent the remainder of his life. Sampson Woolsey, Jr., succeeded his father on the old homestead in Dutchess County, and there died at a ripe old age. Ile. carried on farming, and reared a family of seven sons and one daughter, of whom Joseph, the father of our subject, was the fourth child; all are deceased. Joseph Woolsey was born at the old homestead in Dutchess County, where he spent his boyhood and youth, and after leaving the district school learned the trade of blacksmith. While still unmarried he left his native place, and migrating to Cuyahoga County, Ohio, established a sinithy near the town of Cuyahoga Falls. There also he was married to Miss Hettie Brown, a native of that county, and the daughter of Judah Brown. The latter was born in one of the New England States, where he was reared to manhood, and learned the trade of shoemaker. While still a young man he also emigrated to Cuyahoga County, Ohio, where he followed his trade in connection with farming, and where his death took place from a cancer on the face, about 1856.
Joseph Woolsey, the father of our subject, after his marriage left the Buckeye State, and settling in Erie County, Pa., followed his trade there until his death, which took place in 1860, at the advanced age of seventy-six years. The mother survived her husband a period of nineteen years, and her death took place at the age of seventy-seven. Joseph Woolsey was an old-line Whig, politically, and both parents were members in good standing of the Baptist Church. Our subject has in his pos- session an ancient wine glass of Ilolland manu-
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facture, a curious and handsome article, which was brought to America by one of his ancestors prior to the Revolutionary War. Joseph Woolsey was imbued with the same patriotic sentiments that actuated his father before him, and later did good service in the War of 1812, together with Judah Brown, the maternal grandfather of our subject.
The subject of this history was the youngest of twelve children, four sons and eight daughters, born to his parents. All the sons and five of the daugh- ters are still living, making their homes in the States of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Will- iam was reared to manhood in his native county, acquiring a common-school education. After the outbreak of the late Civil War he enlisted, Aug. 9, 1862, in Company C, 145th Pennsylvania Infantry, under Capt. Loomis and Col. H. L. Brown. The regiment was assigned to the Army of the Potomac, and fought its first battle at Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862. On the 13th of December following they were present at the battle of Fredericksburg, Va., and here Mr. Woolsey received a bullet wound through both thighs, and erippling his left ankle. This, it is hardly necessary to say, confined him for a time in the hospital, and incapacitated him for further service. He received his honorable dis- charge in the spring of 1863, and returned to his old home in Erie County, Pa.
Mr. Woolsey early in life had been taught those habits of industry which form the basis of all true manhood, and while young in years was thrown upon his own resources, becoming familiar with hard work. Upon retiring from the service he mi- grated to the oil regions of Pennsylvania, and there began an apprenticeship which continued for a period of fourteen years. He was married in Erie Connty, July 2, 1872, to Miss Hannah Wolf, who was born in Mill Creek Township, that county, Feb. 9, 1848. She is the eldest daughter and child of Henry and Caroline (Hayberger) Wolf, who were natives of Tennessee, and who are still living, continuing at the home which they have occupied so many years in the town of North East, Erie Co., Pa. They have attained to a ripe old age, and are numbered among the most highly respected people of that region. Their family included seven chil- dren, six of whom are living.
Mrs. Woolsey was reared and educated in her native county, and lived with her parents until her marriage. She and her husband have no children, but have performed the part of parents to a girl and boy, Mary C. and George H., to whom they have given their own name, and who are now four- teen and eleven years old respectively, and con- tinue with them. The Wolf family is of German ancestry, and possesses in a marked degree the re- liable and substantial qualities of that nationality. This branch of the family possesses those social and mental qualities which have fitted them to occupy a leading position in the community. where they are the encouragers of those projects tending to the high- est good of its people. Mr. Wolf in about 1856 became identified with the People's Savings Bank at North East, Pa., with which he is still connected. Since the time of casting his first vote be has been an ardent supporter of Democratic principles, and socially, belongs to the Masonic fraternity, being a member of Lodge No. 399, at North East, Pa. Mr. Woolsey, politically, votes with the Democratic party ; socially, he belongs to the Masonic fraternity, Lodge No. 26, at Beatrice; he is also connected with the G. A. R., Post No. 201, at Plymouth, Jef- ferson Co., Neb.
6 HOMAS HAND is a fine representative of the enterprising and energetic young far- mers of Gage County who are nobly doing their part toward sustaining and developing its great agricultural interests. He is a son of John Hand, whose biography may be found on another page of this volume. Mr. Hand already has his farm on section 35, Paddock Township, under good tillage, supplied with the necessary buildings, and stocked with cattle of good grades, and he may well feel proud of what he has accomplished within a few years.
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