Portrait and biographical album of Lancaster county, Nebraska, Part 10

Author:
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Chicago, Chapman brothers
Number of Pages: 812

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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 by the Republican party for Governor. Ilis 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 Jannary, 1883, continu- ing to discharge the same throughout the usual pe- 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 mere 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.hagen

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 excentive ability, has since fully justified this enthusiastie choice. The place of the nativity of our subject is Bellingham, Norfolk Co., Mass. ; he is theson 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 man." 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 continuing 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. Ile was suc- cessful in receiving the nomination to the Territorial Legislature, and served the session of 1860-61.

Our subjeet 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 okl 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 men, 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. IIe 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 staneh 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 aceumnlation 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 elergyman 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 acquiescenee to a higher moral and religious standard should obtain, and whatever enterprises, projects, societies or asso- ciations, looked to this as their aim and objeet, 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. Ilis 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 repeut of their choice.

LANCASTER COUNTY

NEBRASKA,

INTRODUCTORY.

HE 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 people 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 perpetuate, 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.

yours truly I'm Margnett

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LANCASTER COUNTY.

BIOGRAPHICAL,

'RNER M. MARQUETT, General Attorney for the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Company in Nebraska, has his resi- denee and business head- quarters in the city of Lin- coln, and is a man who thoroughly understands the details of his chosen profession, the law. A native of Clarke County, Ohio, he was born in the city of Spring- field. July 9, 1831, and is the see- ond son of a family of nine. The parents were natives of Virginia. and removed from the Old Do- minion to Ohio during its pioneer days. On the father's side the ancestors were French and German; on the mother's side the ancestors were English and Scotch. His father was a farmer by occupation, and afterward removed to the Buck- eye State, and carried on agriculture successfully in Clarke County, and there spent the remainder of his life.

Turner M. spent his days after the manner of the sons of pioneer farmers, acquiring a limited educa- tion in the primitive schools, which were carried on mostly in the winter seasons. At the age of twenty years, wishing to advance in the knowledge of the classies in the higher branches, he entered the Ohio University, at Atliens, from which he was graduated in the scientific course, and in the spring of 1856 he left his native State, wending his steps

westward, and erossing the Mississippi, came into the Territory of Nebraska, stopping first at Platts- mouth, in Cass County, and occupied himself, first. during the winter of 1856-57, in the employ of William M. Slaughter, clerking in a store for his board. In the spring of 1857 he hung out his shingle as an attorney-at-law, and practiced in that vicinity until the year 1874. During his stay there he was elected a member of the Territorial Legislature, in which he served three terms, and was four years in the council of the Territory.

Mr. Marquett, in June, 1866, was elected as the Republican candidate for Congress from Ne- braska, the State having previous to that date re- 'ceived the enabling act, and at that time voted upon the question of its admission as a State into the Union, and also elected a full set of officers, in- cluding one Congressman. The State was admitted on the 2d of March. A. D., 1867, and Mr. Mar- quett's term of office as Congressman simply lasted two days and three nights, in which time he had the pleasure of voting on all of the reconstruction acts passed over the veto of Andrew Johnson. In relating this part of his history Mr. Marquett said that he might under the law have served two years in Congress as well as two days; but under the cir- cumstanees he preferred the two days to the two years. It happened in this wise: " I was elected to Congress in June; the State was not admitted until the next general election in our State, which was in October. At that time it was thought best to elect a delegate for the Fortieth Congress, and also a Congressman. I was elected for delegate, and

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John Tafft for Congress. I went on in December, and worked hard for the admission of the State, which was admitted on the 2d of March. It then became a question of whether myself and the two Senators, who had been elected to represent the State, Gov. John M. Thayer and Thomas W. Tip- ton, should be sworn into the Thirty-ninth Congress or should wait until the 4th of March. and be sworn in on the Fortieth Congress. They both determined that they would wait for the Fortieth Congress. This would give them two years longer time. I could have waited and been Congressman for the Fortieth Congress, and as there was no law in the enabling act to elect but one Congressman, I knew that under the law I could hold my seat, and was advised by my friends not to be sworn in until the Fortieth Congress, and I admit it was something of a temptation to do as the Senators proposed to do, and which would give me two years instead of two days in Congress; but, on the other hand, I re- flected that it would hardly be the right thing toward my friend John Tafft, and hence, as soon as the State was admitted, I appeared on the floor of the House and was sworn in. Politicians from Ne- braska looked at it as a foolish move; I deemed it but right. It was the right thing to do, but I never got credit for it. I believe there was no paper in Nebraska, that spoke of it at all, but what spoke of it as being foolish upon my part. I recollect one of the papers in commenting upon it said that the Senators were sharp enough not to be sworn in till the Fortieth Congress; I had no more sense than to go in and be sworn out of a two-years term of Congress. I looked upon it as the right thing to do, and would do it again." Mr. Marquett added, " You see I am a failure as a politician." But we think this but illustrated Mr. Marquett's character ; he would rather do a square thing than be Congress- man for two years.

Our subject now returned to Plattsmouth, where he resumed the practice of law. He changed his residence to Lincoln in 1874, and soon afterward formed a partnership with' Amasa Cobb. They practiced law until 1878, under the firm name of Cobb & Marquett, and sometimes under the firm name of Cobb, Marquett & Moore, Mr. Cobb was then appointed JJudge of the Supreme Court,

and our subject continued the business mostly alone for some time. He is now at the head of the firm of Marquett, Deweese & Hall, and enjoying an extensive and lucrative practice of his profession. Mr. Marquett has been twice married; first in November, 1861, to Miss Harriet Border, a native of Illinois, who died at her home in Lincoln, in June, 1883, leaving four children : The eldest, Bell, is now the wife of Clifford Teft; Harriet married George H. Fawell; and Gertrude and Jolin are at home.

Mr. Marquett contracted a second marriage in 1885, with Mrs. Asenath Stetson. The family residence is pleasantly located on the corner of P and Eighteenth streets, in this city, and Mr. and Mrs. Marquett enjoy the acquaintance and friend- ship of the cultivated people of Lincoln. On in- quiry Mr. Marquett told the writer that he was not a rich man as some thought he was, but what he had he thought fairly represented what he had made under our free contract system. He had never been able to make anything by speculation. Mr. Marquett added, " My religion largely consists of the belief that a man ought to be satisfied with what he can squarely earn under the free contract system, dealing justly with all, and that the sin of our times is in the great efforts of so many trying to get something for nothing." He has always voted the Republican ticket, and has held his present position in connection with the Burlington & Mis- souri River Railroad since 1869, a period of nearly twenty years. He has been a close student and extensive reader, well balanced mentally, has made a good record in his particular field of labor. and we take pleasure in presenting his portrait in the most prominent place in this ALBUM.

Mr. Marquett's success as a lawyer depends upon the thoroughness with which he always understood his case, not only the general outline, but in detail. In the trial of a case he was original, and the op- posite counsel might look for the case to take an unexpected turn at any time. I was told the follow- ing expedient of his to test the credibility of a wit- ness: Ile was defending a man for murder; the murder had been committed by sending a bottle of whisky through the express office drugged with poison ; the evidence of the prosecution depended

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upon the express agent, who in the preliminary ex- amination identified Marquett's client as the man who delivered to him the bottle. When this wit- ness came upon the stand to testify in the case, Mr. Marquett got a person that favored his client to sit by his side while the witness testified, to whisper in his ear as though he was the accused, while the accused was sitting with his back to the witness and was busy writing. The witness identified the man that sat by the side of Marquett as the guilty man, and as the man that had brought the bottle in and delivered it to him. Thus the credibility of the witness was destroyed, and the aceused acquitted. In the conduet of a case he is not content with fol- lowing in the old beaten lines which are ordinarily followed in a trial, but goes outside and gathers up everything that bears upon the case or will aid his client; in short, his success has depended upon this thoroughness in all the details of a case, and the original manner in which he presented it.

C HIARLES BUELOW. Among the men of Yankee Hill Precinct who might justly rank as representative farmers is Charles Bue- low, who resides on seetion 7, Yankee Hill Pre- einet. IIis father and mother, Joachim and Dora Buelow, were both natives of Mecklenburg, Ger- many. where also our subject was born, Feb. 14. 1836. 1Ie had five brothers and sisters-Henry. Frederick (now deceased), Ricca, Mary and Annie. When Charles was about nineteen years of age his father was removed from the home circle by death. Some twenty years since his mother emigrated to America, and now resides in New Jersey. Our subject was well educated in the schools of his na- tive country, and is thoroughly conversant with his native language. In 1858 he took passage from Hamburg in a sailing-vessel, and after six long dreary weeks of tossing upon the great Atlantic rollers, and anon groping through the fogs of the Newfoundland banks, he landed in New York. After the first awkwardness of suddenly entering into the midst of surroundings so new, strange, and often unintelligent, had been dispelled by more in- timate acquaintance with the New World, he pro-

ceeded direct to Chicago, Ill., and for three years worked in the vicinity of that city as a farm hand. At the outbreak of the Civil War, while the echo of the cannon before Ft. Sumter was still reverber- ating through the land, stirring the heart and firing the brain of every true friend of the Union, our subject enlisted in the 6th Pennsylvania Regiment. After the necessary drilling and training he was ordered to the front, and took part in the engage- ment at Bull Run and several other of the early battles and minor engagements. At the close of his term he was honorably discharged, and took up his residence in Pennsylvania. He continued to reside in that State for many years, engaged at different times in the grocery business, and as owner of a canal boat. IIe has also spent much time in travel, which gave him many opportunities of educational value which he was enabled to util- ize, and to-day possesses as the result a well-stored. vigorous mind, replete with information on a vast range of subjects gathered from many sources.

Mr. Buelow married in Pennsylvania, in 1862, a most estimable lady, like himself a native of the Fatherland. There has been born to them a large family of children, of whom, however, only nine survive-Ricca, Dora, Lizzie L., George, Charles, Anne, Minnie, Frederick and Lotta. Ile came to this county in the spring of 1877, and bought the land where he now resides, which comprises a farm of eighty acres, which has well repaid all the energies and care devoted to it. Whether we turn to the fields and mark the superior agricultural efforts, to the barns and stables with their improved stock, or to the house with its pleasant rooms, which reflect in their arrangement and order the well-directed, cheerful lives and dispositions of the inmates, we are satisfied that Nebraska must go on rapidly toward the grand future which is hers, and which must come to any country possessing such homes. In the beginning Mr. Buelow had many difficulties to contend with. Ilis parents were far from wealthy, and just at the age when most eldest sons, needing a start in life, feel the pressure inseparable from a large family of brothers and sisters under such cir- cumstances, the father, to whom he naturally looked for counsel and help in the early efforts of his young manhood, was taken from him by death.

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Instead of sitting down in weakness and complaint. as so many have done, Mr. Buelow rose and gave battle to the unfavorable surroundings of adversity ; untrained and untried, he rose to work and labor for self-improvement and self-advancement, linking with these the desire to help the mother left alone by the same great trial. It is not too much to say that whatever our subject may be to-day in intelli- gence, in property or social status. he owes, under Providence, to his own constant, intelligently di- rected efforts and perseverance. lle has always re- mained in the communion of the Lutheran Church. in which he was reared in the old country. In polities Mr. Buelow is a Republican, but his votes are always cast more with a view to the improve- ment of the county and State, and the elevation of society, than the mere advancement to office of some member of his party, and yet withal there is no more ardent and consistent Republican than he.

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Portrait and biographical album of Lancaster county, Nebraska, Part 10

Author: Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Chicago, Chapman brothers Number of Pages: 812

Author:
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Chicago, Chapman brothers
Number of Pages: 812