USA > Nebraska > Lancaster County > Portrait and biographical album of Lancaster county, Nebraska > Part 85
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To such men as the subject of this sketch is the great West indebted for its phenomenal growth and development. Ile is the offspring of a hardy and energetic race of people, noted for their culture and intelligence, his father having been Ilon. Ben- jamin Wolfe, a native of the Old Dominion, and belonging essentially to the F. F. V's. llis mother, formerly Miss Isabella Shepherd, was a native of
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Kentucky, and of French ancestry. The Wolfe family trace their descent to Germany.
The parents of our subject after marriage located in Sullivan County, Ind., where the father carried on agriculture, and interested himself in the devel- opment of the new State, taking an active part in its political affairs. lle represented the people of his county six or seven terms in the State Legisla- ture, and in 1850 was a member of the convention called to revise the Constitution. For a period of fourteen years he was the Clerk of Sullivan County. being among the first to serve in that office.
After the children of the family had become old enough to leave the primary school the parents of our subject removed to Monroe County, Ind., the scat of the State University, for the purpose of giving their children better educational advantages. They lived there ten years, when they returned to the farm in Sullivan County, where they spent their last days. the father dying about 1868, and the mother in 1884. Their daughter Juliette, the eldest of their nine children, is now the widow of William Ilastings, who was killed by the Indians in Kansas, about 1855: Thomas J., a practicing attorney in Sullivan, Ind., and William B., a stockman, also of Sullivan County ; Jacob V., our subject, was the second son; Ann is the wife of Dr. S. A. Tilford, of Martinsville, Ind .; Benjamin S. is carrying on an extensive real-estate business in Sullivan ; Clater C. died there in the winter of 1885; Albert P. is a practicing physician, of Russellville, Ill .; Solomon T. is engaged as an abstract clerk in Sullivan, Ind.
Jacob V. Wolfe was born at Merom, Sullivan Co .. Ind .. Oct. 7, 1833, where he lived until a lad nine years of age, then removed with his parents to their farm in the southwestern part of that county. At the age of seventeen and when leav- ing the common school, he entered the State Univer- sity at Bloomington, from which he was graduated in 1857, receiving the degree of A. B. Thereafter he engaged as teacher of a school for boys in connection with the Glendale Female College, Ohio, and was subsequently made President of the Major Female College at Bloomington. IH. A year later he returned to Bloomington in his native State, for the purpose of entering upon the study of law. While there he was waited upon by a
committee from Gosport, and invited to take charge of the lligh School in that town. After due deliberation he was prevailed upon to accept, and officiated as Principal of said school for a period of three years, greatly to his credit as an instructor, and with satisfaction to all concerned.
At the expiration of this contract Mr. Wolfe returned to Bloomington, Ind., and entered the law department of the Indiana State University, where he studied until the spring of 1862. He began the practice of his profession at Gosport, and six months later was elected to the State Legisla- ture, and served his term acceptably, and after another course at the university, returned to Gos- port, whence, after a brief sojourn. he removed to the town of Spencer, the county seat of Owen County.
At this place Mr. Wolfe entered upon the prac- tice of law, but was interrupted as before by his election to office, being this time made Treasurer of Owen County, the duties of which office he dis- charged for a period of four years. This terminated his public life in Indiana, as he had determined upon a removal across the Mississippi. The fall of 1871 found him in this county, and, with the exception of three years spent in Lincoln for the purpose of educating his children, he has since been a resident of Grant Precinet. During his sojourn in Lincoln he resumed his law practice, in which he has been uniformly successful. The Democrats of this county chose him as their candidate for the Legislature, but the party being in the minority he was defeated, although running ahead of his ticket.
The farm of Mr. Wolfe. which is finely located on sections 6 and 7, comprises 160 acres of im- proved land, in the care and cultivation of which he takes a creditable pride, while never losing sight of those mental acquirements, both for himself and his children, which seem to be the leading idea of his life. The lady who has been the sharer of his home and fortune for the last thirty years was in her girlhood Miss Eliza E. Batterton. and their marriage took place in Glendale, Ohio, Dec. 18, 1857. Mrs. Wolfe was born in Bloomington, Ind., Sept. 20, 1836, and is the daughter of David and Amanda (Tilford) Batterton, natives respectively of Kentucky and Indiana. Both are now deceased,
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the death of each occurring in Bloomington, Ind. Their family included seven children, of whom Mrs. Wolfe was the eldest. Of the others two are surviving, and residents of Missouri and Kansas.
To our subject and his estimable wife there have been born nine children-Harry K., Nellie B., Frank S., Miriam, Jessie B., J. Vance, Mary T., William W. and Paul C. Two of these died in Spencer, Ind. Nellie B. is the wife of Prof. Charles D. Griffin, of the Reform School, in Kear- ney, Neb. From one to three of the children have been students in the State University at Lincoln for the last fifteen years. Harry K. was graduated there- from in the class of '80, and subsequently spent three years in Germany, being one year a student at Berlin University, and two years at Leipsic, from which he was graduated in philosophy in March, 1886, with the degree of Ph. D. Hle is now a teacher at San Luis Obispo, Cal.
Mr. Wolfe, in 1878, was the candidate of his party for the State Senate, and later for Prosecut- ing Attorney, being defeated as before with the balance of his ticket, the Democracy being in the minority in this section. He identified himself with the Masonie fraternity in 1868, and is still a member of Blue Lodge No. 95, at Spencer, Ind. He also belongs to the Chapter there, and, with his estimable wife, is a member in good standing of the Christian Church at Lincoln.
The many friends of this widely known and re- spected gentleman will without doubt be gratified to have before them, in this volume, the excellent portrait which the artist enables us to present.
C APT. WILLIAM C. HEDDLESON, who is identified with the mercantile interests of Lincoln, where he is engaged in the grocery business, is a fine representative of the citizen sol- diers of the United States who saved the Union from destruction during the late Rebellion, and have since been actively engaged in developing the won- derful resources of the great West, building up large and opulent cities, towns and villages, and estab- lishing agricultural, commercial, and other interests where scarcely more than a quarter of a century ago
was a wild, desolate and uninhabited region. The Captain has a noble military record, extending from the days of the first Bull Run, the first real engage- ment of the war, until the last battle was fought and the war was brought to a close. Ile was a brave, unflinching soldier, discharging his duties with such promptness and efficiency as to draw upon himself deserved commendations from his superiors and promotion from the ranks. As an officer, he won the hearty respect of those under him, and was al- ways found to be true to the trust and respon- sibilities imposed upon him.
Our subject was born in the town of Winchester, Adams Co., Ohio, March 3, 1835. His father, Will- iam Heddleson, was born in the city of Dublin, Ire- land, and coming to America when a mere boy, soon entered the Colonial army and took part in the Revolution. He did gallant service, and on account of wounds that he received in battle he was a pen- sioner at the time of his death. lle also took part in the War of 1812. Capt. Heddleson now has in his possession a portion of the Continental money that his father secured for his services in the Revo- lution. Some years after the war his father located at Ft. Washington, near Cincinnati, and bought Government land that is now included in the heart of that city. It was then heavily timbered, and after clearing a part of it, Mr. Heddleson sold it and moved to Fleming County, Ky., where he engaged in the mercantile business. He was a very enter- prising man, and opened and successfully managed four stores there. lle used to buy his goods in Philadelphia and New York, and packed them across the mountains, and thence down the Ohio River. After carrying on his business in Fleming County for some years, he disposed of his property there and moved to Adams County, Ohio, where he lived retired until his death, having accumulated a comfortable fortune. Hle was a man of more than ordinary force of character, which, united with his decided talent for business, made his life a success, and his geniality and good habits won for him the esteem and respect of his fellow-citizens. Ile was fortunate in securing for his lifelong companion a woman who was in every respect a model wife and mother. Iler maiden name was Elizabeth Hayes, and her death occurred in Lincoln, where she had
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come to make her home, in 1868. on the Ist of Sep- tember. Their only daughter, Mrs. A. E. Townley, is now dead.
Capt. Ileddleson passed his boyhood in his native connty, and at the age of fifteen he commenced to make his own way in the world as second clerk on a steamboat on the Ohio River, and continued thus employed until 1861. But the war breaking out, all personal aims and ambitions were laid aside, and he was among the first to respond to the call of his country to her citizens to rise in defense of her principles and dearest rights. Ile enlisted April 19, 1861, in Company 1, 2d Ohio Infantry, and took part in the first battle of the war at Bull Run. lle served his term of enlistment. ninety days, and was then discharged with his regiment. He re-en- listed in July, 1861, in Company I, 24th Ohio In- fantry, and was mustered in as Second Lieutenant. On the 20th of August, 1863, he was honorably discharged, and returned home only to raise a com- pany for the 12th Ohio Cavalry, designated as Company E, of which he was commissioned Captain, and he then hastened back to the scene of action, and served until November, 1865. Ile was present at the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Stone River, Chick- amauga, and joining Sherman's forces at Chatta- nooga, he was under that great commander from Atlanta to the sea, and thence through the Carolinas, taking an active part in all the important battles throughout the entire campaign. At Hillsboro, N. C., he was detailed to report to Gen. Stoneman, and was made paroling officer, attending to the duties of that position at Charlotte, N. C., and at Athens and other points in Georgia, and he was with the troops that followed and captured Jeff Davis. After the close of the war he marched with his command from Atlanta to Sweet Water Spring, Tenn., and from there to Nashville, Tenn., where he was mus- tered out in November.
After his retirement from the army, Capt, Heddle- son returned to Cincinnati, and engaged as messen- ger with the Adams Express Company, remaining with them until 1868. In July of that year he came to Lincoln, coming via the Ohio, Mississippi and Mis- souri Rivers to Nebraska City, and thence by stage to Lincoln, which was then but a village. The sur- rounding country was wild prairie, and deer and
antelope were plentiful in the vicinity. He bought a lot and erected a frame building on the southwest corner of Thirteenth and M streets, and opened the building as a hotel in company with J. N. Townley. Ile continued in the hotel business here until 1883, when he went to Las Vegas Hot Springs, N. M., to take charge of a hotel in the interests of the Santa Fe Railroad. He remained there three years, and then returned to Lincoln, and took a position in the Capital Hotel until October, 1887, when he opened a grocery store in company with his old partner, J. N. Townley. They have established this business on a firm basis, and are doing well finan- cially, notwithstanding the competition that they have to encounter.
During his long residence in Lincoln the Captain has been an important factor in promoting the busi- ness interests of this city, whose marvelous growth he has witnessed with great pride. Ile is widely known, his experience as a hotel-keeper having brought him into contact with many people, and his ready tact, frank, hearty and unassuming man- ners, have won him hosts of friends. He is promi- nently identified with the G. A. R., being a charter member of Appomattox Post No. 214. He also be- longs to Capital City Lodge No. 68, K. of P. Polit- ieally, he upholds the principles of the Republican party, being one of its stanchest adherents.
UGUST HEIDECKER. Among thie emi- grants from Germany to this country back in the fifties were Christian and Barbara Heidecker, who settled in Clayton County, Iowa, where, upon the 15th of May, 1860, there was born to them a son, the subject of this sketch, whose name is found upon the roll of Buda Pre- einct's early inhabitants. There he continues to reside, on section 27, and is engaged successfully in general farming.
In 1869 the parents of our subject removed from Clayton County, Iowa, and settled in this State, taking up eighty acres of land on section 22 of the above-named precinct. As may be supposed, thie land was in all the beauty and ruggedness of its primitive condition, and by his labors he has
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brought it to a higher state of cultivation, and has made the original farm one of 160 acres. This was one of the first families to settle in the precinct. Besides our subject there were five other children in the family, of whom, including August, there are four living, namely: Louisa, the wife of J. J. Meyer, of the same precinct; our subject, Adolph and Pauline.
The father of the subject of our sketch is one of the representative German-American citizens of the district, and enjoys the confidence and esteem of all who know him. He is a man of fine character, sterling worth and business honor, in his domestic relations worthy of imitation. Both he and his wife are members of the German Lutheran Church, and are among its firmest friends. In political matters he is a Republican.
As above noted, our subject was but nine years of age when his parents came hither. In this county, therefore, he has been brought up, and the memories of his boyhood and youth are those of this district. On the 1st of November, 1887, he was married to Mary Krapp, the estimable daugh- ter of Joseph and Elizabeth Krapp, also of this county ; he is the owner of eighty acres of well- improved land. Ile is a stanch adherent of the Republican party, and although quite a young man has given evidence of powers that will bring him to the front before many years pass by.
ERRY D. WOODS, a very intelligent man, having one of the most finely located farms in Grant Precinct, comprising 240 acres on section 21, came to Lancaster County in August, 1882, and the following spring took pos- session of his present property, where he has since resided and given his attention to general farming and stoek-raising. Ile has about him all the com- forts of a pleasant rural home, including an amiable wife and one little daughter, Florence Mary, who was born at their present homestead, July 23, 1886.
Our subject was born in Hancock County, Ind., twelve miles from the city of Indianapolis, April 5. 1840, and until a youth of fifteen years spent his time mostly at his father's farm, Later the latter
established a store at Cumberland, Marion County, where Jerry D. became a clerk and remained until his removal to Stark County, IN., where he was a resident until the fall of 1862. Ile then returned to his native State, and resumed clerking for his brother in Hancock County until the winter of 1863, which he spent in Indianapolis similarly occu- pied. In May following, the Civil War being in progress, he enlisted in Company B, 132d Indiana Infantry, served five months, and upon his retire- ment from the service was a resident of his native county another year. In the fall of 1865 he re- turned to Stark County, Ill., and resided there on his father's farm until April, 1869.
Our subject now repaired to Northern Indiana, and engaged as a lumber dealer on his own account until February, 1870, when he returned to Stark County, Ill., and at Castleton carried on mercantile business for a period of seven years. From there he removed to Wyoming, in the same county, and was similarly occupied two years. Going to Stock- ton, Cal., in March, 1879, he was employed alter- nately as a clerk and farmer until August. 1882, which month found him in the city of Lincoln, this State. His subsequent movements we have already indicated.
James Woods, the father of our subject, was born near Ripley, Brown Co., Ohio, and upon reaching manhood married Miss Permelia Estes, a native of Liberty, Ind. ; they lived for a number of years in the city of Indianapolis, but the father spent his last days at Wyoming, Stark County, where his decease occurred Dec. 3, 1878. The mother is still living, and a resident of Wyoming. The parental household included five sons and three daughters, and Jerry D. was the fourth child of the family. Of his brothers and sisters all survive, and are residents of Illinois, Indian Territory and Cali- fornia.
The marriage of Jerry D. Woods and Miss Re- becca G. Butler was celebrated at the home of a friend, in Kewanee, Ill., March 22, 1879, Mrs. Woods is the daughter of William H. and Mary (Fuller) Butler, natives of Connecticut and Pennsyl- vania respectively, and who settled in Stark County, Ill., during its pioneer days. There the father ear- ried on farming and was also editor of a paper until
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the death of the mother, Aug. 7, 1878. Mr. But- ler subsequently came to this county, and died at his home in Grant Precinct, March 29, 1885. They were the parents of four sons and two daughters, of whom Mrs. Woods was the fourth child. She was born in Saxon, Henry Co., Ill., Dee. 3, 1849, was carefully reared by an excellent mother, and remained a member of the parental household until her marriage. She is a very pleasant and intelligent lady, and is a member in good standing of the Episcopal Church. Mr. Woods, politically, is a solid Republican, and socially, a member of the Masonic fraternity. He takes genuine interest in the enterprises calculated for the progress and wel- fare of his community, keeps himself well posted upon current events by the perusal of the leading journals of the day, and illustrates the career of a worthy and upright citizen, who is contributing his full quota in elevating the publie morals and en- eouraging the march of civilization.
G EORGE II. POEFILER, who is so well known in Lincoln in connection with his popular and ever-increasing business as baker and confectioner, was born at Beardstown, Cass Co., Ill., in the year 1850. His father, Jacob Poehler, was a native of Germany, and was born in that country about the year 1821. His education was not exten- sive, but such as served him frequently in after years. The exercises of the institution of learning being completed, he was apprenticed to learn the trade of a tailor, which he continued to follow even after coming to the United States. Ile was married in his native country to Earnestine Treilieb, and they became the parents of six children, whose names are recorded as here appended : George H., the sub- ject of this sketch; Ernest .J., Emelia E., Caroline, Charles A. and Edward.
It was not long after marriage when the father of our subjeet determined to emigrate to America. This he did in the year 1848, and located at St. Lonis, working at his trade for a time, and then removing to Beardstown, Ill., he opened a shop and carried on business for himself until the year i 858, when he removed to the Territory of Kansas, and
located in the town of Sumner, near Atchison. Here he opened a general store and continued until 1864. by which time he had quite a large business, but in that year he removed his business to Atchison, grad- ually working into the dry-goods business exclus- ively. The last two or three years of his life he lived quiet and retired at his home in that city, where he died in the year 1884.
When his father removed to Kansas our subject was just eight years old. He had attended the Beardstown schools for about a year and a half, and his education was recommenced in their new home. He attended the Kansas schools until he was twelve years of age, when he left in order to become his father's clerk, where he learned to do business. In this occupation our subject engaged until the year 1870, when he became a partner with his father, which continued until 1875, when the latter sold his share of the business to a Mr. Eberhard, and our subject remained about three years, then sokl ont. and engaged with his father and brother in the bakery and confectionery business.
After one year in the above occupation the broth- ers bought out their father's interest in the business, and continued it upon their own account until the year 1885. In that year our subject sold out to his brother, and came to Lincoln and opened an es- tablishment upon the same line, upon O street, be- tween Eleventh and Twelfth streets. This business has grown rapidly from the beginning, and is too well known to the citizens and inhabitants of Lin- eoln and surrounding country to eall for any re- mark. Suffice it to say that he has continued to extend his trade because of the quality of his goods, and the fact that whatever he promised or stated a thing to be, the promise was fulfilled, and the in- crease has simply followed as a natural result.
Mr. Poehler was united in the year 1879 to An- nie L. Peters, of Waterville, Kan., on the 15th of September. To them have been born four children -Louisa E., Julius A., Carrie E., and Martha, who died at the age of six months. Mrs. Poehler is the daughter of Jacob and Frederica Peters, both na- tives of Germany. IIer father came to the United States at the age of eighteen, her mother at the age of twelve. They became acquainted, and were sub- sequently married at Sumner, Kan., where they
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were among the first settlers. It was here that their daughter, the wife of our subject, was born, Aug. 4, 1860. Her parents afterward removed to Wa- terville, and at present reside near Greenleaf, Washı- ington Co., Kan.
h ANS J. BUHMANN. Among the many admirable qualities of manhood, one of the most noticeable and distinguishing is that of self-reliance. It manifests its presence in the happy possessor in so many and in such various ways that it is impossible for him to try to conceal it, as it will display itself in his most unguarded con- duct and speech, and will not be concealed in his most guarded moments. But such a quality does not need to be concealed, for wherever it is to be found it stands as a harbinger of conquests and victory. We do not mean that a man possessing the quality above named should start out in life with the one formula "Given self, to find God," for that would be rash indeed, but that he should con- sider himself more interested in his own affairs than any other man, and more likely to succeed in the shaping of his own fortune if he depends upon him- self than if he waits for any other man to direct his affairs.
As an illustration of the quality of self-reliance we call attention to the achievements of the gentle- man whose name appears in the beginning of this sketch. Mr. Buhmann is a farmer of Buda Pre- cinct, residing on section 1. He is a son of John J. and Catherine Buhmann, and was born on the 5th of October, 1846, in Sleswick-Holstein. He is the third son in his father's family, and was reared to manhood in his native country, having there received a fair education in the German tougue. In the year 1869, when he was about twenty-three years old, he emigrated to America, for that purpose taking pas- sage on a steamer at Hamburg, which reached New York City after a voyage of fourteen days.
After his arrival in America our subjeet acquired a fair knowledge of the English language, and was thus prepared to transact business in the languages of two countries. For about five years he made his home in Chicago, Ill., and having learned the
trade of bricklaying, he followed that occupation during his stay in that city. After having visited several places, and made a short stay in each one, in the year 1876 he came to Lancaster County, and bought eighty acres of land from the Burling- ton & Missouri River Railroad. The land at that time was in an uncultivated condition, and our subject immediately began to fit it for use, succeed- ing so well in his endeavors that now he has a splendid farm in excellent condition, with all the buildings necessary for comfort and convenience, some idea of which may be obtained from the view of the same which the artist's skill enables us faitlı- fully to portray.
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