USA > Nebraska > Sherman County > Loup City > The trail of the Loup; being a history of the Loup River region > Part 21
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BABCOCK, OSCAR, -Legislator, postmaster, farmer and stock-raiser, came to Valley county, Neb., and located on a homestead at what is now a part of North Loup, in November, 1872. This is now a thriving village containing about five hundred people. The village was laid out by J. A. Green, under the supervision of Mr. Babcock, July 17, 1874, on the north- east quarter of section 35, town 18, range 13, with an addition laid out in June, 1881, by Oscar Babcock; second addition made in May, 1882. Mr. Babcock was president of a Seventh-Day Baptist colony which was organ- ized in Wausbara county, Wis., which colony settled in North Loup in May, 1872. Mr. B. arrived with his family in November of the same year. His wife died in Waushara, Wisconsin, in the fall of 1872. They have four children .- Edwin J., Arthur E., Myra and George J. Mr. B, with his small children settled in a dug-out fourteen feet square and lived there un- til the summer of 1873, when he erected a red cedar block house. He was pastor of the Seventh-Day Baptist Church for more than five years, preach- ing the first sermon in a small grove on the bank of the North Loup River. in May, 1872, to a congregation of twenty-five pioneers. He was appointed agent of immigration for Valley county. He has been postmaster off and on ever since January, 1873. He was born in Cattaraugas county, N. Y.,
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March 15, 1834, and lived in his native state until 1849. His family then moved to Rock county, Wis., where he attended school for five years, then to Waushara county, Wis., being the first of the pioneers in the then wilds of central Wisconsin. He is a self-educated and thoroughly practical busi- ness man. His first wife's maiden name was Metta A. Bristol, of New York state. He was again married in 1877, to Miss Hattie E. Payn of North Loup, who died in February, 1880. Mr. B. was a member of the Wisconsin Legislature in 1865-66; was elected Probate Judge of Valley county, hold- ing the office one term : was County Superintendent of schools one term ; in the Nebraska State Legislature in 1879. Elder Babcock is the president of the "Old settlers' Meeting" of the North Loup Valley and does much to further the interest in this organization.
BABCOCK, HEMAN A .- who but lately died while holding the office of Deputy State Treasurer under Peter Mortensen, is one of the early trail- ers whose memory will long be cherished on the Loup. He came to North Loup, May 15, 1872, and located on a homestead in section 2, township 19, range 13. He was the first sheriff of Valley county, and held the office of clerk from 1876 to 1882. Later he was elected president of the First National Bank at Ord and then Auditor of the State of Nebraska. Since that time he has held many lucrative positions of trust under the various state administrations. He was born in Cattaraugas county, New York, May 19, 1842. He later removed with his parents to Wisconsin. He en- listed in 1863 in Co. G., Thirty-Seventh Reg., Wisconsin Volunteer Infan- try and was mustered out in 1865 as Sergeant Major. After spending some years in Minnesota he joined the Seventh-Day Baptist colony of Waushara county, Wisconsin, at North Loup. He was married August 28, 1862, to Retta O. Bristol of Kenosha county, Wisconsin. They have two grown sons, Everett C. and Royal O.
BABCOCK, N. W .- was born in Shelby county, Ohio, in 1844. When he was ten years old his parents took up their home in Iowa where he lived till 1872. At this time he moved to Nebraska and took a pre-emption claim about three and one-half miles southeast from North Loup. In the following year he purchased his present farm and has hved there and in North Loup ever since. Mr. Babcock has always been a farmer and a glance at his well kept place will satisfy everyone that he has been success- ful in his chosen calling.
BADGER, DR. CHARLES-was born in Kingsbury, Washington county, N. Y., on the 21st of March, 1824. He lived in his native state un- til eighteen years of age, during the last three years of which he taught in the public school of his native town. From this time until the age of twenty two he studied theology. . From twenty-two to twenty-seven years of age he studied medicine and clerked in a store. On June 9, 1851, he went before Drs. Johnson and Bartlett, of Milwaukee, Censors of the State Medical examiners, and upon their recommendaton received the society's diploma at the hands of Alfred L. Castleman, who was then president of the society. In the same month he commenced the practice of medicine
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with A. L. Castleman at Delafield, Waukesha county, Wis. On March 31,
1853, he was married to Samantha L. Maxon. They have two children - Katie M. and Hettie S. Badger. While living in Wisconsin, Katie married Mr. W. J. Holliday, railroad contractor. Hettie S. married James Vernon, an English gentleman. Dr. Badger graduated March 14, 1871, at the Chi- cago Medical College, the Medical department of the Northwestern Univer- sity, receiving the college and university seals. He practiced medicine in Waukesha, Dodge, Dane and Rock counties, Wis., McHenry county, Ill., and Clinton county Iowa. In the spring of 1872, he came to Valley county, Nebr., and located on section 26, town 17; broke 120 acres, took a timber claim and broke forty acres, and planted twenty in trees. He practiced medicine in Valley, Sherman, Howard, Greeley and Taylor counties for nearly eight years, when overwork and failing health compelled him to abandon it. He was appointed by the Governor to register votes of Valley county ; was coroner three terms, justice of peace one term, first county superintendent of public instruction for Valley county, fought through the first public highway, built the first bridge and gave to North Loup its name. The venerable doctor spends his declining years at the comfortable family home in the town he helped to found.
BAILEY, DANIEL COOLEY,-the grand old man of the Loup, was born in New York State, October 15, 1820. which makes him now more than 85 years old. He was married April 6, 1845, to Susan E. Dale. They bave four children, Mary, George, Harry and Frank. Leaving New York the Bailey family sojourned for some years in Wisconsin and came on west to Nebraska and the Loup in 1872. They came overland by way of Nance county and reached the site of their future home September 3, 1872. From the first Mr. Bailey was one of the pillars of the upper colony. When Valley county was oragnized in 1873 he was elected one of the first board of commissioners and as such performed his duty well. When the Indian scares of 1873 stirred the settlements his cabin became a rallying point; when later needy wayfarers happened up on the north side of the Loup, they could expect a hearty welcome from Grandpa and Grandma Bailey, for their latchstring always swung inward. Now that declining years are be- ginning to set their stamp upon these staunch first-comers they may at any rate have the satisfaction of having lived to see the once virgin valley be- come a part of the great American Commonwealth in riches and in fact.
BARKER, THOMAS O.,-one of the first settlers of Mira Valley was Thomas O. Barker. He was born in Almond, Alleghany county, New York, July 24, 1838. In 1856 he moved to Milton, Wsconsin. He celebrated New Year's Day of 1861 by taking Miss Mary A. Needham as a helpmeet. Because of failing health he came to the Loup country in June, 1873, taking one of the first homesteads in Mira Valley. Mr. Barker died July 8, 1897. Mrs. Barker and the two oldest sons now farm the homestead. The young- est son is a physician in one of the leading hospitals of London, England.
BANCROFT, RUFUS W .-- One of the first comers to the Loup and one of the first set of county commissioners, spent his early life in Michigan,
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where he was born in March, 1826. He arrived with his family in Spring- dale early in the spring of 1878 and was for many years a leader in public life. Of his three children Emma C., S. T. and Libbie May, the former married William A. Hobson, August 10, 1873, and as such was the second white woman married in Valley county. Mr. Hobson set up the first blacksmith shop in the upper Loup, first in Springdale and later at Fort Hartsuff where he became the post smith. After a time again he moved his shop to Calamus and then to Ord. He died after a lingering illness, June 13, 1883, leaving a wife and one daughter Cora, behind.
BARTZ, FREDERICK-was born in Pommerania, Germany, Novem- ber 4, 1844,. Here he lived till he was about 18 years old when he moved to the vicinity of Berlin. When 28 years old he married Miss Augusta Schoning. 'Hearing of the possibilities of this country through his broth- er-in-law, Mr. Otto Schoning, they came to the U. S. in the fall of 1877 and settled in Valley county about six miles north of North Loup. Here they have lived since.
BEE, N .- is a native of West Virginia in which state he was born in 1837. He moved to Minnesota in 1865 where he lived for twelve years. In 1877 he moved to Valley county and settled on a farm near North Loup. Mr. Bee has followed farming principally as an occupation although he did spend four years as a merchant in North Loup.
BENSON, DANIEL-Mr. Daniel Benson was born in Steuben county, New York, October 31, 1839. When he was twelve years oid his parents moved to Lake county, Illinois. Here he grew to manhood and on August 2, 1862, enlisted in Co. G. 96th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served till June 11, 1865. On December 26 of the same year he took unto himself as a wife a Miss Shotswell. They came to Platte county, Nebraska, in 1869, only to remove to the Loup country and homestead in Greeley county iu 1873. Here they resided till Feb. 2, 1899, when Mr. Benson died. Mrs. Benson bought her present home in North Loup in 1903 and has since made this her home.
BOETTGER, CONRAD -was born near the city of Cassel in Germany in 1841 where he lived the first 24 years of his life. Then coming to Ameri- ca he spent several years in New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland. In 1869 he arrived at Wautoma, Wisconsin, and in the winter of the year he married a Miss Hannab Niekell. In the spring of 1874 they came to Mira Valley and on May 9 homesteaded their present home farm. Mr. Boettger is one of Mira Valley's prominent farmers and is very much interested in horticulture.
BURDICK, AMOS R .- was born April 27, 1827, in Scott, Courtland county, N. Y. Here he grew to manhood and on August 27, 1-52, married a Miss Martha Spencer. Immediately they went to Waupaca county, Wis consin, where they resided till shortly before the Civil War when they moved to Milton, Wisconsin. In 1861 Mr. Burdick enlisted in the 13th Wisconsin Infantry, Co. B., and for four long years he served as a soldier of the federal government. In the spring of 1872 they homesteaded in
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Valley county just across the river from the old Stewart place. From 1883 to 1889 these people lived in Rushville, Nebr. They then took up their residence in Plimona, California. Here they resided till in 1903 when on a visit to their daughter, Mrs. Stewart, Mr. Burdick died. His wife still lives in Plimona.
BOWER, CHARLEY-Although Charley Bower was born in Baden, Germany, in 1851 it is hardly possible that he remembers very many experiences that took place in the old country for his parents moved to America when he was but six months old. His first home in this land was in Freeport, Illinois, where he resided until he came of age. The next three years of his life were spent in Omaha, after which time he came to the North Loup valley and settled on this present farm in 1874. Mr. Bower has always been a successful farmer and stock raiser. CHASE, HENRY A .- was born in Jefferson county N. Y., in 1837. He received the rudiments of his education here and when eighteen years of age moved to Wisconsin. Here he completed his education at Albion Academy. He enlisted in the Union Army and served till Aug- ust '65. His war record is a very honorable one. He was seriously wounded in the explosion and suc- ceeding disastrous charge before Petersburg. Later he was present at Lee's surrender at Appomattox. At the close of the war he returned to Wisconsin ; thence he moved to Minnesota and later to Mis- souri, where he dwelt thirteen years. In 1859 he married Delia Babcock, a sister of Oscar and Heman A. Babcock. He has
one daughter, Nellie E. Black. The family came to North Loup in 1879, when Mr. Chase bought one quarter of the section on which North Loup is located. Mr. Chase has been a lifelong Republican, casting his first vote for Abraham Lincoln. He has been a member of the county board off and on for twelve years and a member of the North Loup school board for more than twenty years.
CHRISTIAN, PETER-is probably one of the best known men from the neighborhood of Arcadia. He was born in Denmark May 18, 1848. In 1867 he came to Wisconsin where he lived as a farmer till 1874. He then moved to Indiana from which place, after a three years' stay, he came to this valley. At first he bought some railroad land at $1.25 per acre and in 1880, being well pleased with the country, he took up his claim about three miles north from Arcadia. In 1884 he purchased his present farm near town.
COLLINS, W. G .- was born in Alleghany county, New York, in 1845. In 1863 he moved to Wisconsin where he lived for nine years, engaged as a farmer. In 1872 he came to Valley county and settled on the same farm on which he now resides. Mr. Collins is one of the best known and most
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highly respected citizens of this valley. While a member of the first mil- itia organized in this county, he was called out three times on account of Indian scares but never came into any active engagement. His daughter, who was born January 30, 1873, bears the distinction of being the very first white child born in Valley county.
COLBY, H. M .- was born in the state of Maine in February, 1836. When 17 years old he came to Wisconsin, which state remained his home till 1876. On July 24, 1861, he was married and nine days afterwards enlisted in Co. I., 2nd Wisconsin Infantry. From this time on to the time of his discharge he never received a furlough and never saw his bride. In February of the following year Mr. Green re-enlisted in Co. E, 9th Illinois Cavalry and served eight months. Dur- ing his life as a soldier he fought in many of the most important battles of the war, including 2nd Bull Run, Antietam, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, siege of Petersburg and several others. After the war he returned to Wisconsin where he lived till September, 1876, when he came to Greeley county, Nebraska, and took up a claim about four miles northeast of North Loup. In 1882 he moved to town where he has lived ever since.
COOMBS, MINGERSON-is a native of Knox county, Me., and when 13 years of age moved with his parents to LaPorte county, Ind., where he worked on a farm until of age. He then opened a store in New Carlisle, Ind. His next move was to Berrien county, Mich., where he bought a fruit farm, and four years later, in 1873, sold out and came to Valley county. He located a homestead and a tree claim, and has probably accomplished what no other man in the United States has, to-wit, taking a timber claim under the original timber culture act, which required the actual planting and cultivation of forty acres of timber. This he successfully accomplished and now has one of the finest bodies of timber in the state, many of the trees being two feet in diameter. He still owns both quarter sections, with 230 acres under a high state of cultivation, besides 67 acres adjacent to Ord with 50 acres under cultivation. Mr. Coombs has been a prominent factor in Ord having held many positions of trust and honor. He has cred- itably filled the offices of County Commissioner, County Surveyor, County Superintendent of schools and Mayor of the city. He is also a representa- itve business man and one of the most highly respected citizens.
COON, J. L .-- was born in Alleghany county, New York, in 1840. His parents moved to Wisconsin when he was but a child and this continued his home till 1860. Then he went to Minnesota and lived there as a farmer till 1877 when he came to Nebraska and settled near Fort Hartsuff. In 1893 he went to Oregon but like most of the other folks who move away from the Loup Valley he returned in 1895. He is now engaged in the feed business in Burwell.
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CRANDALL, ALPHA M .- was born in Milton, Wis., December 11, 1852. When 14 years of age his parents moved to Illinois where he was raised as a farmer. Late in October, 1878, he came to Valley county and homesteaded six miles from North Loup. On May 25, 1882, he married a Miss Rood. Then for ten years they lived on their farm. In 1892 they moved to North Loup where they still live.
CRANDALL, MAXON-one of North Loup's oldest inhabitants was born in Alleghany county, N. Y. away back in 1827. He was brought up and received his schooling there. For many years he followed the profes- sion of a mechanic. He was early married to Elizabeth Lily, by whom he has had six children, three of whom are living. When he took up the westward march it was to halt for some time in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and finally in 1879, to move to Nebraska. Here he has farmed and in vari- ous ways made an honest living. He is now retired at the ripe age of 78.
DAVIS, A. J .- Though not of the first immigration to Valley county, another early settler is Mr. A. J. Davis of North Loup. He was born in Salem county, West Virginia, December 21, 1829. When but a boy of nine his parents moved to Ft. Jefferson, Ohio, where Mr. Davis gained his majority. Soon afterwards he went to Peoria, Ill. Later he removed to Welton, Iowa. Here he met a Miss Esther S. Worth whom he married on October 25, 1857. In May, 1874 these people moved to North Loup and here Mrs. Davis passed away November 22, 1893. Mr. Davis has carried the mail ever since the railroad came to North Loup.
DAVIS, HENRY S. was born in 1844 in Louis county, N . Y. At the age of twelve he came to Walworth county, Wisconsin, and grew to man- hood there. He was a member of the 22nd Wisconsin Regiment and served actively for three years. After the Civil War he moved to Minnesota where he pursued farming for twelve years. He came to North Loup in 1877 and took a homestead three-quarters of a mile from town. Later he was proprietor of the Union Hotel of North Loup for three years. Since that time he has been at different times liveryman, farmer, etc. September 28, 1867, he was married to Abbie F. Greene. They are the parents of six children.
DAVIS, NEWTON-was born in Ohio in 1834. When but ten years old his parents moved to Rock county, Wis., where he lived for nearly twenty years. In 1861 he married a Miss Clement and after two years took up his home in Minnesota. In 1868 they turned their faces towards the west and after spending six years in Iowa finally landed in this Eldorado of the West, the great North Loup Valley. Their home was now on a farm about eight miles south of North Loup. In 1891 they came to North Loup where Mr. Davis died in June 1903, his sorrowing wife surviving him.
FLINT, E. R .- was born in Lincolnshire England, in 1850. He was married in 1869. He was a farmer until 1870 when he moved to Sheffield, England. While here he worked for one of those big steel manufacturing companies which make Sheffield 'cutlery so famous all over the world to- day. In 1874 he came to the United States and settled in the Loup Valley.
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While here he worked on Fort Hartsuff. Two years later he moved to Kent county, Michigan, which remained his home till 1888. At that time he ro- turned to the Loup Valley. Since 1888 he has lived for five years in Cotes field and the remainder of the time on Davis Creek and near North Loup. EAST, HENRY T. was born in London, England, in 1826. Here ho followed the occupation of his forefathers, that of a tanner, until 1847 when he came to the United States. He enlisted as a soldier in the Mexican War and was at the surrender of Mexico City. When discharged he went to Vincennes, Indiana, and on gaged as a merchant. He married a Miss Prosnell
in 1858. In February, 1865, he enlisted in Co. K. 149th Indiana Regiment and continued as a soldier till September 27th of the same year. In 1867 he moved to Wisconsin where he stayed for six years. At the end of this time he came to Nebraska and set- tled in Valley county. He worked at the ocenpation of fanning for a long time. He died in June, 1902, leaving a wife and family behind to mourn his loss.
FOGHT, EMIL JOHN,-the father of the author of the Trail of the Loup, was born sixty-four years ago in historic old Fredrickshall, Nor- way, the son of a well-to-do merchant and ship owner. He was educated in the Latin school and nautical school of his native town and at an early date went to sea. While yet a stripling boy he was made first mate and soon after captain of the schooner Aurora, which sailed chiefly between the Bal- tic and French ports. In the seventies the Aurora was lost on the French coast and Captain Foght received command of the large bark Laura. so named after his wife, Laura Arneberg Foght. This vessel was owned chiefly by the Foght family and proved more or less of a hoodoo from the first. To several severe losses caused by storms at sea came the serious competition with swift steamships then just beginning to make inroads on the shipping of the sailships. After a long and hopeless fight against the new carriers he gave up and retired to terra firma. Then after some un. fortunate mercantile ventures at Fredrickshall he came to the United States in 1879, making Yankton, Dakota Territory, his home for a few months. Here he took service as a government freighter, going first to Fort Robin- son and later to the newly constructed Fort Niobrara. At the latter place he was joined by his family in the summer of 1881, they having made their journey of 7000 miles from old Norway alone. For a few months the Foghts squatted on a claim near Rosebud Agency but were forced into the fort by the Spotted Tail-Crow Dog uprising. They now left overland for Ord, where they arrived early in September, 1881. From that time on the family has been associated with Valley county and its development. Of the seven children living, the oldest daughter. Valborg, is married to Jor- gen Miller, and the oldest son, Harold W., who has also penned this book, married Alice Mabel, youngest daughter of A. M. Robbins of Ord.
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FLYNN, MARILLA-The first white woman in Valley county was Marilla Frederick who came here with her father in July 1872. She was at that time a young lady of about 15 years of age. In 1877 she went to Omaha where she met a young soldier named Flynn who was stationed at Ft. Omaha. He was soon afterwards transferred to Ft. Laramie, Wyom- ing, where they were married the following year. In July, 1885, they re- turned to Valley county where they lived on various rented farms till Mr. Flynn's death, April 18, 1895. In 1900 Mrs. Flynn bought her present farm just cornering on her father's old homestead in Springdale.
FREY, CHRISTIAN -- was one of the "original five" in the Danish colony above Ord. He was of course a native of Denmark and came to the United States in 1871, hoping here to better himself financially. We have already told how he reached Valley county and about his first exciting adventure here. He remained a bachelor on his claim for a number of years, when he returned to Denmark where he met and married an esti- mable Danish lady, who returned with him from a home of affluence to share his frontier life. Five children have been born to them of whom four
-Mary, Kate, Ericka and James are living. Mr. Frey remained on his old homestead through all the years of beginnings and hardships and has succeeded in laying by a goodly bit of property for a rainy day. A few months ago he disposed of his old homestead, returning to old Denmark with the intention of spending the rest of his days there. But the call from over the ocean blue was too strong for him and he is again back in the Loup where he will no doubt be content to remain for the rest of his days.
GOODENOW, M. B .- "It is something to be able to say that for a whole season I was the outermost settler on the Loup. No man dwelt be- tween my claim and the Black Hills." This boast could truly be given by Mellville B. Goodenow in the summer of '72. Then he was our outpost. But that has been told elsewhere. He was born in New York state in 1844 and was brought up by his grandparents as his mother died when he was born. In '61 when only 17, he enlisted and served through the Civil War. Ile was mustered out in the spring of '66 and then moved to Woodbury county, Iowa, remaining there till 1872 when he set out across country for the Loup. He married a Miss Coffin in 1869 and has four children-one son and three daughters.
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