USA > Nebraska > Dakota County > Warner's history of Dakota County, Nebraska, from the days of the pioneers and first settlers to the present time, with biographical sketches, and anecdotes of ye olden times > Part 20
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No poor words of mine ean convey or give utter- ance to the feelings of my heart and express the wel- come I am called upon to extend to one and all here to day. In the welcome here your President can only in an imperfect manner perform his part. The work of making this a most agreethe and pleasant reunion. to be a complete success, must be done by each and every one. To this end let ns lay aside all stiff for mality and cold reserve and greet each other and all who are with us as we did in the early days when we visited in inde cabins and "dug outs." Let us try for a day to live the past over again, and our gathering will then be a perfect success. With a full heart I greet you and extend a most cordial wel.
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come to this our fourth annual rennion of the pioneers and old settlers of Dakota connty.
We do not claim superior merit for the old settlers over the new, but from natural causes and conditions they who ent loose from old homes of the older com- innities -who leave the graves of their ancestors and the homes of their fathers to bring the savage wilds of a new country under the hand of man and present as an acquisition to civilization must necessarily be brave and courageons. They must be intelligent and self reliant. They mast have outgrown the gregariousness of their barbaric ancestors and arrived at the full measure of independent manhood. Not that they have ontgrown the true social character of our race, but on the con- trary they become more cosmopolitan and regard all men as brothers. The pioneers in all countries are the most hospitable and generous class of men, ever ready to welcome the stranger to the humble home and to divide the meager rations with him.
The world lands, the historian flatters, while poets -ing the praises of him who conquors a fair country and forcibly takes from those who have by their patient toil bnilded for themselves pleasant homes and Inxnrions -nrroundings. How much more credit is due to those who find -found and build a country for themselves? Their conquest is not over a country in ruins with devastated fields, villages. cities and homes. No fel- lows rights are disregarded or property appropriated in conquest by the damnable doctrine of the ancients that .might makes right.' Peace hath its victories no less than war. Ours is such a one. Or conquest is over the wild forces of nature, bring them under tribute to the wants of man and the requirements of civilization and commerce.
That our lot has been east in such a goodly land we should be truly thankful. When our eyes first be- hold this country with rank growth of vegetation and herbage, nothing short of prophetic vision could have
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foreseen the Dakota county of to-day with its wealth of crops and especially the wilderness of growing corn which is not excelled by any county in the state or United States. I have never been so fully impressed with this thought as during an extended journey to the east of us this season. through the states of Iowa, Illi- nois, Michigan, New York, all the New England states. Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland, also a long run through Canada. I assure you that on my return I found more eorn in bulk to the acre in our county than on any two acres I saw in ait my ramble. Be- Sides I found that the people in far east are behind us. In nearly every instance east of Michigan they were entting their hay with the old scythe and the wheat with the cradle. This may be because a machine could not pass between the rocks and their neighbor wouldn't let them have room to turn around; their fields are too
small to turn in They are ahead of us in one thing only and that I observed; their harvest begins earlier than ours. In fact, the first work when the snow is gone with them is to gather the annual crop of rocks. The yield is the only heavy crop they harvest. They build fences with them until their little fields are about all covered with fences, and then build juvenile moun- tains and still their land is covered with rocks. In many places they import the dirt by ears to barn brick, but there is a compensation in all things, no loss without some gain. They have ready made monu- ments enough to last until the last son of Adam is laid away. which could not be done too soon for me if I had to scratch among those rocks and roll them around for a seanty crop. I think I should want to go into camp beside the first big boulder. A man must either be buried in some little creek flat where the waters would How over his grave or wait the process of interment while his friends blast out a tomb in the rocks of the higher land, or rather rocks, for all above high water mark is rock. The Lord has been kind to the people
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in one thing, their is no mind and all their roads are acadamized for them by the Great Creator. This is an improvement on our mud roads, but I rather like the materials from which mnd is made, provided always that it is not too thin.
The first years of Dakota county were cast on a stormy and tempestuous sea. In 1857 and '58 the great crisis completely paralized our infant settle- ment. Scarcely had we commenced to rally when the war cloud, which had been gathering for years. burst with all its fury upon the nation. Nebraska ent no small figure in the great contest. In fact, the very enabling act which gave political existence to our territory rekindled the fires which had been smoulder- ing since 1820 .- revived the old animosities and com- pleted the estrangement of sections until brother was ready to meet brother in deadly conflict. While Ne- braska was the innocent cause of the trouble her part in the great contest was necessarily limited, yet the territory of Nebraska did her little part nobly. In proportion to members she gave of her sons as freely as the states. Some of Dakota county's blood mingled with that of the nation which flowed so freely in a holy canse. Some of her sons sleep beneath the southern shades.
'On fame's eternal camping ground Their silent tents are spread, While glory guards with solemm round The bivionac of the dead.'
During the great contest the wheels of progress in our section were inrned backward. A threatened In- dian war almost depopulated the county. For a time it looked as if this fair land would again be the herit- age of the Indian and the buff dlo. But when the white winged dove of peace once more brooded over our af- fieted country and war's desolation ceased, a new era dawned upon our county. As with the nation at large out of death sprung new life. The great energies
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which the war developed were turned to the paths of peace until today the nation stands a century ahead where only two decades are passed. In this genera! progress we have also shared liberally.
But I must not longer trespass npon the ground of other speakers in an address of welcome. I fear I have already stolen some of our orator's thunder.
Another year is past and we see many of the familiar faces of 20 to 25 years ago. Time has dealt : kindly with our pioneers Many have survived the quarter of a century since first we met in Dakota county. Some have removed to other lands; others have gone to their long homes. They sleep beneath the soil of their chosen county. Since our last meet- ing some have gone to the silent land; but still a larger number live and remain with us. Let us rejoice that so many are with us to-day. Again I welcome you, one and all. and express the hope that we may enjoy many more of these annual meetings."
Following is Mr. Dibble's address at this meet- ing:
"DAKOTA COUNTY."
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:
When the first white man placed foot within the confines of what is now known as Dakota county, or to whom belongs that honor is vet unknown. It is prob- ab'e though that some wandering Arab of the prairie the restless Indian trader first overlooked the broad Missouri bottom, saw the peaks of the adjacent hills overlapping one another in symmetrical beauty and g. zed down upon the expanse of river, sparkling in the sunlight like a silver thread, meandering in endless con'usion to the sca. What must have been tie thoughts and feelings incident to a scene like that? And if he were here today what a change must have come over the spirit of his dream.
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Where not fifty years ago, you now sit circled with all that exalts and embellishes civilized life, the rank thistle nodded in the wind, today the thistle still nods and is considered by experience to be rank, very indeed. Then the wild coyote dug bis hole unscared. today he is dug out of his hole by a medley of men and hounds, who are all in a hurry to be in at the death and give chase nutil he gains another hole. also unscared. Then lived and loved another race of being says Sprague; beneath the same sun that rolls over your heads the Indian pursues the panting deer-today the panting hunter pursues the deer; gazing on the same moon that smiles on you the Indian lover wooed
his dusky mate; the pale face still wooes. but today the smile of the maid has more charms than the smile of the moon. Change touches the dimpled cheek of the infant and he becomes the bearded man; he traces wrinkles upon the brow of the aged and intersperses silver threads among the golden tresses. Ile places his hand upon the cradle and it becomes a coffin. Nations rise cast abroad the Inster of their names; change says "Presto" and they fall.
'Turn, turn my wheel all things must change. To something new to something strange, Nothing that is can pause and stay, The moon will wax, the moon will wane, The mist and clouds will turn to rain, The rain to mist and cloud again, To-morrow le to day.'
This law of mutation which is here. there and everywhere, a part of nature's plan, yields willing obedience to man, himself a servant and creature of change. It can be for better or for worse, according as he wills it by his energy or his sloth. Better that a child should never be born than that he ; hould join the army of sluggards. Better that a region shonks remain in its pristine wilderness, its native grandner than that it should be idolently or carelessly redeemed. The county in which we reside was born March,
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1855, duly christened Dakota after the Dakota Indians, and sent forth to battle with the world to gain riches. fame, glory, success and perforce happiness; and now that the thirtieth milestone has been reached, now that thirty harvests have been reaped, garnered and distributed. it is pre-eminently a proper time to rake over the embers of the fire and listen to the ericket on the hearth, and it does not require an acute ear to hear this philosopher say that progress has been steady and great. To an inhabitant of the slow, conservative eastern coast it would seem incredible to hear re- Jated that in a growth of thirty years within an area of 130,000 acres, and without any large town a county in the west had attained a population of 4,005, it would cause his "hair to stand on end and his voice to stick in his throat" when he realized that without a sign to
mark the presence of man 35 years ago, There are now 225 square miles in Dakota county, dotted thickly with neat, commodions and elegant dwelling houses, the native bareness relieved by 700 acres of home made forests, traversed its entire length by the iron horse. and supplied with busy thriving, energetic towns. What old settler is there here today who would have been bold enough to prophesy thar in 1885 there would be in cultivation and raising wheat 10,000 acres, corn 15,- 000 Reres, oats, barley and potatoes 3,000 acres! Tell me old settlers, if in your wildest dreams of Utopian plenty, did you dare to think that in thirty years, scarce thirty years, there would be 3.000 horses. 12,000 car- tle, 10,000 hours and property to the taxable value of $300.000? If there was of i- such a man let him step forward, for he is a prophet greater than Elisha. was an optimist, he had umimited confidence and he has seen it vertified.
Furthermore there is this tho ght whatever has been wrought in this country has been done by the muscle and determination of its citizens. Large amounts of capital have not been invested. our people
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for the most part came here poor men and whatever competence they may have attained has not been the result of big interest on big investments but a mod- erate income due to good judgment and hard work. The student of political economy sees much cause for congratulation in a condition like this, all things are on a firm equitable basis; where all men are comfortably well off there may be fluctuations but never distress, there may be hard times but the people of "Dakota county" will live and make money.
The spirit of change means here the
spirit of progress. Note the improved machinery, the better grade of cattle, the introduction of tame grass, and the raising of the standard of the farm in every particular: and yet they have not gone too fast. There are very few mortgages hanging like an angry thunder cloud over the farms and it is to be prayed there may never be more. Finally allow me to ask what better lot conld fall to man than to be a farmer in the county of the Dakota. The turtle dove coves of peace and good will in the forest which his hand has made in the pasture, his cattle chew the end of contentment, the tassels waving in the breeze and the golden grain pro- duced by a soil which was never known to fail, tell him of a good living and a little more. This is the picture and it represents work of the hands and work of the brain luxury and liberty culture and contentment.
Any person who owns a farm in Dakota county and has it paid for is fixed as "sung as a bug in a rng and if he is not fairly satisfied it is a foregone conclu- sion that he conidn't be; that if he rolled in the wealth of Croesus he would object to the color of gold, that if he sipped of nectar with the Gods he would find fault with its flavor. but fortunately there are few of such people in this comunity. If they occasionally see the opposite side of the picture I have portrayed, if the cows throw away the end of contentment and get into the corn they quietly drive them out and fix the fence.
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If once in a life time a gentle zephyr rudely nproots a few of the trees and hastily overturns a few windmills our people on the morrow plant some more trees and erect better mills, (there are also caves promptly dng. but that is irrelevant to the question.) If occasionally it is too wet for wheat or too dry for the corn our peo- ple do not don the brow of despondency and look as if they had seen their last friend and had a fight with him but the chances are they will be planning for next years crop and pointing with pride to the fact this is the very first reverse in the last ten or fifteen years. And by the way don't be ashamed of that word "PRIDE," fondle it, caress it and don't lose it. Have a proper pride m the county which has made yon and which you have helped to make. We love our government, our state and let us extend the same spirit to the community in which we live. Let us try to make our part of the United States of America as progressive, as beautiful
and as moral as we can. It is a part of us, "bone of
our bone and flesh." If we adorn our homes let us do it with the thought that we are adorning our county, onr state and our Union. As a single ray of light passes through the prisin and becomes the seven colors of the rain-how, so will a strong pride in onr county foster social relations, combat selfishness, instill patriotism and fill the soul with noble and happy thoughts.
Dakota county in the past has been progressive, Dakota county in the present is on a firm foundation with the outlook good; what will Dakota county be in the future? Old settlers, your heritage to your children is great and worthy of your valor. Settlers of today, it is a pertinent question to yon, what shall your heritage be? Again there will be a change; it can not be avoided. it must be made subservient.
'Turn, turn my wheel all life is brief,
What now is bud will soon be leaf, What now is leaf will soon decay,
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WARNER'S HISTORY OF DAKOTA COUNTY.
The wind blows east the winds blow west.
The blue eggs in the robins nest.
Will soon have wings and beak and erest. And flutter and fly away.
Therefore it may reasonably be expected that the time thirty seasons shall have come and joined those that have gone on before, that many of those who are pioneers and old settlers now will be new settlers in the land which is beyond the rising sun, and that the young men of the present will be old settlers then. It may reasonably be expected, even amid the vicissitudes of human fortune, that Dakota county will continue to prosper and increase in wisdom and plenty. It is expected of yon young men and women, into whose hands this trust will soon be given, that you will advance the county in intelligence, morality and wealth. It is expected of you that you will keep step with the march of progress, that you will
ยท Be bold, be bold and everywhere be bold- - Better the excess. Than the defect. better the more than less,
Better like Hector in the field to die,
Than like a perfumed Paris, turn and fly."
FIFTH ANNUAL REUNION.
The association again met, and held their fifth re- union in Hifeman's grove, Surday, Angust 14, 1886. William Worley acting as chap.an. Col. J. F. Warner delivered the annual address of welcome assigned to the president. The memorial committee consisting of William Unsworth, Sam A. Combs and M. M. Warner then offered revolutions on the deaths of William (. Me- Beath, William Coven, Enos Whinery and Chas. B. Bayliss, which were adopad by the association. An address was then made by Witam R. Smith of Sioux
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('ity. Lowa. The following officers were chosen for the ensuing year; Col. Harlan Baird, President; Leonard Bates, Vice President; Thomas Ashford, Treasurer; D. C. Dibble, Secretary: Tim Carrabine, Corresponding Secretary. Memorial committee: William Holsworth. Gerald Dillon and Curtis B. Bliven.
Sam A. Combs offered a resolution that the society select a historian whose duty it shall be to write bio- graphical sketches of the members, The resolution was adopted and M. M. Warner chosen historian for the association.
SIXTH ANNUAL REUNION.
Hileman's grove was again selected as the place to hold the sixth annual reunion, on Saturday, August 13. 1357. David Boals acted as chaplain and Col. J. F. Warner delivered the address of welcome. For and in behalf of the association he extended to one and all a cordial greeting, and expressed a hope that they might be permitted to meet on many more such happy occasions. He compared the wild and uncivilized scenes of thirty years ago with the grand changes which we today behold while viewing the beautiful farms and pleasant homes of Dakota county. Lieutenant W. F. Norris followed with the oration of the day. He paid a glowing tribute to the wealth and prosperity of Da- kota con ity, and the energy and enterprise of her peo- ple. 'The memorial con mittee then offered resolutions on the deaths of John H. Mann and Daniel Dnggan, which we e diged. Election of officers for the en- sning ver reader as follows: Dr G. W. Wilkinson, presidio: Joseph Gramm, vice president; M. M. Warne - seer ors and historian: Thomas Ashford.
treasurer: W (' Dibble, corresponding secretary.
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WARNER'S HISTORY OF DAKOTA COUNTY.
SEVENTH ANNUAL REUNION.
Once more the association met in its seventh nual rennion at Hileman's grove, on Saturday. Septem- ber 1, 1888, David Boals acting as chaplain. The president, Dr G. W. Wilkinson delivered the address of welcome. Speeches appropriate for the occasion were then made by Leonard Bates. J. C. (. Hoskins of Sioux City, Iowa, Jesse Wigle, N. S. Porter of Ponca, Col. C. D. Martin, Col. Jesse F. Warner. S. A. Combs and Dennis Armour. The following officers were elected for the ensning year: Leonard Bates. president; D. C. Dibble, vice president ; M. M. Warner, secretary and historian; Atlee Hart. cor-
responding secretary ; Thomas Ashford, treasurer.
EIGHTH ANNUAL REUNION.
The eighth annual reunion was held on the ground of the Homer Driving Park association, near Homer. on Saturday, Angust 17, 1889. Rev. Beardshear, of Ponca, acted as chaplain. The president, Leonard Bates, delivered the address of welcome. The oration of the day was delivered by Gov. John M. Thayer. The memorial committee had recorded the death of the following during the year: Daniel MeEntarffer, Ellen T. Jones, John Williams, Julia L .. Mary L. and Daniel C. O'Connor. Anna A. Lamp-on, Ehmna J. Taylor, Elien G. Gribble. Martha Taylor and Joseph Smith. Officers for the ensning year were elected as follows: Dennis Armour, president : Joseph Brannan, vice president: M. M. Warner, secretary and historian: S. A. Combs, L. M. Warner and Dr. G. W. Wilkinson, memorial committee.
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PIONEERS AND OLD SETTLERS ASSOCIATION. NINTH ANNUAL REUNION.
Again the association met on the grounds of the Homer Driving Park association, in their ninth annual reunion. on Saturday, September 6. 1890. President Dennis Armour delivered the annual address of wel- come as follows:
"FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS :-
Moses has it in the program that I am to deliver the opening address. I don't mean Moses, the law giver and historian of Israel, but Moses, the historian and secretary of the Pioneers and Old Settler's associa- tion of Dakota connty, Nebraska-the man that is doing the most work to preserve from oblivion the memory of the early settlers of Dakota county. Moses. the son of Col. J. F. Warner, our departed friend and associate and one of the most eloquent men of the northwest. He has crossed the dark river and is on the bright shore where sorrow comes not and tears never flow; but we miss bis genial presence and the warm pressure of his hand.
It is part of our lot to monrn departed friends. Our bodies are but earth and it is according to the laws of nature that all bodies composed of matter should have a period of life and end in dissolution. Sience teaches us that not for eternity is written on the stars of heaven that light with beauty the mid- night sky. But the soul, the spirit, is not composed of matter, is not subject to the same law and it has been believed every since the first dawn of intelligence among human beings that this life is but the morning of an eternal existence: that the soul will be ever grow- ing. ever increasing in happiness within itself.ever more capable of imparting happiness to others. It is to be hoped that we will all make a good use of our life so as to secure happiness.
Let us greet each other as beloved friends to-day.
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Let all that would hinder disappear as the morning mist before the rising sun.
Welcome, pioneers! Welcome, old settlers! Wel- come, new settlers! to our reunion. To those who have removed from our county we say, Welcome! May your hearts be gladdened by meeting the friends of your early years and your eyes view with joy the wonderful prosperity and beauty of your old home, Da- kota county.
To our friends from Sioux City we say, Welcome! We are glad to meet you here. You are our friends. We feel and know that the prosperity, that the beauti- ful homes we possess, are largely due to our living near a good market town. Your enterprise, your public spirit has been of great benefit to Dakota county. That minddy stream that flows between does not divide our interests nor our sympathies. Sioux City is the com- mercial metropolis of Northern Nebraska.
We greet you, Welcome!"
The memorial committee made their report show- ing the deaths of thirty-five people within one year. among whom were: Stephen Sinnott, Edwin Brandt. Mrs. Emma F. Whitehoru, John Twohis, Mrs. J. (). Fisher. Gotleib Berger, Mrs. N. D. Crippin, Alfred Vigo Clauson, Estelle Victoria Hunt, Sumner Whittier, Thomas Curren, Col. Jesse F. Warner. John Shelock, Frank O'Connor, Jacob Sides, John Smith. Sr., Einer MeQuilkin, Mrs. Margaret Endersby, Mrs, Mary Mc- Intosh and Rebecca Jane Baird. Speeches were made by William R. Smith, J.C.C. Hoskins, John H. Charles. E. C. Palmer, Mr. Kirk and A. Groninger, all of Sioux City, Iowa. Remarks were also made by William Hols- worth, Gen. Joseph Hoffman, J. J. McAllister, Men C. Jay and J. J. MeCarthy. Officers for the ensuing year were chosen as follows: Joseph Brannan, President; Thomas J. King, Vice President; M. M. Warner. Sec- retary and Historian; Atlee Hart, Corresponding See- retary: Thomas Ashford, Sr. Treasurer: 5 m x. Combs. John T. Spencer and C. B. Bliven, Memorial Committee.
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TENTII ANNUAL REUNON.
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