Marshall-Nemaha County KS Archives Biographies.....Bergen, Fred G. 1865 - living in 1917
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com July 21, 2005, 4:27 am

Author: B. F. Bowen

FRED G. BERGEN.

     Fred G. Bergen, one of the well-known and successful business men of
Summerfield, Marshall county, and the efficient cashier of the State Bank of
that place, was born in Galesburg, Illinois, on June 13, 1865, the son of George
I. and Maria S. (Field) Bergen.

    The bank of which Mr. Bergen is the cashier, was organized in 1889 with a
capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars. The organizers were John
Gilchrist, R. M. Schriver, C. J. Schriver and Andrew J. Felt, since which time
the personnel of the stockholders has been changed. The bank has been well
managed and has met with much success and is today the third largest bank in
Marshall county. With a capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars and a
surplus of fifteen thousand dollars, the institution is recognized as one of the
strong banks of this section of the state and one in which the people have great
confidence, which is demonstrated by the fact that there is now over three
hundred thousand dollars on deposit. The present officers are: President,
William F. Orr; vice-president, George Craven; second vice-president, Andrew
Nestor; cashier, Fred G. Bergen, and assistant cashier, James A. Hamler. The
bank owns its own banking house, which was erected in 1889 and is one of the
substantial structures of the city.

    George I. Bergen was born in 1827 and died in 1869; his wife, Maria S.
(Field) Bergen, was born in 1824 and died in 1866. Mr. Bergen was a successful
manufacturer of army boots and the inventor of the famous Brown's corn planter.
He was a friend of Abraham Lincoln and it was Lincoln who joined in marriage his
sister and A. L. Scoville. Maria S. (Field) Bergen was a member of the Field
family, of which Marshall Field and Cyrus W. Field were representatives.

    His parents having died when he was but a child, Fred G. Bergen was reared
by James Compton, of Augusta, Illinois. He remained with the Compton family
until he was nineteen years of age and received the advantages of a good common-
and high-school education. In 1884, at the age of nineteen years, he came to
Seneca, Kansas, and engaged in the study of law with C. C. K. Scoville. He
continued his law studies for two years. He and Mr. Scoville later engaged in
the banking business. For fifteen years, Mr. Bergen was connected with the
Scoville State Bank, when in 1900 he came to Summerfield as cashier of the State
Bank of Summerfield. In addition to his interests in the bank he is the owner of
two hundred acres of land in Marshall county. He is identified with the
Republican party and has ever taken much interest in local affairs and is a man
of much influence in that party's councils. On November 7, 1916, he was elected
to represent his district in the state Senate, by a majority of over one
thousand six hundred. While he was yet a resident of the state of Illinois, he
was captain of Company I, Seventh Regiment, Illinois National Guards, at
Galesburg. Owing to an accident .he was -unable. to continue service. During the
Spanish-American War he raised and drilled a company for Governor Leedy in 1898.
Since locating at Summerfield he has served as a member of Governor Bailey's
staff. For five years he served as treasurer of the Kansas State Banker's
Association and was one of the organizers, and is now vice-president of his
congressional district of the Banker's Association.

     Fraternally, Mr. Bergen is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons
and is a member of the Summerfield Chapter No. 354. He is also a member of the
Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen
of America. He is active in the Sons of the American Revolution, his paternal
and maternal grandparents having served in the Revolutionary War. Both Mr. and
Mrs. Bergen are active members of the United Presbyterian church, and Mr. Bergen
has been a teacher in the Sunday school for over ten years: has served as
superintendent for three years and for two years has been president of the
County Sunday School Association. He gives his best efforts to the work that he
undertakes, and with his commanding personality he meets with much success, both
in organization and the accomplishment of results. Few men of the county have
.assumed greater responsibilities for the development of the moral, social and
financial conditions of the district, than has Mr. Bergen.

  • On August 5, 1889, Fred G. Bergen was united in marriage to May Matthews,
the daughter of Mortimer M. Matthews, one of the early pioneers of Seneca and
for forty-five years surveyor of Nemaha county, Kansas. .Mrs. Bergen is a
graduate of the Seneca high school and is a woman of considerable culture. Like
her husband, she takes much interest in the religious, social and educational
development of the city and district, she has always been devoted to the
interests of her family, and with Mr. Bergen is held in the highest regard and
esteem. They are prominent in the social life of Summerfield and consider it a
pleasure to entertain their neighbors and friends. They are the parents of three
children, Fredrica G., Mary J. and George I. Fredrica G. is a graduate of the
Seneca high school and the State Normal at Emporia and has had a year in
Northwestern University. She is now a teacher in the primary department of the
Topeka, Kansas, schools. Mary J. is a member of the junior class of the
Summerfield high school and George is also an attendant in the schools of their
home city.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

History of Marshall County, Kansas: its people, industries, and institutions
by
Emma E. Forter

Indianapolis, Ind.: B.F. Bowen & Co. (1917)

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