NEBRASKA HISTORY AND RECORD OF PIONEER DAYS VOL III, NO. 1, JAN-MAR 1920 Transcribed from a copy of the original publication by the submitters. Submitted to the USGenWeb Nebraska Archives, January, 1998, by Ted and Carole Miller (susieque@pacbell.net). USGenWeb Project NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the internet, data may be used by non-commercial researchers, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format for profit, nor for presentation in any form by any other organization or individual. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than as stated above, must obtain express written permission from the author, or the submitter and from the listed USGenWeb Project archivist. *************** NEBRASKA HISTORY AND RECORD OF PIONEER DAYS Vol. III, no. 1, 1920 (Original had no Table of Contents) Married Sixty-eight Years - Mr. & Mrs. J.C. Fletcher, Boelus, NE 1 War Relic - 7 inch cannon to Fort Atkinson 1 Fleharty Family in Ireland and Nebraska - book donated to NSHS 1 First Newspaper West of the Missouri - Hawaii 1 History of the Sixth Infantry Regiment (in preparation) 1 Record of Base Hospital 49 1 Death of Ezra Savage (died at Tacoma) 1 Pioneer Editor - Edwin A. Fry of Niobrara Pioneer 1 Final count: Total NE Casualties In the War 1 Genesis of the Great Seal of Nebraska 2-3 Nebraska State Flag and State Seal 3 Superintendents of the Nebraska School for the Blind (1875 - 1913) 3 Passing of Nebraska Pioneers 4 STAFFORD, Mrs. Phoebe Ellen Young - Cass Co. (died in IA) SCHMID, Mrs. Elizabeth Lebs - Platte Co. FILLEY, Mrs. Marie Antoinette Newberry - Nemaha Co. (died in OR) SPEICE, Gus B. - Platte Co. WAITE, Mrs. Sarah - Nemaha Co. ROHDEN, John - Dixon Co. THORP, Mrs. Martha Nicholson - Otoe Co. KERNS, William Henry - Pawnee Co. MUNSON, James T. - Lancaster Co. UHLIG, Mrs. Rosina - Richardson Co. NEEMANN, Mrs. Achte Margaretha - Otoe Co. WILSON, Aaron - Burt Co. (died in WA) YOST, Mrs. Casper E. - Douglas Co. (died in CA) BOURKE, Mrs. Bridget - Nemaha Co. COSTIN, Mrs. Mary - Dawson Co. McKENNA, James - Douglas Co. RAMSEYER, Mrs. Anna Marie (nee Hamilton) - (died in IA) ELLISON, John S. - Gage Co. BUSKIRK, Mrs. Mary - Cass Co. DOUGLASS, Claudius P. - Platte Co. MARTIN, Joseph William - Pawnee Co. FREESE, Peter - Nemaha Co. MULLEN, Barney - Richardson Co. (died in LA) BEATTY, Mrs. Hannah - Johnson Co. ILER, Peter E. - Douglas Co. BLINE, Enoch W. - Douglas Co. PLUMMER, Eli - Cass & Lancaster Co.s DEWEBER, Mrs. Emily Jane Conover - Pawnee Co. WISE, Mrs. Margaret Jane Strop - Kearney Co. SELBY, Mrs. Martha Jane Brown - Chase Co. LOCKNER, Augustus - Douglas Co. STEVENSON, John - Douglas Co. SCHMIDT, Henry - Lancaster Co. HALL, William G. - Otoe Co. WILES, Mrs. Elizabeth Catherine McCorkle - Cass Co. DAILY, Mrs. William - Nemaha Co. DAVIS, Elmer E. - Colfax Co. GREEN, W. L. E. - Cass Co.? McCHEANE, Miss Margaret L. - Douglas Co. (died in CA) HANEY, Mrs. Johanna - Platte Co. DARLING, V. W. - Nemaha Co. HARNEY, Milton M. - Burt Co. DUNNING, Richard - Richardson Co. JOHNSON, Daniel D. - Scottsbluff BROWN, George W. - Otoe Co. CUMMINGS, Mrs. Mary - Douglas Co. TOWER, Mrs. Lucy Helen Glover - Lancaster Co. BLAIR, William - Butler Co. BRANNEN, Michael - Nemaha Co. HEIKES, Mrs. W. Albert - Dakota Co. HARRIS, James Firmon - Franklin Co. TURNER, William H. - Dodge Co. OLSON, Mrs. Cordelia - Washington Co. WIMBERLY, T. M. - Lancaster Co. LAFLIN, Lewis H. - Johnson Co. STARK, August - Cuming Co. DUTTON, Horace - Dakota Co. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ NEBRASKA HISTORY of the fifth division in the World AND RECORD OF PIONEER DAYS War and participated fit some of ------------------------------------the hardest fighting overseas. Published Monthly by the Nebraska ------- State Historical Society ------------------------------------RECORD OF BASE HOSPITAL 49 Editor, ADDISON E. SHELDON A fine historical World War Associate Editors memorial has been made by Miss The Staffs of the Nebraska State Martha M. Turner, in charge of the Historical Society and newspaper department of the Legislative Reference Bureau Historical Society. It is the ------------------------------------record of Base Hospital 49. Into it Subscription $2.00 Per Year are gathered some hundreds of ------------------------------------clippings, pictures, cablegrams, q All sustaining members of the letters relating to this Nebraska Nebraska State Historical University hospital from the time Society receive Nebraska of its conception until its muster History without further payment. out and welcome at home. All this q Entered as second class mail material has been carefully mounted matter, under act of July 16, on heavy sheets of paper and bound 1894, at Lincoln, Nebraska, April into a volume of three hundred 2, 1918. pages. The work was done for ------------------------------------Captain George H. Walker, VOLUME brother-in-law of Miss Turner, a III. JANUARY-MARCH, 1920NUMBER 1 member of Base Hospital 49. It is ------------------------------------the only thing of the kind in the world and will be a historical MARRIED SIXTY-EIGHT YEARS document of the first rank as long Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Fletcher of as Nebraska remembers the deeds of Boelus, Neb., celebrated the her children in the World War. sixty-eighth anniversary of their ------- marriage on September 10th. They have nine children, forty DEATH OF EZRA P. SAVAGE grandchildren and twenty-six A picturesque and plaintive great-grandchildren. Mr. Fletcher figure in Nebraska politics passed is eighty-eight years old and his in the death of Ezra P. Savage, at wife one year younger. Both are in Tacoma January 8, 1920 aged good health. seventy-seven years. The story of ------- his life prior to its political period, is associated with Custer WAR RELIC county and South Omaha he was A letter from W. H. Woods, perhaps the last noticeable figure guardian of Fort Atkinson, in Nebraska politics to wear a announces the arrival there of a cowboy hat and carry the cowboy seven inch cannon weighing 3,500 atmosphere into the statehouse. pounds, from the war department as When Governor Dietrich resigned a part of the permanent historical on May 1, 1901, to assume the equipment of the Fort Calhoun park. office of United States Senator, A handsome picture of General Lieutenant Governor Savage Atkinson, founder of old Fort succeeded him as governor. His Atkinson, has been presented to the parole and pardon of Joseph public schools by Colonel B. W. Bartley, who had be sentenced to a Atkinson, of New York City. term of twenty years in the ------- penitentiary for embezzling, as state treasurer, a vast amount of FLEHARTY FAMILY IN IRELAND AND the state's funds, created a NEBRASKA tempest of public excitement and George Fleherty, of Pleasanton, anger, and it put the republican has printed a little volume upon party in jeopardy. the Fleharty family in Ireland and ------- America. It is a narrative of fascinating interest. The Fleharty PIONEER EDITOR family in Ireland fought with kings Edwin A. Fry is a familiar name and died with dukes. In America to all old time Nebraska editors. they braved wild Indians, Mr. Fry was editor of the Niobrara grasshoppers and blizzards. The Pioneer long before the wilds of engravings in the book are by Mr. the Niobrara wilderness were Fleharty and prove his title as a explored by civilized man. Niobrara pioneer artist. The Historical was the focus for more exciting Society welcomes the Fleharty early Nebraska history than any family to a place on its shelves. other town in that region. It was ------- an early steamboat landing. It was the meeting point of the Ponca and FIRST NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE later of the Santee Sioux tribe MISSOURI with Indian traders, agents and An invitation from Hawaii asks missionaries. It was possessed of this Society to send a the most pugnacious parcel of representative of the centennial plotting politicians known to our celebration of the big event in early annals. It was scourged with modern history for those islands - fire and drowned in the big the landing of the first Christian Missouri flood. Through all these missionaries, April 11, 1820. The vicissitudes and many others Ed Fry message from Hawaii says: survived. He is now living at From the crude printing press Yankton, South Dakota and writes us introduced in Honolulu nearly a the following interesting promise: century ago came the printed pages I thank you for the invitation of a newspaper - civilization's to contribute a series of Niobrara greatest ally - the first newspaper historical sketches. If the spring which had thus far appeared in the fever and an invalid wife do not western world beyond the banks of interfere, I shall be pleased to do the Missouri river. so and will reflect a bit over how ------- best to present them and not the whole game. HISTORY OF THE SIXTH INFANTRY ------- REGIMENT THE FINAL COUNT A new regimental history of the Sixth Infantry Regiment, U. S. A. Total Nebraska Casualties in the is now being prepared by Lieutenant War Fixed at 3,031. Robert M. Burrowes, regimental historian. Lieutenant Burrowes has Nebraska's part in the battles written to this office asking for across the water is shown in a material which he will use in the statement issued by the war history. The Sixth Infantry department, detailing by states the Regiment has an intimate relation number of killed and wounded. with Nebraska history. It was not The statistics for Nebraska only the first regiment at the show: establishment of the first military Killed in action, 7 officers, post in the Trans-Missouri region 357 men. at Fort Atkinson in 1819, but it Died of wounds, 5 officers, also furnishes the second United 177 men. States military garrison for Fort Died of disease, 6 officers, Laramie in 1850. The Sixth Regiment 244 men. was part Died of accident, 6 officers, 15 men. Drowned, 1 man. Other causes, 7 men. Suicide 1 man. Cause undetermined, 16 men. Presumed lost, 1 officer, 12 men. Total dead or missing, 25 officers, 830 men. Prisoners, 20 men. Wounded slightly, 17 officers, 779 men. Wounded severely, 13 officers, 913 men. Wounded, degree undetermined, 6 officers, 438 men. Total, 36 officers, 2,130 men. Grand total casualties for the state of Nebraska, 61 officers, 2,960 men. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2 Nebraska History and Record of Pioneer Days ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Image] by authorized and required to procure, at the cost and expense of (Handwritten below picture: "See D the state, and as soon after the 366") passage of this act as practicable, a seal for the state, to be Genesis of the Great Seal of designated and known as the great Nebraska seal of the state of Nebraska, and of the design and device following, Section 13, Article III of the that is to say: The eastern part of first constitution of Nebraska, the circle to be represented by a commonly called the constitution of steamboat ascending the Missouri 1866, follows: river; the mechanic arts to be There shall be a seal of the represented by a smith with hammer state, which shall be kept by the and anvil; in the foreground, governor and used by him agriculture to be represented by a officially; and shall be called The settler's cabin, sheaves of wheat, Great Seal of the State of and stalks of growing corn; fix the Nebraska. back ground a train of cars heading Accordingly, on May 31, 1867, towards the Rocky Mountains, and on Isaac Wiles, of Cass county, the extreme west, the Rocky introduced into the House of Mountains to be plainly in view; Representatives of the second around the top of this circle, to legislature "H. R. No. 41, An act be in capital letters, the motto to provide for procuring a seal for "Equality Before the Law" and the the State of Nebraska." This was circle to be surrounded with the the third session of the words, "Great Seal of the State of legislature, and it was called by Nebraska, March 1, 1867." Governor Butler to meet in special Sec. 2. The sum of twenty-five session on May 16, to pass such dollars, or so much thereof as may laws as the governor thought be necessary, is hereby necessary for starting the state appropriated out of any fund in the government. After the second treasury not otherwise appropriated reading of the bill on June 1, on by law, to enable the secretary of motion of James M. Woolworth, "the state to carry into effect the blank in the bill was filled by provisions of this act. inserting the words Twenty-five ... This descriptive prescription is .. to enable the secretary of state a baffling conglomerate. I suppose to carry into effect the provisions it can be said that the designation of this act." On June 4, the bill of the position of parts of a was read a third- time and passed; circle in geographical terms, as all of the thirty-five members "the eastern part" and "the extreme present voting in the affirmative. west" is at least original; and the The next day it reached the senate mixing in of another method" the and was read the first time; on the top of the circle" - equally 6th it was read the second time and unique, furnishes variety, though referred to the committee on public making in the sum "confusion worse buildings and state library; on the confounded." Nevertheless, after 11th the committee, by its chairman the blacksmith was placed erect "in William A. Presson of Richardson the foreground "- correct parlance county, reported it back without - the extension of the line of his amendment; on the 12th it was figure to the circumference clearly recommended for passage in made the point of contact "the top committee of the whole; on the 13th of the circle," and the erection of it was read the third time and the other figures of the seal in passed, all of the eleven senators harmony, confirmed title in the present voting in the affirmative, whole picture to a legitimate top and on the 15th it was approved by and bottom. the governor. "I am but mad north-northwest; Isaac Wiles, who was next friend when the wind is southerly I know a and guide to the bill, though in hawk from a handsaw", partly his ninetieth year, had remarkably aberrated and partly feigning good health until a short time Hamlet explained. It is fortunate before his death, which occurred on for the fame of our sturdy pioneer January 20, 1921, at the home of that touching responsibility for his daughter, Mrs. J. H. Hall, in the form of the act he shows an Plattsmouth. He was born in Henry alibi, and thus shifts the burden county, Indiana, on October 5, upon his trained assistants. 1830; removed with his parents to The pictorial part of the seal Andrew county, Missouri, in 1841; is a landscape, so that in facing was a farmer in California from it one takes the top as north, as 1852 to 1855; moved to Mills in the case of maps. By this view county, Iowa, and finally settled the specification of the act of the on a farm near Plattsmouth, legislature is disobeyed, the Rocky Nebraska, in 1856. He had been Mountains being at the extreme engaged in farming, with his son, north instead of the west; the E. M. Wiles, near Minatare, Scotts train of cars runs at their base Bluff county, since 1886. On and parallel instead of "heading account of illness, on January 16, towards" them; the Missouri River 1921, he came to Plattsmouth. On extends across the middle of the October 18, 1862, he enlisted in landscape with an appearance of Company H, Second Nebraska Cavalry running toward the west with the Volunteers, was mustered in and steamboat going in the same commissioned first lieutenant of direction, whereas the statute his company, December 13, and provides that the river should mustered out December 8, 1863, on occupy "the eastern part of the the disbandment of the regiment. On circle." The smith with his anvil, August 29, 1864, he enlisted as put nowhere by the statute, usurps captain of Company B, First the stipulated place of agriculture Regiment Nebraska Militia, Second in the extreme foreground, where he Brigade; mustered in September 29; is every bit monarch of all he mustered out February 13, 1865. He surveys. Truly was a member of the first school The smith a mighty man is he, board of his district; a member of With large and sinewy hands; the House of Representatives of the And the muscles of his brawny arms eighth and twelfth legislative assemblies-December 2, 1861, to seem - prophetically in view of January 10, 1862, and January 10 to present procedure - to be welding February 18, 1867 - and of the together Labor and Agriculture, House of Representatives of the already pushed into the background, second state legislature (1867-1868). ----------------------------- Mr. Wiles was possessed of much [Image] more than ordinary native ISAAC WILES shrewdness, and his alert mind had gained in the school of experience, (handwritten: "See D 322") in the army and on the frontier, a goodly fund of intelligence. But lacking other training, he was obliged to seek assistance in the drawing of his bill. As he remembers, Elmer S. Dundy, then associate justice of the supreme court of the Territory of Nebraska, was his principal coach, though I cannot believe that so astute a person would have sponsored this curiously contrived act: Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Nebraska: Section 1. That the secretary of state shall be, and he is here- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Nebraska History and Record of Pioneer Days 3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ for a common political purpose. Nebraska State Flag and State Seal The solitary shock of wheat standing in the near background House roll No. 571, introduced by may now be regarded as a symbolic Representative George A. Williams, of hostage held, by imperious Labor. Fillmore county, at the request of the Many of the state seals are Nebraska Society of the Daughters of happily simple, but some of them the American Revolution, is now upon are, like Nebraska's, the general file of the House of impracticably complex, though the Representatives. it provides that the designer is perhaps mainly at governor shall appoint an unpaid fault. About twenty years ago I commission for the purpose of procuring chanced to be in the capitol with designs for a new state seal and for a J. Sterling Morton, and while we state flag. The commission shall first stopped before an enlarged pass upon a design for the state seal. impression of the seal which was When that is approved the bill provides hanging in one of the offices, that "the state flag shall consist of a Morton lampooned the picture with reproduction of the emblem and motto characteristic acidity. Though I approved for the great seal of the have forgotten the particulars of state, in gold and silver on a field of his exceptions, I remember that national blue, with a representation of he emphasized the incongruity of the state flower, the golden rod, upon the whole. No proper appraisal of the upper margin of such field." An Mr. Morton's principal service to appropriation of $100 for the use of Nebraska has yet been made. the committee in obtaining designs for Concisely, it consisted of the state seal and state flag is caustic criticism of crudity and provided. corruption and merciless Elsewhere in this magazine is a lampooning of shovers and story of the genesis of the present pretenders, all in their heyday state seal of Nebraska, by Mr. Watkins. on the Nebraskan farthest It is remarkable that this story of the frontier. This talent of Morton's present seal, the introduction of a contributed more than any other bill for a new design, and the death of single social factor toward the man who introduced the bill which making life tolerable in our created the first seal should occur at early untoward environment. nearly the same time. It was fortunate As Mr. Wiles recollects, he for Nebraska history that Mr. Wiles presented to his mentor, Judge survived in the full possession of his Dundy, two alternative mottoes or facilities until the present year. In a legends for the seal. One was long interview last summer in the Equal Rights For All; the other, Historical Society rooms he gave very Equality Before The Law, which interesting details of the creation of Dundy promptly preferred. Mr. the first Nebraska seal. Wiles had been a strong partisan A few of those details are here for the abolition of slavery, and given in addition to the information so naturally cherished maxims found in Mr. Watkins' article: Mr. appertaining to that cause. It Wiles was strongly of the opinion that was perhaps owing to this the motto "Equality Before The Law" did circumstance that he came to not refer to slavery nor to equal civil believe that he originated the rights for white and black in this legend; but "All men are equal state. His impression was distinct that before the natural law," is an it originated from the early old legal maxim. controversies over land locations in A few years ago I closely the Missouri River counties and was interviewed Thomas P. Kennard inspired by the frontier sentiment in about the incidents of the favor of givng [sic] every man an equal removal of the capital from Omaha chance to secure a home on the public to Lincoln. Following is the part domain. He may have been mistaken in of his story relating to the this idea, but he certainly was removal of the state seal: tenacious in holding it. We proceeded to let the According to his recollection he contract for the building of the conceived the idea of introducing a capitol, and as time progressed, bill to provide a state seal unaided. week after week, month after As he was not a lawyer, he invited month, it neared completion. When Elmer S. Dundy, afterward judge of the it was in such condition that we U. S. court for the district of thought it could be occupied, we Nebraska, to confer with him. The two again began to look around to see met in Judge Dundy's room in an Omaha whether the opposition was going hotel and discussed the drafting of the to take any steps towards bill. The main elements of the picture prevention of the removal. The Mr. Wiles brought to that conference in air was full of rumors, whether his own mind. He wished to have the founded on fact or not, that Missouri River, the mountains, growing whenever we attempted to remove crops upon the farm and a blacksmith to the seat of government from Omaha represent the mechanic arts. Judge an injunction would be served on Dundy gave, in part at least, the the state officers to prevent descriptive order to these parts of the them from removing the seal and picture was made the final draft of the insignia of office to the new bill which Mr. Wiles introduced in the capitol. So Governor Butler and legislature. I, without consulting any other As Mr. Watkins says, it was Mr. person, decided what steps we Wiles recollection also that he would take. We planned that he conceived the idea of the motto and should leave Omaha and go to his proposed variant forms for it to Judge home in Pawnee City and prepare Dundy, who selected the one which has his proclamation announcing the been the Nebraska state motto for the removal; that I would go to my past half century. home in Washington county and on Efforts to determine who made the the following Sunday morning I design for the present seal have would hitch up my team and drive failed. Mr. Wiles' impression was that to Omaha, go in to the capitol, an Omaha jeweler, whose name he did not wrap up the seal, carefully take remember, was the designer and that the it out and place it under the twenty-five dollars provided for seat in my buggy, drive straight payment was thereby kept in Nebraska. to the west over the prairies and A. thorough search of the vouchers of before Sunday closed cross the the early period of the auditor's Platte River. The scheme was office may yet disclose the designer of successfully carried out, and on the present state seal. the following Monday I appeared Isaac Wiles was a truly remarkable at the new capitol with the state pioneer. His mind even in his 90th year seal and put the impression upon was keen and logical and his the proclamation of Governor recollections full of detail and Butler, who met me here, and overflowing with human interest. which declared that the capitol Whatever may be done to secure a more of the state of Nebraska was at artistic design for our state seal - Lincoln, county of Lancaster, and there is room to do much - it may Nebraska, and now open for well be doubted that a better motto for business. seal or flag can be devised than the Mr. Kennard was secretary of one of 1867. state at the time of this exploit. The proclamation by ADDISON E. SHELDON. Governor Butler adverted to was issued on December 3, 1868. ---------------- Apropos to the discussion in and about the legislature of the SUPERINTENDENTS OF THE NEBRASKA SCHOOL desirability of procuring a new FOR THE BLIND state seal, I am asked whether there are precedents for such The forty-fifth anniversary of the action. Examination of founding of the Nebraska School for the constitutions and statutory laws Blind was celebrated at Nebraska City of nine or ten states discloses March 5. Supt. Ned C. Abbott solids the the fact that such changes have Historical Society a program which been made frequently. I cite a carries the following interesting few examples. historical data relating to. the The first constitution of school: Florida, adopted in 1846, provides for a state seal. Appointed Section 12 of article III Name Began by Yrs. Mos.Dys. directed that Board There shall be a seal of the Samuel March Public 2 8 21 State which shall be kept by the Bacon 1, 1875Lands governor, and used by him officially, with such device as J. B. Nov, Gov. S. 14 2 22 the governor first elected may Parmalee 22,1877Garber direct, and the present seal of C. D. Feb. Gov. the Territory shall be the seal Rakestraw 15, James E. 1 1 25 of the State until otherwise 1892 Boyd directed by the general Wm. Apr. Gov. assembly." The constitution of Ebright 10, Lorenzo 2 5 25 1868 directed that, "The 1893 Crounse legislature shall at the first Gov. S. session adopt a seal for the D. Nell Oct. 5,A. 0 4 26 state and such seal shall be of Johnson 1895 Holcomb the size of the American silver Wm. A. March Governor dollar," and that the seal should Jones 1, 1896Holcomb 3 3 6 not be changed after it had been Gov. Wm. adopted by the legislature. But J. E. June A. 1 8 23 the relevant point is that a new Harris 9,1899 Poynter seal was designed and adopted. In 1868 Ohio adopted a J. T. March Gov. substantially new seal. Morey 1,1901 Chas. 7 11 0 The original seals of Dietrich Connecticut, New York, New R. C. Jan. 7,Gov. C. Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, King 1911 H. 2 0 3 North Carolina, and Georgia, have Aldrich been changed, in some cases N. C. Feb. Gov, A. C. altered; in others, replaced by Abbott 1,1909 Shallenberger entirely new devices. Jan. Gov. J. There has been much heated 10, H. 9 1 2 criticism of the seal of the 1913 Morehead United States, which was adopted in 1782; but all attempts to discard it have been futile. However, the design has been modified by successive new cuttings. There has also been controversy over the question of changing seals of some of the states. For example on the admission of Illinois into the union of states (in 1818), the secretary of state was directed by the legislature to procure a seal, but no design was ever prescribed by law, and the first seal is still in use. In 1867 the Chicago Tribune, savagely, but ineffectually, attacked its motto, "State Sovereignty - National Union," for impropriety and incongruity, inasmuch as there had 'Just been a very bloody and costly :war to destroy the principle of state sovereignty and establish that of national union. ALBERT WATKINS. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4 Nebraska History and Record of Pioneer Days ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PASSING OF THE NEBRASKA PIONEER (These obituaries are compiled Mr. Iler was a very influential largely from death notices printed citizen of Omaha for about forty in newspapers which are received years. and kept on file by the Historical Enoch W. Bline died January 26th Society. While the sketches have in Omaha; crossed the plains in been carefully edited, it has been 1849; resided permanently in impossible to avoid and correct all Nebraska since 1866. inaccuracies The lives of some Eli Plummer, Lincoln, died subjects of the obituaries were of January 27th; born November 26, unusual public interest, and in 1835; settled in Plattsmouth in such cases the sketches have been March 1863; engaged in wholesale duly amplified. Statements of fact, grocery business in Lincoln in particularly those which are of 1879; had a large part in the record, have been verified as far growth and development of Lincoln. as practicable. Obviously, it is, Mrs. Emily Jane Conover Deweber, very desirable that these records resident of Nebraska since 1859, which will always be used. for died at her home near Pawnee City reference, should be correct, and January 28th. surviving relatives and editors of Mrs. Margaret Jane Strop Wise local newspapers should carefully died at Heartwell, January 28th; cooperate in preventing errors.) came to Nebraska in 1867. Mrs. Phoebe Ellen Young Mrs. Martha Jane Brown Selby, Stafford, born in Mills county, resident of Nebraska since 1865, Iowa, August 11th, 1863, died died January 28th in Wauneta. December 25th at Clarinda, Iowa; Augustus Lockner, resident of came with parents to Cass county in Nebraska since 1866 died in Omaha 1856. January 29th. Mr. Lockner was a Mrs. Elizabeth Lebs Schmid, wife soldier of the Civil War and also of Jacob Schmid, Platte county, aided in guarding General Dodge and resident of Nebraska since 1867, his party against Indians during died January 1st. the building of the Union Pacific Mrs. Marie Antoinette Newberry railroad. Filley, resident of Auburn, John Stevenson, resident of Nebraska, in the early sixties, Florence and Omaha since 1856; died died in Portland, Oregon, January January 29th; born in Scotland; 1st. came with his father, Alexander Gus B. Speice, born in Columbus, Stevenson, to Florence in July Nebraska, July 16, 1864, died 1856. January 4th; son of Charles A. and Henry Schmidt, a member of the Katherine Becker Speice, pioneers firm of Fred Schmidt and Brother, of Platte county; was active in and a resident of Lancaster county business and political life; held for over fifty years, died January the offices of clerk of the 29th. district court, mayor, and city William G. Hall, born in treasurer. Nebraska City, July 23, 1856, son Mrs. Sarah Waite, Beatrice, died of C. C. and Susan Hail, died January 5th; settled at Brownville, January 30th in Omaha. Nebraska, in October, 1867. Mrs. Elizabeth Catherine John Rhoden, Dixon county, McCorkle Wiles, who settled in Cass pioneer of 1856, died January 5th. county in 1856, died January 31st. Mrs. Martha Nicholson Thorp, She was the mother of ten sons, and Nebraska City, died January 6th; four daughters. married to Edwin F. Thorp, October Mrs. William Daily, resident of 19, 1862; in 1863 moved to Nebraska Auburn and Nemaha county since City. 1861; died February 5th. other William Henry Kerns, resident of (sic) of Mrs. A. K Goudy, deputy Nebraska since 1867, died in Table state superintendent 1891-95. Rock, January 6th. Elmer E. Davis, native of Colfax James T. Munson, resident of county, born November 16, 1860, Lancaster county since 1866, died died February 5th. January 8th. W. L. E. Green, Independent, Mrs. Rosina Uhlig, Falls City, died February 5th; resided in died January 8th; settled in Nemaha Nebraska for fifty-four years. county in 1857. Miss Margaret L. McCheane, Mrs. Achte Margaretha Neemann, Omaha, died February 5th at Long resident of Otoe county since 1862, Beach, California; came to Omaha died January 9th. with her parents in 1857; was the Aaron Wilson, pioneer of Burt third woman employed by the Union county in 1866, died in Tacoma, Pacific railroad company, starting Washington, January 9th. in 1873 and was retired with a Mrs. Casper E. Yost, resident of pension in 1909. Omaha since 1866, died at Long Mrs. Johanna Haney, resident of Beach, Cal., about January 10th. Platte county in 1864, died Mr. Yost died November 22, 1920. February 6th at her home near He was the principal founder of the Richland. Nebraska Telephone Company, and V. W. Darling, ninety-three when he retired from business, in years old, a resident of Nebraska 1919, he was president of the for sixty-five years, died in company and also of the Iowa Auburn, February 7th. Telephone Company and the Milton M. Harney, resident of Northwestern Telephone Exchange Burt county since 1867, died Company. February 10th; in 1862 enlisted in Mrs. Bridget Bourke, resident of the 2nd Nebraska Cavalry and served Nemaha county since 1862, died on the western frontier to protect January 10th. the settlers from Indian Mrs. Mary Costin a resident of depredations. Nebraska since 1857, died at her Richard Dunning, born in home near Gothenburg, January 11th. Richardson county, July 3, 1859, James McKenna, 85 years old, died at his home in Indianola, resident of Omaha since 1866, died February 11th. January 11th. Daniel D. Johnson, Scottsbluff, Mrs. Anna Marie Ramseyer, died February 11th; settled in Cass daughter of Rev. William Hamilton, county in 1867; born in Crawford, noted missionary to the Indians, Pennsylvania, April 20, 1843; died about January 11th, in removed to Iowa and enlisted for Missouri Valley, Iowa. service in the Civil War in Company Father Hamilton, as he was A 29th Iowa Volunteers. commonly called, was a missionary George W. Brown, a resident of among Indians of the Otoe county before 1860, died west-of-the-Missouri plains during February 15th. the larger part of his life. He was Mrs. Mary Cummings, eighty-six a teacher at the Sauk and Fox years old, resident of Omaha since mission, Great Nemaha agency, from 1866, died February 15th. 1841 to 1853, when he became Mrs. Lucy Helen Glover Tower, superintendent of the Crow and resident of Nebraska since 1858, Omaha mission on separate died at her home in Lincoln, reservations, in (sic) mained until February 17th. these tribes were placed on William Blair, a soldier of the separate reservations, in 1855. He Civil War, died February 18th, in was superintendent of the Omaha Brainard where he had lived since mission under the patronage of the 1867. Presbyterian Board of Foreign Michael Brannen died in Auburn, Missions, from July, 1867, until February 21; settled in Nebraska 1869, when the mission was City in 1855; enlisted for service superseded by the new policy in the Civil War in a Missouri through which the Indian agencies regiment of infantry; at the close were put under control of the of the war returned to Nebraska, several religious denominations, settling at St. Deroin, later lived those in Nebraska falling to the at Shubert. Mrs. Brannen died on Society of Friends. February 26th, She had endured all John S. Ellison, a farmer for the hardships of pioneer life on fifty-five years near Liberty, the western frontier and was with Nebraska, died January 13th. her husband at the time he was Mrs. Mary Buskirk, resident of campaigning with the Union army in Cass county, near Murdock for Kansas, one child being born at fifty-three years, died January that time. 15th. Mrs. W. Albert Heikes, resident Claudius P. Douglass died at his of Dakota City since 1867, died home near Melba, Platte county, February 21st. January 16th; freighted from James Firmon Harris, soldier of Nebraska City to Fort Laramie in the Civil War, resident of Nebraska 1866; settled permanently in since 1866, died in Hildreth, Nebraska in 1883. February 22nd. Joseph William Martin, born in William H. Turner, who freighted Pawnee county, Nebraska, November between Omaha and Denver in the 8, 1867, died January 18th; sixties and helped to build the graduated from the college of Union Pacific railroad through medicine of the University of Wyoming, died in Fremont February Nebraska in 1903. 27th; came to Nebraska first in Peter Freese died in Nebraska 1869. City January 19th; said to have Mrs. Cornelia Olson, who settled been fireman on the first train on a farm five miles south of that ran from Nebraska City to Herman in 1866, where she had since Lincoln on the Midland Pacific resided, died March 2. railroad; was an engineer in the T. M. Wimberly of University employ of that railroad for many Place, resident of Nebraska for years; and a resident of Nebraska almost sixty years, died March 7th. from 1866. Lewis H. Laflin, soldier of the Barney Mullen, aged eighty-three Civil War, died at his farm years, resident of Nebraska since residence near Crab Orchard, March 1860, died at Shreveport, 7th, where he had settled in May Louisiana, January 23rd; enlisted 1857: served three years in Company for service in the Civil War in the I, First Regiment Nebraska Sixth Illinois Cavalry, Company C, Volunteers (afterward First September 3, 1861; was mustered out Nebraska Cavalry and First Regiment at Nashville, December 16, 1865. Nebraska Veteran Volunteers); After the war he resumed farming member of the Nebraska House of near Stella and left an estate of Representatives of 1873, and held 1080 acres in Richardson county. many offices of responsibility in Mrs. Hannah M. Beatty, resident Johnson county. of Johnson county since 1866, died August Stark, pioneer Cuming January 24th. county in 1863, died near Bennet, Peter E. Iler, resident of Omaha March 8th. since 1866, died January 25th; Horace Dutton, Dakota City, engaged in the wholesale liquor resident of Nebraska for sixty-five business until 1902; president of years, died March 8th; was a member the Willow Springs distillery and of Company D, Fifth Iowa Cavalry in leader in anti-prohibition the Civil War; was noted for the movements, was one of the promoters fact that although he had had four of the Omaha Stock Yards company; years active service in the war he organized with others the South was never known to tell a war Omaha Land company; built many story. substantial buildings in Omaha among which was the Iler Grand Hotel. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Produced for NEGenWeb, 1998 by Ted & Carole Miller