the state of Wisconsin, where he worked in the pineries at various places, and in the upper peninsula of Michigan as well. He came to Butler, county, Nebraska, in 1878, and after remaining in David City for a time worked in Colorado, Wyoming and the two Dakotas. He came to Pierce county, Nebraska, in 1897, and purchased the farm he now owns, which is located in section twenty-seven, township twenty-eight, range three. This was raw prairie, and on it he planted groves and erected all the buildings that make it one of the finest farms in this part of the county.
   Mr. Sazama was joined in wedlock September 11, 1884, to Miss Kathrina Halwek, a native of the village of Oulikov, Bohemia, born in February, 1860. She came to America by way of Bremen, reaching David City in 1884. Mr. and Mrs. Sazama are the parents of six children, two of whom are married. They are named as follows: Agnes, Barbara, Jerry, Charles, Tony and James. Agnes married Louis Pochop, and Barbara married Anton Pochop, both living near the old home.
   Mr. Sazama is a mmeber [sic] of the Z. C. B. J. society, and was formerly a member also of the C. S. P. S., a similar organization. In politics he votes independently.
   Mr. Sazama has experienced many hardships and discomforts in the early days, losing all his cattle and horses in the memorable blizzard of 1888. In 1897 he suffered loss of all his buildings by a cyclone which passed over his place the morning after his aged father had started to return to his old country home. Had it occurred a day earlier all might have been killed.

 

---

CHRISTIAN HANSEN.

   Christian Hansen was born in Denmark, May 8, 1817, coming to America in 1871. During the years in his native country he followed blacksmithing principally, and was married there in 1860 to Karen Petersen. Mr. Hansen's first location after coming to this country was in Wisconsin, where he spent one year, then came to Howard county, Nebraska, and filed on a claim situated on the northeast quarter of section two, township fourteen, range twelve. After two years he was joined by his wife and two sons, Lars P., and Niels, who grew up in Howard county. Mr. Hansen built up a good home and farm, and died on the homestead May 1, 1886, his burial taking place on the farm. His widow still lives there at the advanced age of eighty-two years.

 

---

LARS P. HANSEN.

   Lars P. Hansen was born in Denmark, September 21, 1861, and as above stated, came to America with his mother and brother, they joining the husband and father in Howard county in August, 1874. He lived at home, assisting his parents until his eighteenth year, then began farming on his own account, purchasing eighty acres on section three, township fourteen, range twelve, which he has occupied ever since, and of which he has made a fine homestead. He was married in St. Paul, May 5, 1897, to Mary Juel, who comes of an old pioneer family of Howard county, being born and raised in this section.
   Mrs. Hansen's parents were Hans Peter and Annie Juel, the former a native of Denmark and the latter of Bohemia. They met and were married in Howard county, to which place Mr. Juel came in 1873. Mr. and Mrs. Hansen have had five children: William W., Charlie P., Sophia Magdeline, who died in 1908; Georgina Mary, and Edison Elmer, all bright and intelligent young people, the family being among the popular members of their community.
   Mr. Hansen is director of school district number seventy-eight, and has always taken an active interest in local and county affairs. He has a host of warm friends and is regarded as one of the leading and progressive farmers and stockmen of his locality.

 

---

ASAHEL WARD.

   Asahel Ward, retired farmer, son of Phillip and Margaret (Brown) Ward, was born in Belmont county, Ohio, December 13, 1819. He was ninth in a family of ten children, and is the only one now living. His parents died in Ohio, his father living to the advanced age of ninety-six years.
   Mr. Ward is a self-educated man, having attended school but sixteen days, and that after his twenty-first year; he learned the shoe cobblers' trade and later taught school in both Ohio and Iowa. In 1850 he went to Iowa, where he lived for twenty-one years.
   On December 13, 1862, Mr. Ward was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Hagan, who was born in Pennsylvania. In 1871 he came with his wife and five children to Howard county, Nebraska, where he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres about eight miles northwest of St. Paul, living on same for four years. Mrs. Ward died June 6, 1875, on the home farm, survived by her husband and six children: Harriet A., widow of Richard Todhunter, who died in 1904, resides in California and has six children; Ella, wife of Joseph McCracken, has eight children, and resides in California; Margaret, died May 22, 1876, her husband, Woodford Evans, dying June 8, 1911, leaving one son, Chester; Mary E., died in Iowa in 1885, and her husband, George Blatenberg, died December 25, 1892, leaving four children; William W., died March 7, 1890, and his wife some time later, leaving two children; and Abigal, who died.
   In 1876, at Grand Island, Nebraska, Mr. Ward was married to Miss Amanda J. Honnold, of Belmont comity, Ohio, one of a family of twelve

children, ten sons and two daughters. In 1876 Mr. and Mrs. Ward came to Valley county, Nebraska, living on one hundred and sixty acres of land in section twenty-eight, township eighteen, range fourteen, which was homesteaded by Mrs. Ward before her marriage. This remained the home place until November, 1909, when Mr. Ward retired from the farming and moved to Ord, purchasing a good home, where they now live. The homestead he retained until 1910, when he sold it and purchased one hundred and sixty acres, fourteen miles north of Ord.
   Mr. Ward served as commissioner of Howard county during his residence there; and while residing in Warren county, Iowa, he filled the office of county treasurer; he has been justice of peace in Nebraska for many years; postmaster at Cotesfield for four years, and also filled a like office at Mira Valley for twenty-two years; he has also done some United States government survey work. Mr. Ward was instrumental in organizing school district number ten, and served on the board of directors for a number of years; indeed, since his majority, Mr. Ward has always been directly identified with school interests.
   Mr. and Mrs. Ward have three children: Flora A., wife of Charles J. Nelson, lives in Ord, and has three children; Jessie M., who is married to S. W. Roe, lives in Howard county, Nebraska, and they have three children; and John L., who is given a more extended notice on another page of our work.
   Mr. and Mrs. Ward are numbered among the earliest settlers in this part of the state, and have passed through the usual hard experiences of pioneer life. They are well and favorably known. Although very advanced in years, Mr. Ward is still a progressive man of affairs, interested in all effecting state and county. He has been a member of the Odd Fellows lodge since 1857; and with his wife is a member of the Rebekah degree. He is also a member of the Grand Army of Republic, Foot Post number forty. Mr. and Mrs. Ward both are members of Ord Circle number six, Ladies' Grand Army of Republic.
   While living in Iowa, in May of 1862, Mr. Ward enlisted in Company K, Seventeenth Iowa infantry; he raising thirty-six men for the company; shortly after enlistment Mr. Ward was discharged on account of illness. In 1864 he raised one hundred and fourteen men for the one hundred day service, and two hundred and three men for three-year service. On February 22, 1864, Mr. Ward again enlisted in Company A, Forty-eight Iowa Infantry as first lieutenant, and received his discharge October 20, 1864, in Davenport, Iowa.

 

---

PAUL BRUMMUND.

   Located very pleasantly in section twenty-four, township twenty-four, range one, Madison county, Nebraska, is to be found the highly esteemed gentleman whose name introduces this biographical writing. He and his father before him have been identified with the history of Madison county from a very early date, and his contribution to the making of northeastern Nebraska has been considerable.
   Paul Brummund is a native-born, Nebraskan, having been born in Madison county, February 5, 1871; he is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Gottlieb Brummund, natives of Germany, and early setlers of Nebraska, coming here from Wisconsin in 1868 by ox team, which was the usual mode of traveling in those times. After arriving in the state, they settled in Madison county, where the father took up a homestead in section twenty-four, township twenty-four, range one, first putting up a sod house, which was later replaced by a dwelling built of logs.
   During the family's first years of residence in Madison county, some forty-two years ago, the country was but an unbroken, open prairie, with scarcely any habitation, the soil had not been cultivated to any extent, and deer and antelope and wild game roamed the country. Dangers and hardships were encountered by tile first few brave settlers who came to this region to seek their fortunes on the western frontier, and many discouragements and failures were met not the least of these being caused by the grasshoppers which infested the region the first seven years that the family settled here, the crops an being destroyed just as they were grown to a promising size and the harvest seemed plentiful and sure.
   Mr. Brummund, our subject, was united in marriage May 15, 1894, to Miss Mary Benning, a native of Illinois, and a daughter of John and Annie Benedict. Mr. and Mrs. Brummund are the parents of six children: Emma, Anna, Mary, Martin, Hulda and Helen. They are a fine family and enjoy the respect and esteem of all who know them, and their friends are many.
   Mr. Brummund owns eighty acres of choice land, ten acres of which are given to trees; the land is well improved, and there is a comfortable home, and here our subject and family reside surrounded by a host of friends and acquaintances. They are members of the German Lutheran church and Mr. Brummund is a democrat.

 

---

JOHN CONWAY.

   John Conway is one of the most prominent business men and largest landholders in central Nebraska, where he has been identified with various interests for about twenty-five years past. He was born at Janesville, Wisconsin, next to the oldest child of Malachi and Bridget (Bowen) Conway. The father was a native of Ireland and came to America when sixteen years of age, locating first at Hoboken, New Jersey. He became one of the "forty-niners" who sought

gold in California, and his death occurred at Edgerton, Wisconsin, in 1884. The mother, also a native of Ireland, was brought to America when nine years of age, and she died at Edgerton in 1888. They had nine children, of whom those now surviving are: Mrs. Delia Tobin, of Burt county Nebraska; three sons and two daughters living in Edgerton; John, subject of this article.
   Mr. Conway grew to manhood on his father's farm in Wisconsin, acquiring his education in the public schools. Later he engaged in mercantile business in Janesville, Wisconsin, which he continued four years. He was married in Janesville in August, 1885, to Kate Kemmitt, a native of Wisconsin, who died in 1886, leaving one daughter, Stella, also now deceased. In the, fall of 1887, in company with Thomas Tobin, Mr. Conway came to Nebraska looking for a location and was very favorably impressed with the land in Custer county. They returned to Wisconsin, where Mr. Conway sold his business interests and soon afterward the two young men shipped one hundred and sixty-eight head of cattle to Omaha, whence they drove them to Custer county, where they began ranching. Mr. Conway pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of land on section ten, township twenty, range twenty-four, and Mr. Tobin secured one hundred and sixty acres of land adjoining. Mr. Conway also secured one hundred and sixty acres on section nine township twenty, range twenty-four, and still retains ownership of his half section of land there.
   On September 2, 1903, Mr. Conway was married in Dale, Custer county, to Miss Josephine M. Dority, daughter of John N. and Martha (Jordan) Dority, the former a native of Toronto, Canada, and the latter born near Cleveland, Ohio. The father has been connected with the Burlington railroad, and he and his wife now live in Lincoln, Nebraska. Mrs. Conway has a sister in California, and her brother, Matthew, lives at Comstock, Nebraska. Mr. and Mrs. Conway have three children: Dorothy M., John D. and Helen, all at home.
   Mr. Conway is recognized as one of the substantial and public-spirited citizens in his county, where he is well known for his upright methods and has reputation for honest dealing and probity. He is one of the early settlers of the central part of the state and during his residence there has accumulated four thousand, three hundred and twenty acres of land in Custer and Thomas counties. During his five years of residence on his homestead he was engaged in mercantile business at Dunning, and since coming to the county he has always been extensively engaged in buying and shipping horses and cattle. At the same time he has retained his ranch interests, spent some time in the live stock commission business in Omaha and had large feeding places at Sargent, Nebraska. In 1908 he erected one of the finest modern residences in Merna, where the family now reside.

 

---

THOMAS SCHUTT.

   Among the prominent and progressive farmers of Wayne county, may be mentioned Thomas Schutt, who is the owner of a good farm and comfortable home, very pleasantly located in section one, township twenty-seven, range one. He is a gentleman of unusual perseverance and energy, and is classed among the leading citizens of this community.
   Mr. Schutt was born. in the province of Holstein, Germany, October 1, 1850, and is the son of Hans Henry and Catherine Schutt. He grew up in the little German home, received his education in the excellent school of the village, and as he became old enough, learned the carpenters' trade.
   During the Franco-Prussian war, Mr. Schutt served his country from 1871 to 1873, and call tell many interesting stories of the engagements in which he took part. After the war was over he returned to his home, where he remained some years.
   In 1883, just after his marriage to Miss Mach Dalena Barnholdt, Mr. Schutt and his bride came to America, going first to Fort Calhoun, Washington county, Nebraska. They lived here for about ten years, and Mr. Schutt worked at his trade of carpenter. They then removed to Wayne county, Nebraska, where the subscriber bought the farm of one hundred and sixty acres which has been his home since that date. He has since purchased eighty acres more and now owns two hundred and forty acres.
   When Mr. Schutt purchased his present farm it was raw prairie. It is all under cultivation now and he has built a good house, barns and out-buildings, and has planted a grove and orchard.
   Mr. Schutt has encountered the usual trials and reverses which the early settlers had to contend with, but they have only served to incite him to greater effort and he is now regarded as one of the solid and substantial citizens of the locality.
   Mr. and Mrs. Schutt are the parents of six children: Christine, Franc, Ella, Thomas, Wilibert, Rudolph and Alfreda.
   Both Mr. and Mrs. Schutt are well-known and enjoy the respect of a wide circle of acquaintances. They and their children are members of the German Lutheran church.

 

---

WILLIAM PHELPS.

   A resident of Merrick county, Nebraska, for the past twenty-six years, the gentleman herein named has gained the esteem and confidence of

 

all with whom he has come in contact by his industrious habits and honesty of dealing with his fellowmen.
   William Phelps was born in Henry county, Illinois, May 8, 1851, and was second of four children in the family of Bela and Henrietta (Cherry) Phelps who had two sons and two daughters. Both of Mr. Phelps, parents had been married previous to their marriage - the father to Henrietta Sivley, who died and who was the mother of four children. Our subject's mother at the time of her marriage to Bela Phelps was the widow of William Maxwell by whom she had one child.
   Mr. Phelps was born on the farm where he grew up to his young manhood and received such advantages in schooling, etc., as Henry county afforded; and December 12, 1872, Mr. Phelps was married to Miss Mary A. Sidebottom, a native of Illinois, the Sidebottom family being of the pioneers of Henry county, and at their home the daughter was married.
   In 1873 Mr. Phelps purchased a farm in Fremont county, Iowa, where he lived until coming to Merrick county, Nebraska, with his wife and four children. He purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres two miles west of Central City which is well equipped, and where he still resides. Mr. Phelps has a good orchard on this farm and raises a fine variety of apples.
   Joseph Phelps, a half-brother, had come to Merrick county in 1869, and Father Phelps and wife came to visit him in 1883; and after the son William and family came to Merrick county, Father and Mother Phelps made their home on the farm of their son James and family. James Phelps came to Merrick county in 1884 and moved to Seward county, Nebraska, in 1888. Father Phelps died February 20, 1899, in his ninety-first year. Mother Phelps died September 7, 1907, in her eighty-fourth year.
   Our subject and wife have had five children born to them, four born in Iowa, and one in Merrick county, Nebraska: Lily, Samuel, Claudie, who reside under the parental roof; Walter, who died in Merrick county in 1884; and Effie, who lives at home.
   Mr. and Mrs. Phelps, whilst not of the very first settlers in Merrick county, have assisted in making this portion of Nebraska a prosperous and successful community, using their best efforts for the betterment of their home and county, and they have the respect and esteem of many friends.

 

---

JOSEPH F. TICHY.

   Residing on section ten, township thirty-one, range six, Knox county, Nebraska, is Joseph F. Tichy, who is regarded as one of the leading citizens of his locality. He, and his father before him, have always been important factors in the upbuilding of this region, aiding materially in its development and growth from the time of its early settlement.
   Mr. Tichy is a native born Nebraskan, his birth having occurred in 1878, in Knox county, which has been his dwelling place through all the years. He is the son of Albert and Mary Tichy, both natives of Bohemia, from which country they emigrated in 1870, coming from Bohemia to the United States. After landing in the United States, they went directly to Chicago, Illinois, remaining there about a year, when, hearing of the golden opportunities offered to those who would brave the dangers and hardships of the western country to gain free land, they started for the west, locating in Knox county, Nebraska, where the father took up a homestead in section ten, township thirty-one. range six, which remains the old original homestead to the present day, and which is now owned by our subject. On this land a log house was built; and here the family endured hardships and dangers almost beyond belief in those very first days of settlement of the wild western country which as yet had scarcely known the presence of the white man. Indians roamed at will and did not take the white man's advent to this territory in a very friendly manner, and were a source or anxiety and danger to the peace and comfort of those who first set foot on the unbroken prairie lands of the west. The family suffered many privations through the losses and failures of crops from various causes, such as the grasshopper raids, hot winds of the years of drouth, etc. The grasshoppers were the greatest source of hardship, they having destroyed all the crops for three consecutive years.
   In 1900 Mr. Tichy was united in marriage to Miss Mary Liski, and Mr. and Mrs. Tichy are the parents of three fine children, namely: Eddie, Vlasty and William.
   Mr. Tichy owns a fine estate of five hundred and sixty acres, of which thirty acres are given to trees.

 

---

ERIC NORLING.

   One of the most progressive and prosperous farmers and stockmen of the northeastern section of Nebraska, is the above-named gentleman, who has been a resident of this locality for many years. He is proprietor of one of the most, valuable estates in Stanton county, and after many years of hard labor in building up his business, is now prepared to enjoy the remaining years of his life in peace and comfort, surrounded by a host of good friends and acquaintances.
   Mr. Norling is a native of the north of Sweden, and was born in 1862, to Eric and Anna Norling. The father was a small farmer, and the subscriber spent his early years on the little farm, receiving his education in the schools of his native land.

   In 1880, the subscriber, with his parents, left Sweden for America, coming at once to Stanton county, Nebraska, where they took up the homestead which is now occupied by Mr. Norling. The first thing to be done upon gaining possession of their claim was to put up a dugout twelve by twelve, which served as a home for the family for ten years. At this time, a good substantial frame house took its place.
   The first years in this country were not monotonous in any way. During the summer, they had the prairie fires to contend with, and in the winter, there were disastrous blizzards which made traveling, even for a few feet away from the house extremely dangerous.
   In 1886, Mr. Norling was united in marriage to Miss Carrie Hendrickson. Seven children have been born to bless their home, named as follows: Amy, Hattie, Ida, Leonard, Elfy, Pearl and Kermitt.
   Mr. Norling has always taken a keen interest in all that affected the interests of his new country. the family is prominent in social and educational matters, and they are well esteemed by all who know them. Mr. Norling is a director of his school district, and is one of the select men of the county.

 

---

JUSTUS BUTTERFIELD.

   Located very pleasantly in section thirty-five, township thirty, range eight, is to be found one of the well known and highly esteemed old settlers of northeastern Nebraska. This gentleman is Mr.Justus Butterfield, and he has been closely identified with the history of Knox county from a very early date, having come here when the country was very sparsely settled, and he well remembers when the plains abounded with wild game, and Indians were frequently seen in bands near their settlements.
   Mr. Butterfield is a native of Kalamazoo county, Michigan, and was born October 2, 1850.* His father was born in New York, and his mother was a native of the same state. Our subject's boyhood was spent in his native state until he was about eight years old. He then came with his parents to Buchanan county, Iowa, where he followed farming as an occupation until he was twenty-four years old, at which time he came west, driving through from Buchanan county Iowa, to Knox county, Nebraska, where he filed on a homestead in 1874. His first work was to build a house of rocks, in which he lived for several years.
   During his early residence in Nebraska, Mr. Butterfield and his family went through their share of the hardships which met every pioneer on the frontier, experiencing failures of crops, grasshopper raids, severe storms, etc.; but they had the courage to endure, and in the years of plenty that followed those times, have managed to accumulate a fine property and establish a permanent home. His holdings consist of two hundred and eighty-eight acres of land, every part of it under good improvement, except eight acres of timber.
   Mr. Butterfield was united in marriage in October, 1877, in Knox county, to Miss Queiney Canning, a native of Wisconsin, who came to Nebraska with her parents, William and Mariette Canning, in 1874. To them have come eleven children named as follows: Henry, Hiley, Laurence, Eva, Elmer, Willard, Marvel, Merle, Clarence, Mabel and Claude. Merle, Mabel and Claude are now deceased, all having died from diphtheria and membraneous croup in October, 1910. Mrs. Butterfield died May 2, 1906.

(* Gravestone gives birthyear as 1856 - email 14 Mar 2007, from Thomas Risinger <tdr@t-risinger.com>)

---

RICHARD R. MARTIN.

   Richard R. Martin, a prosperous and public-spirited citizen of Custer county, is a self-made man and one who has many friends. He is an early settler of the state and has passed through many stages of its history. In years past he spent considerable time in helping to locate homesteaders on government land, for which work he was well fitted by training and experience. In his youth he hunted and trapped through the west and many times acted as guide to parties desiring to hunt buffalo. For the past few years he has devoted much attention to real estate, dealing chiefly in land in Texas and Old Mexico.
   Mr. Martin was born in Dodge county, Wisconsin, January 1, 1854, next to the youngest of the eight children of Noah and Hannah (Prest) Martin, the father a native of New York state and the mother of Pennsylvania. His three brothers, Jerry, John and Asa, and also two sisters. Mrs. Ordelia Dimery and Mrs. Caroline Tidyman, live in Seward county, Nebraska, and another sister Mrs. Hattie Conway, lives in York, Nebraska.
   Mr. Martin's father was of Irish descent. He served in the civil war as a private in the Third Wisconsin Infantry, for two years. In the fall of 1868 he settled in Nebraska, and in 1869 took up a homestead in York county, being murdered on his way to the homestead from York, December 10, 1879. He was a millwright, and intended starting the next day to build a mill in Harlan county, one hundred and twenty-five miles west. His sons completed the work the following year. His widow died at Beaver Crossing, Seward county, Nebraska, in 1894.
   Richard R. Martin grew to manhood on the home farm, receiving his education in local schools, and later engaged in farming and in the milling business. On November 28, 1876, in York county, he was united in marriage with Emma Lezotte, daughter of Charles and Mary (Little) Lezotte, and a native of McHenry county, Illinois. She came with her parents to Seward county in 1874, her father being a homesteader

there. He was born in New York, of French descent, and died at Beaver Crossing, in 1895. Mrs. Lezotte was born in Vermont, also of French descent, and now lives at Beaver Crossing. Mrs. Martin has four brothers and two sisters in Nebraska.
   In the spring of 1883 Mr. Martin brought his wife and their two sons to Custer county, and shortly thereafter pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of land near Mason City. The following year he erected the first flouring mill in the county, at Algernon, its capacity being one hundred barrels per day. The railroad refusing to make a station here, the town and mill were abandoned. He hauled one hundred and seventy-six loads of lumber and machinery from Kearney, a distance of about fifty miles. Mr. Martin has operated three different mills in the vicinity, the Algernon mill, followed by the Old Muddy Mill near Litchfield, and a mill three and one-half miles south of Mason City and known as the Mason City mill; he remained in the business for twenty-one years. He has added to the home farm until he now has a ranch of seven hundred and twenty acres of improved and well equipped farm land, including the original pre-emption, on which he erected a comfortable cottage in 1905, and which remained the home place since he located there until the fall of 1911, when he built a fine seven-room dwelling east of the creek. This is lighted with acetylene gas, and is piped for water, which is supplied from five hundred barrel cistern on the hill, giving a pressure of one hundred and ten feet.
   Mr. Martin has always been deeply interested in the progress and development of his locality, and is one of the best known men in central Nebraska. While a resident of York county he acted as locater of homesteads for several years and had meetings with the Indians in those early days. When the railroad was built in Custer County, he had a contract for forty miles of repair work along the line. He is interested in various mining propositions and has valuable holdings of land in the southern and western states, He and his wife have traveled widely through the south, west and east, in connection with their various interests or for pleasure. he served for some years as director of his school district number twelve, and has always been the friend of progress and education.
   Mr. and Mrs. Martin have had five children: Charles W., married and living on the old home place, has one son; Asa C., Jennie E., who has a school of cutting and fitting at Broken Bow, under a system of which she is the patentee, Emma C. and Ida M., at home.
   Mr. Martin is republican in politics, and a member of the Odd Fellows. He is a typical Westerner in his hospitality, and even goes most of them one better. While many object to having the public cross their land, this jovial Nebraskan has a sign posted at the mouth of a lane on his south line, "Welcome, Road Here. R. R. Martin." This "welcome road" is a great, accommodation, as it is the only convenient cross road in several miles.

 

---

MELVILLE B. GOODENOW.

   Melville B. Goodenow, who for the past forty year's has been a resident of Valley county, Nebraska, is one of the few old settlers who still live on the old homestead farm. He is one of the oldest settlers of Valley county, and has witnessed the country grow from a wild, bleak, wind-swept prairie to a land of beautiful homes and groves, occupied by intelligent, contented and prosperous people. He has coped with the varying fortunes of pioneer life and has surrounded himself with the satisfying evidences of work well done.
   Mr. Goodenow was born on French Mountain, at the head of Lake George, in Warren county, New York, March 11, 1844, and was the only child of Royal and Marilla (Griffin) Goodenow, both natives of New York. The father died in Iowa, March 21, 1911, at the age of ninety-one years, and the mother died in her native state in March of 1844, shortly after Melville's birth. About 1848 our subject went, with his father to Chilton, Iowa, where he was raised on a farm and received his education.
   On September 20, 1861, Mr. Goodenow enlisted in Company I, Twelfth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, serving until the close of the war, receiving his honorable discharge in January of 1864, at Shawalee, Tennessee. Here he re-enlisted and served until February of 1866, receiving his final discharge at Davenport, Iowa. The battles engaged in were at Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Shiloh, the two battles at Corinth during the siege of that place, during the last of these battles the troops fought seven times over the same grounds in dense woods; Iuka, and two battles at Jackson, Mississippi, Clinton, Mississippi, the Siege of Vicksburg, Champion Hills, Meridian, Red River, Oxford, Tupelo, Nashville, and Mobile, and many minor engagements and skirmishes. His regiment, under General A. J. Smith's command, was at Montgomery when the news of Lee's surrender and Lincoln's death reached them. After the war he returned to Clinton county, Iowa, where he followed farming until 1870, when he moved to Woodbury county, locating near Sioux City.
   On January 18, 1868, in Dewitt, Iowa, Mr. Goodenow was married to Miss Minetta Coffin, of New York birth. It is an interesting coincidence that Mr. Goodenow's father and himself, as well as his wife, were all born in the same house, in Warren county, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Goodenow have had four children, namely: Claude, who died in 1898, while in service during the Spanish-American war; Maude, married N. E. Jackson, and lives in Valley county, Nebraska;

Irene, who is married to L. N. Kennedy, has six children, and lives in Custer county, Nebraska; and Marilla, deceased.
   In the spring of 1871 Mr. Goodenow made a trip into Nebraska from Sioux City, driving a rig, and with an Indian for a guide drove tip Cedar river, crossing to Long Pine, thence south to Burwell by way of the Calamus, looking for a location. In the spring of 1872 he first pre-empted, but later homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land in Valley county, the northwest quarter of section six, township fifteen, range twenty, north; also filed on a timber claim of one hundred and sixty acres adjoining. In the spring of 1873 Mr. Goodenow was joined by his wife and two children, and he and his family are still residing on the old homestead farm. The dwelling now stands on the timber claim, on which forty acres of most excellent timber is standing, making a most beautiful grove, in which all neighborhood picnics are held.
   Mr. Goodenow is a proserous [sic] man of affairs, owning seven hundred and twenty acres of stock farm land, where he has a fine herd of Aberdeen and Angus cattle. He is a stockholder and director of the First National Bank of Ord, Nebraska, the First National Bank at Burwell, Nebraska, and vice president of a Savings Bank at Wall Lake, Iowa. He was instrumental in organizing school district number one, of which he also served as moderator, and he also served as sheriff of Valley county in the years of 1875 and 1876.
   Mr. Goodenow has passed through the Valley county pioneer years, sharing all the experiences. He well remembers the Indian days, knowing many of the tribe personally, and has in his possession the tomahawk that belonged to Chief Crazy Horse during his career in the west. Mr. Goodenow is the earliest settler in the upper valley of the North Loup in Valley county, settling there before Fort Hartseff was established. He remained here, holding down his claims, after the commandant of the fort had ordered all settlers to abandon their claims and come in for protection. He has fought Indians, and was personally acquainted with all the noted chiefs, Spotted Tail, Black Bird, Crazy Horse, Man-afraid-of-his-horses and Snow-in-the-face, who ranged the plains of Nebraska at the time of settlement. To keep them from stealing his horses for the first three years, he hid them out every night in the canyon, changing their hiding place after dark so the marauders could not find them where they were seen feeding in the evening. Seven were stolen from neighbors above him in the valley and eleven below, but his caution saved him any loss. His saddle mare could smell an Indian before her owner could see him, and gave him warning of their approach. One time they were stampeded and driven is far as North Loup, where they were recovered, while the man was caught on Mira creek.
   Once when his circumstances were in a critical condition and a loan was refused him at Grand Island, he rode to Sioux City and return, a distance of seven hundred miles, for fifteen dollars that was due him, and saved the day. It was while returning from this trip, when nearing home, he came near riding into a camp of hostile Sioux on the war path after their Pawnee enemies. Seeing them around thier [sic] campfire as he came over the crest of a hill at dawn, he backed his horse down and rode around to a place where he could watch them in safety. On their leaving, he rode to their camp and appeased his hunger from the remains of a deer on which they had been feeding while in camp there. He had been riding night and day on the trip, and at times was without food for twenty-four hours or more. On reaching home, exhausted as he was, he paused not for sleep or rest, for he learned that the soldiers and officers at Fort Hartseff intended filing on land he and other settlers occupied. Snatching a hasty morsel of food, he journeyed on, and at dusk overtook the army wagon of soldiers on the way to the land office at Grand Island. He lagged along until night, pulled his hat down over his face to keep from being recognized if seen, and, when the soldiers were housed in the hotel at West Point, rode on through to Grand Island that night, put his exhausted horse in a barn, and perched himself at the door of the land office to await the break of day and the coming of the officials in charge. When open he filed on his own claims and those of all his neighbors who were bona fide settlers, and then started out in search of food and to care for his faithful horse that had carried him over seven hundred miles at it time when the delay of it few hours meant financial ruin. On emerging from the office he was met by the soldiers, who had taken in early start, and thought they had outdistanced him. They were chagrinned to know he had saved his own land and that of his neighbors, and be it to the shame of some of the latter, they never repaid Mr. Goodenow their filing fees which saved their land.
   After his family joined him, Mr. Goodenow never went far from home without taking them with him, for there was danger of an Indian raid at any time. Deer and antelope were so plentiful that they might be seen in herds of a hundred or more most any time. Mr. Goodenow has killed hundreds of them, at one time bringing down four elk in one day. Wild turkeys were plentiful, and furnished a most palatable feed to the settlers. He became so excellent a hunter that his fame spread to the states east of the Mississippi, and prominent men from Indiana and Ohio came out annually to hunt in this region, insisting that Mr. Goodenow act is their guide.
   When Mr. Goodenow settled on his claim, Mr.Mortensen and his colleagues were still living in their wagons, not yet having had time to build the dugout that later became noted in local annals. Mr. Goodenow's first dwelling was a log

---

© 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 for NEGenWeb Project by T&C Miller, P Ebel, P Shipley, L Cook