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Compendium of History Reminiscence & Biography of Western Nebraska

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his farm. He is member of the Methodist church and the Knights of Pythias, of Springview.

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NELS LARSON.

     Nels Larson, one of the prominent farmers and stockmen of western Nebraska, is a man of untiring energy and good business management, residing on section 24, township 13, range 53, Chambers precinct, Cheyenne county, where he occupies a high position as a leading citizen.

     Mr. Larson was born in Denmark, July 26, 1863. He grew to the age of nineteen years in his native land, following farming as an occupation most of the time and then came to the United States, sailing April 12th from Copenhagen to New York on the Tingvallia. He came direct to Blair, Nebraska (whither a brother had preceded him) arriving in that vicinity May 5, 1882. He resided in Holt county three years and two years in Washington county, engaged in farm labor, then came to Cheyenne county, arriving here in March and making homestead the same month. For about seven years he was out of the county following railroad shop work, for three years at Missouri Valley, on what is now the Northwestern line; two years in Cheyenne, and an equal time on ranches near Blair. In the fall of 1904 he filed on a Kinkaid homestead, and now has four hundred and eighty acres, all well improved, and is one of the well-to-do residents of the county. The place is fitted with good buildings and he farms fifty acres, using the balance as a stock ranch, running quite a herd of cattle and a small bunch of horses.

          Mr. Larson was married May 10, 1907, in Union precinct, Kimball county, Nebraska, to Miss Carrie Nelson, a native of Denmark, whose parents are both dead.

           Politically Mr. Larson is a Democrat, and while he has always taken a commendable interest in local affairs, has never sought office other than school service, acting at present as moderator of school district No. 17. His postoffice is Potter. He votes independently of party lines and is a member of the Lutheran church.

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SWAN FRISKOPP.

     Swan Friskopp, who is well known in Deuel county as a progressive agriculturist, where his character and ability command respect and retain confidence, was born on a farm in Sweden, and grew up there.

          Mr. Friskopp is the youngest member of his father's family of three children, and has one brother still living in Sweden, while his only sister lives in Dawson county, Nebraska. Both father and mother spent their entire lives in that country, dying there several years past. He left home in 1882, striking out at once for America, taking passage on an emigrant steamer. His first location was at Kearney, Nebraska, where he spent several years, and then came on to Deuel county, landing here in 1887. He had been through the country in 1884 and taken a homestead on section 20, township 13, range 43, and has now made permanent settlement on the land. He put up a rough shanty and other buildings, and kept "batchelor's hall" for a number of years, going through many hardships and discouragements in the failure of crops, etc. He had little capital, and was obliged to work out part of the time in order to lay by a little money with which to put improvements on his farm, and has seen every phase of the early Nebraska times.

          Mr. Friskopp now owns six hundred and forty acres, farming about one hundred and forty of this, and the balance is used for pasture and hay land for his stock, of which he has eighty head of cattle and sixty horses. His place is well improved with a complete set of good buildings, fences, well and windmill, etc., and every appointment evidences thrift and painstaking care of its operation.

          On August 30, 1895, Mr. Friskopp was married to Miss Annie Leef, in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Mrs. Friskopp was born and raised in Knox county, Illinois, and is a most charming and intelligent lady, the mother of five children, named as follows: Laura S., Alice G., Anna Irene, Velma, Viola and Royal J., all at home, and forming an interesting family group. Mr. Friskopp has always taken an active interest in school affairs, and has served his township in various capacities as a public officer. In politics he is a Republican.

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WILSON J. TEETERS.

     Among the prominent ranchmen of Cherry county, Nebraska, the gentleman above named deserves a foremost place. Mr. Teeters is the owner of a valuable estate situated in section 10, township 29, range 34, and has made his home near here for the past ten years.

          Mr. Teeters was born in Steuben county, Indiana, November 26, 1875, a twin brother of Willis J. Teeters, whose biography is to be found elsewhere in is work. His father, John Teeters, was a farmer and old settler in the eastern part of this state, arriving in Burt county about 1879. The mother's maid name was Mary Russell, who died in Nebraska March

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This page typed & donated to NEGenWeb by Carole Miller who copied it for the FRISKOPP data.
One of the Friskopp daughters married a Hadwiger descendent.


Compendium of History Reminiscence & Biography of Western Nebraska

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13, 1888, at the age of forty-six. One of a family of seven children, Mr. Teeters was reared in Nebraska. He attended the country schools, and during his spare time assisted his father and brothers in the work of carrying on their farm. During our subject's young manhood he and his brothers worked in partnership in Burt county, engaged in farming and they are still to some extent interested in cattle in common and are to some extent individual owners. In 1898 he came to Cherry county and settled on a homestead in section 2, later on section 10, township 29, range 34, where he now resides. He put up a sod shanty for his home, and lived in this for some time. His first farm contained eighty acres, and he soon took up an additional eighty, also another piece in section 2, township 10, range 11. He farmed part of this land and engaged in stock raising to some extent, meeting with good success in whatever he undertook. In 1904 he took four hundred and eighty acres of Kincaid homestead land, and he now owns a ranch of fourteen hundred and forty acres, all good land, and with his father and brothers is interested in over fifty-two hundred acres. He has a good set of farm buildings on his place, good wells and windmills, and all fenced. He is now devoting his entire attention to stock raising, and runs a herd of a hundred head of cattle and about thirty horses.

          Mr. Teeters and his brothers, Jefferson D. and Willis J., of whom sketches appear in this work, have invented and secured a patent on a rotary cycle mower which gives promise of being a very successful invention. This is constructed so that each section runs on a chain belt, thus doing away with any reciprocal motion, which is the principle on which ordinary mowers run.

          In 1900 Mr. Teeters was married to Miss Katie Herron, daughter of Lewis and Ellen E. (Morrain) Herron, the latter having died when Mrs. Teeters was a little girl about three years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Teeters have a family of three children, who are named as follows: Wilson J. Jr., born January 19, 1901: Benton Ray, born December 3, 1902, and Myrtle Adelia, born October 10, 1904.

          The family is highly esteemed throughout the community in which they reside, and enjoy the friendship of a host of neighbors. A view of the family residence is one of the interesting illustrations in this work.

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WILLIS J. TEETERS.

     Willis J. Teeters, a prominent ranchman of Cherry county. Nebraska, resides on his valuable estate, section 2, township 29, range 34, where he has a pleasant and comfortable home. Mr. Teeters is considered among the early settlers in this region, and is one of those who have contributed largely of their time and influence in building up the locality in which they chose their home.

          Mr. Teeters is a native of Steuben county, Indiana, born November 26, 1875, and is a twin brother to Wilson J. Teeters, whose sketch appears on another page in this volume. He came to Cherry county when a young man of about twenty, and located on the homestead on which he now resides, and at once went to work building up his farm and home. He has a finely improved ranch of seven hundred and twenty acres, well stocked, and has been most successful in accumulating a nice property in the comparatively short time he has lived here. In common with his brother he runs about four hundred cattle and eighty head of horses. A view of the residence and surroundings will be found on another page in this work.

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          Mr. Teeters was married October 26. 1904, to Miss Blanche Miller, daughter of Gregory Miller, a farmer living at Clearwater, Antelope county. Mr. and Mrs. Teeters have two children: Ethel Mary, born November 23, 1903, and Norval, born August 14, 1907.

          Mr. Teeters is a man of superior intelligence and marked business ability, supplemented by industrious habits and a level head. He is of an inventive turn of mind, being associated with his brothers in the perfecting of a rotary cycle mower, which they expect to put upon the marker.

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LOUIS H. DEAVER.

     As an industrious farmer and honest and worthy citizen, the gentleman herein named is known throughout Cherry county. He is the owner of a well improved property in section 4. township 31, range 34, and well deserves the success he has acquired through many years of hard work and perseverance.

          Mr. Deaver was born in Madison county, Nebraska. February 12, 1873. His father, Henry Deaver, was an American, a farmer by occupation, and served in an Indiana regiment during the Civil war. In a family of eleven children our subject was the fifth member, and at the age of thirteen started out to make his own way in the world, obtaining employment on farms in this state, where all his life has been spent. When he was twenty-four he started in farming for himself in Stanton county and remained there for two years, and then he made


Compendium of History Reminiscence & Biography of Western Nebraska

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his home in Antelope county for four years from whence he came to Cherry county.

     Here he took up a homestead in section 4, township 31, range 34. Since then he has taken up additional land accounting to four hundred and eighty acres, also three hundred and sixty acres of section 32, township 32, range 34, this being a part of the Heyne ranch, of which he was foreman for a number of years. The owners of the Heyne ranch, which is now reduced to four hundred and eighty acres, located here in 1898, an have run the place since that time. Mr. Deaver has good buildings and improvements on his home farm, And has also quite an orchard of fruit trees set out and growing well. He has prospered from the first, and is one of the progressive and up-to-date farmers and ranchmen of the county.

          In 1897 Mr. Deaver was married to Miss Louisa Cleveland, a native of Ohio, but reared in Wisconsin. They have one child. Phyllis Joy.

          Although Mr. Deaver takes a commendable interest in politics he has never had the time to devote to active participation in the game, and has never held any office. He is a Republican in sentiment; in fraternal relations is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, of Cody.

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E.S. BYFIELD

     E. S. Byfield, editor and proprietor of the Indianola Reporter, which is recognized as one of the most reliable new mediums of this locality, is foremost among the younger business men of the thriving town of Indianola, Nebraska.

     Mr. Byfield was born in Pueblo, Colorado, and is the son of William Byfield, of McCook, who is the owner of a large ranch and elevator at Redwillow, besides hundred and sixty acres of fine land on which he has built a beautiful residence, adjoining the town of McCook. He is a large grower of grain, but in 1906 his crop consisted on one hundred acres of sugar beets, yielding fourteen tons to the acre, four thousand bushels of conr, and three thousand bushels of wheat. He feeds about five hundred hogs and four thousand lambs annually. His beet crop realized forty-six dollars per acre last year, and showed him a nice profit. He pays twenty-one dollars per acre for labor, seed, etc., and had the beet tops to feed his stock, which makes the best kind of fodder for them.. He states that this crop never has failed him, even during the driest seasons. He does not use the land for the same crop every year, but raises corn and beets alternately on the the ground, and in this way obtains better results. He also has one hundred and twenty acres of fine alfalfa which yields him a splendid crop.

     He has farmed in Kansas and in his native land, Ontario, Canada, and from this wide experience is satisfied that the Republican valley is the best place for breeding and raising stock, also feeding, that he has ever seen.

     He was one of the first setters of Redwillow county, coming here in 1872.

     Later he moved to Colorado, coming back to Redwillow county in 1885, with his family, of whom our subject is the eldest member. He first located at the junction of the Republican river and Redwillow creek. With him were J.F. Black and John Lonecker, who settled near his homestead, and both of these gentlemen still live in this county.

     Our subject received his early education in the public schools of McCook, attending these until he reached the eleventh grade, and then entered Franklin Academy, from which he was graduated in 1904, and during the time he attended this academy he was also employed in the Free Press office at Franklin, gaining much practical knowledge from his connection with this paper. He spend one and a half years with the Danbury News, a leading newspaper issued at Danbury, Nebraska. Two years ago he purchased the Indianola Reporter, and in this short time has built the paper up and made it one of the best papers Indianola has had for years. He is an earnest advocate for the advancement of the best interests of his locality, and takes a foremost part in all public matters of the times. He is a young man of sterling qualities, and promises to become one of the most prominent members of his chosen profession.

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ERIK RASMUSSEN.

     Erik Rasmussen, a prosperous farmer of township 26, range 48, Box Butte county, has made his way to success by perseverance and diligence, supplemented by honest dealings.

     He is a man of wide experience, his career has been a busy one and he still has apparently many years left to enjoy the prosperity which he has attained since locating in this section of the country.

     Mr. Rasmussen was born near Bergen, in the Province of Nordfjord, Norway, his birthplace being near the seacoast, where his parents owned a farm, the father spending his entire life in that vicinity. The mother still owns an interest in this homestead in the old country. Our subject grew up there, an at the age of seventeen years left home and started out for himself, following the life of a sailor for about seven-


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