NEGenWeb Project
Resource Center
On-Line Library

by Stanton County, on the east by Coifax County, on the south by Sherman Township, and on the west by Humphrey Township.

This township is crossed by the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad, which passes through the town of Creston. The township includes six school districts: 33, 78, 58, 74, 45 and 43. Until approximately 1884, District 74 was a part of District 43. When 74 was organized the school house was moved one mile north to its present site on Highway 91, midway between Creston and Leigh. This site was known as Timber Hill. Later, when the Fremont-Elkhorn-Valley Railway came through in 1887, the location became known as Hill Siding because of the railroad siding and stockyards a short distance from the school house. Since the laying of the ties and rails was the students' first experience with this form of transportation, school was dismissed one afternoon allowing the children to watch the construction gangs at work.

In the 1894 school census, the first county records show J. T. Morris to be director of District 33; Niels Olson, director of District 43; W. C. Jackson, director of District 45; Robert Griffin, director of District 58; W. W. Dean, director of District 74; and Henry Parks, director of District 78.

On December 12, 1925, District 45 dedicated its new school building, evoking many memories of early Creston Township affairs and organizations. The first Fourth of July celebration held in this precinct was at the District 45 school. Some of the pioneers who attended its classes and remained active in the life of the township were: Mr. and Mrs. R. C. Moran, S. T. Fleming, and Miss Addie Lake. Children in the early years often attended more than one school in the precinct, since it was difficult for any community to support a full one-year term.

Known as the Social Center School because of its early-organized literary society, District 45 was the scene of much social activity. W. C. Jackson and R. Moran were mainly responsible for initiating its first programs in the community.

HUMPHREY TOWNSHIP

Humphrey Township was settled approximately in 1870. However, one of the first to pioneer this region was Lavinus Leach, who wrote in 1875:

"Four years ago it (the precinct) contained not a single settler. I came first alone . . . Worked one week without seeing a single human being . . . "

Mrs. L. B. Leach wrote in the Humphrey Democrat under the date of December 18, 1903:

"The settlement of that part of Platte County known as Tracy Valley commenced in the Spring of 1871.

"Tradition has it that the Valley was named for a certain man by the name of Tracy from the nearby Village of Madison. One day, on Tracy's return from a trip to Columbus, he found the creek so badly swollen by the heavy rains that it was almost impassable. Being a man of courage, he pulled off his boots -- threw them across the creek -- plunged into the raging torrent and reached the opposite bank in safety. Thus the name Tracy Valley."

In the Spring of 1871, E. T. Graham, E. L. McGehee, the three Alderson brothers, William, Adam, and J. M., along with T. E. and L. C. La Barre, came into the valley. With the exception of E. T. Graham and George Rolling, who went on to Creston, these newcomers remained in Tracy Valley.

The second group of settlers included Walter Mead, Warren Potter and S. B. Dayton from New York State, Mrs. Leach and her son-in-law, E. E. Rascol, from Iowa. In September, 1871, Mrs. Leach's daughter, Roxy, took a homestead, which was later bought by the Carrs. That winter, L. B. Leach went back to Iowa but returned the following spring of 1872 with his family. His brother, Rufus Leach, and his family came with him.

In the Fall of 1872, Loman Panter came from New York and in the Spring of 1873, his son-in-law, Dan Brooks, joined the colony.

In the Fall of 1872, Nathaniel Crabtree, a Civil War veteran and his sister, Sarah, came from Illinois, both taking homesteads. Mr. Crabtree's homestead was later owned by Nels Pederson. The Glassbrenner farm was later occupied by Mr. Lohaus as was a farm farther north by Mr. Miller.

Early in 1872, school District 19 was formed. The first teacher was Roxy Leach, who taught the first term of school on her homestead. One day while teaching, she received an informal visit from some Indians who tried to sell her their wares.

The second teacher in this District was Sarah Crabtree, who taught classes in a dugout on the L. Leach homestead.

The first Sunday school was organized at the home of C. E. Roscal by the Reverend J. M. Wilson, a Presbyterian. That same year, Reverend John Trine, a Methodist minister, began holding services in the community.

John M. Alderson and Mr. Leach tried to influence other settlers to come into the township. By 1875, their success was apparent in the assessed value of land in that precinct which totaled $132,435. More than seventeen hundred acres were under cultivation and the amount of assessed personal property was $10,050.80. About two hundred and fifty people lived in the community and sixty were registered voters in the 1875 election.

It was May 7, 1872, when the township of Humphrey was established to include township 20, range 1 east, and township 20, ranges 1 and 2 west. (Later range 2 west was taken from Humphrey and added to Granville Township.) Humphrey Township is bounded on the north by Madison County, on the east by Creston Township, on the south by Grand Prairie Township, and on the west by Granville Township.

Among the 1871 settlers was Edward T. Graham, a native of Prince Edward's Island, who immigrated to Platte County following his marriage and settled on a farm in the Creston vicinity where he cultivated fifteen hundred acres of land.

Some indication of the progress of the Humphrey and Walker Precincts is to be found in a newspaper notice of December, 1877:

"Two new school houses are being put up, one each in Humphrey and Walker Precincts. The dingy cavernous looking sod houses are passing away; pleasant, airy, tasty structures are taking their places, sure bulwarks of progress and mental culture."

School was first held in this precinct in District 53, where a small sod school house was built in 1878. The first board members were: J. L. Brown, George Sweeney and John A. Wilson.

A few years later, in 1880, the sod structure burned to the ground and school was held in the Sherman home until a frame building was erected, in 1881. The first teacher in the new district was Asberry Morgan. Others who taught in the District 53 school house in Humphrey Township were: Joseph Wilson, Mae South, J. F. Clark, Emma Graham, Laura Robinson, Alice Kingston, Martha Johnston, Frank Miller, Grace Clark, Anna Hamer, Birdie Dodds, Mrs. Barnes, Jennie Webster, Minnie Pruitt, Mae Anderson, Cora Newman, Rose Alderson, Orpha Driscoll, Della Anderson, Edna Moore, Milton Transchel, Helen Farnsley, Talmah Burns, Mary E. Welch, Marie Reineccius and Robert Hook.

In addition to Districts 19 and 53, Humphrey Township includes school Districts 49 and 67, the latter being in the town of Humphrey, which is bounded by two townships. Its western section belongs to Granville and its eastern half to Humphrey Precinct.

Many fine churches were established in the town of Humphrey in the 1880's and 1890's, but one of the less orthodox and more famous preachers of the region was Jerry Long, who came down from Madison and frequently preached in private homes to the assembled members of the community.

It is believed that the name Humphrey was derived from the town of Humphrey, New York, the former home of Mrs. Leach, (also called Mrs. Wanzer). She was the mother of early settler Roxy Leach. Both were homesteaders in the precinct.

BURROWS TOWNSHIP

Burrows Township, located near the center of Platte County, is bounded on the north by Granville, on the east by Grand Prairie, on the south by Lost Creek, and on the west by Joliet Townships. The Sioux City and Columbus Railroad enters the township on Section 36 and leaves it on Section 1. A station, Tarnov, is located on Section 13.

Some of the men who pioneered in this area were: John and Joseph Burrows, John Greisen, George and Richard Bashel and George W. Lamb. James Noonan, one of the early homesteaders, moved to the Burrows community in 1874.

Many of those who settled in this precinct were among the seekers-after-gold who started out for the Black Hills in 1877. Included in this group were: Thomas Taylor and E. A. Brown of Monroe; William Wilson and Alex Shillitoe of Stearns' Prairie, now Grand Prairie Township. Together they followed the famous trail up the Elk Horn to the Niobrara.

The first church was St. Anthony's Catholic Church. Probably the second church in the community was that established in Tarnov in 1880, and known as St. Michael's. In 1893, this church was incorporated by Bishop Richard Scannell, of Omaha, with the Reverend Anastatius Czech, O. F. M., as pastor. The church edifice was a white frame structure which burned shortly after the organization of the congregation and was replaced by a brick building in 1901.

The first school in the township was organized within a year or two after the formal incorporation of Burrows Township. John Elliott's daughter, Rebecca Elliott, was one of the early

teachers and the term was established as seven months long. A two-mill levy was made for a teachers' fund, and in 1877, a. total of five hundred dollars was reported in the District 9 treasury. G. W. Galley served as director of the school district. Other members of the school boards were: moderator, Jacob Guter, and treasurer, Samuel Galley.

"The district has never before employed a lady teacher," noted the report.

The minutes of the county commissioners of August 5, 1873, mention Burrows Township for the first time in connection with a meeting which was to be held at the John Greisen residence. Appointed as the first township officials were: Richard Bashel and George W. Lamb, justices of the peace; Peter Bockshaken and John Moriarty, judges of election; and Richard Bashel and Joseph Burrows, clerks.

In 1894, the school census report records the following school districts in the township of Burrows: District 14, G. N. Lamb, director; District 41, J. F. Schure, director; District 54, William Mason, director; District 60 (in the case of this district, the first legible county record is for the year 1905) ; District 75, J. F. Webster, director.

Shell Creek cuts across the southwestern corner of the Burrows Township where a tributary stream flowing from the north enters it. The topography of the area is approximately the same as that of its adjoining townships -- a highly cultivated and productive agricultural farmland.

GRANVILLE TOWNSHIP

Granville Township is bounded on the north by Madison County, adjoins Burrows to the south, Humphrey to the east and St. Bernard Township to the west. Established in September, 1875, and formally created on the first of January, 1876, it was settled about the same time as the other precincts in this section of Platte County.

Prominent among the early settlers were: William Eimers, William Ripp, Thomas Ottis, Sr., G. W. Clark, Carl Brandt, Herman Wendt, C. H. Graham, James A. Sloan, D. F. Dickinson, T. D. Robison, J. N. Wilson, Walter Mead, L. C. La Barre, L. B. Leach, R. P. Drake, Robert Uhlig, Herman F. Prange, Edward Steinhaus, H. G. Bender, L. S. Martin, and John Ternus.

A later list of assessors and other township officials, published in 1883, included: D. T. Dickinson, assessor; J. A. Maag, supervisor; Ole Terwilliger, clerk; Thomas K. Ottis, treasurer.

The Sioux City branch of the Union Pacific crosses the western border of the township and is crossed by the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad just south of the town of Humphrey. The latter lies on the eastern border of Granville Township, part of it legally incorporated in Humphrey Township.

Township officers who served the county as officials in 1887 were: James Burrows, supervisor; J. F. Schure, treasurer; M. Cooney, clerk; George Thomazen, assessor.

The First Presbyterian Church of Tracy Valley was the first church to be established in this township. A meeting was called for organizational purposes in the District 19 school house on December 26, 1875 (a few days, in fact, before the actual incorporation of the area as a township), for the purpose of electing a board of trustees for the church. Acting chairman was J. N. Wilson; Walter Mead was clerk. The following people were unanimously elected to the board: L. C. La Barre, L. B. Leach and Walter Mead, who was also made clerk.

Granville Township contains school Districts 38, 67, 52, 66 and 69. Parochial schools also have been established in Districts 38, the town of Cornlea, and 67, the town of Humphrey. Both of the latter communities were originally founded and built up by the farmer-settlers who moved to Granville Township in the early years of Platte County.

Some of these families whose descendants still live on property in the township are the Bergs, Haesackers, Pfeifers and the Cooks.

ST. BERNARD TOWNSHIP

St. Bernard Township was officially created by separating its territory of township 20, range 3 west, from Walker Township on November 6, 1883. St. Bernard is in the northwestern section of Platte County and is bounded by Walker, Joliet and Granville Townships, and is south of Madison County. The Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad crosses it and maintains stations on Sections 17 and 20, Lindsay.

Some of the early homesteaders who lived in the precinct five years after its incorporation included these 1888 registered voters: Fred Loffler, William Hauk, Fred Inglebert, J. P. Rathenath; William Cramer; John Semp, William Coppy, X. Meyers, R. Moline, William Shultey, John Wheeland, P. Rankin, James A. Acker, Edward H. Brodball, R. Brodball, W. E. Acker, Henry J. Bellartz, Lucy Acker, Peter Borer, Nancy R. Acker, John McAuliff and Johanna Brodball.

St. Bernard Township includes the town of St. Bernard, which was established approximately five years before the incorporation of the township. A German settlement located on Section 11, its original owners were the Franciscan Brotherhood of Nebraska, under the Reverend Ambrose Janssen, president, and Cyrillus Augustinsky, secretary. A hotel, blacksmith shop and store immediately were established and the first church and school were started by the Franciscans in the late 1870's.

In 1881, St. Bernard's Catholic Church was organized and incorporated by Bishop Richard Scannell and the Right Reverend Augustine M. Colanari, vicar general. The Reverend Stanislaus Riemann became pastor of St. Bernard's and two laymen, Fred Super and Henry Biermann, joined in the incorporation which took place in February, 1906, many years after the original organization of the church.

Another St. Bernard Township church, St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church, was organized in the 1880's and incorporated on January 10, 1889. Serving on the board of trustees were: Adam Roemhild, Brader Boysen and Otto Born. Ernest Nathan was clerk and W. Westphale became treasurer.

The township contains school Districts 29, 50, 70, 56 and 79. In the town of Lindsay, District 29, bonds were voted to the amount of six hundred dollars on June 20, 1877, to erect a school house. John Walker was elected director and William Connelly, Jr., replaced M. Morrissey as treasurer.

Later settlers in the region were the Erickson, Griffin, Christensen, Ducey, Hollatz, Gunnerson and Hauge families.

Township officers who served the county on the 1887 board of supervisors were: C. E. Fields, supervisor; M. Diederich, treasurer; M. S. Wagner, clerk; and J. D. Freschauf, treasurer.

The little inland settlement established its own post office in 1878, and for a time was known as Pleasant Valley to the settlers who made their home in that vicinity.

WALKER TOWNSHIP

Named after John Walker, a pioneer of the early 1870's, Walker Precinct was created August 1, 1871. Mr. Walker's home was selected as the first polling place and judges were: John M. Walker, Matt Farrell and James Collins. Pat Ducey and M. Murray were clerks.

A few years later, approximately half of township 19, range 3 west, was separated from this township to become St. Bernard. Bordered on the north by Madison County and on the west by Boone County, Walker Township has territory adjacent to the townships of Woodville on the south, Joliet and St. Bernard on the east. At first composed of the Looking Glass, Pleasant Valley, Walker and Granville Districts Walker later solidified its boundary lines, held its first meeting at District 63, on April 1, 1384 Officers elected were: John Bloomquist, supervisor; Peter Matson, treasurer; A. A. Lindgren clerk; John P. Johnson, justice of the peace Nels Olson, constable. Road overseers were' Ole W. Olson, District 5; and Erik Sodergren District 22.

The first voting place, which remained in use for many years, was at the District 63 school house, established in 1884.

The 1894 census reports show R. J. Congram as director of the District 18 school; L. P. Hedberg, director of District 40 school; P. G. Swanson, director of District 57 school; j. M. Carlson, director of District 61 school; C. H. Blecher, director of District 63 school; John Swanson, director of District 65 school.

A petition was granted on March 28, 1893, to detach a part of District 18 territory and annex it to District 29.

Walker Township also lost the south half of township 19 to Joliet Township; but it still remains one of the largest townships in the county. Many of the original settlers were of Swedish descent or were emigrants from Denmark and Norway. They established the Evangelical Lutheran Salem Congregation of Walker Precinct in 1879 and, on January 3, 1881, the church was incorporated at a meeting held at the church site in Section 5.

The following were members of the congregation at the time, many of whom have families still in the township: John Bloomquist, N. D. Anderson, C. E. Carison, W. P. Carlson, John Newman, Andrew Anderson, Hans Peterson, August Egman, Charles Grif, Peter Johnson, Lars Johnson, Oscar Eng, Peter Anderson, L. G. Pansard, Ludwig Swenson, Erik Sodergren, S. E. Nelson, N. C. Knudson, Jonas Eng, August .Jacobson, C. Jacobson, John Swenson, J. P. Anderson, Lars Anderson, Ole Olson, Gus Wallgren, Henry Anderson, J. Anderson, Oscar Bloomquist, John Hendrickson, C. Erik Grif, A. G. Peterson, C. W. Nelson, A. G. Rockstrom, J. Alberg and C. J. M. Samuelson.

By 1878, only sixteen hundred acres of government land remained in Walker Township. Most of the Union Pacific land had also been purchased. Schools and churches were established at Newman's Grove, where the United|

Brethren and the Methodist Episcopals each had a congregation meeting bi-weekly.

Walker Township's Danish Lutheran Church, St. Ansgar's, was organized in 1884, and the Bethania Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church had preceded it in the township by five years, being formed in 1879.

The first meeting of Walker Township was held at District 63 on April 1, 1884.

Officers elected by Walker Township in 1887 were: Clark Blecker, supervisor; C. E. Grip, treasurer; M. F. McAninch, clerk; A. J. Johnson, assessor.

The first officers were John Bloomquist, supervisor; Peter Matson, treasurer; A. A. Lindgren, clerk; John P. Johnson, justice of the peace; Nels Olson, constable; road overseers were Ole W. Olson, District 5, and Erik Sodergren, District 22.

JOLIET TOWNSHIP

Originally organized as Looking Glass Precinct, on August 5, 1873, the name of this western-border precinct of Platte County was later changed to Joliet Township. The first election was held at the home of Robert Jones and the township was located on the petition of a group headed by B. J. H. Yerion, an early settler in that part of the county.

Michael Clark, who was born in Dublin, Ireland, and came to Platte County in 1875, was another leader in the community at that time. Clark homesteaded a claim in Joliet Township, which he continued to augment with other property until he became the owner of five hundred fifty-six acres of farm land. He retired in 1913 and moved to Cornlea, in Granville Township. He was the husband of Miss Mary Sheedy of Columbus Township, who died in 1881, and he later married Miss Bridget Whalen, who died in 1917.

Seven years after it was established, Joliet Township had a population of three hundred five. It was about that time that an inhabitant of the region wrote a letter to a Columbus newspaper, entitled "Palestine Valley." The actual Palestine Valley is a tributary of the Looking Glass, about five miles long.

"I know when you read the heading of this," he wrote, "you will wipe your glasses and pull down that old reliable map of yours, and after looking in vain will say, 'Where in blazes is Palestine Valley?'"

The name referred to the new post office established in township 19, range 4 west, and called Palestine Valley. Joseph E. Jacobs was the first postmaster.

Joliet Township is bordered by Monroe Township on the south, Burrows on the east, St. Bernard on the north, and Walker and Woodville on the west. It has five school districts, as reported by the 1894 census: District 31; District 42, John Deegan, director; District 51, I. N. Jones, director; District 64, Daniel Moek, director; and District 81 (half in Joliet and half in Monroe Township), Samuel Taylor, director.

Officers elected by the township in the vote of 1887 were: Hanson S. Elliott, supervisor; F. Rivet, treasurer; Samuel Mahood, clerk; Joseph Rivet, assessor.

WOODVILLE TOWNSHIP

August 5, 1873, was the date for the establishment of Woodville Township, bordered on the north by Walker, on the south and west by Nance and Boone Counties, and on the east by Joliet and Monroe Townships.

Judges of election appointed at the time of the creation of Woodville were: B. F. Baird, Samuel Picken and H. Sanders. Alonzo Getchell and Joseph Apgar were clerks and Joseph Fitzgerald was appointed justice of the peace. John Harkins was made constable, Joseph Apgar, assessor, and H. A. Sanders, road supervisor. Woodville is serviced by the business area of St. Edward, two miles west of the township line in Boone County.

The first annual meeting of Woodville Township was held at the District 68 schoolhouse, at which William J. Irwin was elected chairman.

In addition to Fitzgerald, Harkins, Apgar and the other early officials, Woodville Township was the home, during the 1870's and for years thereafter, of Mr. and Mrs. William Finch, who settled there following a honeymoon trip from Wisconsin. The Finch family had three children and followed the familiar frontier routine of sod house to lean-to to frame dwelling. Mentioned in their memoirs of the early days in the far western section of Platte County are: Billy Duncan, Otis Clark and George I. Clark. They survived Indian hostilities, floods and bitter prairie winters to remain some of the township's earliest settlers before moving to St. Edward.

The first church to be organized in the community was the First Baptist Church, in Palestine. It was incorporated on November 14, 1889, as the Palestine Baptist Church. Trustees elected were: A. G. Roif, P. G. Jones and S. Mahood. W. D. Henchett became the first clerk.

The township, like all others in Platte

© 2005 for the NEGenWeb Project by Ted & Carole Miller