getting along anyway, the first six years being unable to raise but one good crop.
Mr. Heath was married, in 1871, to Miss Elizabeth Tuttle, of Burt county, Nebraska. Three children have come to bless their union, named as follows: Edwin, Jessie and Walter.
The family is held in the highest esteem in their community, and have a happy and comfortable home, well supplied with every convenience of a rural life. Mr. Heath is a Republican.
Franklin J. Coil, Sr., holds such a place in the esteem and confidence of the people of Dawes county that a work such as this would be sadly deficient if a sketch of his life did not appear in its pages. He was born in Allamakee county, Iowa, in 1837, and is a son of Jackson G. and Sarah (Morgan) Coil, pioneer settlers of both Iowa and Nebraska.
The family settled in Burt county, Nebraska, in 1867, where our subject's father bought land the year previous at 60 cents per acre, and which is now worth as high as $100 per acre. He engaged extensively in farming and stock raising. Here our subject received the early training in the tilling of the soil and the raising of stock which has placed him among the most successful ranchmen of this western country.
Mr. Coil and Miss Sarah Richardson were united in marriage in 1877. Her father Levi Richardson, was one of the first settlers of Burt county, Nebraska, and an early settler in Dawes county, to which place he came in 1886. Here he died in 1905. Her mother's maiden name was Emma Armstrong. Mrs. Coil's parents were both natives of Ohio. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Coil was blessed with twelve children. namely: George, Charles, Frank, William, Fred, Sarah, Morris, Mary, Robert and Alice. Burt and Ellis are deceased.
After his marriage Mr. Coil bought a farm for himself, and remained in Burt county until 1895. He had made a trip to Dawes county in 1886, where he filed and proved up a claim, but it was not until 1895 that be moved his family to their present home, which is located in section 12, township 30, range 50.
Mr. Coil, Sr., is now the proprietor of a ranch comprising an area of one thousand acres of choice land, while some of his children have land amounting to one thousand and five hundred acres in this vicinity. He has greatly improved his ranch, having fenced and cross-fenced it, and has erected a substantial and commodious residence. He has about two hundred acres under cultivation. Mr. Coil is recognized as being the premier stockraiser of this part of Dawes county, and has been associated with the Agricultural College of Lincoln, where he was instrumental in the introduction of Russian dry weather grains. He engages extensively in the raising of cattle, horses, sheep and hogs. In 1906 he topped the Omaha market for cattle, and in 1907 his cattle sold for export. He has attained an exceptional success in the raising of cattle and sheep, and takes great pride in the fact that his stock is the finest to be found in any section of the country. He has had a wide experience in feeding cattle and sheep, and has the reputation of turning out the best grades that can be had.
In politics, Mr. Coil, Sr., always adhered strongly to Republican principles. Since coming to Dawes county he has been prominently identified in local affairs, and is at present committee man of the precinct in which he lives, and school director. He is also president of the Highland Center Telephone Company.
Mr. Coil's progress towards a competency and financial independence has been rapid. He has never been afraid of the hardest work and by the exercise of thrift and prudence he has attained a success which should be a fitting example to the young men who read his sketch of useful career. He belongs to many fraternity orders, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons, and is also postmaster at Hough postoffice located in his residence. His son, F. J. Coil, Jr., was united in marriage October 9. 1907, to Miss Rosalie McLain, born in Iowa, daughter of F. T. McLain and Rosa (Minkler) McLain, of American stock, both being among the first settlers in Iowa coming to Dawes county, Nebraska, in 1902. Frank, Jr., owns a fine ranch joining his father's and he is one of the rising young men of Dawes county today and is destined to win prominence and success in all his endeavors.
Some interesting pictures of the Coil
properties will be found on another page.
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Among the old settlers of western Nebraska whose names will figure prominently in the history of this section of the country, the aboved named gentleman holds a foremost place. He has done everything in his power to aid the upbuilding of the community in which he resides, and is well know all through this region as a man of strict integrity and good business judgment. Mr. Lister was born in Iroquois county,
© 2001 NEGenWeb Project Resource Center, Marilyn J. Estrada, T&C Miller