 MR. AND MRS. ARTHUR J. BAILEY |
his farm is now irrigated and his crops are abundant. Knowing the hard conditions of life for men with little chance to get ahead as they were When he left Russia, he feels that he has been fortunate in coming to Nebraska. He has found friends here, has acquired a beautiful home and assured comfort for old age and has been able to give his children the educational opportunities he has desired. Mr. Nusz was married to Miss Latie Deins, who was born in Russia. Her parents were Jacob and Ella (Fogal) Deins, who never came to the United States. Mr. and Mrs. Nusz have had children as follows: Christian, a farmer in Colorado; Alexander, works on a farm in Colorado; and Jacob, David, Lydia, Victor, Mary and Carl, all of whom are at home. The family belongs to the Russian church. Mr. Nusz in an American citizen but has never identified himself with any particular political party. In his neighborhood he is known to be a man of his word and is highly respected. ARTHUR J. BAILEY was one of the pioneer cattlemen of western Nebraska who played an important part in the early development of this section during that period when the great cattle barons ranged their cattle from the Pecos on the south to the Yellowstone on the north, and was well and most favorably known throughout the Panhandle. Arthur Bailey was born in Iowa, July 3, 1869, the son of J. P. and Julia (Birdsall) Bailey, who were farming people and who came to Colorado where he became the owner of land upon which the city of Fort Collins has since been built. The son grew up on his father's farm in Iowa and attended the public schools near his home. During the heigh-day of the cattle business on the high plains it had a lure for the young man of the period and many of them joined the great cow outfits that drifted from Texas to Wyoming with the changing seasons; as the pasture became used and burned up in the south the herds slowly drifted northward and were finally sold on the northern market at the close of the season. Mr. Bailey joined such a camp and by practical experience learned the live-stock industry as conducted at the time. After serving his apprenticeship as a cowboy his ability soon became recognized and he was offered the position of foreman of the Standard Cattle Company at Ames, Nebraska, where he soon demonstrated his ability. He proved so efficient that subsequently he was given charge of the vast business of the concern at North Platte and later at Scottsbluff and thus learned at first hand the country of the western Panhandle and its future possibilities. His reputation as a manager became well known throughout the cattle country and the Paxton people of the Hershey Ranch made him such an advantageous offer that he accepted a position with them. Mr. Bailey kept abreast of the movement of the times, studied the markets and watched the increased settlement of the western part of the states bordering the great "cattle trail," and was one of the first to recognize the signs that pointed to the fact that the day of the open range was over and the future of the meat industry was to change from the great companies to the farmer who would raise and feed a high bred beef stock. As he had been raised on a farm he decided to avail himself of the fine government land still to be obtained in the rich Platte valley and in 1906 purchased 240 acres in township 23-57, section 35, Scottsbluff county, where he at once established himself as a farmer raising diversified crops and engaged in stock-raising. Water had been the paramount question of the cattlemen for years and having given considerable study to obtaining it while on the range, when he bought his land he chose that which lay near the river and became one of the first advocates of irrigation. Three hundred acres of his estate were under water rights and much of the rest was rich pasture, a combination that worked out well for the various lines of business which he carried on. Mr. Bailey was a strong man and from first settling in the Mitchell district, by reason of his force of character, was enabled to inaugurate many improvements and thus become a potent factor in the affairs of the locality and the lives of its citizens. He stood for progress and reform, served for many years as a school director, and stood behind all movements for the benefit and development of his district. In politics Mr. Bailey was a supporter of the principles of the Republican party and he and his wife were members of the Presbyterian church, of which they were liberal supporters. Fraternally his associations were with the Masonic order, the Elks, and the Modern Woodmen of America. His death occurred at the farm home, May 12, 1916. On April 18, 1898, Mr. Bailey married Miss Elizabeth Harvey at Webster, Nebraska. She was the daughter of Andrew and Margaret (Richie) Harvey, both natives of Scotland, who came to America many years ago and are now well known residents of Dodge county, where Mr. Harvey has been a successful farmer. Eight children became members of the |
Bailey family: Idell, the wife of Lemuel Smith, who resides on the old home place; Lillian, who holds a business position in Fremont, Nebraska, being associated with the Hammond Printing Co.; Ruth and Julia, who are seniors in high school; Edna, Arthur J., Beryl, and Grace, who also are all taking courses in the public school. Mrs. Bailey resided on the farm till 1919 when she moved to Mitchell to give her children better school advantages. GILBERT ROSS, who has been a resident of Nebraska since 1909 and who is the owner of an excellent ranch property in Morrill county, is essentially to be noted as one of the world's productive workers, for his advancement has been gained entirely through his own ability and well ordered efforts. In the thriving village of Bayard, Morrill county, he conducts a substantial teaming business, the while his family resides on the homestead which is eleven miles northwest of the town. Mr. Ross was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, on the 26th of April, 1864, and is a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Knox) Ross, both of whom passed their entire lives in the old Keystone state, the former having been a school teacher within the period of his early manhood. Gilbert Ross was still a child at the time of his father's death and thereafter he lived in the home of his paternal grandfather until the death of the latter. At this juncture in his career Mr. Ross, who was at the time a lad of but eight years, was taken into the care of strangers and he continued to work for his board and clothes until he had attained the age of fourteen years. He then received eight dollars a month for his services in hauling lumber with a four-horse team, and he continued to be identified with work of this order until he was twenty-five years old. He then obtained employment as locomotive fireman on the Pennsylvania Railroad, and within the four years of his service in this capacity he served as fireman on both freight and passenger trains. It can well be understood that his early educational training was limited to a somewhat irregular attendance in the public schools of his native state, but he made good use of the advantages afforded in the stern school of practical labor and experience. After retiring from railroad work Mr. Ross was engaged in teaming in Pennsylvania until 1909, when he came with his family to Nebraska and located on a homestead eleven miles northwest of Bayard, to the general improvement and supervision of which he has since given his attention, though he devotes the major part of his time to his prosperous teaming business at Bayard. His ranch comprises six hundred acres and is utilized principally for the raising of cattle and horses, the land being excellent for grazing and his average herd of cattle comprising about one hundred head. Mr. Ross, is vigorous and ambitious and is the type of citizen that is most fully valued in this progressive section of Nebraska. He is a Republican in politics, is affiliated with the Fraternal Order of Eagles and he and his wife hold membership in the Brethren church. Mrs. Blanche (Shaffer) Rose, wife of him whose name initiates this review, is likewise a native of Pennsylvania, as were her parents, Frank and Mary (Carus) Shaffer. Mr. and Mrs. Ross have three children: William E. and A. C., both of whom are engaged in farming in Morrill county; and Blanche Ione, who remains at the parental home. REV. THOMAS C. OSBORNE has been a resident of Western Nebraska since his boyhood days, is a representative of one of the honored pioneer families of this section of the state and individually he has done well his part in the furtherance of civic and material progress. He has given most effective service in the ministry of the Presbyterian church and is known as a man of distinctive culture and broad and well fortified convictions. Since his retirement from active ministerial labors he has given his attenton (sic) principally to the supervision of his valuable landed interests in Morrill county, (where he is also proprietor of the Farmers Exchange, a progressive weekly paper, of which he is editor and publisher, at Bayard.) Mr. Osborne was born in McLean county, Illinois, on the 9th of September, 1876, and is a son of Samuel H. and Emily (Benson) Osborne. Samuel Osborne was born in Steuben county, Ohio, and was a child at the time of the family removal to Indiana, where he was reared on the home farm and received his education in the common schools of the period. When the dark cloud of the Civil War cast its pall over the national horizon he loyally went forth in defense of the Union. He enlisted as a private in the Eighty-eighth Regiment of Indiana Volunteer Infantry, which was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland and with which he served until the close of the war. He lived up to the full tension of the |
great conflict and his military record is virtually coincident with that of the gallant regiment of which he was a member and with which he participated in many important engagements including the battles of Chicamauga and Stone's River. After the war this valiant young veteran passed some time in Iowa and at Kearney, Nebraska, and about 1870 he returned to Illinois and engaged in farm enterprise. Later he conducted a general merchandise store at Colfax, that state, where also he served as Postmaster. In 1887 Samuel Osborne came with his family to what is now Morrill county, Nebraska, where he entered claim to a pioneer homestead two and one-half miles northeast of Bayard. He duly perfected his title to this claim and then, in 1890, entered a pre-emption claim three miles southeast of Bayard. He developed and improved this property, upon which he continued to maintain his home until his death, his name being held in gracious memory as that of one of the sterling pioneers of the county. He was a man of much prevision and progressiveness, was a loyal and liberal citizen and did much to forward the advancement of this part of Nebraska. In earlier years he was a Republican in politics, but he was actively aligned with the populist party during the period of its maximum influence in national and state affairs. He served for a long period in the office of justice of the peace and was otherwise accorded marks of popular confidence and esteem. Both he and his wife, whose death occurred in 1917, were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mrs. Osborne was born in McLean county, Illinois, and was one of the revered pioneer women in Morrill county, Nebraska. Of the four children, Thomas C., of this review, was the second in order of birth. Dale B., the eldest, now resides upon the old home place of his parents; Eva June died at the age of twenty-seven years; and Dean H., who was for eighteen months in the government aviation service in connection with the world war, has been residing at Bayard since his discharge, after the close of the war. Thomas C. Osborne acquired his preliminary education in the public schools of his native state and was a lad of eleven years at the time of the family removal to Nebraska. Afted (sic) completing the curriculum of the high school at Crawford, Dawes county he entered the Nebraska Presbyterian college, at Hastings, in which institution he was graduated in 1901, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Thereafter he completed a three years' course in the Presbyterian Theological Seminary at Omaha, from which he was graduated on the 1st of May, 1904. During the autumn of that year he had charge of the church at Wayne, judicial center of the county of the same name, and there his ordination occurred. He retained this pastoral charge until the spring of 1910, and from March 1st of that year until March 1, 1918, he was pastor of the Presbyterian church in the city of Scottbluff (sic). Through his able and earnest labors, the church was greatly advanced in spiritual and material well being and he gained recognition as one of the leading clergymen of his denomination in this part of the state. His retirement was forced through a throat disorder and generally impaired health, and under these conditions he established his residence on the homestead which he had obtained in 1902, the same being situated four miles northeast of Bayard. He has made excellent improvements on this place, which comprises one hundred and sixty acres, irrigated from the farmers' ditch and two miles east of Bayard he has a tract of eighty acres, with similar irrigation facilities. His land is effectively given over to the propagation of grain, alfalfa and sugar beets, and his health has been recuperated through his outdoor life in the supervision of his farms. Mr. Osborne takes lively interest in all things pertaining to the moral, social and industrial advancement of his home community and state. He was a member of the Nebraska Constitutional convention of 1919-20. He and the members of the family are zealous workers in the Presbyterian church, the while he maintains an independent attitude in politics. In the year, 1903, was solemnized the marrage (sic) of Mr. Osborne to Miss Julia M. Jones, a college classmate of his at Hastings, and of this union have been born five children: Emily L., Charles C., Clifford W. and Howard B. remain at the parental home, and Roger C. died in infancy. LEON A MOOMAW, Cotner Uni. A.B. A.M.--Although entitled to place after his name letters indicating hard won college degrees, it may be possible that Professor Leon A. Moomaw, of Morrill county, takes equal pride in the success that has attended his agricultural undertakings. Born and reared on a farm, the memory of Nature's ever recurring miracle of seasons and plenteousness rewarding honest toil, may have accompanied him through university life and subsequent |
intellectual effort in the educational field, for the time came when college honors were laid aside and the learned teacher became an enthusiastic farmer. Remembering that agricultural production is the basis of all production, the transfer of scientific knowledge from the professions to the fields must, with such earnest men as Mr. Moomaw result beneficially. Leon A. Moomaw is a native of Nebraska, born in Scottsbluff county, December 27, 1887, and is a son of Austin and Agnes (Spriggs) Moomaw. The father was born in Illinois, fifty-seven years ago, and the mother was born in Missouri. In 1886 they came to Nebraska and homesteaded in Scottsbluff county, where the father has ever since been a general farmer. Later he secured a tree claim in Morrill county. Until he was twenty-two years old, Leon A. Moomaw resided on his father's farm, but in the meanwhile his education was attended to and from the local schools he entered Cotner at Lincoln, from which he was graduated with the degree of A. B. Later he entered the State University at Lincoln, from which he bore off the degree of A. M. He then entered the educational field, in no subordinate position, however, but as a member of the faculty of Cotner University, in which institution he was professor of history for three years. In 1914 he was united in marriage to Miss Minnie E. Young, who was born in South Dakota, July 25, 1886. Her parents, Hiram and Sarah (Adams) Young, lived in Iowa. Since 1909 they have lived retired at Lincoln, Nebraska. Mr. and Mrs. Moomaw have two children: Evelyn and Robert. In 1912 both Mr. and Mrs. Moomaw homesteaded in Banner county and they are still holding their 1,180 acres of dry land there, the subsequent development of which may be stupendous. In 1913 they came to Morrill county and he took charge of his father's old tree claim, has 200 acres, and has devoted his best efforts to the development of this land ever since. All the land is now irrigated and under Mr. Moomaw's intelligent management is a wonderfully productive property. He has placed fine improvements here and has one of the spaciouse (sic) modern homes of this section. Both he and wife are members of the Christian church, and they have a wide social circle. Although not active politically, Mr. Moomaw is not an indifferent citizen, but on the other hand, every movement that promises to be of substantial and permanent benefit to the county, finds in him an earnest advocate. JAMES A. CADWELL, who will long be remembered as one of the fine men of Morrill county, passed away at his home on the beautiful farm he had worked hard to develop and improve, on January 8, 1918. His birth took place in Saunders county, Nebraska, March 27, 1878. He was a son of John T. and Sarah E. (Gilbert) Cadwell, both of whom were born in Ohio. They were early settlers in eastern Nebraska and homesteaders, and they passed away on their farm in Saunders county. James A. Cadwell grew to manhood in his native county and was educated in the public schools. With self- respecting independence and wise provision, as soon as his schooldays were over, he learned the trade of a carpenter and followed the same to some extent even after he became interested in farming. He was a man of high principles, and when his country became embroiled in war with Spain, he enlisted as a soldier and served all through the Spanish-American war. In 1901 James Asa Cadwell was united in marriage to Miss Lulu Parks, who was born in Lancaster county, Nebraska, a daughter of Theodore and Florence (Spencer) Parks, the former of whom was born at Plattesmouth, Nebraska, and the latter of Massachusetts. They still reside in Nebraska and Mr. Parks continues his agricultural industries. The following children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Cadwell: Everett, Jessie, Clarence, Glenn, Dorothy, Florence, Vera, Eliza and Maxine. Mr. Cadwell was ever anxious concerning his children's welfare and gave them every advantage in his power. In 1905 Mr. Cadwell come to Morrill county and homesteaded and his family joined him in the following year. He left them a well improved farm of one hundred and ten acres, eighty-seven acres of which are irrigated. He was never an active politician in the sense of desiring to hold public office, and was always a Republican, although he entertained a high personal opinion of William Jennings Bryan, who had been the colonel of his regiment in the Spanish-American war. With his family he belonged to the Baptist church at Ashland, Nebraska. JOHN ROBERTSON.-- Coming to the United States from his native Scotland, where he was born September 27, 1862, when but seventeen years of age, Mr. Robertson has spent almost forty years in Nebraska and a goodly portion of them in Morrill county, where he is widely known and much respected. He accompanied his parents to Quebec, Can- |
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