business thirty years ago, being renters until they came to the Platte Valley, when they each took a homestead. They now own three thousand four hundred acres and are still operating as partners. Mr. Whitman was married in January, 1889, to Jennie E. Fulton, who was a native of Ohio. To them have been born five children, namely: Leslie, who is a former stock raiser near Bayard; Nellie, now Mrs. E. R. Lincoln, living at Bayard; J. Benjamin, deceased; Mary and Edith both living at home. Mrs. Whitman is a member of the Methodist church. Mr. Whitman is a Republican in politics and has always taken an interest in public affairs, and is a leading member of his community. He has been prosperous in his business and stands high in reputation with all who know him. JAMES WEBSTER was born in Ohio on May 27, 1859, the son of Marcus P. and Anna (Taft) Webster, both natives of Ohio. There were three children in the family. He was educated in the schools of Ohio and Minnesota, his parents having moved to the latter named state in his youth. After finishing his schooling he engaged in farming for a few years, and in 1886 he came to western Nebraska and took up a homestead. He followed the line of all the early settlers in the new country, farming and raising livestock and doing whatever else come to hand to do. Among other things he freighted from Sidney to Alliance in the years before the railroad line was built. After a successful period of ranching he sold his land and is now living in Bayard. Mr. Webster was married in 1912 to Mrs. Boyer, whose maiden name was Mary White. She was formerly the wife of J. H. Boyer and is the mother of four children, all of whom are living. They are: John E. Boyer, who now lives in Marion, Iowa; James S. Boyer, living at Angora, Nebraska; Melissa Jane, the wife of Thomas McCann, of Bayard; Charles H. Boyer, living at Bayard. Mr. Webster has no children. He is independent in politics and is a member of the Odd Fellows. He enjoys the friendship of a large circle of acquaintances and stands high in reputation in his community. He takes an active interest in the growth of the country and of his home city, which he has seen develop from a little prairie village to one of the most progressive and prosperous young cities of the new West. JOHN L. MUELLER was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa, the son of Gustav and Margaret Mueller. His father was a native of Saxony, and his mother of Switzerland. They came to America in 1854 and settled in Iowa, and there the father followed the occupation of a cigar maker. Three children were born to them, one of whom, Henry, died in infancy. The oldest child, Maggie, is the wife of William Bernauer and lives near North Platte, Nebraska. The youngest is the subject of this sketch. The father was a member of the Evangelical church. He died in 1870, and the mother was married again to Frank Schram and they came to Morrill county in 1893 and settled on a homestead. Mr. Mueller came west in 1888 and homesteaded. He now is the owner of one hundred and sixty acres of fine irrigated land on which he was successfully engaged in general farming and stock-raising until a year ago when he moved to town and is connected with the Farmers Union. In 1892 he was married to Lena Arnold, and to this union six children have been born. One child died in infancy. The others are: Edward, who lives on the home place; Mabel, married Ray Hunter, living near North Platte; Margaret, now Mrs. Melvin Gund, residing at Aurora, Nebraska; George and Bessie, both living at home. Mr. Mueller is a member of the Methodist church and of the Modern Woodmen. He is independent in politics. He has been successful in business and enjoys the respect and good opinion of a large circle of friends, being known as a man of upright character and industry. He has lived through the period of early hardship and hard labor that goes with the development of a new country and now is in position to reap the fruits of his efforts in the prosperous condition of the community where his interests are centered. JONNIE (sic) S. MAINARD is one of the pushing, energetic and enterprising business men of Mitchell, where he has built up a prosperous trade in the automoble (sic) and accessory business. Born in Yankton, South Dakota, June 6, 1876, he is a son of Joseph and Mary M. (Blade) Mainard. The father was a Missourian by birth, born at St. Joseph, while Mary Blade was born in Decatur county, Iowa, where she was reared and received her education. She died in 1894, while still a young woman, being but thirty-eight years old when she passed away. Joseph Mainard and his wife had six children: John, Dora, the wife of Archie |
Foster of Twin Falls, Idaho; Harry, in the livery business in Idaho; Slyvesta (sic) Anna, the wife of Edward Sparks of Twin Falls, Idaho; Verna, married Rube Ashby, a farmer of Cozad, Nebraska; and Forrest who runs a laundry in Twin Falls, Idaho. Joseph Mainard, after attaining his manhood and completing his education engaged in independent business for himself as a farmer in Iowa, where he met and won his wife. Subsequently he determined to avail himself of the free lands to be had in Nebraska and in 1886 came to Banner county where he took up a homestead and also pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of land; he proved up on his holdings and on a tree claim so that he was one of the large land holders of the Panhandle. After the first hard years he made good and permanent improvements on all his land, raised the soil to an excellent state of fertility and for many years was one of the progressive and successful farmers of this section. He carried on general farming and stock-raising, gave all his family many of the advantages that he, as a youth, had been unable to obtain and in his later years was able to retire from the active management of his business and thus is spending the sunset years of life enjoying the comfortable fortune which he won from the soil by his own unaided efforts. Today Mr. Mainard is living quietly in Twin Falls, Idaho, where he takes an active interest in all progressive movements of the community and no one looking at him would believe that he had passed his sixty-fifth birthday, as his active out door life has kept him a man young in ideas and strength. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which they are staunch supporters, and in politics he is lined up with the Democratic party, having cast his vote with it since first given the privilege of the franchise. John Mainard was reared and received his early educational advantages in the state of Iowa, where his father was a farmer for a number of years before the family came to Nebraska. At the time the Mainards settled here Johnnie was a sturdy youth in his eighth year and after assisting his parents in breaking the farm land on the homestead in Banner county determined that he too, would start out on a career as an agriculturist but his young blood called for more activity and he did not locate near the family home, but went to Wyoming where he filed on a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, upon which he placed the improvements required by the government, proved up and became a landed proprietor. During this time he was a foreman and rancher in Wyoming for eight years and spent fifteen years on the range, meeting with the well earned and deserved reward for the thought and labor required in the work on the farm, Mr. Mainard decided that he would widen his field of endeavor. He had always been interested in machinery, having a natural ability in a mechanical line. After looking the country over for a desirable location, he came to Mitchell in 1909, and engaged in a general livery business as an introduction to the business which he later planned to establish and after two years opened a general garage, carrying a complete line of accessories. He is the district agent of the Hudson and Essex make of automobiles and today is one of the most substantial business men of the Platte valley. His natural bent toward mechanics and the fact that he realized and seized the great opportunity offered in the wide field of motor transportation has led to his firm establishment as a progressive leader of the automobile field in the western Panhandle. His company does a general electric repair work, a special feature is the vulcanizing of old tires that prolongs their life for thousands of miles of use. He runs a battery, a service station, and now has an excellent patronage, not only among the citizens of Mitchell but all up and down the valley and from other parts of the state, the accurate and expeditious workmanship of the garage and the unfailing courtesy and consideration of Mr. Mainard have given him a wide patronage and have combined to bring customers and make friends. In 1906, Mr. Mainard married Miss Clara Green, a native of the Buckeye state, whose parents live in La Grange, Wyoming, where her father was for many years a farmer and rancher. Three children have been born in the Mainard family: Maude, Joella and Helen, all of whom are at home. Mrs. Mainard is a member of the Christian church in which she is a devoted worker. Mr. Mainard has carved his own career and it is but natural that he is an independent thinker on all subjects as he is a wide reader of the best books on professional and current subjects as well as the best of periodical literature. Following out this line he is an Independent voter, drawing no close line when the question of the best man to fill office is put before the voters, giving his influence to the one who can best serve the people. In August, 1919 Mr. Mainard sold his garage and at once started his |
present large building 100x140, brick, which will be the largest in Mitchell, which he expected to have completed by July 1, 1920. ORLA F. COOK, a well known farmer and stock-raiser near Morrill, has been a resident of Scottsbluff county for fifteen years, and during that time has devoted himself to agricultural pursuits, his industry, thorough methods and good judgment bringing about very substantial results. Mr. Cook is descended from a long line of distinguished English ancestors as his father was a nephew of the famous English actor, George Frederick Cook. Orla F. Cook is a Hoosier, born in Orland, Indiana, February 3, 1875, being the son of George F. and Lodaska (Rogers) Cook, the former born in 1843, died in Gresham, Nebraska, while the mother, a native of Indiana, born there in 1848, is still living at Gresham. George Cook was one of the gallant sons of the nation who went forth in defense of the Union, when the Civil War was precipitated on this country. In response to President Lincoln's call for volunteers he enlisted in the Union army and served three years, taking part in some of the hardest engagements of the war. He was a member of the army which served under General Sherman and took part in the famous march through Georgia to the sea, as a member of company B, One hundredth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He thus upheld the gallant traditions of his family, as there has been no war in which the United States has been engaged but that a Cook has served under the stars and stripes, and if necessary made the greatest sacrifice, of life, in defending his country. At the close of hostilities, George Cook laid down the sword and took up the ploughshare to carry on the pursuits of peace and again engaged in farming in Indiana. He was an ambitious man, and like many of the returned soldiers, wanted to get ahead in life, not only for himself but for his family and decided to avail himself of the cheap land to be had west of the Missouri. In 1880, he came to Nebraska, purchased land near Ulysses upon which he at once began excellent and permanent improvements. He was not daunted by the many privations and hardships incident to settlement in this, then, new country, but bravely set out to break the virgin soil, plant and till his crops, and erect a good home for his family. So well did he carry out his work of improvement that in nine years he was enabled to dspose (sic) of the first holdings at a very satisfactory figure and with this money purchased more raw land; at once began to improve it, make improvements similar, but better to those on the first farm, and as time passed carried on extensive general farming and stock-raising operations, which placed him in the front rank of the agriculturists of this section. Mr. Cook had great faith in the future of the Panhandle and remained through the years of drought, the invasion by insect pests and weathered the hard winter blizzards, when so many of the settlers gave up and returned to their old homes in the east and his faith was justified for with the passing years his land was raised to a high state of fertility and the three hundred and twenty acre tract in time returned him a comfortable and substantial fortune, due to his hard work and natural ability. He was one of the brave men of high spirit and courage who played such an important part in the development of western Nebraska and thus paved the way for the present great agricultural production carried on in this section at the-present time. Early in life, Mr. Cook was a Republican but after locating in Nebraska and studying the trend of events he became one of the leaders of the new Independent party and before his death swung over to the Democrats arid the platforms advocated by that party. He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, of the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, attending the Christian church, of which his wife was a member. There were two children in the family; James D., a farmer of Scottsbluff county and Arla who spent the first five years of his life on his father's farm in Indiana and when the family came to Nebraska was just a little lad. He received his educational advantages in the public schools afforded on the frontier during his youth and thus laid the foundation for a good practical education to which he has been adding all his life as he has been a student of agriculture and the great questions of the day whether county, state or national. While on the home farm the boy early shouldered many of the small duties that are ever to be found around a country home and as his age and strength permitted he began to work on the land. So while yet young he had learned by experience the practical side of farm business, which has been of inestimable value to him since he began an independent business career. In 1905 Mr. Cook came to Scottsbluff county, as he had already realized that the ever successful agriculturist was the man who had water for his growing crops at just the right time and was not dependent upon the uncertain rainfall. For some years he |
has been studying up on the question of irrigation and was of such keen vision that he realized that the rich soil of the Platte valley would produce any kind of crop and in great bounty with moisture. After looking this section over he filed on one hundred and sixty acres of land but subsequently released eighty acres of this tract, but later purchased another eighty that all might be under water. Today this land is one of the finest and most highly productive farms in the county as Mr. Cook conducts general farming and stock raising. Being a student of his profession he has decided that the greatest returns are made from a pure blooded strain of animals and has specialized in fine high breed Duroc Jersey hogs. From first locating in the valley he has introduced and practiced intensive modern farming, adopting the methods and machinery advocated by the state and government farm experts wherever he sees that such are of use to him and as a result Mr. Cook today is regarded as one of the leading prosperous and progressive exponents of the agriculturists in this section, noted for its able and productive farmers. On May 28, 1912, Mr. Cook married Miss Augusta Rulla, a native of Nebraska., born in Johnson county and to them have been born two children: Opal and Clyde Coy, both of whom are at home and for whom a bright future may be forecast, as their parents have determined that both shall have every advantage in a social and educational way that the county and state affords, to equip them for life. Mrs. Cook has taken a keen interest in her husband's business and aided and encouraged him in all his business affairs. She is a member of the Lutheran church of which the family are helpful supporters. In principle, Mr. Cook believes in the platforms of the Democratic party but is bound by no strict lines when it comes to casting his vote, as he believes the man who qualifies best for every office should be elected to fill it, whether in county, state or nation. Fraternally he is associated with the Royal Highlanders, the Woodmen of the Word, Ben Hur and the Yeomen. He stands for progress and the uplift of the community in which he lives, advocating good roads, good schools and progressive business. CURTIS M. CLUCK. -- A resident of Nebraska and the Panhandle from the time when the only buildings known in this section of the state were composed of sod, Curtis Cluck has watched with the eye of a proprietor the various changes that have been wrought by the passage of years and the sturdy progressive work done by the first settlers, and has himself borne a full share of the labor in opening and developing the country to its present high state of production and prosperity. He is now one of the large landholders and successful agriculturists of the Morrill community of Sioux county where his accomplishments entitle him to the respect and esteem in which he is uniformly held by his business associates and many friends. Mr. Cluck is descended from a long line of worthy ancestors who settled in Pennsylvania at an early date and played an important part in winning that state from the wilderness and settling it up. He was born in Perry county, Pennsylvania, in 1862, being the son of William and Barbara (Kirck) Cluck, both born and reared in the Keystone state, the former living to be sixty-nine years of age, while the mother died in her forty-seventh year. William Cluck was reared and educated in Pennsylvania and after his school days were over, learned the trade of blacksmith which vocation he followed in his native state for some years, but he saw little opportunity to give his family all the advantages he wanted for them in the east and being a wide-awake man realized that the greatest chances for himself and his family were to be obtained in the newer country west of the Mississippi valley and emigrating from the old home with his family, he took up a homestead in Banner county, filing on a hundred and sixty acre tract, upon which he proved up. Mr. Cluck broke the virgin soil of the prairie, planted crops to tide his family over the first winter on the prairies as settlers were few and far apart when the family came to the Panhandle and each family must supply itself the best it could in order to save the long wagon trips to the nearest market for supplies. Soon improvements were made on the land, permanent shelters for the stock and a comfortable house for the family which consisted of five children: C. M.; Katherine, the wife of Reverend Allen Chamberlain of Madison, Nebraska; Alice, deceased, was the wife of Thomas G. Granshaw, of Council Bluffs, Iowa; Anna, who marrier (sic) Lee England of Orient, Iowa; and Millard, who is a ranchman of Banner county. The father was a member of the Republican party, as he believed in its principles and with his wife was a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, a faith in which the children were reared. Curtis Cluck was reared on his father's farm |
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