 AARON P. FISHER AND FIVE GENERATIONS. |
and received the educational advantages afforded by the public schools of his neighborhood and then continued in the greatest of all schools, that of experience, which, though a severe teacher, teaches lessons that are never forgotten, and he thus laid the foundation for the life work which has been fraught with struggle and success. In 1895, Mr. Cluck began his present career as an agriculturist by taking up a homestead in Sioux county; his first tract being one of eighty acres, where he at once began to make improvements in the way of excellent buildings for his stock and other farm operations and erected a comfortable home. Here he carried on general farming operations, making a specialty of the dairy business. There were few ranches in this section at the time Mr. Cluck located and he was able to use the open range for his cattle for some years, and being a keen buyer and man of foresight was able to turn his cattle over often to good profit and thus laid the foundation for the comfortable fortune, which has come to repay him for the time, energy and toil that has been expended by him on the various branches of his profitable business. When he first came to the Panhandle he saw little to encourage him, the country being practically undevedoped (sic), while the few settlers, living far apart, were doing without conveniences and living in small houses if not sod dug-outs, but he had faith in the future of the section, both for farming and cattle and with his wife determined to remain and win fortune against all odds. Today all his land is under cultivation, he has a fine modern home and excelletn (sic) outbuildings, and has established himself as a progressive and skilled farmer who thoroughly knows his business and can make his labor pay him proportionately, being known and highly respected throughout the Morrill section. He still carries on general farming and raises all kinds of live-stock, the while the success which has attended his efforts is evinced by the consistency of his methods, as he is modem in thought and deed, employing the latest methods in his business as well as buying and operating the latest types of machinery to lighten the labors of farm work. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church of which, Mrs. Cluck is an earnest worker, while Mr. Cluck is a staunch supporter of the principles of the Republican party and while he has never aspired to hold public office he advocates all improvements for the community which tend to social and civic development. In 1883, Mr. Cluck married Miss Isa McGuffin in Iowa. She was born in Pennsylvania, but accompanied her parents to Iowa when they came west to locate on a farm in the newer country. There are two children in the Cluck family: Elmer, who lives in Morrill, where he is connected with the street department; and Blanche, the wife of C. J. Goakey, a ranchman of Fulton, Wyoming. AARON P. FISHER, an experienced and successful farmer in Scottsbluff county, is a native of Indiana, born in that fine old state, March 27, 1853. His parents were Samuel and Margaret (Huffman) Fisher, the former of whom was born in Virginia and the latter in Ohio. They had eight children, Aaron P. being the youngest. The mother died, aged seventy-six years, and the father in his eighty-second year. Mr. Fisher attended the public schools in Iowa in boyhood and remained with his parents and accompanied them to Nebraska in 1885. He settled first in Furnas county but conditions were hard there at that time and he moved into Kansas, but finally, after a trial of two years, decided that Nebraska offered better opportunities for the poor man, came back to the state and homesteaded in Cheyenne, how Scottsbluff county, two miles west of McGrew. Mr. Fisher brought his family and household goods across the country from Kansas in a covered wagon with team, and this wagon served as the first home. Like other settlers of that time, Mr. Fisher was forced to bear hardships that entailed loss of crops and stock, but his courage held out and now he is the fortunate owner of 309 acres of excellent land, 189 of which is under irrigation. He confines his attention to general farming at present, but at one time he was in the cattle business. Mr. Fisher was married December 28, 1884, to Miss Abby Foster, who was born in Kansas, a daughter of John and Sarah (Wilson) Foster, the former of whom was born in Ohio and the latter at Eddyville, Iowa, where they reside. The maternal grandmother of Mrs. Fisher was born in 1828 and still lives. Mr. and Mrs. Fisher have three children: Marion, married Sarah Howard and has one child, Marie; Lilly, married Elmer Baquet and has two children, Berl and Myrl; and Bert, who has always been at home. Mrs. Fisher belongs to the Baptist church. Mr. Fisher was independent in his political views. He died December 28, 1919. The widow continues on the old place. GEORGE F. TAPLIN, who is a well known resident of Sioux county, where he is engaged in farming, has been a resident of |
this state for fourteen years and during all this time has been interested in the agricultural development of the Platte valley. George Taplin was born in Hardin county, Iowa, in 1874, being the son of C. R. and Malvina (Harrington) Taplin, the former a man of sturdy vigor now in his seventy-first year, while the mother died a young woman at the age of thirty-five years in 1889. The father was a Canadian by birth; he received his educational advantages in his native country and there upon attaining his majority entered into independent business for himself as a farmer, but he looked to the south and when his family was fairly well grown decided to emigrate. Coming to the United States the family located in Iowa, where C. R. Taplin bought a farm. Here he at once put into use the practices of his earlier business life, conducting general farming operations and engaged in stock-raising. After some years in that state he went to Colorado but did not find all conditions to his taste and decided to locate in Nebraska and took up a hometsead (sic) in Sioux county. He soon put many excellent permanent improvements on his eighty acre tract, erected good farm buildings, a comfortable home, and within a short time was regarded as one of the most reliable and substantial men of the district. Mr. Taplin was a well educated man, took a keen interest in the affairs; of the community and as a reward for the public spirit he displayed his county elected his commissioner, believing that the affairs of this section would be well and honestly conducted in his capable hands. Thus for seven years he not only conducted his own business but that of the county and he has the satisfaction of knowing that he holds the respect and confidence of its residents. The Taplin family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church to which they give hearty support, while in politics Mr. Taplin was allied with the Republican party. There were three children in the Taplin family: Franklin, a farmer in Canada; Mary, the wife of F. T. Biddle, a formean (sic) in an ore mill in Colorado, and George F., the subject of this review, who was educated in the excellent public schools of Canada before the family came to the United States. Like all boys reared on a farm, he at an early age assumed many of the duties around the home place, learned from his father the practical side of farm business. For a number of years Mr. Taplin was engaged in farming in Iowa and Colorado, but he was ambitions to get ahead in the world on his own account and believed that with his knowledge and experience in business he could do well on land of his own and determined to take advantage of the free land offered settlers by the government in Nebraska and in 1906 located on an eighty acre homestead in Sioux county. He has raised the soil to a high state of fertility, believing in the best principles of intensive farming, has erected good and substantial farm buldings (sic) and a fine modern home for the family. As the first land soon began to bring most gratifying results for the thought and labor expended upon it, Mr. Taplin obtained capital with which he bought a second eighty, giving him a farm of a quarter section, all of which is under irrigation. He does general farming and stock raising. On July 25, 1906, Mr. Taplin married Miss Ellen Arbuckle, a native daughter of Nebraska, the daughter of J. F. Arbuckle, of Fort Morgan, Colorado, and to this union four children have been born: Marion, Anna, Francis and Arthur, all of whom are at home. The children will be given every advantage to equip them for life as both their parents believe in education as the best start in the world. The Taplin family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church of which they are liberal supporters. Mr. Taplin is allied with the Republican party and his fraternal affiliations are with the Masonic order. Mr. Taplin is progressive in ideas and methods, stands for all communal and civic improvements and is one of the community's public-spirited men and one who has won the confidence and esteem of his business associates through his high ideals and integrity. GEORGE H. GARRARD is one of the substantial farmers of Scottsbluff county. He came to the Panhadle (sic) while this section was still new and here has lived to view the marvelous development of this favored section of Nebraska. George Garrard was born in England in 1870, being the son of James and Mary (Hill) Garrard, both natives of that country, where they were reared, educated and married. The mother lived until her forty-sixth year, being survived by her husband who passed away at the age of sixty-two. They had a family of ten children. George was given all the educational advantages his family could afford in his mother country and after his school days were over became an apprentice to a carpenter and thus learned a profitable trade that was of inestimable value to him in his later life. The young man was ambitious, he soon realized |
that there were few opportunities for him in his native country and while still young courageously severed all the dear ties binding him to his home and set sail for the newer land with its many openings on, the west of the Atlantic. Soon after landing in this country Mr. Garrard came west as he heard of the vast wide stretches of land that the government would give to settlers free and with the idea of becoming a landholder in 1891 he located in Kimball county. At this time he had just attained his majority but not daunted by the many privations, he had to endure began at once to work at his trade as a carpenter and many of the early dwellings and business houses of that day were erected by his skillful hands. Subsequently Mr. Garrard removed to the frontier village of Gering, where he engaged in business as a carpenter, gradually branching out into a modest contracting business, and he played no small part in the building and development of the present seat of justice of Scottsbluff county. He desired land of his own and about 1905 bought land in section 22, township 23-57, where he at once began business as a farmer. Mr. Garrard had devoted considerable study to agriculture problems before he purchased his farm so he at once began to inaugurate the latest methods of farming. He erected necessary farm buildings and a comfortable home, and has successfully engaged in general farming and stock raising. He and his wife are favorably known and highly esteemed in the community. In 1906, Mr. Garrard married Miss Margaret Schultz who has been a loving and devoted wife as well as brave helpmate in building the comfortable fortune to which they may look with pride as the result of their own unaided labors. In politics Mr. Garrard is a supporter of the principles of the Republican party though he is bound by no strict party lines when it comes to local elections. Fraternally his affiliations are with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. JOHN N. HUDSON.-- As a follower of the oldest vocation of the human race, John Hudson has achieved that success which comes to a man who finds his work congenial and who invests it with determination, enthusiasm and natural ability. The agrculturist (sic) has ever before him the opportunity of making himself an enormously useful factor in the production of a community, and a realization of this fact has come to Mr. Hudson in Scottsbluff county and the Panhandle, as he is one of the pioneer settlers of this section who have played such an important part in opening up and developing the western part of the state of Nebraska which for so many years was regarded as not only non-productive but a veritable wilderness by residents of the middle and eastern states. That his vision was far and keen is testified by the fact that today the valley of the Platte is one of the garden spots of the earth and during the recent World War, when all farmers were called upon to aid in feeding the starving hords of Europe, this section not long since regarded as worthless, for producing anything but jack rabbits and grease wood, responded with food products in such quantities that it seemed incredible that land could produce such bountiful crops. But it was not the land alone, it was the men who owned and operated it with their modern intensive farming methods, their hard work and determination to show the world what the American farmer could do and today the men who are engaged as agriculturists in the United States lead the world in every branch of this great enterprise. Mr. Hudson is one of the best representatives of farming business in the middle west. He is descended from a long line of fine old Virginia stock that settled in the Old Dominion at an early day and its members have taken a dignified and active part in the history of the activities of that fine old state. John Hudson was born in Marion county; Iowa, in 1866, just after the close of the Civil War, being the son of William J. and Jane (Moreland) Hudson, the former born in Virginia and now living, hale and hearty at the advanced age of eighty years, while the mother was a native of the Hoosier state, born in Indiana in 1844, and now a woman of advanced years, having passed the psalmist's span of three score years and ten, but is still vigorous in mind and body as though she were twenty years younger. William J. Hudson came west at an early day to take advantage of the many opportunities to obtain land on the then frontier of Iowa, and after locating in that state began his business career as a farmer, planting the diversified crops which brought the greatest returns, in that section and became known as one of the substantial and prosperous men of his community. Subsequently he became interested in a mining industry in Iowa, to which he devoted considerable time for some years. The following children were members of the Hudson family: Alice, the wife of William Sratton, who lives near Lake Alice; Clyde a farmer near |
Mitchell and John. The family were members of the Baptist church to which they have ever been liberal contributors while Mr. Hudson was a Democrat in politics. John N. Hudson was reared on his father's farm in Iowa, attended the excellent public schools where he laid the foundation of his education which has been of priceless value to him during the many years of his business life. He grew up sturdy, self reliant and strong, early learning the practical side of farm industries and at an early age assumed many of the duties to be found around a country home. While still a youth he was a good capable farmer, so that when he decided to establish himself in an independent business of his own he wisely chose that vocation which he knew best and to which his tastes inclined and became an agriculturist. As land in Iowa was already high in price, the young man hazarded his fortunes farther west, where cheaper land was to be obtained from the government. Coming to Nebraska, Mr. Hudson first located in Platte county, where he opened up and operated a frontier farm for some time before he again responded to the lure "of the farther on" and coming up the river settled in Buffalo county. He proved up, on his land and became one of the well-to-do men of his section. Living near the river, Mr. Hudson began to study the question of water for the land, for he had long since realized that with the fertile lands of the river bottoms, the never failing sunshine of western Nebraska that all the farmer needed to reap golden harvests was water, in sufficient quantity and at just the right time for the growing crops, for the only drawback to handcap (sic) the agriculturist of the high plains was his dependence upon the uncertain rains of this section. Becoming interested in irrigation and watching the success of men who were owners of land under ditch, after the canals had been dug in the Panhandle, Mr. Hudson became convinced that the greatest future for him laid in such a locality and disposing of his holdings in the central part of the state came to Scottsbluff county in 1907. He filed on a homestead of one hundred and ten acres in the Morrill district, on section eighteen, township five. Being a man of experience, he at once began permanent and good improvements on the place, erected the necessary farm building for carrying on his business, built a comfortable, home and soon had his land well worked. As his returns from his labor permitted he invested in more land, adjacent to his first homestead, on which he believed money could be made, so that today he is the owner of a landed estate of two hundred and ten acres of rich farming land, ninety-six of which are under ditch, producing abundant and assured crops each year. Mr. Hudson has not confined his energies to one line but is engaged in diversified farming and stock-raising, havng (sic) a good grade of horses and cattle, he is a shrewd buyer and studying his business, is usually a good seller, shipping so that he obtains the benefit of the long side of the market in Omaha or Kansas City. Mr. Hudson is a public spirited man who lives up to his standard of what an American citizen should be as he takes an active part in all local affairs, and being a man of education is well qualified to hold the office which he has been willing, to accept as he is school director of his district, advocating the best and most modern methods and studies for the rural schools, as he fully unerstands (sic) that the education of the youthful farmer means a successful man in later life. In politics he is a staunch supporter of the principles of the Republican party while his fraternal affiliations are with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. On April 14, 1887, Mr. Hudson married Miss Minnie Beye*, a native of Illinois, being the daughter of George Henry Beyer* who came to Nebraska in the early eighties and located on a homestead in Platte county. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hudson: Earnest G., a farmer in the state of Wyoming; William C., who served as a military policeman in the 338 field artillery 88th Division, A. E. F., in the United States army during the war with Germany; Olive E., the wife of J. N. Shaver, a resident of Scottsbluff county; and John W., who is at home. Bessie Alta died in infancy. In recording the lives of men who have been instrumental in the development of the Panhandle to what it is today, the historian would be remiss in his duties if he failed to give a prominent part to Mr. Hudson who has been a pioneer across this great state as he helped its settlement at three distinct places along the great valley of the Platte. * Spelling of surname varies. CHARLES N. WEST, is one of the well known farmers of Scottsbluff county whose industry, energy and good management has placed his in comfortable circumstances and gained for him a reputable standing in this progressive section of the Platte valley. Charles West was born on a farm in Doug- |
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