 MR. AND MRS. JAMES N. HOWARD. |
JAMES N. HOWARD, who has been a resident of Nebraska for many years, an early settler and freighter, now owns valuable, well improved property in Scottsbluff county and still takes part in operating it although the heavy responsibilities are borne by his sons. James N. Howard was born in Owen county, Kentucky, May 17, 1851. His parents, John and Martha (Carter) Howard, were born in Kentucky. Both are deceased but Mr. Howard has three brothers and one sister. Mr. Howard's early years were passed in Kentucky. Afterward he went to Missouri, where he remained until 1879, when he removed to Sidney, Nebraska. It was while living at Sidney that he engaged in the freighting business and took part in many adventures that were not unusual at that early day in that section. He homesteaded in Cheyenne county, but later sold his first 160 acres and afterward bought another 160 in Scottsbluff county. During his eight years at Sidney Mr. Howard went through many of the hardships that are a part of the history of almost every pioneer, but he philosophically accepted them and in comparing those times with many of the conditions of present-day life, is disposed to think they were not so bad after all. Like many other early settlers he remembers the mutual good feeling that existed, when every one was kind and neighborly. Mr. Howard has raised as many as 100 head of cattle yearly on the range. Mr. Howard married Elizabeth Minshall, who was born in Wisconsin and died at the age of fifty-six years. Their six children survive: Mrs. Lizzie Smith, who lives in Morrill county; John, who lives in Northport, Morrill county; George and Albert, both of whom live in Scottsbluff county; and Sarah and William, twins. The former married Marian Fisher and lives in Scottsbluff county; the latter at home. Mr. Howard and his family belong to the Presbyterian church. He served four years on the school board and at times has otherwise been useful in public matters in his neighborhood. JAMES S. ROSENFELT is the owner of an irrigated and well improved farm of 220 acres in Scottsbluff county, where he has maintained his residence nearly twenty years and where he has so improved his land and so directed his productive energies as to gain a secure place as one of the representative agriculturists and stock-growers of the county, his home being situated five miles northeast of the city of Scottsbluff. The native sons are accounting well for themselves in connection with industrial and civic affairs in the famous Panhandle of the state, and one of the number is James Samuel Rosenfelt, who was born in Lancaster county, this state, on the 23d of February, 1874. His father, Henry Rosenfelt, was born in Hamburg Germany, December 10, 1824, and was a sturdy and ambitious youth of nineteen years when he immigrated to America. He located near the city of Albany, New York, where he engaged in the work of his trade, that of broommaker, in which connection he raised his own broomcorn. He continued his residence in the Empire state and later in Illinois until 1871, when he came to Nebraska and took up a homestead in Lancaster county. There he improved a productive farm and there he continued his successful activities as an agriculturist and valued citizen until his death in October, 1900. In the state of New York, in 1850, he wedded Miss Sophia Newman, who is now deceased, and of their fine family of sixteen children all are living except three, there having been eleven sons and four daughters and the subject of this review having been the thirteenth child. James S. Rosenfelt gained his youthful education in the schools of Lancaster county, where he remained until he was twenty-two years of age, when he removed to the western part of the state and established his residence in Frontier county. There he followed farm operations until September 20, 1900, when he established his residence in Scottsbluff county. In the following month he located on the homestead which is still his place of abode, and to the original tract he has added until now he has a well improved and valuable farm of two hundred and twenty acres devoted to diversider (sic) effective irrigation. Mr. Rosenfelt assisted in the construction of the government irrigation system in this county and has otherwise been progressive and public spirited in his civic attitude. In politics he is a Republcan (sic), and he has been for twelve years a member of the school board of his district. He is affiliated with the Indepndent (sic) Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America, his wife holding membership in the Daughters of Rebekah and the Royal Neighbors and being also president of the Domestic Improvement Club of her neighborhood. Both are active members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Rosenfelt is a stockholder in the Farmers' Union Exchange and is secretary of the Farmers' Union local organization, No. 963. August 30, 1899, recorded the marriage of Mr. Rosenfelt to Miss Dora E. Marlin, a daughter of William M. Marlin, now a resident of Scottsbluff. Mrs. Rosenfelt was born |
in Indiana, September 24, 1876, and was about one year old at the time of her parents' removal to Nebraska. She continued her studies in the public schools until her graduation in the high school at Cambridge, Furnas county, and was a resident of Frontier county at the time of her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Rosenfelt have six children, who names and respective dates are here noted: Laura A., April 1, 1901; Marion T., November 18, 1902; Cecil Carl, December 28, 1907; Alice Z.. July 2, 1909; Mabel L., May 26, 1913; and James L., June 1, 1919. All of the children remain at the parental home, which is a center of generous hospitality and good cheer. JOHN H. HALL, a popular pioneer citizen of the city of Scottsbluff, where he is now living virtually retired, has had a plethora of experience in connection with pioneer activities in western Nebraska and has been a resident of this state since childhood, his parents having come to Nebraska prior to the admission of the territory as one of the sovereign states of the Union. As a cowboy on the great cattle ranges that marked the early period of the history of :the Nebraska Panhandle, and as a ranchman and farmer, Mr. Hall has contributed his quota to the march of progress in this section of the state, and both he and his gracious wife are specially entitled to recognition in this publication, Mrs. Hall being a stockholder of the Western Publishing & Engraving Company of Lincoln, by which corporation this edition is issued. John H. Hall was born in Clarke county, Iowa, on the 8th of March, 1861, a date that denotes that his parents were pioneer settlers in the Hawkeye state where his father, James Hall, served as sheriff of Clarke county from 1858 until 1862, besides which his was the honor of having been a member of a regiment of Iowa infantry that gave valiant service in defense of the Union during the climacteric period of the Civil War. James Hall was born and reared in Indiana and was a young man when he numbered himself among the pioneers of Iowa, where he continued his residence until 1806, when he came with his family to Nebraska Territory and settled near Plattsmouth, Cass county, where he secured a tract of land and became a pioneer farmer. He became one of the influential citizens of his county, commanded unqualified popular esteem, was active in local politics and served two terms as a member of the state legislature. He passed the closing years of his life at Elmwood, Cass county, where his death occurred In July, 1906, his wife having passed away in 1893, at Plattsmouth; she was a native of Kentucky and her maiden name was Elizabeth Castle. John H. Hall was a boy of five years at the time of the family removal to Nebraska, and was reared under the conditions and influences that marked the pioneer period in the history of Cass county, his educational advantages having been those of the public schools of the locality and period. He continued his residence in Cass county until October, 1885, when he came to old Cheyenne county and settled in that part of the county that now constitutes Scottsbluff county. In this wild and thinly settled section of the state he filed entry on homestead, pre-emption and tree claims, to which in due course of time he perfected his title. Wilile (sic) making preliminary improvements and development work on his land, he added to his financial resources by riding on the cattle ranges of this locality, in which connection he made an excellent record for effective service as a cowboy. In the spring of 1886 he drove through from Cass county to the present Scottsbluff county with team and wagon, and incidental to this trip he brought from Gothenburg a load of corn. Eventually he made advantageous sale of his original claims, after which he purchased a quarter-section of land where the Scottsbluff beet-sugar factory is now situated, and there he continued to reside until 1903, successfully engaged in agricultural enterprise and the raising of cattle, horses and sheep. In the year last mentioned Mr. Hall removed to Scottsbluff where he became associated with George W. King in the hardware and furniture business. About six years later he sold his interest in the business to the firm of Ebert & Gamble, and for a few years thereafter he was actively engaged in the cattle business in Banner county, While residing on his farm in Scottsbluff county he assisted in the building of the Minatare and Winter Creek irrigation ditches. In politics Mr. Hall gives his allegiance to the Republican party, and he is affiliated with the lodge, Encampment and Canton bodies of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mrs. Hall is affiliated with the Order of the Eastern Star and the Ladies of the Maccabees, in which latter she is a past commander of the Women's Benefit Association. Mrs. Hall is an earnest and active member of the Christian Science church. March 3, 1895, recorded the marriage of Mr. Hall to Mrs. Ella (Fasha) Stone, widow of William E. Stone. Mrs. Hall was born, in |
Ogle county, near Freeport, Illinois, and her early education was obtained in the schools of Illinois, Kansas and Iowa. She is a daughter of William and Salina (Hanky) Fasha, the former of whom was born on shipboard while his parents were crossing the Atlantic ocean to America, and the latter having been born and reared in Maryland, where she received her education at Frederick. Mr. Fasha was reared to manhood in the state of Illinois, and his higher education included preparation for the ministry of the United Brethren church, as a clergyman of which he gave effective and devoted service in both Kansas and Iowa, he having been a resident of Story county, Iowa at the time of his death, when forty-six years of age, and his widow having passed the remainder of her life, she having been summoned to eternal rest at the age of forty-nine years. They became the parents of two sons and eight daughters, of whom Mrs. Hall was the second in order of birth. On the 13th of March, 1886, Miss Ella Fasha became the wife of William I,. Stone, and they established their residence in Wyoming, where Mr. Stone took up a homestead and engaged in the raising of cattle and horses. His death occurred there in March, 1891, and he is survived by one son, Frederick W., of whom individual mention is made on other pages of this work. After the death of Mr. Stone his widow sold the Wyoming property and came to Scottsbluff county, Nebraska, where she established her home at Gering, of which place she was a resident at the time of her marriage to Mr. Hall. Mr. and Mrs. Hall have one son, Donovan G. A., who is in the employ of the Great Western Sugar Company at Scottsbluff. JOHN KONKLE. -- Along manifold lines has this honored pioneer exerted good influence during more than a half century of residence in the west and he is now living virtually retired, his attractive home being in the city of Scottsbluff. He is a man of broad intellectual, keen, high ideals, and gracious personality--a citizen who commands the fullest measure of popular confidence and esteem. More than sixty years have passed since John Konkle and, his parents drove into Page county, Iowa, in true pioneer style and settled on a homestead amidst a veritable wilderness where inhabitants were few and where civilization was still in its primitive form, and thus he stands out as one of the prominent figures among the men who have played such an important part in the development and advancement of the middle west. John Konkle was born in Knox county, Illinois, September 12, 1846, the son of Michael and Ann (Buller) Konkle, the former a native of the Buckeye state, where he was reared and educated. The mother was also a native of Ohio, where she grew to womanhood, was educated and there met and married Michael Konkle, but she lived but a short time to enjoy her family as she passed away when John was a small boy of three years. After attaining manhood's estate, Michael Konkle engaged in farming in Illinois and in 1856, became one of the pioneer agriculturists of Iowa, as he located on a homestead in Page county when the country was thinly populated and the nearest town was St. Joseph, Missouri, ninety miles away, and it was to this river settlement that the early settlers of the locality had to take their produce for sale and there buy the necessary farm implements and supplies for the households and families. After about eight years a railroad was built through the country nearer the farm and then life was a little less strenuous and conditions more favorable. Michael Konkle was invigorated by his outdoor occupations and the struggle he had to make to meet the hardships and privations of frontier life and lived out the psalmist's span of three score years and ten, as he passed away in Page county at the age of seventy-five years, a man whose good deeds were innumerable. John Konkle was reared on his father's homestead in southwestern Iowa, where he grew up a sturdy, robust lad under the steady discipline of the farm, learning at an early age to assume many of the tasks for a boy on a farm and as the early years passed worked to aid his parents as his strength permitted and thus while still a youth was an experienced, capable farmer. He received excellent educational advantages in the public schools of Page county, and this practical training has been of great value to him in later life, as it has been the foundation for still advanced studies, carried on by himself, along the special lines to which he has devoted his time and energies. After completing school, Mr. Konkle established himself in the business with which he was familiar and became a well known farmer and stock-raiser of Page county, where he remained until 1889, when he determined to take advantage of the offers of the government to secure land on the homestead plan and came to Nebraska, locating in Frontier county, where he filed on a homestead and a tree claim. He proved up on both pieces of land, made good and permanent improvements, |
erected good practical buildings for his farm industries, a comfortable home and raised the land to an excellent condition of fertility. His main business was diversified agriculture and stock-raising, in which he was markedly successful and won most gratifying returns for his labor. Mr. Konkle was wide awake to every advantage, kept abreast of the times and general, agricultural improvements and progress and as time passed he watched the progress irrigation was making in the western part of the state and concluded that with assured water, the abundant sunshine and clear atmosphere, the Panhandle was the place for the aggressive and progressive farmer of today and his faith in this section was so great that he sold the old homestead, severed all the old ties and associations to locate in this "Garden Spot" of the high prairies. In 1905, having disposed of his holdings in Frontier county he came to Scottsbluff county and bought a quarter section of land four miles northwest of the city of Scottsbluff, where he at once engaged in intensive farming, meeting with the just and well deserved reward that a man does who gives time and thought to the industry in which he is engaged, As his capital increased with the prosperous crops he marketed, Mr. Konkle again justified his faith in the future of Scottsbluff county by investing it in more land until he became the owner of a landed estate of nearly a thousand acres, about two hundred acres of which are under irrigation and it is but a question of time until a still larger tract will be under ditch. After living on his western land for twelve years, during which time he developed the soil to a very high state of fertility, made many improvements in the way of farm buildings for stock, erected a good home and introduced modern machinery and methods on the place, Mr. Konkle retired from the active management of his property and now lives in the city of Scottsbluff, where he is enjoying the sunset years of his life in the well deserved and well earned rest and enjoyment that is the result of a long and worthy life. During the twelve years he farmed here Mr. Konkle raised great quantities of feed and one of his paying enterprises was sheep feeding, as he secured sheep from the western ranges, fed them for about ninety days to fatten, and then shipped to the packing centers of Nebraska and Kansas, where the great cattle markets are located. In this way he made a quick turnover of his money, which was soon reinvested to good profit. Mr. Konkle from first settling here has taken an active part in the progressive movements of this section, having been superintendent of Winter Creek irrigation ditch for eight years and also was in charge of the east end of the Scottsbluff ditch. His nine hundred acre tract of land lies eighteen miles northeast of Scottsbluff so that his interests are not centered in one particular section, but in a manner cover nearly the entire county, while he owns three residence properties in the city. Mr. Konkle is progressive in his ideas, putting them into practice, and he advocates every reform and improvement that tends to the betterment of the county and the community in which he lives. Today he is regarded as one of the most substantial and wealthy citizens of this flourishing district. In politics he is an adherent of the Democratic party, to which he gives allegiance, but has been too busy all his life to accept public office other than those concerning communal affairs. On December 5, ...., Mr. Konkle married Miss Sarah Ham, the daughter of Christian and Elizabeth (Hidlebaugh) Ham, the former a native of Germany, who came to America to engage in farming. He and his wife were pioneer settlers of Iowa, where their daughter was married in Page county. The mother, Elizabeth Ham, was a Pennsylvanian by birth and played her share in the development and growth of their home in the west. She still lives in Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Konkle have had seven children: Mrs. Stella Kilbourn of Cambridge has three children; Mrs. Jennie Kilbourn is deceased; Mrs. Nettie Price of Torrington, Wyoming, has one child; Mrs. Ada Marlin of Scottsbluff, has two children; Mrs. Anna Lane of Scottsbluff, has three children; Mrs. Grace Chapin, also of Scottsbluff, has one child; and her twin, Roy, who lives in Scottsbluff has four children. JOSEPH R. KELLER, the efficient superintendent of the Central irrigating canal in the Gering district of Scottsbluff county, has been closely identified with the development of this and other irrigating ditches in the county and has been the incumbent of his present executive position since 1910. He has been known also for his activities as an agriculturist and has won no little prominence in the raising and exploiting of standard-bred horses. Mr. Keller was born in Stephenson county, Illinois, on the 8th of February, 1878, and is a son of Eli and Mary (Harding) Keller, who were born and reared in the state of Pennsylvania. Eli Keller was nineteen, |
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