 RANCH OF ED. J. KINNON.  MR. AND MRS. ED. J. KINNON. |
Mr. O'Keefe has taken an active part in all affairs both communal and civic since locating in the Panhandle; he is well and favorably known throughout this section where he has a host of warm staunch friends. He is a man of great public spirit and gives liberally of time and money to every movement for the betterment of the city and country. He is one of the most enthusiastic "boosters" of the upper valley. Mr. O'Keefe is a member of the Elks, the Modern Woodmen, the Royal Highlanders and Knights of Columbus. In 1911 Mr. O'Keefe married Miss Edith Snodgrass, a woman of high education and marked talents. She is a graduate of the State Normal School and at the time of her marriage was supervisor of music and drawing in the city schools of Alliance, Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. O'Keefe: Edith M., John R., Helen Lucille and Jean Francis EDWARD J. McKINNON, who is one of Banner county's foremost busines (sic) men, is president of the Farmers Elevator and Store Company at Bushnell, and is one of the extensive breeders of Percheron and Shire horses, Duroc-Jersey hogs and White Face cattle in the county. He was fourteen years old when he accompanied his parents to Banner county and this has been his home ever since. Edward J. McKinnon was born at Muskegon, Michigan, June 19, 1875. His parents were Hugh and Elizabeth (Meikle) McKinnon natives of Scotland, his birth taking place in 1830 and her birth a little later. They were married in the city of Glasgow, Scotland, January 1, 1867, and in the same year came to Canada and in 1872 to the United States. He had served an apprenticeship of five years to the machinist's trade in Scotland and after coming to this country worked at the same in Michigan and later in Iowa. As a family of sons began to grow up around him he felt it to be his duty to look out for their future welfare. There was little to encourage him in Iowa as the land was rapidly being settled, with consequent advance in price, and this led to his moving to Banner county, Nebraska. He homesteaded in 1889 near where his son Edward J. McKinnon now lives, shipping his goods from Iowa and being in somewhat better financial condition than many of his neighbors. He remained on his homestead until 1904 when be sold his farm to his sons Edward J. and Norman N., retired and moved to Harrisburg. His death occurred June 19, 1904. After becoming a widow, the mother filed on a Kinkaid claim near the other property and resided on it five years. Her last days were spent in the homes of her children, and her death occurred May 3, 1918. Of the ten children the following survive: Robert, of Armour, South Dakota; John, of Merced, California; Edward J., of Banner county; Harry C., of Scottsbluff; Norman N., of Scottsbluff; Hugh A., of Bucyrus, Ohio; Mrs. Annie R. Kelly, of Harrisburg, Nebraska, and Mrs. Nettie Schumway, of Scottsbluff. The parents were members of the Presbyterian church. The father assisted to organize school district No. 31, and served as school director for some years. Like other early settlers Mr. McKinnon met with discouragements and losses, mainly occasioned by drouths, and for long periods had to haul water a distance of from five to thirteen miles. At one time he went to Cheyenne and began work in a machine shop there but illness caused his return home and after that he continued on the farm. He was a man of sterling character and is yet mentioned in terms of respect. Edward J. McKinnon attended the public schools in Iowa and in Banner county and later took a busiess (sic) course at Shenandoah, Iowa, from which he was graduated with a diploma testifying to his excellence in penmanship. He remained at home until 1905. On November of that year he was united in marriage to Miss Mary Barfoot, who is a daughter of Enos Barfoot, a prominent early settler of the county, extended mention of whom will be found in this work. Mr. McKinnon owns 640 acres of fine land, his home farm being exceptionally well improved and his operations are carried on with improved farm machinery. As a breeder of fine stock he has been very succesful (sic) and averages from 75 to 100 head of cattle yearly. In addition to the business enterprises above mentioned, he is a stockholder in the Banner County Bank of Harrisburg and also a stockholder in the Farmers Union. Politically he is a Republican, but aside from school offices, he has never accepted a public office. He has always been interested in school district No. 31 and as school director for some sixteen years has looked after its best interests. Mr. McKinnon is a man of principle, upright, honest and dependable under all circumstances. BERT R. WEBER, who is numbered among the successful younger exponents of agricultural and live-stock industry in Scottsbluff county, has the distinction of being a native son of this county, his birth |
having taken place on the home farm of his father, near Gering, on November 14, 1890. Of the family genealogy adequate record is given on other pages, in the sketch of the career of his father, William Weber. Bert R. Weber early gained agricultural experience in connection with the activities of the home farm, and his youthful educational advantages included those of the public schools of Gering. He continued to be associated with his father in the operations of the latter's ranch until he had attained to his legal majority, when he began his independent career in connection with the same important line of industry. As a general agriculturist and stock-grower he is alert and progressive, and now conducts operations on a well improved place of two hundred and seventeen acres, all of which will eventually have ample irrigation facilities and upon which he is making the best of improvements. This ranch is situated in section one, township twenty-one, about a half mile distant from the county seat. which is the postoffice address of Mr. Weber. On his farm he has a fine French draft stallion, and he is making a specialty of breeding this type of horses. In 1914 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Weber to Miss Lucile Duff, who was born and reared in Nebraska, and they have two children, a winsome little daughter, Marvel, and son, Kenneth Elsworth. Mrs. Weber was educated in the public schools of David City, Nebraska, and she holds membership in the Methodist Episcopal church. In politics Mr. Weber gives allegiance to the Nonpartisan party in national and state campaigns, but in local affairs he maintains an independent attitude. HUGH E. MANTOR. -- In promoting general efficiency along all lines of human endeavor there has come in these later days a distinct recognition of the supreme value of effort and concentration. This is especially true in the medical profession and such exponents find the maximum success and are able to give the most benignant service through devoting their attention to perfecting themselves in some one special branch of medicine. In Cheyenne county, Dr. Mantor has gained exceptional prestige by specialization, as he devotes his time and attention primarily to surgical work and roentgenology. He maintains his residence and profesional (sic) headquarters in the city of Sidney, and has become well known because of his estimable character and high professional attainments, as one of the representative physicians and surgeons throughout the Panhandle. Dr. Mantor was born at Sheldon, Illinois, December 2, 1874, the son of Lyman and Mary (Cole) Mantor and is descended from old eastern stock, as his ancestors located in the Atlantic states at an early day. His father was a native of Ohio, while his mother claimed New Jersey as the place of her nativity, The father was employed during his early manhood as contractor and in 1885 came to Nebraska, with the idea of establishing himself independently in business. Soon after arriving here he purchased railroad land in Dawson county, being one of the pioneer settlers of that section, where he began at once to make improvements on his land; put up a comfortable home as soon. as possible, erected permanent farm buildings and began to engage in general farming, stock-raising and feeding. Being a man of education Mr. Mantor gave deep study to agricultural questions, kept abreast of all improved methods, buying the latest machinery to lighten the work on the farm and was rewarded with unusual success as the result of his labors. After gaining a comfortable competency he retired from active participation in farm affairs and lived the last years of his life in a leisurly (sic) manner, enjoying the modern books and periodicals. He passed away at the age of seventy-seven years, being survived by his wife who now makes her home with her son in Sidney. Hugh Mantor was but ten years of age when his parents came to their new prairie home in Nebraska. He had already attended school back in Illinois but from his tenth year be spent his boyhood days and early youth on the home farm, learning there the excellent qualities of self reliance and service. Coming from a family of unusually well educated parents they saw that their son had every advantage obtainable, as they had sufficient means to send him to school at all times. At first he attended the district school in his home locality, then the high school, at Lexington, where he graduated. At an early age the boy had decided upon a professional career and with this end in view he entered the medical department of the State University at Lincoln, completing his course in 1902, receiving the degree of M. D. The same year he opened an office at Cozad, Dawson county, and at once engaged in practice. |
For seven years he served the town and county around with great ability but he desired high work as he already realized that the twentieth century is one of specialization and having pased (sic) the time of his general professional work, went to England where he entered the West London Hospital for a course of post graduate study. Spending the winter of 1909 and 1910 abroad, the doctor on his return to America came to Sidney where he has since been continuously engaged in practice. While in England Dr. Mantor had given most attention to all phases of surgical work and since his return to this country this has been his special branch of medicine, so that he is called to points not only outside of Sidney but throughout the Panhandle for this kind of work. He has equipped his office with the most complete and modern X-Ray equipment and Electro-Therapeutic appliances which he uses in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. The doctor controls a large and representative clientelle (sic), keeps in close touch with the advance made in medical, surgical and roentgenological science, and is unremitting in the study of the best standard and periodical literature of his profession. For a number of years he has been district surgeon for the Union Pacific Railroad, is a member of the American Medical Association, the Nebraska State Medical Society, the County Medical Association, while his fraternal affiliations are with the Masonic Order, the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Elks. He is an independent Democrat in politics and lets no party lines dictate the casting of his vote. While he is a progressive citizen and promoter of every movement for the benefit of Sidney he does not care for public office and cannot be persuaded to hold one, devoting all his time and energies to the close study and many demands of his chosen calling, medicine. In June, 1907, Dr. Mantor married Miss Stella Batdorf, a native of Omaha, where she was reared and educated. GEORGE R. BUCKNER, banker, financier, ranchman and oil magnate, is a man whose business career has been significantly characterized by marked executive ability and creative initiative. His unchangeable purpose and integrity have gained the popular confidence and esteem that are most essential in the successful execution of the important and varied enterprises to which he has devoted his attention and energies, and through the medium of which he has secured high standing as a representative figure in banking and financial circles in Nebraska. From first entering business life Mr. Buckner has been identified with banking enterprises and his administration has done much to conserve the success attained by the institutions with which he has been associated. His aggressiveness, keen foresight, honesty and civic loyalty have gained him a high standing in the comunities (sic) where he has been engaged in building up his business to its present extensive proportions. Mr. Buckner was born in Macedonia, Iowa, September 2, 1882, the son of Perry and Dora B. (Starts) Buckner, the father being a native of Missouri and the mother of Illinois. They were reared and educated in their respective communities, but after their marriage removed to Iowa, being pioneers of that state, as the father took up a homestead in Pottawatomie (sic) county, about thirty-five miles east of Council Bluffs, but died at the age of thirty-two years, leaving his wife with four small boys to rear and support. After her husband's death Mrs. Buckner put her capable shoulder to the wheel and though but a woman alone in a new country, she was equal to the task; she capably managed the frontier farm, paid off the money due on the land as it came due, devoted such time as she could to her family and became a successful farmer within eight years after she was left alone in the world. Being a woman of good education and desiring every advantage for her fatherless boys Mrs. Buckner decided to leave the farm and locate in some place where the children could have the best educational advantages. After looking over the various locations she chose University Place, near Lincoln, Nebraska, a college town where youths would grow up in an atmosphere of culture and refinement. The four boys were: Charles L. of Red Oak, Iowa; Louis J., who lives at Elliott, Iowa; George, and Wilbur G., who died at the age of six years. George Buckner was about ten years of age when the family left the farm in Iowa and located at University Place; he had already attended the public school near his home and after coming to Nebraska entered the grammar school. After finishing the grades he entered the academy of Nebraska Wesleyan University of University Place. He was a sturdy youth and realized the struggle his mother had had |
to rear her little family and decided to start out for himself and earn some money. For four years he worked on a farm, then on a railroad for a year, but was too ambitious to be contented with what he could earn in this position and having determined upon a commercial career, entered the Nebraska Business College at Lincoln, where he completed a course in business methods and bookkeeping. In 1901, he entered the Farmer's and Mechanics Bank at Haverlock as bookkeeper. For one season he played professional baseball with the Burlington Railway shop men, but while in the bank had decided that banking was to be his chosen vocation and having accumulated considerable capital, in 1903, he became one of the organizers of the bank at Davey, Nebraska, where he was given the position of cashier and manager. Mr. Buckner had a special constructive talent for banking and it was through his liberal policies that he furthered the success of the first bank with which he was associated. His foresight, progressive, yet conservative methods won the confidence of the residents in the vicinity of Davey who became heavy depositors of the bank. In 1907, Mr. Buckner severed his relations with the Davey bank, disposed of his stock and helped organize the Lancaster County Bank of Waverly, Nebraska, and two years later was made president of the institution. By this time he had become recognized as one of the leading bankers and financiers of eastern Nebraska, for within the short period of two years he has promoted from cashier of the bank to its executive head. The bank had become a flourishing institution under his capable direction, changes came about and still greater expansion ensued, but Mr. Buckner had not been contented to devote all his energies to one line and had become interested in valuable oil and gas properties, which grew with such astounding rapidity that in 1917, he sold his stock in the banking house to take active management of his other interests, as he had already organized the Independent Gas and Oil Company with headquarters at Sidney, having established his home there in 1918. The following year he bought a block of stock in the American Bank of Sidney and became its vice-president. All depositors in this bank are protected by the depositors' guaranty fund of the state of Nebraska. In 1919, Mr. Buckner was the prime mover in the organization and incorporation of the Grain Belt Oil Company, with a paid up capital of $85,000, and from its initiation has been president of this progressive concern. The company operates in eight towns of Nebraska, Sidney, Chappell, Ogalalla, Grant, Gurley, Dalton, Scottsbluff and Mitchell. Reared during his boyhood on the farm Mr. Buckner naturally has ever taken an interest in land and as his business met with its phenominal (sic) success and his capital increased he has invested from time to time in country property, having become the owner of the celebrated St. George Ranch of some nineteen hundred acres only three miles from Sidney, in the Pole creek valley. While working on farms after leaving school he had learned practical farming by experience and also had taken great interest in the cattle business so that when he acquired a large landed estate of his own he began to apply his knowledge to its management. His operations have been most successful as he believes in modern methods, uses the latest machintry (sic) for work on the ranch and specializes in forage crops, feeding and the raising of high bred cattle and hogs, so that today he is one of the heavy shippers from this district. The land out at St. George has been raised to a high state of fertility where cultivated and the pastures are usually in fine condition, so that Mr. Buckner may be said to be a progressive and exceedingly prosperous farmer aside from his many other varied interests. Such ranches as his are of inestimable value in a community as he can become a leader in all new farm movements and when he has tried out the methods advocated by the farm experts of state and nation they can be adopted by men who have not the capital for such investigation who live in the district where the St. George is well known. In a way Mr. Buckner's farm is doing for the Panhandle what the famous Rockfeller ranch did for the stockmen of Kansas, down in Kiowa county. From first locating in Sidney Mr. Buckner has taken an active and prominent part in all the activities of the city and county. During the war he was president of the city and county committees of the Red Cross and was one of the largest salesmen of Liberty Bonds. In politics he is a staunch supporter of the Republican party and takes an important part in aping its policy in county and states. As a young man, soon after he became independently established in business he began his political career, for, in 1913, he was elected as representative of his district to the state legislature on the Republican ticket. In 1915, he was nominated for county treasurer, but was defeated. He cares nothing for political preferment but has felt that his duty as a citizen called him to such office as he could creditibly (sic) fill; today he is far too fully accupied (sic) to even think of accepting the nomination for any office. Fraternally Mr. Buckner's rela- |
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