 ERNEST C. HODDER. |
Christenson has accomplished more in the way of improvement than many of the late settlers. From time to time more land has been purchased until today Mr. Christenson is the owner of three hundred and twenty acres and leases two thousand acres, which be runs with the assistance of his sons. When he came here he had a car load of cattle, horses, and hay and one of household goods and machinery, borrowing he money for the freight and all his property has been accumulated since that time, due to his far sight in business, native ability and hard work. Today the Christenson farm is equipped with modern machinery, tractors, threshing machine, auto trucks and an automobile for family use. Mr. Christenson first planted spring wheat, but now has more of the winter variety and some for spring so that there never is an entire crop failure. The first two years in the Panhandle he raised some two thousand cattle but sees a great future in farming and is engaging in it move extensively each year. He does his own harvesting and threshing which pays. In 1887, Mr. Christenson was married at Osceola, Nebraska, to Miss Laura Cole, the daughter of Albert and Mary C. (Van Brunt) Cole and five children have been born to them: Allie, the wife of Vena Christenson; Archie; Louella, the wife of Peter Nelson; Archie and Carl. Mr. Christenson is one of the prominent men of the Chappell district, is known for his good judgment and business qualifications, who ever looks ahead for larger opportunities, a man of native ability rarely met. He built a modern home in 1920, equipped with all modern conveniences. ERNEST C. HODDER, a representative member of the bar of the city of Omaha, has wielded large and benignant influence in connection with the industrial development of western Nebraska and especially Garden county, where he has large and important interests in connection with farm arid ranch enterprise. He was one of the foremost in the development of the irrigation facilities of this section of the state and his close association with the interests of the Nebraska Panhandle entitle him to specific recognition and tribute in this publication. A scion of staunch English stock on both the paternal and maternal sides, Mr. Hodder has been a resident of Nebraska since his boyhood, but he claims Newfoundland, Canada, as the place of his nativity. In that maritime Canadian province he was born March 15, 1873, a son of Richard and Jemima (Butler) Hodder, the former was born in England, in 1825, and the latter in Newfoundland, Canada, in 1829, her parents having come to that province from England in the opening year of the nineteenth century. Her father became manager of a large wholesale and retail mercantile corporation. Richard Hodder was reared and educated in his native land, then he immigrated to Newfoundland in the year 1842. He established his residence at Burin, where he became a representative merchant and prominently identified with the codfish industry, for which Newfoundland has long been celebrated. In 1881 he came with his family to Nebraska and established a home in Omaha, where he accepted a position in the motive-power department of the Union Pacific Railroad and continued to reside there until his death, in 1894, at the age of sixty-nine years, his wife passing away at the age of eighty years. Ernest C. Hodder was a lad of eight years at the time the family home was established in Omaha, and after completing the curriculum of the public schools he entered the legal department of Bellevue College. In continuing preparation for the work of his chosen profession he matriculated in the Omaha School of Law, and was graduated as a member of the class of 1898. He received at this time the degree of Bachelor of Laws and later the degree of L.L.M. He graduated from the University of Omaha and received his degree of L.L.B. He was, a lecturer of the Omaha School of Law and was president until it became a part of the University of Omaha. He, continued lecturer in the Law Department of the University of Omaha and was also lecturer of medical jurisprudence at the Creighton University until compelled to resign by reason of his legal and personal business which occupied all of his time and attention. Contemporaneously with his graduation Mr. Hodder was admitted to the Nebraska bar, and engaged in the practice of his profession in Omaha, where his ability and close application soon enabled him to develop a substantial and representative law business, as a skilled corporation lawyer he finally became attorney for the Western Land & Cattle Company, in the interests of which he came to Oshkosh, Garden county, in 1903. He became so deeply impressed with western Nebraska and the splendid development possibilities of this section, that upon his return to Omaha he became a stockholder in the Western Land & Cattle Company, and at the en- |
suing election of officers of this important corporation he was elected its president, in 1904. At that time the company owned about twelve thousand acres of land in western Nebraska, besides controlling about eighteen thousand acres of leased land, lying on either side of the North Platte river, between Lewellen and Oshkosh. The company was conducting extensive operations in connection with the cattle industry, with an average run of about twelve hundred head, besides which its ranches had a contingent of hogs ranging from five hundred to a thousand head. Mr. Hodder thus became a prominent figure in connection with the live-stock industry in this section of Nebraska, and he early became a vigorous advocate and initiator of irrigation, the great value of which he clearly perceived, as a medium for the normal and maximum development of the country. His interest was one of decisive action, as shown by the fact that he took over and finished the construction of numerous irrigation projects, including the Paisley Canal, the West Side Canal out of the Blue river, and the Overland and Signal Canals out of the North Platte river. While he had these important enterprises under way very little alfalfa was raised in Garden county, and, with characteristic vigor and enterprise, he gave a distinct spur to the propagation of this important forage crop. On the north side of the North Platte he put in somewhat more than a thousand acres of alfalfa in 1907-1908, and it was about this time that the company of which he was president began to dispose of its extensive land holdings in the Nebraska Panhandle. With prevision as to the possibilities for further advancement with the construction of the railroad through this section, Mr. Hodder individually purchased about two thousand acres of the fine bottom land on the north side of the river, a portion of this tract being situated between Oshkosh and Lewellen, and the rest being to the east of Lewellen. He has continued the improvement of these valuable holdings and has contributed much to the development and progress of agricultural and live-stock industry in Garden county. He still continues to reside at Omaha, where he has a large law practice of important order, but he makes about ten trips to Garden county each year, in the supervision of his interests here, besides which he and his family customarily pass about two months of each summer in Garden county. None is more enthusiastic in exploiting the great advantages and future of western Nebraska than Mr. Hodder and he exemplifies his faith in both word and action--greatly to the benefit of this favored and progressive section of a great commonwealth. In connection with his professional activities Mr. Hodder served eight years as city attorney of Benson, prior to that city's becoming a part of the Greater Omaha, and for four years he was a member of the Insanity Board of Douglas county. He was a director of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Omaha from 1908 to 1917; is at the present time a director, as well as attorney, of the State Savings and Loan Association, of Omaha, a position which he has held since 1909; he is a director of the Alfalfa Irrigation District of Keith county, the Paisley Irrigation District of Garden county; and is an active member of the Nebraska State Bar Association. In politics Mr. Hodder is found arrayed as a stalwart and effective advocate of the principles of the Republican party, and both he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, in the affairs of which he has long been active, especially in connection with the Epworth League and the work of the Sunday-school. In the time-honored Masonic fraternity Mr. Hodder has received the highest degrees of the York Rite, is a member of the Mount Calvary Commandery, Knights Templars, of Omaha, and he has received the Thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, besides being affiliated with the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and with the lodge, Encampment and Canton bodies of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He holds membership in the Omaha Young Men's Christian Association, the Omaha Chamber of Commerce, the Omaha Athletic Club, and Knights of Ak Sar Ben. At Council Bluffs, Iowa, June 6, 1900, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hodder to Miss Bessie Huntington, and of the seven children of this union the eldest Sherman Huntington, died at the age of four years, the surviving children, all of whom remain at home, being: Ernest C., Jr., Florence A., Charles H., Donald R., Esther and Bessie C. Mrs. Hodder is a daughter of Ephraim and Elizabeth (Lamb) Huntington, honored pioneer citizens of Council Bluffs, Iowa, where they celebrated July 23, 1919, the fifty-sixth anniversary of their marriage, Mr. Huntington being a native of England. Mrs. Huntington's father was the first station agent at Julesburg, Colorado, where he was residing with his family in the late fifties, and when they fled to escape from hostile Indians of whose purposed visit they had been informed by a friendly |
Indian. Ephraim Huntington has long been one of the leading and influential citizens of Council Bluffs, and is a venerable pioneer. limited only by that of his acquaintances. CHARLES V. HAGERTY. -- Credit for this thrifty farmer of King precinct, of the Bridgeport region, must be given to Iowa, but give this section and Morrill county credit for his enterprise and ability, and let it be known that the Panhandle, in common with most other sections of this great country, is deeply indebted to Irish-American blood, for Ireland has contributed such a large share to the best element of the population of our broad land. Charles Hagerty is a native of Iowa, born in Decatur county, in 1878, the son of John and Anna (Gallagher) Hagerty, both of whom were born in the Emerald Isle. The parents spent their youth in their native country, received what educational facilities were afforded by that land and then being ambitious decided to follow in the footsteps of so many of the countrymen and women who had come to America and here won a comfortable living or fortune as the case might be. After coming to America John Hagerty became a farmer, live-stock dealer and stock-raiser. He had the distinction of being one of the pioneer settlers of Cheyenne county, removing from Iowa to the Panhandle in 1887. He acquired a large amount of land by taking up a homestead, pre-empting another one hundred and sixty acres of land and filing on a tree claim. Having learned in the old country the value of good stock Mr. Hagerty bought the best grades obtainable in this section at the time he opened up his farm and the great success which he achieved in this line proved the truth of ideas. In 1888, he landed in Alliance with two cars of stock, the first ever unloaded in that place. He was one of the courageous men who was not daunted by pioneer hardships. He had the trials to contend with that any settlers in a new country must overcome: drought, insect pests, lack of adequate farm machinery for many years and often difficulty in obtaining seeds, as the nearest railroad was forty mile (sic) away, either Sidney or Alliance; but he never was discouraged and with the passing years his faith in western Nebraska was justified for he lived to see what was known as the "Great American Desert" become one of the fertile and productive sections of the country upon which not only America but Europe depended for food during the great World War. Mr. and Mrs. Hagerty spent the last years of their life in great comfort and happiness, won by them from the soil. The mother passed away in 1910, while the father survived her until 1918. Charles was educated in the frontier schools of Nebraska, attending classes during the winter while he worked on his father's farm during the summer, where he early learned the lessons of practical industry. He was one of a family of ten children born to his parents, the others being: Annie, the wife of Pat Roland, who lives near Broadwater; Mike H., a resident of this county north of Broadwater; John D., of Bridgeport; Charles, the subject of this review; Mamie, who lives in Bridgeport; Simon, a railroad conductor; Margaret, the wife of Jack Riordan; Norine, the wife of Clyde Fairman, deceased, and Katherine, who lives in Los Angeles, California. John Hagerty gallantly responded to the call of his adopted country at the outbreak of the Civil War and entered the Union army, where he served until the cessation of hostilities when he returned to his home and took up the plowshare in place of the sword, turning his energies to peaceful pursuits. He was a faithful member of the Roman Catholic church, the faith in which he was reared from childhood. In politics he was a sturdy adherent of the policies of the Republican party; was a worthy, progressive citizen who ever advocated every movement for the progress of his community. Charles was but ten years of age when he accompanied his parents to Alliance in 1888; he remained on the farm and early learned the care of cattle, the best crops to be sown in this climate and altitude, the time and manner of harvesting froth his father. When be attained manhood's estate he naturally turned to agriculture and stock-raising as a life vocation as his tastes were directed along such lines from childhood and it was the business he knew best; that the choce (sic) was a wise one needs not be acclaimed when it is learned that today, while yet a young man in years with the future largely before him, he is the owner of seven hundred acres of the finest farm land in Morrill county, all in one body, a part of which is under irrigation and it is but a question of time until more will be placed under ditch. Mr. Hagerty has kept abreast of the times in his farm methods, for he is one of the first men to adopt the latest machinery and the new crops which are making of the Panhandle one of the garden spots of the world; and it was to this district that the world and |
country looked and on which it called for food when the shortage arose in Europe and today it is to western Nebraska that the United States is looking for sugar during the world famine of that product. Well may the men who are farmers here be proud of the trust placed in them to raise the greatest crops possible at this crisis. Mr. Hagerty has an attractive residence and substantial farm buildings on his place, as well as being provided with modern implements and machinery with which to lighten farm labor and add to the success of his operations. While general farming has been his principal business, he has been very successful. As a boy Mr. Hagerty was one of the sons his father would call on when he had any long ride to make as he would often say, "that lad can put a horse over more ground and not hurt him than any man in the state," and on this account he was mostly sent to look for stock that had strayed or had been driven away, as he was hard to beat at reading brands; it being the custom for every one who owned stock to also own a brand that did not conflict with another man's brand, but on account of some being dim or if some animal had long hair, brands at times were hard to distinguish but by turning the animal at different angles to the sun a brand may easily be traced; this Mr. Hagerty learned to do while riding with old ranchers and punchers as they all took a great interest in him as he was so young and willing to learn. They taught him the tricks of handling cattle and horses on the range and how to approach and when to withdraw as they were all experienced stockmen. Mr. Hagerty mingled with the good and bad but always played his part well; and when yet a youth was often called on to take an important part of cutting out of different brands and as he knew them all where they belonged for many miles within his boundary. He always took an active part in branding, as he was hard to beat at foot roping calves and delivering to the wrestlers at the fire in a cool, deliberate manner. He always held the good will of all the old ranchers as he did many a good turn for most of them in locating and sending word and even bringing back to them stock they may have never found. For years he worked on many of the largest ranches in western Nebraska, in so doing he could tell many a history of a lone cow trail. He saw the free range without a fence for hundred of miles; saw quarrels and disputes in divisions of ranges when fencing began; he also witnessed the burning of powder on different occasions. Those were the good old days where a man carried the law in his own hands. Then came the building of irrigation ditches and Mr. Hagerty hitched himself up in the shaves of a slip behind a team of big, long eared mules in the construction of Brown Creek Canal in the interest of his father's place, which covers nearly four hundred acres being the first selections along the North Platte river, Cheyenne county. In 1887, with range cattle everywhere you might look and find but one other house to be seen besides the Hagerty home. The Belmont was another development of the south side of the river in which Conden Hunt and McShane of Omaha started to construct; then came the Burlington surveyors; then the building of the road. By this time a number of other ditches had been constructed along the river followed by the government canal; then the Union Pacific came creeping up the river and put in a nice little station just a quarter of a mile from the Hagerty place. It would now make Alliance ashamed of itself for at the time Mr. Hagerty's father shipped to that point, in 1888, he had to build chutes to unload his stock from the cars. The biggest change of all in this section is the changing of the little alkali lakes over around Antioch and Hoffman, which have been turned into mints, Mr. Hagerty would like to see the land owners get a fair deal in this great sugar beet industry and at least get the fifty-fifty plan, as undoubtedly there is as much value in the land that the beets are raised on and machinery and horses and other expenses as in the factory. Then all the little towns will keep a thrifty growth and will no longer remind us of little Indian village of the old days. W. W. WATERMAN, one of the pioneer residents of Deuel county who came here at an early day, suffered all the hardships and trials incident to a new country and who today is one of the responsible and substantial men of his district. Mr. Waterman was born in Jefferson county, New York, March 2, 1851, the son of W. T. and Rachael (Remington) Waterman, both natives of New York state The father was a carpenter by trade who in later life owned and managed a box factory and saw mill in connection with which he ran a blacksmith shop. Some years before his death Mr. Waterman engaged in farming. He was a Republican; served as supervisor of his community and died in the early seventies. Mrs. Waterman was a member of the Baptist church and survived until 1882. There were five children in the family, of whom two are living. |
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