 EDWARD M. REYNOLDS AND FAMILY. |
ty coroner and was otherwise influential in public affairs of a local order. His wife, a woman of gentle and gracious personality, is now residing in Chappell, and of their six children, two are living--Elizabeth, the wife of George W. Gordon, of Haxtun, Colorado, and Harvey I., of this review. In the pioneer school at Chappell, Harvey I. Babcock pursued his studies after the family home had been established here, and these he supplemented by a course in a business college of Denver, Colorado. He initiated his business career by taking a clerical position in the Deuel County State Bank of Chappell, in 1889, and his original stipend was only ten dollars a month. He applied himself diligently and effectively and in due time his ability received fitting recognition. In 1892, he was made assistant cashier, and in the following year he was advanced to the office of cashier, of which important executive position he continued to hold after the bank was reorganized as the First National Bank of Chappell. It may well be understood that he has been an influential factor in the development of the large and substantial business of this institution, the deposits of which now aggregate almost one million dollars, its operations being based on a capital stock of $25,000 and its surplus fund being $45,000. In addition to being cashier of the bank Mr. Babcock is one of the principal stockholders of the Chappell Telephone Company and is the owner of several valuable farm properties near Chappell. In politics he gives allegiance to the Republican party, but he has been primarily and essentially a business man and has had no ambition for public office, though he has shown his civic loyalty by effective service as a member of the village council and school board. He assisted materially in securing to Chappell its waterworks system, as well as in the development of the excellent public schools of the village. He assisted in the organization of the Farmers Elevator Company of Chappell, and was the prime mover in selling the stock which insured the success of the important enterprise. He is a member of the board of regents of the Deuel county high school, is affiliated with the blue lodge Chapter and Commandery bodies of the Masonic fraternity, in which he has held various official chairs, and is identified also with the adjunct organization, the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, as well as with the local camp of the Modern Woodmen of America. May 10, 1892, recorded the marriage of Mr. Babcock to Miss Helen Johnson, daughter of Joseph C. and Laura (Lewellen) Johnson, of Chappell, and Beryl, the only child of this union, died at the age of eight years. EDWARD M. REYNOLDS, one of the prosperous and representative business men of Hemingford, who has been a resident of Box Butte county for more than a decade and during that time has taken his share of the work of opening up and developing this section, was born at Buffalo, New York, October 3, 1856, the son of Milton and Alxina (Jacobs) Reynolds, both natives of the Empire state, where they were reared, educated and later met and married. Edward was next to the youngest child in a family of five, as he had four sisters. Milton Reynolds was a contractor who, when Edward was small, had a large and successful business as a builder, and at that early day he had to get his mouldings and interior finishings from the mills in the city of New York, as such things were not manufactured so far west as Buffalo. As soon as the boy was old enough he began to play in his father's shop and before long was carpentering things for himself, such as little sleds, and other children's toys, small wagons and the like, which he sold to earn spending money, when he was yet only a lad of twelve. The family came west to Chicago at an early day and there Edward was sent to the public schools, laying the foundation of a good practical education. His father remained in the contracting business which caused him to locate in Harrison county, Iowa; Edward learned the carpenters trade and continued to help his father until about 1875, when the other members of the family returned to Chicago, leaving Edward in Iowa. He soon went to Carrol City and engaged in contracting for himself, specializing in carpenter work for about three years but gave it up to accept an advantageous offer from the Northwestern Railroad to build the new stations they were putting up along the line as it was built west. In addition, he took on contracts for the erection of bridges for the road. After this he gave up his contracting, moved to Wall Lake, Iowa, and engaged in the furniture business. Within a short time he established a branch store for the same business in Sac City, turning over the management of this store to his father. In February, 1881, Mr. Reynolds was married at Sac City to Miss Cora L. Hatfield, a native of Massachusetts, the daughter of Charles and Levina Hatfield, both natives of the Bay state. Three children have been born to this union: Charles M., who |
married Leona White, is superintendent of the Imperial Sash and Door Company of Omaha, has three boys, while he and his wife are members of the Baptist church; Cora A., the wife of Percy Daily, a carpenter at Gering, has one small daughter, Helen; and Roy, who married Ethel Price of Box Butte county, is a farmer, who responded to his country's call when war was declared against Germany and enlisted in the remount division in October 1917, and received his training at Camp Funston. He has been honorably discharged and is now following his former vocation, as a farmer near Hemingford. In 1886, Mr. Reynolds accepted a position in the general repair shops of the Union Pacific Railroad at Omaha, where he was employed for ten years, but the confinement of indoor work did not appeal to him for a life vocation so he resigned and came to Box Butte county in 1908, remained in Hemingford for a year then took up a homestead in Sioux county, as he knew of no man so independent as a land-owner. He proved up on his six hundred and forty acre farm, engaged in agricultural pursuits for six years, being interested mostly in stockraising. He still retains possession of this land which has turned out a lucrative investment. Coming to Hemingford Mr. Reynolds bought property here, owning a fine store building twenty-four by sixty feet, two stories high, where he conducts a furniture and second hand business, carrying both new and used goods, all of a high class. He now contemplates building another store about the same size as the one he has and then will put in a first class up-to-date repair shop for all kinds of furniture, upholstery and fine finishing. In addition he anticipates taking contracts for all kinds of job work as he is not only a skilled carpenter but a fine cabinet maker as well, a thing much needed in Hemingford. Mr. Reynolds says that he may branch out into the lines allied with furniture when he has the new store and space for it. He and his family are members of the Baptist church while his fraternal relations are with the Modern Woodmen. HENRY C. PETERSON was about five years of age when his parents came to Nebraska and assumed the responsibilities and labors of pioneers in that part of Deuel county that now comprises Garden county. Thus he is virtually "to the manner born" in all that implies familiarity and association with the progressive activities that have marked the development and upbuilding of western Nebraska, and that he has kept pace with the march of progress is shown in the prominent part he has played in connection with the agricultural and live-stock industries, the influence he has wielded in public affairs of a local order, and the secure vantage place which he now holds as one of the representative business men of Chappell, where he is president of the Chappell State Bank, one of the substantial and well ordered financial institutions of the Nebraska Panhandle. Mr. Peterson was born in Pottawattomie coutny (sic), Iowa, February 15, 1882, and is a son of Peter S. and Lena (Hansen) Peterson, both natives of Denmark, where the former was born May 6, 1850, and the latter October 8, 1858, their marriage having been solemnized in the state of Wisconsin. Peter S. Peterson came to America in 1872, shortly after attaining his legal majority, and after remaining for a time in the city of Chicago, he went to Racine, Wisconsin, where he met and married Miss Lena Hansen, who had come with her parents from Denmark to the United States in 1865, the family home having been established at Racine. For several years Mr. Peterson was employed in the Mitchell Wagon Factory at Racine, and thereafter he was employed for a period at Council Bluffs, Iowa. He finally turned his attention to farm enterprise in Iowa, and, in 1887, he came to what is now Garden county, Nebraska, where he took up homestead, pre-emption and tree claims, not far distant from Oshkosh, and where he developed one of the large and valuable farm properties of this section of the state, his widow still remaining on the old home place, and the landed estate owned by the heirs of Peter S. Peterson now comprising eighteen hundred acres, Mr. Peterson having been one of the honored and influential pioneer citizens of Garden county at the time of his death, which occurred September 29, 1916. He was an earnest member of the Baptist Church, as is also his widow, and his political allegiance was given to the Republican party. Of the four children the eldest, George M., resides in Garden county; Henry C., of this review, was the next in order of birth; Clarence W., likewise remains in Garden county; Dora C. is the wife of Rev. Robert C. Sharp and they reside near Oshkosh, that county; and an adopted son, Charles Peterson, remains with his fostermother on the old Peterson homestead. Henry C. Peterson passed the period of his boyhood under the conditions that marked the pioneer epoch in the history of the present Garden county, which was then a part of |
Deuel county, and in the little sod school house he pursued his studies during three months of each year until he had attained to the age of seventeen years. In the meantime he had learned farming on the home ranch, and at the age noted he found employment on a neighboring ranch. After two years of application under these conditions he devoted a similar period to independent farm enterprise in Garden county. There he took up a homestead, about the year 1903, and later he sold the property to one of his brothers. In the preceding year he had married, and after this important event in his career he continued his activities as an agriculturist and stock-grower in Garden county for three years. In buying a ranch he assumed an indebtedness of twenty thousand dollars. After continuing individual operations one year he formed a partnership with his brother Clarence, with whom he was associated in the development and improvement of the property, which they cleared of debt by 1911, besides having added materially to the area of their landed estate. This property Mr. Peterson finally sold to his brother Clarence. In the autumn of 1909 he was elected county treasurer, which, as a matter of course, involved his removal to Chappell, the county seat. He continued in the office of county treasurer five years, and his administration was characteristically efficient, thereby justifying fully the popular confidence reposed in him. In the meantime he had become a stockholder of the First National Bank, now the First State Bank, of Oshkosh, and on November 1, 1912, he effected the organization of the Chappell State Bank. The bank was incorporated with a capital stock of $15,000, and he served as vice-president of the institution from the time of its re-organization until 1917, when he was elected its president, an incumbency which he has since retained. He has been a resourceful power in developing the business of this representative banking establishment, the capital stock of which has been increased to $50,000 and the deposits of which now aggregate about $750,000. In 1919, Mr. Peterson extended his banking interests by becoming one of the organizers of the Lakeside State Bank, at Lakeside, Sheridan county, and he has been its president from the time of its incorporation. An enthusiast in all that pertains to western Nebraska and its great future, Mr. Peterson is a staunch supporter of progressive movements and enterprises tending to advance the interests of this section of the state, and this is further shown in his ownership of a valuable tract of three hundred and twenty acres of irrigated land lying west of Oshkosh, Garden county. On this ranch, which is rented out on shares, special attention is given to the raising of hogs on an extensive scale. Mr. Peterson is also a stockholder in the Farmers Lumber & Hardware Company of Chappell, and is essentially one of the vital and progressive business men and liberal citizens of the fine country to which this history is dedicated. In politics Mr. Peterson is found aligned as a stalwart in the local ranks of the Republican party, and while he has held no distinctive political office save that of treasurer of Garden county, he is now serving as treasurer of school district No. 7, and as chairman of the board of regents of Deuel county, besides being treasurer of the vilage (sic) of Chappell. He is affiliated with Golden Fleece Lodge, No. 205, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons, at Chappell, in which he has passed the official chairs up to that of senior warden, and he is identified also with the local camp of the Modern Woodmen of America, his wife being a member of the Order of the Eastern Star and also of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Chappell. On September 24, 1902, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Peterson to Miss Alice M. Atkinson, daughter of George and May (Miller) Atkinson, who still maintain their home in Garden county. Of the five children born to Mr. and Mrs. Peterson, four are living--Chester A., Walter W., Henrietta L and Wayne M. Mr. Peterson has been, like so many other representative business men of western Nebraska, the architect of his own fortune, and a significant comparison may be made between the modern and beautiful brick bungalow which he has recently erected for a home for his family, and his first dwelling, which was a sod house of one room, with dirt floor. His first team comprised a horse and a bull, and in the early days he went a distance of fifty-five miles for mail, to Ogallala, as no bridge had yet been constructed across the North Platte river to give access to Sidney, a point much nearer. Within a few years after the family came to this section of the state the father of Mr. Peterson became grievously crippled by rheumatism, which was a contributing cause of his death, so that much of the responsibility and work of the pioneer farm fell to Mrs. Peterson and her children. The father retired about five years prior to his death, but continued to reside on the old home place until he passed away. |
HUGH RIDGE, one of the later homesteaders of Banner county, is a progressive and enterprising farmer and stockman and a citizen who takes an intelligent interest in the welfare of his community. He has lived in Nebraska since childhood but his birth took place in Ringgold county, Iowa, August 28, 1884. The parents of Mr. Ridge, Jesse H. and Matilda (Owens) Ridge, had seven children born to them, Hugh being the eldest and the others as follows: Alice, who is the wife of Vern Waitman of Morrill county; Tressie, who is the wife of Ted Kelly, of Banner county; Forest, who went to France as a soldier with the American Expeditionary Force, died there October 4, 1918; Lydia, who is the wife of Walter D. Stewart, of Banner county; Lloyd, who lives with his brother Hugh, and Viloet (sic), who resides with her sister, Mrs. Waitman. The mother died in October, 1904. The father had been a farmer and stockraiser before he came to Nebraska in 1887, when he pre-empted near Steamboat Rock, about three years later moving to Cheyenne county and homesteading. In those early days he met with many misfortunes through loss of crops, and at times found himself willing to work for fifty cents a day and walk a long distance to and from his home, in order to provide for his family. He assisted in the construction of the railroad at Alliance. He lived on his homestead in Cheyenne county until 1910, then sold out and spent two years in Kansas engaged in farming, and one year in Florida. Mr. Ridge then returned to Nebraska and now lives retired at Bridgeport. He is a Republican voter but has never been active in politics. Hugh Ridge attended school in Cheyenne county and remained with his father until he was twenty-one years of age. In 1908, he came to Banner county and homesteaded and lives on the place, a well improved tract of a hundred and twenty acres, to which he has added, owning at present three hundred and fifty-five acres, both farm and ranch land. General farming and stockraising engages his attention and he is in very comfortable circumstances. On November 29, 1908, he was married to Miss Goldie Darnall, a daughter of Scott and Rosie (Tucker) Darnall, and they have three children: Louise, born July 7, 1909; Nelson, born January 21, 1911; and Viva, born April 5, 1913. Mr. Ridge is an independent voter. CHRISTIAN JENSEN, who was one of Banner county's well known and highly respected citizens, lived quietly, peacefully and industriously on his homestead on section 12, town 15, for more than fifteen years. He was an intelligent, upright man and his neighbors trusted and esteemed him. He was born in Denmark, February 11, 1855. His parents were Jens and Marian (Poulsen) Christinsen, according to family nomenclature in Denmark. Both parents lived and died there, Christian being the only member of the family to come to America. In May, 1888, Christian Jensen came to the United States and settled at Dunlap, in Harrison county, Iowa, where he worked for five years. In 1892, he filed on a homestead in Kimball county, Nebraska, and in the winter of 1893, settled on his land and improved it, in 1903 trading his Kimball county property for the homestead in Banner county, on which his widow lives. In 1908, he filed on a Kimball claim and Mrs. Jensen owns and operates at the present time four hundred and eighty acres, about equally divided into farm and ranch land. She has shown herself a very capable business woman and carried on her farm and stock industries with extreme profit. Until 1919, she continued to reside on the land in the original old log house, where Mr. Jensen passed away on April 22, 1918, moving then to a comfortable frame dwelling newly erected. Her property is well fenced and all the farm buildings are substantial. Mr. Jensen was married July 11, 1902, to Miss Julia Netvick, a daughter of Andrew and Anna (Jorgensen) Netvick, who lived and died in Norway. Mrs. Jensen and her brother Hans, who lives in Minnesota, were the only members of the family of eight children to come to America. Mr. Jensen met with some hard times after he located in Kimball county, prices on produce being low and drouth destroying his crops. For a time he hauled water from fourteen miles away and later bought water for a few cents a barrel. He was a Republican in politics, and served two terms as township assessor of Julian precinct, Kimball county. He assisted in building the Danish Lutheran Church there, to which both he and wife belonged. Mrs. Jensen is kind and hospitable and has many friends in the neighborhood where she has lived so long. CHARLES V. WEBBER, whose life has seen many changes, came to Nebraska in 1904, with practically no capital. Here, through his energy and enterprise, he has acquired large properties and has continually broadened his efforts as opportunity has arisen and has become a leading business man of Banner coun- |
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