 JAMES THEAKER WHITEHEAD. |
On the home farm of his father in Taylor county, Iowa, Anson B. Allen passed the period of his boyhood and early youth, and in the meantime he profited duly by the advantages afforded in the public schools of the locality. Soon after attaining his legal majority he there began farming operation in an independent way, and thus continued for five years, at the expiration of which he came to Nebraska and engaged in farming in York county. Three years later he came to the part of old Cheyenne county that now comprises Garden county, and filed entry on a tree claim, in 1887, and a homestead the following year. He perfected title to this land, upon which he has made the best of improvements, including the erection of present attractive residence, on the homestead claim. Energy and good management have brought to him prosperity in his farm operations, which include the raising of the crops best suited to this section and to the breeding and raising of horses and hogs, as well as a due contingent of cattle. He is now the owner of a valuable landed estate of twelve hundred and eighty acres, of which six hundred and sixty acres are maintained under effeciive (sic) cultivation, the remainder being range land. He is a stockholder in the farmers' grain elevator at Lisco and also in the Farmers Mercantile Company at Lisco, which is his postoffice address, his home being situated about nine miles northeast of this thriving village. Though he has had no desire for official preferment, Mr. Allen has been liberal and loyal in support of those measures that have conserved the general well being of his home county, and in politics he gives his allegiance to the Republican party. JAMES THEAKER WHITEHEAD, president of the Mitchell State Bank, of Mitchell, Scottsbluff county, of which he was the most prominent organizer, has since coming to the Panhandle been identified with the important financial enterprises of the upper Platte valley, and has also taken a place in the front rank of the men who are building up and developing this section of the state, as he is one of the officers of the Water Users Association which is placing water on the land, so that what was once known as the "Great American Desert," has become one of the most productive spots of the whole country. Mr. Whitehead has established a high reputation for ability, judgment and general acumen and since his connection with banking affairs his rise has been rapid, sure and consistent. The sons of Britain have always been men of thrift and industry and it is to "The tight little Island," that America owes the greatest proportion of the best element of the population. Wherever they have settled the English have been found to be an asset to the community, their sturdy traits of racial character contributing to the locality's development. Mr. Whitehead is descended from a long line of forebears who played an important part in the mother country and after reaching our shores they became prominent men of their localities and to James Theaker Whitehead has been given this great heritage of many generations and he has run true to type, for today there is no man in the upper valley who is doing more for the community than this unassuming banker. Mr. Whitehead was born at Wataga, Illinois, November 17, 1867, the son of Abraham and Dora (Brunt) Whitehead, the former a native of England, who came to America with his parents James and Hannah (Theaker) Whitehead about 1840. They had been born, reared, and educated in Great Britain and after reaching man and womanhood met and were married, but as they desired greater advantages for their children determined to emigrate, and set sail for the new World, the land of promise to so many Europeans. James Whitehead came west to Illinois soon after reaching the United States, took up land near Wataga, Knox county, and there engaged in farming until his death which occurred when he was about sixty-five years old. Abraham Whitehead was reared on the farm in Illinois, attended the public schools of that locality and at the outbreak of the Civil War responded to the president's call for voluteer's (sic) to preserve the Union and enlisted in the Eighty-third Illinois Volunteer Infantry in 1861. He served until the close of hostilities, and was neither wounded nor captured, though he participated in many severe engagement and battles, as he was a non-commissioned officer at the time he took part in the siege of Fort Donaldson. Abraham Whitehead was a staunch believer in the tenets of the United Presbyterian church of which he and his wife were members, while his fraternal affiliations were with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Masonic order. Dora Brunt Whitehead was born in Columbia, Missouri, in 1850, the daughter of William Brunt, a native of England who came to the United States as a child, and served his adopted country as a captain in the Union army during the Civil War. Mrs. Whitehead was reared in Blackhawk county, Iowa, where her parents moved when she was a small child. After the close |
of the war Abraham Whitehead returned to farming in Illinois, but like so many of the men returned from the army he was restless. This is seen today in the men returned from France, so he left Illinois and in 1871 took up a homestead in Cloud county, Kansas, on which he made many good and permanent improvements but lost his life in 1886, when fifty-one years old, trying to stop a runaway team. Mrs. Whitehead survived her husband until April 8, 1918, when she too was called to her last rest. There were four children in the Whitehead family: James T., the subject of this review; Reginald H., a resident of Oakland, California; Edith E., who married Ray G. Slater; and Abraham L., of Denver Colorado. James spent his boyhood on his father's farm, early learning habits of thrift, energy and the practical side of the farm industry; as he was the oldest of the children many tasks fell to him as soon as his age and strength permitted him to work. Assisting his father on the farm during the summer time, he was sent to the district school nearest his home during the winter terms, and laid the foundation of a good practical education so that when the family moved into Concordia, Kansas, when he was fourteen he was able to enter the high school from which he graduated. When James was twenty he accepted a position with the Burlington Railroad, as he had learned telegraphy after leaving school. Being assigned to work at Omaha, he became familiar with railroad work and also had an opportunity to learn of the business advantages and openings in Nebraska. After a few years he came to Alliance and entered the lumber business; for at that early day Mr. Whitehead believed there was a great future for a business man in the newly developing country here in the Panhandle. For six years he remained in Box Butte county, thoroughly learning the lumber business and such was his application that his ability was recognized in lumber circles. He was offered and accepted a much better position as secretary and general manager of the Forrest Lumber Company of Kansas City, Missouri, remaining with that concern from 1900 to 1906, when he sold his interests and returned again to the prairie country. Coming to Mitchell Mr. Whitehead interested several other moneyed men in the proposition of organizing and establishing a new bank to serve the city and contributing territory. In 1907, the Mitchell State Bank opened its doors, with Mr. Whitehead as one of the heaviest stockholders and the executive head of the institution. The surety of his vision and judgment have been demonstrated in connection with the practical side of the banking business, for, while yet a young man he is well entitled to classification among the efficient and progressive men of the business and financial circles of Nebraska. Under his able guidance and policies the bank has gained the confidence of the people of Scotts Bluff county and the surrounding country, has a fine class of depositors, and the deposits have steadily and rapidly increased which shows in what high esteem the personnel of the banking house is held. From first locating in the valley Mr. Whitehead has taken an active part in the development of this section and he is one of the best known and prominent figures in the irrigation enterprises in the northwest. He has been president of the North Platte Valley Waters Users Association for the past ten years, during the period when this country has been opened up to new methods of agriculture, intensive farming and the introduction of the sugar beet industry along the Platte river; so that he is a recognized authority on irrigation questions and as such was called to Washington, D. C. to confer with seven governors of the states interested in irrigation, being the representative from Nebraska at the conference in 1919. Mr. Whitehead is essentially a self-made man, his clear vision, ability to see and grasp the business opportunity of the minute and turn it to advantage as well as his visualization of the future of this section have made him one of the unusual figures in the financial world of the middle west, where his far sight in finance and his integrity have given him a well deserved, well earned and yet enviable position. In addition to his duties as banker, and irrigation manager, Mr. Whitehead is also treasurer of the electric light plant of Mitchell, which under his management has been an efficient public utility. In 1897, Mr. Whitehead married Miss Amelia Shetler, a native of Johnson county, Iowa, the daughter of Christian and Elizabeth Shetler, both natives of Pennsylvania, of German extraction. Mrs. Whitehead was reared and educated in Harvard, Nebraska. Today the Whitehead farms, consisting of close to four hundred acres not far from Mitchell, are considered some of the most productive properties in the valley as they are both under water rights and so produce bountiful crops. Mr. Whitehead is progressive in his ideas as to farming and has introduced the latest and most improved methods on the farms, those advocated by the state and government experts |
and his places look much like the beautiful and scientifically run farms of the agricultural stations, and really are demonstrating places so far as the efficiency of their management and results are concerned. In this manner Mr. Whitehead has encouraged the other men of the locality to adopt measures that assure increased production. In political views Mr. Whitehead holds with the tenets of the Republican party but has never aspired to public office beyond taking the part he believes a duty in local affairs, having served on the city council and as a member of the school board. He is not bound by close party lines in local politics, believing that the man best suited to serve the people should be elected to office. He is one of the public spirited men who is living his patriotism, took an active part in assisting the government in the prosecution of the World War, assisting in the sale of Liberty Bonds and also in raising money for the Red Cross. He sets a high standard for an American citizen. and lives up to it. In Masonic circles Mr. Whitehead stands high, belongs to the Scottish Rite Chapter, is a Shriner and also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. With his wife he is a member of the Congregational church. There are five children in the Whitehead family: Mildred, who married H. Roscoe Anderson, and now lives at Mission, South Dakota; Dorothy Elizabeth, Helen, James Theaker, Jr., and William Shetler, all at home. The Whiteheads have a charming modern home in Mitchell, where they keep open house to their many warm friends. GEORGE O. CURFMAN has been for more than a quarter of a century a resident of what is now Garden county, and this fact in itself proclaims him eligible for Pioneer distinction in this section of the state. He has been a forceful power in connection with industrial development and progress; has stood as an exponent of loyal and liberal citizenship, and has become one of the large landholders and representative agriculturists and stockmen of the county; has an admirably improved homestead farm, being situated fourteen miles northwest of Oshkosh, which is his postoffice address. Mr. Curfman was born at Huntington, Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, August 27, 1855, and is a son of Joseph D. and Eliza (Van Zant) Curfman, both likewise natives of the old Keystone state. There the father was born in 1820, and, in 1857 he removed with his family to Illinois, where he became a successful farmer and where he died in 1905, at the venerable age of eighty-five years, his wife having been seventy-five years of age at the time of her death, in 1903. Of their children, two sons and three daughters are living. George O. Curfman was about two years old at the time of the family removal to Illinois, where he was reared and educated in Pike county. Upon attaining legal majority he engaged in independent farm enterprise in that county, and he thus continued operations nine years. He then, in 1885, came to Nebraska, and for the following eight years he made Clay county the stage of his agricultural activities. At the expiration of this period, in 1893, confident of the splendid future of western Nebraska, he came to that part of Cheyenne county that now constitutes Garden county, and here he has since resided continuously on the homestead which he took up at that time and which he has developed into one of the model farms of the county. He has shown much discrimination and ability in his agricultural and live-stock enterprise, through the medium of which he has gained substantial success. In 1903, he added to his land holdings, under the provisions of the Kinkaid act, with, the result that his estate now comprises a thousand, one hundred and sixty acres, of which three hundred are available for effective cultivation, the remainder being used for pasturage and the raising of hay and other forage crops. Since 1914, Mr. Curfman has given special attention to the raising of hogs, in which department of his farm enterprise he now conducts an extensive business, besides which he keeps and average of about thirty head of cattle. He is one of the stockholders of the Farmers Elevator at Lisco, as well, as of the farmers Mercantile Company in that village and the Garden Supply Company at Oshkosh. In politics Mr. Curfam (sic), is found aligned in the ranks of the Democratic party, and fraternally he is affiliated with Oshkosh Lodge, No. 286, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons. December 4, 1878, recorded the marriage of Mr. Curfman to Miss Hannah Askew, who was born and reared in Adams county, Illinois, and the supreme loss and bereavement in his life came when his devoted wife died in 1917, at the age of fifty-nine years. Of their five children brief, record is here entered: William F., of Oshkosh, married Miss Maude McKonkey, and they have two children; Charles F., of Lewellen, Garden county, married Miss Mamie Westcott, and they have no children; Laura is the wife of Chester Saun- |
ders, of Oshkosh; and Clarence and Pearl remain at the parental home. PATRICK DONNELLY. -- The late Patrick Donnelly, whose death occurred at his farm home in Garden county, March 23, 1918, order (sic) his life on a high plane of integrity and honor, marked the passing years with worthy achievement and his kindly and genial nature gained and retained to him a host of loyal friends, so that his untimely death at the age of fifty-three years was deeply regretted in the county in which he had established his home and in which his widow still resides. Mr. Donnelly was born in County Monahan, Ireland, November 6, 1864, and was there reared and educated. At the age of seventeen years he severed the home ties and set forth to seek his fortune in America, where he felt assured of better opportunities for achieving independence and prosperity through his own efforts. Within a short time after his arrival he made his way, in 1881, to Nebraska and settled in Saunders county, where for a few years he was identified with farm enterprise. He then yielded to the wanderlust, and traveled somewhat widely through Nebraska and Colorado, but eventually he returned to Saunders county, where he continued to be engaged in farming, until 1907, when he came to Garden county, and took a section of land, under the provisions of the Kinkaid act. He began, with characteristic energy and judgment, the reclamation and improvement of his land, and prior to the close of his life the results of his labors were manifest in no uncertain way, for he made good improvements on his farm, brought much of the land under effective cultivation and also met with marked success in the raising of cattle, horses and hogs. The Donnelly farm, upon which Mrs. Donnelly still maintains her home, is known as one of the model places of Garden county, its improvements including a good orchard, an attractive house, equipped with individual electric lighting system, and other farm buildings of modern type. The death of Mr. Donnelly was one of tragic order, as he was killed in an automobile accident, at North Platte, when in the very prime of his strong and useful manhood. He was a Democrat in his political allegiance, though he was affiliated with the Populist party at the time when that organization was in the zenith of its power. His religious faith was that of the Catholic church, and he exemplified the same in his righteous life and his sympathy and kindliness in his association with his fellow men. His widow and children likewise are communicants of the Catholic church, the great mother church of Christendom. In Saunders county, September 26, 1888, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Donnelly to Miss Bridget McCarty, who was born and reared in this state, and who is sustained and comforted by the hallowed memories of their ideal wedded life, as well as by the love and devotion of their children. In conclusion is entered brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Donnelly: Mrs. Geneva Laudeschlager, of Wahoo, Saunder (sic) county, has three children; Francis William and his wife reside at Lincoln, this state, and they have one child; Edward A., who has the active management of the old home farm, is married but has no children; Mrs. Ida M. Richards, of Oshkosh, has four children; Mrs. Agnes Proper, of Grand Junction, Colorado, has one child; Mrs. Anna McConnell, of Oshkosh, has one child; Mrs. Theresa Hassenter, of Oshkosh, has no children; Norah and Julia D. remain with their widowed mother; and Mabel is deceased. FREDERICK D. JAMES, who during a long and successful career, has followed various occupations in several parts of Nebraska, is now a well known resident of Potter and Cheyenne county, although his operations are by no means confined to these boundaries. During his residence in this state, he has in turn been newspaper man, postmaster, carpenter, lumberman, salesman, cashier and manager of a large commercial enterprise, and in these various fields his versatility has assisted him to well deserved prosperity. Mr. James is a native of Iowa, born at Denmark, Lee county, August 19, 1878, the son of E. B. and Ada (Mills) James, the former also a native of Lee county, born there in 1849, and was reared on his father's farm. Mr. James grew up in the healthy environment of the country, attended the public schools and thereby gained a good practical education which was of much value to him in later life. After attaining manhood's estate he engaged in farming pursuits, as it was the business with which he was most familiar and in which he attained marked success, due to perseverity, hard work and good judgment. He was progressive in his methods, and always took an active part in all civic and communal affairs serving for many years as county commissioner, as a member of the school board and other public offices of the locality. Today he is a hale, hearty old man who is enjoying his sunset years in a quiet manner knowing that he has played his part in the development of his country as a good citizen should, and now resides with |
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