the nation's participation in the World War, and since the close of the war he has been engaged in the drug business at Grand Island; and Earl, the youngest of the children, remains with his widowed mother on the home farm. CHARLES M. EGGERS has been a resident of the state since the year 1888, and came to what is now Garden county in 1896, where he reclaimed and improved a productve (sic) farm of a hundred and sixty acres, Which he bought at a cost of twelve hundred dollars. He secured his homestead in Blue Creek precinct in 1902, the valuable property being still in his possession. In 1911, Mr. Eggers removed from his farm to the vallage (sic) of Lewellen, where he has since lived practically retired, as one of the substantial and highly esteemed pioneer citizens of this section of the state. Charles Matthew Eggers was born in Parke county, Indiana, December 23, 1867, and is a son of Enoch and Lydia (Brock) Eggers, the former of whom was born and reared in Indiana and the latter in Kentucky. Enoch Eggers continued his farm operations in Indiana until 1878, when he removed with his family to Kansas, and initiated the development of a pioneer farm. He passed the closing period of his life in the state of Nebraska, where he died at the venerable age of eighty-five years, his wife having passed away at the age of eighty-one years. Both were earnest members of the Baptist church. They became the parents of eight children, all sons, and of the number four are living and all reside in Nebraska. Aside from the subject of this sketch the others are, Thomas, who likewise resides at Lewellen; Joseph E., who also is one of the well known citizens of the Lewellen neighborhood; and James M., who resides at North Platte, Lincoln county. Charles M. Eggers obtained his youthful education in the public schools of Indiana and Kansas, to which latter state the family removed when he was ten years of age. In the Sunflower state he was actively associated with his father in the developing and other work of the pioneer farm and there he eventually engaged in independent farm enterprise. About one year later, however, he returned to Indiana, where he was identified with farming for the ensuing two years, at the expiration of which, in 1888, he came to Nebraska and turned his attention to general farming in Lincoln county. There he continued operations eight years, at the expiration of which he came to that part of Deuel county which now comprises Garden county, and took up a homestead in Blue Creek precinct. Here he continued his successful activities as an agriculturist and stock-grower until 1911, when, as previously noted, he retired and established his residence in the village of Lewellen. He has had no ambition to enter the arena of practical politics, but has been at all times liberal and public-spirited as a citizen and he gives his support to the cause of the Democratic party, both he and his wife being members of the Baptist church. In Deuel (now Garden) county, this state, January 1, 1896, Mr. Eggers wedded Miss Mollie Boggs, a daughter of Hugh and Nancy (Woods) Boggs, who were natives of Kentucky and who settled in Adams county, Nebraska, in 1885. Two years later Mr. Boggs came with his family to what is now Garden county, where he took a homestead and engaged in farming, as a pioneer. During the four years from 1891 to 1895, he served as mail carrier between Ogallala and Oshkosh, and he was one of the well known citizens of the county at the time of his death, at the age of sixty-nine years, his widow likewise passing away at the same age. Mr. and Mrs. Eggers had two children: Birdie, the wife of Ed. McCormick, of Lewellen, and Nannie remains at the parental home. HENRY TILGNER, who has gained a competency through his able and earnest activities as an agriculturist and stock-grower in western Nebraska, is now living practically retired in the pleasant village of Lewellen, Garden county, having located in this county in 1895, when it was still a part of Deuel county. Mr. Tilgner was born in the province of Silesia, Germany, January 13, 1850, and there his parents passed their entire lives. He whose name introduces this paragraph gained his early education in the schools of his native province and, in 1869, as an ambitious and self-reliant young man who was determined to win prosperity through his own efforts, he emigrated to the United States. He settled near Watertown, Wisconsin, and there he eventually established himself as an independent farmer. There he continued his farm activities until 1895, when he came to Nebraska and took up homestead and pre-emption claims in Frontier county, where he put his energies and judgment to such effective use that he developed a valuable and productive farm property and gave his attention to both agriculture and the raising of live stock. In 1895, he sold his farm and came to that part of Deuel county that is now comprised in Garden county. Here he purchased a quarter-section of land, three and one-half miles east of Lewellen, and |
made many substantial improvements, and achieved success in diversified agriculture and the raising of live stock. He became one of the most extensive hog-raisers in the county and made this a prime feature of his farm enterprise until his retirement, in 1918, when he established his residence at Lewellen, where he owns one of the attractive homes of the village, A man of broad views and progressive ideas, Mr. Tilgner has been liberal in the support of movements for the general good of the community and he served four years--1915-1919--as regent of the Garden county high school. His political support is given to the Republican party, and he and his wife are members of the Lutheran church. He still owns his farm, which has greatly appreciated in value in late years, and is a part owner of the Grafen ditch, which affords irrigation facilities for his land. In February, 1871, Mr. Tilgner wedded Miss Minnie Schultz, who died in 1897 and was survived by eight children, all of who are still living. The second marriage of Mr. Tilgner was solemnized at North Platte, when Miss Betty Kirsch became his wife. She was born in Germany and was a young woman when she came to America. Mr. and Mrs. Tilgner have four children, two sons and two daughters: Annie, married Norman Green and lives at Lewellen; Irving E., married Aria Higgins and lives at Lewellen; Roy C., and Alice M., live at home. IRA COPLEY is one of comparatively few citizens in Garden county who can claim the fine old Bluegrass state as the place of their nativity. In Garden county he demonstrated in a marked way the possibilities in the domain of so-called dry farming, his experience having covered a period of twelve years, in none of which did he lose a crop. He has, however, full appreciation of the superior claims for irrigated farm lands, and he is now conducting operations on his well improved farm of six hundred and forty acres, which is irrigated from what is known as the West ditch, His farm, which is given over to diversified agriculture and the raising of good types of live stock, is situated sixteen miles northwest of the village of Lewellen, which is his postoffice address, and the community at large looks upon him as a sterling and progressive citizen of marked public spirit. A scion of a family that was founded in the fair old commonwealth of Virginia in the colonial era of our national history, Ira Copley himself was born in Boyd county, Kentucky, February 1, 1875. His early education was received in the schools of Kentucky and West Virginia, in which latter state his father was actively identified with lumbering operations for a term of years. Mr. Copley is a son of James S. and Martha A. (Hammonds) Copley, the former of whom was born in West Virginia and the latter in Kentucky, where she was reared and educated and where her marriage was solemnized. James S. Copley continued to be engaged in lumbering activities in the south until 1907, when he came to Nebraska and located in that part of Deuel county that now constitutes Garden county. Here he took up a homestead and by the time he had perfected his title to the property he had brought an appreciable part of the land under effective cultivation and made excellent improvements, including the erection of substantial buildings. Here he continued his farm operations until 1918, when he and his wife returned to West Virginia, where they now maintain their home. Of their eight children, the subject of this sketch was the fourth in order of birth. Another of the sons, James S., Jr., likewise is a representative farmer in Garden county. Ira Copley early gained experience in connection with the lumbering business, through association with his father's operations in West Virginia, and in that state he was for a time engaged in farming. In 1907, he came to what is now Garden county, Nebraska, and took up a homestead claim of six hundred and forty acres, near Lewellen. He stocked the place well and eventually developed a productive farm that was marked by good buildings and other improvements. Here he continued successful operations as an agriculturist and stockgrower during a period of twelve years, at the expiration of which he removed to his present home farm, in order to secure the facilities of irrigation, whch (sic) insure to him still greater success in his farm enterprise. In politics Mr. Copley is found aligned as a stalwart in the ranks of the Republican party, and he and his wife are active members of the United Baptist church. Mr. Copley was twenty-three years of age when in Wayne county, West Virginia, he was united in marriage to Miss Mary Wooten, who was reared and educated in that state and who is a daughter of S. P. Wooten, a native of Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Copley have a fine family of ten children: Grace is the wife of John Williams, of Lemoyn, Keith county; Ethel is the wife of John Goodron, of Lewellen; and all of the other children are still at home at the time of this writing, in |
the winter of 1919-20. Luther M., Martha A., May, Alice, Winifred, Pearl, Mabel and Hazel. With this interesting family, the home of Mr. and Mrs. Copley is known for its cheer and happiness, as well as for its gracious hospitality. WILLIAM T. JACKSON, who is numbered among the successful and popular exponents of farm enterprise in Garden county, has been a resident of Nebraska since he was a lad of about twelve years; is a representative of one of the sterling pioneer families of the state and in his independent career he has exemplified most fully the self-reliant and progressive spirit of the fine commonwealth in which he was reared and in which he has found ample opportunity for productive achievement as an agriculturist and stockgrower. William Thomas Jackson was born in DeWitt county, Illinois, July 21, 1861, and is a son of John A. and Rhoda Ann (Harp) Jackson, the former a native of Indiana and the latter of Illinois. The father was identified with agricultural pursuits from his youth until he became one of the California argonauts of the historic year 1849, when he joined the great host of adventurous spirits who were making their way to the New Eldorado, in search of gold. He was measurably successful as one of the celebrated Forty-niners in California and on his return to the east he made the trip by way of the Isthmus of Panama. In 1859, he again set forth for the west, at the time of the gold excitement in Colorado, and he remained for a time in the vicinity of Pike's Peak, that state. He then returned to Illinois, where he continued to be engaged in farming until 1873, when he came with his family to Nebraska and settled in Thayer county. There he developed a good farm and became a successful and influential citizen of his community. He was one of the honored pioneer citizens of Thayer county at the time of his death, which occurred when he was eighty-two years of age, his wife having passed away in 1895, at the age of sixty-two years. William T. Jackson acquired his rudimentary education in the public schools of Illinois and after the removal of the family to Nebraska he continued his studies in the schools of Thayer county, where he was reared to manhood and where he early began to contribute his quota to the work of the home farm, so that he was well fortified in practical experience when he initiated his independent operations as a farmer. He continued his farm activities in Thayer county until 1907, when he came to that part of Deuel county that now comprises Garden county. Here he entered claim to a homestead and has developed and improved one of the fine farm properties of the county, his well directed enterprise including both diversified agriculture and the raising of live stock. Mr. Jackson has been earnest in the support of the various measures and enterprises that have conserved communal advancement and is essentially liberal and public-spirited. He has had no ambition for public office but has served nearly a decade as school director, an office of which he is the incumbent at the time of this writing. He is well fortified in his convictions concerning governmental policies and is aligned in the local ranks of the Democratic party. At Hebron, Thayer county, August 10, 1997, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Jackson to Miss Annie M. Bell, daughter of David and Betsey (Gooding) Bell, both of whom were born in England. Mrs. Bell was thirty-four years of age at the time of her death and Mr. Bell attained to the age of sixty-one years, he having been a representative citizen of Thayer county at the time of his death. Mrs. Jackson was born in Lancastershire, England, and was an infant at the time of the family immigration to the United States, her parents settling in Iowa, where they remained about twelve years, at the expiration of which, in 1882, they came to Nebraska and settled in Thayer county, where the father became a successful agriculturist and stock-grower. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson have three children: Rhoda, is the wife of William B. Cate, of Elizabeth, Cherry county, and they have three children; Eva G. is the wife of Edward M. Bredesell, of Hebron, Thayer county, and they have one child; George A., who has returned home after service in the army during the World War, was a member of Ambulance Company No. 75, and was stationed at Camp Dodge, Iowa, at the time when the war closed. RALPH W. EMERSON came to Garden county in 1897, prior to its segregation from Deuel county, and here he has shown his energy and enterprise in the developing of one of the fine farm properties of the county, and has gained precedence as one of the successful exponents of agricultural and live-stock industry in his native state. His farm, comprising a hundred and sixty acres, is situated six miles northwest of the village of Lewellen, where he has made good improvements, so that the place gives unmistakable evidence of thrift and prosperity. |
It is but natural that Mr. Emerson should exemplify the progressive spirit so characteristic of western Nebraska, for he claims Custer county, this state, as the place of his nativity And there breathed in his boyhood and youth the vital air, productive industry, besides gaining the practical experience that equipped him effectively for independent farm enterprise after he had attained to maturity. Ralph Warren Emerson was born in Custer county, Nebraska, November 22, 1883, and is a son of Edward W. and Louise Emerson, the former of whom was born at Alton, Illinois, while the latter was a native of Yorkshire, England, having been a girl when her parents came to America and settled in Missouri. Mrs. Emerson came to Nebraska as a young woman and she became a successful teacher in the public schools at St. Paul, this state, her school work having continued until the time of her marriage. She was a woman of talent and gracious personality, and was only thirty-seven years of age at the time of her death, in 1894. Edward W. Emerson was reared and educated in Illinois, when he came to Nebraska in the early eighties and settled in Custer county, Where he took a homestead and became a pioneer, farmer of the county. He improved a valuable farm and still lives on the old home place, as one of the representative agriculturists and stockgrowers of Custer county. Ralph W. Emerson passed the period of his childhood and early youth on the pioneer farm homestead in Custer county, and availed himself of the advantages of the public schools. He continued his association with farm enterprise until 1897, when he came to what is now Garden county, and was employed on ranches and farms until he found the desired opportunity to engage independently in agricultural activities. In 1908, he entered claim to a homestead upon which he proved up in due course of time. He finally sold this property and purchased the quarter-section which constitutes his present attractive farm home, the place having good irrigation facilities and having been developed by him into a model farm, his attention being given to diversified agriculture and the raising of excellent grades of live stock. Mr. Emerson is a stockholder and director of the Paisley irrigation ditch, is a Republican in politics, is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America, and he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal and Lutheran churches. April 5, 1907, was recorded the marriage of Mr. Emerson to Miss Emma H. Johnson, who was born and reared in what is now Garden county, a daughter of Frederick Johnson, of Lewellen. Mr. and Mrs. Emerson have three children: Glen L., born September 25, 1911; William A., born January 9, 1916; and Jessie Mae, born May 1, 1918. ALBERT R. TAYLOR. -- In the fine farm district of which the village of Lewellen is the normal trade center are to be found many vigorous and progressive agriculturists and stock-raisers, whose comparative youth vitalizes their activities and makes them specially successful. A well known and popular member of this valued class of citizens is Albert Robert Taylor, who was born in Clay county, Nebraska, January 1, 1880, and is a son of Robert and Minerva (Reynolds) Taylor, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Ohio, where she was reared and educated. Robert Taylor became one of the pioneers of Clay county, Nebraska, where he established his residence in 1872. He there took up and perfected title to a homestead, and there he continued his farm enterprise until 1885, when he initiated further pioneer experience by removing to that part of Cheyenne county that now constitutes Garden county. Here he secured a tree claim, and a pre-emption claim, but eventually he sold these properties and purchased a farm on the south side of the North Platte river, where he successfully continued his activities as an agriculturist and stock-grower, with secure standing as one of the honored pioneer citizens of this section of the state. Albert R. Taylor was reared to manhood in what is now Garden county, where his early educational advantages were those offered by the excellent public schools. He assisted in the work of the home farm until he began independent operations by taking up a homestead on the south side of the river. He proved up on this claim and after disposing of the property he purchased his present farm, which comprises a hundred and sixty acres situated five miles northwest of Lewellen. The farm has good irrigation, is improved with excellent buildings and is the stage of very successful enterprise in the domain of agriculture and stock-raising. Mr. Taylor is loyal and progressive as a citizen, is a Republican in politics, and is a stockholder in the Overland Ditch Company, through the medium of which his farm gains its irrigation facilities. January 21, 1907, Mr. Taylor. was united in marriage to Miss Addie Luark, who was born in Clay county, Nebraska, and is a daughter of Edward and Margaret (Barkman) Luark, |
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