that he has been able to do his share in promoting this civic and industrial advancement. A man of sterling character, he has ever commanded the fullest measure of popular confidence and esteem, and has been a loyal and public-spirited citizen. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party, but he has never manifested any ambition for the honors of political office. He is one of the stockholders of the Warner Telephone Company and has other substantial financial interests. Both he and his wife are zealous members of the United Presbyterian church at Lewellen. September 20, 1875, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Paisley to Miss Mary M. Wilson, who was born and reared in Iowa, where her father, John M. Wilson, was a pioneer farmer, having been born in Preble county, Ohio. Mr. Wilson passed the closing period of his life at Pawnee City, Nebraska, where he died at the venerable age of eighty years, the maiden name of his wife was Garrison. She died before her husband. Mr. and Mrs. Paisley have nine children-Harry of Joliet, Wyoming; Mrs. Eva White, of Lewellen; Mrs. Cora Clark, of Oshkosh, Garden county; Mrs. Clara Sellers, of Ashton, Idaho; John M., of Joliet, Wyoming; Mrs. Pearl Robinson and Mrs. Irene Roberts, both residents of Lewellen, Garden county; Mrs. Myrtle Robinson, of Joliet, Wyoming, and Ira Jr., of Lewellen, who served in the United States Navy during the period of the World War. JAMES W. ORR is to be accorded recognition as one of the representative pioneer citizens and successful agriculturists and stockgrowers of Garden county, where he is the owner of a large and well improved farm property, to the supervision of which he gives his personal attention, though he is now living in semi-retirement, in the village of Lewellen. His career has been one of varied and productive activity, and he has achieved worthy success as a result of his earnest and well directed endeavors. James William Orr was born at Rockaway, New Jersey, on September 8, 1868, and is a son of John and Mary (McCormick) Orr, the former a native of Scotland and the latter of Ireland. The father was a young man when he removed from Scotland to Ireland, where he engaged in the work of his trade, that of wheelwright. There his marriage was solemnized, and in 1847 he came with his family to America and settled at Rockaway, New Jersey, where he continued for many years in the work of his trade and in that state he died at the age of seventy-four years, his wife having passed away at the age of sixty-three years. Of their nine children three sons became residents of Nebraska--Calhoun, John H. and James W. To the public schools of his native state James W. Orr is indebted for his early educational discipline, which was received principally at Danville, Warren county. At the Kislepau mines, near that place, he became operator of a stationary engine, and continued his association with the mining industry about ten years. In 1892, Mr. Orr came to Nebraska and took up a homestead in Keith county, where he engaged in farming and stock-raising and finally perfected his title to the land. In 1898, he began to farm irrigated land, and to give special attention to the raising of hogs, but about three years later he went to the state of Washington, where he returned to the occupation of his youth, by operating the engine of a shingle mill. He remained in Washington about seven months and then returned to Nebraska and resumed operations as an agriculturist and stock-grower. In 1903, Mr. Orr purchased four hundred acres of land in Garden county, and to provide for its irrigation effected the completion of the Bratt ditch. In addition to developing the agricultural resources of his land he has here carried on successful and somewhat extensive operations in the raising and feeding of hogs, and continued to live on his well improved farm until, 1918, when be removed to Lewellen, where he owns and occupies an attractive home, though he still gives a general supervision to his farming and stock interests. He is part owner of the Bratt irrigation ditch and has been liberal in the support of enterprises that have tended to advance the civic and material welfare of the county. His political views are in harmony with the principles of the Democratic party; he is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Woodmen of the World, and he and his wife hold membership in the United Presbyterian church. November 12, 1904, recorded the marriage of Mr. Orr to Miss Elsie Branden, who was born in England, of Scotch-Irish lineage. Mrs. Orr died in 1907 and is survived by two children, Mary E. and John E., who remain at home. On March 9, 1910, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Orr to Miss Jennie Gordon, at Julesburg, Colorado. Mrs. Orr was born and reared in County Tyrone, Ireland, and came to America with her brother An- |
drew, who settled in Garden county, Nebraska, in 1907. Mr. and Mrs. Orr have one son, James G. STEPHEN L. BROWN. -- In Crawford county, Illinois, February 4, 1854, Stephen Louis Brown "ope'd wondering eyes to view a naughty world," and it may be that on this birthday of a now prominent and honored citizen of Garden county, Nebraska, the auguries foreshadowed the career that was to give to him a plethora of pioneer experience in the west. He has been distinctly one of the world's productive workers, and the results of his honorable and well ordered efforts are shown in his ownership of a large and valuable farm property in this county. Mr. Brown is a son of Phillip and Caroline (Dare) Brown, both of whom were born and reared in the state of Indiana, to which Mrs. Brown's people came as pioneers from New Jersey. Phillip Brown became a substantial farmer in the Hoosier state, whence he eventually removed to Illinois and engaged in the same fundamental vocation in Crawford county. In 1878, he removed with his family to Kansas, where he became associated with construction work on the Missouri Pacific Railroad. In the following year he came to Nebraska and assumed a contract for grade work on the line of the same railway, near Brownsville. In 1882, he established his residence in Atchison county, Missouri, where he resumed his operations as a farmer, but eventually he returned to Illinois, where he died within a short time, at the age of eighty-two years. His wife was seventy-nine years of age at the time of her death, which occurred in Boone county, Nebraska. Stephen L. Brown passed the first nine years of his life in Crawford county, Illinois, where he profited by the advantages afforded in the public schools of the period, and then went to Lawrence county, that state, where he remained, and continued to attend school, until he attained his legal majority. When about eighteen years of age he gained his initial experience in independent farm enterprise, in Lawrence county, Illinois, and in the autumn of 1877, he drove with team and wagon from Illinois to Mitchell county, Kansas. In February of the following year he filed entry on a pre-emption claim and a tree claim on Cheyenne creek, in Lane county, that state, but, owing to ensuing difficulties with cattle men and a mistake on the part of a veteran soldier of the Civil War, who had supposed he was to have the same property, Mr. Brown turned over to him the two claims. On June 25 of the same year he left Lane county and went to Cove county, from which locality he made his way on foot to Mitchell county--covering a distance of eighty-five miles in two and a half days. For the ensuing three years he was engaged in grade work on the line of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, in association with his father, and he then accompanied his father to Atchison county, Missouri, where he remained about two years. He then, in 1886, came to Nebraska and purchased a quarter-section of railroad land in Greeley county, where he was engaged in farming and stock-raising for fourteen years. The following two years found him employed on the extensive ranch of Samuel Allerton, the prominent Chicago meat-packer, in Boone county, this state, and the next six years he was engaged in farming near Albion, that county. In 1908, he established his residence in that part of Deuel county that now comprises Garden county, where he filed entry on a section of land, to which he eventually perfected his title. With characteristic energy and discrimination he instituted the development and improvement of his land, which he utilized for diversified agriculture and for the raising and feeding of cattle and horses. He has made this one of the valuable farm properties of the county, and although he now resides in the village of Lewellen he still gives his personal supervision, in a general way, to his well improved farm, his son Frank having the active management of the place and their live-stock operations being conducted on a somewhat extensive scale. In politics Mr. Brown designates himself an independent Democrat, in a fraternal way he is affiliated with the Modem Woodmen of America, and he and his wife are zealous members of Calvary Baptist church at Lewellen, in which he formerly served as superintendent of the Sunday school. In Atchison county, Missouri, February 1885, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Brown to Miss Phoebe Watts, who was born in the state of Illinois, as were also her parents, James H. and Martha (Gill) Watts. Mr. Watts, a farmer by vocation, though a carpenter by trade, removed with his family from Illinois to Missouri in 1882, and about four years later went to Greeley county, Nebraska, where he took up a homestead and engaged in farming. He eventually retired from the farm and settled at Cedar Rapids, Boone county, where he died at the age of seventy-five years, his wife having been forty years old at the time of her death, which occurred in Illinois. In conclusion is given brief record concerning |
the children. of Mr. and Mrs. Brown: James R. and his wife reside at Oshkosh, Garden county, and they have four children; Ray B., of Lewellen, is married and has two children, he served as a member of the One Hundred and-Ninth Engineers Corps in the late World War; Mrs. Pearl E. West passed away in 1910, leaving two children, one of whom, Hazel C., resides in the home of her maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Brown of this review; Frank P., who has the active management of his father's farm, as previously noted, is married and has two children; Louis E., who is now at home, likewise served with the One Hundred and Ninth Engineers in the late war, and Millard G. is the youngest member of the home circle. FRED L. MELIUS is to be ascribed pioneer honors in western Nebraska, where he did his part in connection with the social and industrial development and up-building of this now opulent and progressive part of the States. He resides with his brother, Jesse P., on one of the fine farms of Garden county, which is situated six and one-half miles northeast of Oshkosh, the county seat. Mr. Melius is still arrayed in the ranks of eligible bachelors in the county, but it may be stated that this condition of celibacy in no degree impairs his personal popularity, which is of unqualified order, Mr. Melius was born in Delaware county, Iowa, September 20, 1863, and is a son of Peter F. and Helen (Ingraham) Melius, both of whom were born and reared in the state of New York, where the father passed his entire life, his death having occurred in 1876, at which time he was forty-eight years of age. After the death of her husband, Mrs. Helen Melius came with her children to the west and established her home in Nebraska, where she was a pioneer and where she reared her two sons and one daughter, to whom her devotion was unstinted and unselfish. This gracious pioneer woman passed the closing period of her life in Garden county, where she died in 1916, at the age of seventy-seven years, the gentle evening of her life having been brightened by the filial love and solicitude of her children. Fred L. Melius was about seventeen years of age at the time he accompanied his widowed mother to Iowa, where he was reared to manhood and received the advantages of the public schools. There he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, in which he was engaged four years and by means of which he was able to provide well for his mother and the two younger children. In 1880, Mr. Melius came to Nebraska and settled in Nance county, on the Pawnee Indian reservation. There he continued his farm labors until 1888, when he took up a homestead in Box Butte county and instituted operations as a pioneer agriculturist and stock-grower. He filed on a tree claim also, and eventually perfected title to both claims, which he effectively developed and in the activities of which his brother, Jesse P., became associated as a partner. In 1916, Mr. Melius sold his property in Box Butte county, and has since resided in the home of his only brother, in Garden county, a sketch of the career of the brother being given in paragraphs that immediately follow this review. Mr. Melius has been one of the world's productive workers, and ample success has attended his efforts during the years of his residence in Nebraska. He has hewed close to the line of his chosen vocation, and thus has had no desire for political, activity or public office, though he is essentially loyal as a citizen and as a staunch supporter of the cause of the Democratic party. JESSE P. MELIUS. -- In the foregoing article is given adequate review of the family record of Mr. Melius, who is numbered among the vigorous exponents of agricultural and live-stock industry in Garden county, in which fields of industrial enterprise his initial experience was acquired through close association with his elder brother, Fred L., to whom the preceding biographical sketch is dedicated. Mr. Melius was born in Delaware county, Iowa, June 3, 1874, and was a child when he accompanied his widowed mother to Nebraska. He was about three years old at the time of the family removal to Nebraska, where he was reared to adult age and where he was afforded the advantages of the public schools that marked the pioneer days in Nance county. As the preceding article indicates, he became actively associated with his brother in the live-stock business in Box Butte county, and in 1909, he took up a tract of land in Garden county, under the provisions of the Kincaid act. He perfected his title to this land, and since that time he has acquired by purchase an entire section of land, as well as an additional quarter-section. A portion of his land he rents for farm purposes, and his special field of activity is in the raising of Poland-China hogs, in which field he has topped the Omaha market for the past two years (1918-1919). He is developing also the admirable agricultural resources of his property, and with the assistance of his wife is proving very successful also in the raising of Columbia, |
Wyandotte poultry. His home place is pleasantly situated, six and one-half miles northeast of Oshkosh; he has erected good buildings and made other modern improvements that denote his energy and progressiveness. Mr. Melius takes loyal interest in community affairs and is liberal and public-spirited as a citizen, his political allegiance being given to the Republican party. At Alliance, Box Butte county, December 20, 1905, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Melius to Miss Sadie Campbell, who was born in Kansas but reared and educated in Garden county, Nebraska, where her parents, Thomas W. and Jessie (Stonehacker) Campbell were pioneer settlers, her father being still a resident of the county and her mother having died in 1907. Mr. and Mrs. Melius have four children--Vern, Lester, Cloyd and Vernon. Mr. Melius has just completed a modem nine room home where he and his family are prepared to enjoy the fruits of their labor. WILLIAM N. CAMPBELL is another of the progressive and substantial pioneer citizens of Garden county, where he is the owner of a large and well improved landed estate and is specially well known as a successful stockgrower. William Nelson Campbell was born in Mills county, Iowa, June 20, 1871, and is a son of James W. and Julia (Pack) Campbell, both of whom were born and reared in Iowa, where their marriage was solemnized and whence they finally removed to Kansas, where the father became a prosperous farmer. Since 1917, Mr. and Mrs. James W. Campbell have maintained their home in California, where he is living retired. William Campbell was reared to manhood in his native state, and there received the advantages of the public schools of the middle-pioneer period. In 1894, at the age of twenty-two years, he came to what was then Deuel county, Nebraska, and took up a homestead near Mumper, which later was included in the present Garden county. He improved this property and utilized the same as the stage of his successful activities in the raising of horses and cattle. His good judgment was shown in his investing in more land from time to time, as circumstances and opportunity justified, and one of his purchases was what is now known as the Lost Creek Ranch, of one thousand, three hundred and eighty acres. To this he has since added until he is now the owner of about five thousand acres of the valuable land of Garden county, and he conducts large and successful operations in the raising of cattle, horses and hogs, with special attention given to Hereford cattle, Percheron horses, and Duroc hogs which he raises and feeds for market. The agricultural department of his farm enterprise likewise receives the attention that insures maximum success, and Mr. Campbell is essentially a representative factor in connection with industrial activities in Garden county. His political support is given to the Democratic party and he is affiliated with Oshkosh Lodge No. 286, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons. At Aronoque, Kansas, February 26, 1.895, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Campbell to Miss Linda J. McCabe, a daughter of James F. and Julia (McMullen) McCabe, who were born and reared in Missouri and who became early settlers in Kansas, where they still maintain their home, as venerable pioneer citizens of Aronoque. Mr. and Mrs. Campbell have four children: Myron Vaile, married Mayne Nash, May 25, 1918, at Scottsbluff, who was born 1901, at Oshkosh, Nebraska, the daughter of Eli F. and Rhoda (Hunter) Nash of Garden county, and at present lives on the home place and is associated with his father in conducting the ranch; and John Percy, Helen and Ruth remain at home, which is known for its generous hospitality and good cheer. FREDERICK A. PICKERING has been a resident of Nebraska since his boyhood and in his career has manifested in a distinct way the progressive spirit that has ever marked the history of this commonwealth. He is to be designated as one of the pioneer exponents of farm enterprise in Garden county, where he still gives his active supervision to his large and well improved ranch which is devoted to diversified agriculture and the raising of live stock. Mr. Pickering was born in Fulton county, Illinois, June 26, 1867, and is a son of A. G. and Sarah Jane (Strode) Pickering, both of whom were born in Ohio, though the latter was reared and educated in Illinois, where her marriage was solemnized. A. G. Pickering was a young man when he engaged in farming in Illinois, and in 1881, came with his family to Nebraska, the first year having been passed in Cass county. Removal was then made to Phelps county, where he continued farm activities about five years, and he then became one of the pioneer settlers in Garden county, which was at that time still a part of Cheyenne county. Here he took up and improved a homestead, to which he perfected his title, and became one of the successful agriculturists and stock-raisers of this section of the |
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