 DAVID R. WILLIAMS.  JOSEPH W. KINNAMON |
DAVID R. WILLIAMS is a representative of one of the prominent and well known pioneer families of western Nebraska and here he has won for himself individual prestige in connection with farm industry and as a dealer in real estate, in which latter domain of enterprise he has developed a substantial business and incidentally aided in furthering the march of development in this section of the state. He is the owner of a large tract of land in Garden and Morrill counties, as well as his attractive home property in the village of Lisco, where he is a stockholder in the Farmers' Elevator Company and where also he maintains his general business headquarters. David R. Williams was born in Harrison county, Missouri, June 22, 1878, and in the same state were born his parents, George D. and Martha E. (Johnson) Williams, whose marriage was solemnized while the groom was home on a brief furlough from service as a Union soldier in the Civil War. George D. Williams was born in Harrison county, Missouri, a member of one of the old and honored families of that section, and when the Civil War was precipitated on the nation he manifested his patriotism by enlisting in the Thirteenth Missouri Cavalry, with which he served during the entire course of the great conflict between the states of the north and the south. After the surrender that brought the war to an end, it was found necessary to maintain troops for some time in repelling the uprisings of western Indians, who had taken advantage of war conditions, and thus Mr. Williams continued in service about a year, at Fort Sedgwick and at Moore's ranch, Colorado, where he aided in fighting the Indians. He then resumed the occupations of peace, and he continued as a representative of farm industry in Missouri until 1884, when he came to western Nebraska and numbered himself among the pioneers of that part of Cheyenne county that now comprises Deuel county. There be took up and eventually proved title to homestead, preëmption and tree claims, and he became a successful agriculturist, besides raising cattle and horses upon a substantial scale. He served four years as deputy sheriff of old Cheyenne county, and for three years he conducted a livery stable and business at Chappell, the present judicial center of Deuel county. In 1896 he removed to Kearney, where he engaged in the livery business, and in 1901 he removed to Julesburg, Colorado, where he continued to reside until his death, in December, 1917. His widow still resides at Julesburg, and in 1919 she celebrated the seventy-sixth anniversary of her birth. She has gained wide experience in connection with life in the west, and both she and her husband gained a host of friends during their years of residence in western Nebraska. David R. Williams has satisfaction in reverting to the fact that he attended the first school established at Chappell, the present county seat of Deuel county, and that his teacher in this pioneer school was Mrs. Onie Neil. Thereafter he continued his studies in the Kearney Military Academy, at Kearney, this state, and he was about eighteen years of age when he accompanied his parents on their removal to Julesburg, Colorado. In that state he remained variously engaged from the time he attained to his legal majority until he was twenty-eight years old, when he obtained 640 acres of land in what is now Morrill county, Nebraska; the tract being situated about nine miles northwest of the village of Lisco, having been at that time in Deuel county. He perfected his title to this land, which he still owns and upon which he has made good improvements, in consonance with the progressive spirit so definitely in evidence in this section of Nebraska. Mr. Williams now owns practically 3,000 acres of land in Garden and Morrill counties, and at Lisco he has the office headquarters of his well ordered and very successful real-estate business. Mr. Williams is found arrayed as a stanch advocate and supporter of the principles of the Republican party. He is affiliated with Logan Lodge, No. 70, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons, at Julesburg, Colorado, and his wife holds active membership in the Presbyterian church. At Kearney, Nebraska, on the 26th of April, 1905, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Williams to Miss Esther J. Ewey, of Amherst, Buffalo county, where her parents were pioneer settlers; she having been born and reared in Nebraska and having received the advantages of the schools in the city of Kearney. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have three children, whose names and respective dates of birth are here noted: Helen S., April 18, 1906; John Kenneth, June 18, 1911; Earl Palmer, February 18, 1912. JOSEPH W. KINNAMON is another of the progressive citizens who came in an early day to what is now Scotts Bluff county, then a part of Cheyenne county, and here his cumulative success has been on a parity with the remarkable development and advancement of the county during the intervening years. In 1888 he here entered claim to a homestead, near Gering, and his good judgment likewise |
led him to file also on preëmption and tree claims, the whole comprising a tract which he reclaimed from the wilds and developed into a productive and valuable farm estate. He disposed of a portion of his land, but still retains a model farm of 130 acres, worth $400.00 per acre, which he utilizes for diversified agriculture and stock-growing and which is situated one-half mile northwest of Gering. Mr. Kinnamon has been essentially one of the influential men of this locality and has achieved prosperity of a substantial order, the while he has at all times commanded unqualified popular confidence and good will. His farm has the best of irrigation facilities and is well improved in all respects. He is chairman of the company controlling the Gering irrigation ditch, and has aided in the constructior (sic) of other ditches in the county. He was one of the organizers of the Gering National Bank and continued as a stockholder and director of this representative institution. In former years Mr. Kinnamon conducted for a time a meat market at Gering, as did he also a feed and implement store. His political allegiance is given to the Democratic party. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and his religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which his wife likewise was a devout member, she having been the daughter of a clergyman of that denomination. Mr. Kinnamon was born in Clinton county, Ohio, on the 16th of March, 1861, and is a son of James and Louisa (Wherry) Kinnamon, both likewise natives of the old Buckeye state, where the father became the owner of a good farm and was an honored citizen of Clinton county. Both he and his wife passed the closing years of their lives in the state of Ohio. Of the ten children, four are living: James A. is a farmer in Illinois; Thos. W. likewise follows agricultural pursuits in that county; Harry, a half-brother, resides in Ohio; and Joseph W. is the immediate subject of this review. The father was a Democrat in politics and both he and his wife held membership in the Christian church. Joseph W. Kinnamon gained his youthful education in the public schools of Ohio and was sixteen years of age when he became a resident of Illinois. When he was twenty-four years old be came to Nebraska and established his residence in Gage county, where he remained three years. He then, in 1888, came to what is now Scotts Bluff county, where he has since maintained his home and where his success has kept pace with the growth and development of the county. In 1902 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Kinnamon to Miss Loura E. Mann, who was born and reared in this state and whose death occurred in 1917. Of the three children of this union two died in infancy, and the survivor, Joseph Carl, remains on the home farm and is attending school. ALSON J. SHUMWAY, who started in the abstract business when he came to Scottsbluff in 1905, continued in the same until he entered the National army, October 16, 1918, and went to France as a, member of an ammunition train, 77th division sector Y. M. C. A. Mr. Shumway was born at Oxford, Illinois, May 1, 1869, and is a son of G. L. Shumway, extended mention of whom will be found in this work. He first attended the country schools and later Knox College, beginning business life in the newspaper business and prior to coming to Scottsbluff was editor of a journal published at Harrisburg, Nebraska. On September 1, 1896, Mr. Shumway was united in marriage to Mrs. Jennette (McKinnon) Rosenfeldt, who was born at Muskegon, Michigan, the fifth in a family of ten children born to Hugh and Elizabeth (Mickel) McKinnon, the other survivors being: Mrs. John R. Kelley, of Harrisburg, Nebraska; Edward J., who is a farmer near Flowerfield, Nebraska; and M. M. and H. O., both of whom are residents of Scottsbluff. Mr. and Mrs. Shumway have two sons: Burgess McKinnon and Hugh S., the latter of whom, born June 19, 1906, is yet in school. The elder son was born June 19, 1898, was well educated and entered the National army for military training July 5, 1918. He remained in the training camp at Mare Island, California, until his honorable discharge, February 19, 1919. Mr. and Mrs. Shumway are members of the Christian Science church. He belongs to the Knights of Pythias and the Royal Neighbors, is a Scottish Rite Mason and both he and wife are members of the Eastern Star. Mr. Shumway is a Republican in politics. During his absence, Mrs. Shumway carried on the abstract business very efficiently. This office has the only set of abstract books in the county that have been photographed from the original records. Mrs. Shumway is of Scotch ancestry. Her people came to Muskegon, Michigan, in 1870, moved from there to Chicago, where her father was a machinist in the railway shops, and came to Nebraska in 1889 and homesteaded. Both parents died in this state. MARK SPANOGLE, financier, and lawyer, is in years of service here one of the old- |
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