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and others. It will thus be seen that he has spent few idle hours. He has in this manner proved a valuable acquisition to a section of country whose development has been so largely dependent upon the enterprise and industry of its pioneers. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Crocker includes three children, all sons. namely: Frank C., Lloyd O. and Dorr C., all at home with their parents, and aged eleven, eight and six respectively. Mr. Crocker cast his first Presidential vote for A. Lincoln, and has uniformly supported Republican principles. Although repeatedly solicited to accept office, he has steadily declined, preferring to give his attention to his farm and his family. Socially, he belongs to the Masonic fraternity, being identified with the lodge at Filley.
The father of our subject was a strong Republican in politics, and an able man, but his death unfortunately occurring in the year 1860, the large property which he owned was sold unreasonably cheap by the administrators of the estate, and his wife and children left in a comparatively destitute condition. Had the estate been disposed of according to its real value it would have left the heirs an immense fortune. There were five children in the family, of whom Barbara, John and W. H. are living, and Samuel is deceased. The mother is still living, having reached the age of seventy years. Our subject was born on the 13th of December, 1852, and was eight years old when his father died. Being the eldest son, and understanding the necessity of prompt action on his part, although a mere child he began to work out by the month, at that early age already displaying his energy and "grit." His mother married a second time, and in 1865 our subject came to Iowa with his mother and stepfather, and the family, where he engaged in breaking the prairie land until his funds became sufficient to enable him to purchase an interest in a threshing-machine. He made a fair profit on this investment, which encouraged him to continue his industry. In the year 1875 he was united in marriage, at Emerson, Mills Co., Iowa, to Miss Agnes E. Duncan, a daughter of Robert G. and Mary Duncan, who were natives of Pennsylvania and Ohio respectively. They afterward moved to Henderson County, Ill., where they remained for a number of years, and thence came to Iowa in 1870. They had two children, Thomas ,J. and Agnes E., who suffered the loss of their mother in 1874, when she was nearly sixty years old; the father still lives on his farm in Iowa. The mother had a son, John A. Barr, by a marriage previous to that with the father of Mrs. Yohe. Mrs. Yohe was born on the 10th of July, 1855, in Biggsville, Ill., where she attended the common schools, and received a fair education. After her marriage with our subject they continued to reside in Iowa until 1882, when they came to Nebraska, and made their home on their present farm. Our subject now owns 240 acres of land on sections 27 and 23, and in company with his brother, Wood, he operates 320 acres on section 34. The brothers bear an unblemished reputation as business men, and their promptness in meeting financial obligations, united with their energy and true worth, has gained for them the implicit confidence of the public, which is manifested in its having elected our subject Treasurer of the township. He has 150 head of cattle on his farm, and makes a regular business of feeding a large number, besides selling |
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OHN
YOHE, the present Treasurer of Hooker Township, is extensively engaged in farming
and stock raising on section 27. It may well be said of him that he has risen
to his present position of affluence by his own energy and perseverance, and
the exercise of excellent judgment in his business transactions. His grandfather,
Adam Yohe, came from Germany and settled in the State of Pennsylvania, and
his father, Henry Yohe, was born in 1825 or 1826, in Muffin County, Pa. His
mother, Mary (Dick) Yohe, was a native of Switzerland, who came to America
in the year 1824, and was united in marriage with the father of our subject
in 1848, after which they settled in Jefferson County, Pa. The father was engaged
in the lumbering business at Reynoldsville, and at one time was the owner of
hundreds of acres of land in his native State, which have become very valuable,
owing to the discovery of the coal fields buried beneath the surface.
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two carloads of hogs every year. He has invested a great deal of business capability in his farm work, which has insured his success to such an eminent degree. Mr. and Mrs. Yohe are caring for a family of seven bright and interesting children; their names are mentioned as follows: Harry, Arthur, Laurence, Neil, Mary, Walter, and an infant unnamed. Our subject has honorably filled the office of Treasurer ever since the organization of the township, and his integrity and interest in the welfare of the public have won for him the esteem of the whole community. He affiliates with the Republican party in politics.
Going to Jefferson County, N. Y., the father of our subject engaged in agricultural pursuits, combining with it an interest in the mercantile business. He married Miss Celinda Dexter, and they became the parents of three children, who lived to the age of maturity, one daughter and two sons. The brother went West when our subject was five years old, and soon disappeared from the knowledge of his family, having written them but one letter. This leaves our subject the only representative of his family. While in Jefferson County Nathan Jaynes was elected to fill the local township offices, and he was a member of the Masonic fraternity. The mother of our subject died in the year 1832, and the father with his family soon afterward went back to Vermont, where they lived until 1845, and then went to Winnebago County, Wis. There the father engaged in farming on a small scale, having reached the age when he was no longer able to continue his arduous labors, and spent the remainder of his days with his daughter until his death, which occurred in 1869, at the advanced age of eighty-three years. Our subject was born on the 7th of July, 1827, near Adams, Jefferson Co., N. Y., and after the death of his mother he went with his father to Vermont, where he attended the common schools. He was eighteen years old when he went to Wisconsin, and continued the pursuit of his education in the academy at Racine, after which he went to Winnebago County, and engaged in farming and mechanical business. He was also successfully engaged in the insurance business for eighteen years. After remaining in Wisconsin for thirty years, he started further west, prospecting through the Black Hills, Dak., and other mining regions, also in Colorado. In 1876 our subject came to Sicily Township and bought a fine farm of 120 acres on the Otoe Reservation, on which he made all the improvements, and remained for four years. In the place of the beautiful little city of Wymore there were only farming lands when he came here, but after remaining for four years he sold his land and moved into the new city proper. He was elected Justice of the Peace, in which capacity he served for two terms, and Police Judge for two years, at the same time carrying on the mercantile business with his son. Then he engaged in the grocery business, which he left for the insurance business. He has been in Wymore from its earliest date, and has been interested in all of its improvements. He has been connected with the building association, having put up a number of buildings himself, besides being the contractor for about twenty-five stores and good dwellings, some of which, however, were not in this city. For forty years our subject has been a member of the I. O. O. F., having joined the order in the year 1848. In 1847 he was united in marriage with Miss Almira L. Jacobs, and they have gathered around them a family of seven children, whose |
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ENRY C. JAYNES is a farmer, gardener and raiser of small fruits, having a fine farm, nearly all of which, with the exception of five acres, lies within the limits of the corporation of the city of Wymore, on section 29, Blue Springs Township. Nathan Jaynes, the father of our subject, was born in 1786, in Brimfield, Mass. The family name was spelled "Janes" until the year 1883, when at a family reunion all the descendants of Nathan Jaynes agreed to insert the letter "y" in the name, which alters it to the present mode of spelling. This gentleman received a good common school education, to which he added a course of instruction at the academy, also making a specialty of surveying, so that after finishing his term at school he was deemed competent to survey a large part of the State of Vermont.
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names are: Henry S., Orestes F., Charles L., Fremont N., Helen N., Jessie and Kittie E. Almira L. Jacobs was born on the 18th of July, 1827, in Washington County, Vt. She is a daughter of Deacon Silas Jacobs, with whom she lived until the time of her marriage, since which time she has been a faithful helpmate to her husband and a loving mother to her children. Of this family, Henry S. is the Superintendent of the Nebraska Division of the Chicago & Omaha Railroad, and is residing in Omaha; he married Miss Elma Lampher, of Kansas City, and they have three children--Herberta, Louisa and Arthur. Orestes F. is engaged in the real-estate business in Omaha, and married Miss Ella Brown, of Ticonderoga, N. Y.; they have two children--Clinton B. and Henry C. Charles married Miss Ina Drake; Fremont N. is also engaged in the real-estate business in Omaha, besides being a traveling agent for the Rust Owen Lumber Company of Wisconsin; Helen N. became the wife of J. C. Emery, of Beatrice; Jessie A. married Mr. L. Adams, and Kittie E. married Mr. Ed Winters, both of this city. Solomon Jaynes, the grandfather of our subject, was a native of Massachusetts, and afterward moved to East Calais, Vt., where he spent his latter days as a farmer. He married Miss Bula Fisk, of Massachusetts, and they were the parents of three sons and three daughters. The sons were Nathan; Henry F., who was at one time State Treasurer, and a Senator from Vermont, and Lorenzo; the daughters were Bula, Mary and Lucretia. Mrs. Bula (Fisk) Jaynes lived to the advanced age of ninety-four years; her death was caused by a fall, and took place at East Calais, Vt., that of her husband having occurred twenty years previous.
The early life of our subject was spent at hard work, and he received his education in the schools of his native place. He came to the United States in April of 1851, and for one year lived in Herkimer County, N. Y., where he worked as a hired man, and then went to Iowa County, Wis., where he worked as before on a farm until 187; he then came to this county, and settled where he now resides. At that time there was no settlement south of him, and but one log cabin where now stands the proud and rising city of Wymore. Where the beautiful Touzalin Hotel now is our subject threshed wheat in the year 1878. There were very few houses in Blue Springs, which was just beginning to rise to the dignity of a village. The land of our subject's farm is among the very best of the county; the soil is rich and tillable, prettily undulating, and therefore well adapted for stock farming, and is, moreover, well watered by the Indian Creek, which, being a living stream, is a comparatively sure source of supply. These natural advantages, which have been supplemented by the constant, arduous and intelligent labor of Mr. Jones, have made his property quite valuable, and it is certainly to be valued at not less than $50 per acre. Our subject is more interested in the moral and religious welfare of the community than the mere political. Wherever there are issues at stake he is as anxious and uses his privilege as intelligently as any citizen, but he is of those who believe it a wise thing to attend to making the citizens, especially the young who will soon enter that most desirable position, true to the higher nature and life. This explains the fact that while never anxious to seek political office, he is very energetic in all Sunday-school work, and has so continued from his youth up, and is among the most devout members of the Evangelical Association. Such men may sometimes be misunderstood, but character, intelligence and uprightness such as that of our subject |
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AVID H. JONES. Of the many instances continually presented in a new country such as Nebraska of men who have struggled upward from comparative poverty to ease of circumstance if not affluence, our subject is one, and there are few more deserving, or who more appreciate the improved condition than he. He is a resident of Wymore Township, where he owns a farm of 160 acres on section 29. He was born in South Wales upon the 10th of January, 1825, and is the son of Theophilus and Mary Jones, both of whom are deceased. He was received as a member of the Congregational Church at Trelech, Sept. 27, 1838.
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always receive the admiration and regard of the community, and to Mr. Jones are accorded heartily these sentiments, he is one of whom it is true that the better they are known the more they are esteemed.
The parents of our subject, John and Sarah (Hamm) Albright, were also natives of the Keystone State, and the father a farmer by occupation. He was born in 1818, and departed this life at his home in Polo, Ill., in 1875. The mother is still living, and now a resident of Beatrice, making her home with her son Jeremiah. She was born in Lancaster County, Pa., in 1823, and is the daughter of Daniel Hamm, who spent his last years in Pennsylvania. The family of John and Sarah Albright consisted of seven children, one daughter and six sons, who with one exception are all living, the five besides our subject and his brother Robert S. being residents of Beatrice. George H. was the second child of the family, and after emerging from the district school spent five years in the college at Carthage, Ill., from which he was graduated in 1877. He subsequently entered the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Pa., from which he was graduated in 1880. He began his ministerial labors as pastor of the church at Mt Carmel, Ill., where he officiated for a period of four years. In the spring of 1884 he came to Beatrice, this State, and organized Trinity Lutheran Church, of which he has since been pastor. This was started with seventeen members, and such has been the efficiency of the faithful pastor that the congregation now numbers seventy-six souls. There is every reason to suppose that there will be a steady increase both in the numbers and influence of this society. The marriage of Rev. George H. Albright and Miss Almira J. Acker was celebrated at the home of the bride in Polo, Ill., Nov. 4, 1880. Mrs. Albright is the daughter of Abraham B. and Sarah (Shenefelt) Acker, who were natives of Blair County, Pa. Her father is dead; the mother still resides in Polo, Ill. Of this union there have been born two daughters--Buela May and Edna. Mr. Albright is prominent in all good works, being President of the Beatrice Christian Benevolent Association, and wherever his labors or influence will avail he is ever ready to contribute them to the service of the Master. He is also member of the Board of Trustees of the Chautauqua Assembly at Crete. He has a third interest in the Wittenburg Addition to Beatrice, which comprises 160 acres of valuable land.
The year 1869 is somewhat memorable to Mr. Muller, as that in which he severed his connection with the old home and its associations, and emigrated to the New World, his heart filled with ambitious hopes and high resolves. The present success presents in fact what was then but in thought. He took passage on a Hamburg steamer, and after an ocean voyage of fifteen days landed in New York City. From this time he resided for about eighteen months on Long Island; at the end of that time he came to Otoe County, Neb., arriving in the month of April, 1871. It was not long before he obtained work as a farm hand, and soon he was en- |
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EV.
GEORGE H. ALBRIGHT, pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church at Beatrice,
was born near Martinsburg, Blair Co., Pa., Jan. 22, 1852. He continued with
his parents a resident of his native county until a lad of fifteen years, then
removed with them to the vicinity of Polo, Ogle Co., Ill.
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abled to rent land and to operate it in his own interest. "Nothing succeeds like success," and in 1880 Mr. Muller with his family came to this county, purchasing 160 acres of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad land, for which he paid at the rate of $5 per acre. Its condition was in nowise different from the surrounding unclaimed prairie, and the change that has passed over these acres, like that which has changed the aspect of his position and condition in life, is the effectual working of hidden causes, namely ambition, illustrious hopes, and intelligent effort. One of the most potent factors in the prosperity that has come to our subject is that which entered into his life from the day he was united in marriage with the lady who has since been the lode star of his life and the brightness of his home. The lady of his choice was Lena Struckmeyer, and their nuptials were celebrated in Nebraska City on the 16th of March, 1872. Miss Struckmeyer was born on the 26th of August, 1851, and is the daughter of Henry and Sophia Struckmeyer, natives of Germany. In 1871 she accompanied her brother August to this country, and they resided in Otoe County until her marriage. The happiness of the married life of Mr. and Mrs. Muller has been augmented by the birth of their six children, four of whom are living: Louisa S., who was born on the 17th of December, 1873; John F., Dec. 16. 1875; Robert, Nov. 17, 1877; Ernest, Aug. 12, 1885. August is deceased, and one child died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Muller are among the most active and devout members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and are deeply interested in Sunday-school and church work. In religious circles, and every other of society at large, there is accorded to them the highest regard of the people. Our subject is now serving his first term as School Director, and being one who greatly enjoys such work, and in fact anything that is for the upbuilding and advancement of the interests of the future citizens, their wives and mothers, his every sympathy and attention are sure to be engaged. It is not surprising, therefore, that the manner in which he discharges the duties arising from this office gives pleasure to all parties concerned. In political relations our subject affiliates with the Republican party, of which he has been a member ever since he became a citizen, and which looks upon him as one of its active supporters, tried adherents, and stanch, unwavering friends. Upon another page of this volume will be found a view of the farm of our subject, which, faithfully delineating the general features of interest, will without doubt be fully appreciated by the interested reader.
The parents of our subject emigrated to Missouri during its Territorial days, and there spent the remainder of their lives, the father dying when his son James R. was a little lad nine years of age. The family being in straightened circumstances our subject was thus early in life thrown upon his own resources, and at the age of fifteen years began in earnest the coming struggle. He managed to secure a common-school education, and was mostly employed upon a farm during the mild seasons of the year. At the age of twenty-five, in order to increase his store of learning, he employed a private teacher to instruct him evenings, and this he kept up for a period of three years. This action, so commendable, was most beneficial in its results. In July, 1865, Mr. Burks established himself at Ashland, Boone Co., Mo., and began the manufacture of wagons and plows, while at the same time dealing in all kinds of farm machinery. This business he continued there uninterruptedly for a period of sixteen years, and built up a lucrative patronage. |
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In the fall of 1879 he changed his residence to Beatrice, Neb., and the following spring established the business in which he is now engaged at this point. He carries a full line of everything pertaining to this department of agriculture, including the J. I. Case steam threshers, which are so popular among the progressive farmers of the West. The well-known reliability of Mr. Burks, his integrity, and his straightforward methods of doing business, have secured for him a large patronage throughout Southern Nebraska, where his word is considered as good as his bond. Our subject established family and domestic ties in November, 1872, when he was united in marriage with Mrs. Nettie Dozier, daughter of Jacob and Frances Strode, of Boone County, Mo. Mrs. Barks was born there in October, 1840, and is now the mother of two bright children--James H., Jr., and Mattie F. Besides these there are three children of Mrs. B. by a former marriage: Lizzie, a resident of Sedalia, Mo., and the wife of Orvis Wilcox; William, of Beatrice, and Ida, who remains at home with her mother. The family residence, a neat and tasteful structure, handsomely furnished, is situated on the corner of Fourth and Ella streets, and is the frequent resort of the most cultivated people. Mr. Burks is of that peculiar genial temperament which attaches to him hosts of friends. Politically, he affiliates with the Democratic party. He has been connected with many of the moving enterprises of Beatrice, and served four years as President of the Board of Trade. The mother of Mr. B. continued a resident of Boone County, Mo., until her death, which occurred in 1877.
The branch of the Jeffries family to which our subject owes his origin is traced to Monmouthshire, England. where his father, George Jeffries, was born and reared. The mother, Mrs. Esther (Dando) Jeffries, was born near the city of Bristol, and after marriage the parents settled in Monmouthshire, where the father engaged in mining, and where they lived until the year 1852, when they decided to seek their fortunes in the United States. Soon after setting foot on American soil they made their way to Alleghany County, Md., where the father engaged in mining, and where both parents remained until called hence. George Jeffries departed this life in June, 1883, and his estimable wife in 1864. Their family consisted of ten sons and two daughters, of whom the subject of this sketch was the sixth child. Ten lived to mature years. Gabriel Jeffries was born March 3, 1844, in Monmouthshire, England, not far from the childhood home of his father, and there received the rudiments of his early education, he was a lad nine years of age when his parents emigrated to America, and remembers many of the incidents of the ocean voyage and their arrival upon the soil of a strange land, he settled with his parents in Maryland, and remained with them until reaching his majority, assisting his father in the maintenance of the family. Upon approaching manhood he entered the coal mines of Maryland, and followed the occupation of a miner until removing to Lee County, Ill., in 1869. There he rented a farm two years, but the results not being entirely satisfactory, he crossed the Mississippi into Carroll County, Iowa, and purchased a tract of land, the soil of which he cultivated until 1881, when he sold out and came to his present home. While a resident of the Prairie State Mr. Jeffries was united in marriage with Miss Urith U. Williamson, the wedding taking place at the home of the bride in Dixon, Ill., Oct. 11, 1870. Mr. and Mrs. |
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ABRIEL JEFFRIES. This highly esteemed citizen of Glenwood Township came to this \ county in the spring of 1881, and purchased 160 acres of land on section 28, where he has since resided, and effected the improvements which have conduced to the comfort of himself and his family, and enabled him to carry on agriculture in a profitable manner. He has good buildings, a fair assortment of live stock, and the farm machinery suitable for the proper cultivation of the soil and the harvesting of his crops. An apple orchard and a goodly assortment of the finer fruits administer further to the comforts of the family, who in their home surroundings present that picture of contentment and peace which is so pleasant to contemplate and comparatively so seldom seen.
