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studies that he secured a very good education. When his term of schooling was concluded he engaged in the profession of teaching, which he followed for five winters, alternating the arduous duties of the school-room with the free and independent life on a farm during the summer. In 1872 he went to Lowell and served as watchman in one of the large cotton mills of that manufacturing city, retaining his position for one year, whence in 1874 he came to Nebraska. He had a sufficient amount of money to enable him to purchase forty acres of land in this county, and with a yoke of oxen he broke the sod, prepared it for cultivation, erected a primitive style "shanty," and established himself in his "bachelor's hall." By unceasing industry and due economy our subject prospered and accumulated quite a competence, which enabled him in the fall of 1881 to settle where he now resides. He owns 160 acres of splendid farming land adjoining the city of Beatrice, which is valued very highly, and for which he has been offered $150 per acre. He has erected a neat and commodious dwelling and a good set of farm buildings, and in various ways has he improved the laud and added to its attractiveness. A view of his place may be seen on another page of this ALBUM. But such a pleasant home could not be graced alone by the owner, and in the same year that he established himself in his new home he brought his charming bride to share the comforts with him. The lady was Miss Rebecca Murgatroyd, who was born in Wisconsin on the 3d of April, 1857, and is a daughter of Emanuel and Ellen (Newson) Murgatroyd, of Beatrice. Two children, named May Ellen and Charlie now bless the home of our subject and his wife. To Mr. and Mrs. Murgatroyd there were born ten children, five of whom are living: Thomas, in Dakota; Margaret, now Mrs. Middleton, of Gage County; Mrs. Higgins; Ann, now Mrs. Eccleston, of Saunders County, Neb., and Mary, at home with her parents in Beatrice. While our subject gives close attention to the work on his fine farm, and combines with his agricultural pursuits the raising of stock and good horses, he yet has time to devote to the service of the public, and assumes a share of the labors tending to the public improvement. He has acted in the capacity of School Director, and in various ways has manifested his interest in the advancement of education and morality. He does not care to identify himself with any political party, but supports the men whom he thinks best qualified to fill public offices, irrespective of party. All his wealth has been accumulated by his own energy and good management, aided by the inspiring presence and kind advice of his wife, and among men he is known to possess an unblemished reputation.
After the death of his father James was taken by his mother to Kentucky, and after the death of the latter the six children went to Peoria County, Ill. James there made his home with an aunt, Mrs. Hannah Gordon, with whom he remained until a lad of eight years. After the marriage of his oldest sister he made his home with her until the outbreak of the Rebellion. Mr. Bush, on the 8th of August, 1862, enlisted in Company E, 112th Illinois Infantry, which was assigned to the Army of the Ohio. The following winter the regiment operated in Kentucky, and in the summer of 1863 assisted in driving the Morgan raiders from the soil of Kentucky and Ohio. Later they were with Gen. Saunders on his raid in Tennessee. On the 21st of August, 1863, the regiment to which our subject was attached was assigned to the command of Gen. Burnside, and started on the campaign in Eastern Tennessee. They subsequently participated in the battles of Knoxville, Athens, Philadelphia, Dandridge and Bean's Station. They wintered in Tennessee, and on the |
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AMES
E. BUSH. junior member of the law firm of Pemberton & Bush, at Beatrice,
was born in the city of Rockville, Ind., June 1, 1845. His father. David Bush,
a stonemason by trade, was a native of New York, served as a soldier in the
Mexican War, and died in the service, when our subject was a child two years
of age. His mother, Roxalana (Minter) Bush, was born in Kentucky, and passed
away the year following the decease of her husband. Thus six children, four
sons and two daughters, were orphaned. Of these our subject was the youngest.
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1st of May, 1864, joined Sherman in the Atlanta campaign, and were present at the battle of Resaca, the siege of Atlanta, the engagements at Etowah, Jonesboro and Kenesaw Mountain. The rebels retreated from Atlanta, the keystone city of the Confederacy, and the Union lines were advanced into the rebel country 200 miles, the Confederate armies contesting every foot of ground as they retired before the advance of the Union troops. The Atlanta campaign lasted from the 1st of May to the 1st of August, 1864, when Sherman marched his army into the city. In the battles which followed, and which need not be recapitulated here, being matters of history, Mr. Bush did valiant service with his comrades, enduring the hardships and privations incident to the soldier's life, the action of the field, the hurried marches, and all the other vicissitudes of warfare. After the battles of Franklin and Nashville, which ended the war in the West, the 112th Regiment was sent first to Washington City and then to Ft. Fisher, on the coast of North Carolina. In the spring of 1865 it rejoined the army of Gen. Sherman at Goldsboro, N. C. Soon after this followed the surrender of Johnston's army. Mr. Bush having received his honorable discharge, was mustered out at Chicago in July, 1865. Our subject, after being transformed from a soldier into a civilian, made his way to Stark County, Ill., and thereafter engaged in farming, also attending school two years. In November, 1872, be entered upon the study of law in the office of Miles A. Fuller, of Toulon, Ill., and after having passed his examination in the Supreme Court at Mt. Vernon, Ill., was admitted to the bar June 5, 1875. He commenced the practice of his profession at Bradford, Ill., where he continued until the 6th of May, 1880. Mr. Bush came to Beatrice in May of the year mentioned, and associating himself with J. N. Rickards, entered upon the practice of his profession here. The partnership was dissolved in 1884, and in 1886 Mr. Bush became associated with his present partner. Mr. L. M. Pemberton. They are now numbered among the leading attorneys of the city, and are in the enjoyment of a lucrative and steadily increasing business. They have a complete library, and keep themselves posted upon the points which are constantly arising in relation to the duties of their culling The marriage of James E. Bush and Miss Anna E. Dyer, of Toulon, Ill., was celebrated in November, 1867, Mrs. Bush was born in Genesee County, N. Y., April 21, 1846, and is the daughter of Lemon and Philena Dyer, who were natives of New York. Mr. and Mrs. Bush are the parents of eight children two sons and six daughters, namely: Bertha E., Charles, Dora E., Harold D., Maude C., Lena Roxie, Mina Belle and Gladys. Mr. Bush, politically, is Republican, and is a member in good standing of Rawlins Post No. 36, G. A. R., at Beatrice, Neb.
John Burch, the father of our subject, was born in Woodstock, Vt., on the 12th of July, 1800. When he was six years old his parents left Vermont and moved to the Shoot, fifty miles north of Montreal, Canada. He received a common-school education, after which he engaged in farming near London, Canada, and there lived for fifteen years. Then he moved to Port Stanley and remained until about 1837, engaged in farming, but selling this land he settled near Rockford, Winnebago Co., Ill,, and there improved in extensive farm, He also engaged very largely in raising live stock, horses and grain being quite successful. In the fall of 1857 he went to Fayette, Iowa, where he engaged in the drug business until the time of his death, in 1864. While in Illinois the father of our subject was Justice of the Peace for about ten years and was |
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ENJAMIN
BURCH is one of the most prominent business men of Nebraska, being extensively
interested in the banking and real estate business. He is the owner of town
lots and improved property in Wymore; three quarter-sections of land in Frontier
County, Neb; one section in Rush County, near the county seat, La Crosse; one-half
section in Sherman County, Kan. He also has number of fine brick business blocks
in Creston Iowa; also some real estate in Lincoln, Neb. The land in Frontier
County is under cultivation.
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quite a leading man in his day. He and his wife were prominent and consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, he usually acting as Class-Leader and Steward of the church of which he was a member, and also being identified with the Sunday-school. For a long time he served faithfully as Superintendent of the Sunday-school, until his advancing age obliged him to discontinue his arduous labors. He was married to Miss Lydia Hogabome in the year 1819, and to them came eight children, all of whom lived until the years of maturity, and with but one exception are still living. One of the brothers and one sister of our subject are living in Nebraska. The mother of our subject was born in Saratoga, N. Y., in 1797, and when she was ten years old her parents moved to Canada, where she remained with her father until the time of her marriage. While moving from New York to Canada, in the year 1808, it very unfortunately happened that during their journey across Lake Champlain the team carrying the family broke through the ice, and her mother and brother drowned, it being a very sad death, and a great bereavement to her family. Mrs. Burch died in 1863, one year before the death of her husband, which occurred in 1864. Benjamin Burch, the grandfather of our subject, was born in the New England States, and for a long time he was engaged in milling in Vermont until going to Canada, where he engaged in agriculture. He married Miss Strong, and they had a family of thirteen children. Benjamin Burch, our subject, was born on the 17th of April, 1821, in London, Canada, where he remained until he was thirteen years old, attending school, and then moved with his parents to Port Stanley during the Canada Rebellion, when he was but sixteen years old, he was obliged to leave the country or be drafted into the army, whose cause he did not espouse. Being but a mere boy he did not sympathize with the cause of war, and in order to escape from unpleasant duties he went to Port Huron, Mich., where he engaged in a lumber establishment, and when eighteen years old he went with his parents to Rockford, Ill. There he remained with his father until he was twenty-one years old, when he began to work for himself, and immediately choosing the occupation of farming, he continued at that work in Illinois until 1850, when he sold and moved to Niagara County, N. Y. There he engaged in the same business for five years, and then selling his land he again turned his face toward the setting sun, and bought an extensive stock, dairy and wheat farm in Fayette County, Iowa. This enterprise of our subject proved to be a very successful one, increasing the amount of real estate which he owned by the purchase of property in town. By the year 1865 he was amply able to begin in the mercantile business in Fayette, where he carried a stock of general merchandise. In this business he was financially successful, and in 1869 he took a railroad contract to build seventy-five miles of the Davenport & St. Paul (now called Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul) Railroad, beginning at Edgewood, in Clayton County, extending through Fayette and Winneshiek Counties to Cresco, Howard County. At the same time he was engaged in the mercantile business in Fayette and Strawberry Point. The contract into which our subject had entered with the railroad company was finished in 1873, but about that time the company became insolvent, and our subject had to get a mechanic's lien on the railroad. This Mr. Burch carried to the courts, first with the stockholders, and then with the bondholders, taking the latter to the highest courts in the United States. This incident serves as an indication to the character and ability, as well as the financial means of our subject, being able to fight to the conquering end a large railroad corporation for his rights. This same principle through life has brought Mr. Burch to his present position of affluence, and won for him the esteem of the citizens of his town and the neighboring cities. His interest in the railroad was sold by our subject to the present owners. In 1874 he moved to Clay Center, Kan. In the last-named place our subject engaged in farming and the mercantile business until 1877. when he moved to Creston, Iowa, and engaged in the grocery business. While in Creston he carried on an extensive real-estate business. In the year 1882 he came to Wymore when it was only six months old, and has since been established here, he |
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