residence, with its surroundings
herein given, aid greatly in perfecting the
illustrative department, as indicative of the tastes
and industry of an intelligent community.
HOMAS
WEATHERHOGG is a resident on section 3, Palmyra
Precinct. A native of Lincolnshire, England, he was
born in 1829, and is the son of John and Hannah
(Coats) Weatherhogg, of whose children six are living,
namely: Charles, Jane, Thomas, William, Henry and
George.
The father of our subject was a
farmer by occupation, and the boyhood of Thomas was
spent in his native county, where he became familiar
with the employments of rural life. Upon leaving home
he was in the employ of one man on a farm for a period
of nine years. He was married, in 1853, to Miss Mary,
daughter of Thomas and Mary Halford, who was born in
1828. Mr: H. was also a farmer by occupation, and the
parental family consisted of three children --
William, Rachel and Mary.
Mr. and Mrs. Weatherhogg lived in
England about four years after their marriage, and
became the parents of one child. In 1857 they started
for America, and after a prosperous voyage landed in
New York City, whence they proceeded soon afterward to
the vicinity of Mendota, Ill. There our subject
engaged in farming. Later, with his brothers, Charles,
William and Henry, he started to Pike's Peak, in 1863,
and there experienced the truth of the maxim that "all
is not gold that glitters." After one year spent in
fruitlessly prospecting, he turned his attention to
something more tangible, and paying an exorbitant
price for a team of oxen, began freighting. Later he
returned to Illinois, and remained there until coming
to Nebraska in the fall of 1865.
Mrs. Weatherhogg is deceased. Their
only child, a daughter Anna, became the wife of George
Halley, and is now living at Long Pine, in Brown
County, Ill. Mr. H. is a farmer by occcupation (sic),
and they have one child, a daughter Lilly.
Upon coming to Nebraska Mr.
Weatherhogg settled upon 160 acres of land in Palmyra
Precinct, and put up a small house, paying for the
lumber at the rate of $40 per thousand. Here he lived
by himself, his daughter Anna having taken up her
abode with his brother Charles, where she lived until
eighteen years of age. She then came home to her
father. Our subject in 1869 contracted a second
marriage, with Mrs. Harriet (Smith) Longstreet, widow
of the late Henry Longstreet. Mrs. Weatherhogg was
born in Chautauqua County, N. Y., and went with her
parents to Michigan. There she was first married and
lived until after the war, when she came to Nebraska
with relatives and took up a tract of land in Palmyra
Precinct. Of this union there have been born four
children, all sons--Frank, John, George and
Frederick.
Mr. Weatherhogg, politically, is
independent, and has never had any aspiration for
office. He has fought the grasshopper plague
successfully, and has now a comfortable homestead in
the midst of fruit and shade trees, including an apple
orchard and a quantity of grape vines, and has a grove
of cottonwood, ash and honey locust trees. His fields
are laid off with neatly trimmed hedge fences, and his
home forms in exceedingly pleasant picture of country
life.
-
OBERT
T. McPHERSON may be placed among the substantial,
well-to-do citizens of Russell Precinct, and operates
successfully from a financial standpoint eighty acres
of excellent farming land on section 6. Joseph
McPherson, the father of our subject, was born in
Scotland, He came to this country a young man and
began farming in Pennsylvania, and he was the owner of
200 acres in that State and there died in 1856. The
maiden name of his wife, the mother of our subject,
whom he met and married in the State of his adoption,
was Miss Anna Barr, who was born and brought up in
Pennsylvania. The maternal side of the family
represents a French ancestry. Grandfather Barr was in
the War of 1812, and was one of the children born in
this country, although of French parents. The mother
of our subject is still living, and is sixty years of
age. She was the mother of six children, of