Tekamah and Vicinity, Noteworthy Men of

He worked there as a farmer boy, until eighteen years of age then took to railroading for two years. In the spring of 1852 he went to Jefferson county, Iowa, and after staying there a year crossed the plains to Oregon with the gold seekers. He worked in lumber camps and during the summer of 1854 harvested grain in the Willamette valley. That fall he left Oregon and went into California where be worked in the gold mines for two years. October 5th, 1856, he shipped on board the "Golden Gate", for New York, crossing the Isthmus of Panama he took passage on the steamer "Illinois" for New York. He reached his home in Pennsylvania in November 1856, and remained there during the winter. April 1st, 1857, he was united in marriage to Miss Sarah J. Kiester and on the ninth day of April they started for Burt county, Nebraska, arriving in Tekamah, May 3d, 1857. They purchased and made their first home on the Richard Marr farm which was later sold, when they purchased the farm southeast of Tekamah which was their home until 1884, when they removed to Tekamah, having added hundreds of acres to their landed possessions. .Mr. Spielman says when he reached Burt county there was only twenty acres of land broken in the whole county.
The advance made in transportation in this western country, since Mr. Spielman first saw it, are truly wonderful. On his trip to Oregon from Jefferson county, Iowa, the party went by wagon train, driving oxen. They were five months and four days enroute. Council Bluffs was a settlement of about twelve houses and the spot where Omaha now stands was not marked by a single habitation. In Iowa there was not a foot of railroad. When he and his wife came to Burt county the trip from St. Louis was made by steamboat up the Missouri which was swollen so that in places it reached from hill to hill.
Mr. Spielman bears the distinction of being Burt's first county treasurer. He was elected the year he arrived here and served for four years. The state was

then under territorial government and because of an error in assessment, what little tax was levied was later cancelled (sic) and a new start made. In 1862 he enlisted in the Union army and served a year on the frontier. As one of the army of brave pioneers he is now rounding out a remarkable and useful career.

AUSTIN NELSON was born on a small island on the coast of Norway, May 16th, 1826. His father sold the estate that had come down from father to son for generations and with his young wife, three sons and two daughters came to America and settled in New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1835. After some years the family moved to Detroit, Michigan, and later to Wisconsin settling there while it was still a territory. They opened up a farm sixteen miles from Milwaukee and in 1847 moved again to LaSalle county, Illinois, where the subject of this sketch completed his education at Mt. Palatine Academy. In 1852 he was united in marriage to Julia Kettleson and together they came to Burt county, Nebraska, where he engaged in farming and cattle raising. Mr. Nelson was elected from this county to the ninth and tenth sessions of the Nebraska legislature, in '73 and '75. He was also engaged for several years in the general merchandise business in this city. Failing health caused his removal to Riverside, California, in 1893 where he died December 28th, 1900. His, was a useful and well spent life.

CLARK CHILCOTT was born at Saline, Jefferson county, Iowa, March 5th, 1848, and came to Burt county with his parents in 1856. The family settled in Arizona township near what is now known as Newton. Mr. Chilcott was a resident of the city of Tekamah for eighteen years, first entering the mercantile business in partnership with Austin Nelson. Continuing thus for a few years Mr. Nelson sold out to H. H. Smith, and the firm name became Chilcott & Smith. Later Mr. Chilcott disposed of his interest to R. A.


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