Nebraska Territorial Pioneers' Association

REV. HENRY SIMMONS
Territorial Pioneer of Lancaster County Nebraska

SIMMONS FAMILY

By Lorenzo Albert Simmons, Lincoln, Nebraska

   REV. HENRY SIMMONS was one of the pioneers of Lancaster County, Nebraska. His father, Lorenzo Simmons. an iron worker and manufacturer by trade, was born at Fort Ann, New York, on April 5. 1791, and died at Adamsville Michigan, in October 1854. He was a cousin of the well known Daniel Simmons, the iron and tool maker of Cahoes, New York.
   About the year 1817 Lorenzo Simmons married Miss Anna Gale, who was a native of Pennsylvania, her parents settling in Licking County, Ohio, in a very early day. Mr. and Mrs. Simmons resided in Ohio for several years after their marriage, and here all their children were born. They emigrated to Cass County, Michigan, where Mrs. Simmons died in 1845. Mr. Simmons subsequently took up his abode in Barrien County, Michigan, where he died in 1854.
   The children of Lorenzo and Anna Simmons, eight in number, included five sons and three daughters. Henry Simmons was born in Licking County, Ohio, May 3, 1818, and spent his chlidhood (sic) and youth amid the quiet scenes of country life, mostly on his father's farm, while he was also engaged in the Marion Iron Works, at Marion, Ohio.
   When twenty years of age, he started out in life for himself, engaging first as a teacher, but later took up the cooper trade, which he followed for a period of five years. After this, he engaged in farming, which, with carpentering, was his chief occupation up to the time of his death.
   Mr. Simmons was married in Licking County, Ohio, on Setember (sic) 16, 1838, to one of the most estimable young ladies of that region, Miss Catherine Walker, who was born in Muskingum County, Ohio, on the 13th day of June. 1821, and whose parents James and Rachel Walker, were natives of Pennsylvania, who spent their last years in Ohio.
   To this union was born twelve children. namely, Mary Ann, who married James M. Bracken of Lincoln. Nebr.; John David, Amos, Emily, James Cyrus, Caroline, who married William Bennett Wilterdink; Annis Rosette, Lorenzo Albert, Levi, Warren and Laura Susan. Of the above children, Rachel, Emily and James Cyrus died in their childhood. John David was married in 1862 to Caroline Howe and died October 8, 1874.
   Mr. Simmons left the Buckeye State in 1854, and crossing the Mississippi took up his residence in Story County, Iowa, where he resided until 1862, engaged in farmnig (sic). In the fall of

1862 he moved to Lancaster County, Nebraska. Its natural resources and possibilities, which even at that time presented themselves to his practical eye, commended it to him as a place where it would be wise to locate, and here he accordingly pitched his tent and remained. He worked his way up from a modest beginning, purchasing first 160 acres of land. At the time of his death he was the owner of 530 acres in Grant and Yankee Hill precincts, adjoining the village of Saltillo.
   One of the admirable features of the labors of Mr. Simmons in this locality, was his setting out of a large number of shade trees, which attracted the attention of every traveler passing through this region, and which added thousands of dollars to the value of his property. In the midst of these trees he erected a subtsantial (sic) stone house, and in time there sprung up about it the out-buildings and conveniences which contributed to the comfort of the family and facilitated his farming operations. The matter of tree planting was one which engaged the attention of a large class of intelligent people of Lancaster County, and the man who thus beautified a prairie landscape was worthy of more than mere mention.
   It is hardly neressary (sic) to say that Mr. Simmons was soon recognized as a man fitted both by nature and acquirements to be a leader in his community, and he was soon elected to the office of Justice of the Peace, which he held for a period of over twenty years in succession. He always took an active part in educational matters, and served on the School Board of his district from the time of its organization until the time of his death.
   Politically, he supported the principles of the Democratic party. He was a life long member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in the pulpit of which he labored as a minister before leaving Ohio and settling in Iowa. He also filled vacancies in the pulpit while residing in Lancaster County, but on account of ill health was able to preach but very little.
   After a congenial union of forty-nine years, Mrs. Simmons passed away at her home at Satillo (sic), Nebraska, on the 15th day of September, 1887. She was a woman possessing all the womanly virtues, and fulfilled in a most admirable manner her duties as a pioneer's wife and mother, standing bravely by the side of her husband as he battled with the elements of a new soil and sought to build up a comfortable home in a new country and among strange people.
   Mr. Simmons died April 2, 1889, at his home in Lancaster county, and was laid to rest by the side of his wife in the Simmons cemetery, which is located about one mile north and one mile east of the station of Satillo (sic), Nebraska. The plot of ground comprising this cemetery was originally land owned by Mr. Simmons. When his son, John, died on October 8, 1874, he requested his father to bury him on a lonesome stretch of prairie 13

owned by Mr. Simmons and situated about a mile from his house, John Simmons did not long sleep alone on that lonesome prairie, for soon others came to know the place as a burying ground for their loved ones, and Mr. Simmons finally set aside a portion of the prairie to be used as a cemetery. It has since been laid out in lots, surrounded by a strong fence with locked gates, and is today known as "Simmons Cemetery."

   LORENZO ALBERT SIMMONS was born May 22, 1857, in Story County, Iowa, on a farm adjoining the Iowa State Agricultural College farm. He was the ninth child of Henry and Catherine Simmons. His autobiography follows:
   I came to Nebraska with my parents in September 1862, when I was five years old. The first few weeks the family lived a short distance east of Nebraska City on the old Pike's Peak Trail, and it was while we were living here that the "steam wagon" as it was called, was started out of the city to be utilized as motive power to pull the prairie schooners across the plains. The steam wagon was built similar to the traction engines of later days, but was not a success for the purpose built, as I well remember that they succeeded in getting out of Nebraska City only as far as the house where we lived. After going this short distance it was found necessary to discontinue the trip and the "steam wagon" was left for many years where they abandoned it. I have very good reason to remember this trial trip of the "steam wagon". They had run out of water and were coming to our place to replenish their supply. I was just going over the hill to see them as they started back, and when I saw them coming toward me I was so frightened that I ran for the house and jumped through a window, glass and all.
   We moved from this place to Wilson Creek, twelve miles west of Nebraska City, and wintered there. The following spring we moved to Saltillo, Lancaster County, about fifty miles west of Nebraska City on the Overland Trail, where father had purchased 160 acres of timbered land near his homestead.
   We were compelled a number of times to move east toward the river on account of the Indian raids through the South Platte country, and it was on one of these trips that my youngest sister was born, at Wyoming, a boat landing six or seven miles north of Nebraska City, and my mother was brought back to Salt Creek, fifty miles in a lumer (sic) wagon, when the child was only four days old.
   During the earlier days the only trading point was Nebraska City. fifty miles east of us. In 1868 the city of Lincoln was located, the capital of the new State of Nebraka (sic) was located

here, and Lincoln soon became a town of importance. In 1869 the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad was built into Lincoln; and in 1870 the Midland Pacific was built from Nebraska City to Lincoln. It was on this line that I had my first car ride; the Company giving a free excursion from Lincoln to Nebraska City. The cars used for this excursion were flat cars. with ties placed-cross-ways on them for seats, except the rear car, which was a coach occupied by the Governor and railroad officials. Several amusing incidents occurred on this novel trip; one of which happened to a well dressed man on our car. He wore a "plug" hat, and as the wind was blowing quite hard, his hat blew off and happened to alight near a farmer who was working in a field close by the track. Mr. Farmer picked up the hat, put it on his head, made a bow to the train and resumed his work. On reaching the city on the Big Muddy, a free dinner was served the excursionists by the citizens, and an excursion was taken on the Missouri River by steamboat, after which the train went back to Lincoln. In the early days of settlement in this country the educational facilities were very limited, and only two or three months of winter school were taught at some private house, and what education we received was by the closest attention to books when the opportunity presented itself. The summer months were occupied by herding cattle on the prairies until I was seventeen years old. I was then put to work on the farm. I saw a railroad train for the first time when I was eleven years of age. That was at the village of Lincoln, when the Burlington built from Plattsmouth to Lincoln. At the age of twenty I left home and started in life for myself. I did considerable running around, as most young men will when they start out, without strings tied to them. On the 17th day of December, 1878, I left Saltillo on horse-back for Smith County, Kansas, where a certain young lady lived in whom I was interested. A Nebraska blizzard commenced the second day I was on the road. The snow blew about so much that you could not see more than a hundred feet, but I pushed on and reached my destination without serious consequences. Here, on the thirtieth day of January, 1879, at the residence of Arthur B. Porter. in Smith County, Kansas, I was married to Miss Margaret Ann Porter, a great-grand daughter of Amos Porter, one of the original forty-nine settlers of the Northwest, at Marrietta, Ohio, in 1788, and the daughter of Arthur B. and Margaret (Hill) Porter.
During this winter, Mr. Porter and myself went into the Western part of Nebraska and took homesteads; he locating in Red Willow County, and I in Furnas County, six miles east of Beaver City. Here we moved in April 1879 and built a sod house 15

on our homestead. I broke out a few acres of sod, put in a little sod corn, and at harvest time we drove in a covered wagon back to Lancaster County, where I worked in the harvest field during that season, making enough to keep us the following winter in our new home. We returned to Furnas County in September. Not a drop of rain fell in that section of the State that year; and of course nothing was raised, so we were left with only a small supply of provisions to last through the winter.
   On the thirteenth of April, 1880, our oldest son, Henry Arthur, was born, and we remained on the homestead until June. As we had not yet had rain, we concluded that we had better hunt for a more favorable location; accordingly we loaded up and came back to Lancaster County. We located at Raymond, then a village only a few months old, and I started the first meat market that the village ever had. I operated this for a few months, then sold out and moved to Saltillo, where I worked for a grain and stock buyer for three years.
   While living at Saltillo, our oldest daughter, Maud Annis was born, on April 5, 1882. My wife was apointed (sic) postmistress at this place, and I contracted a star mail route running from Saltillo to De Witt.
   We remained at Saltillo until the autumn of 1883, when I sold out and went to the new town of Cortland. When it was located, in February 1884, the U. P. R. R. had just been built from Lincoln to Beatrice, and Cortland was about half way between Lincoln and Beatrice, and was expected to make quite a town. Here I worked at contracting and carpenter work for two years; building and selling a number of residences. Late in the fall of 1885, after the Cleveland administration had been organized, I was appointed Postmaster at Cortland, which position I held for four years. During this official period I was elected as a delegate to the postmasters' convention at Chicago, which I attended. I was also elected as president of the Nebraska Postmasters' association during this term.
   In 1887, while postmaster at Cortland, I arranged the first political debate which W. J. Bryan had. It was on the tariff question; and was between W. J. Bryan and C. O. Wheedon of Lincoln. The debate is held in the German Hall at Cortland. and the crowd was so large that all could not get into the building. Although it was October, a number of spectators stood at the open window and listened from the outside. Mr. Bryan came out of the debate with flying colors, and from that time on his political fame spread to its present proportions.
   I was chairman of this meeting, and I claim the honor of introducing Mr. Bryan to his first audience in a political debate.
   In 1896 when Mr. Bryan was a candidate for president, he went out of his way to make a speech at Cortland, saying that 16

Cortland was where he had his start in political life, and he could not pass it by in his campaign for the highest office in the gift of the people. The citizens of Cortland, regardless of political affiliations, turned out to greet him, and after the meeting tendered him a banquet at the Odd Fellows Opera House.
   At the close of the Cleveland administration, I resigned as postmaster and engaged in general merchandise business at Cortland. This was during the hard, dry years of the later eighties, and did not prove successful. I then went to work as night operator at Cortland for the Union Pacific Railroad. This I followed for a year, and was then sent as agent to Princeton. I held this position until Mr. Cleveland was again elected, when, at the request of the patrons of the Cortland office, I was again appointed postmaster there. I served through this administration, and in 1896 when Mr. MciKnley (sic) was elected, I again resigned.
   On July 4, 1898, I was again appointed agent for U. P. R. R. at Princeton, Nebraska, which position I held until June 15, 1900, when I was transferred to Raymond, Nebraska, in the same capacity and where I remained until July, 1915.
   During my residence at Cortland, in Gage County, I was nominated by the democratic party as a candidate for the legislature, but on account of the very large republican majority, was defeated. I was elected treasurer of the high school at Cortland, and served two years, and was a member of the village board of trustees at Cortland for two years. After going to Raymond, I was nominated by the democrats as a legislatvie (sic) candidate in 1908, and in this republican stronghold was beaten by only a few hundred votes. Again in 1911, while I was attending the Head Camp of M. W. A. at Buffalo, New York, as a delegate, I was placed upon my party's ticket for county sheriff, and again came very near being elected, but on account of political prejudice was defeated, but I was elected sheriff of Lancaster county in 1916, and served one term.
   I have been a member of the Territorial Pioneers for several years and served a term as president of the association.
   I have written a genealogy of the Simmons family, tracing it back to the landing of the Pilgrims, from which the following is taken:

HENRY SIMMONS -- Born May 3, 1818, died April 2, 1889. Married in Ohio, Sept. 16, 1838, at 11.00 A. M. by the Rev. Smoker to
CATHERINE WALKER -- Born June 13, 1821; died Sept. 15. 1887.

THEIR CHILDREN

Name	Date of Birth	Date of Death
Mary Ann	Nov. 22, 1839
John David	May 26, 1841	Oct. 8, 1874
Rachel	Apr. 2, 1843	Nov. 20, 1845
Amos	Apr. 23, 1846
Emily	Jan. 24, 1848	Feb. 4, 1851
James Cyrus	Mar. 18, 1850	Sept. 17, 1850
Caroline	Aug. , 1852
Annis Rosette	Oct. 5, 1854
Lorenzo Albert	May 22, 1857
Levi	Dec. 6, 1859
Warren	Jan. 23, 1862
Laura Susan	Sept. 8, 1864	Aug. 7, 1910
Harriett Alice Wells	(Adopted) Dec. 17, 1878

LORENZO ALBERT SIMMONS -- Born May 22, 1857: married in Smith County, Kansas, January 30, 1879, to
MARGARET ANN PORTER -- Born May 8, 1860.

THEIR CHILDREN

Name	Date of Birth
Henry Arthur	April 13, 1880
Maude Annis	April 5, 1882
Nellie Agnes	May 10, 1884
Guy Amos	August 21, 1886
Claude Alfred	December 22, 1888
Lloyd Albert	August 30, 1891
Leola Ariel	May 4, 1894
Mabel Amanda	May 11, 1901
Rolland Allen	September 20, 1903