315six years. In 1880 he became a resident of Kearney, Nebraska, but subsequently removed to Minden, this state, where his death occurred at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Lewis A. Kent, on the 5th of February, 1902, at the age of ninety-three years. His wife died in Kearney on the 7th of January, 1892. At the age of nine years he became a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and from that time until his death sought to conform his life to its teachings. He was active in its work and was a prominent member of the various congregations with which he was identified. He was also prominently connected with the Kearney National Bank.
One of his sons, R. E. Barney, was closely identified with the early history of Kearney and Buffalo county. He came to Nebraska in 1868 and first located at Lowell, fifteen miles southeast of Kearney, but in 1870 removed to the latter city at the time when so many of the residents of Lowell settled in Kearney. At that time he moved his livery barn to the new town and was engaged in business there along that line until 1882, when he became one of the original stockholders of the Kearney Canal Company. About the same time he located upon a ranch nine miles west of Kearney, at the edge of the Platte valley, and his property afterward became known as the Empire ranch. For ten years he devoted his attention practically to the raising of horses on an extensive scale but at the end of that time sold out and removed with his family to Everett, Washington. His present home, however, is at Riverside, California. From 1877 to 1880 he, together with his father and brother, Calvin E. Barney, shipped many carloads of horses into Kearney, where they were sold to the early settlers of the surrounding country. At one time he was quite well-to-do and his ranch sold for over one hundred thousand dollars, but during the financial depression between the years 1890 and 1900 he lost heavily as at that time the bicycle industry had a depressing effect on the horse business and he lost nearly everything he possessed. He is a Mason of high degree and during the Civil war served in the same regiment as his brother, Calvin E.
On the 2ist of June, 1859, at Olney, Illinois, Calvin E. Barney was united in carriage to Miss Eliza A. Morrison, and for a time they made their home at Metamora, Illinois, where Mr. Barney studied law. It was there that he met and became personally acquainted with Abraham Lincoln when the latter was engaged in the practice of law at the county seat of Woodford county. In 1861 Mr. Barney became a resident of El Paso, Illinois, where he practiced law and look an active part in politics. The country having become engaged in civil war, he enlisted in the One Hundred and Eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, which regiment he was largely instrumental in raising, and he served as a member of the hospital corps until the close of hostilities. Disabilities and disease contracted during the war interfered with his resumption of the practice of law and after his return from the front he became connected with the railway mail service. In 1872 he removed to Pekin, Illinois, where he made his home until 1877 and for the following three years was a resident of Roanoke, that state. It was in the fall of 1880 that he came to Buffalo county, Nebraska, and located in Kearney but subsequently lived on a ranch in Custer county from 1881 to 1888. In the latter year he succeeded a son at Elm Creek and was engaged in mercantile business there until 1890, when he returned to Kearney and lived retired. Since the death of his wife, which occurred at Ashland, Oregon, on the 10th
316HISTORY OF BUFFALO COUNTY of October, 1913, he has spent the winters in California and Redondo might be called his present home. .
Finis M. Barney accompanied his parents on their various removals during his boyhood and is indebted to the public schools of El Paso, Pekin and Roanoke, Illinois, and Kearney, Nebraska, for the early educational privileges he enjoyed. He continued to attend school from the age of five years until 1881 and thus received a good practical education. He was sixteen at the time he accompanied his parents on their removal to Nebraska and for several years remained on the ranch in Pleasant Valley in the southeast corner of Custer county. Leaving the parental roof at the age of twenty years, he worked for a short time at the carpenter's trade and later clerked in Kearney and Shelton. In 1886 he removed to Elm Creek, where he clerked for his brother and father for about three years. In 1889 he homesteaded in Custer county under the preemption act but resumed work at the carpenter's trade in Kearney in 1891, for one year. It was in 1892 that he decided to make the jewelry business his life work and entered into partnership with Louis Hoefer, and the following year, dissolving partnership, he moved the stock from Kearney to Elm Creek. In 1901 Mr. Barney graduated in optometry and is now doing an excellent business as a jeweler and optician. He is an ardent student of the sciences, particularly electrical, keeping fully posted along such lines, and is a skilled mechanician, having taken out several patents on machinery, as he is of an ingenious turn of mind. He has written a number of scientific papers. He is also a lover of nature and has taken up the art of photography as a means of recreation and has become very proficient in the same. He has an especially fine collection of views of Buffalo county and the views of Elm Creek which appear in this history were taken by him.
Mr. Barney is a republican in his political allegiance and discharges to the full all duties of citizenship but has never sought office. His religious faith is that of the Methodist church. During the thirty years that he has resided in Buffalo county he has gained many warm friends who esteem him highly for his many admirable qualities.
CHARLES MINER.
PortraitCharles Miner, who is now engaged in the real estate business in Ravenna, was for eighteen years postmaster and is probably known to more people in the county than any other man in his community. He was born in Jefferson county, Ohio, on the 15th of August, 1848, a son of John W. and Rebecca (Dudgeon) Miner, natives of Ohio. The father, who was a farmer, cultivated land which he owned in Jefferson county, Ohio, for many years, but at length went to Wisconsin, where he resided until 1867. In that year he removed to Butler county, Iowa, locating upon a farm near Shellrock, where he lived during his remaining days. He passed away in April, 1879, and was survived for many years by his wife, who died in May, 1908.
Charles Miner was reared at home and received his education in Wisconsin, as he was but six years of age when the family removed to that state. He accompanied his parents to Iowa and on beginning his independent career turned
319HISTORY OF BUFFALO COUNTY his attention to teaching, which profession he followed for eighteen terms in Butler county. He taught both winter and summer schools and was ranked among the ablest teachers of that part of Iowa. In the spring of 1884 he came to Nebraska and after living for about five months in Kearney, during which time he investigated the advantages of various parts of this district, he decided to locate permanently in Garfield township and homesteaded the southwest quarter of section 20, near the present location of the town of South Ravenna. After living upon that place for two years he entered the employ of F. G. Hamer, now one of the judges of the Nebraska supreme court, as manager of the Hamer ranch, which was located one mile south of Ravenna. At that time as many as three hundred head of cattle and horses were kept upon the ranch and its management required a man of energy and business acumen. Mr. Miner was very successful in that connection and remained upon the ranch until 1896, when he purchased four hundred and eighty acres of land two miles southwest of Ravenna, where he made his home until 1897, when he was appointed postmaster of Ravenna by President McKinley and removed to town to assume the duties of his office. He served in that capacity for eighteen consecutive years, his long retention in the position proving beyond doubt his efficiency and conscientiousness as an official. He not only performed his work systematically and accurately but was also courteous in all of his dealings with the public, and held the goodwill of the community. Since his retirement from the office he has engaged in the real estate and insurance business and has met with a gratifying measure of success in that field. He also has other business interests, as he is a stockholder in the State Bank of Ravenna and is president of the Ravenna Telephone Company.
Mr. Miner was married on the 11th of September, 1875; at Faribault, Minnesota, to Miss Alice Green, a daughter of William M. and Ellen F. (West) Green, natives respectively of Massachusetts and Wisconsin. The father, who was a carpenter and millwright by trade, removed to Minnesota in the early '50s and followed his trade there until 1861, when he enlisted for service in the Civil war, joining a Minnesota regiment. He was at the front for four years and made a record of which he has just cause to be proud. After the close of the war he returned home and continued to work at his trade until called by death in June, 1896. His wife died on the 15th of March, 1871. To Mr. and Mrs. Miner have been born three children: Grace M., whose birth occurred in May, 1880, and who is now the wife of E. A. Hollingshead, a resident of Ravenna; Edward, who was born in March, 1883, and is now engaged in the automobile business in Spokane, Washington; and Clara, whose birth occurred in 1887 and who died on the 22d of August of the following year.
Mr Miner has supported the republican party since age conferred upon him the right of franchise and has long been recognized as one of the political leaders of his county. Few men have been more active in public affairs and few have done more to secure the success of the republican party. In addition to his long and able service as postmaster of Ravenna he was for almost thirty years a member of the school board of district No. 69, which he aided in organizing, and at the time of his retirement from the office was presented by his fellow members with a handsome silver loving cup as a token of their appreciation of his devoted and efficient work in behalf of the schools. For seven years he
320HISTORY OF BUFFALO COUNTY served as county supervisor and in that capacity also proved a capable and public-spirited official. He is connected fraternally with the Masonic order and the Knights of Pythias and his religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal church. He has resided in Buffalo county for over thirty years and during practically the entire time has served in some official capacity or other, and the fact that neither his ability nor integrity has ever been questioned is irrefutable proof of his genuine worth. He is also popular personally and those who have been most intimately associated with him are his warmest friends.
D. PHILLIPS.
D. Phillips is president and manager of a company that is conducting a flourishing lumber business at Pleasanton. The spirit of enterprise actuates him in all that he does and progress and advancement have characterized his entire business career, which has covered connection with the grain as well as with the lumber trade. He was born in Indiana, November 12, 1868, a son of John and Hannah (Hosier) Phillips, who were natives of that state. The father was a farmer by occupation and, removing to Illinois, there cultivated a tract of land until 1878, which year witnessed his arrival in Buffalo county. He secured a homestead in Rusco township, which he developed and improved, there carrying on general agricultural pursuits for many years. Eventually, however, he retired and removed to Kearney, where he resided until his death, which occurred in November, 1910. His widow now resides with Mr. Phillips of this review. For three years the father was a soldier of the Fifty-first Indiana Volunteer Infantry, entering the army when a lad of but thirteen years. He was wounded in an engagement and was captured, being incarcerated in Libby prison for five months. Few of his years could boast active connection with the army that defended the Union at the time of the Civil war.
D. Phillips was reared and educated in Buffalo county. During his youthful days he had the usual environment and experience of the farm lad and to his father he gave the benefit of his services until he attained his majority, when he secured a homestead in Cedar township and began farming on his own account, devoting ten years to the development, operation and improvement of his land, which he then rented and removed to Pleasanton. He then turned his attention to the grain and lumber business and organized the Farmers Grain Company, with headquarters in Omaha. The company operates eight grain elevators and two lumberyards and the business has now reached extensive, gratifying and profitable proportions. Mr. Phillips is president and manager of the business at Pleasanton, which includes the grain trade and also a lumber business. The latter was established in July, 1913, and during the first four months the sales amounted to twenty-five thousand dollars. The patronage has steadily increased and as the head of this undertaking Mr. Phillips ranks as one of the foremost business men of the county. He also has elevators at Poole, Buda and Miller in Buffalo county, while the other local centers of the company's business are in the eastern part of the state.
On the 2d of March, 1892, Mr. Phillips was united in marriage to Miss Ada
321HISTORY OF BUFFALO COUNTY Pierson, by whom he has five children, as follows: Walter, who is twenty-three years of age and operates his father's farm; William, a young man of nineteen, who is attending school at Kearney; and Mary, Sybil and Dean, who are sixteen, fourteen and eleven years of age respectively and are all under the parental roof.
Mr. Phillips gives his political allegiance to the democratic party and has filled several local offices, serving as justice of the peace, as township clerk and as road supervisor of Cedar township. He was likewise school director for ten years and the cause of education finds in him a stalwart champion. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity and his religious faith is that of the United Brethren. He has taken an active interest in the work of his church, contributing generously to its support and doing all in his power to further its upbuilding. For fifteen years he served as one of its trustees. His life has been an active and useful one, fraught with good results, and while business has naturally occupied the greater part of his attention, he has never allowed it to interfere with his duties in other relations. In all of his business dealings he has been able to discriminate readily between the essential and the nonessential and moreover has the faculty of coordinating seemingly diverse elements into a unified and harmonious whole. Success attends his labors and the methods which he pursues in its attainment place him beyond the point of envy or adverse criticism.
WILLIAM O. PICKETT.
William O. Pickett was formerly engaged in agricultural pursuits in this county but for a number of years has made his home in Sweetwater, where he is living retired. He has been one of the leaders in public affairs of the county and has been elected to a number of local offices, which he has filled to the entire satisfaction of his constituents. A native of Polk county, Illinois, he was born on the 13th of June, 1840, and is a son of James and Mary (Evett) Pickett, the former born in Virginia and the latter in Ireland. The father took up his residence in Indiana when that state was still a frontier region and farmed there until 1877, when he came to Buffalo county, Nebraska, and located in Kearney. He passed away in Missouri in 1899, having survived his wife for three decades, as her demise occurred in 1869.
William O. Pickett grew to mature years in Indiana and attended the public schools in the acquirement of an education. On the 1st of July, 1861, he enlisted in Company H, Twenty-third Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and was at the front for four years and two months. He participated in a number of hard engagements and in one of the battles in the vicinity of Vicksburg he was wounded. He was honorably discharged at Indianapolis, July 31, 1865, having served all through the war and, returning home again, took up farming. He remained in Indiana until 1877, when he came to Buffalo county, Nebraska, and took up a homestead in Beaver township, to the development and improvement of which he gave much of his time and energy until 1899. He then sold the place and removed to Sweetwater, where he has since resided. In the same year, he was appointed postmaster and for seven years he held that office, proving at all times efficient and courteous.
322HISTORY OF BUFFALO COUNTY
Mr. Pickett was married to Miss Mary E. Parr on the 3d of April, 1864. Her parents, John and Ruth Parr, were born in Virginia but became early settlers of Indiana and continued to reside there until they passed away, the father in 1887 and the mother three years later. Mr. and Mrs. Pickett have become the parents of nine children, three of whom, Ora, James and Katie, are deceased, the others being: Annie, Robert, Daisy, Sally R., Catherine and Delia.
Mr. Pickett indorses the policies of the democratic party and works loyally for its success at the polls. He has held a number of offices, and in addition to his seven years' service as postmaster, has been constable, assessor, clerk, roadmaster and county commissioner, serving for four years in the last named capacity. His religious faith is that of the Baptist church, and through his membership in the Grand Army of the Republic he keeps in touch with the other veterans of the Civil war. He is well known not only in Sweetwater but also throughout the county and those who have been most closely associated with him hold him in the highest esteem. As an official he has always been systematic, capable and conscientious, and as a private citizen he has willingly cooperated in movements seeking the general welfare.
EPHRAIM OLIVER.
Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Four Generation PictureEphraim Oliver, who owns five hundred and eighty acres of good land in Shelton township, is one of the leading stock raisers of the county. He was born in Manchester, England, on the 14th of January, 1852, of the marriage of Edward and Sarah Oliver, both natives of that country. The year 1860 witnessed their emigration to America and they first settled in Buffalo county, Nebraska, but two years later the father removed to Salt Lake City, where his demise occurred. The mother passed away in this county.
Ephraim Oliver is one of a family of eleven children, of whom five are still living. His education was mainly acquired in the public schools of Buffalo county, Nebraska, as he was but eight years of age when the family settled here. He remained at home until he attained his majority and then purchased the old homestead on section 2, Shelton township, which he still owns. He has bought additional land and now holds title to five hundred and eighty acres, all of which is well improved. He raises some grain but devotes the greater part of his attention to stock raising and feeding and in 1915 fed one hundred head of steers and seven hundred head of sheep. He understands every phase of stock raising and also pays great attention to the marketing of his stock and the success which he has gained is well deserved.
On the 6th of April, 1875, Mr. Oliver was united in marriage to Miss Dorothy Fieldgrove, a daughter of William Henry and Margaret Fieldgrove, further mention of whom occurs elsewhere in this work. Mr. and Mrs. Oliver have eleven children: William E.; Walter E.; Edward H.; Cora, the wife of William J. Pierce; John E.; Chester Arthur and Charles A., twins; Howard L.; George H.; Vernon J.; and Dewey S.
Mr. Oliver indorses the policies of the republican party and loyally supports its candidates at the polls. For many years he has served as a member of the
327HISTORY OF BUFFALO COUNTY school board and during that time has done much to promote educational advancement in his district; The greater part of his life has been passed in the middle west and he possesses in a marked degree the qualities characteristic of this section, namely, self-reliance, enterprise and the determination that overcomes obstacles, and he merits the title of a self-made man, for he began his career without capital or the aid of influential friends.
STEPHEN A. D. HENLINE.
Stephen A. D. Henline came to Kearney in July, 1885, at which time the city contained a population of a little more than one thousand. He has remained here continuously since and his business activity has been a tangible asset in the development and upbuilding of the community, while his support of forces working for the moral betterment of the community has contributed to public progress along that line. He was born near Lexington, Illinois, on the 25th of December, 1860, a son of William M. and Sarah C. (Steward) Henline, who were also natives of that state. The father was a farmer and was a son of George Henline, who settled in McLean county, Illinois, when that section of the country was in its primitive condition, much of the land being still in the possesion of the government. He entered a tract at the usual government price of a dollar and a quarter per acre and began the development of a farm whereon William M. Henline was born in 1838. There he was reared and educated, having the usual experiences of the lad who spends his youth upon the frontier. He married a daughter of William Steward, who removed from Kentucky to McLean county, Illinois, about the time of the arrival of the Henline family there. His educational training was limited but this he remedied in later years by reading and observation. He possessed a retentive memory and from his study and life's experiences he gained many valuable lessons. In politics he was a democrat and his high standing in the regard of his fellowmen is indicated in the fact that he was never defeated for an office for which he was a candidate, although he lived in a district that normally had a strong republican majority. He had the happy faculty of making friends and he never sacrificed a friendship, for regard once gained was always his. He belonged to the United Brethren church, of which he was a devout and faithful member. In all business affairs he was thoroughly reliable and would rather suffer loss than cause another to do so. If a question ever arose as to rights, he invariably gave way rather than to enter into a law suit. He died in 1895, on the farm where his birth occurred, having long survived his wife, who passed away in 1872.
In the life record of S. A. D. Henline, Christmas day has proven an important date. He was born on that day and was named in honor of Stephen A. Douglas. He had a brother born on that date in 1862, and on Christmas day of 1884 he married Nellie Biggs, whose birth had occurred on Christmas day of 1864. On her mother's side she is a direct descendant of Barbara Fritchie and on her father's of John Quincy Adams. S. A. D. Henline was reared on a farm in his native county and was graduated from the Lexington high school with the class of 1880. He afterward engaged in teaching for four years and
328HISTORY OF BUFFALO COUNTY on the expiration of that period made his way westward to Nebraska in company with his wife, who was also a successful teacher. They located in Kearney and Mr. Henline became a partner of L. G. Fletcher in the drug business. Subsequently he sold out to his partner, after which he engaged in various occupations. For a time he was employed at a dollar and a half per day to dig the ditches connected with the establishment of the waterworks system in Kearney. He was also employed as a clerk in the drug store of William Schramm, who at that time owned two drug stores in this city. In 1889 he purchased the Schramm store at No. 2214 Central avenue and since then he has been in the drug business in Kearney at different locations and has prospered. In many ways he has been identified with the material welfare and growth of Kearney and is a great believer in its future prosperity. He became one of the organizers of the Kearney Savings & Loan Association, of which he has been the only president, and in this connection he figures prominently in financial circles of the city.
Mr. Henline always attributes much of his success to the assistance and cooperation of his wife, who was reared upon a farm and taught school for two years before coming to Nebraska. She also engaged in teaching music both before and after her arrival in this state and acted as organist in the church for a number of years. Her life has been one of untiring industry for the benefit of her home or for the community and her sound judgment in business matters has been a substantial element in the success of Mr. Henline. She cooperated with him in the early days in the efforts to economize and get ahead and he pays her high tribute for her assistance. Mrs. Henline has also been a great church worker and for eleven years was president of the Ladies Aid Society. It was during that period that the new house of worship was built and the Aid Society contributed to the building fund twenty-five hundred dollars besides an additional two thousand dollars for finishing the basement. Mrs. Henline also became an active member of the Nineteenth Century Club and was one of the leaders in the organization of the Community Club, of which she was the first and only president, for after her decision to retire from such active participation in affairs of that character there seemed to be no one to carry her work forward and the Community Club has ceased to exist. In her church work and in all of her social and civic endeavors she has known no such word as defeat, possessing in notable measure the power to win cooperation and coordination, so that with Mrs. Henline as leader all have worked together for the common good. To Mr. and Mrs. Henline have been born two sons: Ralph Gregory, who was married in 1915 to Miss Lois Kindt, of La Grande, Oregon, where he is teaching school; and Roy Biggs, who is attending the Northwestern University at Chicago. The family is well known here and their influence has ever been on the side of progress, reform and improvement.
Fraternally Mr. Henline is connected with the Masons and has attained the Knight Templar degree in the order. For many years he has been a member of the Kearney Commercial Club and is an ardent supporter of all those forces and plans which the club adopts for the development and substantial improvement of the city. Politically he is an independent democrat. While he believes in many principles of the democratic party, he has never felt bound by party ties and acts according to the dictates of his own judgment. He served for two years as a member of the city council, during which time he was its presi-
329HISTORY OF BUFFALO COUNTY dent and chairman of the finance committee. It was during that period that the final adjustment over the purchase of the waterworks system was consummated. He is a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal church and successively at three different conventions he was president of the Epworth League of the West Nebraska Conference. He also acted as a delegate to the Methodist General Conference held in Chicago in 1896. He served as chairman of the finance committee that had in charge the erection of the new forty thousand dollar church edifice in Kearney and with every phase of church work in this city for many years he has been closely and helpfully associated. He has never been neglectful of any of his duties in relation to the municipal or moral welfare and at the same time he has so directed his business affairs that he has worked his way upward from a humble position to one of prominence and affluence.
RIGHT B. WORT.
Right B. Wort, a well known grain merchant of Buffalo county operating at Pleasanton, as a member of the firm of Wort Brothers, has the qualities which win success. No matter in how much fantastic theorizing one may indulge as to the cause of success, it is always found that honorable business advancement is due to indefatigable energy and close application and these are the qualities which Mr. Wort displays in his business career. He was born in Canada, March 4, 1864, and is a son of John and Martha (Teeple) Wort, natives of England and Canada respectively. The father came to America in early life, crossing the Atlantic to Canada, where he remained for some time and then came to the United States, settling in McHenry county, Illinois. There he carried on farming until 1879, when he came to Buffalo county, Nebraska, and purchased land in Thornton township. He carried on farming there throughout his remaining days but was not long permitted to enjoy his new home, for his death occurred in 1881. His window survives and is now living in Kearney.
Right B. Wort was a youth of fifteen years when the family arrived in this county and through the period of his boyhood and youth he assisted in the work of the fields, remaining with his mother to the age of twenty-eight years. He afterward carried on farming independently for a year and then came to Pleasanton, where he engaged in the grain business with his brother under the firm name of Wort Brothers. They have since conducted business under that style and the name has become a synonym for enterprise, indefatigable energy and wise management. They are thoroughly reliable in all their dealings and the grain raisers of that district enjoy trading with them. Right B. Wort also operates an elevator at Poole, in this county, and is engaged in the automobile business. He owned the first Ford in Pleasanton and is now agent for both the Ford and Maxwell cars. He conducts a good garage in the town. The brothers also handle farm implements at Poole and are representative business men of the community as well as wide-awake and progressive at all times.
In March, 1891, Right B. Wort was married to Miss Jennie Fleharty, a daughter of George and Anna Fleharty, who were natives of Ireland and became residents of this county in early pioneer times. The father was a civil engineer
330HISTORY OF BUFFALO COUNTY and acted as the first surveyor of the county. He also purchased land here and carried on general farming for many years but finally retired in 1900 and now makes his home with Mr. and Mrs. Wort, his wife having passed away in 1909. Mr. and Mrs. Wort have been born two children, Hazel and Helen, the former the wife of Charles Claus, of Pleasanton. Helen is attending School.
Mr. Wort has served on the town board for several years and has also been township clerk. Politically his allegiance is given to the democratic party, while fraternally he is connected with the Masons and with the United Workmen, loyally adhering to the purposes of those organizations. He represents one of the old and honored pioneer families of the county and the work which was instituted by his father has been carried on by him and constitutes an important feature in business development and substantial upbuilding of the district in which he lives.
JOHN S. SALSBURY.
PortraitsJohn S. Salsbury earned the right to a period of leisure by many years of well directed labors as an agriculturist and is now living in honorable retirement in Ravenna. He was born in Saratoga county. New York, on the 8th of October, 1842, of the marriage of James W. and Caroline (Creal) Salsbury, natives of New York and of English descent. The father was a farmer and followed that occupation in New York until 1844, when he started for the territory of Iowa but died on the way on the 4th of November. His wife was killed on the 3d of July, 1848, by lightning.
John S. Salsbury was educated in Lee and Page counties, Iowa, and in 1861, when eighteen years of age, enlisted in Company F, First Nebraska Infantry, for service in the Civil war. He remained in the army until July, 1866, and participated in much hard fighting. Following his honorable discharge from military service he returned to Page county, Iowa, and purchased land there, which he operated for ten years. At the end of that time he went to Clarinda, Iowa, but in 1879 he removed to Sherman county, Nebraska. He did teaming there until 1882, when he took up a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres in Garfield precinct, Buffalo county. He was one of the first settlers in that precinct and was the man who gave it its name. He at once began to break the prairie sod and in a comparatively short time had his land under cultivation. He made many improvements upon his place, on which he lived for two decades, or until 1902. He then retired from active life and built a nice home in the northern part of Ravenna, where he has since resided.
Mr. Salsbury was married in July, 1864, to Miss Rachel H. Reynolds, a daughter of John and Annie Reynolds, pioneers of Page county, Iowa. Mr. Reynolds died in 1863, but he was survived by his wife until 1903. Mr. and Mrs. Salsbury became the parents of seven children, namely: Alvin, who was born August 18, 1867, and died on the 12th of September, 1887; Annie C., who was born August 30, 1868, and died on the 17th of October, 1890; Rachel P., who was born on the 7th of March, 1870, and died on the 28th of February, 1886; Katie, whose birth occurred August 25, 1871, and who died June 8, 1883; Mary E., who was born October 24, 1873; and died on the 1st of January, 1897; Roy
333HISTORY OF BUFFALO COUNTY whose birth occurred on the 22d of March, 1876, and who is living in Ravenna; and Guy A., who was born on the 1st of February, 1878, and resides in Texas. The wife and mother passed away on the 29th of December, 1807, after a six months' illness. Her demise was mourned by many friends.
On the 26th of October, 1904, Mr. Salsbury was again married, Mrs. Mary J. Jamison becoming his wife. Her parents, Ephraim and Christina (Forney) McKinney, were natives respectively of Ohio and Pennsylvania. In 1855 her father removed to Butler county, Iowa, where he purchased land which he operated until 1890. He then came to Buffalo county, Nebraska, and bought a farm in Cherry Creek precinct, to the cultivation of which he devoted the remainder of his life. He died in January, 1903, and his wife passed away in December, 1908. By her marriage to Samuel Jamison, Mrs. Salsbury became the mother of five children, namely: Clara A., who was born in August, 1863, and is now the wife of George Nichols, of Butler county, Iowa; Flora, whose birth occurred in April, 1865, and who died on the 30th of May, 1894; Mary 1., who was born in July, 1867, and is now the wife of Theodore Clark, of Franklin county, Iowa; Henrietta, who was born in December, 1873, and married A. L. Nowell, of Butler county, Iowa; and Mabel I., whose birth occurred in April, 1875, and who gave her hand in marriage to E. E. Polk, of Butler county, Iowa. Mr. Jamison died on the 17th of January, 1898, after a long illness.
Mr. Salsbury casts an independent ballot, refusing to follow blindly the dictates of party leaders. He has been quite active in public affairs, served as the first supervisor of Garfield township, has been justice of the peace, road overseer, constable and deputy sheriff, and for twenty years was treasurer of his school district. Fraternally he is quite prominent, belonging to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Mystic Legion, and he is now filling the office of commander of Cedar Mountain Post, G. A. R. His religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal church. During the many years of his residence in this county he has witnessed a great transformation as pioneer conditions have given way to advancement and progress, and he takes justifiable pride in the fact that he has aided in bringing about this transformation.
LOUIS WEIDNER.
Louis Weidner, one of the pioneers of Buffalo county and one of its successful business men, is now living retired, his home being just outside the city limits of Ravenna. He is one of the worthy citizens that Germany has furnished to the new world, his birth having occurred in Saxony on the 27th of October 1844, his parents having been Gottlieb and Christina (Lichtenstein) Weidner The father died in Germany when his son Louis was twenty-two years of age Two years later the latter wedded Miss Fredericka Habercrom and in 1874 they came to the United States accompanied by his mother, who otherwise would have been left alone in Germany. She remained with Mr. and Mrs. Weidner until her death, which occurred on the homestead farm in this county in 1880, six years after her arrival in the new world.
334HISTORY OF BUFFALO COUNTY On reaching the United States Louis Weidner made his way at once to Buffalo county, influenced to this step by the fact that a friend, Louis White, had previously settled here. He had spent a short time in the lake region of Michigan and had finally come to Nebraska, after which he had written to Mr. Weidner concerning the resources and the opportunities of this country. On reaching his destination Mr. Weidner had about fifty dollars in cash. He says that there was no money in the county at that time, so that his capital vanished like snow on a sunshiny spring day. He arrived in Buffalo county on the 21st of September, 1874; and the following week filed on a preemption on section 2, Schneider township. This he later changed to a homestead, which he proved up as such, converting it into a valuable and fertile farm, on which he resided until the 5th of March, 1910, when he removed to his present place of residence just outside the corporation limits of Ravenna, having here a small place of thirty acres. However, he still owns the homestead property of one hundred and sixty acres in Schneider township together with eighty acres just across the road from that farm and another tract of two hundred acres on section 6, Schneider township, and a farm of two hundred acres on section 25, Garfield township. He likewise had another place of one hundred and sixty acres which he has given to his son Earnest. As the years passed he added to his holdings from time to time until he became one of the large landowners of the county, having a valuable property from which he derived a most gratifying annual income. His possessions are such as now enable him to live retired in the enjoyment of a well earned rest, having all of the comforts and some of the luxuries of life.
To Mr. and Mrs. Weidner were born four children, of whom three are yet living, namely: Louisa, the wife of Moritz Muelbach, a farmer of Schneider township; Earnest, who is a carpenter by trade and resides in Ravenna; and Selma, the wife of Herman Kappler, a farmer of Sharon township.
In politics Mr. Weidner has always followed an independent course. He served for some years as township clerk and as township treasurer and has ever been loyal to the best interests of the community, seeking at all times the public good. He has exerted considerable influence in community affairs and has ever been regarded as one of the highly esteemed residents of his part of the state, in which he has now lived for forty-two years, witnessing its progress from pioneer times, while his memory forms a connecting link between the primitive past and the progressive present.
J. D. HAYES.
In this country where opportunity has been more evenly distributed than in the older countries of Europe the qualities of energy, foresight, self-reliance and sound judgment have always been held in the highest esteem and the man who, possessing these qualities, has been able to work his way up from poverty to affluence is highly honored. Such a man is J. D. Hayes, of Elm Creek township, who began his career empty-handed and now owns four hundred acres of fine land in Buffalo county and three hundred and twenty acres in Kansas.
