174
BIOGRAPHICAL SOUVENIR OF BUFFALO COUNTY Edmund, Sally, David, John, Susan, Catharine A., Nancy, and Amanda. The paternal grandfather, John Forney, a farmer, carpenter and minister in the Dunkard church, was born in the year 1770, and married Susannah Beachly. Of the other grand parents, little or nothing is known.
Samuel M., the subject of this sketch, resided at home with his father in Somerset county until twenty-one years of age, attending school and helping on the farm, and then moved with his father to Olney, Richmond county, Ill., where he engaged in farming, which he continued until March, 1881, when he emigrated west and located in Buffalo county, Nebr., purchasing his present farm--a timber claim at that time in section 24, township l0, range 16, which he afterwards entered as a homestead. Mr. Forney is an industrious farmer and has raised good crops every year since he came. His wheat has averaged him from fifteen to twenty-two bushels per acre, and oats about forty five bushels per acre. He now has one hundred and twenty acres broken in all.
He was married September 18, 1862, to Catharine Kimmel, who was born December 9, 1845, and is the daughter of Jacob and Nancy (Tombaugh) Kimmel, both natives of Stark county, Ohio; the former was born in 1820 and the latter in 1825. There were ten children in her fathers family--four boys and six girls as follows---Johnathan, Catherine, Mathias, Sarah, Louis, Serena, two that died in infancy, Elizabeth and Susan.
The union in marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Forney has been blessed with the birth of eight children, as follows--Nancy, born September 10, 1863; Rachel (deceased), born December 29, 1864; Susan, born August 15,1866; Lydia, born July 19, 1868; Elizabeth and Edmund (twins), born July 6, 1871 (the former of whom is deceased); Mary, born January 20, 1877, and Martha, born March 15, 1879.
Mr. and Mrs. Forney are both believers in the Dunkard faith, like all their ancestry, as far back as they are able to trace. Mr. Forney was appointed minister in the church in 1859 and for thirty years has filled that appointment, together with his other duties. Politically, he is a republican.
Photo of Mr. Aspinwall. GEORGE D. ASPINWALL, the subject of this sketch, was born in Henderson, Jefferson county, N. Y., August 19, 1849. He is a son of Joel A. Aspinwall, a native of Vermont but now residing in Jefferson county, Wisconsin. His mother was a native of New York, and bore the maiden name of Sarah E. Rose. She died in Jefferson county, Wis., in March, 1858, at the age of thirty six. The Aspinwall family are of English extraction, the original ancestor on American soil being the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch.
In 1850 Mr. Aspinwall moved with his parents to Wisconsin, where he was reared on his father's farm. He is the eldest of three children, of whom Salmon C. lives in Wisconsin, and Sarah E., wife of Merritt Rose, resides in Jefferson county, N. Y. He received a common school education and followed farming up to December, 1880. He immigrated to Nebraska, and settled in Buffalo county, where he took up a claim in December, 1873. Here he endured the hardships of pioneer life and
177BIOGRAPHICAL SOUVENIR OF BUFFALO COUNTY
the deprivations of the famous grasshopper period. He has worked himself up and no one can better appreciate the luxuries and conveniences of life than one of these old timers who has known what it is to see the fruits of years of toil swept away by such calamities as the grasshopper scourge, and know what it is to be in want in a land where money has no purchasing power.
In December, 1880, he left the farm and moved to Kearney, where be has since resided. January 1, 1881, he was appointed deputy county clerk, the duties of which position he performed the succeeding two years. He then began business on his own account as a real estate and loan agent, in which he continued only one year, when he was elected clerk of the district court, his term of office expiring in 1887. In this position he gave general satisfaction. At the expiration of his term of office he again opened a real estate, loan and abstract office, which he continued to operate till April, 1890, when he was elected secretary and general manager of the Midway Loan and Trust Company and cashier of the Kearney Savings Bank. He assisted in the organization of and is a large stock holder in both of these institutions. He was married, April 4, 1872, to Miss Cecelia I., daughter of Harry Ransom, of Jefferson county, Wis. She shared with her husband the hardships of frontier life and proved a helpmate and comfort in times that tried men's souls.
No man is better known in Buffalo county than Mr. Aspinwall. His strict adherence to principle, sterling integrity and business ability render him one of Kearney's leading business men and most substantial citizens; always alive to every public movement for the common good, he is personally popular with all classes. Conservative without being non-progressive, generous without being extravagant, he ranks among the safe, level-headed men of the community. His home is as unostentatious and simple as his business career has been upright and successful. In his little family circle, tranquil and happy, we leave him to the enjoyment of the peace and plenty, which a lifetime of patient untiring industry has bequeathed him.
ALEXANDER BRUKER is an early settler of Buffalo county, Nebr., and one of the most prosperous farmers in Divide township. He was born June 17, 1842 in Alsace, France, and came to America in 1854, when but twelve years of age. He located at Burlington, Iowa, and secured employment at one of the hotels, where he labored for nearly two years. He next procured a position in a job printing office, which he held for two years. Having been economical in his habits, he saved quite a little sum of money and leased land near Burlington for nine years and engaged in raising fruit and making wine. He followed this industry until the war broke out, when, true to the country which he had adopted, he enlisted, in September, 1861, in the First United States lancers. The troops camped near Burlington for two months and then disbanded. He next enlisted, November 11, 1861, in Company H, Eleventh Illinois cavalry, which was made up at Peoria, Ill. Under this enlistment, he participated in the battle of Pittsburg
178BIOGRAPHICAL SOUVENIR OF BUFFALO COUNTY
Landing and the first siege of Corinth, after which, for some time, he was on duty as a scout. On account oś weak lungs and liver trouble, he was discharged from further service, July 6, 1862. He grew better of his ailments and in September of the same year, enlisted in Company E, Twenty-fifth Iowa regiment. He was able to continue with his regiment but two weeks, when his health failed him and he was obliged to abandon entirely the expedition. He returned to Burlington, Iowa, where he followed farming until he emigrated west and located in Buffalo county in October, 1875, fling claims on 160 acres in section 6, township 10, range 16,on which he still resides. The country immediately surrounding him was, at that time, new and very sparsely settled, his nearest neighbor living some three miles distant. The following year he broke a portion of his land and put it into corn. His crop flourished for a time and gave promise of an abundant harvest, but in August the grasshoppers came and devoured it all. He succeeded in smoking them off the first time they came, but three weeks later they came in such abundance that he could do nothing but submit to the inevitable. That summer and fall he was compelled to live on corn bread, barley and wild game --the latter consisting of deer, elk and jack rabbits, which were quite plentiful in those days, Mr. Bruker having seen, near his place, one drove of fifteen elk. He drove his team back to Burlington that fall and spent the winter there, returning in the spring. He has had good average crops since the grasshopper times and now has a well improved farm, with 120 acres broken and neat frame buildings.
Mr. Bruker was married June 15, 1884, to Julia Streit, who is a native of Austria, born June 4, 1858, and came to this country, April 11, 1884. They are both members of the Catholic church. In politics, Mr. Bruker is a republican.
R. N. VOLK. Although but few years a resident of Elm Creek, Mr. Volk has become a valued citizen by the publication of The Elm Creek Sun. His father, John Volk, was a native of New York City, and was born in 1804. He was a very prosperous man in business, being for years proprietor of an extensive chair manufactory in his native city. In 1840 he moved to New Jersey and there remained till death, which occurred in 1887. He was an active member of the Presbyterian church and his death caused a long-felt vacancy. Mr. Volk was a supporter of the whig platform, and when that party merged into the republican he still remained loyal to their principles. In 1826 Mr. Volk was married to Miss Rebecca Bennett, a native of New Jersey, also a member of the Presbyterian church. For years she was an untiring and faithful worker and unto her might the Master truthfully say: "Well done, good and faithful servant." Mr. and Mrs. Volk shared in the choicest blessings of earth, for to them were given eleven children, viz. Henrietta, William, Thomas, Christiana, Abram (died when twenty three years old), Maria (died when an infant), John, Samuel, Silas, Mary, and R.N. R. N. Volk was born in Croton, N. J., in 1844. When two years of age his parents moved to Flemington, N. J., where his father was postmaster. At the
179BIOGRAPHICAL SOUVENIR OF BUFFALO COUNTY
age of nineteen he went to Trenton, N. J., as compositor on a daily newspaper, and there remained twenty years. He then came West, locating first at Plum Creek, but soon afterwards moved to Elm Creek, Buffalo county, Nebr., where he still resides. His first issue of The Elm Creek Sun was on June 2, 1886.
In 1866, while in Trenton, N J., Mr. Volk was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Krier, of Trenton, by the Rev. John Heisler. Mrs. Mary E. Volk was born in Pennsylvania in 1850, and for years has been an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Six children have brought sunshine into their hearts and home, viz.--Eva (deceased), Bessie, Mary, Richey, George and Robert Newton (died September 18,1886). Mr. Volk has served four years as clerk of Elm Creek township, and three years as clerk of the village of Elm Creek, Nebr.
GEORGE MILBOURN. There are few more worthy of honorable mention in this biographical work than the subject of this memoir. While he has not achieved what the world calls greatness, he has gained the highest regard of his townsmen, and those with whom he is intimately associated. He is the son of Jacob Milbourn, a native of Virginia, born in 1792. Jacob first moved to Ohio, settling in Carroll county, and thence to Columbiana county. He was for some time foreman of the Davis mills, after which he purchased the Chambersburgh mills. Mr. Milbourn was a whig in politics. He was married in 1823 to Miss Marie Monohan, a native of Carroll county, Ohio. She was a member of the Quaker society, and continued a devout adherent to the faith until death. Seven children were born to them--Enos, Abigail, Jane, Henry (died in infancy), George, Samuel (deceased) and Washington, who was born in Carroll county, Ohio, and from there, with his parents, moved to Columbiana county and thence to Stark county. He there learned the blacksmith trade. He then moved to Woodford county, Ill., and there enlisted in the Union service, in the Eighth Illinois infantry; was in the engagement at Mobile and was mustered out at New Orleans in 1865. In 1872 he located in Nebraska, settling in section 26, township 9, range 18, in Elm Creek township, Buffalo county. He married Susan Phflassheim in 1850, a native of Germany. Mrs. Milbourn has been a member of the Presbyterian church for years. They are the parents of six living children--George F., William F., Abraham L., Addie L., Dora, Rosa Ann, and Emma (died in infancy).
George, the subject of this notice, was born in Ohio, in 1831; he migrated, with his parents, to Woodford county, Ill., in 1861 and there farmed till 1862. Being true to the impulses of a patriotic nature, he enlisted in the Hundred and Twelfth Illinois infantry, in 1862, at Galva, Henry county, Ill. He was one hundred and twenty-two times under fire, and was in twenty-two principal engagements and one hundred skirmishes, and passed through them all without receiving a wound. Following is a list of the engagements in which he participated: Monticello, Ky.; Richmond, Ky.; Calhoun, Philadelphia, Campbell Station, Knoxville, Beard's Station, Dandridge, Mud Creek and Kelley's
180BIOGRAPHICAL SOUVENIR OF BUFFALO COUNTY
Ford, all in Tennessee; Pine Mountain, Ottoy Creek, Atlanta, Rough and Ready and Jonesboro, all in Georgia; Columbia, Franklin and Nashville, all in Tennessee; Fort Anderson, Town Creek, Wilmington and Goldsboro, all in North Carolina. He was mustered out at Greensborough, N. C., and thence went to Chicago, and from there to Ohio, and in 1867 he returned to Illinois. He remained there till 187l, at which date he came to Nebraska, settling on section 26, township 9, range 18 west, in Elm Creek township, Buffalo county. Mr. Milbourn is a supporter of the republican ticket, and is one of the most enthusiastic members of the G. A. R. organization.
Mr. Milbourn was united in marriage in 1868 to Miss Martha Moore, a native of White Oak Grove, Ill. She is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and possesses congenial, motherly characteristics, which make her so beloved and admired by all who are intimately associated with her. To Mr. and Mrs. Milbourn have been born thirteen children -- L. M., James, Lucy, Mary E., Johnny, Reson (deceased), Enos, Eddie, Reuben (deceased), Eunice M. (deceased), Allie, Carrie (deceased), and Lottie V.
HENRY S. STEELE, one of the respected farmers of Elm Creek township, Buffalo County, Nebr., is the only son of James and Caroline Steele, natives of Virginia. Mr. Steele, having lost his father and mother in early childhood, was thrown upon his own resources at a tender age. Without the caressing hand, the admonishing words and earnest prayers of a loving mother, he was compelled to steer his own bark. He was a native of Virginia, born in 1840; from there he moved to Ohio, settling in Ross county, thence to Fayette county, where he engaged in farming; thence to Woodford county, Ill., remaining there seven years; he then moved to Nebraska, in 1871, settling in Buffalo county. He was here through grasshopper times; lost all his crops, excepting wheat, for three successive years; but, not despairing of better times coming, he still continued to plant, and from 1877 has reaped good harvests.
In 1870 Mr. Steele was married to Miss Mary Frances Lucas, a native of Kentucky born in 1851. She is connected with the Methodist Episcopal church, but for years has been an invalid, consequently unable to take an active part in church work, but at home lives a life consistent with her profession. Their family consists of six boys and one girl, viz.--Laura May, born August 26, 1871; Charlie Lee, born January 1, 1876; Bertie, born March 22, 1881; Elmer and Ellsworth (twins), born July 18, 1884; Clifford, born Sept. 30, 1885; Wm. Henry, born, Nov. 8, 1889.
Mr. Steele enlisted at South Plymouth, Fayette county, Ohio, in Company A, Fifty-fourth Ohio infantry, under S. B. Yoeman, and was in the following engagements: Shiloh, Chickasaw Swamps, Fort Heinman, Corinth, Vicksburg, Atlanta and Jonesburg, also in a number of skirmishes. At Shiloh he had the bottom shot out of his canteen; also had a minie-ball pass through his belt, his musket knocked out of his hand and just escaped a spent cannon-ball. Notwithstanding these narrow escapes, Mr. Steele passed through over three years of service without receiving a wound. He was mustered out in 1864 at Cincinnati, Ohio.
181BIOGRAPHICAL SOUVENIR OF BUFFALO COUNTY
ROBERT K. POTTER is one of the pioneer settlers of Elm Creek township, but this of itself does not entitle him to mention in this compilation of memoirs; there are many who shared with him the experiences of pioneer life whose names will not be perpetuated. Ability wisely directed and a magnanimous nature, make him deserving of honorable mention. Mr. Potter is the son of Wellington and Elizabeth (Ailsworth) Potter; the former was born in Luzerne county, Pa., in 1825. In 1881 he came to Nebraska, settling in Elm Creek township, Buffalo county, and there remained five years, then returned to Luzerne county, Pa. He is a machinist by trade, but of late years has been engaged in farming. Politically, he is a supporter of the republican ticket. He was married in 1850, at Packsville, Luzerne county, Pa., to Miss Elizabeth Ailsworth, a native of the same county. They are both members of the Methodist Episcopal church. To them were born four children, viz. -- Robert K., Ella (Mrs. Skinner), living in Elm Creek; Edwin W. postmaster of Elm Creek, and Viola (Mrs. Price), living in Kansas. The paternal grandfather of Mr. Potter was Robert K. Potter, a native of Rhode Island; his maternal grandfather, David Ailsworth, was a native of Pennsylvania.
Robert K., Jr., the subject of this sketch, was born in Luzerne county, Pa, in 1852. He remained at home till 1866, when he encountered the stern realities of life for himself. He remained in Luzerne county till 1878, when he came West. While in Luzerne county he married Miss .M. Burnette, a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1856. She was a member of the Presbyterian church, not alone in name but in heart, evincing it by a life of good works. To Mr. and Mrs. Potter were born five children, viz.--Libbie, Chandler, Willie, Carrie, and one, the fifth, that died in infancy. In 1881 Mrs. Potter died, and to her death the immortal words of Bryant are appropriate. She so lived that when the summons came to join the innumerable caravan which moves to that mysterious realm, by an unfaltering trust, she approached the grave like one who wraps the drapery of his couch about him and lies down to pleasant dreams. Mr. Potter was next married to Miss Maggie Dunlap, and to them have been born two children. Mr. Potter has been eminently successful in his business career, his success being greatly due to shrewdness and the closest attention to business. He is largely interested in different branches of business and all come under his immediate supervision. His stock business alone approximates $300,000 annually. He is now but thirty seven years old, and although he settled in Buffalo county but eleven years ago, with only a few (dollars and the advantages of Nebraska for a start, he is now one of the representative business men of the county. Politically, Mr. Potter is a stanch republican, and is now representing Buffalo county in the legislature.
GEORGE E. MILLER, a well-to-do farmer of Buffalo county, is the third child of George Miller, Sr., a native of historic Virginia. The father was a man possessing those virtues that commanded the respect of all who formed his acquaintance. He was a carpenter by trade, and also engaged in farm-
182BIOGRAPHICAL SOUVENIR OF BUFFALO COUNTY
ing. In politics he was a republican. He moved from Virginia to Mason county, Ill, and in 1858 was united in matrimony to Miss Isabel Smith, of Warren county, Ill, but a native of Virginia. Mrs. Miller was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. and Mrs. Miller's home has been filled with the music of five children, viz. J.C., a farmer in Buffalo county; Ida Bell (Mrs. Smith), in Dawson county; George E.; Nora (Mrs. Heaton), in Buffalo county, and Susan (Mrs. McNim).
George E. Miller was born in Logan county, Ill., in 1866. From there he went to York county, Nebr., where he remained two years, thence he removed to Buffalo county, his present home. At the age of fifteen he began life for himself. He started with nothing, and now owns a well-improved quarter section with all the necessary farming implements. Mr. Miller is a young man, favorably known for thrift, honesty and sobriety. He was married to Miss Mollie Bartrop in 1888, Judge Glespie officiating. Mrs. Miller is a native of Ohio, born in 1871. To them has been born one child Marrette, December 5, 1888. Mr. Miller is a republican in politics.
JOHN P. ARENDT is the son of Michael and Mary (Ketch) Arendt; the former was a native of France, and there remained till death, which occurred in 1887. He was engaged in farming, taking special interest in raising thoroughbred homes. Mr. Arendt, at the time of his death, was in very good circumstances. He was united in marriage to Miss Mary Ketch, and he and wife were members of the Catholic church. Charity was one of his characteristic graces, of which the following is sufficient proof: A traveler was thrown from his conveyance and had his leg broken; Mr. Arendt took him to his home and cared for him as he would for his own son, and when he was sufficiently recovered, he went on his way, Mr. Arendt asking no compensation. Their family consisted of two girls and five boys -- Michael, living in France; John, in France; Cristine, in France; Michael died in Wisconsin; Mary, living in Minnesota; Hanes, lives in France, and John P., the subject of this memoir, who was born in France in 1832. When fourteen years of age, he came to America, stopping in Milwaukee, Wis.; thence he moved to Kewaunee county, Wis., and there engaged in farming and lumbering. At the breaking out of the war, he was sheriff of Kewaunee county, but, true to the impulses of a patriotic nature, he resigned and enlisted in the Twenty-seventh Wisconsin infantry volunteers, Company A, under Capt. Cunningham. On a march from Little Rock, Ark., to Mobile, Ala., he was sunstruck, from which he has suffered ever since. He was mustered out at Brownsville, Tex., the 29th of August, 1865. He then returned to Kewaunee county, Wis., and there remained until coming to Nebraska in 1872, first locating on section 28, township 9, ranges 18 west, Elm Creek township, thence moving to Elm Creek village, where he engaged in the mercantile and lumber business, continuing in this business till 1876, at which time he retired. Mr. Arendt laid out the present site of Elm Creek, platting eighty acres. He was its first postmaster and also one of the first
183BIOGRAPHICAL SOUVENIR OF BUFFALO COUNTY
commissioners of Buffalo county. He was married, in 1859, to Miss Catherine Tyler, a native of Buffalo, N.Y. To them were born seven children, viz.--Mary (Mrs. Carey), in Overton, Nebr.; Annie (Mrs. Bond), in Elm Creek, Nebr.; Minnie (Mrs. Connell), in Boulder, Colo.; George, now in the employ of the U. P. R. R. Co., as agent at Elm Creek, which position he has filled creditably three years; Maggie, Eva and Rose.
In politics, Mr. Arendt is a democrat, and he and family are identified with the Catholic church.
DAVID I BROWN, a highly respected resident of Elm Creek, Buffalo county, is a native of Highland county, Ohio, and is the tenth in a family of eleven children. His father, Edgar Brown, was a native of Culpeper county, Va., born in 1796, but when four years of age, moved with his parents to Highland county, Ohio. Although he attended but three months of school, by economizing tithe and studying whenever opportunity offered itself, he became quite proficient as a civil engineer. He was a preacher in the Quaker society for a number of years, and in this capacity was popularly known throughout Ohio. He was distinguished as a kind, hospitable and generous man, always ready to help the needy. In politics he was a supporter of the republican platform. He was married to Miss Mary Huff (born, 1800, died 1874), a native of North Carolina, who, also, was a member of the Quaker society, and, true to Quaker characteristics, was prompt to respond to calls for help in times of sickness. The following children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Brown, viz.--Sarah (died 1871); three of the older died in infancy; William (died 1870); James (lives in Salem, Henry county, Iowa, engaged in farming and stock-raising); Lydia (lives in Ohio); Clinton (who was a practicing physician, was killed by overwork, dying in 1874); Elgar (died in 1884, was engaged in farming and teaching, and was principal of the public schools of Rainsborough, and was quite a clever poet); David I, and Mary (Mrs. Barrerre, who was a graduate of the female seminary of Hillsborough, Ohio, and later became a teacher in that institution).
David I., the subject of this sketch, remained in Highland county, Ohio, the place of his nativity, till 1858, at which time he migrated to Missouri; there he engaged in teaching till the breaking out of the war, when he returned to Ohio. He enlisted at Rainsborough in 1863, in tile Second Ohio heavy artillery, and was principally on garrison duty, and was mustered out at Nashville, Tenn., in 1865. While in the service he contracted chronic diarrhoea. Mr. Brown was married, in 1862, to Miss Mare E. Davis, a native of Ohio, Rev. A. Shinn performing the ceremony. To them have been born six children, viz.--Carrie, born 1868; Mary J., born 1866 (married March, 1890); Washington E., born 1867; Ella K., born 1869 (died March 4, 1876); William O., born 1871, and Eddy, born 1873. Mrs. Brown was a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal church, actively engaged in all the departments of its work. She departed this life in 1875. Mr. Brown settled in section 4, township 8, range
184BIOGRAPHICAL SOUVENIR OF BUFFALO COUNTY
18, Elm Creek township, Buffalo county, and there remained for a few years, then moved to the village of Elm Creek.
Mr. Brown is a republican in polities. He has at various times held different offices in the gift of the people. He was commissioner of Buffalo county in 1879 - 80 and 1881, and for thirteen years has been justice of the peace and six years postmaster at Elm Creek. In 1881 Mr. Brown took for his second wife Miss Carrie P. Gile, a native of Iowa, born in 1860, Rev. A. Collins officiating. Mrs. Brown was a successful teaching for two years in Iowa before coming to Nebraska, then taught one year on Nebraska. To them have been born two children, viz.-- Jesse G. (born 1882) and Leslie M. (born 1884)
Mrs. Brown is a native of Allamakee county, Iowa, and is the fourth of a family of seven children, her father and mother settling there in 1852. Seven children were born to them Gordon H., born in 1853, burned in a prairie fire in Dakota in 1879; Edward S., born in 1855; Wells, born in 1857; Carrie P., born in 1860; Ida M., born in 1862; Rulef S., born in 1864, and William, born in 1867.
WILLIAM C. KEEP. Comparatively speaking, few homes in this broad land retain for generations family faces and kindred. In a few years and the "boys and girls" have left the home of their nativity and wandered into other and distant lands to make for themselves a home and fortune. It must be so, to verify the old saying that Westward the star of Empire takes its way." Among the vast number that has swelled the tide of westward emigration is the subject of this sketch, William C Keep. He is the son of Joel Keep, a native of Massachusetts, and was born in 1809. His paternal grandfather was Samuel Keep, also a native of Massachusetts; his maternal grandfather was John Handrick, a native of Massachusetts, and his maternal grandmother was Dortha (Gibbs) Handrick, a native of Vermont. From Connecticut, Joel Keep moved to Ann Arbor, Mich., thence to Pennsylvania, where he remained until death, which occurred in 1881, at New Milford, Susquehanna county. His occupation was farming, but for some time he was engaged in the lumber business. He possessed excellent business qualities and his honesty and generosity won the respect of all who knew him. In politics he was a republican.
In 1855, he married Miss Lucy Ann Handrick, a native of New Milford, Penn. Mrs. Keep was born in 1822, and has born her husband three children, two sons and one daughter, all of whom are living, viz.--William C., Edwin A. and Mary F. (Keep) Very, all living in Dawson county, Nebr., having come West in April, 1890, and occupied in farming. For many years Mrs. Keep has been an active member and supporter of the Presbyterian church.
William C. Keep was born in Pennsylvania in 1856. In 1879 he immigrated to Nebraska, locating in Elm Creek; soon after he took a homestead and timber claim in section 24, township 10, range 19, Dawson county, which he still owns. These form only a part of his possessions.
He is a republican in politics, and at present a much esteemed member of the town council. In 1886 he was married, at
185BIOGRAPHICAL SOUVENIR OF BUFFALO COUNTY
Elm Creek, to Miss Elizabeth G. Wells, the ceremony being performed by Rev. J. G. Hurlbert. Mrs. E.G. (Wells) Keep was born in Harrisville, Ohio, in 1868. In 181 was home was changed to Green Dale, Nebr., where she resided until her marriage.
WALTER SHREEVE is a native of Norwich, England, born January 31, 1850, and is the son of Alfred and Elizabeth (Davy) Shreeve, also natives of England. His maternal grandfather was heir to a large fortune, but lost it all in a chancery suit lasting twenty years. He was a contractor in mason work by occupation. The subject's father was a laborer, fishing, in season, in the English channel off the coast of Farmouth. He came to New York City in the fall of 1852, and was there robbed of everything, including money, by baggage thieves. After a terrible winter of sickness in New York City, he moved to Medina, New York; while there, in 1861, the subject's mother died, and in 1864 his father married again, his second wife being Mrs. Susan (Wholston) Greengrass, a native of England. His first wife bore him six children, viz.--Emma {Mrs. William Cobb), lives in Albion, N. Y; Walter (the subject); Nellie (Mrs. Mooney), deceased; Amanley, a carriage painter, lives in Lincoln, Nebr.; Alva E., lives in Dawes county, Nebr.; Libbie (died in infancy). To Mr. Shreeve's second marriage have been born two children, viz.--Fred and Libbie. Both are married. The former, with father and mother, lives in Marshal county, Dak.; the latter in New York State. Walter Shreeve, the subject of the sketch, when beginning life for himself was first employed on the Erie canal as driver. He tried to enlist in the army as drummer boy in 1862 - 63, but his father prevented. He left the canal at Albany, N. Y., and went to New York City and shipped on the clipper David C. Crockett, A. M. Burgess, captain. It was freighted and bound for San Francisco, Cal., at which place they arrived in December, 1864, after one hundred and seven days' voyage, being the quickest trip that year, but one. The "Sea Serpent" of the same line made the trip in one hundred days. In San Francisco he left the clipper and his pay, then due, and enlisted in Company B, Third United States artillery, February 17, 1865, stationed at Camp Reynolds, Angel Island, San Francisco harbor. It was ordered to recruit and join the regiment before Richmond, but before enough men could be raised to fill the company the battle was won. Then he was transferred to Battery D, Second United States artillery, and soon after sent to Black Point, San Francisco harbor, Cal., at which place he served the balance of his time, three years. He was discharged at Black Point, San Francisco harbor, February 17, 1868. On the 25th of the same month, he sailed on a "Vanderbilt" steamer for New York City, by way of the San Juan River and Graytown route through New Guatemala Isthmus; from New York he came to Buffalo county, Nebr., in 1872, landing at the old Kearney Station, with $5.37 cash. Board was $7 per week, but fortunately he found employment the next morning, carrying mail across the Platte river to Dobytown, Fort
PREVIOUS | NEXT
BACK to INDEX
Scans of original pages provided by Vicky Stephens
© Mona J Houser 1998, 1999, 2000 for NEGenWeb Project