FAMILY STORIES

Ladislav J. Cihal, 1950

   Their children are: Henrietta, Ladislav L., Gerald, Carl, Leo, William, Mary Ann, and Theresa. In March of 1947, our mother died. My dad took care of his family and was always proud that all five of his sons served in the Armed Forces. Laddie and Gerald were in the Army, Carl and Leo served in the Navy, and William in the Marines.

   In 1951 my father married Anna G. Michalicka at Wahoo, Nebraska.

   In April of 1960, my brother, Leo, was killed in an automobile accident. Gerald and William now reside in Omaha, Carl near Elkhorn, Laddie and Mary Ann both reside in Saunders County, Laddie near Malmo and Mary Ann (Mrs. Jack McEvoy) near Yutan. Henrietta (Mrs. Everett Tripp) lives in Iowa and Theresa (Mrs. Jim Sullivan) in California. There are twenty-two grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

   Our family was active in the Catholic Church and Dad was a member of the Wahoo Council of the Knights of Columbus for over fifty years.

   In 1961, Dad retired and moved to Wahoo where he still managed to keep busy. Mom Cihal was part-time cook at the Haven House Nursing Home. She worked there seventeen years and retired in August of 1982.

   In January of 1977, Dad died. He was buried at the St. Vitus Cemetery at Touhy, Nebraska. Mrs. Jack McEvoy

   I, Richard Shepard Clark, son of Vern O. and Etta Mae (Shepard) Clark, was born on a farm 1 mile west of Ashland on Oct. 4, 1905. My folks soon moved to a farm southwest of Memphis, Nebraska. Later, I started my schooling in School District #3. We moved back to Ashland where my folks owned 40 acres on the north edge of town. I then attended Ashland grade school for a short time.

   My father did some carpenter work. A Mr. Soderberg of Omaha, Nebraska owned 160 acres, 2 and 1/2 miles north of Ashland, and asked my father to help build a house on the place. When the house was built, he asked my father to rent and farm the place. I was 7 years old then. Mr. Soderberg's son-in-law helped us move. I had two cats which my folks were not going to move, as it was supposed to be bad luck to move cats. So the son-in-law hid the cats in the oven. When we got moved, we opened the oven and there were my cats. I lived on that farm for 66 years, finished my grade schooling in Dist. #5, and graduated from Ashland High in 1924.

   On Febr. 7, 1943, I married Estella V. Buster, daughter of Albert H. and Nellie (Davidson) Buster, at their home north of Ashland. Estella was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, March 9, 1910. She came to Ashland when she was a year old and has lived here all her life, except 3 years in Custer County, and 3 years in Wahoo. In Wahoo, her folks ran the County Poor Farm. She graduated from Ashland High in 1927.

Mr. and Mrs. Richard S. Clark

   After we were married, we stayed on the farm where my folks and I had lived. Estella and I bought the farm from Mr. Soderberg's heirs in 1961. My folks moved to a farm we owned a mile south of us. Our daughter and family live there now. Her husband and myself built them a new home there.

   We had one daughter, Karen LaRae, born on Febr. 27, 1946. She married Gerald L. Johnson, son of Earl and Ruby Johnson of Ashland, at Ashland on Mar. 7, 1964. They have two daughters, Lynell LaRae, born on Aug. 8, 1965, and Keri Lynn, born on Febr. 14, 1970.

   Karen is a bookkeeper at Farmers and Merchant National Bank in Ashland. Her husband, Gerald (Jerry), is Highway Maintenance Supervisor of the Greenwood Shops on Interstate #80.

   My father was born in Astibula County, Ohio. My mother was born in Juniata, Nebraska. Before I was born, I had one sister who died when she was 7 months old. My wife's father was born in a dugout near Elmwood, Nebraska, and her mother was born at Milford, Nebraska. She has one brother, Keith Buster. He and his family live in Lincoln, Nebraska.

   We are members of the First Christian Church of Ashland. We retired and moved to 2466 Silver Street, Ashland, in September of 1978. By Mr. and Mrs. Richard S. Clark

   Arvona Kathryn was born to Clara (Berger)and Ben Malchow, March 15, 1938. She was baptized and confirmed in St. John's Lutheran Church, Yutan.

L. to R.: Gerald, Craig, Arvona and Jerry Cleaver.

   Arvona grew up on a farm, 1½ miles east of Mead, the farm her great-grandfather Mumm bought in 1891. It's still in the family. She has one brother. They attended Mead Consolidated School. There she was active as majorette, in band, volleyball, editor of school annual, home ec, mixed chorus, held class offices, and graduated with church scholarships and awards.

   Arvona attended Bible and Sunday School, Luther League and Choir, taught Bible and Sunday School. In 1956, she was chosen to represent her home town as Miss Mead, during the Fremont Centennial. At Midland, she was active in Cardinal Key, National Honorary Society, Phi Alpha Sorority, German Club, Woman's Recreation Association, Head of Woman's Intramurals, and others. She was nominated for Year Book and Charm Girl, and graduated at age 20 with a Bachelor's Arts Degree. She received a grant to teach German in the University of Lincoln. She taught 1 and 2 German, plus she worked towards a Master's Degree. Later, she took a Civil Service exam and worked as secretary for Colonel at SATAF, Wahoo, for Chief of Logistics.

   Arvona married Gerald Cleaver of Perris, California, Mar. 15, 1962. He was a lieutenant in the USAF, Mead. They were married in St. John's, Yutan. They lived in Mead Circle, and then were transferred to Vandenburg AFB, California. Gerald worked at Atlas Missiles; Arvona, at March Air Force Base.

   On March 7, 1963, son, Jerry Bryan, was born in California. Then they transferred to Plattsburg AFB, New York. In 1965, they moved to Nebraska. Gerald works at HQ. Sac Offutt AFB in Science and Research division.

   On June 19, 1968, Craig Allyn was born in Omaha.

   Son, Jerry, got the Eagle Scout Award, November, 1979. He was graduated as valedictorian from Westside, class of 700, in 1980. He received 9 scholarships and awards. Now, he is in his 2nd year at Valparaiso University, Indiana, majoring in Physics and Math. He was placed on National Deans list after being nominated by Dean of Chist College, Arlyn Meyer. Chist College is the Honor College at Valparaiso.

   Craig is active in Arbor Heights Jr. High. He won first place in Physics project at Nebraska State Science Fair. He is working towards Eagle Scout Award.

   Arvona is active as a realtor for 3 years. Besides a homemaker, she served as Sunday School teacher, principal, Deaconness and Lay Councilor in Omaha Lutheran Church.

   Family activities include camping, sailing and snow skiing.

   In 1982, Gerald and Arvona and sons joyfully added 2 daughters to the family, Michelle and Nicole. (Read Berger and Malchow histories.)

   John and Mable Cluff moved to Yutan in 1980. John was born Sept. 23, 1919 in Auburn, Nebraska, to John Israel Cluff and Lena Mae (Tracy) Cluff. One of two boys, his brother, James and family live in Davenport, Iowa.

John and Mable Cluff

   Mable was born July 11, 1917 in Strasburg, Virginia to James Frank Middleton and Lelia Catherine (Pittington) Middleton, one of ten children.

   John served as a sergeant in the Marine Corps during WWII. Upon his discharge, he joined the

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State Highway Patrol. Later, he studied law at Northeastern College and electronics at Columbia Tech. Upon graduation, he worked for Ellman Engineering Co. in Washington, D.C. for 25 years until he retired.

   Mable was raised in Virginia and married Weldon Feathers who died. They had one son, Earl, who lives in Memphis, Nebr. with his family.

   John met Mable in 1953 when she was a widow. They are proud of their six grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

   The Cluff family started in this country when the first John Cluffe sailed from England in the summer of 1635 on the ship "Elizabeth" at the age of 22 years. That same summer, he met his wife Jane, and they raised seven children. The ship docked in Charlestown, Mass. after ten weeks of voyage.

   On Sept. 6, 1638, a group of twelve men, who had petitioned to "Start a plantation at Merrimack", was granted a charter by the general court. John Cluffe was one of the twelve. In the spring of 1639, John Cluffe and a group of others loaded their tools on a barge and pushed across the Merrimac River. On a high spot in the bank they worked all summer, building crude shelters and digging wells. In the Spring of 1640, sixty-eight families moved in. They named the new settlement Salisbury, a name it is still called today.

   The Cluffe family spells its name both Cluff and Clough according to family preference. It is not uncommon to find the fathers spelling their name Cluff and their sons using Clough. The Clough or Cluff families have a proud history from Sir Richard of Denbih, Wales to his fifth son, Sir Richard, a knight of the Holy Sepulchre. After his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, he was knighted and granted his own coat of arms. The Cluffs went to Canada with Benedict Arnold to fight and crouched behind fences at the Battle of Bunker Hill. No phase of our history will not find a member of the Cluffs involved.

   In 1830, Mormonism was causing considerable excitement in New England. David Cluff met a Martin Harris who claimed to be one of the witnesses of the Book of Mormon that Prophet Joseph Smith claimed to have found. David decided to go west. In 1838, he worked to erect the First Morman Temple in Kirtland. Then, a majestic temple in Illinois. Here the people refused the Mormons citizenship, and a mob killed Prophet Joseph Smith, and his brother, Hyrum, in 1844. The Cluffs crossed the Mississippi in 1844, settling in Mount Pisgal, Iowa and Nebraska. In 1848, some of the Cluffs moved to Provo, Utah where they live today.

   Albert Cluff carried the mail between Marysville, Kansas and Nebraska City by horseback in 1863 and 1864, a six-day round trip.

   My parents, Benonia Eugene Saunders and Sally Ellen Pollard, were married February 3, 1889. Father passed away October 10, 1897 with appendicitis, leaving mother with four children, ages one through six. She tried so hard to keep us together, but was unable to do so. Therefore, the three younger ones went to an orphanage and I went to live with a wonderful couple, who were very hard workers. Learning fast, at age twelve I cooked meals for threshers and corn shellers. Being ill, the wife sometimes was bedfast for two-week intervals.

Elmer and Mattie Coleman

   While residing in Ashland, Mother sent money to visit her. I was fifteen and living in southeastern Nebraska. Deciding to stay in Ashland, I worked at the "Old Platte Valley Hotel", later called "The Central Hotel" which was on North 14th Street. There were mud streets and no sidewalks.

   The railroads were being built then. Another girl and I cooked the meals. We would set long tables, family style, and we fed the workers at different intervals. After cleaning up and doing dishes, we cleaned upstairs, emptying and cleaning chambers and spitoons, and making beds.

   Soon after the railroad was finished, I married and moved on a farm. There I worked inside and outside, raising chickens and a big garden. I had four girls and a son. The two older girls were married and the third girl was graduating when my youngest daughter and my son and I moved back to Ashland.

   Loving to cook, I worked several years at "Selma Hotel" and also at "Gordon's Cafe." I married a wonderful man, Elmer Coleman, Dec. 17, 1936. We ran a cafe for twenty-six years, one for fifteen years in Ashland called the "Silver Cafe", and one for eleven years called "The Calumet" or "Coleman's Cafe" on Highway 6.

   While we were in business, Highway 6 was changed, two bridges changed, and Interstate 80 put in. And, with the Guard Camp near Ashland, business was good.

   We used to have a nice ice house in Ashland. Our first sidewalks were made from the lumber from that ice house. We used to have so many trains. Now all the passenger trains are gone and we older people miss them very much. I remember when the first telephones were put in. Sometimes, I think the old days were not so bad.

   We are now retired, my husband being 94, and I will soon be 92. We are still able to take care of ourselves and are very happy. So a lot of hard work is not so bad.

   I should add that the lady I lived with, lived with us for a while after her husband passed away. My mother lived to be 84 and I took care of her the last five years of her life. Submitted by Mrs. Mattie Coleman

   Clinton Augustus Collins was born in Knoxville, Iowa, on April 19, 1855, and died in his home in Wahoo, Nebraska, on Thursday, March 27, 1913, of pneumonia. His early life was spent in Knoxville where his parents were pioneer settlers and were engaged in the banking business.

   He attended Wesleyan University in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, where he met Ella Jamison of Morning Sun, Iowa, and after graduation, they were married on May 18, 1876, and established their home in Knoxville. Two daughters were born to this union -- Grace, who died at the age of 5 years, and Ethel, who became Mrs. Henry Winter of Wahoo, Nebraska, on June 25, 1902.

   In 1883, the Collins family moved to Wahoo where Mr. Collins was associated with The Citizens State Bank until retirement in 1907. Mr. Collins was a progressive business man -- widely known and respected for his integrity and spirit of cheer. He was essentially a home-loving man, and the Collins home was the center of gracious hospitality and pleasure in the community for many years.

   In his last years, Mr. Collins found great joy in the companionship of his wife, daughter and family, especially the two granddaughters -- June and Janet -- seven and four years of age. (Above copied from the Wahoo Wasp obituary March 29, 1913)

   June Winter married George Ayers of Chicago, Illinois, and for the greater part of her life, lived in Wahoo until her death December 16, 1981. They had twin daughters, June and Janet, who were born July 4, 1932.

   June Ayers was the wife of Dr. Richard Brunmeier, a dentist in Lincoln, Nebraska. Their three children are Christine Janet, Richard Ayers, and Ronald Paul.

   Janet Ayers married William Lindley of Wahoo, and their children are: Patricia Ahlers of Dubuque, Iowa, John Robert of Omaha, Nebraska, and Michael Ayers, William Clayton, and Ann Elizabeth of Wahoo, Nebraska. Timothy John Ahlers is the son of Steven and Patricia Ahlers.

   Janet Winter married Dr. Harry Jakeman of Fremont, Nebraska. Their two children were Ann Lallman (Mrs. Keith) of Fremont, and Clinton Jakeman of New York City -- deceased March 25, 1980. The three Lallman children are Stewart Collins Lallman of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Nancy Ann Lallman of Omaha, and Jennifer Janet Lallman of Fremont. Submitted by Janet Winter Jakeman

   I was born Lillie Pauline Dunigan at Perry, Kansas. My mother's name was Charlotte Esther Gallagher; my father was George Thomas Dunigan.

Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Cords

   When I was four years old, I moved with my parents to Lawrence, Kansas. I had two brothers, Cleve, and Elmer, and three sisters, Julia, Florence, and Stella. Elmer was killed in World War I. All of them have passed away now.

   When I was small, I went to a fair with my parents. Somehow, I got lost from my folks. The officials put me up on a bench, announcing that there was a lost child, and would the parents please come and claim her. A strange lady, who smoked snuff, claimed me, took me home with her and put me to bed. Being a trusting child, I evidently did not protest, and being tired from the ordeal, a clean bed probably looked inviting. My parents had a hard time finding me. It seems someone gave a description of the woman, and found out that she, having no children of her own had done the same thing before. The police knew where to find her.

   I got all my schooling, from first grade through business college, at Lawrence, Kansas.

   One summer, while visiting my sister, Mrs. Florence Haessler, who lived in Leshara, Nebraska, I met Arthur Criss Cords. We were later married at Lawrence, Kansas, by a Lutheran Pastor by the name of Charles Pauls. After honeymooning in Denver, Colorado, Colorado Springs, and Pike's Peak we returned to our home, which was five miles northwest of Yutan, Nebr. We joined the St. John's Lutheran Church at Yutan, and for many years I have belonged to the Lutheran Church Women and the Martha Circle.

   Since we lived on a farm, we raised all the usual livestock, including turkeys. We also had a cabin near the Platte River which we enjoyed very much. We also liked to entertain our friends there.

   My husband passed away in 1972. I sold my home to Patricia and David Richards and family from Omaha.

   I now live at 310 4th St. in Yutan, Nebr. Submitted by Lillie Cords

   James is the son of Anton and Josephine Coufal. Anton came from Moravia, Czechoslovakia in the 1870's, and, in 1893, he married Josephine Spatz in David City, Nebraska. They moved to a farm

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