Gage County, Nebraska - Chapter 13: First White Settlers, 1918

Indian Agents and Employes - Gideon Bennett - 'David Palmer - John O. Adams, AND THE Shaws - The Pethouds - The Kielpatricks and Others - Settlements IN Rockeord Township - In Grant Township - At Blue Springs

The first white man to enter our county as far as we have any reliable information, were George Heppner, Indian agent for the Otoe and Missouri tribes of Indians, in 1855 ; his successor in ofRce, William Wallace Dennison, in 1859; and a few employes of the government who had in charge the mill which belonged to the Indians and which had been hauled from Nebraska City by ox teams, in April, 1855 ; the blacksmith, farmer, and such other employes as the government allowed at that time. At least one white man followed the Indians from Nebraska City and engaged in trade with them on his own account. This was Gideon Bennett, who, in 1854, kept the famous ferry on which so many immigrants to the new territory of Nebraska there crossed the Big Muddy then and later on, and who obtained, a charter from the first territorial legislative assembly conferring upon him and his family the exclusive privilege and franchise for operating a ferry at Nebraska City for ten years, beginning April 1, 1855. This privilege the second session of this assembly revoked. Bennett established a trading post on Plum creek, just outside the eastern reservation line and in the immediate vicinity of the village of Liberty, on Plum creek. He, however, acquired no residence in our county and remained at the trading post but a short time, when he sold it to a party named McDonald, at St. Joseph, Missouri, and returned to Nebraska City, where his family resided. Afterward he became prominent in local and territorial affairs, amongst other activities representing Otoe county in the territorial assembly of 1864. Some of his children still reside in Nebraska City. Neither Agent Heppner nor Agent Dennison removed their families from Nebraska City to the new reservation nor made any effort to acquire a residence in the county, nor did any of the other employes of the government about the Indian agency acquire or attempt to acquire a permanent residence in the county until after settlement was made at a number of other points. Some of the employes at the agency did, however, at an early date acquire a permanent residence in the county. Among these were Robert A. Wilson, who with his brother, William Wilson, came to the agency in 1855, and erected and took charge of the steam saw mill. They remained in charge of this property as millers and engineers till 1859, when both returned to Iowa. Robert A. Wilson married there and in 1861 he returned to Gage county, where he has ever since resided in Blue Springs. A more extended notice of him will be found later on in this work, in the article entitled "Blue Springs." Another of the Indian employes in an early day was Jacob Shaw. Mr. Shaw and his wife came to the Otoe agency with their only son, John Shaw, now connected with Klein's Mercantile Company, of Beatrice, in 1859, and was the government blacksmith for the Indians until about the year 1865, when he removed to Beatrice, where he and his wife and son became highly respected and prominent citizens. Mr. Shaw passed

About the time the Indians were removed from Nebraska City to their new reservation, a young- man by the name of David Pahner came to the county as an employe of Gideon Bennett at the latter's trading post on Cub creek. Just when he acquired an actual and permanent residence in the county does not seem to be settled beyond a doubt. It is cer- ' tain, however, that he remained in the county from about 1855 until his death, residing during the latter part of his life on a farm owned by him in the neighborhood of Liberty. While living there he was drowned June 26, 1876, in the Big Blue river, near the Otoe and Missouri Indian village. His descendants still live in Barneston and Liberty townships. They are William Palmer, a son, of Liberty; Mrs. Flora McFarland and Mrs. Fannie Evans, daughters, of Barneston. It is to be regretted that a more authentic record of David Palmer cannot be obtained for the purposes of this history.

If we can look to neither Agents Heppner nor Dennison nor to the employes of the government about the Indian agency, nor to Gideon Bennett, nor to David Palmer, as the first white settler in Gage county, that question must be determined by considering other portions of the county.

The evidence is conclusive that white men in considerable numbers came into the county in the spring of 1857 In March of that year, in old Clay county, a lone white man is said to have stretched a piece of bark between two saplings on which was written this scrap of information : "John O. Adams claims this tract of land this 30th of March, 1857." Under the doctrine of squatter sovereignty as then applied to the preemption laws of the country, this simple act was sufficient probably to constitute a settlement upon the public domain, if followed within four months with substantial improvements and actual occupancy. After selecting this tract of land, Mr. Adams returned to Holt county, Missouri, where he spent the winter of 1856-1857, and in the following April he moved with his family upon his claim, a part of which now constitutes the townsite of the village of Adams. Having erected a small hewed-log house on his land, he, on May 17, 1857, occupied it as a residence and on the same day began breaking up the virgin soil and planting a crop of sod corn. It can hardly be questioned that his is the first claim located, his the first cabin erected (the cabin at Bennett's trading post excepted), and his the first furrows drawn within the present boundaries of Gage county - all this, even though we may concede to David Palmer the honor of being the first bona fide white settler of our county. In addition to himself and wife Mr. Adams's family consisted of seven children. They were Nelson, Nancy, Isaac, John Quincy, Leander,f: Naomi, and Myanna. Mr. Adams was born in New Jersey, in 1807, he married Miss Letitia Harris, a native of Kentucky, born in 1812, and removed from Kentucky to Missouri in the fall of 1856, with an ox team. He acquired a large tract of land in Adams township, and several of his children were old enough to avail themselves of the benefit oi the homestead law. His wife passed av.'ay at the age of fifty-five years and his own death occurred December 24, 1867. None of his children survive except Nelson and Naomi, who reside in the town of Adams. To this sterling pioneer a special memoir is dedicated in the biographical department of this volume. Shortly after his arrival Mr. Adams was joined by John Stafford, H. Reynolds and brother, Charles Hickock, and Henry Golden; and in July, 1857, Stephen P. Shaw and his wife, Anna Hicks Shaw, with their sons, William, Egbert, John B., James I., and Stephen V Shaw, with their families, and James and William P. Silvernail, sons-in-law, with their families, settled along the Big Nemaha river, in Adams township, all neighbors of John 0. Adams. The Shaws were natives of the state of New York, migrated from that state to Wisconsin in 1850, and from there to Nebraska, leaving Wisconsin March 6th, with six lumber wagons drawn by eight yoke of oxen, and arriving in Nebraska July 6, 1857. In November of that year this small colony was augmented by George Gale, John Ivyons, and George Noxon, who also were sons-in-law of Stephen P. Shaw. And in the same year Jacob and John Hildebrand, George Drown, William Curtis, and H. C. Barmore arrived to swell the number of this little colony of progressive citizens. All these early pioneers settled in Adams township. Some are still living, among them John B., James I., and

Pickrell, and began the erection of a log cabin on his claim. He and Pethoud were found at this work on the 15th day of May, 1857, by Jefferson B. Weston, Bennett Pike, M. W. Ross, and Harrison F. Cook, members of the locating committee of the Nebraska Association, on their way to Omaha to report to the remainder of the association the selection of the original townsite of Beatrice by this corn-

Stephen V. Shaw. Alfred Gale, who was also a pioneer of 1857 in Adams township, and who maintained a continuous residence in that township until recently, is spending the closing years of his life in University Place, this state.

At almost the same time that John O. Adams entered the boundaries of old Clay county, John Pethoud, head of the well known pioneer family of that name, came with his friend Edward C. Austin to that county. Austin settled on Stevens (now Indian) creek, in the immediate neighborhood of the village of

John Pethoud also drew after him a considerable following of relatives and friends, who settled in Midland, Logan, and Hanover townships, along Indian, Pierce, and Bear creeks, on the south side of the Clay county line. Amongst these were his married sons, John, Thomas, and Frankhn M., with their families, and his sons, Andrew J. and James K. P. Pethoud. Soon afterward he was joined by his sons-in-law, Samuel Jones, the father of William R. Jones and Mrs. Sarah Drew of Beatrice, and John Wilson and Marvin Thompson. About the same time, as previously noted, Edward C. Austin and two brothers, with Fordyce Roper, H. W. Parker, Orrin Stevens, and a few others settled in Clay county, around Austin's mill, near the present site of Pickrell. These pioneer families were soon joined by Ira Dixon and family, Joseph Proud, Thomas Sherrill and family, M. C. Kelly, J. H. Butler, and H. J. Pierce, for whom Pierce creek was named.

In 18S8 and 1859 settlements were made in the western part of the county, along Cub creek, by Samuel Kilpatrick and his wife, Rachael, parents of John David and Henry Kilpatrick, both deceased, and the well known railroad contractors, capitalists, farmers, and stock-raisers, William H. Kilpatrick, Robert J. Kilpatrick, Samuel Davenport Kilpatrick, and Joseph M. Kilpatrick. About the same time, down the creek toward Beatrice from Samuel Kilpatrick's homestead, Leander Coffin, Thomas and Joseph Clyne and their mother, Elizabeth Clyne, Andrew Dean, a large family by the name of Wells, Asa F. Bailey, George Whittemore, Joseph Graff, William Blakely, Frederick Elwood, Jonathan Potts, and another man of the same surname, located claims along Cub creek or its vicinity.

Early settlements were made also along the Big Blue river, and the Mud and Cedar creeks, in Rockford township. The first settler in this township, as far as known, was James B. Mattingley, with his wife and two children. Mattingley located on lower Mud creek, in Section 33, in May, 1857. In 1858 the C. C. (Coffin) Berry family located a mile west of Mattingley's, on the Big Blue river, in Section 33 of Rockford township. In the spring of 1858 Edward Woolridge and wife, Leonard Wilson, wife and child, George W. Stark, and Solon M. Hazen located on preemption claims in the central part of the township. They each broke out a few acres of prairie and planted a crop of sod corn. Woolridge, Wilson, and Stark built cabins on their claims and remained until their corn had ripened. This was gathered and stored in their cabins. Leonard Wilson's child died in the autumn of

1858, its little grave being the first grave in Rockford township and the beginning of what is known as the Stark cemetery. In August, 1858, Fidillo H. Dobbs located a preemption claim in the same neighborhood. All these settlers returned to Missouri river points to spend the winter. In the spring of 1859 the Woolridges, Pottertons, Hazen, and Stark returned to their claims ; the Wilsons never came back. Fidillo H. Dobbs moved . his family, consisting of his wife and six children, to his claim March 13, 1859. The same year Jacob Schullenberger and family, Henry Schullenberger, wife and children, Philip B. Coffee and family, Robert Breese, John Tidier, John H. Dunn, and James W. Dunn established their permanent residence in Rockford and Filley townships along Mud creek. In 1861 these settlers were joined by William E. Mudge and family and Joseph Milligan and his wife Sally; and within the same year the Hollingsworth, Shelley, and Wild families, consisting of about twenty-five persons, settled in the neighborhood of Holmesville, along Cedar creek and the Big Blue river. They were English, were all related, and proved a Welcome and valuable addition to the population of Gage county.

On the Big Blue river north of Beatrice, in Grant and Blakely townships, the first settlers were John Barrett, George Grant, and Charles Buss, about 1859. They were soon joined by a strong English colony of which the prominent members were Richard Rossiter and family, William and James Plucknett, Robert Nicholas, Richard Dibble and families. These were afterward joined by the Kinsies, two brothers, Joseph Roper and Frederick B. Roper, and members of the Quackenbush family and others.

In the southeast corner of the county settlement was made in 1859 along Plum and Wolf creeks and their tributaries, by James L. Ayers, Jonathan Sharp, Nathaniel D. Cain, Stephen B. Evans, John Palmer, Frederick Fisher, Peter Buckles, Tipton Marion, Frederick Wymore^ and others. tlement was made also in the neighborhood of Blue Springs. The first settlers of whom we have any account in that locality were James H. Johnson and his family, consisting of his wife, Martha M. Johnson, his young daughters, Mary and Martha, and his sons, Thomas, Allen, James, and Richard. Allen, a boy ten years of age, was drowned in the Big Blue river shortly after the arrival of this family on their claim, a mile and a half northeast of Blue Springs. His death was the first to occur in Blue Springs township of which we have any record. The Johnson family was accompanied in its migration by the Elliott family, which, besides Martin Elliott, the head

An interesting incident in the early settlement of Gage county is the fact that the first homestead entry under the homestead act of 1863 was made by a citizen of this county, Daniel Freeman, long a resident of Blakely township, where his homestead is located.

He had entered the service of the United States as a private in the Sixteenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry at the breaking out of the Civil war, in 1861. Shortly afterward he was transferred to the secret service of the United States, in which he continued until the close of the war, rendering almost invaluable ser- of this pioneer family, his wife and some minor children, included his adult married sons with their families - Williams, Stephen, and Henry Elliott. With the Elliotts was also a related family named Hevener. In 1858-1859, these pioneers were joined by Rankin Johnson and family, Patrick R. Gary, a son-in-law of Johnson's, and by Jacob Poff, Reuyl Noyes, Joseph Chambers, Samuel Shaw, Rebecca Woodward, F. M. Gratiam, William B. Tyler, Wright Sargent and his wife, True Sargent, and Herbert Viney and wife; and in 1860-1861, Thomas Armstrong and family, George Diesert, Dr. J. M. Summers, and his son-in-law, James B. Maxfield, who afterwards became distinguished as a presiding elder in the Methodist Episcopal church in Nebraska. Robert A. Wilson, Dr. Levi Anthony, Lynus Knight, and King Fisher also settled in Blue Springs or in that neighborhood. The individual histories of some of these settlers will be found later on in vices to the military department at Washington. In 1862 he was detailed for duty in the territory of Nebraska, and while here he visited the village of Beatrice and located a claim, in Section 26, township 4, range 5 of this county. He erected thereon a log cabin, and he moved his family to his claim prior to the first of January, 1863.

On the last day of December, 1862, Mr. Freeman appeared at Brownville for the purpose of availing himself of the benefit of the new homestead act, which went into effect at midnight, December 31, 1862. Mr. Freeman knew of the provisions of the homestead act but had no conscious intent of being the first man to profit by it. He had been ordered to report for service in one of the military departments of the country and was anxious to be away. That night he attended a dance at Brownville, and, becoming acquainted with one of the employes of the government land of- fice, he apprised him of the fact that he desired to make homestead entry of his claim in Gage county. This accommodating official immediately after twelve o'clock, on January 1, 1863, accompanied Mr. Freeman to the land office and prepared his application for homestead entry covering the south half of the northwest quarter, the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter,, and the southwest quarter of the northeast quarter of section 26, township 4, range 5, Gage county, Nebraska, and when the land office opened in" the morning for business, Mr. Freeman's entry was allowed as the first under the homestead act - this notwithstanding the presence of a large number of other applicants, including Samuel Kilpatrick, who were awaiting opportunity to enter land under the new homestead act. Hon. Galusha A. Grow, the author of the free-homestead law, speaking years afterward in congress upon the beneficence of this act, among other things, said:

There are two interesting incidents connected with the final passage of the original freehomestead bill. First, it took effect on the day of Lincoln's emancipation proclamation. Second, the first settler under the homestead bill, which provided free homes for free men, was named Freeman. Daniel Freeman, of Beatrice, Gage county, Nebraska, was a Union soldier, home on a furlough which would expire on the 2d or 3d day of January, 1863. At a little past midnight on the 1st day of January, 1863, he made his entry in the land office of his district, and left his home the same day to take his place again in the ranks on the tented fields. His entry was number one, his proof of residence was number one, his patent was number one, recorded on page one of book one of the land office of the United States. The first settler under this law was a Freeman, and I trust that the last of its beneficiaries in the long coming years of the future will be a free man.

Daniel Freeman was of the sturdiest kind of New England stock. His ancestors almost from the beginning of this country have been prominent and influential citizens of their communities. Many of them, including his great-, grandfather, had fought in the Revolutionary;! war as well as in the war of 1812 and the In-; dian wars of the country. He himself possessed many admirable and heroic qualities. The last visit paid to him by the author of this volume some time before his death was at his home on the old homestead. He was ill, suffering from ailments from which he never recovered. Lying on his couch, he discoursell eloquently about his family history and pointed out upon the walls of his room and in its corners, many relics of Revolutionary days, among them his great-grandfather's flintlocfe musket, carried in some of the first battles for liberty in Massachusetts.

Mr. Freeman was born in Ohio in 1826, and was taken by his parents to Knox county, Illinois, in 1835. In 1847 he began the study of medicine, at Peoria, Illinois. Two years later he graduated from the Electric Medical Institute at Cincinnati, and he began the practice of his profession at Ottawa, Illinois, the same year. But the great Civil war drew him into its maelstrom in 1861, and after its close, in 1865, he found occupation in the simple; uneventful life of a farmer. He served his country as sheriflf in 1869-1870; he was for many years justice of the peace of his township, and he held other minor civil offices. Of this honored pioneer further mention is made in the biographical department of this work.