Hall County, Nebraska - Chapter 10: Hall County's Part in State and Federal Government, 1920

Chapter 10: Hall County's Part in State and Federal Government

Hall County's Part in Early State Government - Sixth Legislature --- Judge Augustus Hall - First Statehood Election - Representation in State Senate - Members in State House of Representatives - Constitutional Conventions - Constitutional Conventions of 71-75, by O. A. Abbott, Sr. - Governor John M. Thayer - Lieutenant Governor O. A. Abbott, Sr. - State Treasurer Henry A. Koenig - State Auditors John Wallichs and Silas R. Barton - -Secretaries of State - Supreme Court Justice Harrison - Commissioner GlanvillE - The State Soldiers' and Sailors' Home - Part in the Federal Government - Postmasters - Grand Island Land Office - Other Federal Officers

Hall County has played no small part in the matter of furnishing men and support for the government of the commonwealth of Nebraska, and able servants for the functions assigned by the federal government to this part of the state.

In the territorial government Hall County played no very important part. During Governor Burt's administration, HaH County was not yet settled by white pioneers. It was during the administration of the territory's second governor that the original colony of 1857 arrived at Grand Island. The third governor, William A. Richardson, resigned December 5, 1858, and but a few days later Secretary J. Sterling Morton, acting as governor, signed the papers giving legal form to the organization of Hall County. Hall County had no representation, of course, in the first five territorial legislatures, convened in the years 1855, 1857, and extra session (fifth session) in 1858.

The fourth territorial auditor of Nebraska was Robert C. Jordon, whose term of office began August 2, 1858, and that of his successor, William E. Harvey, began October 8, 1861. Hall County lays no claim to having furnished Nebraska her fourth territorial auditor. In fact it was not until July, 1870, that the arrival of Robert C. Jordon brought him into the history of Hall County as a part of its development. But Hall County can lay some claim to the man who was the Master of the first Masonic lodge in Hall County, first Senior Warden of the Episcopal church, manager of the famous O. K. store for some years and in every activity a factor such that his name is sprinkled through the various chapters of this history.

Hall County had not been organized very long before it began to take some part in the political affairs of the state. The first territorial Democratic ticket put forth to the voters of Nebraska was nominated by a convention held at Plattsmouth August 18, 1859. Hall and Monroe counties were represented in this convention by Dr. Charles A. Henry.

The chief interest in the convention centered in the noriiination of a candidate for delegate for Congress. Dr. George L. IMiller of Douglas, of fame in Nebraska as a builder of the Omaha JVorld-Herald, and chief orator of the day upon the occasion when Hall County celebrated her fiftieth anniversary in 1907, started out on the first fornial ballot with 22 ballots. But he lost this lead on the fifth ballot and on the tenth ballot General Experience Estabrook won. Dr. Henry was placed on the territorial central committee formed by this convention to represent Monroe and Hall counties. This convention renominated Robert C. Jordon for state auditor.

The first Republican territorial convention met in the school house at Bellvue on August 24, 1859. This convention on its tenth ballot nominated Samuel G. Daily for delegate to Congress. But one of its candidates is also interesting to Hall County, in the retrospective. John M. Thayer, afterwards elected governor of the state as a resident of Hall County, started out in second place, on the fourth ballot was within one vote of Daily and wound up in second place.

The territorial board of canvassers of the election consisted of Governor Black, Chief Justice Hall and U. S. Attorney Leavitt L. Brown. Before this election was settled a controversy arose in which Hall County became a very important factor. Estabrook appeared to have the first advantage of the court. Daily later demanded a certificate of election on the ground that the 292 votes of Buffalo County, all returned for Estabrook, were invalid because that county had never been organized. The committee in Congress which acted upon the controversy eventually found that Buflfalo County had not been organized and that the election was therefore invalid; that 238 of the 292 votes returned were cast, if at all, at Kearney City, situated on the south side of the Platte River, which stream was the southern boundary of the county as defined by the act of the legislature authorizing its organization, and that "the proof is that there are not over eight houses and not exceeding fifteen residents at Kearnney City." Votes from various other counties also figured in the matter and finally Daily won the seat in Congress as the fifth representative from the territory of Nebraska.

The writer of that part of the state history in which this Daily-Estabrook contest is discussed has remarked: "The committee on elections were no doubt technically right in finding that the attempt of Governor Black to organize Buffalo County by appointing the county officers himself was invalid, but since it appears by their finding that there had been an informal election of the officers, it may be inferred that the wish of the committee stood in close relationship to their thought. A legally formal election on the Nebraska frontier in the 50's was about as rare and impracticable as a social function with Parisian manners in the same region.* The act (approved November 4, 1858) creating Hall County specifically authorized the governor to appoint the first county officers, and Black, without authority, seems to have imitated the like action of Acting Governor Morton a few months before." The Omalia Nebraskan, quoted in Nebraska City Nezvs, January 1, 1859, discussed the organization of Hall County:

The legislature at the last session passed an act to organize the county of Hall, and Hon. J. Sterling Morton, acting governor, has judiciously appointed and commissioned the following officers for said county: Probate judge, Richard C. Barnard; sheriff, Hermann Vasold ; recorder, Theodore F. Nagel ; treasurer, Joshua Smith ; justices of the peace, William A. Hagge, Isaac Thomas ; constables, Christian Menck ; county commissioners, Frederick Hedde, Daniel B. Crocker, Hans Vieregg. The name of "Hall" was given to i this county as a compliment to Chief Justice Hall.

It might be interesting to divert from the general theme of this chapter to continue the quotations from the above named journal and see what the press in the east end of the state had to say about Grand Island and Hall County early in 1859:

Grand Island is the county seat of Hall County and is situated forty miles west of Columbus.' It is the extreme western settlement of Nebraska and is surrounded by a thrifty, intelligent farming population. Teh country about it is upland bottom, very fertile, and timbered and watered. Grand Island itself is seventy-five miles in length, and averages four miles in width, being heavily timbered with oak, hickory, cottonwood, and red cedar.

In The Sixth Legislature

1 As the distance from Columbus to Grand Island is 62 miles this is once the press ran a reverse lever on exaggeration so often attributed to it.

convened December 5, 1859, Monroe and Hall counties were represented by Richard C. Barnard of Hall County. Mr. Barnard was surveyor for and one of the leading members of the original colony that settled in Hall County in 1857. He was the first probate judge appointed for the county, succeeded in 1859 by Frederick Hedde. He was county surveyor after he served in this session of the legislature and first postmaster commissioned for the new postoffice at Grand Island, when it was established in 1859. Mr. Barnard's seat was unsuccessfully contested by Leander Gerrard, of Columbus, who afterwards became well known in the state through his long incumbency as president of the Columbus State Bank. Mr. Gerrard was a lawyer and at one time a member of the firm of Whittemore, Gerrard & Post, at Columbus. He had assisted in organizing the Republican party in Nebraska and been its candidate for the legislature in 1859 in this new district. To show the development of the state as it was extending past Hall County, it might be remarked that this first legislature in which Hall County had a representative authorized the organization of Dawson, Kearney, Morton, Nuckolls, Shorter (which embraced all that territory now in Phelps, Harlan, Gosper, Frontier, Red Willow and part of Lincoln south of Platte river, and afterwards named Lincoln county). West and Wilson counties. Morton, West, and Wilson counties never materialized into "going concerns."

Judge Augustus Hall

Without attempting to settle, in this work, which is the correct theory, whether Hall County was named in honor of Augustus Hall, chief justice of the territory at the time of the organization of the county, or in Ihonor of a local citizen, a partner in business ,of W. M. Spiker, one of the early sheriiifs in religion, and in comfortable financial circumstances. Augustus Hall graduated from the academy at Middleburg, New York, in the early 30's, studied law with Phineas L. Tracy at Batavia for two years and completed his studies at Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, where he was admitted and began the practice of his profession and was subsequently county attorney. From Ohio he went to Van Buren County, Iowa, where he practiced until 1854 when he served two terms in Congress. In January, 1858, he was appointed by President Buchanan chief justice of the territory of Nebraska, and removed immediately to Bellevue, where he resided and performed the duties of his office until his death in 1861. His only son, Richard Smith Hall, became a very distinguished member of the Nebraska bar, and at one time the law partner of U. S. Senator John M. Thurston. Augustus Hall was a charter member of the first lodge of Free Masons instituted in Nebraska, known as Nebraska Lodge No. 1 at Bellevue, later removed (1888) to Omaha.

In the election on the question of statehood held on March 5, 1860, 2,372 votes were cast against and 2,094 for state government. In this election Hall County cast 12 votes for and 13 against the proposition. As delegates to the constitutional convention, which therefore never materialized, Platte, Monroe, and Hall counties chose John Reck and Charles H. Whaley, Republicans. It may be remarked at this point that Monroe County, which had theretofore been Hall County's partner in various ' representations, was merged with Platte County by legislative act of January 12, 1860. The representative from Monroe and Hall counties for the seventh legislative session was Frederick Hedde, of Hall County. In the eighth legislature, which convened in December, 1861, and extended but ten days into the next year, Enos Beall represented Hall, and its mate, Monroe, counties. During this session the counties of Buffalo, Hall, Kearney, and Lincoln were constituted a new representative district. In the succeeding (ninth) legislature, Frederick Hedde, of Hall County, became the first representative from that new district. This legislature met from January 7 to February 15, 1864. An act was passed by Congress on April 19, 1864, in response to a memorial of the territorial Nebraska legislature, authorizing the governor to call an election for members of a constitutional convention on June 6 This convention met in Omaha, the territorial capital, on July 4th. Hall, Platte, and adjoining counties were represented by Isaac Albertson. Mr. Albertson is credited with having started and named the town of Buchanan, afterwards absorbed, "name and all," by Schuyler. Douglas County preferred the territorial status to risking capital removal that statehood might entail, and as all of the South Platte counties except Richardson joined in the proposition lost. In the election of 1864 for delegates to Congress, Hall County cast 59 votes for Phineas W. Hitchcock, Union Republican candidate (father of Senator G. M. Hitchcock, now representing Nebraska in the United States Senate), and 17 votes for Dr. Geo. L. Miller, Democratic candidate.

By the time the tenth territoral legislature convened in January, 1865, Hall County had attained representation in the council of the upper house of the territorial assembly. Her first representative, with the other counties of the fifth district, Platte, Monroe, Buffalo, Kearney, and Lincoln, was Isaac Albertson, who also continued in the eleventh legislature to represent this district. In the tenth legislature, Hall, Platte, Buffalo, and Merrick counties were represented in the lower house by Frederick Evans. In the eleventh territorial legislature, which convened January 4, 1866, and in the twelfth (last) legislature, which convened January 10, 1867, John Wallichs of Hall represented Hall, Buffalo, Platte, and Merrick counties. The representative of the fifth district, including Hall, in the upper house or council of the last legislature was F. K. Freeman.

auditor and treasurer, Hall was one of five counties that did not cast a single Democratic vote - these counties being Cuming, Hall, Merrick, Pawnee, and Seward. Hall County's vote for each Republican candidate was 67. The Eleventh legislature, of which John Wallichs was a member, met the important question of statehood again. A constitution was prepared which afterwards proved very unsatisfactory and somewhat of a burden. But the work of this legislature at least paved the way for ultimate statehood. The political conventions of 1866 were rather important, owing to the heated condition of campaign matters then. Charles H. Whaley represented the float district of Platte, Hall, Buffalo, and Merrick counties at the Republican or Union territorial convention. The counties of Platte, Buffalo, Hall, Monroe, Merrick, and Kearney and Lincoln counties were represented at the Democratic territorial convention at Nebraska City by our neighbor from Buffalo County, J. E. Boyd, afterwards elected governor of the state. At the election held June 2, 1866, Hall County's vote was cast as follows : For constitution 2, against, 29 ; for Butler, for governor (successful candidate) 10, Morton, 27. Though Hall County stood for Morton for governor in June, at the fall election when he ran against Marquette for delegate in Congress, she cast 46 votes for Marquette and none for Morton, but consistently gave Taffe for Congressman the same 46 against his opponent Paddock.

Representation In The Senate

During the early sessions of the state legislature. Hall County was part of a senatorial district comprising Platte, Merrick, Hall, Buffalo, Kearney, and Lincoln counties. Not until the sixth session did Hall County gain a state senator. From then on she held her own to the extent of furnishing the successful candidate ten times in sixteen terms, but in the last six terms has only had the senator twice.

Co.) 1919 - Thos. E. Bradstreet, Grand Island. During the very first sessions Hall County had to share her representation in the lower house of the legislature with other counties, and during the first nine sessions had only one representative. Since 1883 she has had two members in each session and been entitled to elect both of them from her own borders. Those who have served as representatives for Hall County in the lower house of the state legislature have been :

John McLellan, Grand Island. In various sessions W. H. Harrison was president of the senate, Geo. L. Rouse was speaker of the house, and H. A. Edwards was clerk of the senate.

Constitutional Conventions

In the constitutional convention of 1871 Hall County was ably represented by O. A. Abbott, Sr., and Geo. H. Thummel. With perhaps one exception, Mr. Abbott and Mr. Thummel are the only survivors of the membership of that convention. Mr. Abbott is the only surviving member of the group of eight who served in both the constitiutional conventions of 1871 and 1875. On the vote of the constitution submitted by the convention of 1871, Hall County voted 90 for and 91 contra. As an enlightening discussion of the conditions that surrounded the making of constitutions in those days, the following article written in 1907 by Goveronr Abbott is not out of place at this point:

First Convention

Without pretending to exact historical knowledge it is at least ^probable that no other state ever voted on two different constitutions within so short a period as five years, but affairs in the state under the constitution of 1867 had grown intolerable. The Union Pacific was building, but no other rail had been laid. When the first constitution was adopted the population of the state was almost wholly confined to the river counties. In 71 the Burlington had been completed to Kearney. The old Midland Pacific had also reached Lincoln and the Omaha Southwestern was extended to the Platte River. Settlers were pouring into the state. The sod house was the prevailing type of residential architecture. The judges of the district court - three only - also sat together as judges of the supreme court and received only $1,000 each per annum for their services, and other state officers, from the governor down, the same.

Out of this condition of things grew the pass system. The railroad was as anxious for good government as any citizen; and, like all citizens of new communities, was willing to help where it could, and it gave all public officers passes. Had the practice stopped there, it is doubtful if it would have provoked the storm of protests that later swept the state and made a pass so obnoxious that the legislature undertook to prevent

The state institutions were managed by boards, each institution under a separate board. There was no control and corruption was charged and generally believed.

wards rose to high places in the state and national history - Manderson, Strickland, Weaver, Boyd, Laird, Munger, Maxwell, Mason, Van Wyck, Wakeley, Robinson, Esterbrook, and other names are well remembered ones. The people of the state had suffered at the hands of irresponsible banks and corporations, not because they were monopolistic or oppressive but because they were irresponsible - unable to fulfill their obligations.

the debts of the corporations. This alone might not have been sufficient to compass its defeat but it furnished the sinews of war to defeat it on the open ground of church and taxation. The Methodist conference sent a committee before the convention to advocate the taxation of all church property in excess of $5,000. The corporation used this clause as a pretext and at least one of the members of the committee that urged the adoption of the taxation clause worked vigorously to defeat the constitution. Large posters were put up opposing the adoption, one of which bore the heading : "To your tents, O Israel ! The enemy is upon you."

In the second convention of '75 the same spirit of rigid economy prevailed. The necessity which an increase of business forced onto the officers led to some remarkable decisions from the courts - among them that a stenographer was not a clerk - and called for the general comment from the bar that "necessity knows no law." Church taxation was excluded by the constitutional limitations on corporations, while leaving out the clause that called down defeat upon the constitution of 1871, was perhaps the most conservative of the right of state control of any in the whole union, and has resulted in sending many of the larger corporations to New Jersey for corporate charters. It may be this constitution would have been defeated but for the separate article fixing the seat of government at Lincoln until removed by a vote of the people. The southeast portion of the state cast their votes solidly for the whole instrument in order to save that special provision.

Among the hardest struggles was the provision safe-guarding the school funds of the state. The wisdom of that struggle is now apparent and in a few years Nebraska will be able to educate its children out of the income from the lands donated to it for such purpose from the general government.

It was clearly unwise to take from future legislatures the power to adjust the salaries of public officers. It was the spirit of economy that prompted that. All that was necessary for any one to say was "The majority of our people are living in sod houses , they will again defeat the constitution regardless of the state's future necessities." So today this magnificent state pays its governor and treasurer less than one-half of what the banks in the state pay their cashiers, and pays its judges less than one-half the salary paid by the monied corporations to their leading at- torneys. And, at present, the legislature is powerless to protect the state by placing its officers in a situation that ensures them against actual loss while devoting their talents to its service.

Many of the provisions of the constitution are most desirable, especially the article on corporations and the provisions against special legislation. Under the old constitution ever>' town and village in the state was incorporated under special charters. Special acts laying out roads, locating county seats, and granting authority to private corporations by special acts crowded the pages of the session laws and these wholesome provisions will doubtless be retained in any new constitution that may be submitted to the people ; and that a new one will have to be provided in the near future becomes every day more apparent.

State Officers

STATE OFFICERS Hall County has been unusually fortunate in the matter of having numerous citizens from her fold chosen for state offices in the commonwealth of Nebraska.

A great many counties in the state have never had the honor of furnishing the state a governor. John Milton Thayer served both as United States senator and governor, and had also led the First Nebraska Regiment into the service of its country in the War of the RebeUion. Governor Thayer was ,bom in Bellingham, Massachusetts, January 24, 1820, the son of Captain Elias and Ruth (Staples) Thayer. He was raised on the farm, taught school when a young man, attended Brown University, graduating in 1841. He studied law under Isaac Davis at Worcester, Massachusetts. In 1854 he moved to Omaha where he was admitted to the bar, but did not practice. He. engaged in farming. The first territorial legislature commissioned him brigadier general in command of forces raised to conduct a defense against the Indians, who were then very troublesome. The next legislature made him major-general of the two divisions formed for this service. For six years he carried on this service of protecting the pioneer residents of the state. Twice he had to conduct campaigns against the Pawnees, the last time on the Elkhorn in 1859, when he rounded the Indians up and settled the questions of further Pawnee scares. At the beginning of the Civil War General Thayer applied to the secretary of war and asked for a regiment to be assigned to Nebraska. Upon the granting of that request, he raised a regiment of 1,000 men in a new territory which had only shown a population of 28,841 in 1860. Commissioned as Colonel of the 1st Nebraska Regiment, he immediately reported to General Fremont, in St. Louis. He was made brigadier-general for services in the battles of Donaldson and Shiloh, and later was made major-general by brevet. He had various other commands through the war, and at the close of the war returned to Nebraska. He was a member of the first constitutional convention. He was one of the first United States senators from Nebraska, chosen in 1867 and serving for four years. In 1875, General Grant, then President, with whom General Thayer had formed a very cordial friendship, appointed him governor of the territory of Wyoming, which position he occupied for three years and nine months.

While he was residing in Hall County, in 1886, General Thayer was elected governor of Nebraska. He served two full terms. After the election of 1890 the discovery was made that James E. Boyd, who had been elected governor on the Democratic ticket, was of foreign birth and had come with his father to Nebraska as a minor, and it was contended that as neither his father nor he had taken out naturalization papers, he was not eligible to occupy the office. Governor Thayer, acting upon legal advice, declined to turn the office over to Boyd, and claimed to be governor de facto and de jure until a successor was elected and duly qualified. On trial upon a writ of ouster the supreme court of the state upheld Governor Thayer's contention. Upon appeal of the case to the federal supreme court that body reversed the state court's decision, and in accordance therewith Governor Thayer turned over the office to Governor Boyd. This controversy was of peculiar interest to Hall County inasmuch as Governor Thayer had been elected from this county, and Governor Boyd had been a resident of Buffalo County, just across the west line from Hall, and the "Jim Boyd" ranch is almost as much a part of the early history of Hall as of Buffalo County.

in September, 1892, at which time General Thayer retired to private life and devoted himself to literary pursuits. In 1879 he was elected department commander of the G. A. R. of Nebraska. He died March 19, 1906.

Lieutenant Governor O. A. Abbott, Sr

Hall County possesses the distinction of having furnished to the state its first lieutenant-governor, O. A. Abbott. Mr. Abbott had already served in both the constitutional conventions of 1871 and 1875 and was fairly well grounded in the fundamental law of the state. He was one of the small body of men who took the final burden of framing the 1875 constitution in the form it emerged from the convention. As Governor Garber was absent from the state quite a good deal, Lieutenant-Governor Abbott was acting governor of the state during his term even more than the lieutenant-governor usually is called upon to act. In that way the title of Governor fastened upon him, and now forty years after his term of service he is always spoken of as "Governor Abbott." Arriving here in 1867, Governor Abbott was the only resident member of the Hall County bar when the first district court was held for Hall County in 1868, and after fifty-two years of practice of law in this county he is still hale, hearty, and active in his practice. A more extensive biography of Governor Abbott appears elsewhere in this volume.

State Treasurer Henry A. Koenig

Hall County furnished the state her third state treasurer (1871-1875). Henry Arnold Koenig was born in Gutersloh, Westphalen, Prussia, May 3, 1836. His father's people were mercantile and manufacturinyg people and his mother's family (the Zimwinkels) were identified with the pork packing interests of Westphalen. He grew to manhood in his native land, graduated from the educational institution at sixteen years of age, spent four years as clerk in Arnsberg, then three years as bookkeeper in an uncle's pork-packing establishment, and one year in the regular army. In 1859 he joined an elder brother, who had been living at Omaha, Nebraska, but who was home on a visit. He came to Omaha and was clerking there when he enlisted in Company B, First Nebraska Volunteer Infantry. He was on duty until the fall of Fort Donelson, when he was discharged for disability and returned to Omaha. In 1863 he became associated with Fred A. Wiebe in the general mercantile business in Denver, Colorado. He sold out there and returned to Omaha, but almost immediately came to Grand Island and opened up a mercantile establishment, the well-known "O. K. Store." During the construction of the Union Pacific railroad he was general contractor in railroad ties, furnished supplies, kept a state station and telegraph office for the Western Union Telegraph company. Mr. Koenig and his partner built the first saw-mill in Grand Island, and in 1867 attached a grist mill. They opened up a lumber yard, which can trace its succession down to the present day. They started a general banking business early in their business ventures, but in 1871 it had grown extensive enough so that they opened the State Central bank, later known as the Citizens' State bank, of which Mr. Koenig became president. In 1887 the United States Investment Company was founded, and when the street railway was started, Mr. Koenig became its president. Mr. Koenig was an active spirit in promoting the first steps of the beet sugar industry in Hall County. He served the county as county treasurer several terms.

Silas R. Barton

John Wallichs served as state auditor from November 12, 1880, until January 8, 1885. Mr. Wallichs had served Hall County in the last territorial legislatures, and was the first clerk of the district court of Hall County, when that office came into existence, by virtue of being county clerk at that time.

been Grand Recorder of the A. O. U. W. for a number of years prior to his election to the state office. Mr. Barton was later elected to Congress in 1913. He served efficiently one term, and was the nominee of his party at the election in 1916, but was suddenly stricken and died on election day.

Secretaries Of State

Hall County has never furnished the state with a secretary of state. But nevertheless we have a peculiar interest in two of the men who have been elected to this office.

Hon. Addison Wait, who was elected from Syracuse in 1911 and served two terms in that office, is now a resident of Hall County. He was appointed in 1918 to the position of adjutant at the Soldiers' and Sailors' Home at Burkett, and is now in active charge of the home as commandant of the institution in which he took a special interest during his four years membership on various state boards.

Hon. Darius M. Amsberry, the present secretary of state, was elected in 1918 from Custer County, where he has resided for a great many years. But forty years ago Mr. Amsberry was residing in Washington township, and about that time was teaching in the second school house in District Number One

Supreme Court Justice

One member of the Hall County bar after serving as county judge for Hall County and district judge for the judicial district to which this county was then attached, was elevated to the position of justice of the supreme court, and served also as chief justice of the supreme court. Judge T. O. C. Harrison was the jurist who thus carried the honor of Hall into the highest court of the state, and rendered a very creditable record for both himself and the county of which he was a part for so many years.

In 1884 the bill providing for the establishment of a soldiers home was passed. The first meeting to secure the location of the home for Grand Island was held in September, 1884, George Cornelius presiding, with S. P. Mobley as secretary. J. O. West and Rev-. P. C. Johnson, with Col. Leib and Rev. Williams as alternates, were a local committee appointed to wait upon the commissioners at Dayton, Ohio, and Gen. John M. Thayer was invited to accompany them. They were authoriezd to offer 320 acres for a site. In April, 1887, the home was located three miles north of Grand Island on lands purchased by the citizens. The sum of $22,000 of the $25,600 paid for the land involved was contributed within thirty-six hours by citizens. The state appropriated $30,000. Charles Rief was one of the representatives and the other was Samuel N. Wolbach, state senator from this district, and both were untiring workers to secure this state institution for Grand Island. The corner-stone was placed October 20, 1887, by Governor Thayer, and a gala day was enjoyed by the community and the entire country for miles around. The building was dedicated June 26, 1888. The first visiting and examining board of the Soldiers' Home was appointed in April, 1887: Samuel B. Jones, Omaha; Ezra S. Howard, Edgar; W. S. Webster, Central City; Mrs. B. P. Cook, Lincoln, and Mrs. L. A. Bates, Aurora. John Hammond of Columbus became the first commandant.

tenance or assistance. The canvass showed there were twenty-one in such circumstances, and this led to a campaign for the installation of such an institution in this state.

General Thayer, as department commander of the G. A. R., became interested and lent very material assistance in carrying this enterprise to a successful close. Coincidentally, General Thayer was governor at the time the Home was completed and dedicated.

the commandant, during the early 'eighties was assistant general passenger agent of the Union Pacific railroad. He \<'as in the east and visited an old soldiers' home in Massachusetts and was impressed with the splendid idea behind the institution and the useful purpose it accomplished. Upon his return he consulted with the authorities in charge of the work of the G. A. R. in the state and a series of circular letters were addressed to the county clerks throughout the state and inquiry made as to how many veterans of the late Civil War might be dependent upon the various counties for main-

But the present commandant, S. B. Jones, remarks now that he had no thought whatever, thirty-five years ago when he was working on this proposition, that he should ever become the executive and managing officer of the institution he was then promoting.

The commandants of the Home, through its thirty-five years have been: John Hammond, W. C. Henry, John W. Wilson, General Cole, D. W. Hoyt, Miles Zentmeyer, D. C. Scoville, W. S. Askwith, Eli A. Barnes, Ferdinand Zimmerer, J. F. Walsh, Samuel B. Jones, and Ex-Secretary of State Addison E. Wait.

M. K. Walker, Dan Athen, John H. Powers, J. W. Bowen, G. G. Vreeland, Joe McGraw, C. C. Ellis, Craig, Lane, Maxwell, and from July, 1918, until recently Ex-Secretary of State Addison Wait. Rev. Wait at present is adjutant.

There have been 19 physicians : Doctors Duncan, Swegart, W. T. Putt, Lawson, Gordon, Griffith, Claude P. Fordyce, Graff, Waggoner, Phelan, Gamber, Warner, Leahy, Hinchman, F. E. Taft, A. J. Chapman, Hayes, Steele, and the present physician and surgeon is W. T. Dever.

The principal building of the institution is 160 feet long and 90 feet wide, and with the stone basement is four stories high. A high stairway of stone, 10 feet wide, leads to the main entrance. Broad hallways run through the center from one end to the other on each floor. The lower or basement story contains a storeroom, a large dining hall, a smoking room, an extensive kitchen supplied with modern steam cooking utensils, a pantry, cold storage room, bath and baggage rooms. On the second floor are the headquarters, commandant's private consultation room, large library, two elegant parlors, large dining hall, and a smaller one for the officers. The third and fourth stories are used for sleeping rooms, a veteran's wit having christened the fourth floor the hurricane deck. An addition has been built to the main building. The sleeping rooms are furnished with iron cots, mattresses, and sufficient covering. The building is heated by steam and lighted by electricity. The hospital of the Home, located a little north-west of the main building, is a much newer and fairly substantial building. Several smaller building are used for sleeping quarters. A number of cottages have been built around the grounds and are assigned to the married couples mainly. The power house and laundry, stables, and numerous other buildings are scattered about the ground.

Farming operations are carried on upon the 640-acre tract which are of no small proportions. Very good crops are raised and the produce forms a valuable addition to the larder and assets of the Home. The Home has been an asset to Grand Island, in no manner insignificant from a financial viewpoint. A considerable portion of the government and state appropriations for the institution and of the pension money received by the inmates is spent in Grand Island.

In recent years there has been somewhat too much inclination to make the Home the football of politics. Since the establishment of the Milford Soldiers' Home certain very active members of the state G. A. R. have lobbied and worked during legislative sessions to build up that Home, and various boards and officials have all too much neglected the Grand Island Home. The fact that men and women of the age of those residing at this Home must climb to the third and fourth stories without aid of elevator transportation is one of the things that go to bear out the statement just made.

In Federal Government

Grand Island has always been, since her first start, the seat of considerable governmental activities upon the part of the federal government for this part of the state. A postoffice was established at the old Grand Island location in 1859 with Richard C. Barnard in charge. This was the first postoffice in the county, or in this part of the state.

In 1866 the Grand Island postoffice was located at the new town, with D. Schuller in charge as postmaster. W. R. McAllister was appointed in 1868 at $1 per month. When he resigned the office in 1878 it was paying him $1,400 per annum. C. P. R. Williams succeeded Mr. McAllister, July 1, 1879, followed by C. L. Howell. April 1, 1883, and he in turn was succeeded by Lafayette Myers. Mr. Myers brought the office to a high state of efficiency. On October 1, 1887, the free delivery system was installed. By 1889 four carriers were employed, making three deliveries a day. In January, 1890, M. Murphy became postmaster. Upon the expiration of Mr. Murphy's service, J. A. Costello served a term; and his successor was W. H. Harrison. Dr. H. C. Miller be- came postmaster in 1902 and served for nine years, having one year of service in the new postoffice building. A. F. Buechler served from 1911 to 1915, and since then D. A. Geil has been postmaster, and in 1919 was reappointed for another four year term. For some years past now A. J. Baumann has served as assistant postmaster.

The Land Office

The land office at Grand Island was established by an executive order dated April 20, 1869, under an act of Congress approved July 27, 1868. The office was formally opened about December of that year, 1869. The office was, under an executive order dated September 11, 1893, closed December 31, 1893, and consolidated with the Lincoln, Nebraska, land office, January 1, 1894. The records of the General Land Office at Washington, under the department of the interior, show that the following registers and receivers carried on the work of this land office: Date of Appointment

The records of the general land office show that Frederick Schultz made the first homestead entry December 6, 1869, for the 8^2 Nei4 Sec. 8 T. 19, N.. R. 6, E. for 80 acres. Henry C. Shaw made the first cash entry December 6, 1869, for the E1/2 Sei4 Sec. 22, T. 16 N. R 3 W., and paid for it with warrant location No. 107182, 160 acres, act of 1855. This was patented April 15, 1874.

Other Federal Officers

Grand Island is the location for a number of other federal local officers. There has been a referee in bankruptcy in charge of that work for fourteen counties, a district comprising Hall, Howard, Greeley, Valley, Wheeler, Garfield, Loup, Blaine, Grant, Thomas, Hooker, Sherman, Custer and Buffalo counties for some years. Bayard H. Paine, now district judge, was referee in bankruptcy for nine years. His predecessor, Arthur C. Mayer, then took up .the duties of that office again and is the present referee.

Grand Island has had a branch office of the clerk of United States Court for Nebraska for a number of years. George H. Thummel of Grand Island was clerk of the United States District Court at Omaha for a number of years and also was United States marshal. The present deputy to Hon. R. C. Hoyt, the present clerk of the court for Nebraska is George Cowton. His only predecessor in this office at Grand Island was Henry Allen, later clerk of district court for Hall County.

A. B. Harriott is a deputy collector of internal revenue, under the collector at Omaha. T. P. Matthews and Geo. C. Humphrey of Grand Island have held this office in the past.

Silas R. Barton served as Congressman from the Fifth Nebraska District - the only Hall County man elected to that office although several Hall County men have been candidates at various times.