Richardson County, Nebraska - Chapter 10, 1917

Chapter 10

St. Stephens was the first city of Richardson county. In 1861 it was I lie largest, most flourishing and only town of any conse(|uence in the county. Today it is known only to the old settlers. Even the precinct which once bore that name now forms a part of Barada, and twenty years hence St. Stephens will be known only in the archives of the court house and to the historian. The townsite was laid out by Gen. Ben F. Loan and Stephen Story in the spring of 1855, on land belonging to Israel Price. Henry Dukes, Stephen Lyons and Stephen Story. S. F. Nuckolls & Company conducted the first store. A A'Ir. Archer kept the first hotel. The late William R. Cain, of Falls City, built the third dwelling house in town. In 1856 Israel Price started a blacksmith shop and in the next year J. W. Crane, of St. Joseph, Missouri, started the second store. During the years 1857, 1858 and 1859, the town grew rapidly, reaching the height of its glory in 1861, at which time it had two general stores, one kept by Crane & Lewis, and the other by D. J. Martin ; two saloons, one kept by Henly Price and Henry Dukes, and the other by George Cooley. Henry Smith was the blacksmith and Allen Gleason ran the ferry across the ^lissouri river. In 1857 Huston Nuckolls, Stephen Story and W. P. Loan started a general land office and in the spring of 1858 they held a public sale of land and town lots. Father Thomas, as Tie was called, a Baptist preacher, living near Rulo. preached the first sermon ever preached in the toivn. John McFarland was the first justice of the peace; Stephen Lyons, the second; William Morgan, the third; S. G. Lewis, the fourth and William R. Cain, the fifth, who held the office for eight consecutive years, without an appeal from his decisions. Israel Price was the first constable. The first school was taught by William Bell and the second, by William McMurren. The first school board was elected in 1859, with William R. Cain as president, and for twenty-one years Mr.

Cain held a position on the school board and only resigned when he removed to Falls Cit\-. Mr. Cain was the father of Hon. J. R. Cain, president of the Bank of Stella: C. Fred Cain, now of Miami, Florida, and for years a merchant of Falls City; John Cain, of Boseman, Montana; Mrs. Laura B. Ta-vton, of Falls City, and Mrs. James Smith, of Butler, Missouri. The first postmaster was T. C. Sicafoos. The first doctor was David Whitmire, and \\ . 1'. Loan, was the first lawyer. The prominent citizens of St. Stephens, when at the height of its prosperitv. were Aury Ballard, Doctor Whitmire, J. W. Crain, William M. Morrison, D. S. Phillips, Press Martin, Huston Nuckolls and W". P. Loan. - "Pioneer Record."

William H. Crook disputes the generall\- accepted story that the first school of the county was taught at or near Falls City. He says that he remembers going to a good school in a little log house that stood on the banks of the creek, a little west of old Archer, Ijefore Falls City was e\er laid off : and that the second school was taught by a one-armed lady, wh(ise name was Samuels. He also recalls that she was great on "lickin' and larnin'." She was a teacher (jf the "old school," who Ijelieved that to "spare the rod was to spoil the child:" hence, it was a large factor in her method of discipline, and good traits in the character of Mr. Crook are some of the results of that first school.

The first electiun in Ohio town.ship was in tlie fall of 1868 at the Goolsby school house. Twenty-eight Denuicratic and fifty-six Republican votes were polled.

The first while men to e.xplore the county adjacent to the Great Xemaha river in Richardson countv were Jesse Crook, Isaac Crook. Tuhn Singleton.

The Maple Grove cemetery in Ohio township, was located in 1859 ^v John HarkendorlY, Amos Frank and S. J. Harris, the occasion being the death of Phelix Misplis, a lad about thirteen years of age.

The first .session of the Nebraska state Legislature that met at Lincoln, after the removal of the territorial capitol from Omaha, was convened on January 7, 1869, the four previous sessions having met at Omalia after the adoption of the state Constitution.

E. E. Cunningham had the honor of being the first to represent Richardson county in the first state Senate to meet at Lincoln, and Isham Reavis was "rtoat" senator for Richardson, Nemaha and Johnson counties at the same time and place.

David L. Thompson was one of the first white men to enter Richardson county with the idea of making it a permanent home. He came in the early fifties and located at the county seat. Archer, where he was united in marriage to China M. Miller, a daughter of Judge J. C. Miller, who was the first judge of the county and who at the time of the arrival of Thompson kept a hotel and store in the new town. As soon as l'"alls City got fairly started as a town he came here and made it his home for many years ant! served for a time as deputy sherifY.

First Funeral

The first religious service which could have been classed in the nature of a funeral for a white woman in Richardson county, is said to liave been held for Mrs. Frank Purkett, who, with her child, froze to death during child-birth. The husband had been drinking heavily and was absent, according to reports at the time.

Early Settlers

Numbered among the very first settlers of the county was James Stumbo, who came here in 1856 and was prominent at Nemaha Falls, an obsolete town on the banks of the Nemaha river, near the present site of Falls City. He was the father of twelve children, eight sons and four daughters. His death occurred on January 21, 1894.

in Xemaha countv, coming to that place in March, 1858. In tlie month of June of that year Joseph Deroin, an Indian chief for whom the place was named, was shot by another Indian by the name of James Bedo. Mr. Overman succeeded in getting many things at a sale of Indian goods, whicli liad been the property of the chief, and still has them.

First Marriages

Tlie Falls City, Nebraska, Journal, under date of December 22, 1893, liad the following to say relative to the early marriages in Richardson county : ;

"In all probability some marriage contracts were entered into in 1854 and 1855 that were never recorded, and no license was necessary for the performance of a marriage, and even a law requiring the contract to be recorded in the register's office was not passed until the spring of 1855. The contract that appears on the record as of the earliest date is that of Mr. and Mrs. W. I\I. Maddox, which is given below, although diis was the third contract filed.

"Below are given some of the first contracts filed, which will be of interest on account of the events of the past that they will bring to the minds of the older settlers.

"Married, November the 29th. In the year A. D. 1855 By Pharagus Pollard, Acting Justice of the Peace, of Richardson county, Nebraska Territory, Joshua Boyd, of Holt County. Missouri, to i\Iiss Elizabeth Miller, of Richardson County, Nebraska Territory. Pharagus Pollard, J. P."

I. J. C. Lincoln, Register of Deeds, of said county do hereby certify that the above is a correct copy left on file for record in this office.

The second instrument recorded showed that on December i6th, 1855, Pharagus -Pollard, acting justice of the peace, united in marriage, Samuel Howard and Miss Mary Gallaher, both of this county, at the home of David Gallaher. This instrument was recorded in the office of register of deeds, January 15th, 1855.

"This may certify that on the Fourth day of October, 1855, I, William D. Gage, Minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, did unite in the bonds of matrimony, Mr. W. M. :\Iaddox, of Nebraska City, and Margaret Miller, of Archer, Richardson County, all in the Territory of Nebraska. ^VILLIAM D. Gage, M. M. E. Church.

I, E. S. Sharp, Dept. Register of Deeds, of said county do hereby certify that the above is a true copy left on file in this office for record. Given under my hand and private seal (there being no public seal yet provided for the use of the county). Done at Archer this 2nd day of Februarv, A. D. 1856.

Quaint Marriage Contract

The fourth instrument was filed for record on July 7, 1856, and was something of a curiosity. It was recorded by VV. H. Mann, deputy register, and read as follows :

"Know All Men By These Presents: That Richard Clinsey and Perilla Adamson have consented together in Holy Wedlock and have witnessed the same before me, Joseph Friese, a Justice of the Peace for Richardson County, Nebraska Territory, and thereto have pledged their faith either to the other, and ha\-e declared the same by their consent, I do declare that they are Man and W^ife fore\er on and after this Thirteentli day of March, A. D. 1856.

The fifth instrument was recorded on the same da\' and was identical in date, phraseology and official signature, except that it proclaimed tlie marriage of James O. Loughlin and Liddy Adamson.

The sixth instrument was recorded on August 21, 1856, and showed that Justice Pharagus Pollard had united in marriage on June 20, 1856, Marcellus Housner and I'olly N. Shelley, both of this county at the house of A. Shellev.

Couxtv, Nebraska Other Firsts

The first couple united in marriage in Lil^erty precinct, was George Miller and Elizabeth Cornell. The happy event occurred on February i6, 1856, Rev. Wingate King officiating.

Dilliard Walker, who for many years resided near Humboldt, entered the county in 1855. His wagon was the third to cross the south fork of the Nemaha in this county. A man named Jemeson and Richard Gird preceded him.

Stephen B. Aliles, one of the largest landowners in the county at his death and one of the wealthiest men in the state, was the man who first carried United States mail into Richardson count}-, and it was he who organized the first bank in the county.

The first school in the county was taught by Mrs. Saunders, on what was at that time known as the Kirk Branch, a half mile northwest of Archer. The school was held in the year 1856.

The Broad Axe, one of the very first newspapers published in the county, was for a time printed at the hotel then standing on the lots now occupied by the Richardson Countv Bank, and owned by Jesse Crook. It was edited by Edwin Burbank and S. R. Jameson. This was in 1858.

B. Frank Leechman, now residing on his farm north of i'^alls Citv. was the first white child, so far as known, to be born in Richardson county. He still resides on the farm on which he first saw the light of dav and is one of the prosperous farmers of the county.

William Level, long since deceased, is deserving of the honor of having built the first log cabin in the count}-. It was constructed in 1853 on a farm east of the site of Archer, and the first election ever held in tiie cotmtv was held in this same cabin.

Jesse Crook w as the first white man to raise a crop of corn in Richardson county, and the same was grown on land now- owned by William Xutter, southwest of Archer in 1855,

The honcir belongs to Miss Lydia A. Giddings, a daugliter of Elder C. W. Giddings, the founder of the town of Table Rock, a town just west of

Humboldt and in Pawnee county, about thirty miles west of Falls City. Prior to the coming of the Burlington railroad, as it is known today, a mail route was in operation between Falls City and Table Rock, but the stations were very much different from those now on the line of the railroad between the two points, i. e., Falls City and Table Rock, -many of them being mentioned in the story. of Defunct Towns of the County in another part of this work. Miss Giddings was one of the carriers on the route. Later, she was united in marriage to a man b\' the name of Holmes, and again to a Mr. John Gere. When last heard from she was a resident of Honolulu, in the Hawaiian islands, of the mid-Pacific, and her sons. Giles H. and John N. Gere, Jr., held responsible positions with the government.

An act approved January, i860, authorized Silas Babcock, his heirs or assigns, to erect a mill dam not to e.xceed ten feet high across Long Branch creek in Franklin precinct, at any point within four miles of the town of Franklin.

First Baby Girl Born

Julia Tiu-ner was the first girl baby born in Richardson county, but a later survey left her birthplace in what is now Pawnee county. When first surveyed Richardson county also included Pawnee county and Cincinnati was a young and thriving town near the site of the present village of DuBois on the Rock Island railroad. It was near this place that the little lady first saw the light of day.

An act of a session of the Territorial Legislature authorized Jacob M. Davis and A. C. Anderson to establish and keep a toll bridge and ferry across the Great Xemaha river in Richardson county, at a point within six miles from its mouth. The rate of tolls or ferriage was limited to fifty cents per team and wagon : footman or stock, ten cents.

One of the first companies organized and incorporated for the purpose of mining in the county was known as the Richardson County Mining Company, and was incorporated by an act of the Legislature passed and approved on February 12, 1866. Those named in the act incorporating the company were : Peter P. Smith, Charles A. Hergesheimer, William R. Cain, Stephen Belliles, Alexander St. Louis. They proposed to prospect for coal.

First House Ix Falls City

The first houses in Falls City were in most instances built from houses formerly doing service at Archer, Winnebago and Yankton, towns which disappeared from the map. The first hotel, the Union Hotel, occupying the same location as the present "Union House," was constructed from a building removed to Falls City from Yankton, by Jacob Good.

Billiard Walker, pioneer, assisted in the building of the First house erected in Salem, the same being owned by Thomas Hare. Walker also furnished the lumber and stone for the first church at Salem, known as the Close Communion Baptist.

Barada precinct, in Richardson county, was named for Antoine Barada, a well-kno\\n half-breed Indian. It is said of him that he was a man of unusual strength and fine physical proportions, with features that showed his Indian blood most unmistakably.

First Court House

The residence of John C. Aliller, known as Judge Miller, located at Archer, was a double log one story and a half high and one of the finest homes of the time in this county. At different times it served as hotel, postoffice and court house.

F'rom the family record of Stewart Russell, of Salem, it is learned that his son, S. A. Russell, was born in Liberty precinct, Richardson county, February 13, 1858, and from this it is claimed that he was the first white child born in that precinct.