Transactions and Reports, Nebraska State Historical Society

Gov. Samuel W. Black

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:22:22 PST

The following biography of ex-governor Samuel W. Black was written and furnished the Nebraska State Historical Society by his daughter.

Autobiography of Rev. William Hamilton

William Hamilton — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:22:21 PST

Every old settler in Nebraska will remember "Father Hamilton," early and so long a missionary among the western Indians. I solicited his biography for this report from his own pen. The following letter in response I feel would be marred if it were changed, even in the "dotting of a single 'i' or the crossing of a 't.’” I therefore present it just as it came to me.
DECATUR, BURT COUNTY, NEBRASKA, May 22nd, 1884

Father William Hamilton on Traditional Origin of Omahas and Other Tribes

William Hamilton et al. — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:22:19 PST

The following letter is from Rev. Wm. Hamilton, who was a Presbyterian missionary among the north-western Indians, commencing in what is now Kansas, in 1837.

Dr. Gilbert C. Monell and Hon. Phineas W. Hitchcock

G. M. Hitchcock — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:22:17 PST

The biographies of these two old and prominent citizens were written by Mr. G. M. Hitchcock, grandson of Dr. Monell, and son of Mr. Hitchcock.

DR. GILBERT C. MONELL was born Oct. 20th, 1816, in Montgomery, Orange county, N. Y., and was his parents' second son. As his father could afford to do so in but one case, the elder brother was alone accorded a college education, and the subject of this sketch was thrown upon his own resources at an early age with a fair common school education. He, however, at once made the resolve to acquire himself what his parents were unable to give him. He took a salaried position in a country store, and began at the same time earnestly to prosecute the studies preparatory for a college course. He was enabled by strict economy and by a gift from his father, to raise a sufficient amount for a three years' course, and by self education while at work in the store, he fitted himself to enter Union College in the Sophomore year, abreast fully with those of his own age. He graduated at the age of nineteen years, and soon thereafter married Miss Lucinda Carpenter, in 1836, and then for a short time he continued his mercantile occupation, but only for the purpose of supporting himself while he studied medicine in New York city. Completing his course there, he, with his wife and little son returned to Orange county, N. Y., and located in Newburg. Here a large practice soon rewarded his early privations, and in the specialty he made of the diseases of women his success was so great as to bring patients from New York city and New England.

The Place of History in Modern Education

G. E. Howard — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:22:15 PST

The following is• an abstract of an address delivered by. Prof. Howard at the opening of the winter term of the Nebraska University, at the time the Nebraska State Historical Society was in session, and by agreement before a joint session of the two organizations, to serve also as the annual address of the Historical Society.

Index

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:22:14 PST

Elder J. M. Young

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:22:11 PST

Elder J.M. Young was really the founder of the city of Lincoln, the capital of Nebraska. He was born in Genesee county, New York, near Batavia, on the old Holland purchase, on November 25, 1806. In 1829, he married Alice Watson, at that time eighteen years of age, and who now survives him at the age of seventy-four. The following year he moved to Ohio and from Ohio he went to Page county, Iowa, in 1859. In 1860 he came to Nebraska and settled at Nebraska City. In 1863, near the end of the year, he came t Salt Creek and selected as a site for a town, and what he predicted would be the capital of Nebraska, the present site of Lincoln.

John McCormick

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:22:10 PST

JOHN MCCORMICK died at Omaha, June 2d, 1884; he was born on the 12th of September, 1822, at Johnstown, Westmoreland county, Penn. At an early age he was taken with his family to Cadiz, Ohio, and in 1856 removed to this city, engaging in the land and banking business. During the panic of '57 his business was injured, and in '59 he became the head of the grocery house which for a long time bore his name. He remained in business till 1869, when he engaged in grain, with which he had been identified up to his death. He built the first elevator in the city, and in other ways was counted among the leading of the town.

Hon. John Taffe

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:22:08 PST

HON. JOHN TAFFE died at North Platte, Nebraska, March 14, 1884, aged 57 years. He was a native of Indianapolis, Indiana, where he was born Jan. 30, 1827. He received an academic education, and after a diligent study of the law was admitted to the bar in the city of his birth.

Dr. Enos Lowe

W. W. Lowe — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:22:06 PST

DR, ENOS LOWE was born at Guilford Court House, North Carolina, May 5th, 1804. When he was about ten years of age his parents moved to the territory of Indiana, locating at the small settlement known as Bloomington, in Monroe county, the community being mostly composed of quakers, his parents being of that denomination. When a mere boy he began the study of medicine, and soon began the practice of the profession in the midst of the many vicissitudes and privations incident to anew, wild, and sparsely settled country. Little by little, however, he accumulated enough from his practice to enable him to seek higher culture in the profession, and he entered the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, where, in due course, he graduated with honor and high standing. He now located as a practitioner at Greencastle, and some time after moved to Rockville, continuing in active practice there for some years, during which he was sent to the Indiana legislature. In 1836, the border country having gradually extended westward, he determined to spy out the new land, and accordingly made the journey on horseback to St. Louis; thence going up the Mississippi river to Flint Hills (now Burlington), then the home of Black-Hawk and his Sac and Fox Indians. Being favorably impressed with the new country, after a brief sojourn he returned to Indiana, and during the fall of 1837 moved, by wagons, across the country to Burlington, where he continued in active practice of his profession for the following ten years, his practice becoming so extended and laborious that the writer has known him to ride thirty and forty miles to visit the sick.

Mrs. Mary T. Mason, Wife of Judge O.P. Mason

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:22:04 PST

She was born in New Hampshire, in 1836. Her maiden name was Mary I. Turner. She and Mr. Mason were married in Madison county, New York, 1854. They came to Nebraska in February, 1856, locating at Nebraska City, Otoe county. She died at same place, May 15th, 1874, aged 38 years; leaving four children, aged at that time, Jessie, 14; Grace, 10; Alice, 5; Bessie, 3. June, 1882, Jessie Mason and F. L. Harris were married, and located at Ord, Valley county, Nebraska.

Bishop Clarkson

Geo L. Miller — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:22:03 PST

The Rt. Rev. Robert H. Clarkson, Episcopal Bishop of Nebraska, died at his home on St. Mary's Avenue, Omaha, Monday, March 10, 1884.

The following biography of Bishop Clarkson was an editorial in the Omaha Herald, written by Dr. Geo. L. Miller, editor.

Moses Stocking

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:22:01 PST

MOSES STOCKING, of Saunders county, Nebraska, died at his residence, Friday, Sept. 30th, 1881, of paralysis. His wife, all his sons and daughters, except Mrs. White, Oregon, and Mrs. Bosworth, Colorado, were at his bedside.

The following autobiography was written by him, at the request of Geo. S. Harris, Land Commissioner B. & M. R. R.

Letter of S. F. Nuckolls

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:21:59 PST

I thank you kindly for the honor done me in your letter of the 26th ult., in behalf of the Old Settlers' Association of Otoe county, Nebraska, extending to me an invitation to deliver the annual address before your Society at the fourth reunion, to be held this present month.

I would most gladly accept your invitation, but now is the busy mining season, and I have other and pressing duties that prevent, so that I must decline this opportunity of meeting my old friends in Otoe county-the best friends that man ever had.

It was October 1, 1846, when, being just twenty-one years of age, I left my native Virginia and traveled two hundred miles on foot to Wyandotte, on the Ohio river. There I took passage on a steamboat to St. Louis as a deck passenger.

The Organic Act

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:21:58 PST

An act to aid and encourage the “Nebraska State Historical Society.”

Origin of the Nebraska State Historical Society

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:21:56 PST

The present historical society was organized at the time, date, and under circumstances as hereinafter indicated. Some thirty or more days prior to Sept. 25th, 1878, the following circular was signed and generally published in state papers.

Relic in Possession of the Society

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:21:55 PST

A list of the valuable relics the Society possesses.

Rev. Alvin G. White

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:21:53 PST

REV. ALVIN G. WHITE died at Lincoln, Nebraska, ........., 1884. He was born at Northfield, Massachusetts, June 18, 1833. He early in life moved to New Hampshire, and was called at that time into the ministry. He was licensed as a local preacher in 1853, while in the Wesleyan University. On account of failing health he was not able to finish the college course. He moved to Illinois in 1855, and taught school for two years. In 1857 he joined the Rock River conference, and during the year was married in 1843 to Miss Ella Thompson. In 1858 he transferred to Nebraska, and served as a supply for one year on the Brownville charge. He entered the Nebraska conference in the spring of 1860, and was returned to Brownville. He then served the church at Pawnee City for one year. His next field was Fort Calhoun, where he labored for two years. Then for three years he was chaplain in the United States army. He was then made presiding elder, and in this field he did the most important work of his life, and had his greatest usefulness. He served a full term on the Omaha district, when that district covered an area of 20,000 square miles.

Rev. William McCandlish

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:21:51 PST

Rev. Wm. McCandlish died at Omaha, Nebraska, August 5th, 1884. He was born in Scotland; came to America when he was seven years old. He was educated for the ministry at Washington college, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, and was ordained as a minister of the Presbyterian denomination in 1837, and has been actively engaged in that service and in the bible cause from that date to the very hour of his death, having but returned from carrying a bible to a neighbor at 9:40 in the morning. He complained of coldness in his feet, lay down on his bed and passed away as quietly as a tired child would drop to sleep. He leaves a wife and three children, residents of Nebraska, in which state Mr. McCandlish had made his home almost continuously since 1858.

The Discovery of Nebraska

James W. Savage — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:21:50 PST

We are apt to look upon Nebraska as a young state; young in its geological formation, in its political existence, and in its historical records. For descriptions of its soil, its climate, its fruits, or its inhabitants, few have sought to look further back than the commencement of the present century, and the published memorials of its history prior to the advent of the French trappers and traders have boon thought too meagre to serve as a basis for any exact account. But hidden away in the lumber rooms of wealthy Spanish and French families, and piled on the shelves of national libraries in Paris, Madrid, and Mexico, are hosts of letters, journals, and reports which are gradually emerging from their seclusion and undergoing the scrutiny of acute and practiced eyes. The documents recently edited by M. Margry, in Paris, and now in course of publication by the United States government, throw a flood of light upon early French discoveries and explorations in the West. And when the vast libraries of all the nations which took part in those adventurous travels shall give up their dead treasures, we have reason to hope that we shall be able to add many years to the authentic history of our state.