CEDAR COUNTY, NEBRASKA - John Wiggins ==================================================================== NEGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. This file was contributed for use in the NEGenWeb Archives by Carol Tramp. ====================================================================== John Wiggins b. 1/2/1841 in Westphalia, Germany d. 3 /30/1896 - St. Helena, NE John and his brother Lewis served together in the civil war. John served as a private in CO. D, 1st battalion Missouri SM Cavalry during the civil war. John came to Nebraska after the Civil War to homestead land that was located three miles west of present day St. Helena. In 1874 brother Lewis, and his wife and one of Lewis’s children died from typhoid fever. John traveled to Missouri and brought the three remaining children back to raise. In June of 1880 he married Maria Nilson, a widow with two small children, Victor and Mathilda. In 1884, John’s sister Theresia and her husband Anton Wiepen came to America and resided next to John. On March 30, 1896 John, ill for years and not getting relief from his war injuries and wounds died. He had traveled back east to seek relief and was told that nothing could be done. Walking four miles from home, he was found dead from a gunshot wound at the bottom of the river bluffs below a steep bank. John served both county and city offices during his lifetime and contributed to the welfare of the St. Helena Catholic Church. He left behind his widow, and his own two children, Elizabeth and John, his two step children, Victor, Mathilda and other family. John was buried in the St. Helena Public Cemetery.