John C. Haddan, of Wymore, Gage county, Nebraska, one of the leading residents of that locality and a prominent veteran of the Civil war, has lived in Nebraska for thirty-two years and in this county for nineteen years.
His enlistment took place at Putnam, Putnam county, Indiana, in August, 1861, in Company I, Twenty-seventh Indiana Volunteer Infantry, Colonel Silas Colgrove in command. After a long and exciting term of service he was honorably discharged in February, 1863, and taken prisoner, but he escaped as he was at that time guarding a train of supplies. He was in the battles of Winchester, Virginia, Strawsburg, Virginia, Banks’ retreat in the Shenandoah Valley, Cedar Mountain, second battle of Bull Run.
John C. Haddan was born in Putnam county, Indiana, not far from Putnamville, July 15, 1840, the year William H. Harrison was elected president. He was a son of Isaac Haddan and Mary (Wilson) Haddan, the former of whom died in Page county, Iowa, at the age of sixty-five years, while the mother, who was born, in 1808, died aged eighty-six years. These worthy people had eight sons and three daughters.
Mr. Haddan is a grandson of John Haddan, a native of Virginia,
born and reared a farmer. John moved to Kentucky with his parents when a young man and they settled in Owen county. John Haddan fought under General Harrison at the battle of Tippecanoe. After that war he moved from Kentucky to Putnam county, Indiana, where he died aged one hundred years. He had two brothers, William and Robert, and they all served in the war under General Harrison. Robert was one of General Harrison’s aides. John C. Haddan resided in Iowa for some years after having come to that state with his parents, and in 1872 he removed to Nebraska. While still residing in Iowa, he was married to Mary I. Wymore, a daughter of Robert and Elizabeth (McMann) Wymore. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Wymore were: Abram E., who served in the Fortieth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, died at Helena, Arkansas; Mathew, who died while a member of the Fortieth Indiana Volunteer Infantry; James H., of the same regiment.
Working steadily to gain a comfortable home for himself and family Mr. Haddan is now the owner of four houses and lots and his home place is surrounded by four acres of ground. His house is a pleasant five-room cottage, comfortably furnished. In politics he is a Republican, and he is past commander of Coleman Post No. 115, G. A. R. Mrs. Haddan is a member of the Christian Science Club. Both Mr. and Mrs. Haddan are well and favorably known throughout the entire community.
Robert Wilkinson Furnas was born on a farm near Troy, Miami county, Ohio, May 5, 1824, being a son of William and Martha (Jenkins) Furnas, both natives of Newberry, South Carolina, where the father was born in 1804 and the latter in 1800. In the paternal line the
family is traced back to the great-grandfather of our subject, John Furnas, who was born at Standing Stone, Cumberland, England, March 5, 1736, while his son, Thomas Wilkinson, the grandfather of Robert W., was born at Bush River, South Carolina, March 23, 1768. Both the paternal and maternal ancestors were Friends or Quakers. William and Martha Furnas died of cholera within a few days of each other, at Troy, Ohio, in the year 1832. In their family were three children, the twin brother of Robert W. dying in infancy, and the daughter, Mary Elizabeth, died at the age of eighteen years.
Robert Wilkinson Furnas was reared in the home of his grandfather Furnas until twelve years of age, receiving but limited educational advantages in his youth, and his school days were limited to about twelve months. For two years, from the age of twelve to fourteen years, he served as "chore boy" in the general store of Singer & Brown, of Troy, Ohio. At the age of fourteen years he was apprenticed to the tinsmith’s trade, in which he served for four years, and then served a four years’ apprenticeship to Rich C. Langdon, of the Licking Valley Register, Covington, Kentucky, there learning in detail the art of printing. After the expiration of his term of apprenticeship he, with A. G. Sparhawk, for some years conducted a book and job printing house in Cincinnati, Ohio, during which time he was also the publisher of several periodicals. Returning to his native county of Troy in 1846, he there purchased and published The Times at the county seat, but after a number of years thus spent he retired from the newspaper business and engaged in the clock, watch, jewelry and notion trade in the same town, also serving as the village clerk and deputy postmaster. On the completion of the Dayton & Michigan Railroad to Troy, he entered the employ of that company as railroad and express agent and conductor.
In March, 1856, Mr. Furnas came to Brownsville, Nebraska, bring-
ing with him a printing press and outfit and again ventured into the journalistic field. He established, published and edit the Nebraska Advertiser, which is still published in Nemaha county, and in 1868 published and edit the Nebraska Farmer, that being the first agricultural paper edited in Nebraska. In the same fall in which he came to the state he was elected to the council branch of the territorial legislature, serving four consecutive years, and was elected by that body the public printer, printing the laws and journals of the fourth session of the legislature. During his first session he was the author of the first common school law for Nebraska, also the law creating the territorial, now state, board of agriculture. During his term as a legislator he introduced and secured the passage of many acts of both local and general importance, naver (sic) having failed in securing the passage of a bill when introduced. He was conspicuous in the passage of an act declaring against holding slaves in Nebraska.
At the breaking out of the war between the states Mr. Furnas was commissioned by the then acting governor J. Sterling Morton, colonel of the territorial militia and was afterward commissioned, by acting governor A. S. Paddock, brigadier general in the same service for the district south of the Platte River. Without solicitation on his part he was appointed and commissioned by President Lincoln, March 22, 1862, colonel in the regular army, being mustered into the service by Lieutenant C. S. Bowman, of Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, May 22, 1862, and under this commission organized three Indian regiments from the Indian Nation, composed of Creeks, Seminoles, Choctaws, Chickasaws and Cherokee Indians, commanding the brigade. In this campaign Colonel Furnas had with him as members of his staff and Indian advisers the two noted Seminole chiefs, Opotholoholo, then said to be over one hundred years old, and Billy Bow Legs. These two Indian leaders, it will
be remembered, were conspicuous characters in the Florida Seminole war of 1838. While in this service, Colonel Furnas captured the celebrated Cherokee Indian chief, John Rosee, and family, sending them to Washington, D. C., for conference with the president of the United States. This terminated the trouble in the Indian nation. With these Indians he fought several successful battles against white confederate soldiers on the border of the Missouri and in the Indian territory. Colonel Furnas was detailed from this service with a special commission from the noted "Jim Lane" to recruit in Nebraska, recruiting largely the Second Nebraska Cavalry. He entered that service as a private, but was later commissioned captain of Company E, and when the regiment was completed was by Governor Alvin Saunders commissioned colonel of the same and served under General Sully in his northern Indian expedition against the Sioux and other hostile Indians north, near British possessions. The Second Nebraska Cavalry successfully fought the battle of White Stone Hill against a treble number of the Sioux Indians.
After the expiration of his term of service Colonel Furnas was honorably discharged, and soon afterward, without his knowledge, was appointed by President Lincoln agent for the Omaha Indians in northern Nebraska, serving nearly four years, during which time he also had charge of the Winnebago and Ponca Indian tribes. During his term as Indian agent, from a condition of annual support by the general government, he elevated the Omaha Indians agriculturally to the production and sale of forthy [sic] thousand bushels of surplus corn in one year. Through his efforts the mission school increased from thirty-five to one hundred and forty-five pupils. For political disloyalty to "Andy" Johnson he was removed by him, he having succeeded Lincoln after his assassination. Returning to Brownville, Mr. Furnas engaged again in the newspaper business and later turned his attention to farming in Nemaha
county. Politically he was an old-line Whig and afterward a Republican, and in 1872 he was elected the governor of Nebraska. After his term of service expired he returned to Brownville, where he has ever since been engaged in farming and fruit and forest-tree growing. Since coming to this state he has also held numerous other official positions, as follows: president and secretary of the state board of agriculture, president and secretary of the state horticultural society, president of the state horticultural society, president of the Nebraska soldiers’ union, vice president of the American Pomological Society, president of international fairs and expositions, president of the American Fair Association, president of the first trans-Mississippi irrigation convention at Denver, Colorado, in 1879, a delegate to the convention at Topeka, Kansas, in 1857, to form a new territory composed of land between the mouth of the Kaw and Platte rivers, United States commissioner to Philadelphia centennial, the New Orleans cotton centennial, Chicago Columbian exposition and special commissioner of the international exposition at London, England. For two years, Mr. Furnas was special agent for the United States pension bureau, and was a member of the first board of regents of the University of Nebraska, a portion of the time being president of the board. He was also special agent of the United States depart of agriculture to investigate the agricultural needs of California, Washington, Oregon and New Mexico, also to obtain forestry data for territory between the Mississippi river and the Pacific coast, and special agent to obtain national data for the United States treasury department. He was a delegate to the national convention which first nominated General Grant for president, and was a member of the committee on resolutions.
While a resident of Cincinnati, Ohio, on the 29th of October, 1845, Mr. Furnas was married to Miss Mary E. McComas, and eight children
were born to them, six sons and two daughters, as follows: William Edward, who was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, October 13, 1846, served as a soldier in the Union army during the Civil War, and died in a hospital at Omaha, Nebraska, December 16, 1862; Filmore Taylor, born in Troy, Ohio, October 29, 1848, died in Brownville, Nebraska, April 21, 1864; Arthur W. was born in Troy, Ohio, June 30, 1850; George Gilbert was born in that city on the 25th of May, 1852, and married Charlotte Judkins, at Brownville, September 25, 1873; John Somerville Inskip, who was born in Troy, Ohio, February 6, 1855, married Martha Cook in California, May 14, 1889; Mollie, who was born in Brownville, June 25, 1857, was married in this city June 16, 1880, to William J. Weber; Celia Hensley was born in this city June 29, 1860, was here married, June 5, 1895, to Edward E. Lowman; and Robert, who was born in Brownville August 29, 1862, died in the Omaha Indian Reservation on the 16th of May, 1864. Mr. and Mrs. Furnas have a unique volume entitled "The Golden Anniversary of Robert W. Furnas and Mary E. Furnas," dated Brownville, Nebraska, 1895, contains one hundred and seventeen pages and is filled with reminiscences and congratulatory letters from their many friends. This volume is dedicated to their children. Mr. Furnas is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and the military order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. He has filled all the grand chairs in the Masonic bodies of the state, also in the order of Odd Fellows in Nebraska and served as representative to the grand lodge of the United States. In religion he was born a Quaker, but when nineteen years old identified himself with the Methodist church, and after coming to Nebraska connected himself with the Presbyterian church, of which he is yet a member.
Dr. Charles F. Stewart, of Auburn, has practiced medicine in the territory and state of Nebraska longer than any other living physician, and from the pioneer days to the present has enjoyed a most honorable and useful career both as a professional man and as a civilian.
Dr. Stewart was born in Switzerland county, Indiana, August 28, 1832, so that he has already passed the age of threescore and ten, and is yet active and vigorous in the prosecution of his daily duties. He came to Nemaha county, in the then territory of Nebraska, in 1857, and this county has been the principal theatre of his activity in all the many subsequent years. He was acting assistant surgeon during the war of the rebellion. He was for a number of years superintendent of the Nebraska Hospital for the Insane at Lincoln. He was a member of the state board of health for seven years. He has been a United States examining surgeon for the pension department for more than twenty years, and in addition to all these duties and responsibilities has been continually engaged in the practice of his profession in the territory and state, so that now, in point of years of service, he is the dean of the medical fraternity of Nebraska.
George L. Lore, who has been serving as county clerk of Pawnee county, Nebraska, since his election in 1901, is one of the popular county officials and a resident of Pawnee City. He is a native son of the county and has lived within its boundaries all his life, so that he deserves men-
tion as well for his own honorable career as also for the fact that he is a son of a pioneer homesteader and long-established citizen of the state.
His father, John P. Lore, after a long and useful life, has retired from active business affairs and is now enjoying the fruits of his labors, being a retired resident of Dubois, Pawnee county. He was born in Wayne county, Ohio, where he was reared and educated. He afterward moved to Missouri, where he married Sarah A. Liggett. After their marriage they left Missouri, and, with firm belief in the future of the then territory of Nebraska as destined to become one of the great commonwealths of the Mississippi valley, settle in South Fork township, Pawnee county, where he took up a homestead and developed a fine farm from the prairie. He has been a Republican most of his life, and served acceptably as county commissioner for three years, and also held various other offices. Four children were born to himself and wife: Charles F., of Emporia, Kansas; Mrs. Alice Potts, of Dubois, Nebraska; George L.; and Mrs. Nellie Bailey, of Carroll, Nebraska.
George L. Lore was born in South Fork township, Pawnee county, Nebraska, October 25, 1869. He was reared in the same locality, and enjoyed the advantages of a common school education, which was supplemented by a course at the Iowa Normal College. After he finished his scholastic career he was for ten years located at Dubois, this county, but after election to the office of county clerk in 1901 he moved to Pawnee City. He has always taken an active part in local politics, and during his incumbency of the present office has discharged his duties faithfully, conscientiously and ably, and has made friends among all classes of people.
In 1892 Mr. Lore was married to Miss Katherine Atkinson, a daughter of Albert G. and Mary Atkinson, who are now living retired in Dubois. Mr. and Mrs. Lore have two children, Eugene A. and Mil-
dred T. Fraternally Mr. Lore is a popular member of the Knights of Pythias, belonging to the local lodge, No. 94, and has served as a delegate to the general lodge on several occasions. He is a member of the Methodist church. Upright in principles, pleasant in manner, able and well fitted for the duties of his office. Mr. Lore is justly regarded as a representative of the best interests of Pawnee county.
This venerable citizen, now living retired in Auburn, Nebraska, has entered the octogenarian ranks. Henry Harmon was born in East Tennessee, February 4, 1823, the son of Virginia parents. Nathan Harmon, his father, was a gunsmith by trade, at which he worked in Tennessee and Illinois, he having removed to the last name state in 1828 and settled in Hillsboro, Montgomery county. He married Rebecca Myers, about 1813, when both were young, the bride in her sixteenth year. Their children were: Elizabeth, who died in young womanhood; Polly, who also died in early life; George, who became owner of large tracts of land in Missouri and Nebraska, was twice married and the father of four children, died in 1899; Lottie, deceased; Henry, whose name introduces this review; Reuben, deceased; Davidson, a resident of Kansas City, has a wife and five children; and Mrs. Nancy Jane Beebe, who has her third husband and is the mother of five children. The father of this family died in the prime of life, and the mother married again, a Mr. Fraisher, in Missouri, by whom she had one son, Washington Fraisher, now a resident of California. She died in 1873, at the age of seventy-seven years.
Henry Harmon in his youth had only limited advantages for obtain-
ing an education. He remained at home until he reached his majority, assisting his father in the shop, and then he took to himself a wife. With small means the young couple settled down to married life in Atchison county, Missouri, where they bought eighty acres of land, on which they farmed four years. From 1853 to 1855 they lived on another farm in that county. Then, selling out, they came to Nemaha county, Nebraska, pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of land in Douglas precinct, where they established their home in a log cabin, sixteen by twenty feet in dimensions. Since then Mr. Harmon has owned two other farms and had as much as four hundred acres at one time. He has carried on general farming and stock-raising, selling some of his cattle to the Chicago market. He sold his last farm a year ago. His pleasant home, a two-story residence, on the corner of First and High streets, in Auburn, Mr. Harmon built in 1891.
Mr. Harmon was married March 1, 1849, to Miss Margaret Handley, who was born in Missouri, November 11, 1833, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Hall) Handley, both natives of Kentucky. In the Handley family were eight sons and four daughters, all of whom married and had children, and four of the number are now living. The father died at the age of eighty-eight years, in Atchison county, Missouri, and the mother followed him in death three years later, her age being seventy-six years. Mr. and Mrs. Harmon reared thirteen of their fourteen children, eight sons and six daugthers [sic], namely: William, of Auburn, Nebraska, has a wife and three sons; John, also of Auburn, is married and has one daughter; Mary Ann, who died at the age of nineteen years; Rebecca, wife of Jacob Snyder, of Nancy county, Nebraska, has five children; George, of Auburn, is married and has one son and three daughters; Frank, of Oklahoma territory, has a wife, one son and two daughters; Sophrona, wife of Hugh Lockard, of Nancy county, has a
son and one daughter; Lavina, wife of William McKinney, of Nemaha county; Sarah, wife of William Ball, of Nemaha county, has one daughter and one son; Charles is married and lives in Auburn; Andrew, of St. Paul, Minnesota, is married and has one son and two daughters; Nettie, wife of John McCarty, of Auburn; Harvey, of Columbus, Indiana, is married and has one son and one daughter; and Nathan, of David City, Nebraska, has a wife and one daughter. Three of the sons, Andrew, Harvey and Nathan are ministers in the Christian church, and all are occupying honored and useful positions in life.
Some years ago, as the result of blood poisoning, Mr. Harmon suffered the loss of his left leg and he now goes about with the aid of an artificial limb. He has also been afflicted with partial paralysis. Notwithstanding these afflictions, however, he retains his strength and faculties to a remarkable degree in his old age, and the weight of his eighty years rests lightly upon him. Both he and his good wife are devoted members of the Christian church. Poltically Mr. Harmon is a Democrat and filled various township offices.
George E. Dye, a retired farmer and merchant of Auburn, Nebraska, dates his birth in the Empire state, in Yates county, August 6, 1840. Mr. Dye’s father, William Dye, was born in Madison county, New York, about 1803, and died in Madison, Wisconsin, in the spring of 1865. He was a son of John Dye, a native of Rhode Island, whose death occurred in New York state about the year 1843. Both John Dye and his wife were buried in Cazenovia, New York. She, too, was a native of Rhode Island and her maiden name was Rhodes. They were the parents of
nine children, eight sons and one daughter. The daughter died in early womanhood. The sons were James, Daniel, John, Walter, Rouse, William, Nathan and Enoch. All married and all except Walter had children. Four of these sons were Baptist ministers and the other four were deacons in the Baptist church, and all lived to good old age. William Dye was a minister, and New York and Wisconsin were the field of his labors. He married Miss Ann Bailey, who was born in New York state in 1806, and who survived him a short time, her death also occurring in Wisconsin. They were the parents of five sons and two daughters, namely: Julia, who died at the age of twelve years, in Senaca [sic], New York; William Henry, a harness-maker, located in Ottumwa, Iowa, is married and has a daughter and one son; Nathan P., who died in Nemaha county, Nebraska, in the prime of life; James R., a retired resident of San Diego, California, has two daughters; Mary E. married a cousin by the name of Dye, both being deceased, and they left one daughter. The next in order of birth was George E. The youngest, Charles L., died at the age of four years.
George E. Dye was educated in the common schools of his native state. He removed with his parents from place to place, where his father was engaged in the work of the ministry, and he remained a member of the home circle until 1862. In August of that year, at Whitewater, Wisconsin, he volunteered for service in the Union ranks and entered the army as a musician in Company D, Twenty-eighth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. The fortunes of this command he shared for three years, meantime being promoted to the leadership of the regimental band. He was a non-commissioned officer of the staff. At Helena, Arkansas, he was ill with typhoid fever and he also had a serious illness at Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and when he returned to Wisconsin at the close of his service in 1865, it was with health much impaired. A well built man and with a
fine constitution naturally, he in time recovered his health, and has since led an active, useful life. The exposures incident to war, however, seldom fail to leave their effects. Now, although still active in mind and body, Mr. Dye is a sufferer and is somewhat crippled from rheumatism.
In 1869 Mr. Dye removed from Whitewater, Wisconsin, to Nebraska and settled in Nemaha county. His first land purchase here was eighty acres, for which he gave $7.50 per acre, and which he sold in 1881 for the sum of three thousand dollars. He then bought one hundred and thirty-one acres, at a purchase price of two thousand six hundred dollars, and later added thirty-four acres, a part of which he has since disposed of. He moved to Auburn in February, 1901, and bought his present home. He also owns other property in town, including the building occupied by the postoffice.
Mr. Dye married, in March, 1866, Miss Mary E. Grant, a native of Jefferson county, Wisconsin, born in 1847. She is a distant relative of General Grant. Willard Grant, her father, was a man well known in Jefferson county. He was a mechanic, teacher and farmer, and served at different times in various public offices, township and county, and he was also elected to and served in the Wisconsin state legislature. Mrs. Grant was Miss Sarah Dye, she being a daughter of Mr. Dye’s uncle, James Dye. In the Grant family were seven children, of whom six are now living. Mr. and Mrs. Dye have had five children, as follows: Charles G., who is married and resides on a farm in Nemaha county; Edith E., who died at the age of twenty-six years; and Jessie V., Anna Blanche and Emery G., at home. The two daughters are graduates of the Auburn high school. All the children have inherited talent for music. The daughters are music teachers and the younger son is cornetist in the Auburn band. Mr. Dye is a musician and for many years was a leader and teacher of bands.
Mr. Dye was formerly a Republican, but recently has been an independent in his political views, voting for men and measures rather than keeping close to party lines. He has membership in the Ancient Order of United Workmen and in the Grand Army of the Republic, being identified with Corley post, No. 173, of which he is senior vice commander.
Austin C. Mutz, the well known nurseryman at Auburn, Nebraska, is a native of the Hoosier state, and dates his birth at Edinburg, February 18, 1850.
Mr. Mutz, as his name suggests, is of German origin. His grandfather and grandmother Mutz were natives of Germany. Emigrating with their family to America, they settled first in Pennsylvania and subsequently moved farther west, locating near Dayton, Ohio, where they spent the rest of their lives and died, his death occurring at the age of eighty years, and hers seven years later, at the age of seventy-seven. They left five sons and one daughter, namely: John, the father of Austin C.; Jacob, a retired farmer living near Edinburg, Indiana; Adam, a druggist, died in Indiana, in 1899, leaving a family of sons and daughters; Peter, a resident of Aberdeen, South Dakota; Abram, a grocer of Edinburg, Indiana, is married and has a son and daughter; and Mary, wife of a Mr. Darner, of Dayton, Ohio.
John Mutz, the eldest of the above named family, was born in Pennsylvania, and was eight years old at the time his parents moved to Ohio, where he was reared. Going to Indiana when a young man, he was there married, May 19, 1847, to Phoebe Williams, a native of that state, born in 1832, daughter of Caleb Williams, an Indiana farmer who
was a pioneer to Mills county, Iowa, where he died in old age, leaving widow, six daughters and one son. John and Phoebe Mutz became the parents of eight children, as follows: G. W., a carpenter and contractor, Cass county, Nebraska; Austin C., whose name heads this review; Walter, a farmer of Maryville, Missouri; William A., a farmer of Pender, Nebraska; Otto, a large land owner, ex-state senator and publisher of the Western Rancher, Ainsworth, Nebraska; Albert B., of Auburn; Ann Jeanette, widow of John Majors, residing at Lincoln, Nebraska; and Hattie M., wife of A. T. Stewart, of Chicago. In 1856 John Mutz moved with his family to Mills county, Iowa, and the following year, 1857, came to Nebraska, where he and his good wife rear their children and spent the rest of their lives, their wedded life covering more than half a century. He died in Chicago, January 6, 1899, at the age of seventy-seven years; and her death occurred at the home place in Auburn, where they lived for more than twenty years, February 13, 1899. In their religious views they differed somewhat. Mrs. Mutz being a Methodist and Mr. Mutz a Lutheran. Politically, he was a Democrat, and in territorial days filled the office of county commissioner of Cass county.
Austin C. Mutz received his schooling at Eight-Mile Grove, in Cass county, Nebraska. He remained at home until he reached his majority, when he started out to make his own way in the world, and has been variously occupied, his attention having been given chiefly to farming and the nursery business. For four years he resided at Beatrice, Nebraska, and travel for the Phoenix Nursery of Bloomington, Illinois. For twenty years he has resided in or near Auburn. In 1893 he bought the ground where his nursery is located, and where in 1901 he built a pleasant cottage he and his wife occupy. After coming into the ownership of this property he planted an orchard, and a nursery of