tian worker and was loved and respected by all who knew her. Her death was widely and deeply mourned. Those of the family still living are Benjamin F., who married Rose Withers and has one child, Violet Marriage and Charles F., who married Myra Lane and has two children, Harold and Mildred.
In 1867 Mr. Maxwell removed to Shelby county, Iowa, and after residing near Harlan for a time he located near Corley, where he made his home until 1883. That year witnessed his arrival in Gage county, Nebraska, and he has since been identified with the agricultural interests of this locality. He is to-day the owner of a well improved farm of one hundred and sixty acres, on which he has erected a good house and barn at a cost of ten thousand dollars. There is also a nice grove and orchard which add greatly to the beauty of the place, making it one of the most attractive country homes of the county.
The Republican party has always found in Mr. Maxwell a stanch supporter of its principles, and he is an honored member of the Grand Army of the Republic. Both he and his wife belong to the Methodist church, and they are numbered among the most highly respected and esteemed citizens of their community.
William Retchless, one of the old settlers and prominent citizens of Liberty township, Gage county, Nebraska, is one of the honored veterans of the Civil war. His career as a soldier commenced with his enlistment at Lockport, New York, August 7, 1862, for three years in the Nineteenth New York Light Artillery, under Captain William Stall and Captain E. W. Rogers. His company was taken into the Army
of the Potomac. He participated in the battle of Suffolk, Virginia, defense of Washington, Wilderness, and Spottsylvania and was there wounded. He served until February 20, 1865, when he was honorably discharged.
The birth of Mr. Retchless occurred in Cambridge, England, October 4, 1844. He is a son of John and Esther (Smith) Retchless, both natives of England, who came to the United States in 1847, making the voyage in thirty-four days.
He was reared in New York state, and was married in Niagara county, March 11, 1867, to Saline Humphrey, who was born in England, a daughter of William and Esther Molton Humphrey, both of England. William Humphrey died at the age of forty-three years in New York and his wife now resides in Niagara county, New York. The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Retchless, namely: Alta Pope, Alice Hedricks, Alma Dewey, Frank, Charles, of New York, Fred, Edward, Jessie, Grace and Willie.
In 1876 Mr. Retchless removed to Pawnee county, Nebraska, and there remained until 1883, when he located in Liberty township, Gage county, Nebraska, and purchased a two hundred acre farm. He now has one of the finest pieces of property in the community. His house is a comfortable residence, and his barns and outbuildings are in good order, while the farm is well stocked and a good windmill provides water. He conducts a general farming and stock-raising business and has been very successful. In politics he is a Republican, and strongly advocates the principles of that party. He is also a G. A. R. man, and is connected with the John E. Ingram Post at Pawnee city, Nebraska. Both he and his wife make all visitors welcome to their delightful home, and they have many friends throughout the entire county, where they are so well and favorably known.
Hiram Schoonover, a fruit farmer in the precinct of Brownville, has made his home in this locality during the past nineteen years. He was born in Pennsylvania on the 24th of December, 1831, but when a small boy was taken from his native place to Mason county, Illinois. His father, Dennis Schoonover, was also a native of the Keystone state, where he followed agricultural pursuits until his removal to Illinois, where in the summer of 1863, at the age of sixty-six years, he accidentally shot himself, leaving a family of eight children, three sons and five daughters. The mother of these children, Anna Wise, had died in Mason county, Illinois, about 1857, when fifty-four years of age. Their eight children were as follows: Almira, who was born in 1839, is now the widow Lane and resides in Mason county; Hiram; Martha, the wife of Hugh Fannin, of Illinois Hettie Sapp, deceased Jacob, a farmer in Fulton county, Illinois; Wilson, who was a soldier in the Civil war, and died at the age of twenty-one years; Sally Ann, a widow residing in Mason county; and Mahala, who died at the age of ten years.
Hiram Schoonover received but limited educational advantages during his youth, and remained at home until his marriage, although from the age of twenty-three years he had been employed by others, three years of the time remaining on one farm in Cass county, Illinois, where his services were highly appreciated. In the spring of 1862, from Bath, Mason county, Illinois, he enlisted for services in the Civil war, entering Company F, Fifty-first Illinois Volunteer Infantry, for three years. On the 27th of the following June he was wounded at Kenesaw Mountain, Tennessee, the ball passing through his left arm, carrying away his right thumb, unjointing his index finger and making a ghastly wound in his right cheek. He was a universal favorite with
his comrades and the officers, was never refused a pass, and universally received the prize on dress parade. Mr. Schoonover was honorably discharged at Springfield, Illinois, and for his services during the war was awarded a pension of eight dollars a month, but this has been increased and during the past ten or twelve years he has been receiving seventeen dollars a month.
On the 28th of February, 1865, in Mason county, Illinois, Mr. Schoonover was united in marriage to Miss Mary Jane Floss, a native of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of Joseph Floss, a farmer and gunsmith by occupation. Mrs. Schoonover now has in her possession a rifle which he made. He wedded Mary Jane Ryter, a native of Ireland, while he was born in Pennsylvania. They reared but four of their eight children, having lost two sons and two daughters in infancy, and their living children are: Sarah Ann Williams, who resides in California and has eight children; Mrs. Schoonover; and Emma Williams, who resides in Illinois and is the mother of two children. Mrs. Floss was called to her final rest in 1886, when sixty-seven years of age, but her hubsand [sic] survived until 1892, passing away when eighty years of age. In her native land she was an Episcopalian although a member of a Catholic family, and in this country, she was connected with the Methodist church. From Pennsylvania this couple moved to Illinois in 1848, and in 1865 came to Nemaha county, Nebraska, settling in Brownville, where they purchased lots and built a cottage home.
Mrs. Schoonover was married when eighteen years of age, and has become the mother of nine children, as follows: Mary Ellen, the wife of Frank Millsaps, a resident of Idaho and the mother of two sons and a daughter; Clara Dooley died in 1903, leaving a little daughter; Ollie Frost resides in Chicago, and has been twice married, having one son by her first
husband, Willard Foster; Anna Foxley resides in Portland, Oregon, and has one little daughter; Effie Marshall makes her home in South Dakota; Hiram Francis died at the age of four years; Mary Eva assists her mother at home; and David is seventeen years of age, and in addition to assisting his father with the work of the home is also employed by others.
In 1881, over twenty-two years ago, Mr. and Mrs. Schoonover purchased two acres of land in Brownville precinct, erected their pleasant home and also planted their fine orchard, consisting of about three hundred apple and peach trees, besides much smaller fruit. Many years ago Mr. Schoonover became converted to the Christian religion in the Methodist Episcopal church, but ere his probation had expired he joined the Baptist denomination, and was immersed before going to war. In his political affiliations he is a Prohibitionist from the ranks of the Republican party. He is a member of G. A. R., Ben Thompson Post, of Brownville.
Jonathan Carpenter, of Liberty, Gage county, Nebraska, is one of the old settlers of this locality, having come here in 1879, and he is one of the veterans of the Civil war. His enlistment took place in Washington county, Maryland, August 27, 1861, in Company B, First Maryland Cavalry, under Colonel Cole and Captain Firey, and he was honorably discharged September 17, 1864.
Mr. Carpenter was born in Washington county, Maryland, July 31, 1841, the same year of the birth of King Edward of England. He is a son of Jeremiah Carpenter, and a grandson of Henry Carpenter, a
German by birth. The family was originally known by the name of Zimmerman, which translated means Carpenter. The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Susan Cross, and she was also born in Washington county, Maryland, and was a daughter of Colonel Cross, an officer in the Revolutionary war. Our subject's parents moved to Nebraska and settled at Ellis, where the mother died at the age of eighty years, and the father still lives there aged eighty-six. They had the following children: Henry, Jonathan, Jerry, Theodore, Levi, Josiah, Martin, Amanda, Alice. Both parents were members of the Church of God.
Jonathan Carpenter resided in Maryland until he came west in 1879. His marriage occupied in Pennsylvania in 1866 to Maria L. Baughman, who comes of a good German family. She is a daughter of Jacob Baughman. In 1879, Mr. Carpenter settled in Gage county, where he has since made his home and become one of the prosperous men of the community. His children were two in number: Henry, of Seneca, Kansas, who married Jennie Stevens and has four children, viz. —Floyd, Dewey, Roy and Herbert; Amanda E., who died young. In politics Mr. Carpenter is a Republican and has held several township offices with credit to himself. In G. A. R. matters he is very prominent and enjoys the reunions where he meets old comrades. Frank, genial in manner, upright in living, he is highly esteemed, and his word is literally take to be as good as his bond.
Abram F. Manley, justice of the peace, of Liberty, Gage county, Nebraska, is one of the honored residents of the city and a veteran of the Civil war. His career as a soldier commenced with his enlistment in Company G, Eighty-third Indiana Volunteer Infantry, in Ripley county, Indiana, Captain George Morris and Colonel Ben Spooner commanding. After a long and faithful service he participated in the Richmond campaign and in the review at Washington and received his honorable discharge in June, 1865, after which he returned home to Indiana.
Abram F. Manley was born in Ripley county, Indiana, October 14, 1839. He is a son of Martin Manley, who was born in Vermont, and a grandson of James Manley, who with two brothers served in the Revolutionary war. The mother of our subject was Huldah Holford, who came of an old New York family of Scotch ancestry. Both parents are now deceased, the father passing away in Illinois when sixty-five years of age, while the mother died in the same state, aged seventy-five years. The children born to this worthy couple were as follows: Martin, Emory, Abram, Mary E., Martha and two who died young. The father was a farmer by occupation and a worthy man. Both he and his wife wre members of the Methodist church.
Mr. Manley was reared in Ripley county on the old farm, and attended the little log cabin school. In 1861 he was married to Naomi Clark. She is a daughter of Thomas Clark, of England, a most estimable man. In 1866 Mr. Manley moved to Pawnee county and settled in Mission creek, where he made his home until 1900, when he located in Liberty. The following children have been born to himself and wife: Elmer E., Charles, Thomas E., Arthur C., Floyd, Lillian and Francis E. Mr. Manley is a stanch Republican and takes an interest
in local affairs. For many years he has been a justice of the peace, and administers justice with rare ability and fairness. He is a member of the G.A.R., W.F. Barry Post of Liberty, and is very popular in that organization.
Jesse Crook is one of the stalwarts of southeastern Nebraska. Of the nearly eighty years which he has passed over since be came into the world in White county of the old commonwealth of Tennessee, one bright day dated September 12, 1826, fifty of these cycles of time, come August 28, 1904, will have been spent, to the lasting welfare and benefit of the community, in Richardson county, Nebraska. Few, if any men, can claim so long an active career in this county, and none have enjoyed a more prosperous and worthy period of years. When on the date mentioned, he located on his one hundred and sixty acres of land one mile north of Falls City, he made the first farming settlement on the prairie of Richardson county. He had made the journey from his native state with three yoke of oxen, arriving in Andrew county, Missouri, in the fall of 1853, and proceeding the final stage of his migration in the following year. He had two prairie schooners, and during the six weeks and two days of his trip camped out all the time, making a veritable picnic of the affair, and living high on various kinds of wild game. He but sold his land in Tennessee and came to this country with some capital. While in Andrew County, he worked one of his brother’s farm, and on arriving at his place in Nebraska he built a rough log house with a stick and mud chimney, puncheon floor, shook roof, being sixteen by eighteen feet in dimensions, and with a small
lean-to for a bedroom. During his first year’s residence he split enough rails to fence in forty acres, which land he broke and raised twenty-five bushels of corn from each acre.
Such was the advent and the first settlement of this venerable old settler. Since those early days he has been the owner of twenty thousand acres of Nebraska soil taken all together. He purchased ten thousand acres of the Sauk reservation, having bought it from the government in sealed bids of from $1.25 to $1.40 per acre. He has disposed of all his farm lands, and his realty property now consists of a block of lots and a business block in Falls City. His life throughout has been marked by thrift, keen and sagacious management and most honorable and upright methods of dealing with his fellow men. His solid ability achieved success regardless of the fact that he was without advantages in his youth, and only six weeks were taken from his years as a farmer boy in Tennessee in attendance at the rudest kind of log schoolhouse, with a dirt floor, beside which the country school of today would seem a palace.
Mr. Crook's Father was John Crook, and for many generations in the history of the family the name John has headed a family. His great grandfather John was Virginian. and died suddenly of heart disease at the age of fifty-five. Grandfather Crook was a Tennessee planter, owning many slaves, and his life was not terminated until he had reached the great age of ninety-seven years. John Crook, the father of Jesse, was born in Virginia in 1779, was reared in North Carolina, and came to Tennessee with his parents in 1807. He was married in 1803 to Miss Mary Lee, a relative of the famous military family of Lees, and she was born in Roan county, North Carolina, in 1784, and was also married in that county. She survived her husband about three years, and both passed away and are interred in White county, Tennessee.
She was seventy-eight years old at the time of her death, and her husband was eighty. They were the parents of a large family, and all of the name seem to have been gifted with long lives, for the circle of their children was not broken for many years. The record of the children is as follows: Nancy died in Tennessee in 1852, leaving ten children; John died in White county, Tennessee, at eighty, the father of nine children; Isaac, who was an early northwest Missouri settler and who came to Nebraska in 1856, died at Mineral Springs, Missouri, at the age of seventy-two, and had a family of nine children, one son being a prominent county official; Allen came to Jackson county, Missouri, in 1832, was a resident near Savannah, Missouri, until the Civil war, then moved west to Denver, where he died at the age of eighty-two, leaving two children; Charles, who had a wife and one child, died in Tennessee at the age of sixty-five; William, who was the first of the family to die, passed away in Jackson county, Missouri, in 1835 at the age of twenty-one; Ruth Gillam, a widow, resides in Tennessee and is well on toward her eightieth year; Mary McBroom died in Tennessee at the age of sixty, having been the mother of ten children; Jesse is the next in order of birth; Rebecca Stanton died in Tennessee when about sixty years old, having had seven children; Elizabeth Harper, now a Mrs. Clark, resides near Bonham, Texas, and has five children.
Mr. Jesse Crook was married, February 28, 1847, to Miss Eliza Whittaker, who was born in Orange county, North Carolina, May 3, 1830, a daughter of Isaac and Sally (Clinton) Whittaker, who were born in North Carolina in 1800 and 1802, respectively. Her father was a farmer, and he and his wife moved to Tennessee in 1832. Mrs. Crook was the third of their children, and the others are: Mrs. Melinda Holmes, a widow in Texas, still active at the age of seventy-nine and with six living children; Mrs. Nancy Ramsey died leaving three children; Wil-
liam Preston Whittaker, who came to Nebraska in 1855 and in the following year went to Colorado, still farms in the latter state, and has some eight children; Hickman, born in Tennessee in 1834, came to Nebraska in 1886, and died here in 1894, leaving nine children; James, Burt and Thomas Whittaker.
Mr. and Mrs. Crook have had three children. John, who was born in Tennessee in 1848, died in Nebraska at the age of twenty-one. Sally, born in Tennessee, March 2, 1849, married August Schoenheit, who died leaving two children; she is now the wife of Judge James Wilhite, of Falls City. W. H. Crook, born in Tennessee, May 9, 1851, is a leading hardware merchant of Falls City.
During the fifty years of Mr. Crook’s residence in this county he has spent most of it in Falls City. He moved into town from his farm in 1858, returning to the country three years later, but since 1864 has made his home in the city, although he has moved from one residence to another about six times, and has built, and sold many houses. He built the first hotel, the Crook House, in the county in 1858; conducted it for a time, then sold, and afterwards built another hotel, which he ran for three years. He has been at his present nice residence for the past five years, and expects to meet the final summons at this home. He is a Democrat in politics, but throughout his long and successful career has never sought or accepted office. He and his wife have been of the Methodist faith for forty years, although both come of Baptist households. They are still hale and hearty and fine examples of Nebraska citizenship.
© 1999, Lori L. Laird, NEGenWeb Project