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The Graves Of Pioneers
An April Day in Wyuka, the Beautiful Cemetery in Nebraska City
Early Settlers of Nebraska
Who Sleep Beneath the Sod – The Work They Accomplished
Now, while all nature is reminding us of the joy of living,
the reality of existence, by a seeming paradox of inclination. I took myself in the late sunshine of an
April afternoon to Wyuka, the Greenwood of Nebraska.
A plat of some ten or fifteen acres, two sides along the
public road, surrounded by a neat iron fence painted white, covered with virgin
sod which man’s hand has never broken save to prepare a couch for some sleeper;
filled with undulating slopes, level stretches of sward and little knolls,
shaded by forest trees and ornamented with many kinds of evergreens and shrubs,
through which a winding road leads from a main drive running east and west, and
over which the sun bends with its first kiss in the morning and lingers with a
last caress at night – this is Wyuka, the beautiful Indian name of the Otoes,
meaning resting place, or place of sleep, which Nebraska City has given to her
city of the dead.
Nature is impartial from the old time and receives alike all
those for whom death has smoothed the pillow.
The brain and brawn of our western commonwealth here mingles with the
dust. There along side is a grave marked
by a rude sandstone to tell the burial place of one whose awful deed in the
flesh shall here remain nameless.
Let us part the grass about these slabs and read the
inscriptions.
There is one, whose death is recorded in the tongue of the
“fatherland,” who, though young when he died, has slept here since the ‘50s.
We all know how he came, an undaunted soul to an untried,
untilled country. The lusty soil tried
his young manhood to the uttermost, broke it in fact, before it yielded to the
conqueror’s hand.
But who shall say he worked in vain? The countless wealth of Otoe’s teeming
harvests testify to the success that lay hidden in the seeming failure
.
The southern and middle portions of Wyuka abound in these
old inscriptions and entire lots are passed with no more recent date of
interment than the ‘50s, ‘60s and early ’70s.
This incidentally explains the fact that so many of Nebraska’s distinguished sons find a last
resting place within the modest domains of the hillside cemetery.
The memory is of some little one, and aged parent, a husband
or wife of their young life, holds still the keynote of desire which spends
itself in a pleading cry to be laid among their dead.
So here are to be found the names of many who in life
extended their influence beyond the confines of their own town and state, who
were identical with important legislative measures, or were honored members of
the bar and bench, distinguished representatives of the press, the head and
front of our large manufacturing and mercantile interests.
Well over the right in one of the oldest portions of the
burying ground is the grave of Alexander
Street.
His was a busy life, crowded full of positions of trust and
prominence. Before he came to Nebraska he was an Indian trader in Iowa,
Missouri and the Indian territory, which is
now Kansas. His successful diplomacy with the red man was
founded on honorable dealing and kindly motives. He had a trading post on the exact site of
the present city of Des Moines, afterward moving southward on the Little Osage,
and thus came to Nebraska from Missouri in 1861, a trustee for the great
governmental freighting firm, Russell, Majors & Waddell, who selected this
point as the eastern ermitus of their vast systems of trains running to New
Mexico, Salt Lake and western forts. Mr. Street
afterward conducted trains in his own interest and in connection with several
other private parties, who banded their precious loads together, making the
danger of attack from the Indians less liable.
Mr. Street
was elected mayor in 1874, and for two subsequent terms served the city as
treasurer, which office be held at the time of his death.
With any mention of the pioneer days of Nebraska comes the names of Robert Hawke,
whose remains are interred with those of his wife, Elizabeth Hawke, a
daughter Ida, in a lot on the main driveway, about the middle of the
cemetery. His, also, was a busy life, in
which Nebraska City and her best interests were always
identified. He was early engaged in the mammoth
enterprise of fitting out freighting trains as well as in numerous other
mercantile pursuits. Mr. Hawke was
elected to the state senate in 1871, and served as alderman several terms. A shrewd business man, he saw in that early
day of Indian huts and hazel brush a future of Nebraska City
and lived to see his early faith justified in her present substantial
development.
He died, leaving his large property in about the town he was
instrumental in building.
His wife, Elizabeth Hawke, whose death preceded his
by three years, was a woman of sterling worth and large charities, who greatly
endeared herself to all in her wide circle of acquaintanceship.
But a little removed is the beautifully arranged plot of Hon.
J. Sterling Morton, whom the world knows as the father of Arbor Day. Here lies the remains of Caroline Morton,
his wife, cut off in the prime of womanhood.
Hers was the happy lot to see completed, in part, the beginning she so
bravely made in the little log house on the prairies in the early ‘50s. She saw it grow with the years, and enlarge
with the country’s development, until at last it spread its spacious walls and
hospitable roof above the palatial home which now graces the fine old country
seat, Arbor Lodge.
We find her name in conjunction with other ladies of the
city’s youth, busily engaged in plans of development for our untried
resources. She it was who was largely
instrumental in raising funds of a fence around Wyuaka; her name leads the list
of ladies who gave entertainments to contribute the proceeds towards our first
high school. Needless to say it was
built and finished in 1865, at a cost of $31,000.
It was the first high school west of the Missouri River.
The striking personality is perpetuated in her four sons,
all risen rapidly to positions of prominence and trust.
A giant tree, the top of which is shattered with the
branches broken, about whose base are all the emblems of her womanly skill and
accomplishments, marks the spot and most fitly typifies her untimely end.
Shadowed by this stately column, in an adjacent lot, is a
plain massive slab of granite, covering the grave of Hon. Daniel Gantt,
who died in Nebraska
City, May 29, 1878, aged
65 years. The inscription tells us
further, “at the time of his death he was faithfully serving the state of Nebraska in the high
position of Chief Justice.” Below are
the scales of justice hung unswerving in the balance, followed by a quotation
from Cicero.
He was the compiler of the statutes of Nebraska and will long be remembered as a
wise Judge and an honest man.
Down a little slope to the northeast is a yellowed marble
slab which reads:
“Sarah Elkins, born in Culpepper County, Virginia,
January 13, 1814; died in Nebraska City, Nebraska Territory, January 9, 1866.”
This marks the grave of the mother of our recently appointed
secretary of war, Stephen H. Elkins.
Her husband, father of Secretary Elkins, came to Nebraska early in the ‘60s in connection with Ben
Holiday’s Stageline, which ran from points along the river to San Francisco. Mrs. Elkins accompanied him] and was soon the
center of an admiring circle of friends, some of whom today tell of her
cleverness, her lovely character, her versatile tact and unfailing patience,
which brought life and sunshine into their midst. She died after a short illness in the home of
Dr. Larsh, which is occupied by his widow. Farther along is the lot wherein the remains
of the first man buried in Wyuka, is interred.
The grave is in good condition, carefully mounded and covered with turf
and marked by a marble head stone upon with is written:
“John Clements, born in Grayson
County, Virginia, April 15, 1818, died
in Nebraska City, January, 1855. This stone was erected by the Otoe County Old
Settlers’ Association.”
Here, then, is the lot of the four thousand who have come to
share his rest in the thirty-seven years that have elapsed since his interment.
Up a little space on a rising bit of ground is the grave of Thomas
Morton, a prototype of the early settlers of Nebraska and a representative man in later
times of progressive growth. To him
belongs the honor of setting up the first type in the territory, in which
appeared in the first issued of the Palladium on November 19, 1854.
It reads:
“This is the first column of reading matter set up in the territory of Nebraska. This was put in type on the 14th
of November, 1854 by Thomas Morton.”
According to Hon. J. Sterling Morton in the memorial
issued of the News of November 14, 1889, this critical moment in the birth of
journalism was witnessed by Governor T. H. Cummings, Governor of
Nebraska, and Mrs. Cummings; Hon. Fennor Fergoson, Chief Justice
of Nebraska, and Mrs. Fergoson; Rev.
William Hamilton and Mrs. Hamilton; Major James M. Gatewood of
Missouri; Bird B. Chapman, candidate for congress from Nebraska
territory, and a number of others.
Mr. Morton was a man of unimpeachable character and
large benevolences.
Mr. Morton was appointed postmaster shortly before his
death, which occurred at his home at Nebraska City, August 10, 1887.
The mention of this father of journalism brings to mind two
of his able associates on the News, whose service is separated by along term of
years, but to whom the end of life brought a common resting place in Wyuka.
The one Dr. J. H. Blue was notable among newspaper men long
before his arrival in Nebraska
in 1870.
At the breaking out of the war he fought for the union,
although he was a democrat and slaveholder.
He was appointed postmaster by President Lincoln and elected union mayor
of Brunswick, Missouri, in a trying hour, when few men
were brave enough to declare their principles and society was in danger of
failing into chaos.
In 1864, he being informed by a brother Mason his name was
among the “doomed,” he left Missouri and
sailed for Brazil
as correspondent of the St. Louis Republican, where for five years his
fascinating description of that far away country, in a series of letters,
entitled, “All About Brazil,” gave him a wide-spread reputation.
On his return in 1870 he was solicited to come to Nebraska and take charge
of the News, then under the management of J. Sterling Morton. He was a physician of good qualifications, a
brilliant linguist and member of the state legislature.
After an active life in various pursuits through the east
and south he came to Nebraska
City in 1874 and assumed
editorial charge of the News, which position he held six years. An able mind and ready pen soon placed him in
first rank among the newspaper men throughout the state, while a great heart
which overflowed with kindness for all living creatures and fine social
qualities won him a memory in the hearts of friends that time cannot
erase. Especially did he seek to
elevate and enlighten the colored race, who found in him a lifelong benefactor
and who mourned with the simple pathos of their childish natures at their lose
in his death.
When his connection with the News ended he read law in the
office of his friend, John C. Watson, and was admitted to the bar
shortly before his death, which occurred October 20, 1887.
The inscription above his grave is not an ordinary one for
it traces his lineage through eight generations to Robert Potter, one of the
eleven purchasers of (Shawomet) Wawick,
Rhode Island, from Myantenomy, on
January 12, 1642.
A short space removed we find the burial place of Hon. O.
P. Mason, Chief Justice of Nebraska, who, after long years of public
service, finds quiet in the shades of Wyuka.
Settling here in 1855, he began at once the practice of his
chosen profession, the law.
He was elected to the territorial council and three times
thereafter filled the same office – once to fill a vacancy and twice by the
voice of the people. He was a member and
aided in framing the present constitution, and was appointed to fill a vacancy
on the Supreme Bench in 1867, caused by the death of his successful opponent, Mr.
Little, and two years later was elected to fill the same place by a large
majority. Mr. Mason is said to have framed more of the
statutes of Nebraska
that any other nine men.
He opposed the organization of the “claim club”, law in his
county, and single handed and alone defeated this iniquity, after a very severe
and personal contest. He also fought to
the bitter end all special legislation and special privileges to corporations.
In one of his speeches in opposition to the passage of a
special law on corporation he described them as beings, “with no eyes to see,
no hearts to feel, no soul to save, no heaven to gain, no hell to shun, they
can feel, but only for the pockets of men.”
He was appointed provost marshal under General S. R.
Curtis, for Nebraska,
and found several companies of militia to aid the frontier in the Indian
trouble on the Blue.
As a lawyer Mr. Mason was a singularly successful
advocate. He defended in Richardson
County Courts no less than eight men
charged with murder, not one of whom was found guilty, and in other counties no
less than nineteen have been defended successfully for capital offenses.
Mrs. Mason, who died at the early age of 38, was a
truly lovely person. A devoted wife and
mother, she was possessed of a fine poetic temperament, which graced all her
surroundings and further displayed itself in verse and other literary
productions of real worth, some of which are perpetuated in the annals of the
Old Settlers’ Association.
Near by lies a life sized female figure in white marble to
make the grave of F. W. Rottman.
The head in sorrowing pose, the attitude pensive. The wish of the little child to be held up to
see if the hands were warm, seems not unreasonable, so nicely has the sculptor
wrought the semblance of life from the feeling less stone, which speaks most
expressively of the sorrowing heart who raised it in memory of a loving
husband, kind father, public spirited citizen and faithful friend.
Such was his enterprise in life, his name has become a
proverb for all that is thrifty, far sighted, practical, beautifying,
substantiating in the town in which he lived.
He was the Nestor of practical reform in tenements and was philanthropic
in all matter of private good or public advancement.
Mr. Rottman
came to America
in 1857, in humble circumstances.
Shortly after he removed to Nebraska
City and began life as a
clerk in various mercantile houses, from which he gradually worked his way up
to the position of affluence he held until the close of his life. He became a merchant in his own interest, was
alderman several times an director of the fair association.
We are all aware of that “well buried but ever vital
platitude,” as Walt Whitman has it, which expresses itself in various forms as
to the usefulness of the man who plants a tree.
What then must be the proportion of usefulness meted out by
prosperity to the memory of a man who lays out a whole nursery and vineyard, in
a time when fruits and shrubs wee firstlings of the soil and the climate and
elements were in a state of unfriendliness to all such development? Such a man was Joel Draper, whose
orchard in the southwest part of town, was among the first planted in this
vicinity. Many homes owe their first
putting out of trees and shrubs to his planting, while the fruit supplied in
the part the city market.
On the same lot is the grave of his friend and associate, H.
K. Raymond, out first county superintendent of public instruction, and
connected with the schools, public or private, since 1858. A saintly man, whose simple piety drew all
men to him, his influence for good was unmeasurable and his energy tireless in
promoting all forms of higher education.
At the head of a road stands a granite shaft, marked with
the simple inscription “N. D. Larsh, born January 6, 1835, died December
--, 1888”
Naught here to tell of the active life a practicing
physician in a new country, wherein every phase and coloring of its growth and
progress is reflected.
He read human nature as an open page, and was both
comprehensive and charitable in his judgment.
His keen eyes and ready wit made him a dangerous man to
trifle with, but never stapled his heart again the poor or unfortunate, for he
was ever known as the poor man’s friend.
He could tell you the lay of Otoe and surrounding counties
as you can tell the arrangement of your own door yard. He knew who first took up this land or
reclaimed that timber, turned this creek or dammed that stream.
From his arrival in Nebraska
in 1857 until his death in 1888 he was identified with the public life of town
or state, and except for three years of Army Service and other occasions of
official absence was a resident among us.
He was a member of the territorial legislature in 1862,
alderman numerous times, delegate to almost every state convention of the
republican party and chairman for many years of the county convention and was
also sent to the republican national convention in 1880.
In 1870 he was commissioned by Governor David Butler
as superintendent of the insane asylum, which position he filed with ability
and conscientious skill. He helped
organize the state medial society, in which he held various offices.
All orders of civil and secret orders followed his remains to
Wyuka, beside countless equipages in character cosmopolitan enough to bespeak
his place in the hearts of all men, regardless of position or circumstances.
In this plat also the monument erected in memory of Rufus
French McComas, another freighter of the early days, and, subsequently
closely identified with the city’s interests.
In connection with Mr. William Payne and Captain
J. R. Sousley, Mr. McComas organized the transfer company, of which
he was president. This was a long
stride in advance of the old flat boat and ferry days of transportation, and
was the immediate forerunner of the iron railroad bridge which now send its
swift trains daily across Missouri’s
muddy tide. Mr. McComas was a banker and
a man of influence through the community, which was called upon to regret his
sudden demise in January, 1890, while on a business trip to New Mexico
.
Adjacent, is the grave of Hosea B. Horton, another
name associated with the freighting industry of the ‘50s and ‘60s, and for many
years after a farmer, residing a few miles west of town.
The spot is covered with a granite slab, marked with the
insignia of the Masonic order, of which he was a member.
Here, too, is the grave of Mr. Kimball, a worthy
citizen, who passed away at the close of an active, prosperous career, who was
largely interested in manufactories. His
grave is marked with the highest shaft in Wyuka.
That pioneer merchant, Herman H. Petring, was her
laid some years since, to be followed in a short time by his wife, Anna
Petring, who never rallied from her grief at her husband;s death, and died
literally of a broken heart.
Mr. Perting’s interest in Nebraska
began when the present site was covered with hazel brush, and the main town lay
on Kearney Heights.
The enterprises could have been counted on the fingers of
one hand and Mr. Petring’s store of general merchandise was among them.
He was alderman several times and throughout his life served
the public’s best interests in his everyday honesty and prudent business
foresight.
The graves of Mr. Petring and his wife are marked by twin
columns surmounted by a key stone, suggestive of their union, and the unbroken
harmony of their lives in death.
Close by is a lot surrounded by a stone curbing unmarked by
any stone, in which are two graves, the corresponding names of which we find on
the curbing, they are “Laura Talbot” and “Helen L. Hagar.” The first in the name of one of the eight
adopted children whom the childless Bishop Talbot raised with fatherly
care. His, it will be remembered, was
that bishop of the west, a diocese extending to the Pacific Coast. The final one of the worthy bishop’s self
appointed flock died a few years since in Cincinnati.
Helen L. Hagar, who is well remembered by the older
residents, was one of the founders of Browhell Hall, Omaha.
No mention of Wyuka’s dead, who in life extended their lines
of usefulness beyond the limits of the grave, would be complete without the
name of F. Cooper Morrison.
Born in Washington
County, Pennsylvania,
June 5, 1817, he spent his early life on his father’s farm and in mercantile
pursuits.
After serving as recorder of deeds for his native county for
two terms he was appointed by President Buchannan as an employe in the
government land office in this city in 1837.
In 1858 he was made city clerk, a position he held three years.
In 1861, he was engaged in the surveyor general’s office, at
the expiration of which he again resumed mercantile pursuits. He was assessor, collector of taxes, city
engineer for three years and at the time of his death was superintendent of
Wyuka.
It is, to his memory the city owes its concise valuable
reports as to interments, lot numbering, etc, for his was the self appointed
task to collect such information as he could obtain from the scraps of inetnoranda,
sexton’s accounts an disconnected items here and there, and from them compile
the alphabetically arranged index of interment now in the city’s
possession. Mr. Morrison greatly aided
the city’s growth by many substantial buildings and wise investments.
The name of Colonel Albert Tuxbury rouses a host of memories
in the minds of friends who survive him.
There was good cheer, written all over his face, surmounted
by iron gray hair, which beamed with genial smile from out half a dozen
well-know hotels throughout the state.
He was among the first hosts of the old Seymour House, not
the Morton, and then, as now, one of the finest hostelries in the state. He was elected mayor in 1871-1872 and was
prominent in any cause of promotion to the city’s growth. Twice married, his second wife was B whose
death he survived by a few years.
Mrs. Tuxbury is deserving of more space that can be given
her here, for her sphere of usefulness extended over long years of services in
our public schools. Long lines of
children of the public school marched in the funeral cortege that followed her
remains to Wyuka, eager to show this may of affection to her whose long life
had been crowed full of benefits to them.
Not far away is the grave of George W. Sroat, who with two
children, sleep in Wyaka, half a continent between them and their loved ones.
A native of Kentucky, Mr.
Sroat spent his younger days in the southern states, coming to Nebraska in 1835, at the
age of 27. He continued his residence
here until his death. He entered one of
the first quarter sections south of the Platte,
March 30, 1857. He served two terms in the territorial legislature, was sheriff
in 1860-1866, then served as deputy two years.
Mr. Sroat was alderman, justice of the peach and city marshal, devoting
the later part of his life exclusively to real estate.
Here, too, are the mortal remains of John R. Gilman, whose
interest with Nebraska
City began with its birth
and continued untiring until his death.
He was a freighter of the firm of Gilman Bros., the remaining partner
still living on his farm west of town.
Mr. Gilman preempted land on or near the site of the present city of Deadwood, whose claims for
such ran jaundice vs. jaundice-like through long years of litigation, with no
apparent benefit to the claimant. His
widow and two daughters are still among us, and one son, George, is a leading
business man of Talmage, Nebraska.
William P. Craig was a name ever found with any endeavor to
build up or beautify the town and surrounding country. He contracted for and build our county court
house, the original building of the state institute for the blind, the state Normal at Peru
and the asylum for the deaf mutes in Cornell Bluffs, besides other public
building throughout the state of Iowa. At his house, since destroyed by fire, was
held the first meeting of the Otoe County Settlers’ Association, with whom he
was always an active member. Mr. Craig
was alderman in 1858, and passed his life until his last years in Nebraska City.
He removed to Lincoln
and died there a few years since, when his body was brought back and laid away
amid the scenes of his early labors.
His aged widow survives him, and makes her home with her daughter, Mrs.
R. H. Miller of this city.
Last among those in Wyuka whose names are among the
legislative halls of Nebraska, is that of William E., Dillion., who settled in
Nebraska City in 1862 and connected in
numerous enterprises throughout his active career in business circles. He was a freighter or the firm of Hawke and
Dillion, and was subsequently engaged in agricultural, lumber, insurance and
mercantile pursuits up to the date of his death.
No question of the city’s interest passed his sound judgment
unheeded. An able financier and large
hearted citizen, his loss is largely felt in commercial circles. He was
president and vice president of the Nebraska National Bank two terms each. In the fall of 1870 he was elected to the
legislature by a large majority and resigned the mayoralty upon which he was
entering for his second term, to attend to legislative duties.
These are but a few of the many buried in Wyuka. There we see the beautiful outlines of the
marble statue which marks the grave of Ida, wife of William Hishof, whose
interesting family of sons and daughters speak to commemorate her nobly filed
mission of wife and mother.
Near at hand a similar figure, life sized and finely
proportioned, which tell of the resting place of Minnie, wife of Fred
Beyschiag, the most carefully tended spot in Wyuka.
A little space removed, the monument to the memory of
William S. Rector, meets the eye, who as an alderman, a business man of high
repute and worthy Christian gentleman
.
There, too, is Mrs. Tally, but lately gone, and a pioneer of
Nebraska’s
earliest settlement; also Mrs. Pearman, mother of J. W. Pearman, the humorous,
self styled squatter governor of Nebraska.
Mrs. Lorton and Mrs. Fulton, mothers of out two well known
fellow citizens, William Fulton and Robert Lorton, are here.
Mr. William Payne of
the transfer company and early
connected in mercantile pursuits, father of Hon. Robert Payne.
Mr. and Mrs. Calhoun, parents of Hon. S. H. Calhoun,
who was the acknowledged Nestor of Otoe County’s Bar, but lately removed to
Denver;.
Mr. William Lambeth, a pioneer merchant, and his wife, Mrs. Lambeth, of
sainted memory.
Judge John Adle, for many years judge of the probate court.
.
Mr.
William B. Hall, better known as “Uncle Billy,” among the first holders of town
real estate.
Peter Schminke, whose son, Paul Schminke, was long postmaster, and
lately called to the municipal chair.
Mr. and Mrs. Edward Powell, whose
beautiful lives were not divided in death.
Father
Thorp.
Mr. and Mrs. Daniel
McCollum.
Dr. R. H. Mathews, a dentist in the ‘50s, who is said to be one of the
surveyors of the present site of Denver.
And so on through hundreds of names
whose place is in that book of remembrance wherein no job or title of man’s
self is lost.
The past is gauged by the
life record of those in the silent
--- under the stars, and the future, too, in a certain sense, is measure by
the impetor they save.
Mrs. H. N. Shuman
Nebraska
City
April 23, 1892
Omaha
World Herald – April 24, 1892
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