Capt. Henry A. Longsdorf

Captain Longsdorf Dead

One of the Oldest Residents of the County Dies at Bellevue

Special Dispatch to the World-Herald
Bellevue, Neb., Nov. 14 - After an illness of but four days, Captain Henry A. Longsdorf died at his home here yesterday, aged 73. He was attacked several days ago by paralysis of the bowels and shortly before his death an operation was performed, in the hope of affording him some relief. His system was too weak to withstand the effects of the operation, however, and he did not recover from the shock.

Captain Longsdorf was one of the oldest residents of the county, having come here in 1856. He returned to his native state, Ohio, shortly before the outbreak of the Civil war, and served through that conflict with the One Hundred and Fifty-eighth regiment. He remained in Ohio until 1883, when he again came here, and has made this place his home since. Captain Longsdorf leaves four children. The funeral will be held this afternoon at 2 o'clock.

From the Omaha World-Herald, (Omaha, Douglas Co., Nebraska), dated November 15, 1902


Passing Of One Of The Sturdy Pioneers Of Sarpy

When Henry A. Longsdorf died at Bellevue a few days ago, one of the interesting few who formed the vanguard of civilization in the then unknown territory of Nebraska, passed to the beyond. Among the old papers found in his desk is one that will be presented to the State Historical society and treasured by that institution as one of the picturesque documents of the pioneer days of Sarpy county.

Upon this yellow paper, in a fine clear hand, are the minutes of a meeting of settlers at Bellevue in 1857 when several men accused of claim jumping were placed on trial. Two were sentenced to wear a coat of tar, have thirty lashes on their backs and to be thereupon "put over the river." In those days the Missouri was a bigger stream than now and there was no bridge across which one could walk in fifteen minutes. So when the river was placed between a man and Omaha, he was a good way off. Mr. Longsdorf was secretary of the meeting which disciplined these two alleged claim jumpers.

Other papers will doubtless be found which will be of special interest to the Historical society. An interesting letter is that written by Mr. Longsdorf to his father from Council Bluffs, May 13, 1856, just after [he] had crossed Iowa and was on the threshold of Nebraska where he was to spend the remainder of his life - a letter as clear and legible as if it were written yesterday, valued very highly by his son, George Longsdorf, now a lawyer in St. Paul.

In this letter Mr. Longsdorf says:
"As if is raining and too muddy to be out of the house, I concluded to write to you to let you know how I am getting along and I hope this letter will find you enjoying as good health as I do at present. I am gaining in weight ever since I left home. I am now at the outside verge of civilization, but when I think of it, I can scarcely believe it possible that I have traveled over 2,000 miles since we started. I left the other two (his brother Dave E. Longsdorf and another) on last Friday morning (the 9th) at Des Moines and came on to this place in a backwoods buggy with a young gentleman (Mr. Cook) from Petersburg, Adams Co., Pa. We cam from Fort Des Moines to this place, 155 miles in three and one-half days and had good weather all the way till yesterday, when we rode twenty-five miles through rain and experienced the coldest weather I ever knew in May. The roads were pretty good until this rain which has put them in an awful condition again. Here at Council Bluffs we can see teh elephant every step we take. In fact the country itself is a very big elephant and Indians are swarming around here as thick as hops. Two hundred or 300 of them (the Pawnees) are encamped about one-half mile from the town. They are about as ugly, dirty a set of scamps as any one need want to see. They do not look very much like the tame Indian one sees in the east. They run about more than half naked, covered with mud and their faces painted in outlandish style. They can't say a word of English as a general thing, though some few have learned a little by trading with the settlers. There are among them some stout old warriors. There is here any number of Mormons. Some of them reside here, but the greater part are waiting until the emigrant train, which is just filling up, starts for Utah territory and California. The emigrants who are to compose this trave are now encamped by hundreds a short distance below this place, while the hills and bottoms around give pasturage to thousands of cattle which they are taking with them. Yesterday a man went through town astride a cow with a pair of saddle bags for a seat, on his way to California, and another after him holding onto the cow's tail, wading through the mud a foot deep. When it clear up, Cook and I are going to take a trip through Nebraska to see what is to be seen there and at every convenient time I will write to you of my travels and in the meantime I don't want you to be uneasy about me as everything is going well and I will take good care of myself. Land speculation in Iowa seems to me to be nearly at an end, but folks here think differently. Money I could put out at interest with good security for 40 per cent a year either at this place or Fort Des Moines. As yet we have not gone into any invwstments. The best offers now at this point seems to be building lots in Omaha city, the capital of Nebraska territory. When the land in Nebraska is surveyed and comes into market there will be a chance for making money. The way from Fort Des Moines to this place is dreary enough. Some days we would only see a horuse or two for a whole day's drive and very little wood. Nothing but rolling prairies on which the grass is not about three inches high. I shot some snakes on the way. Streams we found sometimes a good deal of trouble in crossing. Cook had to swim his horse over a couple of them. At Grand river we were afraid to risk crossing with us both in the buggy so I got out while he swam over. But then I was in a bad snap with him on one side and me on the other. I finally got a piece of an old log canoe and with a piece of board for a paddle, I rowed across and wehn the end struct the opposite short I jumped and went into the mud and quicksand nearly the length of my legs. This was the worst place we had. The country houses are mostly one story, built of logs and shingled with sod. Some of them have windows and some have not. Our fare was eggs and hog meat. Saw three tame elk yesterday. Sometimes we were caught out on the prairie when night came one, when we made good use of the cakes that mother baked for us before we started. We met a good many Pennsylvanians at the different stopping places."

From the Omaha World-Herald, (Omaha, Douglas Co., Nebraska), dated November 23, 1902