Passing of Nebraska Pioneer, After October 26, 1918

These obituaries are compiled largely from death notices printed in newspapers which are received and kept on file by the Historical Society. While the sketches have been carefully edited, it has been impossible to avoid and correct all inaccuracies. The lives of some subjects of the obituaries were of unusual public interest, and in such cases the sketches have been duly amplified. Statements of fact, particularly those which are of record, have been verified as far as practicable. Obviously, it is very desirable that these records, which will always be used for reference, should be correct, and surviving relatives and editors of local newspapers should carefully cooperate in preventing errors.

Frank C. Bosler, son of Herman Bosler, a pioneer cattleman in Nebraska and Wyoming, associated with W. A. Paxton, Alex Swan and others, died November 26 at Carlisle, Pa.; his Nebraska property included stock in the Omaha stock yards and the Ogalalla Land and Cattle Company. He was widely known as a successful and wealthy business man.

James C. Boyd, born in Blount County, Tennessee, June 10, 1837, died November 4 at Dunbar; came to Nebraska City in 1864; began farming in Otoe County in 1867; county superintendent of public instruction for Otoe county 1880-1885, and sheriff one term; teacher of the first school in Dunbar.

Mrs. J. K. Cornelius, born in Kilkenny County, Ireland, May 12, 1841, died November 19 at Humboldt; came with her relatives to America in 1854 by way of New Orleans, and to Nebraska in 1865, settling on a farm northeast of Humboldt; was one of the first members of the Catholic Church at Dawson.

William Asa Cox, born in Andersonville, S. C, February 24, 1849, died November 16 at Falls City; came to Nebraska from Illinois in a prairie schooner, crossing the Missouri River at Brownville.

George M. Drexel, died at Florence November 18, sixty-five years old; had lived in Douglas County for sixty years.

Mrs. Joshua Gapen, born December 13, 1830, in Union County, Indiana, died November 19 at the home of her son near Plattsmouth; moved to Nebraska with her parents in 1866.

David Griffith of Verdon, died November 6 at the age of seventy-one years. He came from Iowa County, Wisconsin, and settled near Verdon in 1866. His son. Dr. David G. Griffith, is superintendent of the Nebraska Institution for Feeble Minded Youth, at Beatrice.

J. W. Hall, born in Kentucky April 7, 1854, died at Beaver City, November 5; came to Nebraska in 1865 and settled near Vesta.

Titus E. Hall, son of Sybrent Hall, died October 26 at his home in Pasadena, Cal., buried at Lyons, Neb.; came from Wisconsin in 1866; drove a stage with Tekamah as headquarters; his last route from the railway terminus at Herman to Tekamah; county commissioner in 1885.

Mrs. Silas Holcomb died on November 12, at Lincoln. The body was taken to Broken Bow, the former home of the family, for burial. Mrs. Holcomb went first to Broken Bow in 1883. The family lived in Lincoln during the time that her husband was governor and judge of the Supreme Court [1895-1898; 1900-1905]. They then went to Washington State, and in 1909 returned to live in Broken Bow; but in a short time Mr. Holcomb was appointed a member of the Board of Commissioners of State Institutions, and since then the family has resided in Lincoln.

Mrs. Henry Hubbard, born in White Pigeon, Mich., October 9, 1835, died at her home in Weeping Water November 3; in 1865 came to Weeping Water, or Weeping Water Falls as it was called; her husband, a miller, built the three mills on the Weeping Water.

Joseph Kruntorad, who was born in Bohemia eighty-two years ago and died on November 15 at Spencer, came to Nebraska from New York in 1885 and went to Boyd County, where he built the first house between Spencer and Butte. He farmed his homestead until ten years ago. (The Spencer Advocate, November 21.)

Mrs. Mary A. Latta, born in Connecticut October 2, 1833, died November 10 at Tekamah; married to W. W. Latta May 10, 1857; they came to Nebraska in a wagon drawn by oxen, crossing the Missouri River at Sioux City and reaching Tekamah July 25, 1857; starting with little besides a breaking plow and cooking utensils they acquired a large acreage of fine farming land which was heavily stocked with cattle.

Patrick McEvoy, born in Ireland, died in Omaha, November 9, aged seventy-six years. His parents came in a wagon to Omaha in 1854, from their former home in Illinois.

Charles A. Morell, born in Sweden January 9, 1863, died at Gothenburg October 26; came to America with his parents when one year old; they first settled in Omaha, then at Oakland, and in 1884 at Gothenburg.

Mrs. Timothy Murphy, died October 28 at the farm home near Dakota City; a resident of Dakota County since May 10, 1856. Noah S. Wood, died in Dillon, Mont., October 31, the last of three brothers who came to Table Rock in 1857.

Mrs. Katherine Reichart, born in Germany November 11, 1833, died at Louisville November 22; came to America a young girl and to Nebraska in 1858; her first home In Plattsmouth a dugout; was the third wife of her husband and bore five children.

Charles Frederick Schafer Templin, born in Lancaster, Ohio, September 17, 1847, died at Nebraska City November 15; came to Nebraska in 1860; it is said that he wrote the call for the first prohibition convention in Nebraska.

George P. Schwab, born in Germany, April 23, 1833, died November 23 at Clay Center. With his parents he came to America on a sailing vessel, the voyage lasting fifty-eight days; had been a resident of Clay County since 1880; at one time one of the largest land owners and most successful farmers and stock raisers in the county and president of the Clay Center State Bank; father of thirteen children, eleven of whom survive him.

William F. Sweesy, born in New Jersey, May 5, 1828, died in Omaha November 2; came to Omaha by steamboat, in 1856; with Aaron Root, his brother-in-law, built the Tremont House on Douglas street; in 1866 bought twenty-two acres of land west and south of the present site of Creighton University; he was appointed register of the land office at Omaha in 1867, and in 1876 he was United States marshal for Wyoming; built the Brunswick Hotel, now a part of the Rome, and other important structures.

Harrison Wixson, who died at Beaver City on November 17, seventy-five years old, had been a mail carrier in Nebraska for twenty eight years. In the course of his service he traveled about 128,000 miles, a distance of more than five times around the world. It is said that he never lost a piece of mail or was disciplined for misconduct. This veteran had never ridden on a railroad train until last summer, when he went from Wilsonville to Beaver City by the line which follows the route he had traveled in the mail service before the road was built. He first carried mail in 1882, from Arapahoe to Wilsonville, and then from Beaver City to Cedar Bluffs (in Decatur County, Kan., forty-two miles by the railroad west of Beaver City). He had other routes, but during the last nine years he has had the daily route from Beaver City to Oxford. (The Times-Tribune, November 21.)

Mrs. Katherine Wolcott Green, died November 21 at Omaha; lived on a homestead at Elk Creek, Neb., for more than fifty years; lately at Akron, Col.; before marriage taught in the public schools of Omaha.

Nebraska AHGP

Source: Nebraska History and Record of Pioneer Days, Volume I, Number 1, Published Monthly by the Nebraska Historical Society, February 1918.

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