Biography of Myron G. Randall of Bedford
Myron G. Randall, a retired farmer, residing on his one hundred and sixty acres in Bedford precinct, with post office at Howe, has lived in Nemaha County over forty years, ever since he was a boy of ten years. He has been an enterprising and successful agriculturist, owning at present one of the best farms in the vicinity, and in affairs of citizenship has gained the reputation of being a reliable and substantial man, who may be depended upon for public-spirited co-operation in what pertains to advancement and progress.
When Mr. Randall was three years old and was on a visit with his parents to New York state, he remembers seeing his grandfather Isaac Randall, who was then an old man. Isaac Randall and his wife were natives of either Connecticut or Rhode Island, and the former was a scythe-maker, and they had seven sons and two daughters, as follows: William, Hiram, Nathan G., Anson, Philo, Walter, a son that died aged about fifteen, and the two daughters were married and died at Akron, Ohio.
Nathan Gorham Randall, the father of Myron G. Randall, was born in New York state, August 22, 1816, and died in the home of the latter, July 30, 1901, when nearly eighty-five years old. He was first married to Asenath Lyons, in Ohio, and their children were: Hiram Lyons Randall, who is surgeon in the soldiers’ home, at Grand Island, Nebraska, and has lost his wife and two small children and has one son and one daughter living; George W., was a soldier, and was killed in action in Missouri, at the age of twenty-three and single; Elias Isaac, a farmer and Methodist preacher for twenty years, died February 2, 1903, at Havelock, Nebraska, leaving a wife and children; Allen Duane, a farmer at Chapman, Nebraska, lost one daughter and has four daughters and one son living. After the death of his first wife, Mr. Nathan G. Randall was married to Mrs. Polly Mary (Ellis) Brown, who was born in Pompey, Onondaga County, New York, February 24, 1823, a daughter of Clark Ellis. On July 4, 1842, she was married to Judson Brown, who was born in New York, February 10, 1819, and by this marriage there was one son, William Ellis Brown, born September 6, 1843, who was a soldier in the First Wisconsin Cavalry, a prisoner in Andersonville and Libby, and died in Nebraska, September 28, 1890, leaving his widow. Nathan G. Randall had by his second marriage three children. Myron G. is the eldest. Horace Lafayette was born September 18, 1858, and died March 6, 1871. Thyrza E., the wife of W. I. Fryer, in Denver, Colorado, has two daughters living and lost twins. The mother of these children died in Nemaha County, December 19, 1901. Nathan G. Randall had come to this part of Nebraska in 1859 from Dodge County, Wisconsin, having stopped here on his way to Pike’s Peak, whither he was driving an ox team. He pre-empted eighty acres across the road from the present farm of his son, and his wife and children came here three years later. He was in debt, but gradually acquired prosperity, and at his death owned one hundred and sixty acres in two farms. At her death his wife gave this land to Myron G. Randall, and it is the nucleus of his present estate.
Myron G. Randall was born in Dodge County, Wisconsin, September 21, 1852, and in his youth had few advantages, being in the district school but little. He was married June 14, 1876, to Miss Mary Eliza Quinn, who has become the mother of six children. Sidney M. is farming the home farm; Mrs. Millie F. Swope is the wife of a farmer in Aspinwall precinct; Merrill H. is farming; Elsie, aged fourteen, is at home, as are also Esther, aged eight, and Alfred, aged five. Mr. Randall is a Republican, and has served on the board of elections, and on the school board for nine consecutive years. He has enjoyed a high degree of success in his life work, and he and his family are among the most esteemed of the precinct.