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Submitted: 6/2/06 • Approved: 12/2/09 • Last Updated: 2/16/13 • R6589-G0-S3
Inscription:
George W.
Sep. 6, 1833
Mar 21, 1917
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The following information comes from the Compendium of History, Reminiscence & Biography of Western Nebraska, published in 1909, reprinted in the Golden Age Courier [Chadron, Nebraska], December 2009.
Mr. [George W.] Messenger has been a resident of western Nebraska for the past twenty-five years, and has built up a valuable estate and, incidentally, gained an enviable reputation as a successful agriculturist and worthy citizen. He resides in section 4, township 32, range 47, where he enjoys a comfortable home.
Mr. Messenger was born in Knox County, Ohio, in 1833 on a farm. His father, William H. was a native of Ohio, a mechanic by trade and later became a pioneer in Iowa, where his death occurred near Weldon of Washington County. Our subject grew up on a farm in Ohio, where he early learned to do all sorts of hard farm work, going from Ohio to Madison County, Wisconsin, staging across the latter state to Galena City. He then went down the river to Muscatine and again staging to Iowa City as that was the mode of transportation at that time, railroads not being so much in evidence in those days as at present. Then he went through pioneer experiences with his parents and became thoroughly familiar with the frontiersman's life. He learned the carpentry trade and followed that work from the time he was a mere boy, working as a cabinetmaker, furniture manufacturer, also as a millwright and wagon maker at different times. He still has a number of farming tools which he uses that were made with his own hands while doing carpenter work in Iowa.
In the spring of 1885, he moved to Dawes County, Nebraska, settling at Bordeaux station, and lived there for a few years following his trade. He bought his present farm where he began as a stock raiser and ranchman, putting up his own buildings, house barns, etc.... His ranch now consists of about twelve quarter sections of land, largely in hay land pasture, and he has every convenience for the proper operation of his farm. He has built a fine house, planned and executed by himself and of commodious size. The new addition is thirty by sixteen while the older wing is thirty by fourteen, fitted with every convenience and it is the best built ranch house in the County. At the head of the ranch, near Bordeaux Creek, is a spring which he has stoned up, and as this is very near the house, makes one of the finest clear water springs in the locality....
In February, 1860, Mr. Messenger was united in marriage to Miss Anna Barrows, daughter of a prominent merchant at Windham in Johnson County, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Messenger are the parents of three children, two of whom, Orval and Edyth, are living, while William died in 1895. Our subject is an independent voter, always supporting the best man for the office.
Contributed on 6/2/06 by JimNebraska99
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Record #: 6589