My Genealogy Hound

CHARLES R. STIMPSON, a prominent farmer and cattle man of Buffalo county, is a native of Huron county, Ohio, and was born February 4, 1833. At the age of seventeen he left the home farm and went to Minnesota, where he grew to manhood and where he was married in 1861. In 1862 he enlisted in Company F, Sixth Minnesota volunteer infantry and saw his first service in the Indian campaign at Fort Hudson. On his return home in 1864 he joined the Eleventh Minnesota infantry and was sent to Tennessee, where he was chiefly employed on garrison duty until the close of the war, when he again returned to Minnesota, and for a short time followed carpentering, also engaged in merchandising, and for a while worked for a railroad company. In June, 1872, he came to Nebraska. In August of the same year, Kearney city was platted and a hotel commenced, and for five years Mr. Stimpson followed his trade of a carpenter in the new town. When he came to the county Gibbon was the county seat and the land he now lives on in Center township was included in the Fort Kearney military reservation. After a residence of three years here he was the first to take a claim in this reservation, much to the surprise of his neighbors, but in a very few days afterwards the entire tract of ten square miles, on both sides of the river, was under “squatter” claims. The fall of the same year he built his house and moved in, being the first man to take that step. The land cost $1.25 per acre and is located in section 32, in the northwest quarter of the reserve. Mr. Stimpson was the prime mover in securing from the government the right of settlers to this piece of public territory, to the exclusion of railroad companies’ claims, and no company has ever owned an acre in the square by congressional grant.

Mr. Stimpson served for several years as marshal of Kearney, during the notorious cowboy troubles. In those turbulent times these boys committed numerous depredations and perpetrated numerous murders, and quite a number of the desperadoes also met their death at the hands of the citizens in defense of their own lives. In those days, Indians were numerous and many citizens were killed by them, while others were killed by their fellow-citizens or straggling strangers, and the blame thrown upon the Indians. Many efforts were made by the ranchmen to oust the settlers from the reservation, as it was then an unorganized territory, but these efforts were in vain. Mitchell and Ketcham were among the ranchmen who took part in the nefarious scheme and shot down more than one man, trumped up charges of cattle stealing against others, but were themselves eventually lynched. The country was for a time in a lawless condition, and it required pluck and nerve on the part of the honest settler to keep his residence in it.

Lovett Stimpson, the father of our subject, was a native of New York and was a veteran of the war of 1812. He married Miss Harriet Crane, also a native of New York and a daughter of Captain Crane, of the war of 1812. The Captain received for his services a land warrant, which he located near Little Rock, Ark. To Lovett Stimpson and wife were born twelve children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the youngest.

The marriage of Charles R. Stimpson took place, as stated, in 1861, to Miss Arvilla Harrington, daughter of J. S. Harrington, of Ohio. Mr. Harrington has always been a very popular man and has held many offices of honor and trust, and is still living, at the age of seventy-five years, in Minnesota. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Stimpson has been blessed by the birth of five children, viz. — Adel, Byron, Leonard, Homer and Helen, all residents of Nebraska, excepting Adel, who is living in Los Angeles, Cal.

Mr. Stimpson is one of the most enterprising citizens of Center township. Among other projects of an industrial character he assisted in organizing a stock company for the erection of a large four-story structure for the production of oatmeal, and is himself one of its largest stockholders. He and son own an extensive cattle ranch, located near Medicine lake, Nebr., and he is, besides, interested in several other branches of business. Mr. Stimpson is an Odd Fellow and is also a member of the Farmers’ Alliance. In politics he is independent and casts his vote as best suits his judgment. Socially, he and family stand in the front rank.