My Genealogy Hound

JOHN SCHEUNEMAN is an old and prosperous settler of Marion township, Franklin county, Nebr., and is a native of Germany, having been born near Colberg, in 1840. He was reared on a farm and received a good education in his youth, and resided in his native place until he was twenty-six years of age, coming to America in 1866. He was at that time married and brought with him to this country a wife and two children. He stopped first in Quebec, Canada, but remained there only a short time, coming thence to the States and settling in Milwaukee, Wis. There he was overtaken by a great misfortune and one that deeply affected him. He lost by death his excellent wife and two children, and was thus left alone in a strange country with nothing, as it seemed to him, in this life worth living for. He remained at Milwaukee till 1871, and then he struck for the further West. He came to Nebraska and settled in Franklin county, taking a homestead in Marion township and filing on the northeast quarter of section 28, township 2, range 14 west. This was then raw land, as was most of the land in Franklin county. Mr. Scheuneman began on the bottom round of the ladder. He had no money and had to work by the day for the means with which to sustain life. His first improvements on this claim were necessarily very rude. He made a dug-out and borrowed a horse blanket, got a skillet, and a few days’ provisions, and these constituted his house and household goods. He had many hardships and met with many discouragements, but he had pluck and endurance, and he made up his mind to stick it out, believing that a better time was coming for all who remained faithful to the end. He was right. After the grasshoppers and the droughts, came more prosperous seasons, and every year since has added to his wealth and prosperity. He has added to his original homestead until he now owns in his home place four hundred and forty acres of land, nearly every acre of which he has under cultivation, and all of which yields an abundance of grain and other products. Besides this, he owns a half interest in a farm of three hundred and twenty acres in Marion township, which is also in a good state of cultivation, and from which he gets a fair revenue. He has improved and beautified his home place until it is one of the handsomest and most desirable places in his vicinity, having a large frame house, two large barns, an orchard and an artificial grove, and is well supplied with improved grades of cattle and hogs. Mr. Scheunenum never sells any raw material off his place. He feeds all he raises, and often has to buy. He has been identified with the growth and local administration of his township ever since settling there, having taken a particularly active interest in school matters in his township. He has been treasurer of his school district for some years, and the present prospering condition of the affairs of the district are due in a large measure to his efficient management. He is also a member of the Farmers’ Alliance of Franklin county, and contributes his share towards building up the farming interest of his community, as well as a member of the Lutheran church and a strong supporter of law, morality and good government. In politics he is a democrat, but never allows any political aspirations to interfere with his duties as a citizen, confining his attention strictly to his own affairs.

Mr. Scheuneman has been twice married, marrying first in his native land, the lady whom he took to wife being Miss Caroline Grindeman, who accompanied him to America, and died, as already stated, in Milwaukee in 1866. By this marriage there were four children born, one of whom died in Germany, two in Milwaukee about the same time that the mother died, leaving only one, a daughter, Bertie, now grown up, the wife of Peter Peterson, of Bloomington, Franklin county. In 1878, Mr. Scheuneman married the widow of his deceased brother, Charles Scheuneman, and by this marriage has had four children, three of whom are living, these being — Louis, Fred and Lillie. Mrs. Scheuneman had by her former marriage five children, all of whom remain with her, having received the same care and attention at their step-father’s hands that he bestowed on his own. Mr. Scheuneman is a man of the most benevolent impulses, and his whole life has abounded in deeds of charity. He has been instrumental in bringing more than ten families of his kinfolk from the old country to America, furnishing the money in a number of instances to pay their way and give them a start. In this way he brought his mother and stepfather and most of his brothers and sisters. He is a truly good man and a valuable citizen.