My Genealogy Hound

ROBERT A. GLENN. Prominent among the few remaining pioneer settlers who came to Franklin county in an early day, and endured the many hardships and privations incident to the settlement and development of the country, is Robert A. Glenn. He was born August 23, 1838, in Brown county, Ill., and comes of a long line of ancestry, the source of which originates in Ireland. His father, who is still living (1890) at the advanced age of seventy-eight years, was a native of Kentucky, born in the year 1812. Although a farmer by occupation, he is a man of considerable distinction, having served his country faithfully during the Black Hawk war, and also the war of the rebellion, participating in the latter for two and one-half years, a member of Company H, Fiftieth Illinois regiment. The mother of the subject bore the maiden name of Amanda O’Neal, and was a native of Kentucky, born in 1815. She was a faithful companion and kind mother, ever striving to rear her children in the paths of honesty and virtue and to contribute her share to the betterment of mankind. The paternal grandfather, Henry Glenn, was a native of the New England states and a farmer by occupation. He settled in Illinois in an early day, and died at Alton, being engaged at flat-boating on the Mississippi at the time of his death. Of the ancestral history beyond this date, little is known, save the fact that they came originally from Ireland.

Robert A. Glenn was reared on a farm in Brown and Schuyler counties, Ill., where he resided the greater part of the time until 1866. His early youth was spent in attending the district school, the building being one of those primitive old log houses, which were characteristic of those times. His school advantages were necessarily limited, but being naturally of an assiduous disposition he acquired the rudiments of an education, which, together with that strong element, common-sense, formed the basis for his long successful life. In addition to his labor on the farm he learned the cooper’s trade from his father, and followed it to a considerable extent up to the breaking out of the war of the rebellion, at which time he nobly responded to his country’s call for aid, and enlisted May 24, 1861, in Company E, Sixteenth Illinois infantry. The day following his enlistment he was elected sergeant, and was commissioned second lieutenant May 22, 1863, at Nashville, Tenn.; and finally, May 22, 1864, was promoted to the rank of captain. He served faithfully in this capacity until July 8, 1865, on which date he was mustered out, and returned home. He settled down in Schuyler county, Ill., and for the following five years was engaged at the peaceful pursuit of farming. Mr. Glenn came to Franklin county, Nebr., in September, 1871, and homesteaded a quarter-section in section 6, township 3, range 14 west. The country was new and undeveloped, and wild game was plentiful. He killed one buffalo, one elk and one antelope. He erected a sod house on his claim twelve by fourteen feet, in which he lived two years, when he erected one of a similar kind, though more commodious, having two rooms fourteen by sixteen feet each, with a brush roof, which, when complete, cost $15. On the divide where he settled, water was very scarce and only found at a great depth. Not being able to dig a well, he hauled water for the first two years a distance of six miles. He earned considerable money the first few years by picking up buffalo bones and hauling them to Kearney, where he marketed them for $5 per ton. Crops for the first two years were nearly a total failure, and he at one time became discouraged and would have left the country had it not been for his wife, who persuaded him to stay. Mr. Glenn at the present time is postmaster of Hildreth, a thrifty little village on the north line of the county, and is also extensively engaged in the wind-mill business.

Mr. Glenn has been twice married; his first marriage to Charlotte Barton, occurred February 9, 1864, and resulted in the birth of three children, namely — Della May, born December 15, 1867, Edgar Barton, born December 8, 1869, and Albert Estil, born January 1, 1871. He was married a second time, August 31, 1875, to Harriet A. McLean, who was born December 17, 1841, near Prescott, Ontario. She came to Franklin county in November, 1873, and pre-empted a claim, afterwards homesteading the same. This congenial union has resulted in the birth of five children, as follows — Charlotte Maud, born September 25, 1876; Erma Floyd, born January 10, 1879; Dwiet Albertus, born January 29, 1881, died July 24, 1881; Orpha Luella, born February 3, 1882; Ray Fielding, born March, 1884.

Politically, Mr. Glenn affiliates with the republican party, although he has strong prohibition proclivities. He represented Franklin county in the state legislature in 1885; in 1878 he was nominated and came within eleven votes of being elected to the office of county sheriff. He has filled various other minor offices in his township, among which are those of assessor and justice of the peace, the former of which he held for ten years and the latter for twelve years. He is an honored member of the G. A. R. post, at Wilcox, Nebr., and a member of the Riverton Lodge of A. F. and A. M.