Precinct "H" (Township 11 North, Range 4 East)
Seward County, Nebraska
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Precinct "H" INDEX
History of "H" in History of Seward County, Nebraska by W. W. Cox, 1888The following article is from W. W. Cox, History of Seward County, Nebraska, 1888, Chapter VI, page 121:
[Surnames: BICK, BRANT, COWEN, DAVIS, FRAZIER, GARLAND, GRANT, GRUBER, HOWLAND, LEPPE, LEIBROCK, LOOSE, LUBER, MILLER, OLWILER, PETRIE, ROPKE, RUCHTASSEL, THOMAS, WALKER, WESTERHOFF, WYANT]
"H" PRECINCT OR TOWN,
Or town eleven, range four east, is one of the eastern townships, and situated on the head of the north fork of Middle creek. It is rolling land, with numerous springs and bright running streams, many of them fringed with nice young timber. The settlement is largely German. The first settler was Lewis Leibrock, on his present farm near the stone church. Conrad Grant and Deidrick Brant settled soon afterwards. Wm. Luber, Gillman Garland, B. W. Walker, Fritz Ropke, and Wm. Leppe made settlement in 1868, and in 1869 Chris. Thomas and Jacob Thomas, John Westerhoff, and C. C. Davis; also Chas. Ruchtassel made settlement just at the edge of the plain on the west side of the precinct; also Henry Petrie and John Olwiler.The first school was organized in 1869, with Wolsey Wyant, L. Leibrock, and Conrad Grant as school officers. They erected a schoolhouse on section 28, and Thos. Cowen taught the first term. The second school-house was built in 1873, in district No. 32, and Mrs. J. P. Loose, then Miss Kate Miller, taught the first term. The stone church, of which we give elsewhere a history, was built under the pastorate of Rev. Theo. Gruber, in 1872, valued at $3,000. The Lutheran society laid out a cemetery in 1868, on the farm of Mr. Leibrock. July 14, 1869, the two sons of Conrad Grant were killed by lightning, and these were the first deaths in the precinct.
Charles Grant was the first child born in the settlement, in 1868.
The Midland railroad was built through the precinct in 1873, and Germantown was laid into lots in 1874, by Hiland Frazier. F. Bick opened the first store. John Westerhoff was appointed postmaster. Charles Howland opened the second store in 1878. The first frame house was built in the precinct by Conrad Grant, in 1870. The precinct now has 1,095 inhabitants and 155 farms, with seven schoolhouses, all frame.
The village of Germantown now has near two hundred inhabitants. They have just erected a fine two-story school-house. They have two large grain elevators, two general stores, one drug store, a blacksmith shop, and numerous good dwellings. The town is in a prosperous condition. The precinct has near seven miles of railroad track.
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