My Genealogy Hound

ANDREW J. FREEZE, one of the most prosperous farmers and real estate men in Buffalo county, Nebr., was born in Union county, Ohio, July 25, 1839, and when about eleven years of age was taken by his parents to Piatt county, Ill., where he grew to manhood, and where, in 1858, he married Miss Jane, daughter of Jonathan Carne, of Illinois, and of English descent. The father of Andrew J. Freeze was a native of Virginia, and was by profession a lawyer. He married Barbara Cubbage, of the same state, and to their union were born eight children, of whom the subject of these lines is the third. When first married Mr. Freeze and his wife Barbara traveled from Virginia to Ohio on foot, but eventually reached Nebraska, in which state Mr. Freeze died, near Red Cloud, at the age of seventy-four years. Jonathan Carne, the father of Mrs. Jane Freeze, died in Illinois in 1886. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Freeze have been born seven children, viz.: William H., Mary E., Ollie, Noah, Earl E., Horace and Minnie.

August 12, 1862, Andrew J. Freeze enlisted in Company I, One Hundred and Seventh Illinois infantry, under Col. Thos. Snell, and was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland. Among other battles in which he took part were those of Knoxville, Mossy creek, Bean station, Salina and Greenville, Tenn.; he also was in an encounter with John Morgan at Elizabethtown, Ky., and after twelve months’ service in the infantry was transferred to a battery in the First Chicago light artillery, in which he served until the close of the war, when he returned to his old home in Illinois. There he remained until 1879; then made his home in Boone county, Iowa, until 1885, in March of which year he came to Nebraska and settled in Buffalo county, his present home. He bought the east half of section 3, township 9, range 15, two hundred and eighty acres of which were broken and improved with a fair dwelling; this dwelling he remodeled and now has a fine residence and also has the entire half section under cultivation and improved with commodious granaries and other out-buildings. He devoted the first three years of his residence here to the farm, raising mixed crops and live stock — chiefly hogs. He then entrusted the farm to the management of his four sons, and turned his attention to real estate, of which he has bought and sold largely in Kearney, and still holds large interests in that city. Mr. Freeze is a self-made man, having received a somewhat meager education in his youthful days; but he is naturally shrewd and has availed himself of every opportunity for self-improvement — watching his business interests with a keen eye and always holding himself ready for a bargain. His standing in the community is very high and he enjoys to the full extent the respect and esteem of his neighbors.