My Genealogy Hound

JOHN F. DAVID, one of the honored pioneers of Harlan county, was born in Schuyler county, Ill., on September 6, 1842. His father, William D. David, was a native of Tennessee, while his mother, who bore the maiden name of Louise Meaders, was a native of Virginia. The senior David migrated to Illinois in 1833, and was among the pioneer settlers of that great state. He was a farmer and died in 1866. The boyhood days of John F. David, the subject of this sketch, were spent on his father’s farm and were devoid of any special interest. He worked on the farm during the summer and attended district school during the winter months, and other than this he enjoyed no educational advantages. In 1862, when young David was twenty years old, he enlisted on the first day of February in the Sixty-second regiment, Illinois infantry. In the fall of that year he was taken prisoner at Holly Springs, Miss., but was paroled in a short time. He next enlisted in the Twelfth Illinois cavalry and saw service in Vicksburg, Cane river, Yelton, Pleasant Hill, and was present at the capture of the city of Mobile, Ala. Previous to his enlistment in the Twelfth Illinois cavalry, he joined the Seventy-eighth Illinois regiment, and took an active part in the battle of Lookout mountain. This act was purely voluntary on his part, as he was not a member of any regmient at that time. Mr. David was mustered out at the city of New Orleans April 1, 1866, making the time of his service four years and two months.

He returned to Illinois, where he conducted a farm till the spring of 1872, when he removed with his family to Harlan county, Nebr. He was the first man to take a claim in the north half of the county, and is the pioneer of pioneers of that section. He has seen the prairie black with buffalo and deer, and it was nothing strange to see a band of Indians camped near his sod house door. At one time there were eight hundred red skins camped on his homestead, at other times five hundred and three hundred. He had to go to Grand Island in those days, when his good wife wanted tea or coffee or sugar or a new calico dress. He had hardly got snugly settled when along came the festive grasshopper, in the year 1874, and destroyed all his corn, which gave such promise of an excellent crop. During the terrible Easter storm, which occurred April 13, 1873, his stable was buried under fifteen feet of snow, and he lost the best mule he ever owned. Mr. David has gone through all these and more discouraging times since he came to the great state of Nebraska.

Mr. David was married August 29, 1867, to Miss Martha Schroder, a native of Illinois. This union has been blessed with nine children, namely — Elworth, Dallas D., Louisa, Bertha, Daisy, Frank William, Jessie, Bessie and Bird. Mr. David was the first county supervisor from Washington township and is also a member of the county board at this time (1890). He organized the post office at Bainbridge and was postmaster for five years. He has also been justice of the peace several years and has always taken an active part in local and county politics. He has three hundred and twenty acres of improved land, most of which is in the Turkey Creek valley, and all of which is very productive. He is an honored member of the Odd Fellows and a stanch republican in politics.