My Genealogy Hound

THOMAS VAN DUZER, one of the representative men of Kearney county, was born in Chemung county, N. Y., April 25, 1841. He is the son of Charles and Jane (Andrews) Van Duzer, both natives of the State of New York, the former having been born in 1818, and the latter in 1822. Both are now living and zealous members of the Methodist church. Thomas Van Duzer remained with his parents until the war broke out, when he enlisted in the One Hundred and Forty-first regiment Pennsylvania volunteer infantry; but he was discharged, however, after three months’ service, on account of chronic rheumatism.

On October 11, 1865, he was married to Miss Frances Jane Bloodgood, and soon afterwards moved to New York State from Pennsylvania, where he had lived for many years. He settled in his native county, where he remained eight years, during which time he was engaged in the milling business at Van Ettenville. The only child vouchsafed to Mr. and Mrs Van Duzer was Victor by name, who was born May 25, 1869. Mr. Van Duzer came to Kearney county, Nebr., in the spring of 1876, and settled on a homestead on the old Military reservation. This tract of land, about ten miles square, was opened to actual settlement in 1878, by act of congress, Mr. Van Duzer being one of about sixty who petitioned congress to throw the Military reservation open to settlement. When he first settled on this famous piece of prairie land, it served as a great field for thousands of Texas cattle. Lowell, then the county seat of Kearney county, was situated near by, and at that time was already on the decline. The county seat in the course of a couple of years was moved to Minden, and what was once a promising little city, is now but a mere village.

The year of his settlement in the county was made famous by the re-appearance of the grasshoppers. They were so thick that they ate the cotton screens in the doors and windows, and it was by the most persistent efforts that he managed to save his garden truck. He came here with limited means, and, like many others, saw hard times. He would often walk ten miles to do a day’s work in harvest time, and his family was actually without bread of any kind for two weeks. During the harvest of 1877, Mr. Van Duzer had five acres of wheat. He was the first to harvest, and several of his neighbors borrowed wheat of him in order to supply themselves with flour until they could thrash.

The first year of Mr. Van Duzer’s residence in Kearney county he had no team, and he would wade the Platte river (which was about half a mile from his house), to the little islands, situated in the river, and on which grew small box-elder, cottonwood and elm. He would cut them down, trim and drag them to the shore, often wading to his waist in the water with a heavy load of these poles on his shoulder. This he would do in the forenoon of each day, for several weeks, then in the afternoon he would carry them to the house and cut them up, where it could become seasoned and fit for fuel. His shoulder became so tender carrying such heavy loads, that he had Mrs. Van Duzer make a sort of a pad or saddle to protect his shoulder.

Until the fall of 1878 the nearest school-house was at Lowell, three miles distant. Their son, Victor, eight years of age, attended school there for one year. In the winter season, the days being so short, the little fellow would have to leave home before it was scarcely light in the morning, and it would be nearly dark before he would reach home at evening. The mother would often become so anxious that she would go to meet her boy on his return, for it seemed a long, lonesome road for one so young to travel alone, and it was a glad day for the family when there was built a neat and comfortable little school house within a mile of their home.

Mr. Van Duzer has served his township as supervisor for three terms and has been an efficient and faithful official. He is one of the most ardent believers in temperance in the county, and while he was reared a republican, he now votes with the prohibitionists. Mrs. Van Duzer was born in Bradford county, Pa., in 1845, and is the daughter of Cyrus and Caty (Wright) Bloodgood. Her father was a minister in the Methodist Episcopal church and is a leading citizen in the community in which he lives. Mrs. Van Duzer met with a shocking accident in the summer of 1889, being struck by lightning, during a terrible thunder storm, on the eve of August 6. She, in company with a lady friend who was paying a visit to the family, were passing from the house to a summer kitchen, when both were struck and rendered insensible for several hours. Both were under the watchful care of a physician for several weeks before they recovered sufficiently to be free from the danger.

Mr. and Mrs. Van Duzer are among the highly esteemed citizens in the community, and their generous hospitality has won them many lasting friends.