- William Herman ROOD.
- Yes, Herman has gone, and as yet we have not been able to
realize it - can not make ourself
- believe, he will not come into the office as he has done
almost daily for months - can not believe that the brother with
whom we have been closely associated in a social way as long
as we can remember has gone from us and will never return.
- Herman was born in Rock county, Wisconsin, December 20, 1848
and on the day of his death,
- October 20, 1917, he lacked but two months of being 69 years
of age. When he was about three years of age, the family moved
to Waushara, Wisconsin. Here Herman remained with his parents
and increasing number of brothers and sisters till in the fall
of 1864, November 22, he enlisted with his father in Co. G Wisconsin
infantry and went south under the flag to defend his country's
honor. Herman was fifteen years of age when he enlisted, but
he made a good soldier and was sent directly into a regiment
that had seen lots of hard service. At the close of the war he
was in the Grand Review at Washington with his father and his
oldest brother Hosea.
- In the fall of 1871 together with his father, C. P. ROOD,
John SHELDON and Mansell DAVIS
- he came to Valley county over land from Wisconsin to search
out a better land for a colony of Seventh-day Baptists. They
camped on the river just over the line south of the Mansell DAVIS
farm October 30. An extract from his diary of that date says,
"After getting a good breakfast we set our faces towards
the bluffs (the bluffs are the Chalk hills near Scotia). Camped
for dinner before crossing the bluffs. We boys followed the river,
while father crossed the hills with the team to the valley above.
Went into camp all tired out at some willows on the river. We
are now at our journey's end; indeed we feel as tho we are out
west for all settlers are below us. The day has been fine; antelope
are plentiful, but we have no time to hunt them." Another
entry in his diary tells of their crossing the Missouri into
Nebraska. That entry was October 22, 1872, just 46 years ago
Monday. Herman kept a diary for many years, in fact till his
health failed him.
- On this trip Mansell and John homesteaded - 46 years ago
this fall. Of the members of the two
- committees sent out by the Wisconsin colony, only John SHELDON
is living - two, Mansell and Herman, have gone to another country
within the past year.
- Herman's next visit to this country was in the spring of
1872 when he came thru by rail
- accompanying Oscar BABCOCK and family to their new
home. In the summer of 1873 he went to Omaha where he worked
with H. A. BABCOCK and later in the summer he went to
Minnesota with his brother Charlie to labor in the harvest fields.
They worked for the father of B. H. JOHNSON. Herman went
on to Wisconsin and the next spring again started overland for
Nebraska accompanied by his sister, Mrs. Emma TERRY, of
Boulder, Colorado. The party drove thru a lot of stock belonging
to those who had started earlier in the spring and who did not
want to be bothered with the stock.
- From that time on Herman's life has been a part of the history
of Valley county, especially of
- North Loup. He was an officer in the militia organized to
protect the citizens against the Indians; he had held every office
in the township, was an active, efficient member of the school
board - always taking an active interest in public affairs. For
a number of years he was the postmaster in the village, succeeding
Oscar BABCOCK. He was for nearly a quarter of a century,
recorder for the local A.O.U.W. lodge, was active in the councils
of the Degree of Honor and was the life of Lombard Post G.A.R.
He was its youngest member and a constituent one of the Post.
He was also a member of the Masonic order. When a young man he
was a teacher in the S.D.B. Sabbath school, and tho he never
became a member of the church, his sympathies were with its teachings
and with its work.
- April 7, 1880, Herman was united in marriage with Miss Linda
PIERCE at the PIERCE home
- across the river in the Big Bend country. To them was born
one daughter, now Mrs. O. R. HILL. Mrs. ROOD died
May 30, 1912, since which time Herman had lived in his own house
except such times as he spent with his daughter or in visiting
relatives and friends. During his last sickness his daughter
gave him the very best of care and attention and was with him
day and night.
- It was only a few weeks before his death that Herman went
to Omaha to consult a specialist. He
- was told he was suffering from a cancer in his stomach and
lungs, and that there was no hope for him. He came home, settled
his business affairs and calmly waited the end which he knew
was not far away.
- If ever there was a trust committed to Herman ROOD
to which he was not true, to which he did
- not give his best endeavors, to which he did not give the
best there was in him we do not know what it was. He was more
than usually thotful of others, was generous to a fault, was
sympathetic, but was not demonstrative, was true to his friends,
loyal to his family, a great lover of children - was never more
happy than when playing with children. We who knew him best knew
his virtues and his faults and knew best how to appreciate him.
- Funeral services were held Sunday afternoon at the S.D.B.
church conducted by pastor A. L.
- Davis. The services were attended in a body by A.O.U.W.,
the Degree of Honor and the G.A.R. Beautiful and appreciated
music was furnished by a mixed double quartet. The body was laid
beside the body of his wife in the cemetery which commands a
view of the valley Herman first saw forty-six years before his
death. [p. 1]
-
- Courtesy of Jon Saunders
|
