GEORGE LOTHROP
ROUSE
Is accounted, and justly so, one of the
successful farmers of Hall County, Neb., and is one of the early settlers of
Center Township.
He was born in Ottawa County, Ohio, June 17, 1846, but his
father, who also bore the name of George Lothrop, was born near Rochester, N.
Y., September 18, 1809, and was a son of Lothrop and Sabra Rouse.
The father of
the subject of this sketch was marrieed to Miss Mary Knapp, born in the "Nutmeg
State" September 18, 1817,
their union taking place in Ottawa County, Ohio,
about 1837, and resulting in the birth of eight children, of whom George Lothrop
was the fifth. Their names are: Mary Sabra (born January 8, 1839), Laura (August
3, 1841), Clara Lucretia (January 10, 1843, deceased), Betsey Wilson (September
24, 1844, and died November 20, 1864), George Lothrop, Ida Iantha Irene (April
24, 1848), Joseph (born July 30, 1850, and died February 26, 1854) and Deborah
Ann (born December 20, 1851).
The father, who was a carpenter by trade and
followed farming and stock-raising throughout the latter part of his life, died
in Ottawa County, Ohio, May 26, 1851. Some two or three years later his widow
married Robert Killey, withwhom she now resides in Ottawa County, and by whom
she has three children: Frances, Blanche and William H.
The subject of this sketch spent his boyhood and youth on the old
home farm on which he was born, and during the winter months attended the
district schools and during the summer assisted in tilling the soil. When
sixteen years of age he entered Baldwin University at Berea, Ohio, but after
attending this institution two terms he entered Oberlin College, of Oberlin,
Ohio, which institution he attended two terms.
When twenty-one years of age he
entered upon the avocation of a teacher, and altogether taught five consecutive
terms, the second term being in his old home district in Ottawa County, and the
first, third, fourth and fifth in Whiteside County, Ill. His last two terms were
taught during the winter of 1872-73 and 1873-74.
Meanwhile, in the fall of 1872,
he came to Hall County, Neb., and bought 320 acres of land in what was then Alda Precinct.
November 13, 1873, he was
married in Whiteside County, Ill., to Miss Susanna Augusta Rexroad, she having
be en
born in that county May 8, 1875, being a daughter of Henry and Mehulda
(Hoffman) Rexroad. The father was a Virginian born June 7, 1815, a son of Henry
Rexroad, who was also born in that State, being the son of another Henry
Rexroad. The mother of Mrs. Rouse was born in the "Old Dominion" in 1825, and
was a daughter of Michael and Susanna (Sommers) Hoffman, who also belonged to
the F. F. V.'s. [Transcriber's note: F. F. V. stands for "First Families of
Virginia."]
Mr. and Mrs. Rexroad were married in Whiteside County, Ill., about
1845, [Note: the marriage took place Mar. 15, 1846] and reared a family of three
children, of whom Mrs. Rouse was the youngest, only two being now alive, the
other member being Adam Francis. Eliza Ann died at the age of five years. The
mother of these children died in May, 1853, and in 1857 [August 12, 1857 in
Henderson Co., IL] the father wedded Mary M. Thompson, with whom he now resided
in Morrison, Whiteside County, Ill. Mrs. Rouse spent all her early life in her
native county and received a very good early education. During her early
womanhood she taught school for three years in Whiteside County, her first term
being taught at the age of eighteen years.
In the spring of 1874, or
just after closing his last term of school, Mr. Rouse, in company with his wife,
came to Hall County, Neb., and began housekeeping, seven and a half miles west
of the county court house at Grand Island.
Ever since that time Mr. Rouse has
given his attention to agriculture, and is now considered one of the leading
farmers and stockmen of the county.
He has made a number of additions to his
original purchase of land, and is now the owner of a magnificent farm of 640
acres.
He and wife are members of the Presbyterian Church, she having joined at
the age of sixteen years, and Mr. Rouse is a member of the Masonic Lodge, in
which he has reached the degree of Knight Templar. He is also a member of the A.
O. U. W., and organized the third Farmers' Alliance in the State, and was sent
as a delegated to the first State Alliance.
He has always been a stanch
Republican in politics, and in November, 1885, was elected a member of the county board of supervisors and has served in that capacity ever sice, having
been re-elected in 1886-87-88 and again in 1889. During the past three years he
has served as chairman of the board. He is at present chairman of the Republican
County Central Committee, having been elected in the fall of 1889, and takes a
lively interest in political affairs, and is one of his party's most active
workers in the county.
He is an intelligent and influential man, and as a
citizen holds a prominent place. He and wife are hightly respected and have many
warm friends.
Their family is as follows: George Lothrop (born March 24, 1875),
Mabel Margaret Augusta (born April 15, 1877), Henry Francis (born May 19, 1879),
William Wayne (born March 30, 1881), Blake Howard (born May 10, 1883), Mary
Laura (born January 31, 1885), Ida Agnes (born February 12, 1887) and an infant
son (born August 24, 1889,
and died unnamed.)