Lincoln County

Builders: Mr. and Mrs. Frederick W. Herman

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By Thelma J. McMullen
Lincoln Sentinel-Republican, October 5, 1939

A very progressive pair which Lincoln County, Kansas, had the good fortune to welcome among its pioneers were the late Mr. and Mrs. Frederick William Herman whose memories will long be cherished by all who had occasion to come in contact with these generous people.

Mr. Herman was identified with numerous substantial business enterprises which aided much in the advancement of our present-day Lincoln from 1873 until 1927. Thoroughly efficient in all that he endeavored to accomplish, his personal gain invariably meant a contribution to the commercial prosperity of his community.

Mr. Frederick William Herman was born in Bainbridge, Ross County, Ohio, September 21, 1851, the eighth of nine sons born to Alexander and Amelia (Rodenstadt) Herman. Mr. Herman's seven older brothers were engaged in active service during the Civil War, some for the Union, the others for the Confederacy; the eldest brother, Henry, enlisted in the Union army, was drowned while attempting to cross a river to take part in the battle of Lookout Mountain.

Until he was 12 years old, Frederick William attended school at Bainbridge and South Salem, Ohio. From the time he was 12 until he was 18, he helped his father clear timber from their farm. He then went to Taylor County, Iowa, and worked as a farmer until he came to Lincoln County, Kansas.

Mr. Herman was united in marriage to Miss Susannah M. Pace of Taylor County, Iowa, on October 15, 1871. They, with their first child, came to Kansas in a covered wagon drawn by oxen and arrived at the place ten miles northwest of Lincoln Center, which for a number of years was their farm home, on April 20, 1873.

Once during their journey westward, Mr. Herman was obliged to repair a back wheel on his wagon. Having continued only a short disance he noted with some astonishment that the cattle, several head of which he had following the wagon, were pawing the ground where he had stopped the wagon and refused to move on at his calls. Fortunately, for him, the cattle had been strangely attracted by a leather wallet containing $20, which had dropped out of his pocket as he had repaired the wagon wheel. If his wallet had not been restored to him he would have been a pioneer "without a dime to his name" when he arrived in Kansas.

A prairie fire had swept the countryside just previous to the Hermans arrival, so that they were obliged to pitch a tent on sooty black ground their first night in Lincoln County. For miles around, only black rolling land was the unaccustomed sight that greeted the eyes of this brave young couple. Because both Mr. and Mrs. Herman were great lovers of flowers it must have thrilled them exceedingly to behold the marvelous profusion of lavishly colored wild flowers which bloomed in abundance on every hillside following the frequent rains which fell immediately after the Herman family settled here.

It was the unhappy experience of the Hermans to witness the worst prairie fire in Lincoln County which destroyed the northwest part of the county in March 1879, driven by strong winds. Mr. Herman saved his home and family from destruction by plowing a stretch of ground for some distasnce around his dwelling. The Montgomery and Pfaff families, their closest neighbors to the north, suffered the greatest loss on that very sad occasion. Mr. Robert Montgomery and his 11-year-old son, Robert, and Mr. Isaac Pfaff were trapped on the open prairie and burned to death. The Montgomery house, about one mile north of where the Prairie Grove church now stands, was also destroyed by the flames.

As soon as possible Mr. Herman secured a government homestead claim of 160 acres, on which place he resided until the fall of 1886. Sometime after having moved to Lincoln Center, Mr. Herman sold her farm. Mr and Mrs. Herman were the first settlers in their community northwest of Lincoln to possess a house. Their first house was a two-room structure, half of log construction, half of native stone. Doors were not availabe at that time so a curtain "drop" served as partial protection in place of a door. Mrs. Herman had to get up of nights to change the position of the beds nearly every time it rained because the roof leaked badly. Like many another pioneer wife confronted by dangers that kept them in consternation for the seafety of their children, Mrs. Herman was frequently obliged to kill snakes that entered the house and were seen crawling across the ceiling or over the furniture. It was not unusual for the Hermans and their neighbors to put their pigs in the back of their wagon whenever they went visiting, because it was not safe to leave them at home alone without protection from prowling beasts of prey.

When the Union Pacific railroad built through here in the early eighties, Mr. Herman moved from his farm in the Dew Drop neighborhood to Lincoln. He immediately went into the grain business, which he maintained nearly half a century, and subsequently built an elevator near the Union Pacific depot.

In 1909, Mr. and Mrs. Herman established a flower and early and choice vegetable market for which they received orders from great distances. A natural faculty for making plants grow and bloom when other people tried to no avail enabled Mr. and Mrs. Herman to maintain a flourishing business. By 1918, Mr. Herman, who established the greenhouse in Lincoln, had 1,500 feet of glass covering his plants.

Mr. Herman, with A.L. Shire and John Meek, bought the Lincoln telephone exchange when it was located in the office now occupied by Dr. A.G. Willcox, over the Saline Valley Bank, and it consisted of 18 telephones. He continued the telephone business in its former location until he built the present exchange building which he equipped with all modern fixtures and made into one of the best exchange buildings in this section of the state.

Mr. Herman, a Republican, was sheriff at one time, and acted on the school board in Battle Creek Township, but he considered his time sufficiently filled to prevent his accepting other public offices.

Mr. Herman's father, a silversmith by trade, was born in Germany in 1809, came to the United States in 1839, and died in Ross County, Ohio, in 1885. His wife, born in Germany, in 1811, died in Lincoln County, Kansas, in 1895. Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Herman came to America at a time when the voyage across the Atlantic Ocean consumed 52 days. They settled in Pennsylvania and from there moved to Ohio. They were members of Lutheran church but later in life united with the Methodist Episocapl church of which they were always liberal supporters.

The mother, Mrs. Amelia Herman, established and operated a country post office, the first of its kind in the immediate vicinity, after she moved to Lincoln County, Kansas. Everyone who knew Mr. Herman's mother was deeply impressed with her remarkable ability to always do the right thing and to make the most of every opportunity on all occasions. Her husband was one of the king's stablemen in the royal livery of England at one time before the family moved to the United States. It was then customary to have school entertainments in England frequently. On one such memorable occasion, it was the duty of Mrs. Alexander Herman to hand out programs to the guests, many of whom were members of the nobility. Because she knew that a certain one of the noblemen was blind, she considerately laid the ribbon of the program across his arm; he was so grateful for her thoughtfulness that he very generously bought a new organ for the school.

Mrs. William Frederick Herman's parents, Edward and Nancy (Wineinger) Pace, were well known for their industrious farming ability in Taylor County, Iowa.

Mr. and Mrs. Frederick William Herman, deceased, were the parents of eight children, four of whom survive their parents' passing. Those who survive are: Virgil O., St. Louis, Mo.; Richard F., Abilene; D. Blaine, Kansas City, Mo.; and Mrs. Hazel Avery, Lincoln.

Mr. Herman, the last of the nine brothers to pass to their reward, died May 1, 1928, at Norman, Okla., in the home of his daughter, Mrs. J.P. Scherer, with whom he and his widow had lived since June 1927. His children in whom he indulged and considered first always, pay him the tribute of having behind the richest heritage a man can will to his family and friends. They recall that "he never let anything interfere with his jovial manner after he arrived home following a hard day's work; nothing that happened during the day could ever betray any sign of anxiety and ill temper after he came home to his family."

Mrs. Herman, who passed away in Lincoln on March 25, 1931, is perhaps best remembered by her many friends "as she worked among the plants, caring for the tiny growing things and happy in her achievements."

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