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William H. Belknap
William H. Belknap
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Born: 30 JUL 1845, Yonkers, New York
Died: 9 OCT 1930, Blair, Washington County, Nebraska
Buried: Blair Cemetery
Married (1): 22 DEC 1867 Emma A. Royster at Woodbine, Harrison County, IA
Born: 3 APR 1846
Died: 29 NOV 1898 at Blair
Buried: Blair Cemetery
Children:
Rolland, b. d. bur.
Stanley, b. d. bur
2 deceased – no information available
Married (2): 1901 Marie F. Peterson
Born: 27 SEP 1880 in Nebraska
Died: 5 JUL 1955 at Blair, NE
Buried: Blair Cemetery
Children:
William H. Jr., b. d. bur.
Adeline Priscilla, b. d. bur
HISTORY OF DODGE AND WASHINGTON COUNTIES, pg. 595-596
WILLIAM H. BELKNAP has been a resident and active business man of Blair for a quarter of a century and is manager of the Haller Proprietary Remedy Company. Mr. Belknap first came to Washington County, Nebraska, soon after the close of the Civil war, but through the stress of circumstances abandoned his intention of developing a homestead and returned east to take up a business career.
He was born at Yonkers, New York, July 30, 1845, son of Charles F. and Abigail Jane (O'Dell) Belknap. His parents were lifelong residents of New York State and his father was a contractor and builder and followed the business until his death. There were three children: Ethelbert, a retired hat manufacturer at Yonkers; W. H., second in age; and Mrs. Ida Morrell, who still lives in New York State. Charles F. Belknap was the first member initiated into the Lodge of Odd Fellows at Yonkers and was faithful and loyal to that order all the rest of his life and was honored with all the chairs and offices. He began voting as a whig and subsequently became a republican.
William H. Belknap acquired his early education at Yonkers, attending the Star Commercial Collegiate Institute of that city. At the age of sixteen he began work as clerk in the grocery store of Walter Paddock at Yonkers, but soon gave up his place behind the counter to enlist as a soldier in Company A of the Thirteenth Regiment of New York Militia. He was in the Hundred Day service and did picket duty and acted as a guard on the pike road and railroads around Richmond. He and his regiment went by boat from Fortress Monroe to New York City for the purpose of being discharged. The boat was wrecked during the voyage and seven lost their lives while being transferred to life boats. Following his military experience Mr. Belknap was for two years entry clerk with a hatter's supply house of New York.
In 1867 he came as a pioneer to Washington County, Nebraska. He entered a homestead and earnestly devoted his time to its development and improvement for a year and a half. There were many trials and discouragements, and the last straw was a severe hail which completely destroyed all his crop prospects for that year. Leaving his place in charge of a neighbor, he returned east to better his finances. He had paid eight hundred dollars for lumber for building purposes and has practically nothing to show for nearly two years of hard work. He was offered five hundred dollars for his homestead and decided to sell it, though something interfered with carrying out the transaction and he continued to own the land for a long period of years, until 1910, when he finally sold the property at a hundred dollars an acre.
Mr. Belknap, after his Nebraska homesteading experience, remained in New York State for twenty-five years and became very successful in business, as president of the Yonkers Hat Manufacturing Company. Then in 1896 he returned to Nebraska and located at Blair, and has since been manager for the Haller Proprietary Company, a company incorporated for fifty thousand dollars capital. This company manufactures a large line of home remedies and the product is sold and widely distributed over the country.
December 22, 1867, at Woodbine, Iowa, Mr. Belknap married Miss Emma A. Royster. She became the mother of four children, two of whom are still living. The son Rolland is chief auditor for the Sperry & Hutchinson Company at Yonkers, and the other son Stanley is in the repair department of the Remington Typewriter Company in Omaha. In 1901 at Blair Mr. Belknap married Marie F. Peterson, who was born on a Nebraska farm. They have two children, William H. Jr., a schoolboy, and Adeline Priscilla. Mr. Belknap and his family are all members of the Baptist Church. He has been a loyal member of the Masonic Order since 1866 and is also affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic and is a republican voter.
Source: Ruth Moss, Washington County Genealogical Society
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