HIBBARD HOUSTON SHEDD.

BY GEORGE C. SHEDD.

The name which Mr. Shedd bore is Scottish and was rooted in Scotland as early as 1400, continuing there and afterwards in America in a tenacious, through not numerous, succession down to the present time.

The original stock was humble the name indicates as much - but it worked up to knighthood some time about 1500. The rise was a doubtful honor, and not one to boast of, perhaps due rather to the comeliness of a lass than to conspicuousness of a man, for the bar sinister ran across the new coat-of-arms.

To one of this early race, at least, adventure appealed. This was Daniel, and he came out to America in 1640, twenty years after the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers, and settled at Braintree, Massachusetts. In accordance with the spirit of the time he was probably a sober, dry, hard-praying Puritan, with little use for witches and a long head for a bargain. As I say, his name was Daniel, and there was a quantity of Samuels, Jonathans, and Ezekials, Ruths, Rachels, and Rebeceas to follow. The family developed a strong bent for the pulpit and mission field, and they were not the last to espouse the cause of liberty. Plenty of them were in the Revolution, and one Captain Abel Shedd, grandfather of the subject of the present sketch, commanded an American vessel in that war, and served his country at least to the extent of capturing a British sloop off the New England coast, with several men and two barrels of ruin. Whether the incident or any of its possible consequences made an impression on the Captain's son, George, of course we are unable to determine. He afterwards turned out to be a strong advocate of temperance and of the humanitarian movement of his time. This was the father of Hibbard Houston. At an early age he was bound out, in which mild form of slavery he continued until of age. He acquired his right of franchise without having acquired an education. This he set out to get; and went so far as to graduate from Dartmouth College in 1839, studying medicine afterwards at Cincinnati.

He then moved to a settlement named Denmark, on the west bank of the Mississippi, seventeen miles from Burlington, in the territory of Iowa. Though he came too late (he himself informed me of the lamentable fact,) to take part in the destruction of the Mormons across the river at Augusta, his brother, who had preceded him here, had helped in wiping out the iniquity, as he called it, even furnishing a log chain with which to stuff the cannon when balls were no longer to be had.

Dr. George Shedd, upon his arrival in this pioneer village practiced medicine, and meantime vigorously talked abolition in the open, and privately worked negroes north to Canada, being a prominent spirit on the "underground railway," the business of which carried him abroad as far as Cincinnati and north to the Lakes and brought him frequently into clash with southern slave-owners. Upon the creation of the Republican party he became a stanch member, continuing as such until his death in 1891. He was a man of firm convictions, sturdy principles, with a quiet taste for fighting evildoers. Something of the Scotch obstinacy and of the Puritan piety and zeal, with perhaps a little of the intolerance of both, had descended, it will be seen, even thus far. Here, however, it, stopped.

Hibbard Houston Shedd, son of the doctor, himself seldom referred to his antecedents. Indeed, he was so democratic that he took little vanity in what his forebears had been doing or had done. He believed that each man should stand upon his feet. But I have mentioned these antecedents as possessing a certain value, possibly in making plain the inherited tendencies and influences which shaped the beginning of his life.

Dr. George Shedd married Abigail Houston, and Hibbard was the only son born of this union, on January 27, 1847. It was still the period of chopping and hewing of wood, of ox-teams, and long prayers. The community was a New England one, excepting two or three families of negroes which had appeared out of the South and had been adopted for conversion and as a defiance to the South.

Hibbard Shedd grew up here, and may in the first sense be said to be an American, being the seventh generation of the name in America; and in the second sense, also, by his pioneer environment. His home was unpretentious and his life simple and healthful, consisting of work, school, and church. He attended the academy of the town, the first academy or college in Iowa, where he was taught mathematics, Latin and Greek, philosophy, a little Hebrew, astronomy, and a good deal of the Bible and Concordance. Over this course of study he often smiled in later years. One event signalized this somewhat uneventful boyhood - a trip to Illinois where in company with his father he heard one of the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates, and we can not doubt but that it made a deep impression upon him.

At the outbreak of the war he was anxious to shoulder a musket, but being only fourteen years old, his patriotic aspirations outran his age. In '61, arriving at seventeen, he joined the 45th Iowa Volunteers, and during the brief end of the war saw service in Tennessee and Mississippi, though to his regret he was in no great battle.

In 1869 he made his first trip to Nebraska and was so impressed with the possibilities of the new state that he returned a year later to take up his residence at Ashland, where he engaged in mercantile business. Here, until his death three months ago, was his home.

On February 18, 1874, he married Katharine Leigh Graves, of Cincinnati, Ohio, to whom six children were born, four now living. His home life was ideal.

When he came to Nebraska he was a young man, twenty-three years of age, with a sound education, broadened by the war experience, supplemented by that of a year's teaching in Illinois and a year in a Burlington, Iowa, bank. It can not be said that he was a pioneer of our state - the pioneer period was ended. He was one of the men of the construction period. He had great faith in the new commonwealth, despite its drouths, blank prairies, and grasshopper plagues. From the year of his coming he enjoyed the acquaintance and confidence of Morton, Furnas, and others of those who had preceded him and who were instrumental in bringing Nebraska into statehood.

From 1870 until his death he took an active part in the religious, social, educational, and political life of his community and state. He was the prime spirit in organizing the Congregational church of Ashland, of which he was trustee, organist, and Sunday school superintendent for thirty-five years. His last fatal illness alone cut short his work in these lines. For a number of years he was trustee of Doane College, and always recognized the place denominational colleges have in our school system. This did not lessen in any respect his strong interest, almost attachment, for the State University, which he had witnessed rise from nothing to its present splendid proportions. For several successive terms he was president of the Ashland public school board, was a participant in the state, teachers' association, and presented addresses before the National Teachers' Association of America. He frequently contributed articles to educational journals and reviews. His literary work was not confined to these, since he was a contributor to various other magazines, and author of several monographs and memoirs.

Politically be was a republican, coming under the influence of this party at, it may be said, its inception. While a stanch holder or the tenets of his political faith and a constant supporter of its platforms and policies, he was broadminded in his convictions and unshackled by narrow prejudices. His first important public service was during his twenty-eight year, as a member of the state constitutional convention of 1875. Here he gained the thorough insight into the fabric of our commonwealth, himself helping to build it, and of the principles fundamental in good citizenship.

From his diary of this period I will quote one or two extracts which may perhaps have interest:

"May 12. - Convention met at 9:00 o'clock and proceeded to adopt the report of committee on rules. All adopted with slight changes, except rule 31, which was postponed until after dinner. Met at 2:00 o'clock and discussion began on subject of committees. Some of the members are in favor of a large number of them, some in favor of few, some are desirous of bringing bulk of work before convention. Vote finally passed to have entire number of committees. Speeches by Van Wyck, Martin, Manderson, Maxwell, Broady, Kirkpatrick, Hinman, Gwyer, Briggs, Reese, Harrington, Griffin, Laird, Weaver, and Hopewell.

"May 27. - Committees on legislature and apportionment hold joint session. A very earliest and bitter debate - adjourned without satisfactory result.

"June 3. - Long and fierce debate on salaries and clerk hire of executive offices.

"June 10. - Convention put in a long day faithfully. Abbott made a bitter attack on Doom, but got the worst of it.

"June 15. - Immense clouds of grasshoppers flying over - they are beginning to light nights and do some damage - business at a standstill, almost nothing doing in town. A pale, anxious, frightened body of men everywhere. Dark days these."

His experience as a member of this convention well prepared him for the position he was to assume in the councils or his party and for the non-partisan public service which he was to render to the state. In the year 1881 was chosen a member of the legislature, and in 1883 was elected a speaker of the house of representatives. This was a decade when the tariff question was paramount. Mr. Shedd put in ten years' study, and it may safely be said he became an expert upon the subject, having published frequent articles upon it in serious reviews. He was twice elected lieutenant-governor, filling that office with credit and dignity during the terms of 1885 and 1887. Time as well as the occasion will not permit me to deal with details of these ten years. He has left many papers, addresses, reminiscences, and records pertaining to them and the political history of the state at this epoch.

This active participation in this early legislation broadened and strengthened him. He gained insight, foresight, and power. He acquired those statesman-like qualities which should develop in one who holds public position. I think his integrity was never questioned; his honesty of thought and sincerity of purpose was admired by his opponents, his loyalty and steadfastness of conviction were an asset to his friends; and all sought to rank among these. His interest in the welfare of his state persisted to the day of his death, and his faith in its present greatness and greater future was firm and abiding.

Until within the last year or two Mr. Shedd was constantly engaged upon the platform, his speeches upon patriotic days and other occasions being in request wherever he was known. As a thinker he was clear, sound, and comprehensive, even at times profound; as an orator he enjoyed more than a local reputation, delivering addresses in numerous middle and Western states. But it is his private life perhaps which gives him the most honor.

As a citizen he was always obedient to his state's and country's laws, and ready to sacrifice his personal convenience or desires to promote the welfare of his community and Nebraska. As a man he was kindly and considerate in his relations with his neighbors, clean and upright in all his doings, just and more than just in business dealings, even generous and charitable, and exercised a strong influence for good, and inspired strong useful, equitable action in others.