WALLACE D. BEERS, one of the honored pioneer settlers of Hall County who
has exerted benignant influence during more than a quarter of century of
residence in this section is a man of high ideals and keen interest in
civic and ecomomic (sic) questions regarding the welfare and uplifting of
his community which is attested by the fact of his having held public
offices in his district for over twenty years. His energies have been
entirely devoted to agricultural pursuits; for as a boy he broke the
prairie sod to make it available for cultivation. Mr. Beers was born in
Logan County, Illinois, January 10, 1869, the son of Hendrick and Lucinda
(Foley) Beers; the former a New Englander, born in Connecticut, while the
mother was a native of Illinois. There were seven children in the family:
Sarah, who became the wife of a man named McDowell; Wallace D.; William H.,
who entered the ministry; Charles F.; Mary, who married Mr. Cleal;
Florence, now Mrs. Kesel, and Nellie, deceased. Wallace acquired the
rudimentary education afforded in the public schools of Illinois in the
winter time, and as all farm boys of that period did, worked on the home
farm. When he was seventeen years of age the family came to Nebraska,
locating in Hall County in 1886, eight miles north of Doniphan. Having
already completed the elementary schools Wallace entered the Grand Island
Business College to prepare himself for business life. Coming here at a day
when settlement was still being made in this locality the boy shared to an
extent the hardships of earlier settlers and in recounting the early days
remembers when he earned the first money that was not given him, by hauling
hay schocks with a horse and rope, for his aunt; obtaining the magnificent
sum of tweny-five (sic) cents a day for the work.
February 12, 1896, Mr. Beers married Miss Nellie Denman at the home of her
parents south of Schimmer's Lake in Hall County. She was born in Nemaha
County.
Mr. Beers is the owner of one hundred and sixty acres of land bought by his
father in Hall County in 1886 and an additional eighty acre tract lies
across the line in Hamilton County, all under a high state of cultivation
and there is no more valuable farm land in Hall County for today Mr. Beers
would not be willing to part with an acre for $200. There is a beautiful
home on the place, modern in every manner; good barns and numerous
outbuildings for the stock. Having been energetic and having used proper
methods in his business Mr. Beers and his family are today enjoying the
fruits of unqualified success in the various departments of farm industry
and he is today regarded as one of the substantial and influential citizens
of his community. Mrs. Beers has also contributed to the raising and
welfare of the family as she has done her full part, raising poultry,
making butter and selling eggs and cream to augment the family bank
account, while Mr. Beers and the two sons are engaged in the heavy work of
the farm. During the terrible years of drought Mr. Beers obtained work for
small wages on the belt railroad when a track was being laid to the sugar
factory, and did not, as other men, return east to his wife and family but
in the parlance of that day "stuck it our." For over twenty years he has
served on the school board of his district and it is not necessary to say
that the position has been well filled as the service speaks for itself.
The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Doniphan; they
are well and favorably known throughout the community in which they have
spent so many years and whenever duty calls are ready to help others with
time or money or for any laudable enterprise in the upbuilding of the
community.
