My Genealogy Hound

MADISON J. CRESS is one of the first settlers of Spring Grove township, Harlan county, Nebr. He is a native of Virginia and was born east of the Blue Ridge mountains October 17, 1819, a son of Jacob and Jane (More) Cress, the former a native of Germany, and the latter of Virginia. The senior Cress moved to Illinois in 1831, locating in Knox county, where he followed farming for many years. He was in the War of 1812 and saw some severe times. He died in 1858 and his faithful wife in 1859. Madison Cress, the subject of this notice, started out soon after attaining his majority, to make his own way through the world. Being reared on a farm, he naturally felt himself adapted to pursue that vocation, and accordingly begun life’s struggle in Knox county, Ill., where he followed farming with considerable success for several years. Mr. Cress came to Harlan county, Nebr., in the spring of 1872, and was one of the first to settle in this region. He took a pre-emption on Spring Creek, but subsequently homesteaded a claim near by. His nearest neighbors were eight miles distant, and the country thereabouts was one vast, unbroken prairie. Great herds of buffalo roamed about the vicinity, and other wild game was plentiful. Indians were also quite numerous and were frequently visitors to the settlers’ cabins. Mr. Cress kept his family well supplied with venison and buffalo meats, and relates several interesting exploits of his own in chasing buffalo in his pioneer days. He was a victim of the terrible grasshopper scourge, having suffered from the total destruction of his crop. He built his first house out of railroad ties which had been cut but which the Indians refused to have hauled away. Mr. Cress and some of the older members of his family have seen some of the ups and downs of frontier life and are perfectly familiar with most of the hardships incident to that time.

Mr. Cress was married November 29, 1843 to Eliza A. Annis, a native of the State of Maine and born in the year 1820. Her parents were also natives of the same state and emigrated to Illinois in an early day. There have been born to this union nine children, as follows — Royal A., born September 20, 1847; Ellison A., born December 17, 1848; Sarah J., burn October 25, 1850; Bessie A., born February 8, 1852; Emma, born October 25, 1854; Eva, born August 23, 1856; Andrew J., born June 7, 1858; Henry C., born March 3, 1860 and George W., born August 20, 1862.

In politics Mr. Cress is independent. He is a slave to no clique or party, but supports whom he chooses. He owns an estate of six hundred and sixty acres of land, most of which is under a good state of cultivation. In 1887 he erected a substantial frame house and has from time to time made other improvements equally important. He is engaged in raising all kinds of stock and is regarded as a careful, conservative man, who goes to the very bottom of everything before investing his money.