Byron B. Barkdoll was born September 30, 1872 at Stryker, Ohio and moved with his parents that same year to Nebraska and settled near Meadow Grove. Soon his parents moved to the St Clair Valley in Antelope County where he grew to manhood. He received his education in the pioneer school at that time.
On July 5, 1892 he married Jenny Ann Childs. She was born at Wells, Minnesota and had moved with her parents to Humphrey, Nebraska where they lived several years. Her parents then homesteaded in St Clair Valley southwest of Tilden. This place is known now as the old Anton Spiekermann farm.
After their marriage, they lived most of their early life one mile west and on the north side of the road of the Bunker Hill School. One year the family left Nebraska and moved to Granville, North Dakota which is a wheat growing area. Byron and the boys went by covered wagon, leading several horses. His wife and girls made the trip by train. Due to complete crop failure they returned to their original farm.
After semi-retirement in Tilden, he operated a dairy for some time. He sold the dairy and became Tilden's night marshal which he was doing when he became ill. He died in September 1938 of cancer.
They had six children: Jessie, Charlie, Mabel, Roy, Lee and Esther. Jessie was born July 12, 1886 and received her education southwest of Tilden. She married Willis Slocum who was born in the Gordon-Rushville area in 1894. They were married in 1914 at Oakdale. For a number of years he worked with the Chris Peterson Construction Company as a carpenter. Willis then decided to farm and moved to the farm of his father-in-law southwest of Tilden. They lived on several farms in the area and finally bought a small farm on the Cedar Creek east of Elgin. Willis died in Tilden and Jessie at Heritage Village in Neligh on December 3, 1984. They had two children: Byron and Mildred. Charlie was born in St Clair Valley in 1899 and married Lydia Lind in Tilden on December 10, 1919. They farmed west of Bunker Hill school, later buying a farm known as the Warner Fields home. He died in Tilden in 1966. Mabel was born in 1901. She married William Wilson and lived in Denver. She died on July 25, 1979. Roy was born July 20, 1903. He farmed one year and then worked for about 10 years for the C&NW Railroad. He then worked for Johnson Motor Company. In 1940 he bought the Frank Beal Electric business, closing in 1942 before moving to Long Beach, California to work on liberty ships. In 1945, he returned to restart the Barkdoll Electric which he operated for 25 years. He died on March 6, 1985. He was married to Isabelle Eggers on December 29, 1925. Lee was born November 4, 1910 and married Frances Martin in Battle Creek on December 22, 1934. He worked for the rural electric company until retirement. He died on August 20, 1979. They had three children: Jane, Jon and Jean. Esther was born April 8, 1917. After graduation, she moved to Denver and married Darle Nelsen. She later married Hal Unruh who was declared missing during World War II.
Source Unknown: Originally submitted for this website in June 2007