Franklin County, Nebraska

For Another Day

I have heard nothing but good about a man, named Albert H. Byrum (also known as A. H.), which the following excerpt from the History of Nebraska, confirms. I knew he was our Franklin County Judge but I didn’t know how much he accomplished before and after his judgeship, especially that he once lived in Riverton.

At the time he was the county judge, the courthouse was located in Bloomington. I remember being told about the first street east of the main street leading into Bloomington. It was Alan Hogeland who told me the facts about there being house after house, up and down this street, and how so many of them were just moved out to Franklin after Bloomington lost the court house. I used to sit with Alan on his front Porch on hot summer evenings listening to his stories about the good old days of Bloomington. I did have the insight to start a file and write down who lived in each house as we mentally walked up and down those old streets that he knew so well. I remember he told me about the Judge Byrum home on that street up at the north end.

The judge’s home would have been located north across the street from the old Flora Sindt home, now owned by Charles Dunn. It was a two-story house and was moved east of Bloomington about a half mile on the north side of the dirt road, where it became the home of the Henry Eggergluss family. Ethel (Eggergluss) Goedeken’s memories of that city house becoming a house in the country and coming home from school to no home is a story for another day. Next week I will tell you what she had to say. Albert H. Byrum is also the grandfather of Virginia Goedeken, who lived in Franklin.

“Albert H. Byrum, former county judge of Franklin County, is a member of the bar of this county more than forty years, and he is not only one of the leading and veteran lawyers of this section of Nebraska, with residence and professional headquarters at Bloomington, the county seat until recently, but he has also been for many years one of the influential figures in the Nebraska councils and campaign activities of the Republican party. Judge Byrum has given characteristically effective and loyal service as representative of Franklin County in the Nebraska Legislature-in 1918-19, 1920-21 and 1924-25- besides which he was in 1919 a candidate of his party for nomination in the primary election for the office of governor of the state, and in 1926 appeared as a candidate for the United States Congress, as representative of the Fifth Congressional District of Nebraska. The judge was a member of the State constitutional convention of 1919, and in the legislature was the recognized floor leader of the Republican party in the house of Representatives. Judge Byrum is known as one of Nebraska’s most forceful and brilliant orators, and as a public speaker his services have been in requisition both in connection with political campaigns and general civic affairs. As one of the able and honored members of the Nebraska bar he has been concerned in much important litigation in the various courts within the long period of his loyal and successful professional stewardship. Judge Byrum is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

“Albert was born in Jo Daviess County, Il. December 31, 1858, and is a son of Almond B. and Almira C. Byrum, the former of whom was born in Ohio and the latter in New York, their residence in Illinois having continued to the time of their death and their children having been ten in number: Kossuth, Jeptha, Hattie, Albert, Coe, Cora, Charles, Eleazer, Hulda and Joseph. The subject of this review is the only member of the immediate family who established a residence in Nebraska.

“The early experiences of Judge Byrum were mainly those gained in connection with the activities of the old home farm on which he was born, and in the meanwhile he profited by the advantages of the rural schools district. As a young man he left the parental home, and besides finding employment in various capacities he wisely provided means for extending his education. In what is now Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, IN; he took a course in business law, and at Mount Morris, IL. He completed a special course in elocution and public speaking. He was admitted to the bar of the State of Missouri at Marysville, in 1883. In 1884 he came to Nebraska, was duly admitted to its bar, and engaged in the practice of law at Riverton, Franklin County, where he remained until his election to the office of county judge, in 1887, when he moved to Bloomington, the then county seat, the attractive little town that has since continued to represent his home. In 1889 he was reelected county judge, and thus he continued the incumbent of this office four consecutive years, he having later served two terms as county attorney.

“He has been a valued member of the board of education from time to time during his residence in Bloomington and has given many terms of loyal and constructive service as a member of the municipal council of this fair little city. Of his political career mention has been duly made in the initial paragraph of this review.

“At Blue Hill, Webster County, NE, in June 1889, Judge Byrum was united in marriage with Miss Jennie E. Chapman, who had come to this state to enter service as a teacher in its public schools, and who has ever since continued to take lively interest in educational affairs in Nebraska, as well as in the general civic activities of her home community. Albert Hoyt, elder of the two children of Judge and Mrs. Byrum, was born July 23, 1891 and after duly profiting by the advantages of the public schools of his native village of Bloomington he completed an effective course in a mechanical college at Des Moines, IA.

“In February, 1915, Albert Hoyt Byrum married Miss Bessie Sheets of Franklin. Their four children are Virginia, William, Bettie and Jeptha Jay.

“Ruth, the younger of the two children of Judge Byrum, was born August 26, 1892. She was educated in the Bloomington schools and she is now the wife of Claude Wilmot, their home being maintained in Naponee, and their one child being a daughter, Elizabeth.”

The more the marble wastes, the more the statue grows. Michelangelo. (1474-1564)

Rena Donovan, For Another Day.

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