who granted many favors to his neighbors, such as Tom Wade, John Zohner, George Souvignor, Loss Peterson, just to name a few.

Mr. Tiedgen gave cattle to his hired help for their pay, in this way helping them to get a start for themselves. When Carl and John Praeuner came to Madison County direct from Germany in the spring of 1869, they were given employment by Mr. Tiedgen. Each took for their pay a heifer which they trained to yoke and used to break their land for a crop.

In 1870, Mr. and Mrs. Tiedgen became the parents of the first white girl born in the new settlement: Dora Tiedgen Breckler. The following children were also born to them: Rudy Tiedgen, Ida Tiedgen Graham, Ady Tiedgen, Nanie Tiedgen Bording, and Ella Tiedgen Hackleman. There are about 70 living descendants in Madison County and other parts of Nebraska.

A little town grew up about the Tiedgen home which was located in section 12, Highland township, about a quarter of a mile from the present highway. Here it was that Felix Hale operated a general store and L. D. Barnes ran a Blacksmith shop. From this meager settlement, which included a school house, sprung the town of Battle Creek. Miss Sarah Crooks taught the first school in the summer of 1871, the school house being built the previous winter.

In May 1871, the first sermon was preached in the school building by the Rev. Jacob Dellinger, a Baptist clergyman. A Lutheran missionary pastor, possibly the Rev. J. C. Rupprecht of Norfolk, conducted the first Lutheran Church service in the same building a short time later.

In 1874, this civic center was moved to the northwest corner of Battle Creek township. A new town of Battle Creek had just been laid out two miles north. F. J. Hale's store on the banks of the small stream called Battle Creek, was also moved to the new townsite. It was a fine locality for a town. A company of men, who were very instrumental in the organizing of Battle Creek were F. J. Hale, John Tiedgen, Pat O'Neill and Herman Hogrefe. A hotel was erected by Mr. Tiedgen, a store by Mr. Hale, a house and blacksmith shop by Mr. Reimer Gardels and a drug store by Dr. R. N. Daniels.

Mr. Tiedgen raised and fed hundreds of cattle each year. One year he shipped a trainload to Chicago but they would not give him what he thought they were worth. His family did not hear from him for six weeks and when they did hear from him he had loaded his cattle on a boat and shipped them to Germany where they were auctioned off, one at a time in the street! John Risk and Mike Warnke had accompanied Mr. Tiedgen to Germany.

In the winter he butchered his hogs and hauled them to Columbus to the market.

Some of the help slept in the barn and one night a fire broke out, caused by a careless smoker. The big barn, 20 or 25 head

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