OLD SETTLERS GONE

Levi Johnson and Carl Puls of This County Pass Away Suddenly

Again the Enterprise is called upon to chronicle the deaths of two of Washington county’s old and highly respected citizens, this time the Grim Reaper taking from our midst Levi Johnson, a prosperous farmer of near town, and Carl Puls of Bennington, well known to all Kennard people.

Carl Puls

Carl Puls, an old settler of Washington county, but later a retired farmer living at Bennington, Neb., died last Friday afternoon, Jan. 19, at 2:30 p.m. after an illness of two weeks. On the afternoon of Jan. 5th, while talking down town he slipped on an icy sidewalk and broke his leg just below the hip. Medical aid was immediately summoned and he seemed to be getting along alright but later pneumonia set in which resulted in death on the above date. At the age of 78 years, 2 months, 9 days.

Funeral services were held from the home of his daughter, Mrs. John Echtenkamp, on Sunday and remains laid to rest in the German cemetery. The sermon was delivered by Rev. Ahrens of the Lutheran church at Bennington.

Mr. Puls was born in Germany on Nov. 10, 1833, and moved to Iowa in 1866, and lived there two years and moved to Nebraska in 1868 where he took a homestead. He was married to Margaretha Dorathea Ehlers in 1866 and nine children were born to them, of whom three sons and three daughters are living to mourn his loss. His wife and three children having gone before.

Rudolph Wiese, Herman Peterson, August Michael, Paul Koering, Henry Wulf and George Dierks were the pallbearers all being members of the Schlewig Holstein Verein of which he was a member for forty years.

Tribune 31 Jan 1912

Carl Puls

After an illness of two weeks, Carl Puls, one of the earliest settlers of this county, passed from this life at his home in Bennington after an illness of about two weeks. Some time ago Mr. Puls fell and broke his leg and soon after contracted pneumonia, from which he died January 19, at the advanced age of 78 years, 2 months and 9 days. He was born in Germany in 1833 and came to Nebraska in 1868, taking up a homestead in this county and for many years was a leading farmer of this section. He was married in 1866 to Marguerite Ehlers and of the nine children born to them, six are living, Rev. Ahrens delivered the funeral sermon at the home of a daughter, Mrs. John Echtenkamp, at Bennington and the body was buried in the German cemetery at that place.

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~