F.H. Matthiesen (died Jan. 20, 1919)

A telegram from Ed Matthiesen, at Los Angeles, on last Monday conveyed the intelligence of the death of his father at that city at 1:30 that morning as a result of a stroke of paralysis a few days previously.

Deceased was one of the best known and highly respected men in Blair, where he had resided only a few months short of half a century, coming here in the fall of 1869 and living here continuously since, until the last three or four years which has been spent in California, though he continued to maintain his residence here, all furnished just as the family left it, and to which they have returned for brief periods, in the summer season, since.

There are, nor ever were, but few people in Blair who knew Fred Matthiesen intimately enough to form a proper estimate of his true character. The writer remembers him on his first arrival here, a young man, in the early fall of 1869, coming here from Chicago, where he had been employed the year previous, soon after coming to this country from Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. An elder brother, Matthias, deceased some three years ago, had preceded him and was engaged in farming southwest of Blair in the Brewster school district. Soon after his arrival, he was employed as a clerk in E.D. &B. Rosa’s general merchandise store on the corner now occupied by the Gutschow store building, where he remained until 1873 when he and Charles C. Logan, a fellow clerk in the same store, between whom a strong friendship had grown up by association, formed a partnership and engaged in general merchandising on their own account under the firm name of Matthiesen & Logan, in a little frame building located on the site now occupied by Ed Matthiesen’s clothing store. They were both energetic young men, single, and by fair-dealing soon gained the confidence of the public to such an extent that they became the leading merchants of this entire territory which position they maintained as long as they remained in business. Subsequently, in the early eighties, Matthiesen sold his interest in the business to his partner, and later Logan’s health failed and he was compelled to seek another climate and he sold out to Matthiesen, who took his brother, Chris, who was in business in Stanton, this state, in partnership with him and the business was conducted under the name of Matthiesen Bros., until the early nineties when they closed out their stock and retired from business.

In the fall of 1877, he married Miss Emma Rohwer, daughter of H. J. Rohwer, a prominent man in the county in those days, residing on the farm now occupied by his son, George Rohwer, adjoining the village of Fort Calhoun on the north. Four children, one son Ed. Matthiesen, engaged in the clothing business here, and three daughters, Anna, Meta and Bertha, all with their parents at Los Angeles at the time of their father’s death, and the devoted wife constitute the surviving family. One brother, Chris, single, living in Chicago and Los Angeles, and an elderly unmarried sister, Louise, residing here in Blair, are the only living relatives.

Deceased was born March 22, 1843 and had passed the allotted span of life accorded man by nearly six years.

The remains are to arrive here on the 11:13 A.M. train from the west today, and will be taken direct from the train to the cemetery, where Rev. A. E. Marsh of the Episcopal church will conduct a brief funeral service.

As was stated at the outset, few people knew Fred Matthiesen intimately enough to form a just estimate of his true character. No more charitable, kind-hearted, generous man than he ever lived in Blair. He avoided any public display of his charities and abominated a hypocrite. No deserving person ever went to him in want or distress that he did not assist them financially, to an extent frequently unjustified as a business proposition. For years I knew him intimately, was in constant daily association with him, and have known and witnessed his many unostentatious charities. I have seen him so frequently wrap up groceries and hand them out to some poor woman, who had no money to pay for them, to feed her children on. I have watched him take the worn-out shoes from the feet of little children who came into the store, and fit new shoes and warm stockings on them and send them away happy, when there wasn’t a chance, or a hope on his part, of ever getting a penny for them. He made no profession of Christianity and despised a hypocrite as bitterly as the devil does holy water. It was never charged against him that he ever violated a promise or betrayed a trust. There are precious few of his kind doing business in this day and age.

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

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