Person:Oscar Babcock (2)

Census: 1849 Rock Co., Wisconsin Residence: 1854 Waushara Co., Wisconsin Residence: NOV 1872 North Loup, Valley Co., Nebraska Census: 1880 North Loup, Valley Co., Nebraska: age 45, Minister

Note: "Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska", 1882. OSCAR BABCOCK, Postmaster, farmer and stock-raiser, came to Valley County, Neb., and located on a homestead at what is now known as North Loup, in November, 1872. There is now a thriving village containing about five hundred people. The village was laid out by J. A. Green, under the supervision of Mr. Babcock, July 17, 1874, on the northeast quarter of Section 35, Town 18, Range 13, with an addition laid out in June, 1881, by Oscar Babcock; second addition made in May, 1882. Mr. Babcock was President of a Seventh-Day Baptist colony, which was organized in Waushara County, Wis., which colony settled in North Loup in May, 1872. Mr. B. arrived with his family in November of the same year. His wife died in Waushara, Wis., in the fall of 1872. They have four children--Edwin J., Arthur E., Myra and George J. Mr. B., with his small children settled in a dug-out fourteen feet square and lived until the summer of 1873, when he erected a red-cedar block-house. He was pastor of the Seventh-Day Baptist Church for more than five years, preaching the first sermon in a small grove on the bank of the North Loup River, in May, 1872, to a congregation of twenty-five pioneers. He was appointed agent of immigration for Valley County, and has been the means of locating over two hundred families in Valley County. He has been Postmaster since January, 1873. He now owns a timber claim of 160 acres and a one-half interest in the village site. He was born in Cattaraugus County, N. Y., March 15, 1834, and lived in his native State until 1849. His family then moved to Rock County, Wis., where he attended school for five years, then to Waushara County, Wis., being the first of the pioneers in the then wilds of Central Wisconsin. He is a self-educated and thoroughly practical business man. His first wife's maiden name was Metta A. Bristol, of New York State; was again married in 1877, to Miss Hattie E. Payn, of North Loup, who died in February, 1880. Mr. B. was a member of the Wisconsin Legislature in 1865-66; was elected Probate Judge of Valley County, holding the office one term; was County Superintendent of Schools one term; County Commissioner one term, and represented his district one term in the Nebraska State Legislature in 1879.

1. ↑ Babcock, Stephen. The Babcock Genealogy. (New York City, New York: Eaton & Mains, 1903).