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History
Segments Presented by Lyle Harvey
JOSEPH GORTNER
(Read at the Page Methodist Church on Mar. 30, 2008)
Joseph Gortner
was born of German-American parents in Pennsylvania in 1846. In 1866,
he married Louisa Waters and moved to Illinois. Joseph taught school
for many years in Illinois but wanted to pursuer his inner calling to
become a minister. His wife Louisa did not want to become a minister’s
wife.
In 1880,
Joseph was struck with typhoid fever and his Doctor did not think he
would recover. His wife Louisa promised God that if he would spare her
husband, she would consent to have him be a minister and would follow
him anywhere he was called. Joseph recovered, received a license to
preach and heard that ministers ere needed in the new land that had
opened up in Holt County, Nebraska.
They loaded
their wagon and came to Holt County and settled on a farm three miles
east of Page and one-quarter mile north, the farm where Art Waterman
now lives. They lived in a sod house with a wooden floor. For five years
Joseph was a circuit rider, preaching in churches throughout this area.
In 1883, he was appointed to the Middle Branch Circuit and in 1888 he
joined the North Nebraska Conference which included; Inman, Middle Branch,
Chambers, Star and North Neligh Circuit. Joseph later became the first
director of the Cronk School District whose building was made of sod.
In 1887,
Joseph answered the Methodist Bishop Taylor’s call to help preach
in Africa. Auctioneer J. R. Kennedy auctioned his property at public
sale. Two days before the sale, Joseph had performed the marriage ceremony
for his daughter Lida who married John G. Kennedy.
The Gortner’s
reached Cape Palmus, Africa near Christmastime in 2887 and pushed on
30 more miles to Garraway Station. Joseph had barely begun his work
when he was stricken with African Fever and died on March 6, 1888. His
wife Louisa and two sons returned to America and back to Page. Louisa
is buried in the Page Cemetery.
Isn’t
it amazing that 120 years ago a minister from Page went to Africa to
preach and 120 years after that, a minister from Africa would be preaching
in Page?
Lyle Harvey
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