HARDING, LLOYD E. AND MINNIE

by Frank Harding

Entry F184 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

L.E. Harding Family 1909. Back - Dorothy, Ethel, Lester, Bertha,
Front - Lloyd E. Myra, Nellie, Catherine and Minnie (Brown) Harding.

Lloyd E. Harding born in Moundeville,
West Virginia Mar. 5, 1864) was married to
Minnie May Brown (born Mar. 1, 1871 in
Potawattamie, Iowa) on July 25, 1886.

In 1887 they took out a homestead in
Osborne County Kansas. In 1896 they moved
to Thayer County Nebr., near Hebron, where
they established a feed lot and small meat
packing plant.

In 1912 Lloyd sold his property in Thayer
County and purchased a meat market and
grocery store in Mullen, Ne. and also a ranch
10 miles south of Mullen, known as the Allum
place.

Lloyd and Minnie had 9 children: Bertha,
Ethel, Lester, Dorothy, Iva, Myra, Catherine,
Nellie and Roy.

At this time much of Hooker and south
Cherry county was farmed and a lot of rye and
corn was raised, but no facilities for marke-
ting this grain as a cash crop. In 1914 Lloyd
built a Grain Elevator in Mullen. A few years
later a Farmers Union Co-op was formed in
the area and he sold the elevator to them. The
Elevator, now unused, still stands in east
Mullen. Minnie Brown Harding died in
Mullen Jan. 20, 1915.

There was no High School in Hooker
County at this time, so Lloyd helped organize
a committee to form a County High School
District. This District was established and
the first High School building built in 1916.

Myra, Catherine and Roy Hardin all
graduated from the Hooker County High
School.

Bertha Harding married Pearl Russel Oct.
24, 1906 and she operated a Millinery shop
in Mullen for about 10 year, 1915 to 1925.

Myra married Fred Brokaw, June 16, 1920
and they lived for a while on the Tschouder
place 3 miles south of Mullen. They will
celebrate their 67th wedding anniversary in
1987 and now live in Oregon.

Catherine Harding married Clarance Le La
Cheur, son of Frank and Ella Le La Cheur,
and lived north of Mullen several years in the
1920's and 1930's.

On Nov. 25, 1916 Lloyd E. Harding married
Rosa Sweeten.

Also in 1916 Lloyd's parents, John Henry
Harding (born July 8, 1835 in Wagenfurth,
Germany) and Elizabeth Whipkey Harding
(born July 24, 1840 in Pennsylvania) moved
to Mullen. John H., who had been a
blacksmith for 50 years, sold his shop in
Hebron, Ne. and retired to Mullen. John H.
Harding died in Mullen Mar. 14, 1919.

Lloyd Harding was an auctioneer and ran
an auction and Real Estate business in the
Mullen area for many years. He and Roy
Tucker operated a Livestock sale barn in
southeast Mullen. Mr. Tucker later bought a
Sale Barn in York, Ne. which he operated
many years.

Rosa Sweeten Harding died April 22, 1929.

Lloyd Harding married Ella Dufur July 22,
1929 and in 1932 they moved to a farm in
Arkansas.

Lloyd E. Harding died in Lincoln April 28,
1951. He and wives Minnie and Rosa and his
father John H. are all buried in the Cedarview
Cemetery, Mullen, Nebr.