MERCURE, IRVING L. AND EMMA L. (COSSEY)

by Clarence P. Mercure Jr.

Entry F293 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

Irving L. Mercure Taken from an oil painting done in the 1870's

Irving L. Mercure and his wife, came
originally from Orwell, Vermont where the
Mercure family had a boatyard (shipyard) for
a number of years on the shore of Lake
Champlain. They built boats (or ships),
purchased loads of produce locally, and sailed
down the Hudson River to New York City.
There they sold the boats and produce.
Sometimes they sailed up the coast to Boston
instead, if prices were better.

The gradual change from wooden ships to
metal ships after the Civil War plus other
factors finally put them out of the boatyard
business. Irving and Emma Cossey and their
five children, Minnie (Bonsteel), Nelson
Darwin, Sr., Myron O., Clarence P., Sr. and
Fred Mercure moved to Sloan, Iowa in about
1885. They were in the furniture business
there for about two years.

They moved to Nebraska in 1887, settling
in south Cherry County on a place later
known as the D. F. Hyatt place. Then in 1890
they moved from south Cherry County to
Seneca, Nebraska. When the Burlington
Railroad came through the Sandhills, Irving
Mercure secured a subcontract from a con-
struction company and with a crew of about
100 men, using horses or mules and slips,
built a mile of railroad grade west of Thed-
ford and another four miles near Bingham,
Nebraska. Three of his sons, Nelson Darwin
"Cub", Clarence Preston "Cad", and Myron
O. "Bun" all worked for their father on these
jobs.

Later on Irving and Emma Mercure built
a home on the flat just west of the "Kelso"
grove on the Middle Loup River between
Mullen and Seneca. This house burned to the
ground. Then later they moved to a farm
southeast of Mullen. In addition to farming,
Irving sold a lot of Sampson windmills in the
Mullen and Seneca area. After their deaths,
this farm southeast of Mullen was sold to
N.A. Trennt, who later moved to the Lewel-
len, Nebraska area. Irving and Emma and
three of their sons, Nelson Darwin, Sr.,
Clarence Preston, Sr., and Fred were interred
at the Cedar View Cemetery at Mullen.