A transcription of pages 195-469,
Family Histories from the Verdigre Centennial Book
Thanks to the Verdigre Library and its volunteers for making this available.
 
The index below only includes the husband and wife for each family.
The maiden name for the wife is used if listed.
For other names, use the search on the Home Page.

Index's A-I, J-P, & Q-Z

LEON OLSOMMER

Leon F. Olsommer, son of Nicholas and Julie Calame Olsommer, was born March 6, 1856, in La Chaux de Fonds, Canton Neuchatel, Switzerland. The youngest of six children, he learned what was to be his profession from his father. He attended schools in Switzerland, attaining high honors. He was also a member of numerous clubs, including the Nautical Club, the Gymnastic Club, Dramatic Club, Fencing Club, Skating Club, and the Alpine Club. He was later to become a member of the Junior Commercial Club and the Debating Society.

At 17 he enlisted in the French navy (Switzerland, a landlocked country, had none of its own) and saw the world. A year after returning to Switzerland, he and his brothers took over management of their father’s photographic studio upon his death. Then he was overcome with a desire not just to travel but to settle in the United States. He left Switzerland forever in 1882 at 26.

He traveled with a friend who also wanted to settle in the United States. Upon their arrival they went straight to Omaha because a resident of the canton, Jules Sandoz, had taken land in Nebraska. They sent a message by wire to Sandoz in care of the Verdigris Valley Post office (which was not his own). They then went on by rail to Creighton, despite not having received a reply. It was January of 1883. They made their way out to the Sandoz place, 14 miles northwest, and received a warm welcome.

[pg 349 PHOTO Leon Olsommer in early 1900s]

The two young men took pre-emptions on land in the county. However, Olsommer was not much of a farmer, so he walked to O’Neill, worked there for a time, and then went to Omaha.

When he arrived in Omaha, Olsommer took a job in a saloon and then was a dishwasher in a restaurant. He next became third cook on the night shift there before going to work in a hotel. He was making a little money and might have gone on to other things but then he got an offer to buy his Verdigre land and a proposal from a French-Canadian named Louis Ouimet to operate a fire brick factory in the nascent village. They did go to Verdigre and start making fire bricks. However, the venture ended badly with warrants out for the arrest of Ouimet, who did not have a patent on his fire bricks.

To earn a living, Olsommer began giving French lessons to Marie Kalal and then moved into the Kalals’ hotel. Then he rented a house on Main Street, building a studio in the back (probably detached). He and a photographer from Plainview formed a partnership but they also contracted to haul the mail from Plum Valley to Verdigre. And then fire destroyed the studio, though the house was saved. Unable to rebuild, Olsommer went to work for the railroad on the section. He was at that work throughout most of the nineties.

On October 2, 1897, he married Anna Svitak, a sister of Frank Mlady’s wife Frantiska. She sold the two lots she owned and eventually bought the lot at the southwest corner of Main and Second Avenue. About 1913 Olsommer built a studio there but for some years prior to that he rented a building to use as a studio. For a time after the turn of the century, he was associated with his wife’s nephew Edward Schneberger in photography before the latter found it more profitable to engage in the meat business.

For thirty years Olsommer documented the growth of Verdigre through the glass plates on which his camera captured images. He did have a camera which used film later on but shortly before his death he was still making plates.

Olsommer was more than a photographer. An ardent physical culturist, he established a gymnastics club in Verdigre at least twice.

He also wrote plays, even a photoplay or two (unproduced) for the movies, and he produced the plays himself at the ZCBJ. He also did the sets and decorations. He was always ready to produce sets for community Christmas programs or other occasions.

His plays reflected his politics: he was a socialist and his wife was a socialist party candidate for a Nebraska office (even though women had not yet obtained the vote).

An ardent musician, he was a charter member of the Verdigre Military Band. With his drums he participated in several other bands as well; he is there in the photographs he made of all these bands.

Olsommer was a member of the I.O.O.F. In Verdigre Lodge No. 343 he was raised to the rank of past grand. The various drill teams in the organization always held his particular interest.

Olsommer’s first wife died April 1, 1919. This was a grievous blow to him. Unwilling to enter their home in the studio for some weeks after her death there, he took solace in designing an elaborate tombstone for her grave at Riverside Cemetery. On March 22, 1921, he married Roberta C. Rhea with whom he had become acquainted through correspondence. The two soon parted and Olsommer was left alone until his death November 25, 1931.

Pages 348, 349