Saturday, April 11, 2020

Former Nebraska Governor Albinus Nance

This is not a relative, but I periodically write articles for the NSGS publication Ancestree, so thought I would put it on my blog too.


Albinus Nance was born in Stark County, Illinois on March 30, 1848. His parents were Dr. Hiram Nance and Sarah Smith. His father was an eminent physician and surgeon, a descendant of French Huegenots who settled in North Carolina. His mother was of English heritage. He was educated in Kewanee, Illinois until age 16. At age of 16 he enlisted in the 9th Illinois Cavalry to fight in the Civil War. He fought in several battles and was wounded in the Battle of Nashville. After the Civil War he entered Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. In 1870 he was admitted to the bar in the supreme court in Illinois.

He moved to Nebraska in 1871 to homestead and practice law. He settled in Polk county being granted a homestead in 1875. Most of his time he spent practicing law in Osceola and working his real estate business. In 1873 his friends submitted his name to the Republican convention of the thirteenth district of the state legislature. He won at the election by about 2000. While in Polk county, he met notable residents who became his friends: Charles H. Morrill and John H. Mickey. They were members of an Osceola banking firm and started the Stromsburg Bank in 1881.

In 1875 Albinus Nance married Sarah White, daughter of Egbert and Mary White of Farragut, Iowa. To this union, one daughter was born, Helen. Helen later married Walter L. Anderson. Walter and Helen did not have any children, so Albinus Nance doesn’t have any living descendants at this time.

He served in the Nebraska House of Representatives from 1875 to 1878, serving as the speaker in 1877-1878. He also served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1876. In 1878 while he was serving as speaker, he was elected as governor of Nebraska. He was only 30 years old at the time, so he was nicknamed the “boy governor”. He and his administration were popular with the people. He won re-election in 1880 with “wild enthusiasm”. He is known for calling in the Nebraska state militia to subdue the strikers in the Camp Dump Strike; one striker was killed by the militia.

After serving as governor, he left Lincoln shortly after serving and made his home in Chicago. There he was engaged in handling railroad stocks and bonds.
Albinus Nance passed away at the Augustana hospital in Chicago on December 7, 1911 after having pneumonia. Funeral services were held at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Walter Anderson, in Chicago. The body was laid to rest in the family plot in Wyuka Cemetery in Lincoln, Nebraska. Offices at the state house were closed for an hour for the funeral time as many of the state officers and prominent citizens attended his service. Governor Nance was a member of the Knights Templar and the Masons. Pallbearers included his friends Charles H. Morrill, A. S. Tibbets, C. O. Whedon, A. S. Raymond, A. W. Field, J. H. McClay, R. E. Moore, and Oliver E. Mickey (son of former governor John H. Mickey). Many other notable men served as honorary pallbearers including doctors, governors, a judge and a captain.

Nance County, Nebraska is named for former governor Albinus Nance and is located just northwest of Polk county where the governor resided for years.

For more about him and photos, go to his Findagrave page: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/12839/albinus-nance



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