Carl Julius Ernst, 1854-1932 [RG3164.AM]

HISTORY NEBRASKA MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID

RG3164.AM: Carl Julius Ernst, 1854-1932

Papers:  1823-1955
Lincoln, Lancaster County, Neb.:  Railroad executive
Size:  2.0 cu.ft.; 4 boxes + oversize

BACKGROUND NOTE

Carl Julius Ernst was born September 12, 1854 in Girbigsdorf, Prussia. In May of 1868, he came to New York with his parents and two weeks later arrived in Nebraska City. His first job was in a candy store working for $50.00 a year plus room and board. In 1872 he was offered a clerkship in the Otoe County National Bank, remaining there until he entered the service of the Burlington Railroad on February 1, 1876.

On February 26, 1876 he married Marie Weber who had just arrived from Prussia. His early work with the Burlington Railroad was in the field of colonization. He assisted in bringing large colonies of German farmers to Nebraska from Russia. From Nebraska City, Ernst moved to Lincoln where he became secretary of the Lincoln Street Railway Company, the Lancaster Land Company, and was president of the Board of Education for six years. He moved to Omaha in June of 1903 to assume the duties of Regent of the state university for six years; president of the board for two years, and president of the Omaha School Board for three years.

Carl Ernst died on November 1, 1932, in Omaha, Nebraska.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

This collection consists of four boxes of manuscript materials dating from ca. 1823-1955. The bulk of this collection consists of personal correspondence and various family materials of Carl Julius Ernst and the Ernst family.  Also included are correspondence and business records relating to Ernst’s work with the Burlington Railroad, the Lincoln Street Railway Company, the Lincoln Board of Education and the Lancaster Land Company.

INVENTORY

Box 1
Folder

1. Correspondence, 1839-1875
2. Correspondence, 1876-1937, n.d.
3. Memoirs of Carl Julius Ernst
4. Miscellaneous writings of Carl Julius Ernst, 1917-1929, n.d.
5. Family materials – certificates and legal papers (see also oversize)
6. Family materials – births, 1823-1857
7. Family materials – school records and exercises
8. Family materials – school records and exercises

Box 2
Folder

1. Family materials – legal papers, 1884; 1923-1955
2. Family materials – legal and financial papers
3. Personal and family travel materials
4. Miscellaneous family materials
5. Burlington Railroad (see also oversize)
6. First National Bank (Lincoln, Neb.), 1897; 1908
7. Lancaster Land Company, 1887-1894; 1909

Box 3
Folder

1. Lincoln Board of Education – legal papers and correspondence, 1894
2. Lincoln Board of Education – legal papers and correspondence, 1895
3. Lincoln Street Railway Company correspondence, 1885-1891; 1909
4. Lincoln Street Railway Company legal and financial papers, 1885-1893
5. Lincoln Street Railway Company mortgages, bonds, timetables, etc.
6. Lincoln Street Railway Company journal entries, 1886-1889
7. Lincoln Street Railway Company journal entries, 1890-1891
8. Lincoln Street Railway Company history, 1909
9. Miscellaneous newspaper clippings, 1882-1929

Box 4
Volume

1. Scrapbook of miscellaneous newspaper clippings and ephemera

Subject headings:

Burlington & Missouri River Railroad
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad
Ernst, Carl Julius, 1854-1932
Ernst family
Lancaster Land Company (Lincoln, Neb.)
Lincoln Board of Education (Lincoln, Neb.)
Lincoln Street Railway Company (Lincoln, Neb.)
Railroads

JEP/ht    11-02-1972
rev. lw/kfk    03-25-2004
Revised TMM    01-20-2012; 10-17-2023