Sidner Family [RG2771.AM]

HISTORY NEBRASKA MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID

RG2771.AM:  Sidner Family

Papers:  1898-1942

Fremont, Tekamah, and Lincoln, Nebraska:  Lawyers

Size:  Four folders

BACKGROUND NOTE

Seymour Stephen Sidner was born in Stillwater, New Jersey, on January 12, 1875, the son of John and Martha Van Horn Sidner.  The family moved to Hooper, Nebraska, in 1888.  Seymour attended the Dodge County rural schools and the Fremont Normal College, Fremont, Nebraska.  He studied law in the office of W.J. Courtright of Fremont and was admitted to the Nebraska Bar in 1899.  He entered a partnership with Courtright which continued until the latter’s retirement.  Sidner than became head of the firm until his death.

In May of 1898, Sidner volunteered for the Third Cavalry Regiment, known as Grigsby’s Black Hills Rough Riders.  While training at Camp Thomas in Chickamauga Park near Lytle, Georgia, he caught typhoid fever and was mustered out of service while still in the hospital.

Sidner served as chairman of the Dodge County Democratic Party.  He was a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in Denver, 1908; San Francisco, 1920; and New York, 1924.  He was on the Fremont School Board, the Board of Trustees of Midland Lutheran College, was Vice-president of the Fremont YMCA and a member of the National Board of the YMCA.  He was also an elder of the Fremont Presbyterian Church and trustee of the Omaha Theological Seminary.

On October 13, 1899, Sidner married Myrtle I. Cramer.  The couple had four sons:  Arthur Cramer, John Eugene, Seymour Stephen, Jr., and Robert Daniel.

Seymour S. Sidner died on July 22, 1944.

John Eugene Sidner, son of Seymour S. and Myrtle Cramer Sidner, was born in Fremont, Nebraska, on December 4, 1901.  He studied law and first practiced at Tekamah, Nebraska.  Later he became General Counsel to the Nebraska Unemployment Compensation Division.  He was State Labor Commissioner in 1966 and 1967, when he retired after thirty years as an employee of the Labor Department.

John E. Sidner died in 1982.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

This collection of the papers of Seymour S. and John E. Sidner is arranged in two series:  1) Papers of Seymour S. Sidner, 1898-1940 and 2) Papers of John E. Sidner, 1927-1942.

The bulk of the papers of Seymour S. Sidner consists of letters to his parents and his sister from Camp Thomas in Chickamauga Park, Lytle, Georgia, where he was training with the Third Volunteer Cavalry Regiment for the Spanish-American War.  Also included are clippings, certificates, and diplomas.

The bulk of the papers of John E. Sidner is correspondence concerning his work with the Boy Scouts in Tekamah, Nebraska.

INVENTORY

Series 1 – Papers of Seymour S. Sidner, 1898-1940

Folder

1. 1. Correspondence

1. 1. Biographical Information; clippings, undated

Oversize items:

1. 1. Map of Camp Thomas, Chickamauga Park, Lytle, Georgia, 1898

1. 1. Roster of Troop K, Third Volunteer Cavalry in the Spanish-American War, 1898

1. 1. Diploma from Fremont Normal School, Fremont, Nebraska, 1897

Series 2 – Papers of John E. Sidner, 1927-1942

Folder

1. 1. Correspondence, 1927-1940

1. 1. Minutes of Executive Committee, Burt County Chapter, American Red Cross, September 23, 1931
      
      Red Cross Roll Call, 1932-1933
      
      Hospital bill for John E. Sidner, 1942
      
      Charter for Troop No. 158, BSA, Tekamah, Nebraska, February 4, 1931

Subject headings:

Burt County (Neb.) — History

Lawyers — Nebraska

Sidner, John Eugene, 1901-1982

Sidner, Seymour Stephen, 1875-1944

Spanish-American War, 1898

Tekamah (Neb.) — Social and fraternal organizations

APD/ct                 08-01-1975

Revised TMM      10-15-2020