HISTORY NEBRASKA MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID
RG4207.AM: William C. Gallaway and Company (West Point and Neligh, Neb.)
Records: 1868-1874
West Point, Cuming County, and Neligh, Antelope County, Neb.: General merchandise business
Size: 4 volumes (3 volumes on microfilm only)
BACKGROUND NOTE
William Clayton Gallaway was born in Virginia in July of 1839. After serving in the Confederate Army from 1861-1864, he married, and the Gallaways moved to Nebraska in 1868, stopping briefly in Omaha and then moving on to West Point, Cuming County. On this trip, Gallaway took with him the first stock of merchandise to be carried over the Northwestern Railroad into West Point. Here he set up business as a grocer.
In April of 1874, Gallaway, in partnership with William B. Lambert, purchased the unfinished mill at Neligh and 53 blocks in the townsite. Here, too, he established a general merchandise business and set about developing and promoting the new town. He was an organizer of the Congregational Church and a staunch supporter of Gates College.
The hard economic times of the early 1890s made it necessary for Gallaway to give up his business interests in Neligh and dispose of his property there. In 1900 he moved to Oakdale and purchased the mill. He incorporated his new business under the name of Gallaway Flour Mill and Elevator Company and opened a wholesale flour and feed business in Omaha. Gallaway spent most of the last ten years of his life in Omaha, where he died on February 5, 1911.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
This collection consists of manuscript material arranged in one series: 1) Day Books, 1868-1874. This material relates exclusively to the daily financial transactions of the William C. Gallaway and Company general merchandise businesses, first in West Point, Cuming County, and then in Neligh, Antelope County. Entries are arranged chronologically and provide names of purchaser, items purchased, and cost.
Volumes 1-3 were loaned for microfilming and then transferred to the Antelope County Historical Society. Volume 4 was received in 2007. Entries for W.C. Gallaway and Company in volume 4 start on page 298. Entries prior to page 298 appear to be from an unrelated business in Boston (Massachusetts?).
INVENTORY
Series 1 – Day books, 1868-1874
Reel 1
Volume
- 1868, July 27 – 1870, July 7
- 1874, May 13 – Aug. 1
- 1874, Aug. 3 – Oct. 14
Volume
- 1871, May 29 – Nov. 2 (Acc. 2007.0185)
Subject headings:
Antelope County (Neb.) — Businesses
Cuming County (Neb.) — Businesses
Gallaway, William Clayton, 1839-1911
Grocery stores — Nebraska
Merchants — Nebraska
Neligh (Neb.) — Businesses
West Point (Neb.) — Businesses
William C. Gallaway and Company (West Point and Neligh, Neb.)
Revised 11-02-2007 TMM
