The John "Jack" Leopold Family - from "The Stuart Centennial"

John "Jack" Leopold Seger Family
Stuart Centennial, A One Hundred Year History of Stuart, Nebraska
1884-1984
This publication and others about the Stuart Nebraska area and people are available for purchase from:The Stuart White Horse Museum

Continued From:

1. The Donat Seger Family - from "The Stuart Centennial"


2. John Leopold Seger - from "The Stuart Centennial"

Page 333 and 334
John Leopold Seger met his wife, Eva Alvina Campbell (born Oct 1,1898 of Oakdale, Dau of Albert Campbell and Elizabeth Moore ) in Stuart. Eva was living with her sister, May Campbell McGrew, and John was working for the same. On March 30,1914 John picked up Eva during his lunch hour, traveled to Bassett, Nebraska and was married. He returned to work that same afternoon.

John and Eva had 11 children (one being stillborn), Robert (1916), Donald (1917), Rose (1919), Louise (1920), Alvina (1922) William (1923), Lenora (1926), Violet (1927), Betty Lou (1928 living for 3 months and died from Pneumonia), and Shirley (1934). They were all born in the Stuart area.

The John “Jack” Seger family lived and grew up north of Stuart. This third American generation of Segers continued to work hard on the Nebraska prairie lands. But the stockmarket crash and the bank foreclosings took its toll on the family and the Great Depression necessarily altered their lives . But still they continued.

They believed in education and sacrificed in order that their children might attend a Stuart rural school Dist 172. In 1933, when their dau, Rose, was in the 8th grade, she became Holt County’s spelling champion. This entitled her to be a contestant in the World Herald spelling contest in Omaha and also at the Lincoln State Fair in Sept.
Eva passed away on Aug 27,1983 and is buried in the Stuart Cemetery. John is presently a resident of the Senior Citizens Home in O’Neill, Nebraska.

Their children presently live throughout Nebraska.
▪ Robert Seger married Alberta Millet and passed away in Rapid City, SD in Dec 1980.
▪ Donald Seger married Nellie Green.
▪ Louis Seger married Lois Pettijohn
▪ Alvina Fern Seger married Gordon Smith
▪ William “Willie “ Seger married Margaret Kirkman of Wood Lake, Nebraska on Sept 16,1942. Willie is a retired jockey and they live in Phoenix, Arizona.
▪ Lenora Mae married Vladimer “Pat”Dobry.
▪ Violet June Seger married Francis Mohr and lives in Stuart.
▪ Shirley Seger married Dunham.
▪ Rose Seger married James Raymond “Ray” Coday of Atkinson on Nov 10,1937 at the St Boniface Catholic Church in Stuart with Father John P Hilt officiating. They lived in Atkinson and Stuart area except for three years during WWII. They moved to Fremont, Nebraska in 1950 and presently live there.

When John Seger’s granddaughter, Sister Regina Coday, asked if he had any idea that the few buildings on the prairie would ever become towns, he answered, “I had no idea that there was going to be a town of Atkinson and Stuart. It just came on gradual. There was hardly anything there when I was a kid.” John was 90 years old in September 1983.

Written by Sister Regina Coday, dau of James and Rose Coday.

Continued:

1. The William James Seger Family - from "The Stuart Centennial"