Tekamah, county seat of Burt County, was laid out on October 7, 1854, by a group of settlers led by Benjamin R. Folsom. They chose this location for its abundant water, timber, stone, and the rich soil of the Missouri River Valley. The site was…

Val Peterson was born July 18, 1903, in the Oakland Swedish Lutheran Church parsonage, where his grandfather R.N. Swanberg was the pastor. Returning to live in Oakland at age fourteen, Peterson kept busy with school activities and various jobs,…

In the summer of 1866 John Oak (namesake of Oakland) assisted Swedish immigrant families to take up homesteads here in the Logan Creek Valley. Among the first settlers were Victor Colson and his family. He is said to have broken the first sod in…

Logan Creek was named for Logan Fontenelle, a chief of the Omaha tribe killed by Oglala Sioux in 1855. The first recorded settlers in this area were the Aaron Arlington family, 1857, who settled at the site of present Oakland, and John Oak, 1863,…

The first settlers of Lyons came in the summer of 1866. The fertile soil of the Logan Valley, combined with the commercial promise provided by access to the railroad after 1881, assured the life of the town. Incorporated in 1884, the village was…