Who is Deuel County Nebraska really named after?
There is a Charles S. Deuel in the 1920 census for Omaha, I imagine that he is the
son of Harry Porter Deuel. I haven't explained this yet, but I was recently looking at
William Austin Deuel and it seems to me, despite what they say on the Deuel
County genweb site and in other sources, that it would be easier to understand how
this county was named after W.A. Deuel, who was superintendent of the Nebraska
Division of the Union Pacific from 1875 until 1888 (i.e. he was a big cheese, head
of all UP operations from Omaha to Denver), and was the Masonic "King" and
namesake of the Deuel Chapter No. 11, Grand Island R.A.M., than it is to
understand how it got named after Harry Porter Deuel, who was a ticket agent for
several railroads in Omaha (which is about 300 miles east of Deuel County) but not,
at least as of 1876, for the UP, which was the only railroad to run through Deuel
County.
Then again, I would never put anything past Harry Porter Deuel. As he often said,
"There's many a hole in a skimmer," and I think his slogan fits genealogy very well
too.
Rick Gifford
September 30, 2003