Our Forebears

Luman DeWitt Clinton Sergeant was born on July 27, 1836, in Amboy, Oswego, New York. He was the sixth of eight children born to William Samuel Sergeant and Sally Lucinda Fish.

On the 1850 census, Luman was still living in Amboy. The next record we have for him is in 1858 when he bought property in Goodhue County, Minnesota. That same year, he bought property in Green Lake County, Wisconsin, which is where he met Marie Antoinette Anjer. Luman married Marie on March 10, 1859, when he was 22, and she was 19. They had 10 children, two who died in infancy, and were married 46 years until Luman‘s death in 1906.

Luman and Marie first lived in Green Lake County, Wisconsin, where Luman bought and sold a lot of land. On the 1860 census, he was listed as a farmer. On August 12, 1862, Luman enlisted in the Union Army, serving during the Civil War as a Private in Company C, 32nd Infantry Regiment. He mustered out on February 20, 1865, with a disability discharge. On the 1870 census, the family was living in Ripon, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and Luman was listed as a clerk in a dry goods store. By 1872, they were living in Fairchild, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, but there are no records to show what Luman’s occupation was during that time.

In “The History of Mower County Minnesota,” the Village of Taopi was in its infancy in early 1875, and by October of that year, the new town was flourishing. Luman is said to have erected a general store building and was boarding the men that worked in the new mill. From 1876-1879, Luman also served as a Justice of the Peace and an insurance agent. On June 16, 1879, the family began their journey to Nebraska, making the five-week trip by covered wagon¹. Luman had acquired 160 acres of land in Phelps County, Nebraska, under the Homestead Act of 1862. This lot was about three miles west of Axtell as you follow the Burlington Rail Line. In 1881, Luman was appointed U. S. Postmaster of what was called the Clarence Post Office; however, that was technically his home where people would drop off and pick up their mail.

By 1885, the family had moved to Juniata, Adams, Nebraska. Luman and Lyman Lafayette Anjer (Marie’s brother) owned the Sergeant & Anjer store from 1887-1889. In Dec 1887, Luman had entered into another partnership with L. L. Anjer and W. M. Adland to run the Pioneer Grocery House of Sergeant, Adland, & Co. in Holyoke, Phillips, Colorado. However, that partnership dissolved in May 1888. Luman had purchased 160 acres in Holyoke, and the family lived there for a couple years; although the newspapers reported that Luman and the family often traveled back and forth from Holyoke to Juniata during that time. In 1890, Luman sold his property in Holyoke, and the family moved back to Juniata for a couple more years. In 1892, the family was living in Greeley, Weld, Colorado, and they finally retired in Los Angeles, California, around 1896.

In August 1905, Luman traveled from Los Angeles, to his birth place in Amboy, New York for some type of medical treatment. Back then, a one-way trip by train would have taken about four days. He stayed with his brother, George, while he was in New York, and on his way home he stopped off in Juniata, Nebraska, to visit friends and family.

Luman died at age 69 on January 23, 1906, in Los Angeles, California, and is buried there at the Angelus Rosedale Cemetery.

¹ See Emily’s Diary (Luman and Marie’s daughter) under Resources to read about their trip.