Custer County, Nebraska - Founders and Builders, 1919 (part 4 of 32)

Indiana \'olunteer Infantry, John S. Tarkington having been captain of the company. Mr. Brown proved a faithful and valiant soldier and his honorable discharge, dated December 15, 1864. was signed by Abraham Lincoln, president of the L'nited States, and Edwin M. Stanton, secretary of war. His marriage to Miss Matilda Mullen was solemnized in 1870. near Dwight. Illinois.

It was here in Custer county that Earl W. Brown ran the gamut of youth and received his education in the public schools. Here, too, he laid the foundation for the activities of his manhood years. On June 7, 1915, in the home of the bride, on the South Loup river, four miles east of Georgetown, he led to the marriage altar Miss T. Leila Downey, the ceremony being performed by Rev. N. C. Johnson. Airs. Brown is a daughter of John M. and Anna E. (Welch) Downey, pioneers who became widely known as Mr. and Mrs. "Mack" Downey and who became the parents of nine children - Charles H. ; Mary ^IcMillan ; Leila Brown ; Edna Wood ; Helen, who was graduated in the Broken Bow high school and who is now a teacher and a prominent playground supervisor for the Chautauqua system ; \'ema, who is a stenographer in Saginaw. Michigan, was a commercial graduate of the Broken Bow high school ; Zenadie was graduated in the Broken Bow high school and is a teacher at the jiresent time; Gregor M. is at present attending Kearney Militars' Academy : D. Marlen is a student and is at home with his parents. Mary, Leila, and Edna Downey finished their education at the state normal school. The Downey family are all members of the Presbyterian church. The father was an old-time landsman who came to Custer county nearly forty years ago.

Mr. and Mrs. Earl Brown are following in the footsteps of their respective parents and in addition to being representatives of two very popular families, both jirominently connected with early-day history, they individually are winning a well deserved popularity for themselves. One child. Robert E., two years of age, furnishes sunshine and good cheer for the home. ^Ir. Brown is farming rather extensively, as he operates his mother's farm and also 320 acres of his own. He is one of the men to be reckoned with at the present time - one of the contingent upon whom present-day responsibilities rest heavily. He is a farmer and stock-raiser of no mean caliber and the general appearance of his home premises denotes thrift and declares his success. He is a member of the Christian church, his wife holding niembership in the Prebyterian church, and both stand for high ideals and highest t3'pe of senice. Mr. Brown has received the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite in the Alasonic fraternity, and is a Repubhcan in poHtics. As stated in the beginning, this prosperous son of a popular sire has paid the tribute of his Hfe to Custer county.

JACOB J. SEANEY. - Living in honorable and well earned retirement in the Finchville vicinity, than which there is no more fertile district in all the vast domain of Custer county, is a courteous gentleman who has known the privations and hardships of pioneer life in the west and who has contributed his share to county upbuilding and food production as demanded by the present day. It is to this citizen that recognition is here accorded.

Mr. Seaney was born February 16, 1853, in Union county, Indiana, and is a son of Pleasant and Elnora B. Seaney, both of whom likewise were bom in the Hoosier state, and who became the parents of three children - William, Sarah Becl<, and Jacob J. The father was a farmer, and he lived and died near Richmond, Indiana.

Jacob J. Seaney lived at the parental home until he attained to his legal majority. He earned his first money trapping muskrats and coons. He received good educational advantages, but all his life has confined his efforts to the farm. In the state of his nativity he was married, on October 3, 1878, to Miss Nancy Mendenhall, a daughter of Noah and Nancy (Gard) Mendenhall, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Indiana. In Mrs. Seaney's immediate family, besides herself, were two children - Jeremiah, and Margaret Hamilton. Mr. and Mrs. Seaney came to Custer county in 1888 and located on the South Loup river, six and one-half miles southeast of where Arnold now stands. There is some contract in the condition in which Mr^ Seaney arrived and that of other pioneers, for he was fairly well supplied with this world's goods when he first took up his residence here. He owns at the present time 800 acres of good land, well adapted to farming and stock-raising and in this dual occupation he has acquired most of his money. In the family circle are the following named children : Elsie is the wife of Charles T. Snyder, who lives at Snodgrass, Wyoming, and is assistant game warden of that state, and they have one daughter. Charles P., who is farming near Arnold, married Lida Bailey and they have one son. Maud M. is the wife of Ellery- Kniser, a farmer in the Arnold vicinity, and they have two sons

Mrs. Seaney, the mother, died May 12, 1891. Mr. Seaney still lives on his farm, but his possessions are such as to render him care-free and to enable him to retire from active work. His land is leased and still goes on producing foodstuff for humanity. The pioneers of the "80s and '90s know of Mr. Seaney's early activities and hold him and his family in high esteem. In politics his affiliations are with the Republican party, and he has been always ready to assist all worthy objects, the while he has been regarded as a prominent and leading spirit of the community.

NOAH MELHAM. - America, with its vast and varied opportunities for the achievement of success, has attracted to its shores those of every civilized race in the world, and in every well settled community there are to be found representatives of far-distant countries. Custer county is no exception to this rule, and one of its thriving communities, the enterprising little city of Sargent, has a worthy representative of far-off Syria, in the person of Noah Melham, who is successfully engaged in business as the proprietor of a general store.

Mr. Melham was bom August 4, 1884. at Aumscheit, Syria, Asia Minor, and is a son of Melham Norah and Mary (Scessien) Norah, who spent their entire lives in Syria. The father was a small famier for many years, but when overtaken by failing health he took up the occupation of charcoal burning. There were eight children in the family, of whom five are living: Charlie and his wife, Jennie, reside near Sargent, and he is a farmer; the present address of Abraham is unknown ; Beade is engaged in farming near Sargent: Noah is the subject of this review; and Barbara is the wife of John Rohana, a faraier living in Syria. Noah Melham received his education in his native land and remained under the parental roof until he attained the age of twenty-one years, when, stirred by ambition which could not be satisfied in his own country, he bade farewell to his parents and went to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he remained six months. He then came to the United States and for six months was a resident of Fall River, Massachusetts, at the end of which period he turned his face to the west and in 1906 arrived at Comstock, Nebraska. For one year following his ar- rival he tried his hand at farming, but this vocation did not prove congenial or remunerative, and the young Syrian gave up the attempt and began traveling as a salesman of Watson's remedies. He thus continued for three years, during which time, through his industry and capable methods of salesmanship, he accumulated a snug little capital. He had built up a good business, which was growing rapidly, but the first of his objects was accomplished, and he sold out his route and returned to his native land, where he remained six months. \\'ithin that time he married Sadie Wieken, who was born in Syria, .May 4, 1885, a daughter of Pete and Machbobe (Mahvvat) Wieken, farming people of that land, where they spent their entire lives. Mrs. Melham has one brother, John, who still farms the paternal acres in Syria. Mr. and Mrs. Melham became the parents of three children, of whom two survive : Marie, born Tulv 17. 1911; and Oscar, born Jnne 2, 1913."

Upon his return to the United States from Syria, Mr. Melham again took up his residence in Custer county, and again gave his attention to farming. This he followed with some degree of success for six years, but, once having experienced the attractions of commercial life, he was irresistably drawn back into business affairs, and he eventually sold out his farming interests and opened a general store at Sargent. This he has continued to conduct with constantly growing success, a feature of his business being the handling of the . proprietarv' articles known as Watson's remedies. A man of pleasing personality, courteous, obliging, he has made scores of friends in his adopted land and this fact perhaps has contributed as much to his success as have his untiring industry and his native business ability.

MARSHALL E. EDDY, ex-county treasurer of Custer county, furnishes in his career another exemplification of self-made manhood. Thrown u])on his own resources at the tender age of eleven years, he has won his way to business success and public influence, and at present he is extending the scope of his usefulness to the work of education, religion and national patriotism. In consonance with the regulation that a county treasurer may serve only two consecutive terms, Mr. Eddy retired from this office at the end of the year 1918, after having scrsed two terms. He was born May .^. 1857, in Canada, and is a son of Stephen P. and Margaret Jane (Finlay) Eddy.

whence its early representatives came to America prior to the Revolutionary war, in which several bearing the farmily name participated. For some years the family resided in Xew York state, where Harden Eddy, the paternal grandfather of Marshall E. Eddy, passed his life as an agriculturist, and there also, for a a time, lived the maternal grandfather. Henry Finlay, who was a native of Ireland. Stephen Eddy was born, reared, and educated in the Empire state, and after his marriage went to Canada, where for a few years he was engaged in business as a gontractor for brick and stone work. He subsequently returned to Xew York, but in 1877 he removed to Michigan, where both he and his wife were residents of Bay City at the time of their death. They had nine children of whom five are living. Charles H., an invalid, is proprietor of a shooting gallery at Unionville, Michigan : Mary is the wife of James Ormisten. a land man of Alberta. Canada : Margaret J. is the wife of C. C. Honeywell, a farmer in the vicinity of Unionville, Michigan; Marshall E. is the subject of this sketch ; and S. R. is a painter at Marquette, Michigan. The family has been affiliated with the ^^ethodist Episcopal church. Two of the uncles of Marshall E. Eddy took part in tlie Civil war, as Union soldiers. One, Carleton Eddy, was wounded in the last battle of the war and never re'covered from his injuries, dying a few years later: the other, Philo, was in the engineer corps, and returned safely to his home.

Marshall E. Eddy, as noted above, was called upon to make his own way in the world when he was still a child, and for the most part he educated himself, although he attended the public schools of Canada and Bradford, Pennsylvania. He equipped himself so well that he was able to secure a teacher's certificate, and for several years he taught school near Bradford, being present during the big excitement in the oil fields, about 1879. From that community he came to Exeter, Nebraska, where he taught school for one year, following which he turned his attention to agriculture and began working a homestead in Custer county, twelve miles west of Merna. He was courageous and persistent enough to remain until he paid out on his claim, and he then transferred his base of activities to Merna, where he took charge of an implement business for the firm of Holland & McDonald. After working for this concern three vears, he received and accepted an advantageous and attractive ofTer from the Deering Harvester Company, and for six or seven years he was a traveling salesman for this famous corpor- ation. When he resigned and left the road it was to form a partnership with Mac Johnson, in a ranch located in the northern part of Custer countv. where they handled 300 to 400 head of cattle, but Mr. Eddy later sold his interests to his partner and bought a tract of land at the townsite of Merna. where for three years he was engaged in farming. Next he was one of the founders of the institution known as the Home Bank of ]\Ierna, and about that time was also instrumental in the erection of several large structures there, including a modern hotel and opera house. When he sold his bank, after operating it for three years, he came to Broken Bow to assume the duties of deputy county treasurer, under Clarence Mackey, and he held that position for five years. During this time he gained in full degree the confidence and respect of his fellow citizens and when the opportunity came they elected him to the county treasurership. his record in that office being such a splendid one that when he appeared for re-election he was given a majority of 1,700 votes, on the Democratic ticket, in a county that is largely Republican. He retired from office in January. 1919.

Mr. Eddy was married November 10, 1888, to Miss Frances J. Reader, who was born in Wisconsin, a daughter of Henrv' and Wilhelmina Reader, the former a native of New York and the latter of Switzerland. They were early settlers of Wisconsin, from which state they drove to Iowa in an ox-cart, as early residents, and about 1882 changed their home to Nebraska, where they passed the remainder of their lives. Mrs. Eddy was educated at Osceola. Iowa, and after teaching school in Iowa two terms spent the same length of time in teaching at Broken Bow. She is a member of the Christian Science church and is one of the highly intellectual and well informed ladies of her adojited city. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Eddy, of whom the first born, Carl, died at the age of nine months. Euroia Pearl has for the past two years been engaged in Chautauqua work, and is now manager of a troupe of girls, touring the New England states, she herself being a brilliant reader and gifted and a talented singer. Slie received her early education at Merna. following which she was sent by her parents to Brownell Hall, at Omaha, and her musical training was completed at Northwestern University, Chicago, and the Boston Conservatory of Music. A'era M., the youngest child, was educated at Merna and Brownell Hall. Omaha, following which she took a three vears" course in the Mechanics Institute of Rochester. New York, from which she secured a diploma in domestic science. She also has a state teacher's certificate in Nebraska, and during the 1917-18 term taught in the Union school, near Berwyn, Custer county. On the 18th of May, 1918. Miss \"era Mae Eddy became the wife of Sargeant ^^'illiam J. Lovelace, of Kentucky, who was at the time located at Camp Taylor, that state, in the service of the United States. Since the signing of the armistice Sergeant Lovelace has been transferred to Newport News, Virginia.

Mr. Eddy is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and is a prominent Democrat. Always a loyal and public-spirited citizen, he has given his aid to all progressive and patriotic movements, and in connection with the world war he rendered his country excellent service as chairman of the exemption board at Broken Bow, and as a member of the executive committee of the Red Cross.

JOHN D. WIELAND. who is manager of the Dierks Lumber Company at Callaway, Nebraska, is a man well and favorably known in Custer county, of which he has been a continuous resident for thirty-three years. He has led an active business life during all that time, continually coming into contact with other stable and reliable men, and at the present time he is numbered with the county's best and most dependable citizens.

John D, \\'ieland was born at Salem, Columbiana county, Ohio, February 14, 1867. and is the only survivor of the six children of Daniel and Christiana (Koupp) Wieland. Daniel W'ieland was a farmer, and in the spring of 1867, when his son John D. was three months old, he removed from Columbiana county, Ohio, to Montgomerv- county. Iowa, where he carried on farming until his deatli, which occurred when John D. was about eighteen years old. The latter had completed the common-school course and had also a business-school education. When thrown upon his own resources he came to Custer countv and immediately secured employment with the Dierks Lumber Company. He worked for this company at Broken Bow for eight vears, in a responsible position, and then moved to Callaway and took charge of the Dierks interest at this place. Mr. Wieland has the distinction of being the oldest em-, ploye of the company, having worked for it continuously for thirty-three years. It goes without saying that he is highly valued by the companv's principals, who have foiuid him not only thoroughly efficient, but also faithful and trustworthy.

Nebraska, March 28, 1894, to Miss Elizabeth Thompson, a daughter of Robert and Esther (Hendry) Thompson. Mr. and Mrs. Wieland have three sons and one daughter : Robert D., who is a druggist and registered pharmacist, in business at Callaway, married Sophia Mailer, a daughter of Albert Mailer; Yerne O., who is a student of the Callaway high school, is employed in the lumber and coal office of the Dierks Lumber Company ; Lester D., who resides at home and still pursues his studies, is a clerk in his brother's drug store ; and Lauretta, a bright little miss of ten years, is still in school. Mr. Wieland has never taken any active part in politics but has always been conscientious in the performance of civic duties

PETER N. HENRY is an industrious and progressive farmer and highly respected citizen of Custer county, where he has prestige as a representative of an old and honored pioneer family. Further distinction is his in that he can claim Custer county as the place of his nativity.

Air. Henry w^s born in the district known as Stop Table, west of Callaway, this county, and is a son of Josephus W. and Margaret (.^twood) Henry, the former of whom was born at Edinburg, Johnson county, Indiana, in 1842, and the latter of whom likewise was a native of the old Hoosier state. In the earlv '80s Josephus W. Henry came with his family to Nebraska and nimibered himself among the pioneer settlers of Custer county. He became a substantial farmer and valued citizen, was a Republican in politics, was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he and his wife were members of the Baptist church. Of their nine children six are living, - Samuel M., James W., Joseph F., Peter N., Mrs. Minnie Carr, and Mrs. Catherine Blixt.

Peter N. Henry remained with his parents until he had attained to his legal majority, and in the meanwhile he had assisted his father iji the work of the pioneer farm and attended the country school during the winter tenns. In chosing a vocation he wisely adopted that under whose influences he had been reared, and he has devoted his attention to the basic industries of agriculture and stock-raising, with an attendant success which demonstrates his energy and good judgment. Mr. Henry is the owner of 200 acres of excellent land, in the vicinity of Callaway, his well improved farm being situated nine miles south of that village, besides which he owns an attractive and comfortable residence at Callaway. In an industrial way he gives his attention to diversified agriculture and stock-jaising, and while he has never been active in politics he gives his support to the Republican party, cooperates with his fellow citizens in the furtherance of measures advanced for the general welfare of the commtniity, and is loyal to all civic duties and responsibilities.

At Broken Bow, on the 24th of November, 1908, Judge A. R. Humphrey solemnized the marriage of Mr. Henry to Miss Elizabeth Osborne, a daughter of David M. and Mary E. (Gilbert) Osborne, who were bom in Indiana and who now reside at Callaway, Custer county, their other children being as here noted : Ollie, who is the wife of Joseph D. Haunstine : Alwilda, who is the wife of Arthur Ashley ; and Scott, C. Wesley, Noah C, and Francis M., all of whom remain at the parental home. Mr. and Mrs. Henry have no children.

CHARLES E. REED. - One of the young men of sterling worth in Custer coimty, who was born, educated, reared and married here, is Charles E. Reed, who belongs to an early settled and highly respected family of the county. Charles E. Reed was born in Custer county, December 7, 1895, one of a family of nine children born to his parents, F. S. and Amy (Jacobson) Reed. The mother of Mr. Reed was born at Crete, Nebraska, and died in Custer county. January M, 1918, aged fiftythree years and ten months. The father was born in Illinois and is an extensive agriculturist in this county.

Charles E. Reed obtained his education in the public schools. Farming has been his chosen vocation and at the present time he is working with his father, in order to have an unusual har\est in the time of war stress, when loyal and uatriotic men all over the land have been offering their lives on the field of battle, and when others, far away from the stage of conflict, have been making superhuman efforts, in their occupations and activities, to help the cause for which the .stupendous world war has been waged. At time of this writing Mr. Reed was placed in Class 4-A of the selective draft.

Mr. Reed was married February 26, 1917, at Broken Bow, Nebraska, to Miss Flossie Palmer, who was born in Custer county, she being a daughter of John B. and Mary A. (Kensell) Palmer and a granddaughter of Henn,- V. Kensell. The father of Mrs. Reed resides on his ranch, which is located seven miles southwest of Broken Bow. Mr. and Mrs. Palmer came to Custer county in 1884 and settled eight miles southwest of Broken Bow, at a time when they had to freight all their supplies from Kearney, a distance of sixty-five miles. They had a family of four sons and two daughters, as follows: Edward F. Palmer is deceased; Jasper I. is at home; Clarence E. is a member of Company E, Fourth Infantry, American expeditionar\' forces in France; Joseph E., who died from wounds received in the trenches in France, June 16, 1918, will have his name peq^etuated as the first Custer county hero to give his life in the world war; Flossie is the wife of Charles E. Reed of this sketch ; and Ollie remains with her parents. In the season of 1918 Mr. Reed and his father have 250 acres in com and 250 acres in small grain, and their prospects are very encouraging as to the abundance of the yield on both sections. Mr and Mrs. Reed have one child, Alice Lorraine, bom September 26, 1918.

THOMAS NORBURY. - Custer county has had many men of worth who have finally passed from the scene of life, and a notable one of these was the late Thomas Norbury, who for many years was president of the Seven Valleys Bank, at Callaway, this county. He was an unusual man in many ways, and during a part of his life was a traveler and a pioneer in different lands, his experiences giving him a wide knowledge of men and affairs. He possessed literary ability that won him notice as a magazine writer, and he was also an astute business man and able financier. For more than a quarter of a century he lived in Custer county, and during that time, through his energy, encouragement, and capital, some of the most stable business enterprises here were organized and established on firm foundations.

Thomas Norbury was born at Knutsford, Cheshire, England, December 28, 1841, and died at Callaway, Custer county, Nebraska. July 25, 1915. He was the only child of John and Ann (Daniels) Norbury. His father was a master builder and as the youtli grew up, when not attending school, he leamed the mason's trade under his father. In 1859 his father consented that he should make the voyage to Australia, hoping the sea air would restore the youth to health, which desirable result was realized. When Thomas Norbury reached .\ustralia, with two companions he began to pros])ect for gold, and they located a claim on which they were working when a telegram reached him that his beloved father was dying. Ilastilv disposing of his interests for almost nothing, the dutiful son hastened back to England, where he found his father on the road to recovery and, in fact, he lived many years afterward. In the meanwhile the abandoned claim in Australia was later fully de\eloped and became known as the famous Williams Creek mine, estimated to be worth millions of pounds.

^Ir. Norbury remained in England until about 1860 and during those years wrote voluminously for the magazines. He then once more decided to tn,- mining for gold, and in this quest he visited the mines in the vicinity of Caribou, British Columbia. He continued to prospect for the precious metal for several years, and before feeling ready to settle down to a quiet business life he made two trips around the world. In answer to another call from his father, he then retiu^ned to England, and subsequently he went into the building business at Leigh, in Lancashire. He had a large business there, and in his own yards dressed the lumber for use in the houses he built for rent. He became a man of local prominence and served on the town board of Leigh. Mr. Norbury then crossed the ocean once more, and landed in the United States. In 1888 he came to Custer county, Nebraska, locating at Callaway in June of that year. He immediately became interested in the building up of this section and was one of the first to buy shares in the flouring mill and other enterprises which he helped to put on a paying basis. He was one of the leading organizers of the Seven Valleys Bank of Callaway and was its president for many years.

On the 20th of August, 1893, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Norbur\' to Miss Agnes L. Tyson, at Cottonwood farm, near Callaway. Mrs Norbun' was born March 10, 1864, on Clarence street, Bolton, Lancashire. England. Her parents were William and Jane (Roberts) Tyson. On the paternal side her grandparents were Roger and Betty (Burkitt) Tyson, and on the matemal side her grandparents were Joseph and Mary (Davis) Roberts. Her father was bom on the border of Cumberland, in the north of England, and her mother was bom October 3. 1827, at Nantlyn. county of Denbeigh, North Wales. Mr. Tyson was an u])holsterer by trade. His children were as here noted : Adelaide J., Birkett, and Barbara are deceased . ^liss Catherine A. lives in England ; William, who is president of the Seven Valleys Bank at Callaway, is a Royal Highlander, a Republican and a member of the I-'piscopal church, his wife, Annie, being a daughter of \\'illiani Norbury ; Agnes L. is the widow of Thomas . Norbur>-, the honored subject of this memoir; Fannie, who is the wife of luhvard Warbur- ton, a druggist in England, has one child, and they belong to the Congregational church ; and George, who is a member of the Church of England and of the Masonic fraternity, owns a cotton mill at Leigh, England.

To Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Norbury a son and daughter were born - Thomas W. and Fanny J. Thomas W. Norbury had four years of training in the Kearney Military Academy and then attended the Bradley Polytecnic .School, at Peoria, Illinois. Thereafter he was bookkeeper in the Seven Valleys Bank, a position which he was filling when he enlisted for service in the world war, as bugler in Company B, One Himdred and Eighth Militar}' Police, Thirty-third Division, Illinois infantry. At time of this writing he is "somewhere in France." He is a member of the Episcopal church and is affiliated with the Royai Highlanders. Miss Fannie J. Norburv was graduated from the Callaway high school and afterward was for one year a student in the Nebraska State Normal School at Kearney. She resides with her mother at Callaway and they are prominent in social life. Mrs. Norbury is a communicant of the Episcopal church and she holds membership in the Royal Highlanders and the Order of the Eastern Star.

JOHN H. RUSSELL. - In every community will be found quiet, industrious business men following different vocations, without whom the ordinary industries of civilized life could not go on, and very often it will be found that these are self-made men, having, unaided, built up their own fortunes. In this connection attention may be called to John H. Russell, who is the leading stone mason at Callaway, an experienced man in his line of work, and also a citizen who is held in esteem on account of his sterling character. John H. Russell was born at Gates, in Custer county. NehrnsLa, December 25, 1882, and is a son of William H. and Elizabeth E. ( Bowman) Russell, the latter of whom was born in West Virg^inia, a daughter of Abraham Bowman. ^\'illiam H. Russell was born in Indiana but later in life became a farmer in Custer county. Nebraska. Of his two children, John H. is the elder, and Jennie A., who died at Lincoln, Nebraska, in 190,\, was the wife of Trem N. Denman.

John H. Russell remained at home with his parents until he was twelve years old, attending school and making himself useful to his father, and later on he was a student for one year in the Lincoln high school. He has taken care of himself ever since he left the parental roof. Lie began as driver of a delivery wagon for J. C. Bowen, and remembers how proud he was when he thereby earned his first suit of "store" clothes. In 1897 he applied himself to learning the mason's trade and afterward, for seven years, he was in the employ of William C. Dodson, a prominent general contractor at Lincoln. In 1904 ^Ir. Russell came back to Custer county. For six months he was connected with a hotel at Merna, but with that exception he has been in business as a stone mason continuously ever since. He has completed the stone work on many of the important buildings at Callaway and other places, and his reputation is that of a steady, reliable and competent workman.

Mr. Russell was married, at Broken Bow, Nebraska, June 3, 1905, to Mrs. Vinnie Barker, who is a daughter of Jesse I\I. and Indiana (Carter) Ash, and she has brothers and sisters as follows : Mrs. Elva Wright, Airs. Blanche Mooncy, .-Monzo, Ward, Harn-, Herbert, Boyd, George, and Corbett. By her former marriage Mrs. Russell has one son, Richard Barker, and Mr. and Mrs. Russell have three daughters, Nina, Delia, and Lulu, all of whom are attending school. Mr. Russell has never been very active in politics but he has b.is own political preferences and keeps well infomied on all the great issues 'of the present time, as well as showing lively interest in public aft'airs in his own nation, state, countv, and conimunitv.

ROBERT E. GIVEN. - On the roll of Custer countv's early settlers who have passed to their reward, mention should be made of Robert Elliot Given, who was bom in Pemberton county, Virginia, March 25, 1826. On the 4th of January, 1855, he was united in marriage to Rachel M. Jordan, a native of the same county as her husband, her birth having occurred June 13, 1831. They were farming age of eighty-seven years, a privilege which people and in 1870 they became residents of Whiteside county, Illinois. In 1879 they numbered themselves among the early settlers of Fillmore county, Nebraska. In 1884 they came to Custer county, where Robert E. Given secured as a homestead the southwest quarter of section 28, township 18, range 21, where he became one of the early settlers of this part of the county. His first home was the primitive sod house, and he shared in the hardships and privations incident to those early days. He later bought a quarter-section adjoining his original homestead on the west, where he and his wife passed the remainder of their days and where his death occurred

April 3, 1899, his wife having preceded him to eternal rest. Tannan,- 19th of the same year. A few days prior to his death he told his minister that he had been a Christian for sixtv years. He and his wife had been lifelong members of the Methodist Epicopal church.

Robert E. Given met with success in his farming operations, and at the time of his death he was the owner of three quarter-sections of land. He and his wife had a family of nine children : William is a resident of Lincoln, Nebraska; Sampson is engaged in agricultural pursuits in Custer county; Elizabeth is the wife of J. S. Kennard, of Seward, Nebraska ; Mansel, who died two years ago, lived in Chicago ; Samuel is a resident of \\ hiteside county, Illinois ; John died in infancy; Ellis W., who owns and operates the old home farm, is individually represented on other pages of this volume ; E. S. is residing at Pueblo, Colorado; and Deborah is the wife of James Anderson, of Emporia, Kansas.

Pioneer conditions were still in evidence on every hand when Robert E. Given settled in Custer county, and he lived to see vast changes take place in the community he helped to develop.

MICHAEL AIcCARTY is one of the native sons of Custer county, and was born on his father's homestead, in Dale vallev, September 2S, 1S8S, a son of Robert D. M'cCarty. of whom extended mention is made else where in this volume.

Michael McCarty was reared on the fami and acquired his education in the public schools of his native township, .^s a boy he assisted in the development of the homestead and when a young man of twenty-one years he wisely chose the vocation with which he was familiar. He is now operating a farm of 160 acres, belonging to his father.

For a wife and companion Mr. McCarty chose Miss Irene Dale, a native of Custer county, and they are the parents of three children : Rachel, Laurence, and Leonard. Mr. and Mrs. McCarty are members of the Catholic church and are held in high esteem in the community with which the ^IcCarty family have been identified for thirty-eight vears.

CARL R. KRENZ. - Few men in Custer county have been residents here for a longer period than has the gentleman whose name introduces this record, thirty-eight years having come and gone since he cast in his lot with the pioneers of this county.

Carl Rudolph Krenz is a native of Prussia, Germany, where he was born November 27, 1831. He has no knowledge of his parents, both having passed away when he was quite young. He made his home' in his native land till he was twenty-two years of age and there he learned the trade of furrier. In 1853 he started for America, and after a trip of three weeks, from Liverpool, England, he landed at Brunswick, Nova Scotia, the voyage being made on a sailing vessel. He went to Boston, Massachuetts, where he found employment until 1859, when he l)ecame a resident of Davenport, Iowa, there working at his trade for sixteen years. His next place of residence was in Nebraska City, where he remained two years, after which he went still further west in Nebraska, and located at Grand Island.

Desiring to become a farmer and not possessing the necessary capital with which to jnirchase land, he came to Custer county in the fall of 1880 and took a homestead of 160 acres, in section 14, township 18, range 22. He also secured a tree claim, in another part of the township, but this he later traded for land adjoining his homestead. His first dwelling here was a dugout, in which the family lived two years. Then was erected a sod house in which the family home was maintained till 1903, when the present commodious frame house was erected.

Those were strenuous times for the settlers, and the nardships and privations they endured can hardly be realized by the present generation. L)ne of the greatest drawbacks to the country was the question of water. It was a long way to the spring on Victoria creek and water was scooped from buffalo-wallows or lagoons till a well could be dug. The first well in Dale valley was dug by Mr. Krenz, in the spring of 1881, on the \\'illiam Couhig homestead. The nearest market or trading posts were Kearney and Grand Island, and the trip to either of these towns required several days. Mr. Krenz, like other early settlers of Custer county, possessed those qualities which made it possible for him to meet and overcome obstacles, and, as the years passed, success crowned his efforts. Thus to-day he and other pioneers who remain are surrounded with the comforts and blessings which they justly deser\'e and which the present generation ought to appreciate.

Mr. Krenz has been twice married. His first wife, Wilhelmina, he wedded in Germany. To them were bom five children, two of whom are deceased, while those living are Mrs. Bertha b'berling, of Davenport, Iowa ; Robert, of the same place; and Julius, a resident of New Mexico.

For his second wife Mr. Krenz chose Miss Catherine Katosky, a native of Germany, and she passed away in 1900. She was the mother of eight children: William, Joseph, and Charles are all residents of Cnster coimty ; John resides in Grant county, Nebraska ; Almon resides on the old home farm ; Anna is unmarried and resides in Iowa ; Emma is the wife of Fred Hargerden, of Alliance, Nebraska ; Catherine is the wife of Tom Murray and they reside at St. Paul, Minnesota.

Mr. Krenz's religious views coincide with the teachings of the Lutheran church, in the faith of which he was reared, and in politics he is Republican.

Almon Krenz, who now owns the old farm, was born Februarj' 3, 1881, in a sod house on the Thomas farm, where his parents lived for a time after they first came to the county. He has always made farming his occupation, and the scene of his operations has been the old homestead. For a wife and helpmeet he chose Miss Daisy Winther, and they have three children : Ray, Rena and Thelma.

Carl Rudolph Krenz has lived retired for several years and has reached the venerable comes to but few persons. He has been an eye-witness to the changes that have taken place in Custer county, and in the work, of trans fomiation he has contributed his full share. It is only fair to such as he, as well as to their children and their children's children, that their life record be written and given a place in the history of the county in which they spent the best years of their lives.

WILLIAM E. MARTIN. - Down in the Roten valley, seventeen miles southwest of Callaway, in a splendid farming district, is the well equipped fann of the progressive citizen whose name introduces this sketch.

Mr. Martin was born near Hollister, California, and is a son of John and Clara (Wilkins) Martin, the former a native of \\'isconsin, and the latter of Iowa. In the family of John Martin were three sons and one daughter. When William E. ^lartin was but four vears old, his father died, and the mother left California, taking the children back to Iowa, where William was sent to live with his uncle, with whom he remained until he was thirteen years of age. He obtained his early education by attending countrs' school in the winter time, and his boyhood work included catching gophers, picking up rock and cutting wood. After he was thirteen years of age he worked on a farm bv the month, for which service he recei\ed three dollars per month.

After coming to Nebraska, Mr. Martin settled in Nance county, and on the 12th of September, 1899, in Fullerton, that county, he married Miss Nettie Bishop, a very excellent young lady who was well fitted to be the partner of his joys and sorrows. Mrs. Martin was born in Illinois, and is a daughter of John W. and Elizabeth (Gustine) Bishop, the former a native of Shelby county, Indiana. In the Bishop family were five children - Mrs. Nettie Martin, AVthur E., Ella F., Mary L., and Fred E.

In the Martin home to-day are three children - Erma F., who is a young ninth-grade student ; Otha O., who has climbed to the eighth grade ; and Kenneth A., who stands on the seventh rung of the educational ladder. All are at home and are promising candidates for future usefulness.

Mr. and Mrs. Martin came to Custer county in 1905 and bought the farm known as the Solomon Yoden place, in Roten valley - a property described above as being seventeen miles southwest of Callaway. Mr. Martin farms 110 acres. He has made his money by mixed farming, in which he has turned ofif a good many hogs and cattle. He gives some attention to dairying and in 1918 he sold four hundred and seventy-four dollars' worth of cream from seven cows. When it comes to handling stock on the farm Mr. Martin has a notion that only the best quality pays, and accordingly he keeps the best that can be procured. He has a pleasant home, a profitable farm, is thrifty and prosperous, and he and his wife enjoy the confidence and respect of their neighbors. Their religious affiliation is with the Methodist Episcopal church.

LESTER D. KIRKPATRICK. - Here is a title-line name widely known in Custer county ; here is the story of a young man who is essentially a Custer county product, who is at the present time a very extensive operator in food production, and who has already laid the foundations of an unusually successful career.

Lester D. Kirkpatrick was bom in Broken Bow, Nebraska, October 30, 1885, and is the second son of John S. and Isabel (Croft) Kirkpatrick, his father having been a well known early-day lawyer whose residence was in the county-seat town. Lester D. Kirkpatrick is one of a family of seven children - John C, Lester D., Harrison M., Ina B., Ruth, Marie, and Marion. His sister Ina is a law graduate. - His youngest brother, Marion, is at the time of this writing, somewhere on the French coast, in the naval service of the United States. John C, the eldest brother, is estab- lished on a ranch of 3,000 acres, owned by his father, in Brown county, Nebraska. Harrison M. is a lawyer by profession and is en g-aged in practice at Idabel, Oklahoma. Ruth is the wife of Franz Jansen and they reside in Kansas City. Marie is the wife of Willard M. Bohart, of Plattsmouth, Missouri.

Lester D. Kirkpatrick left Broken Bow with his parents when his father moved to Lincoln, after having been appointed a commissioner of the supreme court, on the bench of which he served four years. Lester was graduated in the Lincoln high school and also took a course in the Lincoln Business College. In 1904 he enlisted in the coast artillery division of the regular army, stationed at Fort Hunt, Virg-inia. He served thirteen months and, not liking regular army life, bought his discharge and went to Kansas City, where his father's family was located. There he attended the Kansas City Business College, which gave him an additional educational equipment. When through school he returned to Custer county and took charge of one of his father's farms, about eight miles west of Broken Bow.

March 2, 1907, recorded the marriage of Mr. Kirkjiatrick to Gertrude Reinhard, a daughter of John and Mary Reinhard, living near McKinley postoflice in Custer county. An extended reference to this family is found elsewhere in this volume.

The family circle of Mr. and I\Irs. Lester D. Kirkpatrick has been increased by the advent of three children - Marion, aged eight ; Helen, aged six, and Eugene,' aged four ( 1918). These are bright young children, full of hope and promise. At the present time Mr. Kirkpatrick is operating a ranch which belongs to his father and is located in the Sells valley, seventeen miles south of Callaway. The holdings comprise 1,540 acres, of which 750 are in cultivation and used for crop production. The remainder of the land is used for grazing purposes and has helped to produce army beef. so much needed in connection with the great world war. .\side from his local operations Mr. Kirkpatrick deals in stock, which he buys and sells, and he is considered a "live wire" in the community. He expects the home place to shi]) out each year at least 200 head of cattle and 100 head of hogs. This makes Mr. Kirkpatrick an extensive producer and a venvaluable citizen, especially at this time. In politics. Mr. Kirkpatrick affiliates with the Democratic party. Both he and his wife have a good standing in the community and are rated as "A No. 1' in all progressive movements.

JOSEPH D. HAUENSTINE. - The farmers of the Callaway district seem to be uniformly prosperous and possessed of a common thrift that has distinguished their locality. This storj- concerns a man who has contributed and is contributing to that rqjutation.

Joseph D. Hauenstine was born August 10, 1859, in Chatham, Licking county, Ohio. He is a son of Jacob H. and Lucinda (Dull) Ifauenstine, who were both natives of Pennsylvania and were very estimable people. The stork served them well and brought to their domicile fourteen children, only five of whom are living at the present time. They are Jacob W., Joseph D. ( the subject of this sketch), Mrs. Matilda Bellmire, Mrs. Lucinda Readhead, and Mrs. Ida F. Byler.

During his early life Joseph D. Hauenstine attended the countn,- school and formed studious and industrious habits which ha\e shaped the course of his entire life. His first money was spent for a slate and pencil, and very early in his career he formed a habit - which developed into a hobby - of making scrapbooks out of clippings from newspapers. These hooks he has preserved through the years, and to-day they show not only his wide range of rtadmg but also the course his mind has taken in all public e\ents. In addition to his scrapbook filing, he has kept a faithful diary, and some day these daily accounts will be very interesting reading. His father, although a cooper by occupation, owned a farm, and here young J. O., as he was familiarly called, put in his first years and began the reading which has made him a well infomied man on all subjects.

.Augftist 24, 1892, at Lexington, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hauenstine to Miss Minerva O. Osborn, who was born in Kenlucky, the daughter of David M. and Mary (Gilbert) O.sborn, both of whom were natives of the Hoosier state. In the Osborn family were seven children, .\side from Mrs. Hauenstine they were Alwilda Ashley, O. Scott, \\'eslev. Lizzie Henry, Noah C, and Francis ( )sborn. The famil\- belonged to the Evangelical church whom are promising candidates for future usefulness. The children are Florence, Elsie. Edith, Raymond, and Hazel I., all of whom are in school - either at home or in the high school ac Callaway, where ]\Iiss Edith is pursuing her studies.

The hardships and trials of pioneer days are known to Air. and Mrs. Hauenstine. They have weathered storms and drouths, and they have surmounted difficulties that would have discouraged less dauntless spirits. They have conquered their difficulties and are today well and pleasantly located, surrounded by the rewards of their toil. They own the original tree claim and the total area of their Custer county holdings is 375 acres, beside which Mr. Hauenstine still owns the old homestead of his father in Knox county, Ohio. He and his wife, w'ho has been a true helpmeet, have made their money in farming and stock-raising. They ha\e emphasized dairying and today their dairying operations are made more profitable than ever, by the use of an underground silo which is unique in its construction and very profitable as a forage preserver for milch stock and all grades of young cattle.

The Hauenstines are regarded as fine people, and are well esteemed by their neighliors. Mr. Hauenstine exercises a good deal of independence in politics.

CHARLES B. PEARCE is one of the most prominent and prosperous exponents of farm enterprise in the Arnold section of Custer county and is a liberal and progressive citizen who well merits recognition in this publication.

Mr. Pearce claims the fine old Hoosier state as the place of his nativity and is a scion of one of the sterling pioneer families of that commonwealth. He was bom in Sullivan county. Indiana, on the 27th of July, 1865, and is a son of W^ashington Allen Pearce and Su- .sanna (McClure) Pearce, the former of whom was born in Sullivan county, Indiana, in 1813, and the latter of whom was born in Kentucky, m 1821, she having been eight years of age at the time of her parents' removal to Indiana, where she was reared to maturity and where her marriage was solemnized. Washington A. Pearce continued to be identified with agricultural industry in his native state until 1876, when he removed with his family to Missouri, where he passed the remainder of his life, the subject of this review being the youngest of the family of eleven children.

In the public schools of Indiana Charles B. Pearce acquired his early educational discipline and he w^as about eleven years of age at the time of the familv removal to Missouri, where he continued his studies in the public schools, when opportunity afforded, and where also he gained full fellowship with the sturdy work of the home farm.

In 1887, within a short time after attaining to his legal majority, Mr. Pearce, animated by his full share of ambition and self-reliance, made his way to Custer county, Nebraska, where he cast in his lot with the pioneers of that day. Here he pre-empted a quarter-section of land, and the same constituted the nucleus around which he has developed his present large and valuable landed estate, his home ranch to-day comprising a full section of 640 acres, of which 250 acres are maintained under a high state of cultivation, and here Mr. Pearce devotes himself vigorously and successfully to diversified agriculture and stock-raising. He gives special attention to the breeding and growing of hogs, and for several years past two car-loads of hogs have been marketed from this farm each year. (Jn the place Mr. Pearce keeps an average of forty head of cattle and twenty-five head of good horses, while the yards show a fine flock of thoroughbred Rhode Island Red chickens, the poultry exhibit being really one of the attractions of the farm. Enterprising policies and wise management characterize the varied operations of Mr. Pearce, and thus he gains the maximum returns from his well ordered activities as a representative husbandman of Custer county.

The domestic relations of Mr. Pearce had their inception in 1891, when he led to the marriage altar Miss Sylvia Campbell, who was born in Iowa and who came with her mother to Custer county in 1884. Mrs. Pearce has proved the gracious and popular chatelaine of the pleasant home and has contnbvUed greatly to the succers of her husband. They have four children, concerning whom the following record is consistently entered, the ages noted being applicable at the opening of the year 1919 : Vera, aged twenty-six years, is a Red Cross nurse and at the time of this writing is stationed at Camp Cody. New Mexico. She is a graduate of the training school for nurses that is maintained in connection with St. Luke's hospital in the city of Denver, Colorado, and has been in the Red Cross service for several months. Cecil, aged seventeen years : Gladys, aged thirteen ; and Nolan, aged ten, all remain at the parental home and are duly profiting by the advantages of the public schools.

With naught of exaggeration or inconsistency, it may be stated that Mr. and Mrs. Pearce are leaders in their community, where they have been active promoters and supporters of all helpful enterprises. Mr. Pearce has contributed community service from time to time by holding some of the local district or township offices, and at the time of this writing he is giving efficient service as township clerk. He is a successful, progressive farmer who attributes much of his success to a faithful following of the mixed-crop policy in his farm activities. He and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church and are popular factors in the best social life of their home community.

JOHN T. MARONEY. - Credit this young farmer of Irish extraction to the Anselmo region. Give Anselmo credit for his thrift and enterprise, and let it be known that Custer county, in common with most other sections of this great country, is deei)ly indebted to Irish-American blood.

John T. Maroney is a native of Custer county. It was here that he discovered America in 1889. He is the son of Timothv Maroney, a familiar character in Anselmo. In the father's family were two children, John T. and his sister, Alary Knoell, of New Helena. John T. Maroney, himself a native of the county, married a native daughter of the county when, on April 26, 1911, he led to the marriage altar Miss Ora Ross, who was born in tlie year 1890 and is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jonas Ross. Since their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Maroney have maintained a representative Custer county home and by ])rovident energ\- have supplied it with necessities and comforts as occasion required. Three ':hildren furnish the household with sunshine and banish lonesomeness. Kenneth, aged six years, Paul, aged four years, and Richard, aged one year ( 1918), will soon be large enough to assume the management of household affairs. Mr. Maronev and his family live on his father's land, upon which are good impro^'emc:lts and 160 acres of which are in cultivation. He has a good grade of stock, which consists of fifty head of cattle, twenty-one head of horses, and ten head of fine-grade hogs. These form a foundation of the -herds Mr. Maroney expects to own when a few more years have come and gone. They constitute the nucleus of a fortune v/hich he anticipates will be large enough to permit his retirement after the strenuous years of middle life are past. He and his wife have lived eight years on the place and are making good in more ways than one. John's early education was in the public schools and later in the Long public school of Omaha, of which he is a graduate. He is indep)endent in politics and stands for anything that is helpful to the community Speaking of the opportunities in this country for making money, he remarks that when eleven years of age, he made his first money by loading hay, and for this ser\'ice his employer gave him two dollars, which was almost, if not quite, a man's wages. Mr. and Mrs. Maroney are members of the Catholic church. They are good neighbors and enjoy the confidence of their manv friends.

HOMER :\I. SULLIVAN, of Broken Bow, Nebraska, was bom in Davis county, Iowa, May 1, 1857, and is a son of David L. and Rebecca (Morris) Sullivan. He began the study of law in the office of Payne & Eckleberger, at Bloomfield, Iowa. He taught school until 188,^, when he was admitted to the bar. In the fall of 1884 he came to Broken Bow and began the practice of his profession with Augustin R. Humphrey, with whom he was associated until 1890. He then formed a partnership with C. L. Gutterson, and this alliance continued until he was appointed judge of the district court, by Governor Holcomb, to fill the vacancy caused by the election of Judge William L. Greene to congress.

In the fall of 1897, Judge Sullivan was elected to fill out the term, and he was reelected for the full term in 1899. He was count V attorney of Custer county for one term, 1887-88.

Judge Sullivan affiliated with the Republican party until 1896, when he allied himself with the Populist party. In November. 1880. he married Miss Ella Turner, of Agency City. Iowa, and five children, four daughters and one son. have been born to them - Ina. Jennie, Lynn, Alma, and Elma.

AUGUST OSTRAND. - A resident of Custer county during a period of thirty-five years, Mr. Ostrand here acquired a homestead on the 9th of June, 1884, since which time he has advanced himself to a position of substantial prominence among the agriculturists of his commimity. near Mason City, where he is now conducting general farm operations on a halfsection of land, with due attention given to diversified agriculture and stock-raising. Mr. ( )strand is a native of Sweden, where he was born Januan' .^, 1850, and he is a son of John R. and Breta (Oleson) Ostrand. who ])assed their entire lives in their native land.

1872 he came to the United States and found employment in a furnace manufactory at De- Kallj, Illinois. He later returned to Sweden, where he remained for some time, and upon coming again to the United States he sought ways and means to lay the foundation for individual independence and success. In 1884 he came to Custer county, Nebraska, and made permanent settlement. He secured in that year a homestead claim near Mason City, and this property he still owns. To the same he has added from time to time, as his financial resources have warranted and his judgment dictated, with the result that he is now the owner of a half-section of land, in addition to other valuable real estate. His residence farm is situated in section 6, township 13, range 18, where he has an attractive residence and other substantial buildings, as well as being provided with modem implements and machinery with which to lighten farm labor and add to the success of his operations. While general farming has been his principal business, Mr Ostrand has been successful also in the raising of cattle and hogs, and each year he ships livestock to the leading markets. He is progressive and energetic and maintains a reputation for integrity in business and for public spirit as a citizen. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Alodern Woodmen of America, and the religious faith of the family is that of the Presbyterian church.

On the 36th of November, 1879, Mr. Ostrand was united in marriage to Miss Breta Carolina Olsen, and concerning their children the following brief record is available: Constantine, who was born in Sweden, is now engaged in farming in Custer county ; Anna is the wife of Harley Johnson, likewise an agriculturist in this county; Lavina is the wife of L. G. Kleckner; John R., at the time of this writing, is with the American Expeditionary Forces in France : Hattie is a popular teacher in the public schools of Mason City ; Bettie is the wife of Lee Fisher, a farmer of this county : William and Benjamin remain at the parental home : and Clara is attending the public schools at Mason City.

E. C. HOUSE. - One of the oldest realestate, loan, and insurance enterprises of Broken Bow is that established in 1886 by E. C. House. The founder was an excellent candidate for a successful real-estate business, for he had formerly had experience in the same line, and the field which he chose as his scene of operations was an advantageous one, both' from the town and country standpoints, the while he pursued clean methods and made his word and judgment respected. The result is a business which is not only financially profitable but has also placed the community in a favorable light before those living in adjacent towns and country. The business is now conducted under the title of E. C. House & Son.

E. C. House was born at Moundville, Marquette county, Wisconsin, June 28, 1858, a son of James Uavid and Francis (Turner) House, natives of L,ondon, England, where they married and where several of their children were liorn. Coming to the United States in 1848, the family settled in Wisconsin, where the father became a successful farmer, and where his death occurred in 1865. He was a stanch Republican, and he and his wife were consistent members of the Episcopal church, four of their sons and one daughter having their names registered in the church at St. Johnswood, England. There were ten children in the family, of whom eight are living: Nate J., who is a retired citizen of Canton, South Dakota, served four years and three months as a soldier of the Union during the Civil war : John, who is a retired citizen of Morris, Minnesota, enlisted for one year in the Union army at the outbreak of the Civil war, was wounded in the first battle of Bull Run, where he was taken prisoner, and spent the following eleven months in Libby and Andersonville Prisons before being exchanged and honorably discharged; William is living retired at Arlington, Iowa ; Eliza is the wife of George Falkner, a farmer of Glenwood, Minnesota; Julia is the wife of J. E. Cowen, a retired citizen of Fresno, California; Mrs. Anna Bates is a widow and resides at Arlington, Iowa ; Emma is the wife of Mr. Broten, who is in the creamseparator business at Grand Forks, Minnesota.

E. C. House received his education in the common schools of Portage City. \\'isconsin, and for his first occupation learned the saddlery business, in which he was engaged for some time, subsequently turning his attention to the insurance field. L,ater he displayed talent as a real-estate operator and insurance salesman, and his business grew to such im portance that he subordinated all else to it. In 1886 he came to Broken Bow, where he established himself in the same line, and in more recent years he admitted his son to partnership, under the firm style of E. C. House & Son. The prosperity which has attended this firm has been the direct result of industry and the following out of an honorable policy in conducting a general real-estate, loan, and insurance business. Mr. House is a Royal Arch Mason, and during an early day he held the chairs of senior deacon and junior warden in the chapter. He is a stalwart Republican,

July 2, 1890, r^Ir. House married Miss Susie I. Cole, who was born at Champaign, Illinois. She is a daughter of \V. D. Cole, an agriculturist, who came to Broken Bow in 1888. To Mr. and Mrs. House there have been born two children : Adclla is the wife of Harr>' B. Tieniey, a managing chemist with interests at .-\ntioch, Shi-ridan county, Nebraska ; and Nathaniel J., still a bachelor, is junior member of the firm of Iv C. House & Son, he being a graduate of the Broken Bow high school, class of 1913. Nathaniel J. House, who was born .\ugust 20, 1894, is a blue lodge and chapter Mason, and is one of the energetic and progressive voung business men of Broken Bow.

RICHARD BKLLIS. - Of the old and honored residents of Custer county, few have coml)incd in greater or more successful degrees the qualities which make for individual success and those which are helpful to their fellow men than has Richard Bellis, prosperous farmer and extensive landholder, and minister of the Church of God. Mr. Bellis has reached the age of eighty-one years and, while he has somewhat rela.xed from the strenuous labors of a decade or so ago, he still attends to the daily routine of his farming affairs, and continues to minister to the spiritual needs of his church's people.

Richard Bellis is a native of Wales, born February 14, 1837, his parents being Robert and Hannah (Bill) Bellis, neither of whom ever left their native land. Robert Bellis began life as a butcher, but in later years adopted the vocation of farming. By his first wife he had a family of four children, all deceased, and by his second mariage he had eight children, of whom Richard is the only survivor. Richard Bellis was given his early education in the public schools of Wales, and while his training was not far out of the ordinary his mind was so receptive and retentive that he gained a much better schooling than the majority of his companions with the same advantages. Throughout his life he has continued to be a great reader and keen observer, with the result that today he is an extremely well educated man and a clear and logical thinker. Shortly after his eighteenth birthday he left his home in Wales and came to .America. He arrived in New York City February 22, 1853. For one year thereafter he remained in the Empire state, and he then removed to Illinois, where he made his home for two years and was employed as clerk. He caiue to Nebraska in

1879 and was numbered among the pioneers of Hamilton county, where he bought land and resided for ten years, carrying on fanning. It is to be understood that when he came to this country he had little or no capital, that his early struggles were exceedingly hard, and that every dollar he possesses to-day has been gained through his own etiforts. When he left Hamilton county, Mr. Bellis came to Custer county and homesteaded a property, and here he has continued to reside to the present time. He erected all the buildings which are now located on his quarter-section, in sections 9 and 39. in addition to which he made all the other improvements which make this property so valuable and productive. Carrying on mixed farming operations in an industrious way and according to modern methods of procedure, he won success such as comes to but few, and he is now able to eniov the comforts and conveniences which are the rewards of a life of earnest effort, clean living, and probitv.

oil the 29th of'May, 1861, Mr. Bellis wedded Miss Hattie Cornelia Sweezey. who was born in Illinois, and after their marriage they located on a farm near Winnebago, Illinois, where Mr. Bellis continued his active association with farm enterprise for the ensuing sixteen vears. Mrs. Bellis passed to the life eternal in January, 1877. secure in the faith of the Church of God. Of the three children of this union only one is living - May, who is the wife of Frank ^IcFarland. a farmer in the vicinity of Newell. Iowa.

In 1881 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Bellis to Mrs. Nancy J. (Stark) Stine, widow of John Stine, who had served as a soldier in the Civil war. the three children of this union being Tillie J., Ellen May, and La Nora Ann Stine. Mrs. Bellis claims Indiana as the place of her nativity ; she is a representative of a sterling pioneer family of the Hoosier state, and is seventy-one years of age.

In 1892 Mr. Bellis was ordained as minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, by the Nebraska eldership of the Churches of God in Nebraska. .\t the time of the present writing he has charge of the Church of God at Berwyn. Custer county. It is interesting to record that Mr. Bellis personally revised this sketch, and that without the aid of glasses. I'or twentysix years he has preached locally, having spent eleven years of that time at Weissert, without interruption, and at times during his .career of spreading the Gospel he has traveled many miles by team to address the people. The life nf Mr. r.cllis has been a long, useful and inspiring- one, and furnishes a lesson which cannot fail to have a good effect u]ion the minds of the young - those who are starting life without friends or helpful influences, just as Mr. Bellis did many years ago. His achievements make him deserving of the reverence and esteem in which he is uniformly held in his part of Custer county.

ROBERT Mc CARTY. - Born and reared on the farm which is now his home, Robert McCartv rej)resents one of the pioneer families of Custer county. September 3, 1890, was the dale of his birth and he is a son of Robert D. McCarty, who is a retired farmer residing in Merna and whose life story, as a pioneer in Custer countv, will be found elsewhere in this volume.

Roliert McCarty married ^liss Dora Ellen Thomas, who was likewise born in Custer county. She is a daughter of Charles Thomas, who was only 3 boy when he came to Custer county and who, when old enough, secured a homestead, his life record being given elsewhere in this history.

Robert McCarty is successfully engaged in farming operations on the old homestead. He and his wife are members of the Catholic church and are ])rominent in the younger social circles of the communitv. Thev have one child, Lucille M., born Februarv 19. 1918.

OLl\ER 1!. MEMS. - Broken Bow counts on her role of honored and departed citizens none who left behind more numerous or substantial evidences of association with its atYairs th;in did the late Oliver H. Mevis As a soldier, business man, investor and publicspirited citizen, he came and went among the people of his town from his arrival in 1890 his death. August 5, 1913. and there remains in his wake an impression of practical usefulness, and of genuine, dependable character - due in ))art to his sturdy ancestry, but more directly traceable to his untiring zeal and ready recognition of opportunity.

Mr. Mevis was !)om at Syracuse New York. January 22, 1836, a son of Hiram Mevis. His father was born in one of the eastern states and his mother in Holland. At an earlv date the family located at Lansing, Michigan, where riHvi-r H. Mevis secured the advantages to be obtained by attendance in the public schools. He was still a young man when he left Michigan and removed to St. Paul. Minnesota, where he was located at the outbreak of the Civil war. With vouthful enthusiasm and patriotism he offered his ser\'ices to his country, and during the following three years he fought gallantly as a member of Company D, Second Minnesota \'olunteer Infantry. His service was crowded with experience, including wounds and capture by the enemy, and was characterized not only by the utmost courage in the face of danger but also by unremitting fidelity to duty. When he received his honorable discharge, Air. Mevis went to Chicago, where he was united in marriage with Miss Anna Keman, who was born near Three Rivers. Canada. Mrs. Mevis died, without issue, in 1896. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Mevis went to Galesburg. Illinois, where 'Sir. iNIevis founded a dry-goods business, with a small stock of goods. Later he disposed of his interests there and went to Hillsboro, where, with a little larger stock, he engaged in a similar venture and carried on a successful business for a number of years. His advent in Nebraska occurred in 1879. in which year he settled at Fremont, where his business activities continued for eleven years. During all this time he had been constantly I)ushing further and further ahead on the road to success, and in 1890 he came to Broken Bow and opened a pretentious establishment, which immediately attracted the patronage of the citizens of the community. This was the leading store of its kind and continued to be under Mr. Alevis' capable management and wise and far-sighted direction right up to the time of his death. - and this in spite of the fact that he was an invalid for three or four years preceding his demise. His guiding hand and alert mind were always felt in the conduct of the business which he had founded and which was still growing and expanding when death called him to his final rest. .Mr. Mevis started his career with practically nothing, and he worked his way steadily upward until he was one of the substantial men of a community in which there were numerous citizens of indel)endent means. In doing so he never found it necessarv to take an unfair advantage of others, and his life record contains no dark ]iages in regard to disabling others that he might himself go unscathed in the battle for coiumercial supremacy. He made numerous wise investments, exercising his e.xcellent business judgment r-nl his faith in his community at one and the same time, and among his purchases was a laree block at the southeast corner of the Public Square, a property which is still owned by his widow. Mr. Mevis was a faithful member of the Catliolic ch.urch, to which A'rs. Mevis also belongs.

October 27, 1897, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Mevis to JMary EHzabeth Boures, who was born at St. Paul, Minnesota, a daughter of Thomas and Amelia (Kernan) Boures, who were united in marriage at St. Paul, Minnesota, the father having been born at Three Rivers, Canada, and the mother at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

CANUTE LEE, who is industriously and successfully engaged in farming in the vicinity of Alason City, and whose specialty is the raising of cattle, hogs, and horses, is one of the sons of Norway who have found prosperity in Custer county through the exercise of natural ability, good management, and persistent industry. His entire career has been devoted to the pursuits of agriculture, for from the time of his arrival in this countn', as a child of three years, he has always lived on a fann and his interests have always been centered in the pursuits of the soil.

Mr. Uee was born in Norway, July 14, 1852, and is a son of Stephen B. and Ellen Lee, also natives of that country. He was the third in order of birth, the others of the children being : Brims, who is now retired from active pursuits and makes his home at Los Angeles, California; Nels, who died and is buried at Broken Bow ; Martha, who makes her home with her brother at Los Angeles ; Andrew and Margaret, who are deceased ; and Louis, who met his death at Los Angeles, California.

Canute Lee was about three years old when his parents came to the United States, in 1855. the first residence being in Henrv county, Illinois, where the father was engaged in farming for five years. From the Prairie state the family moved to Crawford county, Wisconsin, in 1860, and there the son Canute attended the public schools during and after the period of the Civil war. He was brought up as a farmer, and after a career of only ordinary success in Wisconsin he came to Cvister county, Nebraska, and here, in 1889, he purchased his present property. The home of his parents was three miles north of Anslev. where they rounded out long and honorable lives, but Mr. Lee's property is situated near Mason City, being in section 15, township 13, range 18, where he has 160 acres in a good state of cultivation. Mr. Lee has had much success in his experiments in raising cattle, hogs, and horses, and his reinitation in this direction has led him to be accounted somewhat of an authority upon the subject. Just as he is progressive in his private affairs, so he is likewise public-spirited and constructive' in his citizenship, and his support is never withheld from an\' worthy measure, whether religious, ci\ic, or educational. His integrity in business dealings has never been questioned, and, all in all, he is a very desirable citizen.

Mr. Lee married Miss Mary C. Nelson, a member of a Custer county agricultural family, and to this union there have been born five children: Ida, who is the wife of Bernard Schrader, a farmer of Custer county; Edward, who married Aliss Laura Dewey, of Ansley, and who carries on agricultural operations not far from the home place ; Andrew, who married Miss Hulda Porath and who is his father's assistant in operating the farm ; Amy, who is deceased ; and Eunice, who lives with her parents on their home fann, on Elk creek.

JACOB B. KLUMP. - Among the men who came to Custer county during the early '80s were found a number of men who were veterans of the Civil war and who had also had experience in farming. They were men who were destined to assist in the development and upbuilding of this section. One of these was Jacob B. Klump, who, after many years spent in successful farming operations, is now living in comfortable retirement at Broken Bow.

Mr. Klump was born December 24, 1834, in the kingdom of Wurtemberg, Germany, and he is a son of John M. and Fredericka (Wolf) Klump, who passed their entire lives in that country. There were seventeen children in the family, of whom thirteen grew to maturity, and Jacob B. was the fifth in order of birth. In his native land he had the benefit of eight years of training in the public schools, and during his boyhood and early youth he was employed in his father's mill. In March, 1853, his mother took him before the district court of his home community in order that he might relinquish his citizenship to Gemiany, and not long thereafter he and his two sisters, Katie and Sophie, came to the United States and joined their uncle, Francis Klump. a fanner of Lake county, Illinois. Jacob B. Klump worked at whatever honorable employment presented itself, and was variously engaged until the Civil war came on, when, in 1861, he joined Company G, Thirty-ninth Illinois Veteran Volunteers, under Colonel Light. He served his term of enlistment, three years, and then re-enlisted for a like period "or for the duration of the war," at Hilton Head, South Carolina, in the same company and regiment. While he participated in every engagement in which his retciment took part, he was of sturdy physique and glowing health, and was incapacitated only twice, when he received slight wounds. His big engagements numbered thirteen or fourteen, and at all times he proved a brave and faithful soldier. Mr. Khimp's brother William, who had come later to this country', was a member of the same company and regiment and died at Morris Island, South Carolina, after serving nearly three yeare. In the Union army, he also had six brothersin-law, three of whom died of wounds during their first year of sen-ice. In Januars-, 1864. ^Ir. Klump secured a furlough and returned to Jo Daviess county, Illinois, where, on February 29th, he married Miss Jane Parkinson, a daughter of James and Christina (Hoy) Parkinson. He returned to his regiment and continued to serve gallantly, being advanced to sergeant and then to regimental colorbearer, and receiving two honoral:)le discharges from the service, the last one in 1865. .\t that time he returned to his home in Illinois and purchased eighty acres of land, on which he continued to carry on operations with success imtil 1883. He then came to Custer county, Nebraska, and located near Cliff postoffice, where his wise management and industrious labor combined to bring him success and enable<l him to accumulate a large tract of land. He made numerous improvements on his property, including the sinking of a cistern that held 1,000 barrels of water, and in 188S he sunk a well 400 feet deep, at a cost of $600. When he reached advanced years he retired from active pursuits and removed to his i)resent home, at Broken Bow. but he is still active and alert, and much of his time is spent in his repair shop, where his natural bent toward mechanics finds expression.

Mr. Klump has been frequentlv called upon to serve in jniblic positions and his record as an official is an excellent one. Before leaving Illinois, he ser\ed sixteen years as justice of the peace, being commissioned by four ditf'erent governors, and since coming to Custer county he has been justice of the peace eight years and supervisor two years. Mrs. Klump died in 1906, having been the mother of eleven children, of whom nine are living: Sophia is the wife of 1^'red Bertram, a farmer near King Citv, Missouri, and she is the mother of si.x children ; I lerman R., who is a resident of Mcl'herson countv, became the father of six children, of whom three are li\ing ; Julia is the wife of James Holliwell, a farmer at Mema, and they have two children ; Frederick \\ ., who is a ranchman at Ringgold, ^IcPherson county, married Ethel Butler; Miss Mary- is engaged in teaching school at Lincoln : Ruby is the wife of Fred Hackbarth, engaged in farming near Hershey, Lincoln county, and they have four children ; Hardy B., who served as a soldier in the Spanish- American war, is now a farmer near Arnold, Custer county; Miss Olive is engaged in teaching in the state of Washington ; August E., a fanner in Garfield county, married Lulu Martin and they have three children.

In 1907. at Broken Bow, Mr. Klump was again married, being united with .Mrs. Mary Koch, concerning whose four children by a former marriage the following brief record may consistently be entered : Andy married Miss Clara Dale and they have two children; Jacob wedded Miss Lizzie Harpley and they have four children : C)scar enlisted in the government airship service in connection with the nation's participation in the world war and at the time of this writing he is assigned to duty as clerk in the office of the major in government barracks in the state of New York ; and Carrie is the wife of Clayton Yohn, their children being four in number.

Mr. Klump is one of the valued and appreciated members of the Broken Bow post of the Grand .\rmy of the Republic, his wife holding membership in the 'SN'oman's Relief Cor]js. and both are members ui the Methodist Episcopal church.

FR.\NK J. McCARTY is one of the younger generation in his native coimty and lias had the good judgment to remain within its borders. Here he owns and operates a farm of 160 acres. Mr. McCarty was born in his ])resent home townshij), on the 11th of March, 1885, and is a .son of Robert D. McCarty, of whom extended mention is made elsewhere in this volume.

\\'hile yet a young man at home. Frank J. IMcCarty began farming independently, by renting land. In 1912 he purchased his present fami, and he has brought his fields to a high state of cultivation, the while he has erected a substantial set of buildings and success f idly carries on general farming.

Mr. r\IcCarty married Miss Mar\- Teahon, who, like her husband, was born in Custer county, and who is a daughter of Patrick Teahon, now deceased. The home of Mr. and Mrs. McCartv has been blessed with two chil-

DANIEL R. ROCKWELL. - The career of Daniel R. Rockwell is an illustration of active and diversified energ\'. and in its working out it has invaded the fields of agriculture, commerce, and pulilic service. It has been the fortune and privilege of this prominent citizen of Broken Bow to have attained well merited success in each of the avenues of personal endeavor into which his industry has taken him, and at the time of this writing he is giving his country exceptionally efficient service in discharging the responsibilities connected with the office of federal food administrator for Custer county.

Air. Rockwell was born in Chautauqua countv. New York, November 5, 1866. His father, William H. Rockwell, was born in Bradford, Pennsylvania, the family having come from Germany, and settled at Bradford, Pennsylvania, where the grandfather was engaged in business. William H. Rockwell removed from the Pennsylvania home to Chautauqua county. New York, where he was residing at the outbreak of the Civil war. He was a \'olunteer for the Union service, and for three years fought gallantly with a New York infantry regiment. When he received his honorable discharge he returned to his home, resumed his civilian duties, and made as good a record in the paths of peace as he had in the strenuous energies of the great struggle between the north and south. His political support was given to the Democratic party, and he and his wife, whose maiden name was Adaline Remington, and who was a daughter of Ransom Remington, were consistent members of the Congregational church.

Daniel R. Rockwell entered upon his career at a time when the usual run of boys are still enjoying the advantages of the public schools. He had opportunities for the training of his mind in the district institutions of his neighborhood during the winter months, but he was a lad of only thirteen years when he left the parental roof and went to Benton county, Iowa, where he found employment on the farm of his cousin, W. H. Rockwell. During the next eleven years he remained in that county, his industrious and energetic services always being found available by the farmers there, and careful saving of his earnings enabled him, in 1S<S9, to come to Custer county, Nebraska, and buy a relinquishment claim on timber land near Sargent. Thirteen years of development work brought this land to a high state of cultivation, and during this period Mr. Rockwell added to his holdings from time to time, so that to-day he is the owner of 960 acres of fertile Custer county land, in addition to which he has properties in other counties in Nebraska and in other states. His work at the start was of the hardest kind, but his ability, perseverance and ambition were able to stand any kind of strain, and he had the final satisfaction that comes only to a man who has accomplished something worth while, by himself and for himself. Mr. Rockwell took up his residence at Broken Bow in 1902. He had shown to himself that he was possessed of business ability, and he proceeded during the next five years to demonstrate this same fact to the old Piano Company, for which concern he traveled throughout the surrounding territory, as a salesman of machinery and as a collector. When he resigned his position with that concern, he embarked in a business venture of his own, his line being hardware and furniture, and he brought this business to a point where it was paying large dividends. He has since disposed of his interests in this enterprise, having accepted a very satisfactory ofTer. When he gave up his business cares, he did so with an absolutely clean slate, his reputation in commercial circles being one of the kind that will stand an acid test.

Mr. Rockwell's business record is not the only thing that gives him the right to be named as one of Broken Bow's first citizens. His public service also has been something far from the ordinars'. He was early recognized as a man of ability, stability and worth, and after acting three terms as councilman he was elected mayor of the city. During the two terms that he served as chief municipal executive, the community was given the benefit of splendid administrations ; numerous movements of a progressive nature in the way of civic betterment were started, and Broken Bow was the beneficiary in a number of other ways. That his record was clear was evidenced in his appointment to his present position as federal food administrator for Custer county. Mr. Rockwell is a thirty-second degree Mason, and the family attend the Presbyterian church.

November 18, 1884, at Belle Plaine, Iowa, Mr. Rockwell married Miss Almeda Vadike, daughter of J. P. and Mary Jane (Drake) \'adike, well known and honored farming people of this community. Four children were born to this union: Edna I., who is the wife of Edgar B. Osborne, a prosperous farmer of Superior, Wisconsin, with one daughter, Robetta : Ethel I., who is the wife of Thomas

Rector, a railroad man of Superior, Wisconsin, with a daughter, Margarie; Miss Hazel, who resides with her parents at Broken Bow, and is a well known teacher in the public schools ; and Melvin, who is still a publicschool student.

HARRY R. KNAPP. - So to direct one's affairs that it is possible to retire from the strenuous activities of life while still there are the best years of existence coming, is a reward that comes to but a favored few. Among these may be mentioned the present county clerk of Custer county, Harry R. Knapp. of Broken Bow. He has been a ranchman and business man, has made good in both directions, and now, while in retirement as to business affairs, he is still active and energetic in his community, and has so impressed himself upon the minds of his fellow citizens that it has been recognized that he is of the timber of which good public officials are made. He was elected to the ofhce of county clerk in November, 1918, on the Republican ticket, and he assumed office January 1, 1919.

Mr. Knapp is a Nebraskan by birth, training, education. exj)erience, and inclination. He was born at \\'ahoo, Saunders county, in November, 1S74. a son of John \\". and Nancy I. ( Tull ) Knapp, natives of Hancock county, Illinois. John W. Knapp is a Saunders county farmer whose qualities of character have made his name in his locality synonymous with integrity and stability. He is an Odd Fellow, votes the Republican ticket, and attends the Methodist Episcopal church, in the faith of which he and Mrs. Kna[>p reared their five children. Three of these children survive : Harry R. is the subject of this review; Wirt E., a well known grain dealer of Saint Louis, Missouri, who married Fay Harris, now deceased, is the father of two children, - Wirt E.. Jr., and Laura ; and Roy C, a farmer of Kearney, Nebraska, is married and has four children.

.Alternating with his work on the home fann, Harry R. Knapp passed his boyhood in attending the local public schools. He had the further advantage of being sent to the high school at Wahoo and a business college at Fremont, but he was no sluggard in his youth, as his industry kept him energetically working and his first money was secured by strenuous labor on a neighboring farm in Saunders county, his emolument being fifty cents a day. He remained on the honiestead imtil he had attained to his majority, at which time he struck out for himself, and his good judgment in business affairs placed him in a position where, in 1907, when he came to Custer county, he was able to purchase 1,000 acres of land, on Ash creek. After eleven years he retired from active participation in business affairs and took up his residence at Broken Bow.

As an intelligent and well informed man, co-ordinating his community's interests with his personal feeling, Mr. Knapp has been a constant observer of what is going on about him. He has been a constructive worker in assisting local movements, and his prominence in this direction led his party to give him the candidacy for the county clerkship. His personal record is one that assures him of good support, and his business career is one of the kind that stands for an A-No. 1 rating. Fraternally. Mr. Knapp belongs to the Masons, the Independent < )rder of Odd Fellows, and the Woodmen. With his family, he holds membership in the Methodist Episcopal church.

Mr. Knapp was married November 4, 1901, at \\'ahoo, Nebraska, to Miss Edna C. Robinson, daughter of Charles T. and Flora ( Spurgeon ) Robinson. Mrs. Knapp's parents are well known and honored farming people of Saunders county and prominent members of the Methodist Episcopal church in their community. Mr. Robinson is a Democrat and is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. and Mrs. Knapp have a bright and interesting little daughter. Glayds M., who is five years old in 1918.

GEORGE W. Mc RAE. - After thirty years of continuous effort in the vocation of agriculture, George \\'. McRae retired from his activities in 1913, and since that year has been living quietly at Berwyn. During the time that he was applying himself to his vocation, he demonstrated the possession of marked abilities, and accumulated a competency, while at the same time he won and held the respect of his fellow citizens. Mr. McRae was born in Harrison county, Indiana. January 12. 1852, a son of Daniel B. and Nancy (Wright) McRae.