Gage County, Nebraska - Chapter 31: People Who Have Done Their Part in Making Gage County, 1918 (part 10 of 29)

Hugh J. Dobbs attained the rudiments of an education in the first crude schools taught in Beatrice, Blue Springs, and in his home district, in Rockford township. In 1871, after leaving the first Beatrice high school, he obtained a third-grade certificate as a teacher and taught his first school, beginning May 10th of that year, in the Hillman school district. Hooker township, for which he received one hundred dollars and board. In September, 1871, with thirty-five dollars borrowed money, he entered the state normal school at Peru, Nebraska. At the close of the fall term he took charge of the Holmesville district school, and by teaching on Saturday and in vacations he was able to put four months' teaching into three, and return to the normal school at the opening of the spring term. In April, 1873, he took charge of the public schools of Bellevue and taught one term. Thereafter he was able to complete his course of study in the state normal school, from which institution he graduated in June, 1875. In September of that year he took charge of the public schools at Ashland, Nebraska, and he remained at the head of these schools till January 1, 1878, when he accepted a similar position in the public schools of Beatrice. He remained in charge of the Beatrice schools till the close of the school year of 1880. In both the Ashland and the Beatrice schools he was the first to introduce systematic graduation, install a course of study and graduate a class.

In September, 1880, Mr. Dobbs entered the law department of Union College (now University), of Schenectady, New York, this department being located at Albany. He received his degree of Bachelor of Laws from Union College May 27, 1881, and on the 28th day of May was admitted to the bar of the state of

New York. On the 11th day of July, 1881, he began the practice of his profession at Beatrice, and he has been continuously and actively engaged in the practice of the law in this city since that date. His practice extends to all the courts of Nebraska and the federal courts. In the thirty-seven years of his practice he has transacted a large volume of legal business, both civil and criminal, and is an able and successful lawyer.

Hugh J. Dobbs always takes an active interest in public affairs. In politics he has always been affiliated with the great national Republican party, to which party he has never wavered in loyalty. In 1884 he was appointed register of the United States government land office at Beatrice, by President Arthur. He took office April 1st of that year and held the same until September 15, 1887, when the Beatrice land district was consolidated with the Lincoln land district, and the records of the old Beatrice- Browliville office removed to Lincoln. In 1888 he was nominated by his party as a candidate for the office of county attorney and was elected by the highest vote of any candidate on the ticket, his majority in the county exceeding that of Benjamin Harrison, candidate for'president of the United States. When, in 1893, the Beatrice Free Public Library was established, he was selected as one of the first board of trustees of that important and useful institution and he served in that capacity eighteen years. He was two years president of the board and sixteen years at the head of the book committee, one of the most important committees connected with the library.

Mr. Dobbs has been engaged over a year in the preparation of the History of Gage County. His work has been almost wholly confined to the historical part of this volume. His compensation consists not in the few dollars he receives for his labor, but in the satisfaction of having performed a service of lasting benefit to his day and generation. In common with many, he felt that before the last of the pioneers had passed away the history of Gage county should be written by one who was familiar with it from the beginning to the present time and whose acquaintance was exten- sive amongst the early settlers. He has fulfilled this duty as forcefully as circumstances would permit. A portrait of Mr. Dobbs appears as frontispiece of this volume.

While attending the state normal school at Peru, the subject of this sketch made the acquaintance of Louisa A. Piper, who also was attending school there. In 1876 and 1877, they taught school together in Ashland, and on -Christmas eve, 1877, they became engaged to be married. On the first day of January, 1884, their marriage was solemnized, at Alma, Harlan county, Nebraska, and they have ever since resided in Beatrice. Five children are the fruit of this marriage. They are: Florence M., who lives at home with her parents; Stuart Piper, a graduate of the Beatrice high school and of the literary and law courses of the University of Nebraska, now practicing his profession at Ogden, Utah, where he is district attorney of the judicial district which includes Weber county, where Ogden is located, and three other counties; Edith Evelyn, who is a teacher of history in the public schools of Ogden; Louise Josephine, a student in the state University of Colorado, at Boulder; and Hugh J. Dobbs, Jr., of Colorado University, now serving in an officers' reserve training camp at Presidio, and subject to the call of his country.

THOMAS FRANCIS DOBBS is the sixth son and the ninth child of Fidillo Hunter and Mary Jane Dobbs, whose biographical sketch with family genealogy is found elsewhere in this volume. He was born on the old homestead, in Rockford township, on August 6, 1866. He received the rudiments of an education in the old school house across the road from his father's homestead, and for a while "taught district school in the county. Finally Tie entered the state normal school at Peru, and in this institution he was duly graduated. For three years he was principal of the public schools at Wahoo, and for about the length of time principal of the public schools at Auburn. He then entered' the hardware business at Peru, where he built up -a fine trade, but on account of his wife's health he was forced to move to Colorado, where, with the exception of a single year spent in Oregon, he has since made his home. For several years he was engaged in business at Rocky Ford, and was very prosperous. He sold out there and went to Oregon with a view to entering the banking business, but after a year he returned to Colorado and settled at LaSalle, six miles west of Greeley, where he bought the controlling interest in the LaSalle State Bank. He is now president of this bank and is doing a satisfactory banking business.

While attending the state normal school at Peru, he made the acquaintance of Miss Vina Cannon, a classmate, and shortly after their graduation they were married. Two children have been born to them - Herbert, twenty-two years of age, cashier of the State bank of LaSalle, Colorado; and Mary, a student in the conservatory of music at Denver.

Thomas F. Dobbs is the object of the deep fraternal affection of his brothers and sisters. He is without enemies and his friends are legion.

LEANDER M. PEMBERTON. - No man in Gage county is better known or more highly esteemed than Leander M. Pemberton. For nearly two score years he has made his home in the city of Beatrice and he has gained distinction not only in his profession as an able, scholarly lawyer, a legislator and a learned, wise and just judge, but also as a gentleman, a friend and a true and loyal citizen in all the walks of life. He came to Beatrice from Iowa in the fall of 1879 and gained immediate recognition as a careful, discriminating, conscientious lawyer, and until his merits marked him for an exalted judicial position he had been professionally connected with a large volume of important legal business in the courts of the country, federal as well as state. Perhaps no man of his profession while practicing at the bar in Gage county was so often called into cases by other counsel a^ Judge Pemberton, and no lawyer ever more deserved the confidence of his professional associates. His sue- cess in life has been gained by sheer force of character, learning and abihty of a very high order. It is characteristic of him that he has the power, without conscious effort on his part, of inspiring confidence in the breasts of others, a confidence founded on a belief in his honesty and integrity of character.

To have been well born is always a desirable factor in a human life. While pride of ancestry is not as a rule characteristic of the American citizen, it is but natural, and highly commendable, that one should feel a just pride in the fact that his ancestors were in their day and - generation people of consequence, of character and influence. As respects his parents, as well as his more remote ancestry. Judge Pemberton was well born. The family of which he is a scion is of English origin and was founded in America at an early day. John Pemberton, his great-grandfather was a Virginian. In the decisive battle of King's Mountain, October 7, 1780, where a body of state niilitia almost annihilated Lieutenant Colonel Ferguson's army of British regulars, and thereby practically destroyed England's power in the southern colonies, he commanded a regiment in Colonel Shelby's regiment of volunteers. At the same time and in his company, under his command, were William King and John Sharp, the former a paternal great-grandfather and the latter a maternal great-grandfather of Judge Pemberton. Thus in one of the most important and decisive battles of the Revolutionary war, we find serving together in one company of volunteers three men who were destined to occupy the same relation as forbears to Judge Leander Munsell Pemberton. Judge Pemberton's paternal grandfather, Stanton Pemberton, also a Virginian, about the year 1804, married Sarah King, a descendant of William King, and in 1831 emigrated from Virginia to Coles county, Illinois. To this marriage there were born eleven children, the third of whom, Harvey Guilford Pemberton, became Judge Pemberton's father. In September, 1832, Harvey Guilford Pemberton returned to Virginia and married Caroline Clarissa King, who was born in Sullivan county, Tennessee, in

March, 1811, the tenth child in a family of fourteen children. Her people, who were Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, removed from Pennsylvania to Tennessee about the year 1760. Caroline Clarissa Pemberton, the mother of Judge Pemberton, was a woman of character and refinement; though deprived in her youth of all but the most meager educational advantages, she was a lover of good literature and possessed all the graces and virtues of a noble wife and mother. Several of her brothers were college graduates, but the education of a woman was deemed a needless extravagance in those days. She became the mother of nine children, of whom three sons and two daughters reached maturity.

One of these sons, Johnathan Columbus Pemberton was in the militia company that went to the rescue of the settlers in the Spirit Lake massacre, in March, 1857, and his name appears on the fine monument at Lake Okoboji, Iowa, erected by the state of Iowa to the memory of the suffering and heroism of those militiamen. He died in March, 1860, aged twenty-seven years, from a disease caused largely by the hunger and exposure encountered on that expedition. Another son, William J. Pemberton, was an early settler of Beatrice, but he afterward removed to Jef^ f erson county and became a member of the legislature from that county, in the session of 1887. He died suddenly, at Hebron, Nebraska, in November, 1898, aged fifty years. The other son, Leander M. Pemberton, is the subject of this sketch. One daughter, Mrs. Emily C. Ross, died in December, 1881, at Stratford, Iowa, aged forty years; the other daughter, Mrs. Sarah A. Bascom, aged eightyone years, is still (July, 1918), living, and resides at Spencer, Iowa. '

Leander M. Pemberton was bom on the 12tb day of November, 1845, in a humble log cabin on a farm, near the town of Paris, in Edgar county, Illinois. His early childhood was spent in the place of his birth, but when he was nine years of age his parents, in the fall of 1854, moved to Iowa, and in the spring of 1855 settled in the village of Homer, in what afterward became the county of Hamilton.

Here, on the 4th day of November, 1864, the wife and mother died, at the age of fifty-three years, and within a year her husband also passed away, his death occurring October 31, 1865, in the fifty-seventh year of his age. All that was mortal of this husband and wife lie side by side in the cemetery near Webster City, Iowa.

Judge Pemberton's education began in the primary department of a seminary at Paris, Illinois, when he was seven years of age. On the removal of his parents to Iowa it was continued in the log school house, and later in the one-room, frame school house at the village of Homer, until he attained the age of sixteen, when he left the paternal roof and engaged in the battle of life single-handed and unaided. He journeyed on foot from Homer, in Hamilton county, to Mahaska county, Iowa, where he found employment on a farm near Leredo, doing with his might whatever he found to do, at the munificent wage of forty cents a day. He earned money enough in the farming season to pay his way at Oskaloosa College during the winter of 1862-1863 and the fall of 1863. He then successfully passed an examination for a teacher's certificate and began teaching school. His rise in the world might be described as rapid, since from a wage of twelve and fifteen dollars a month,,-as a farm hand, he was now able to command a salary of twenty-five dollars a month as a country schoolmaster. By working on a farm in the growing seasons of the year and teaching fall and winter schools he managed to obtain enough money to cover his expenses through the sophomore year of the State University of Iowa. Reluctantly abandoning a collegiate course of study, Mr. Pemberton returned to Hamilton county, Iowa and resumed his occupation as a school teacher, studying law diligently, as opportunity afforded, under the direction of Judge D. D. Chase, of Webster City. April 6, 1870, he was admitted to the bar at Boonesboro, Boone county, Iowa, and in June of the same year he began the practice of his profession at the town of Peterson, Clay county, Iowa. At the general election in 1871 he was elected to the office of auditor of Clay county and took up his residence in Spencer, which then became the county seat. By successive elections he held this position six years, practising his profession in the meantime.

During the presidential campaign of 1872 Judge Pemberton directed the editorial policy of the Clay County News, advocating the election of Grant and Wilson. In the autumn of 1879 he left Iowa and located in Beatrice.

At the time of his arrival here both the city of Beatrice and the county of Gage were growing by leaps and bounds. The federal census of 1880 credited Beatrice with a population of 2,447 and the county with 13,164 inhabitants. Mr. Pemberton found a hospitable welcome in the community and his success was immediate, both as a lawyer and a citizen. From the first he took an active part in the afifairs of the city, and he served six years as city attorney of Beatrice. For twelve years he was a member of the school board and for six years president of that body. He was at one time a member of the educational council of the state. When the free public library was established by the city council, in 1893, Judge Pemberton was selected as a member of the first board of directors and, by continuous reappointment, he has held that position to the present time.

In 1902 Judge Pemberton was elected state senator from Gage county and from the moment of its organization he became a useful, diligent and influential member of that body. Much of the important legislation of that session was due to his wisely directed energies. The legislature undertook to revise the revenue laws of the state and a joint committee of both houses was appointed to draft and report a revenue bill. Judge Pemberton was one of the senate members appointed to serve on this important committee and soon became one of its most influential members. It is largely to his training as a lawyer and his conscientious service as a legislator that the people of this state are indebted for their present complete and efficient revenue law, which is probably the best that can be made under our present constitution.

berton was elected one of the judges of the old First judicial district of Nebraska, comprising the counties of Richardson, Nemaha, Pawnee, Johnson, Gage and Jefferson. The judicial business of this large district was then transacted by two judges, Hon. John B. Raper, of Pawnee City, who had served two years by appointment, and is still in the service as a judge of the First judicial district, having been elected at the time Judge Pemberton's election occurred. But before the next election of judges was had for the district, it was divided by the legislature and District Eighteen created, consisting of Gage and Jefferson counties. At the general election of 1911 Judge Pemberton was elected judge of the Eighteenth judicial district, and he was re-elected in 1916. His present term will expire January 6, 1921. He has served more than ten years as a judge of this district court, a court which has both appellate and general original jurisdiction. Judge Pemberton is known far and wide as a careful and able trial judge. He commands not only the respect of the lawyers of his district, but is also universally esteemed by all who know him. The judicial ermine was never worn more worthily or its sanctity more carefully guarded.

On the 30th day of April, 1879, at Spencer, Iowa, Judge Pemberton married Miss Ida M. Harris, a lady of amiable disposition and many accomplishments. Her mental faculties were of a high order and she was not afraid to exercise her judgment and follow its conclusions. In all the relations of life, and particularly as wife and mother, she was unusually capable. She was much esteemed in the community and was endowed with the graces that only a genuine, wholesome and lovely character can confer. On the 6th day of September, 1903, after an illness of some duration, she passed away, leaving her husband and children to mourn their irreparable loss.

To this marriage there were bom five children, three daughters and two sons. The daughters are Zula L. Pemberton, for several years a successful teacher in the Beatrice schools and now a highly respected teacher in the public schools of Seattle, Washington;

Pauline, wife of Wylie B. Mayer; and Louise, wife of Ivce W. Johnson, both of Beatrice. Mr. Mayer is a successful business man and Mr. Johnson for several years has been the official reporter for the Eighteenth judicial district of Nebraska ; since the entry of the United States into the great world war he has acted also as head clerk of the local draft board. The sons of Judge Pemberton are Frederick K. Pemberton, a young business man of Beatrice, and Guilford Pemberton, a cadet in the signal corps of the aviation service now preparing for service in France, at Ellington Field, Texas.

Politically Judge Pemberton has always affiliated with the Republican party, and to the honors bestowed upon him by this great national organization he has faithfully endeavored to respond by honoring it in the character of his public services as a representative of his party.

While not directly connected with any religious organization. Judge Pemberton is by nature a religious man. He accepts without reservation the general teachings of Christianity as lived and taught by its great founder, Jesus of Nazareth.

Having gained and, through long years of association, held the esteem of an entire community ; having so discharged the duties of an advocate and a lawyer as to dignify and ennoble the great and learned profession ; having through long years so administered justice as judge of an important court as to command the respect of both the bench and bar of a great state, Judge Eeander M. Pemberton can await without trepidation or fear the hour when it. shall be said of him "the silver cord has been loosed, the golden bowl broken, the pitcher broken at the fountain."

EDGAR ROTHROCK - The story is told that on a Dutch sailing vessel in the year 1716 there was a man who wore a reddishbrown coat and whom the passengers named "Rot-Rock." Anyhow it is an established fact that Gottlieb Rothrock, the first and possibly the only Rothrock to come to America, arrived in the year 1716 and settled in York county, Pennsylvania.

In 1746 twin sons were born to one Philip Rothrock (probably a son of Gottlieb Rothrock), who lived in Manchester township, York county, Pennsylvania. These sons, Philip named Valentine and Peter. The former remained in Pennsylvania while the latted emigrated to North Carolina and settled four miles south of Winston-Salem, where on April 19, 1785, was born to him a son whom he named Joseph.

Joseph Rothrock was a farmer and blacksmith, and spent his life in the vicinity of his birth. He died in 1868 and was buried in the cemetery beside the Freiburg Moravian church, seven miles south of Winston-Salem, of which church he was a devout member. Joseph was twice married - first to Magdalena Knaup, who bore to him six children, and after whose death he married Sarah Spach, six children being born of this second union. For this sketch our interest centers in Martin, who was born April 24, 1814, the second son, by the first marriage.

Martin Rothrock left his childhood home and immigrated to the new west in 1838, settling in Edwards county, Illinois, where he followed the occupations .of his father. Among the people whom he learned to know in the vicinity of his new home was an orphan girl, Elizabeth Rothrock, who was born January 22, 1822, and who lived with a family of another name. Their acquaintance ripened into love and they were united in holy matrimony June 22, 1842. To this union were born five sons and three daughters. The second child, Eli Sanford, was born August 5, 1849.

Eli S. Rothrock grew to manhood in the vicinity of his birth and on August 4, 1870, he married Susannah Forney. To this union were born ten children, the seventh of whom is the subject of this sketch. Eli S. Rothrock and his good wife left their childhood home early in 1876, with three horses and a covered wagon, and drove to Pawnee county, Nebraska, where they lived until the spring of 1878, when they removed to what is now Carlisle, Fillmore county, Nebraska. By ocsupation he was a farmer, but he also served

The Forneys came to America from Switzerland and settled in Pennsylvania in colonial days. John Forney, Salisbury, Somerset county, Pennsylvania was born November 15, 1777. He married Susannah Buechley, and to them, were born nine sons and three daughters. By trade John Forney was a carpenter and cooper, and from the year 1830 he served the Berlin congregation of what is now the Church of the Brethren (Dunkard) as minister. He died August 31, 1846, and his wife departed this life July 27, 1862, at the age of seventy-five years.

Michael Forney, son of John and Susannah Forney, was born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, January 14, 1811. February 16, 1834 he married Rachel Horner, who was a daughter of John Horner. To this union ten children were born. The seventh was Susannah, who married Eli Sanford Rothrock. The Forneys were Dunkards, and many of them preachers. Michael and two of his brothers, two of his sons, and several grandsons were ministers. The Rothrocks were Moravians. Elizabeth Rothrock changed her church relationship and united with the Church of the Brethren when she was in middle life.

Edgar Eli Rothrock grew up on his father's homstead at Carlisle, Nebraska. Having completed their studies in the country school he and his brothers and youngest sister drove to Davenport, Nebraska, and finished in the high school. Then Edgar attended Mount Morris College, Mount Morris, Illinois, nearly two years, and finished the I^atin-Scientific course. The following year was spent in the school of agriculture at Lincoln, Nebraska. February 14, 1907, he and Bertha Evora Sweitzer were united in marriage, at the bride's home, near Waterloo, Iowa. Mrs. Edgar Rothrock, daughter of Amos D. and Harriet (Engle) Sweitzer was born September 11, 1886, being the seventh in a family of eight children. Both her parents were born and reared in Pennsylvania, as were their parents before them, being of the sturdy Pennsylvania-German pioneer stock of that great commonwealth. After their marriage Edgar and Bertha Rothrock, settled on a farm near Carlisle, Nebraska. The Bethel congregation of the Church of the Brethren elected him to the ministry in November, 1907. At once he entered upon his duties and preached his first sermon the first Sunday of January, 1908. The following winters were spent in study at home, in McPherson College, Kansas, and Bethany Bible School, Chicago, Illinois. March 1, 1910, the Bethel church invited him to accept the pastorate, which he did, and he served his home congregation in a very acceptable manner for seven and one-half years. He resigned this position to accept a similar one in the South Beatrice church, near Holmesville, Gage county, Nebraska, in September, 1917. In this new field he is active not only in the things pertaining directly to the church but also in those for the general development of the community life. He helped to plan the campaign which resulted in the forming of the consolidated school at Holmesville. He knows and loves country people and he believes in the future of the rural community.

Into this home six children have been born, all of whom are living. They are: Kathryn Bernita, born February 6, 1908; Aileen May, born May 1, 1909; Kevin Monroe, born December 23, 1910; Ruth Elizabeth, born December 1, 1912; Samuel Amos, born March

JAMES W. MARPLES, the subject of this sketch, was born in Faribault county, Minnesota, May 19, 1864. He is the son of Charles Marples and Hannah Jane (Isley) Marples. In 1868 his parents migrated from Minnesota to the then new state of Nebraska, and located in Saline county, on a farm near the present city of Wilber. His father served four years as county clerk of that county during its early history, the county seat at that time being Swan City, located on Swan creek, a short distance southwest of DeWitt. It was afterwards moved to Pleasant Hill, and when Wilber was laid out, in 1872, it became, and still is, the county seat of Saline county.

In 1875 Mr. Marples' parents moved to Gage county and located on a farm southeast of Blue Springs, where the head of the family died within the following winter. In 1877 the mother married N. Norris, an early settler in Saline county, and they still live on the old Marples homestead, three miles east of Wymore.

Mr. Marples obtained a good, usable education in the country schools of Island Grove township. Gage county, and looks back with much satisfaction to those happy days of his early life, - days when the old-fashioned spelling school and the A, B, C method of instruction had not gone entirely out of style, and the Three R's still constituted the principal source of learning in the common schools. Having completed an eighth-grade course in the district school, he spent some time in Campbell University, at Holton, Kansas, entering that institution in 1884.

In 1875, when Mr. Marples first came to Gage county, there was still much unbroken prairie throughout the county, where wild game common to prairie solitudes could be found - the quail, prairie chicken, and now and then a deer. A few miles south of his father's farm lay the Otoe Indian reservation, an unbroken stretch of prairie reaching from three miles in Jefferson county to within two miles of the east line of Gage county, and extending ten miles south, two of which were in Marshall and Washington counties, Kansas. By a short ride or drive from Mr. Marples' boyhood home, a person could be in the midst of primeval conditions, - overhead the blue sky like a great hollow dome ; on every hand the wide, rolling prairie, stretching to the far horizon; a landscape unbroken by a single sign of civilized life, and a silence which had brooded over Nebraska from the dawn of time. Mr. Marples' boyhood and youth were not infrequently enlivened by the presence of

Mr. Marples has until recently led the life of a farmer. In 1909 he was elected a member of the Gage county board of supervisors, from the Fifth supervisors' district, which includes Rockford, Blue Springs, Sherman, Island Grove and Liberty townships. By successive re-elections he held this office until January, 1918, when he resigned to accept the position of deputy county clerk of Gage county. During his connection with county affairs, the entire indebtedness of Gage county has been liquidated, leaving the county for the first time since 1870 entirely free of debt. To Mr. Marples much of the credit is due for this very satisfactory state of affairs.

MARION TAYLOR CUMMINGS was born in Van Buren county, Iowa, June 21, 1862. He is a son of A. M. Cummings and Frances B. Cummings. When he was one year old his parents moved from Iowa to the state of Kansas and located near Gardner. He obtained the rudiments of an education in the common schools of that state and, having prepared for university work, he, in 1883, went to the State University at Lawrence, Kansas, quitting in his junior year. For one year he was engaged in a clerical position at Lawrence.

While attending the University of Kansas he made the acquaintance of Miss Marianna Griffin, a native of that state, born June 23, 1869. In the delightful intimacy of college life was formed between these two students a friendship which led to romantic love, and on the 1st day of May, 1888, at Lawrence, Kansas, they became husband and wife. Both were independent thinkers, both well educated, both ambitious, and the marriage that was broken by death was an ideal one. In August, 1890, they moved from Kansas to Beatrice, Nebraska, and soon became factors in the social and business life of the community. Here on the 30th day of November, 1899, Mr. Cummings' beloved wife, Marianna,, died, and she was laid to rest in Evergreen Home cemetery. The children of this marriage were Luella, Edith Eleanor and Gale Taylor Cummings.

On the 5th day of January, 1901 Mr. Cummings married Almida Marie Longtin, of Beatrice, a good and noble woman, and from this marriage have sprung Marianna Marie, Francis Marion and Emerie Sextus Cummings. These children are all living. Mr. Cummings' eldest child, Luella, is serving the government at Washington as clerk in the geological survey; Edith Eleanor is fellowship assistant in astronomy at Lick Observatory, Mount Hamilton, California, while Gale Taylor Cummings is in the marine service of his country, at present stationed at Mare Island, California. The children of the second marriage are at home, the eldest, Marianna, having just graduated from the Lincoln high school.

Mr. Cummings, with his family, came to Beatrice from Lawrence, Kansas, in August, 1890. His first act was to buy a cup of water, for five cents, on the old Chautauqua grounds, on the day when the Rev. Thomas DeWitt Talmage preached to the multitude. His first meal in . Gage county was eaten on the open prairie, east of the tile works, near where the Country Club now has golf links.

His prairie schooner stopped at 722 South Sixth Street, and he unloaded his wife and baby and took root there. His assets were a blind horse and eight hundred and sixtyfour dollars in cash; his bills payable were one thousand dollars, for which his mother was security. But Mr. Cummings was young, ardent, and active. He worked hard, and prospered. After a year in the coal business, he put up an ice crop, and from this he paid his debts and bought a home for his family. This venture also started his father-in-law in the ice business, from which he grew wealthy. To his coal and ice business Mr. Cummings then added a grain business, and "went over the top." He was the first man in Nebraska to handle a wet harvest by use of a drying kiln. The venture paid, and out of it he coined the aphorism, "The Lord loves the valorous." This has been his motto ever

In 1903 there came a tremendous flood and the Big Blue river attained proportions which had previously been unknown, even to the oldest inhabitant of the state. Most of Mr. Cummings' property, cribbed corn, cattle, and milling interest, was swept in a red streak on the wrong side of the ledger. His operations had been extensive and varied, and he found himself indebted to the various banks in a total sum of seventy-one thousand dollars. After selling off every kind of merchantable stock, he was still behind the game in the amount of twfenty thousand dollars. With undaunted courage, he smiled a little more af< fably, buckled down a little harder and paid -out the second year after the flood.

He had acquired a tract of one block with -double trackage on Sixth street, opposite the Dempster mill manufacturing plant, and -shortly after the great flood, he erected on this property a fine elevator, having a capacity eighty thousand bushels. In 1906 he entered into copartniership with Robert Pease in the coal and grain business, but the university attracted him to lyincoln, and he, in 1908, sold "his Beatrice business to his partner, moved to Lincoln, purchased an elevator there in 1910, and the following year moved his family to the capital city, where they are now settled in an elegant home on the corner of Twenty-first and B streets. As a business proposition, Mr. "Cummings has no complaint to make of the new location. Prosperity appears to have attended every move.

Mr. Cummings' family motto has been "Not a boom - just a steady growth". It has found expression in a family of twentyseven children, the six already named, and also ten Belgian and eleven French war orphans who are now his by adoption. Those who know his humane tendencies will not be surprised to see this family doubled in the near future.

But Mr. Cummings has found time for activities. He is the inventor of a system for salvaging wet or imm&.ture grain, which he has employed in his own business with great success. He was also one of the first, probably the very first, inventors of the depth bomb, which is nearly the sole reliance for combatting the odious submarine. He also invented a pneumatic mortar for hurling these bombs at the rate of seven a minute, a distance of one thousand yards.

Germany declared unrestricted submarine warfare February 2, 1917. On February 18th Mr. Cummings was in Washington with blueprints of these inventions, and formally laid them before the board of naval ordnance. The board nominally turned him down, but actually adopted the depth charge, which, in a slightly modified form, they have been using since June, 1917. They also declined outwardly to consider the pneumatic gun, but the New York World of July 5, 1918, gives an account of a battle in which the pneumatic mortar was first employed, and with perfect results, five out of six attacking submarines being sunk by two merchantmen armed with this weapon. Doubtless more will be heard of it before the great world war closes. With the patriotic generosity characteristic of him, Mr. Cummings took out no patents on these inventions, but presented them to the ordnance department of the United States, without reservation and without price. He wishes to credit here Dean Oscar V. P. Stout, a graduate of the Beatrice high school and of the State University of Nebraska, and for many years the distinguished head of the engineering department of that university, for valuable assistance in perfecting these inventions, and Congressman Reavis and Senator Borah for their aid in getting the inventions properly lodged with the national ordnance department at Washington.

The writer of this sketch, after many years of intimate personal friendship with Mr. Cummings, can attest his value as a citizen, a friend and a man.

JOHN L. SCHIEK. - Civic and business altruism has been effectively exemplified in the career of this representative business man of the city of Beatrice, and he is now successfully established in the automobile business with headquarters in a modern and well equipped building of which he is the owner. Mr. Schiek has been a resident of Gage county for more than thirty years, has here been concerned with various lines of business enterprise and his secure place in popular confidence and esteem is assured by the fact that he served two and one-half terms as sheriff of the county, his administration having passed upon record as being one of the best given to the shrievalty of the county within the entire period of its history.

Mr. Schiek was bom at Mokena, Will county, Illinois, on the 26th of March, 1863, and is a son of John and Helena (Miller) Schiek, both natives of Germany. John Schiek was reared and educated in his native land and was one of the many sterling sons of Germany who was a revolter and came to the United States in the year 1848. From the Atlantic seaboard he made his way westward to Chicago, which was then a comparatively insignificant city, and from the future metropolis of the west he proceeded with wagon and ox team to Joliet, Illinois, finally establishing a permanent home in Will county, where he became a prosperous farmer, besides having been for a number of years engaged in the hotel business at Mokena and having also been one of the leading merchants of that village. His energy was equalled by his business versatility, and through his own well directed en-: deavors he achieved independence and definite prosperity. He was one of the pioneer operators of a threshing machine in northern Illinois, and he continued his residence in that state until his death. He was one of the honored pioneer citizens of Will county, Illinois, and was about sixty-eight years of age at the time of his demise. He was a son of Henry Schiek, and the entire family came from Germany to America in the late '40s, the parents of Mr. Schiek having been residents of Illinois during the closing years of their earnest and worthy lives. John Schiek aligned himself as a stalwart supporter of the principles of the Democratic party, was influential in public affairs of a local order and held various offices of'trust, including that of county commissioner. His venerable widow, now a resident of Joliet, Illinois, is a daughter of George Miller, who immigrated with his family from Germany and established himself as one of the pioneer farmers of Cook county, Illinois, where he passed the residue of his life. Mr. and Mrs. Schiek became the parents of nine children, of whom the subject of this review was the fourth in order of birth, and of the number seven are now living.

To the public schools of Mokena, Illinois, John L. Schiek is indebted for his early educational advantages, and as a lad he began to assist his father in connection with the latter's various business affairs. He remained in his native state until 1886, on the 26th of March of which year he arrived in Beatrice, Nebraska. Here he was for a number of years employed in the general mercantile establishment of Kline, Lang & Mosshel, and within this period he assisted in the organization of the Beatrice volunteer fire department, of which he served several years as chief. He finally established himself in the general merchandise business in the village of Filley, this county, where he continued operations in this line for three years. He then returned to Beatrice and resumed his association with the mercantile concern by which he had previously been employed; later he engaged in buying and selling horses, and in 1916 he was elected sheriff of the county, his efficient administration meeting with such approval that he was retained in this office two and one-half terms, as previously noted in this context. Since his retirement from public office Mr. Schiek has built up a most prosperous enterprise in the handUng of automobiles and the conducting of a general garage and repair shop, his establishment having a full line of automobile parts and accessories. He is the local agent for the popular Buick automobile.

Mr. Schiek is known as one of Gage county's loyal and aggresive advocates of the cause of the Republican party and he has been influential in political affairs in the county. He has served in various minor political offices of local order, and he has been prominent in connection with fire-department affairs. He was a delegate from Gage, county to the convention of the International Firemen's Association held in the city of Montreal, Canada, has served as president of the Nebraska State Firemen's Association, and at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, in the city of St. Louis, he was a member of the official board which had charge of awarding prizes to firemen. In addition to being prominent and influential in civic affairs in his home city and county Mr. Schick is actively affiliated with the local organizations of the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Travelers' Protective Association, besides which he is a popular member of the Beatrice County Club. Both he and his wife are communicants of the Protestant Episcopal church.

In 1889 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Schick to Miss Anna Grussel, who was born in the state of New York, and in conclusion of this review is given brief record concerning their children : Vivian became the wife of Berney Keach and has one child, Enid ; Julia is the wife of Frank J. Kline, of Beatrice; John is an artificer in the One Hundred and Thirty-fourth United States Infantry, of the national army forces that are preparing to take part in the great European war, and is stationed at Deming, New Mexico ; and Beatrice and Ralph remain at the parental home.

W. C. BLACK, JR. - One of the most important and effectively ordered industrial enterprises of the city of Beatrice is that conducted under the title of Black Brothers, and this enterprise involves the ownership and operation of a thoroughly modern flour mill that has a daily output capacity of three hundred barrels. The products of this mill are of the highest standard and command a substantial trade as a standard household provision throughout southeastern Nebraska. He whose name initiates this paragraph has been the active manager of the Black Brothers mill ^ince 1902 and his interposition in this capacity has inured notably to the success and expansion of the business.

Mr. Black was born at Sycamore, Dekalb county, Illinois, on the 3d of June, 1878, and is a son of William C. and Mary (Conant) Elack. William C. Black, Sr., was born in Ireland, in May, 1835, and was a child of three years at the time of the family immigration to the United States. He was reared and educated in Pennsylvania and as a young man his ability was on a parity with his ambition, with the result that he achieved distinct success and became prominently engaged eventually in the milling and lumbering business. With these lines of enterprise he was actively identified at Sycamore, Illinois, and later he moved to the city of Youngstown, Ohio. In 1879 he became associated with his brother, Cochrane S. Black, in the purchase of the flour mill at Beatrice, Nebraska, and the same has since been operated under the title of Black Brothers, the while its equipment has at all times been kept up to the best modern standard in all departments. In 1888 the firm purchased also a mill at Blue Springs, this county, and this also has continued to be operated successfully by the firm of Black Brothers. William C. Black, Sr., celebrated in May, 1917, the eighty-second anniversary of his birth, and though he did not remove to Nebraska at the time when he and his brother purchased the mill at Beatrice, his brother assuming active charge of the same, he finally established his residence in Beatrice, in 1902, and here he is now living virtually retired, a venerable citizen who commands the unqualified esteem of all who know him. He has been one of the world's productive workers and haa achieved success worthy of the name. His gracious wife was born in the state of New York, and their companionship has continued in ideal relationship for more than fifty years, both being earnest members of the Presbyterian church. Of the two children Mrs. C. M. Shafer is the elder, and is living in Kansas City, Missouri.

W. C. Black, Jr., acquired his youthful education in the public schools of Illinois and Ohio and his initial business experience was gained through association with enterprise? in which his father was a principal. He developed strong initiative and executive ability and thus was well equipped when he assumed the active management of the mill and business of Black Brothers at Beatrice, his service in this capacity, having covered a period of fifteen years, within which he has become recognized as one of the most progressive and loyal citizens and representative business men of Gage county and the fine little city which is its metropolis and judicial center. Mr. Black is a member of the directorate of the First National Bank of Beatrice, is a Republican in his political allegiance, and he and his wife are active members of the First Presbyterian church in their home city.

In the year 1901 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Black to Miss Ivy How? y, a member of a well known Gage county fs^mily that finds representation on other pages of this publication, and the three children of this union are Frances, William and Beatrice.

GEORGE H. VAN HORNE. - An able and popular public executive in the city of Beatrice is Mr. Van Home who is superintendent of mails in connectio.n with the administration of the large volume of business now conducted in the postoffice of the metropoHs and judicial center of Gage county. Aside from his assured standing as a citizen special interest attaches to the career of Mr. Van Home by reason of the fact that he is consistently to be designated as a pioneer of Gage county, within whose gracious borders he established his home nearly half a century ago, so that he has been a witness of and contributor to the vigorous process of development and advancement that has made this one of the populous, prosperous and representative integral divisions of a great commonwealth.

Mr. Van Home takes a just pride not only in claiming pioneer honors in Gage county but also in being a representative of two of the sterling pioneer families of the Wolverine state. He was born on the paternal homestead farm in Bridgewater township, Washtenaw county, Michigan, and the date of his nativity was March 30, 1854. His parents.

William H. and Elizabeth G. (Howe) Van Home, were born in the state of New York and their marriage was solemnized in Michigan, to the settlement of the southern portion of which commonwealth the old Empire state contributed a numerous quota in the pioneer days. Both the paternal and maternal grandfathers of the subject of this review were* numbered among the pioneers of southern Michigan, and the former became a large landowner and influential citizen, as a pioneer of energy and much constructive ability. The maternal grandfather of Mr. Van Home likewise became prominent in connection with civic affairs and industrial development in southern Michigan, served as a member of the state legislature in the early days and was otherwise a figure of no little prominence in the formative history of that state. William H. Van Home became a substantial farmer in Washtenaw county, Michigan, where he continued his residence until 1880, when he established his residence in Beatrice, Nebraska. Here he lived to the patriarchal age of ninety-five years, his loved and devotedi wife having entered into eternal rest in the year 1891. Of their children the subject of this sketch is the eldest ; Dwight W. is railroad station agent for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad in the village of Syracuse,. Otoe county, Nebraska; Miss Agnes H. remained with her venerable father until his death; James H. is a machinist by vocation: and resides at Council Bluffs, Iowa ; Josephine remains at the parental home, in Beatrice," and Julia, who was for fifteen years stenographer and chief clerk in the offices of the Sonderegger nurseries, at Beatrice, is now inthe service of the government in connection with war activities in the national capital, her technical and executive ability having gained' to her a responsible clerical position.

William H. Van Home died in a hospital at. Beatrice on the morning of. May 8, 1918. About a week previously he had received a fall,, in which he fractured one of his legs, the physical shock, owing to his great age, having been the virtual cause of his death. He was a stalwart supporter of the cause of the Demo- cratic party and was for many years affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he passed the various official chairs. While he resided in Michigan his religious views was in harmony with the tenets of the Presbyterian church, of which his wife was a zealous member.

In his native county George H. Van Home gained his early educational discipline in the rural schools and the public schools of the village of Manchester, where he completed the curriculum of the high school. As a boy and youth he gained practical experience in connection with the operations of the home farm and that he made good use of the educational advantages that were afforded him is demonstrated in the effective service which he gave as a member of the pedagogic profession, he having devoted about a decade to service as a successful and popular teacher in the public schools of Michigan, Iowa and Nebraska. Desirous of identifying himself with the progressive west, Mr. Van Home came to Nebraska and established his residence at Beatrice on the 21st of April, 1875, - about eight years after the admission of the state to the Union. He soon afterward purchased a farm in what is now Lincoln township, and for the ensuing ten years he was engaged in breaking his land and improving and cultivating his farm besides participating in the public and civic affairs of his township and county and serving as school director, etc. In 1885 he left the farm and removed to Beatrice, the judicial center of the county, and here he followed various occupations until September, 1888, when he was appointed to a clerical position in the local postoffice, with the administration of which he has since been consecutively identified and in which he now holds the position of superintendent of mails. Mr. Van Home adheres to the Democratic faith and takes loyal interest in all things touching the civic and material welfare of his home city, county and state. He is affiliated with the Royal Highlanders and the Modern Woodmen of America, and he and his wife hold membership in the Presbyterian church.

Shear, who was born in the state of New York, and their only child is an adopted son, Leslie G., who was taken into their home when he was nine months old, after the death of his mother, Mrs. E. E. Greer, a sister of his adoptive mother.

KILPATRICK BROTHERS. - No history of Gage county, and in fact no history of Nebraska or the west, would be complete, if it failed to take account of the Kilpatrick family and of Kilpatrick Brothers.

The family of Samuel and Rachael Kilpatrick in point of time was amongst the first families of Gage county. These pioneers came to our county from Iowa, in 1859. Leaving Benton county in June of that year, with ox teams, they crossed the Missouri river at Plattsmouth on the third day of July, and followed the course of that great river to Nebraska City. After a few days they ventured west as far as Tecumseh, where they camped for a while on the open prairie. From that insignificant western village they came to Beatrice, then a village even more insignificant, and for an entire week camped on the bottom land of the Big Blue river, at a point a little west and south of the old Court street ford. About the first of August, Samuel Kilpatrick established, by actual settlement, preemption rights to the "north half of the northwest fractional quarter and the southwest fractional quarter of the northwest fractional quarter of section thirty-one, in township four north, of range five east" in Gage county, Nebraska, - -the tract containing 102 ^^/-^^o acres. On the first day of January, 1863, at Brownville, Nebraska, he made entry of this tract of land under the new homestead law of congress which went into effect that day, his entry being the second one under the act. This quarter-section of land continued to be the home of Samuel and Rachael Kilpatrick the remainder of their lives, and it is still owned by their sons and held by them in reverent memory of their parents.

Scotch-Irish descent, and were pioneers by habit, tradition, and instinct. At a very early age in the life of their son, they moved from Ohio to Indiana, and thence to Illinois, where he grew to maturity. In the country district schools of those states he obtained a good, usable education for that day. In his late youth and early manhood he spent much of his time as a farm hand, and by industry and frugality he had acquired considerable property before settling down in life.

Rachael (Thompson) Kilpatrick also was born in Ohio, near Senecaville, Guernsey county, where she resided with her parents, David and Ruth Thompson, until she attained the age of ten years, when they moved to Adams county, Ohio, locating near Wilmington. In 1841 they moved to Will county, Illinois, and settled near Kankakee. Here on the eighteenth day of May, 1844,. she and Samuel Kilpatrick were married, at her father's home, by Dr. Jewett, a Methodist Episcopal clergyman. At the time of their marriage* the husband was twenty-six years of age and the wife eighteen. This marriage, solemnized so long ago, proved to be an ideally happy one and was broken only by the death of the husband, Samuel Kilpatrick, which occurred on the 20th day of Eebruary, 1875. His beloved wife, Rachael, survived him until the 23d day of May, 1908, when she too passed away, at the old home where so many years of her long and useful life had been spent.

Almost immediately after their marriage Samuel and Rachael Kilpatrick left Illinois and went to live in the state of Missouri, where they made their home on a farm in Jasper county from 1845 to 1857 and where six of their children were born. During the year last above named they moved to Benton county, Iowa, and thence they came, as above narrated, in 1859, to Gage county, Nebraska.

To Samuel and Rachael Kilpatrick the following children were born, namely: Sarah Elizabeth Kilpatrick, July 19, 1845; John David Kilpatrick, October 7, 1847; Henry Clay Kilpatrick, August 23, 1850; William Hamilton Kilpatrick, February 6, 1853 ; Abraham Kilpatrick, February 21, 1855 ; Robert Jackson Kilpatrick, September 11, 1856; Samuel Davenport Kilpatrick, March 21, 1859; Abraham L. Kilpatrick, August 31, 1861; Josephus M. Kilpatrick, September 7, 1867; Lottie Rebecca Kilpatrick, March 5, 1871.

Of these children, Sarah Elizabeth died August 31, 1851, aged six years, one month, twelve days ; Abraham died September 30, 1855, aged eight months. Their remains rest in a country cemetery in Jasper county, near Joplin, Missouri, and the place of their burial is marked by a stone. Abraham L. died September 18, 1863, aged two years, seventeen days. Lottie Rebecca died December 23, 1873, aged two years, nine months, seventeen days. John David Kilpatrick, the eldest son, died at his home in Beatrice, July 27, 1891, aged fortythree years, nine months, twenty days, Henry Clay Kilpatrick died at his farm home, ten miles east of Hebron, in Thayer county. May 11, 1902, aged fifty-one years, three months, twelve days. The remains of the deceased members of this pioneer family, parents and children, except those of Sarah Elizabeth and Abraham, are interred in the splendid mausoleum erected in 1912 by the surviving sons, William Hamilton, Robert Jackson, Samuel Davenport, and Josephus M. Kilpatrick, in Evergreen Home cemetery, near Beatrice.

No one who was at all acquainted with Samuel and Rachael Kilpatrick, the founders of this Gage county family, ever failed to accord to them the highest respect, not only for their kindness of heart and neighborly quali- ties, but also for their acknowledged worth of character. He was a kindly, good man, sincerely and devoutly religious, a lifelong member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Though unassuming, and unambitious of worldly fame and favor, he was a good business man, extremely useful to his community, highly honored, and exerted a wholesome influence wherever he was known. He was well informed, a genial companion, a most kind husband and father, a charitable and helpful neighbor, a true, good friend. Mrs. Rachael Kilpatrick also came of religious stock. Her father, David Thompson, was a long-time member of the United Brethren church and was a minister of the Gospel. Her early life was spent in an atmosphere of piety and religious enthusiasm, and there was probably never a conscious moment of her life when she was not dominated by the deep forces of the Christian religion. Her charities, were large. She not only gave liberally to the church of which she was a member, but also stretched a helping hand to the poor and needy. She, with Mrs. Nathan Blakely, many years ago donated to Centenary Methodist Episcopal church of Beatrice the fine pipe organ now in use there, and in many other ways she demonstrated the natural benevolence of her heart. She died the object of the love and veneration of her stalwart sons and of the affection and profound respect of a host of relatives and friends.

The firm known as Kilpatrick Brothers and the corporation described as Kilpatrick Bros. & Collins Contracting Company, originated with John David Kilpatrick, and may be said to date from his old freighting days along the Oregon Trail from Missouri river points west to the Rocky mountains. From his youth he was engaged in this adventurous business and was a well known figure amongst the traders, freighters, emigrants, gold-seekers, and overland stage drivers who thronged that great iliighway in the early history of the west. When the Union Pacific Railway was under construction across the state in 1867-68-69, he, with a string of teams, engaged for two years in this work, which he continued until connection was made between the Union Pacific and

Central Pacific Railway lines at Promontory Point, state of Utah, where he witnessed the driving of the golden spike, May 10, 1869, which signalled the completion of the first transcontinental railway line in North America. That same year he moved his grading outfit to Kansas, then to Arkansas, then to Louisiana and Texas. In each of these states ' he engaged in railroad construction work, and in the city of Galveston he was employed by the municipal corporation in building docks and grading the streets. He built, under contract, for the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad Company, the first sixty-five miles of track north from Galveston, which included a bridge across Galveston Bay, and this was the only railroad bridge at Galveston that survived the great disaster of 1900. With his associates he built the Tremont House, a six-story, brick hotel covering a fourth of a block in the city of Galveston. Such, indeed, were his activities that by the time he was thirty years of age he was one of the best known contractors and business men of the south. In 1879 he returned to Nebraska and formed the co-partnership of Kilpatrick Brothers, at that time composed of himself, and his brothers William H., Robert J., and Samuel D. Kilpatrick. As railroad contractors the firm was immediately successful. That same year it obtained a contract for the grading of the Union Pacific Railway line from Oketo, Kansas, to Beatrice, and for building the bridges and laying the track on this line from Marysville to Beatrice;

In 1882 the Union Pacific Railway Company undertook the construction of what is known as the Oregon Short Line, extending from the town of Granger, Wyoming, to Portland, Oregon, and Kilpatrick Brothers obtained a contract covering the construction of two hundred sixty-four miles of this important line of railway. The work carried the railroad line across the lava beds of southern Idaho, through the Rocky, Sierra and Coast Range mountains, and was in those days a most difficult feat of railroad construction. But under the management of John David Kilpatrick the firm's contract was performed with such care, skill and ability as to lay the foundation of the Kilpat- rick Brothers' fortunes. By 1886 the firm had graded approximately six hundred thirty-two miles of railroad lines, located in Texas, Nebraska, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Kansas, and Illinois.

In 1886 Kilpatrick Brothers associated with themselves C. W. Collins, of Brooklyn, New York, in a copartnership known as Kilpatrick Bros. & Collins. Mr. Collins was then an active young man with considerable experience as a railroad contractor and a wide acquaintance with railroad officials. This new firm was successful from the first, and a period of great activity ensued in railroad construction. In 1891, after the death of John David Kilpatrick, Kilpatrick Bros. & Collins organized a corporation known as Kilpatrick Bros. & Collins Contracting Company. These organizations and Kilpatrick Brothers, the partnership in which brothers were the only members, continued in railroad construction for sixteen years, during which time they held construction contracts covering 3,339.07 miles of railroad, for which they received $31,363,947.08. In addition to their railroad contracts they put in thirty-four miles of water pipe lines for the Union Pacific and the Colorado & Southern Railroads, for which they were paid $88,315.99; and constructed reservoirs for two privately owned irrigation and development companies, and a reservoir and tunnel for the United States government, for all which they received $326,970.56.

Amongst other activities these companies discovered and opened a great coal field in the state of Wyoming. They induced the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company to extend its line of railroad from Alliance, Nebraska, to these coal fields, a distance of one hundred sixty-five miles, and in December, 1889, was loaded the first coal train at their mines. This industry resulted in the founding of the towns of Newcastle and Cambria, Wyoming. In 1910 the coal mines, with their equipment, were sold by Kilpatrick Brothers, who, by the retirement of Mr. Collins, in 1902, had succeeded to all the rights of Kilpatrick Bros. & Collins and Kilpatrick Bros. & Collins Contracting Company. These mines are to-day in successful operation and have been the source of a tremendous output of coal.

Mention has been made of the retirement of Mr. Collins from the copartnership and the corporation in which he was associated with the Kilpatrick Brothers. This association had lasted for sixteen years, all of which had been crowded with important business. On his retirement, in 1902, his interests were purchased by his associates, and the records of these concerns were in such perfect condition that this transfer was completed within an hour, to the satisfaction of all persons concerned.

The immense labors performed by the Kilpatrick Brothers and their associates in business, offer mute but most convincing evidence of their energy and courage. As railroad contractors of integrity and ability they are known over all the west, from the Missouri river to the Pacific coast.

In addition to their railroad construction work, the Kilpatrick Brothers have for many years been engaged in the business of farming and stock-raising. Since 1917 they have devoted their attention exclusively to these interests. They own farming and grazing lands in Nebraska, Kansas, South Dakota, Idaho, Oregon, and Texas. At present they are farming over six thousand acres of land, and the remainder of their extensive holdings is used for grazing purposes. William, Robert, and Davenport own beautiful homes in the city of Beatrice. The youngest brother, Josephus M., lives on the old family homestead, in a beautiful modern mansion. In addition to their homes in this city, they have for many years owned the old stone building at the corner of Fifth and Court streets, erected in the early 70s by Blakely, Reynolds & Townsend, pioneer merchants of Beatrice, and to this they have built an extensive brick addition on the rear, to the alley. They own also a splendid office building at the corner of Fifth and Ella streets, which, besides furnishing them with commodious offices, is occupied by the Elks Club and the Beatrice Commercial Club, and is one of the most used and necessary buildings in the city. Outside of the Beatrice

In 1877, John David Kilpatrick married Miss Jennie Kane, at Galveston, Texas. Two children were born of this marriage, John David and Ray M. Kilpatrick. The son died in New York, many years ago. The daughter became the wife of John P. Cook and now resides with her husband in New York city.

Henry Clay Kilpatrick, on March 14, 1875, married Miss Charlotte Wands, and moved at once to the Thayer county farm, where he resided until his death. May 11, 1902. Twelve children were the fruit of this marriage. Ten, with their mother, still survive.

William Hamilton Kilpatrick, on the 4th day of June, 1890, at Roseville, Illinois, led to the marriage altar Miss Margaret E. Nisley. They are the parents of a son, William H. Kilpatrick, Jr., and a daughter, Rachael E., now the wife of Leonard Purdy, a promising young business man of Beatrice. The son is serving his country in France as a sergeant in the quartermasters department of the expeditionary army of the United States.

Robert Jackson Kilpatrick, on the 28th day of December, 1881, at Beatrice, married Marian D. Jones, who for several years had been a teacher in the city schools of Beatrice. They are the parents of two daughters, Adelaide D., now the wife of Irving C. Hancock, of Chicago, Illinois, and Katherine R., the wife of C. L. 'Sherwood, an employe of the Beatrice National Bank.

Samuel Davenport Kilpatrick, on the 28th day of September, 1898, at Beatrice, married Miss Mary Bradt, a member of a pioneer family of Gage county.

Josephus M. Kilpatrick, on the 20th day of September, 1892, at Brownville, Nebraska, married Miss Augusta Meitz. To them have been born a daughter, Augusta, wife of Clarence W. Graff, and two sons, John J. and Clarence Kilpatrick, both now in the service of their country, - John as a first-class truck driver. Company D, Eighth Train, while Clarence is in the United States navy. Fourth Division, on board the ship North Carolina.

familiar with their history that Kilpatrick Brothers have made for themselves a large place in the world of work as well as in the world of finance. No other family or organization of Gage county, or perhaps in the state of Nebraska, has a more enviable record of usefulness and of things achieved. They have performed vast labors and acquired large possessions by methods. which will bear the closest scrutiny. Beginning with the career of the oldest brother, the generous and courtly John D. Kilpatrick, and continuing through the long years, they have maintained a high standard of integrity and efficiency. Their phenomenal success has been due in part to careful, systematic business methods; in part to a keen, discriminating knowledge of men ; but more than all else, perhaps, to an unbounded loyalty and confidence in each other, enabling them to act, in the gravest affairs of life, as one man. This brotherhood has never palled or weakened; it is not subject to fluctuation or change. Singly any one of its members might have carved out for himself a conspicuous place in the world; collectively they have proved invincible.

JOSEPH H. RAMSEY. - There is no dearth of interesting data in the personal and ancestral record of this sterling pioneer citizen, who has been a resident of Gage county for nearly forty years and who, after having been long and successfully identified with productive agricultural and live-stock industry in Filley township, is now living retired in his attractive home at 1220 Elk street in the city of Beatrice. Enduring distinction must ever attach to the name of Mr. Ramsey for the gallant service which he gave as a youthful soldier of the Union in the Civil war, for few lived up more fully to the tension of that great conflict, or endured a greater quota of hardships and perils. Again, few have had more varied and intimate experience in connection with pioneer life, for he was but a child at the time when his parents became pioneer settlers in Iowa, about the time of the admission of that state to the Union, so that he was literally reared under the conditions and influences of the frontier. Adverting to the genealogy of Mr. Ramsey, it may be said that he is a scion of famihes that were founded in Virginia in the colonial period of our national history, his mother having been a member of one of the patrician and influential families of the Old Dominion and her father having offered her as her marriage dowery either a certain number of slaves or a stipulated sum of money. Though she had been reared under the influences of the institution of slavery she was averse to the same as a young woman, long before the historic abolition movement culminated in the Civil war. Thus it was but natural that her son Joseph should prove in no uncertain way his loyalty to the Union when was precipitated the war between the states of the north and the south.

Joseph H. Ramsey was born in Washington county, Missouri, on the 31st of January, 1843, and is a son of Joseph and Jane (Berry) Ramsey, both natives of Washington county, Virginia, where they were reared to adult age, their marriage having been solemnized at Abingdon, that county. Within a short time after their marriage the parents of Mr. Ramsey established their residence in Washington county, Missouri, but in the late '40s they removed to Iowa and became early settlers of Appanoose county, where the father obtained government land and developed a productive farm, besides which it is supposed that he there found more or less demand for his services as a skilled millwright. He was one of the substantial and popular citizens of Appanoose county and there he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives, her death occurring in 1868 and he having passed away in 1878. They became the parents of three sons and seven daughters, the subject of this sketch being the youngest of the number, and of the others one daughter is living in 1918.

Joseph H. Ramsey was a child of two years at the time of the family removal to Iowa Territory, and there he was reared under the influences of the pioneer farm, the while he made good use of the advantages of the common schools of the locality. He was eighteen years old at the inception of the Civil war and promptly manifested his youthful patriotism by enlisting, on the 30th of August, 1861, as a member of Company I, Third Iowa Cavalry. He was stationed with his command at Benton Barracks, Missouri, until the following January, and his first active field service was in the southwestern part of that state, where his command came in spirited contact, at Pea Ridge, with Indians who were under Confederate influence and direction. Within a short time thereafter his regiment joined the forces under General Curtis and became involved in almost constant skirmishing while proceeding down the White river to its mouth. Thereafter the Third Iowa Cavalry took part in the first attack on Vicksburg and the battle at Jackson, Mississippi, whence they continued to Canton and then marched thirteen consecutive days and nights, with Memphis, Tennessee, as the objective point. In the fall of 1862 Mr. Ramsey was with the force that repelled the Confederate forces and cut them off from Holly Springs, at the time when General Grant was pressing against the enemy at Helena, Arkansas, in the same campaign, and in this connection he rode on his horse a distance of seventy-five miles in a single night. He was present during the entire siege of Vicksburg and thereafter took part in important conflicts with the enemy at Memphis and Little Rock. Near the latter place he thereafter was assigned with his regiment to the guarding of army suppHes and outposts extending for a distance of twenty-five miles, until the spring of 1864, when he and his comrades of Company I received a furlough of thirty days. Within this period, and at the time of his visit to his home in Iowa, Mr. Ramsey further fortified himself for responsibility, as, on the 4th of March, 1864, he wedded Miss Sarah J. Evans, a daughter of Jesse and Mary (Ferguson) Evans, who were natives of Pennsylvania and who settled in Appanoose county, Iowa, in 1858, the death of the loved wife and mother having occurred the same year and the father having passed the closing period of his life in Ham- ilton county, Nebraska. Though his term of enlistment had expired, Mr. Ramsey and a number of his comrades from Appanoose county promptly re-enlisted ris veterans, and ten days after his marriage he set forth to rejoin his regiment, which was then encamped at Memphis, Tennessee. On the 1st of the following June the command received marching orders and after arriving at Ripley, Mississippi, Mr. Ramsey's company, with one other, was sent forth to collect forage for the horses, and in pursuance of this duty they encountered a Confederate battery. This precipitated activities on the part of the general command, which took up the line of march about noon on the 10th of June. In the meanwhile General Forrest had brought his Confederate forces into a desperate battle at Brice's Crossroads, Mississippi, where he had gained a decisive victory. While with his company engaged in protecting supplies on retreat Mr. Ramsey and his comrades were captured by the enemy, and incidental to this experience the following interesting record has been given: "While surrounded by the enemy Mr. Ramsey and his comrades made a dash for liberty, putting spurs to their horses and breaking for the woods. Being unable to cross the streams with their horses, they turned the animals loose and, after throwing away their heavy carbines, they traveled four nights, secreting themselves and resting during the days. When near White Station, Tennessee, Mr. Ramsey, with twenty-four of his comrades, was captured by the enemy, and he was then taken to Andersonville, where he remained incarcerated in the historic and odious Andersonville Prison until the fall of Adanta. Here he endured all the horrors and sufferings which gave to that Confederate prison its infamous place in history, and after the capture of Atlanta he was transferred with other prisoners of war to Florence, in the northern part of South Carolina, where he encountered hardships no less strenuous than those of Andersonville. On the 31st of January, 1865, the twenty-second anniversary of his birth, Mr. Ramsey was delirious from the suffering of hunger and thirst, and he continued in this deplorable state for fifteen days, at the expiration of which he, with others, was taken to Goldsboro, North Carolina, where he was kept under guard until February 26th, when he and his equally unfortunate comrades were released, through exchange. Such was his physical emaciation and debility that he was carried by one of his comrades to the hospital at Wilmington, South Carolina, and he still had strength to realize the bliss of freedom, feeling that he had escaped, as it were, from the inferno to paradise."

After sufficiently recuperating his wasted energies to make this possible, Mr. Ramsey proceeded to Annapolis, Mar3'1and. Later he was located at St. Louis for thirty days and he was at Atlanta, Georgia, at the time when he received his honorable discharge, on the 22d of August, 1865. He then returned to his home and his young bride, in Appanoose county, Iowa. There he finally rented land and engaged in farm enterprise, but about two years later he removed to Taylor county, that state, where he continued his zealous activities as an agriculturist for the ensuing twelve years. In March, 1880, after having disposed of his property in Iowa, Mr. Ramsey came to Gage county, Nebraska, where, in the following June, he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in Section 34, Filley township. He and his family used their wagon as an abiding place until he could erect on his wild prairie farm a temp>orary house, the same having been a mere shahty, twelve by twenty feet in dimensions. In the following autumn he erected a good frame house on the place, and he then turned his attention vigorously to reclaiming and developing his land, which he eventually transformed into one of the valuable and well improved farms of this section of the state. He became a most progressive and successful exponent of agricultural and live-stock industry and with increasing prosperity he showed his excellent judgment by adding materially to the area of his landed estate. He purchased an entire half section of land - one hundred and sixty acres in Holt township and the adjoining tract of equal area in Midland township. He thus found ample scope for the concrete expression of his vital energy and progressiveness, and he developed his large property into one of the best of the landed estates of Gage county. In his activities Mr. Ramsey proved a veritable incarnation of energy and progressiveness, and not until about 1905 did he consent to leave the farm and abate his strenuous labors. At that time he removed to Beatrice, but soon the life of inactivity palled upon him and he returned to the farm. There he applied himself with characteristic vigor until 1912, when he came to a realization that both consistency and expediency justified his retirement from the responsibilities and labors that had long been his portion, and at this juncture he was fortunate in being able to purchase a handsome and recently erected house of modern design and facilities - his present attractive residence in the city of Beatrice, where his wife proves a most gracious and popular chatelaine of a home that is at all times ready to extend hospitable welcome to their host of friends. Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in 1914 and the occasion was made one notable in the social annals of Gage county. In the summer of 1917 they made a most pleasing visit to the old home in Appanoose county, Iowa, where Mr. Ramsey attended a reunion of his old comrades of the Civil war and renewed the more gracious memories and associations of his military career as a youthful soldier of the Civil war. He further vitalizes these associations through his affiliation with Rawlins Post, No. 36, Grand Army of the Republic, at Beatrice. He holds membership also in the Masonic fraternity and he and his wife have been for many years active members of the Methodist Episcopal church. In 1903 Mr. Ramsey was a member of the Nebraska legislature, and in this connection it is specially worthy of note that he introduced and ably championed what was known as the farmers' elevator bill, a most valuable measure that came to successful enactment.

Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey became the parents of eight children, two of whom died, in early childhood, while the family home was maintained in Taylor county, Iowa, besides which Charles, a lad of fourteen years, was killed by lightning, in 1883, about two years after the family removal to Gage county. Frank K. is now a resident of Riverside, California; Minnie is the wife of B. P. Wood, a successful farmer of Holt township ; Merrill is a resident of Petersburg, Texas; and Ralph and Roy maintain their home in the city of Beatrice. Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey enjoy the best of health and find the gracious twilight of their long and devoted companionship to be compassed by most cheering environment and the filial solicitude of their sons and daughters, the company of friends who are tried and true, the while they count themselves favored indeed in that they have seventeen grandchildren.

ANDREW J. JAMISON. - One of the representative farmers of Elm township who has by strict attendance to his farming interests become one of the progressive citizens of Gage county is Andrew J. Jamison, whose life review follows.

Andrew Jackson Jamison was bom May 23, 1867, in Greene county, Indiana, the county which saw the birth of his parents, Isaac and Caroline (Burcham) Jamison; the former was born in 1842 and died in 1882; the latter was born in 1848 and in her natal state she married Isaac Jamison, to which marriage seven children were bom. The eldest is Andrew Jackson, the subject of this review ; Jane is the widow of W. Heaton ; Isaac is a farmer of Elm township; Roxy Ann is the wife of A. Bland, living at Terre Haute, Indiana; John is farming in Elm township ; the address of Seymour is unknown ; William is living at Bicknell, Indiana. Mrs. Isaac Jamison, after her husband's death, married John Turley and by this marriage two children were born, George, of Lincoln, Nebraska, and Otis, of Bicknell, Indiana. John Turley was a native of Indiana and is now deceased. Mrs. Jamison-Turley makes her home in Einton, Indiana.

state and in the early part of the nineteenth century moved to the wooded lands of Indiana, where he became a very well-to-do man. He was active in the logging business and the clearing of the forests for the tilling of the rich soil which gave of its treasures of wheat and corn. In 1884 Jackson Jamison came to Gage county and until 1894 he was here engaged in farming. He then removed to Oklahoma, where his death occurred.

Andrew Jackson Jamison, with whom this review deals, received his education in the district schools of Greene county, Indiana, and in the meantime was helping with the farming operations of the old homestead. In the '80s he came to Jefferson county, Nebraska, where for a number of years he rented land and worked as a farm hand. In 1885 he came to Gage county, where he rented land until he was able, in 1907, to purchase the land which is his home, in Section 10, Elm township. He has added eighty acres to the original and also one hundred and sixty acres, in Section 9, which was received by his wife as her share of her father's estate. Mr. Jamison is now employed in the tilling of two hundred and forty acres of land and is also raising Duroc-Jersey hogs and Red Polled cattle.

On October 18, 1893, was solemnized the marriage of Andrew J. Jamison and Miss Dora L. Hood (for the family history see John C. Hood sketch in this volume). To this marriage have been born six children : Ethel, the wife of Archie Carpenter, of Harbine, Nebraska; Gertrude, attending the high school at Beatrice; and Austin, Frances, Ina, and Grace, who are under the parental roof. Mrs. Jamison was born in Mason county, Illinois, in 1872, and came to Gage county in 1884.

Mr. Jamison allies himself with the Democratic party, although he has sought no political honors. He is now serving on the school board of district No. 132. Coming to the state of Nebraska in his early manhood, Mr. Jamison has labored for all that he owns, realizes the worth of all that he has acquired.

EDWARD W. DOLE is president of the Dole Floral Company, of Beatrice, this being an important corporation that has developea to large volume the floriculture enterprise established in a modest way by the mother of Mr. Dole, full data concerning the company and its honored founder being given on other pages of this work. Mr. Dole resides on his model little farm of thirty-six acres, which lies within the city limits of Beatrice, at the south, and he is one of the progressive and representative business men of Gage county and its fine capital city.

The lineage of the Dole family traces back to sterling English origin and the American progenitor of the branch represented by the Doles of Nebraska was Richard Dole, who was born in Bristol, England, in 1624. The founders of the family in England came from the ancient province of Brittany, France. It is to be presumed that Richard Dole accompanied his parents to the new world in the autumn of 1639, though records extant give no specific information in this respect. Richard Dole was thrice married and of his ten childen Joseph, born August 5, 1657, was next in line of direct genealogical line to him whose name introduces this review. Richard Dole settled at Amboy, Massachusetts, and he was eighty-one years of age at the time of his death. In a circumscribed article of this order there is no possibility of entering into details concerning the genealogical history ot the Dole family, but it may consistently be said that in each successive generation the family has given to the nation men and women of worthy character and worthy achievement, while representatives of the name have been prominent not only in New England, that gracious cradle of much of our national history, but also in divers other states of the Union.

Edward W. Dole was bom in Seward county, Nebraska, February 15, 1870, and is a son of Josiah G. and Sophia (Hooker) Dole, adequate review of whose lives is given on other pages. At this juncture, however, it may be stated that Josiah G. Dole, who was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, December 25, 1825, joined the military police, or home guard, at the outbreak of the Civil war, was made first lieutenant and continued in active service until the close of the war. He came to Nebraska in 1867, the year that marked the admission of the state to the Union, and he settled ih Seward county. In 1868-1869 he was there engaged in the manufacturing of brick, and some of the brick was used in the construction of the first brick chimneys in the city of Lincoln. In 1869 Mr. Dole wedded Miss Sophia Hooker, and they became the parents of five children, of whom the subject of this review is the eldest; Walter is now a resident of Bainbridge, Georgia; Anna is the wife of George M. Johnston, individually mentioned elsewhere in this volume; Ella S. is the wife of Frederick Van.Boskirk, likewise specifically represented in this publication ; and Elbert J. is a leading photographist in the city of Lincoln, this state.

Edward W. Dole was reared and educated in Seward county and in his youth gained familiarity with the conditions and influences of the pioneer era in the history of southeastern Nebraska. His father was associated with brick manufacturing about two years and then obtained a homestead in Seward county and turned his attention to farm enterprise. Eventually, after having developed a productive farm, he came to Gage county, and he passed the closing years of his life in the city of Beatrice, where his death occurred April 19, 1903. His wife was born in the state of New York, October 6, 1836, a daughter of Philip J. and Mary Ann (Derbyshire) Hooker, who came to Nebraska Territory in 1866 and established their residence in Seward county, as sterling pioneers, the father, two of the sons and two of the daughters, including Mrs. Dole, having each taken up a homestead claim in that county. Mr. Hooker died many years ago, when well advanced in years, and his widow was ninety-two years of age at the time of her death, in January, 1906. The early educational advantages of Edward W. Dole included a year of study in the Beatrice high school, and thereafter he was for a time identified with the newspaper business - with the Beatrice Daily Express. In 1891 he and his brother Walter A. became associated with their mother in establishing a small greenhouse in Beatrice and initiating the enterprise that has since been developed into the extensive ' and well ordered business now conducted under the title of the Dole Floral Company, of which Edward W. Dole has been president from the time of its incorporation. Mr. Dole has been vital and progressive as a business man and loyal and public-spirited as a citizen, though he has never sought or held public office of any description. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party and he and his wife are active members of the Christian church in Beatrice, April 26, 1890, recorded the marriage of Mr. Dole to Miss Ellen E. McCrea, daughter of Edgar and Julia (Dearsdorf ) McCrea, who were early settlers in Seward county, Mr. McCrea having died at Milford, that county, November 23, 1917, and his widow being still a resident of that village. Mrs. Dole has two brothers and three sisters : John W. and Thomas W. are residents of Beatrice; Lydia E. is the wife of Christopher M. Miller, of this city; Florence D. is the wife of Jesse W. Dubbins, of Beatrice; arid Fannie B. is the wife of S. D. Newman, of Milford, Seward county. Mr. and Mrs. Dole have an adopted daughter, Gladys Thelma, who is a member of their gracious home circle. ^

JAMES F. BOGGS, postmaster of the village of Filley, has been a resident of Gage county since he was a lad of fifteen years and is a son of that honored pioneer, Hon. Lewis B. Boggs, M. D., to whom a merited tribute is paid on other pages of this work, so that further reference to the family record is not demanded in the present connection. Mr. Boggs was born at North Manchester, Indiana, January 7, 1856, and he acquired his early education in the schools of Indiana and Gage county, Nebraska, to which latter state he came with his parents in the year 1871. In this county he became closely and effectively associated with his father in farm enterprise and in 1888 he assumed a position as clerk in a hardware establishment in the village of Filley. Later he here became associated with his brother, Dr. Charles S. Boggs, in the ownership of a well equipped drug store, and this alliance has since continued, the firm having recently erected a new building for the store and having an establishment of attractive order and the best of facilities and service.

Mr. Boggs identified himself with the Progressive party at the time of its organization and has been influential in its local councils in Gage county. He has held various municipal offices in the village of Filley and is now serving his second term as postmaster, his original appointment to this office having been made in 1911. He is one of the loyal and progressive citizens of his home village and county and his circle of friends is coincident with that of his acquaintances. He is affiUiated with the Masonic fraternity and he and his wife are active members of the Christian church at Filley.

The year 1882 recorded the marriage of Mr. Boggs to Miss Laura E. Faulder, daughter of the late David S. Faulder, tO' whom a memoir is dedicated on other pages of this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Boggs have two children : Ethel L. is the wife of Glenn W. Hildreth, who is (1918) superintendent of the public schools at Roseland, Adams county, Mrs. Hildreth being principal of the schools and both being teachers of distinctive talent and popularity; Edgar D. Boggs, who was bom October 29, 1893, is a skilled machinist and is employed in the shops of the Burlington Railroad lines at Plattsmouth, Nebraska; the maiden name of his wife having been Ruby McPherson.

FIDILLO HUNTER DOBBS - The family from which Fidillo Hunter Dobbs was derived, as far as its history is known, begins with Sir Richards Dobbs, a Yorkshireman, who during the reign of Edward VI was Lord Mayor of London, and, according to Froude, a pillar of state. For his services to the young king he was knighted. In 1596 his nephew, John Dobbs, accompanied Sir Henry Dockwra, Lord-Treasurer of Ireland, to that island, and served as his deputy for the Province of Ulster. In 1603 he married Margaret, only child of John Dalway, of Ballyhill, County Antrim, a lady of distinction and fortune, and through this marriage was founded the well known Dobbs family of Irish history. The ancient seat of this family is Dobbs Castle, County Antrim, Ulster Province. Its present master and the present head of the family in Ireland is Montague William Edward Dobbs, Esquire, born September 28, 1844.