Gage County, Nebraska - Chapter 31: People Who Have Done Their Part in Making Gage County, 1918 (part 21 of 29)

CHRIST SPILKER. - In virtually the center of a fine landed estate of somewhat more than five hundred acres, in Section 17, Holt township, is situated the beautiful modern farm home of Mr. Spilker, and the attractive residence combines with the group of other high-grade farm buildings to give to the place the semblance of a little village. Here Mr. Spilker is living retired from active labor since the time when he was incapacitated by a paralytic stroke, on the 21st of February, 1912, but he bears his infirmity with fortitude and equanimity, his mental faculties are unimpaired and he takes lively interest in the supervision of the general activities of his fine estate, as well in community affairs, - a man who has won success through vigorous and well ordered endeavor and who has so ordered his course as to merit and receive the high regard of his fellow men. In Gage county Mr. Spilker is the owner of a finely improved estate of eight hundred and eighty acres, - five hundred and sixty acres in Section 17, Holt township, and the remaining three hundred and twenty acres in Midland township, four miks north of the city of Beatrice.

Mr. Spilker was born in Westphalia, Ger- /nany, July 18, 1870, and is a son of Henry and Louisa (Frome) Spilker, who were honored pioneers of Gage county and concerning whom specific mention is made on other pages, in the sketch of the career of their son Ernst H.

Christ Spilker acquired his rudimentary education in the common schools and was twelve years of age at the time when the family home was established in Gage county, where he has maintained his residence during the intervening years and where his prosperity has been won entirely through his own efforts, save that his father gave to him the sum of fifteen hundred dollars as a basis for his independent activities. He was reared to adult age on the old homestead farm neai Clatonia and later the family lived not far distant from his present fine farm estate in Holt township. As a youth he attended the district schools of Gage county and he has never wavered in his allegiance to farm industry, through the medium of which he has won success of most substantial and worthy order. In 1891 Mr. Spilker purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in Holt township, and after there conducting operations a few years he sold the property to his brother Frederick. In the meanwhile he had purchased other farm property in the same township, and his good judgment has been significantly manifested in his further accumulation of Gage county land, as well as in the progressive policies he has followed in all departments of his farm enterprise. He has been influential in community affairs of public order, has served as treasurer of Holt township, is a Republican in his political proclivities, and he and his wife are communicants of the German Lutheran church. His farm in Holt township is one of the finest in this part of the county, all parts of the estate being kept in the best of order and the buildings being of most modern type, the attractive family residence, of eight rooms, having furnace heat. Mr. Spilker is one of the principal stockholders of the Farmers' State Bank at Pickrell and is serving as vice-president of the same.

On the 1st of June, 1892, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Spilker to Mrs. Mary (Tiemann) Spilker, widow of his brother Henry, who had met death as the result of injuries received when he was kicked by a mule. Mrs. Spilker's marriage to Henry Spilker occurred March 6, 1891, and his death occurred only a few months later, the only child of this union being Henry, who married Lydia Obring and who is now engaged in farming in Holt township. Mrs. Spilker was born in Germany, January 4, 1874, and was eleven years of age when she came to Gage county, in 1885, in company with one of her kinswomen. She is a daughter of William and Anna (Daubendick) Tiemann, who came to this county in 1888, and who removed, in 1907, to Kansas, in which state they have since maintained their residence. Mr. and Mrs. Spilker have a fine family of eight children, all of whom remain, in 1918, members of the ideal home circle, their names being here entered in respective order of birth: William, Herman, Ernest, John, Frederick, Charles, Louisa and Anna.

GEORGE C. BURROWS. - A brief record of the Burrows family cannot fail to be of interest to the readers of this volume, as its members have faithfully served state and nation in times of both war and peace.

George C. Burrows was born in Chautauqua county. New York, May 27, 1859. His father. Jay Burrows, likewise was a native of the Empire State, born in the little town of Mayville, at the head of Lake Chautauqua,

March 4, 1837. As a young man Jay Burrows learned the printer's trade, which he followed until the outbreak of the Civil war. Having watched the course of events, his patriotic spirit was aroused, and he enlisted in the Ninth New York Cavalry, with which he faithfully followed the stars and stripes for three years, being mustered out at the close of hostilities, as a lieutenant. In 1865 he removed with his family to Iowa, where he followed agricultural pursuits until 1880. He then became a resident of Filley township. Gage county, Nebraska. In 1879 he had purchased a relinquishment on the last homestead taken in Gage county. He was engaged in farming this tract for ten years. Mr. Burrows founded and organized the Farmers' Alliance in Nebraska, and in 1890 he moved to Lincoln and edited and published the Farmers' Alliance official paper, continuing in this connection until shortly before his death, which occurred January 16, 1900. In New York state he married Lucinda Walker, who passed away in 1894. Of their children, Charles E. died in childhood ; George C. is the subject of this review; Frank E. is a resident of Augusta, Kansas ; James B. lives at Paul, Idaho; Mary B. is the wife of L. H. Boggs, of Beatrice, Nebraska ; Lucinda B. is the wife of William Axling, of Tokio, Japan, and they have devoted their lives to missionary work ; Sara A. is the wife of J. B. Lobell, of Denver, Colorado; and Carrie died in childhood.

George C. Burrows was a young man of twenty-one years when the family home was transferred to Nebraska. His education was acquired in the common schools of Iowa and Nebraska, and he became a farmer on his father's place. On October 16, 1884, he was united in marriage to Miss Sarah J. Long, a daughter of Jacob and Catherine (Stahr) Long. Mr. and Mrs. Long came to Gage county in 1880, and bought land in Filley township. The father died August 27, 1888, and the mother passed away May 11, 1906, They were the parents of six children : Elias, was a soldier in the Civil war and died in the army hospital at Madison, Wisconsin, in 1865 ; Alvin, died in childhood; John, resides at

To Mr. and Mrs. Burrows have been born six children: Earl C. married Miss Mabel Gulp, and they reside in Adams, this county; Jessie died at the age of seventeen years ; Herbert W. died in childhood; Chase W. enlisted as a volunteer in Company F, One Hundred and Thirty-Fourth Regiment United States Army, and is now at Camp Cody, New Mexico: he was elected by a large majority to the State lyegislature and had the distinction of being the youngest member of that body during the session of 1917-1918; Leslie W. is a member of the same military company as his brother Chase ; and Miss Nina C, is still under the paternal roof.

Mrs. Burrows is a member of the Methodist church, and in politics Mr. Burrows is a Democrat. For thirty-eight years he has been a resident of Gage county, where he is well and favorably known, and where he has always taken a prominent part in supporting those things which have to do with the upbuilding of the community.

PERRY L. BOWER, market gardener and greenhouse proprietor in the city of Beatrice, was born in Jefferson county, Nebraska, September 6, 1871, and is a son of Henry T. and Mary A. (Norman) Bower.

Henry T. Bower was born in Ohio, June 3, 1844. At the age of eighteen he enlisted in an Ohio battery of light artillery, and he served ;as gunner until the close of the war, in 1865. Mr. Bower came to Nebraska in 1869, settling in Jefferson county, where he took a homestead. At that time the nearest town to this pioneer farm was Beatrice, about twenty miles distant, where he went for the family mail, often making the trip on foot. A few years later a postoffice was established at Bower, Jefferson county, and this was named for Mr. Bower. When he first located in Jefferson county he hauled lumber and provisions from Nebraska City with ox team, and it took one week to make the round trip. Mr. Bower lived on the homestead until 1899, when he retired and moved to Fairbury, Jefferson county, where he now makes his home. Mr. Bower had three brothers and three sisters. Fred and Harlow are deceased; Arthur is living in Missouri; Mary is the widow of Henry Quayle and resides in Ohio; Miss Ella Bower is a resident of Corvallis, Oregon ; and Mrs. Minnie Huff lives in Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Henry T. Bower became the parents of three children: Lavinia is deceased; Rena is the wife of W. J. Moss, an attorney at Fairbury, Nebraska ; and Perry L. is the subject of this sketch.

Perry L. Bower was educated in the country schools of Jefferson county, and as a boy and youth he worked on the farm with his father. Later he farmed for himself in that county. In 1908 he came to Beatrice and engaged in market gardening. About two years ago Mr. Bower built a beautiful home and greenhouse at 739 West Scott street, the greenhouse being one of the most complete and modern establishments of its kind to be found in the state. The building is of concrete and steel construction, heated with hot water, with about seven thousand feet under glass. Here Mr. Bower raises winter vegetables for the market, making a specialty of strawberries and early vegetables.

Mr. Bower owns twenty acres of land and has about five acres of this under irrigation, using the Skinner system of irrigation, and he has it so arranged that he can use either water pumped from his own well by gas'^engine or that obtained by direct connection with the Beatrice city water system.

On July 18, 1899, Mr. Bower was united in marriage with Miss Ethel Rutledge, daughter of Thomas J. and Delilah (Fred) Rutledge, of Jefferson county. They are the parents of four children - Albert L., Harold O., Thelma and Hugh T.

Thomas J. Rutledge, father of Mrs. Bower, died at Fairbury, Nebraska, in April, 1905, at the age of seventy-seven years. His wife passed away in November, 1907, at the age of seventy-seven years. Mr. and Mrs. Rutledge were the parents of seven children : Irving is deceased; William II. is a resident of Arlington, Kansas; Alice is the widow of William Montgomery and lives at Houston, Texas ; Mary is the wife of Aaron Cowles, of Fairbury, Nebraska; Ethel is the wife of the subject of the sketch; and Misses Ella and Belle Rutledge reside at Fairbury, this state.

JOHN R. SPEALMAN. - After one has spent many years in honest toil, to win a competence for old age and to rear sons and daughters who are willing to give of their very best in the upholding of the principles that are for the advancement of mankind, it is with pleasure that such a person looks cheerfully upon the past and confidently to the future. There is also a pleasure in knowing that all the struggling and striving has not been in vain; that our ideals, our principles, are being realized in our posterity and that they are taking up the burden where we laid it down, with a surer vision and a greater strength.

John R. Spealman and his wife are honored citizens of Wymore, where they are living a retired life, after years of active farming in Marshall county, Kansas.

John Spealman was born in La Salle county, Illinois, July 18, 1848, and is a son of Henry and Sarah Ann (Richart) Spealman, who became pioneers of Marshall county, Kansas. Henry Spealman was born in Germany, February IS, 1820, a son of John Spealman, and his wife was born in Pennsylvania, November 15, 1828. They were joined in holy wedlock June 24, 1847, in the state of Pennsylvania, where Henry Spealman had settled upon his arrival in this land of freedom. With hearts full of courage and beating with abounding pulse of youth, they started their home life in La Salle county, Illinois, where they tilled the soil and where sons and daughters were growing up around them. Later they removed to Lee county, that state, and in 1886 they moved to Marshall county, Kansas, and homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres ol land. Henry Spealman and his wife shared the privations of the pioneer Hfe, and their sons and daughters also participated in these early experiences, the while they grew strong in mind and body and were prepared to meet the new difficulties of a more advanced civilization. November 1, 1896, Henry Spealman was laid to rest, and May 7, 1898, his wife followed him to the life eternal. They were the parents of nine children, seven of whom are living: John R. is the subject of this sketch; George A. died in Illinois ; James Edwin is a farmer of Osborne county, Kansas ; Armenta F. died in August, 1879; William Henry is a farmer in Marshall county, Kansas; Rachel Mary is the wife of J. E. Daily, a retired farmer of Marysville, Kansas ; Andrew is a farmer in Colorado; Clara B. is the wife of P. T. Burk, a retired farmer of Marysville, Kansas ; Marcus F. is farming the old homestead in Marshall county, Kansas.

John R. Spealman was educated in Lee county, Illinois and in 1875 he married Miss Sarah M. Cass, who was bom in that county, in 1857, she being a daughter of Aaron Jefferson Cass and Sarah Jane (Wheeler) Cass, the former born in 1830, in Steuben county. New York, and the latter bom in 1840, in Bangor, Maine. Mr. and Mrs. Cass were early settlers of PawPaw, Lee county, Illinois, and in 1870 they homesteaded near Frankfort, Marshall county, Kansas. There they continued their farming operations until their death. Mr. Cass died August 30, 1910, and his wife died in 1890. Of their seven children six are living: Sarah is the wife of John R. Spealman, subject of this sketch; Aaron Jacob is deceased; Edwin B. is a fjimier near Casey, Iowa; John Franklin is a farmer near Frankfort, Kansas ; Miles Diton is a farmer near Onaga, Kansas ; Martha Ann is the wife of A. C. Scoville, a carpenter at Frankfort, Kansas ; and Ida May makes her home in Topeka, Kansas.

Mrs. Spealman was a young girl when her parents established the home in Kansas and that she imbibed the principles of that state is attested by the fact .that for many years she has been an ardent worker in the Women's Christian Temperance Union. For eight years she has been county president of the organization and she is also president of the local chapter. Her influence in political circles has borne fruit, as is seen by the state prohibitory amendment passed by a Nebraska legislature. She has done more for the prohibition cause in the southeastern part of Nebraska than has any other woman, and as much as any other woman in the entire state. Her time and her talents are given unstintingly for the righteous cause of making this nation free, - free from moral sins as well as physical bondage to other nations. Such a mother, with such ideals, can not help but give to the world sons and daughters who will carry the light of truth and civilization in a higher and better way. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Spealman : The firstborn is John Franklin, who was afforded the advantages of the Wymore schools and finished his education by attending the Nebraska Medical College. For eighteen years he practised medicine in Lincoln, where he was city physician for two years and city health officer for a number of years. He served his country on the border, in the Mexican trouble, and since our participation in the great European conflict he has subordinated all else to give his time and service to the nation. He is in command of Field Hospital, No. 166, sanitary train of the Forty-second Division of the Rainbow Forces of the United States in France. He was formerly in charge of the Nebraska field hospital corps of the National Guard, with the rank of major. The division of which Major Spealman is in charge has won commendatory mention from Secretary of War Baker. Major Spealman married Miss Ruth Holmes and they have two daughters, Sarah and Edith. The next child of Mr. and Mrs. John R. Spealman is Ernest Garfield, who is an attorney at Stalkton, Kansas; he was educated in the Wymore schools and the Nebraska State University, at Lincoln, in which he was graduated. Cora Belle, who died in 1915, was the wife of Andrew Alexander, of Lincoln, and she is survived by one daughter, Phj'llis Belle. Henry Jefferson Spealman has active charge of the original eighty-acre homestead of his father in Marshall county, Kansas.

In 1866 John R. Spealman came to Marshall county, Kansas, and when of sufficient age he there homesteaded eighty acres of land. He added unto his land holdings until he had acquired four hundred acres. In 1888 he retired to Wymore, where he is now making his home and where his sons and daughters have received the advantages of the excellent public schools. Mr. and Mrs. Spealman have reason to be proud of their children and also are to be commended for their efforts in the work of reform in behalf of the people of their state and nation. Both are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and are active in all of its social and missionary affairs. Fraternally they are members of the Knights & Ladies of Security, in which organization they have held all official positions. It is men and women like Mr. and Mrs. Spealman, - willing to give their lives that great principles may live - who are the ones that bring truth and righteousness to the world.

CHESTER F. KING, who resides in the village of Filley, was bom in Rock Island county, Ilhnois, November 23, 1867, and is a son of Charles W. and Candace (Stenzell) King, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work.

Chester F. King was nine years of age at the time of the family removal to Gage county, where he was reared under the conditions that marked the pioneer epoch and where he attended the district schools at intervals until he had attained to the age of twentyfour years. Finally he devoted several years to independent farm enterprise in Filley township. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party.

July 4, 1891, Mr. King wedded Miss Stella Pittman, who was born in Knox county, Illinois, and their marriage was the first one performed in the new court house of Gage county. Of this imion have been born eight children : Charles Francis died at the age of sixteen years ; the second child died in infancy ; Effie is a popular teacher in the schools of her native county, as is also Hazel ; Chester remains at the parental home; Jesse died at

WILLIAM E. BRYSON. - After years of industry which netted him a competence, Mr. Bryson is now living retired at University Place, Lancaster county, Nebraska. He is a native of Ohio, born in Morgan county, September 16, 1858, and is a son of the late Silas and Clarinda (Young) Bryson, to whom a memorial tribute is given on other pages of this volume. On April 1, 1862, the Bryson family arrived in Johnson county, Nebraska. Here William E. Bryson was reared on the pioneer farm, and four years later removal was made to Gage county. His boyhood being passed in the usual manner of farm lads, - in that his time was divided between studies in the district school, the pleasures of the playground and doing such tasks on the home farm as his age would permit. As his years and strength increased he assisted more largely in the work of development and cultivation of the pioneer farm. When a young man he purchased three hundred and twenty acres in Sections 23 and 24, Adams township, and as the years passed he improved and cultivated this tract until it became one of the valuable properties of the township. No better improved place could be found in Adams township, and on this farm he continued to labor until 1908, when he retired to the village of Adams. Later he moved to his present abode in University Place. Mr. Bryson has sold his farm in Gage county, and his time now is partly given to superintending a ranch in Thomas county, Kansas, the same comprising two sections of land.

On September 21, 1881, Mr. Bryson married Miss Etta Bryson, a daughter of David and Elizabeth Bryson, who were early settlers in Gage county. The father is deceased these many years. The mother, who has reached the advanced age of eighty-three years, resides (1918) at Adams. Mr. and Mrs. Bryson have become the parents of seven daughters ; Kate is the wife of J. A.

Miller, of St. Louis, Missouri ; Dell is the wife of Paul Pillsbury, of Chico, California; Lois is the wife of C. S. Woten, of San Francisco ; Jessie E. is the wife of Shirley Marshall, and they reside at Hastings, Nebraska; Mae is the wife of W. A. Gray, of Lincoln, Nebraska; and Nell and Mildred remain at the parental home.

The Bryson family were among the early settlers of Gage county, and contributed in large measure to its development and upbuilding. By industry and the careful husbanding of his resources William E. Bryson is enabled to lay aside the heavier labors and duties and to live in ease and comfort. He and his wife are members of and active workers in the Methodist Episcopal church, and they have a host of friends in Gage county, as well as in the community in which they now reside.

EZRA LePOIDEVIN purchased in 1916 an excellent farm of one hundred and sixty acres, in Section 26, Holt township, and is giving his characteristically vigorous supervision to its improvement and management, the while he exercises similar prerogatives in connection with a farm of equal area which he rents from the L. E. Austin estate, in Section 36 of the same township. He may well take pride in his status as one of the successful exponents of farm enterprise in his native county and he is one of the progressive agriculturists and stock-raisers of the younger generation in his native county.

Mr. LePoidevin was born in Midland township, this county, March 28, 1880, and is a son of Thomas LePoidevin, concerning whom individual mention is made on other pages. Reared to the sturdy discipline of the home farm the subject of this review early learned the value and consistency of honest toil and endeavor, the while he profited fully also by the advantages afforded in the district schools. Plis inclinations and tastes have led him wisely to accord unwavering allegiance to the basic industries with which he is now identified and in connection with which he is making success not an accident but a logical result. He is loyal in support of those measures and movements which make for the advancement of the general welfare of the community, is a Republican in politics and he and his wife hold membership in the Christian church.

December 22, 1909, Mr. LePoidevin wedded Miss Bessie Essam, who likewise was born in Midland township, where her father is a representative farmer, her mother being now deceased. Mrs. EePoidevin is a daughter of Jacob and Mollie (Bartram) Essam, both of whom were bom and reared in Illinois. Mr. and Mrs, LePoidevin have two children, - Irma, bom Febmary 7, 1912, and Irene, born March 3, 1913.

JAMES CRAWFORD. - Among the men of Gage county who fought gallantly in the Civil war and who have now passed to their reward, may justly be mentioned the late James Crawford. In 1863, when he was only seventeen years old, James Crawford enlisted in Company G. Sixty-fourth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and he became one of Yale's famed sharpshooters. He was involved in many a battle ere the end of the war. At Kenesaw Mountain twenty-two of his company were killed and it seemed as though the enemy was to win the day, but the "Boys in Blue" fought bravely and finally won the victory. -Mr. Crawford was also with Sherman on the famous march through Georgia to the sea. He was wounded twice and was taken to the military hospital at Springfield, Illinois.

James Crawford was born in New York city, October 10, 1846, and was a son of William and Mary (Quinn) Crawford, who were born in County Kerry, Ireland, and were land owners in the Emerald Isle, but they became convinced that the hospitable shores of the United States offered better opportunities than their native land. In 1845 they came to New York city, and for a number of years William Crawford conducted a steamship business between Brooklyn and New York. Later he operated an omnibus line. He continued to reside in New York city until his death.

Stuart being the descendant who founded the family in Ireland, and he having been beheaded because of his religious views, in the early part of the fifteenth century.

James Crawford received his education in Illinois and, as before noted, he enlisted from that state for service in the Civil war. When the war had ceased and the men were again able to go back to the peaceful occupations of office and farm, Mr. Crawford came back and began to study to fit himself more efficiently for his life work. In March, 1870, he married Miss Eavina McDonald, who lived only three months after their marriage.

In 1871 Mr. Crawford came to Gage county, Nebraska, and purchased land in Section 22, Wymore township, where he gave many years to successful farm enterprise, his death having occurred May 19, 1914. On the 31st of August, 1875, at Blue Springs, this county, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Crawford to Miss Carrie Lott, and their gracious companionship continued unbroken for nearly half a century, the ties being severed only by the death of the devoted husband and father. They reared their sons and daughters to lives of honor and usefulness, and concerning the children brief record may consistently be entered at this point: Frank E. is at the time of this writing, in the spring of 1918, a member of the fine military forces which the nation is preparing for participation in the great European war and he is stationed with his command at Deming, New Mexico, where he is captain of Company F, One Hundred and Thirty-fourth Regiment of the United States Army. Captain Crawford acquired his preliminary education in the district schools of Gage county, and supplemented this by attending the high school at Wymore. Later' he took up the study of law, and in 1901 he was graduated at the law department of the University of Nebraska. Thereafter he was engaged in the practice of of his profession at Wymore until he became a member of the patriotic military organization which is destined to bring the greatest honor to the American arms in connection with the great world war. Alice, the elder daughter of the honored subject of this memoir, is the wife of W. C. Dagwell, an insurance agent, and they reside in the city of Omaha, Mrs. Dagwell being a graduate nurse and having followed the work of her profession prior to her marriage. Mary E., the younger daughter, is the wife of Robert Jones, a skilled machinist, and they reside at Wymore, this county. Harry remains with his widowed mother on the old home farm and has the active management of the same. Ralph is identified with bridge building operations in the service of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad.

Mrs. James Crawford is a representative oi one of the honored territorial pioneer families of Gage county. She was born at Blue Springs, this county. May 3, 1862, and is the youngest of the children of James Monroe Lott and Sarah L. (Knight) Lott. The father was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1826, and his death occurred in 1870, his wife having been born in Ohio, in 1832, and she having passed to the life eternal in the year 1909; their marriage was solemnized in Iowa and in 1862 they came to Nebraska Territory and numbered themselves among the pioneer settlers in Sicily township, Gage county, where Mr. Lott entered claim to a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres and where he and his wife bore their full share of the hardships and arduous labors incidental to the reclaiming and improving of a pioneer farm, the while they reared their children carefully and well, inculcating in them the highest of ideals and principles and fortifying them for the duties of later years, much of this responsibility resting upon the devoted mother, as the father was in the very prime of life at the time of his death, which occurred on his home farm. Mr. Lott was a man of education and superior intellectual ken, and was preparing himself for the ministry at the time of his death, in the winter of 1870. He was a Republican in politics and as a citizen he was influential in community affairs in the pioneer period of Gage county's history. Mr. and Mrs. Lott became the parents of four children, of whom the youngest is Carrie, widow of the subject of this memoir. The other surviving children are Augustine and Olive M. Augustine, whose first wife was Dollie Wymore, chose Miss Ada Nichols for his second wife, and he is a blacksmith by trade, though at the present time he is operating a saw mill in the great lumbering district of the state of Washington. Olive M. is the wife of D. E. Moore, who is a veteran of the Civil war and who is now living retired at Napanee, Nebraska. All of the children were reared in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal church, for the ministry of which their father was preparing himself, and Mrs. Crawford is an earnest member of this church. She has the distinction of having been the first white child born in Blue Springs township, this county, and she acquired her education in the schools of the county, all of her life thus far having been passed within its gracious borders, so that she knows well the history of this section of the state and is deeply interested in all things touching the welfare of her native county.

James Crawford, to whom this memoir is dedicated, was a gentleman of distinctive culture and of high ideals, - a man who accounted well for himself in all of the relations of life. He was an appreciative and valued member of Coleman Post, No. 115, Grand Army of the Republic, and he served seven years as a lieutenant in the Nebraska state militia. He took lively interest in all that concerned the fine state of his adoption and was a member of the Nebraska State Historical Society. For thirty-nine years he served as a member of the school board of his district, and it is probable is that a record for such service during so prolonged a period can be claimed in connection with few, if any, other citizens of Gage county. Mr. Crawford held for two terms the office of county commissioner, he was a stalwart Republican in politics, was always alert and ready to aid in the furtherance of civic and material progress, and was a valued citizen who will long be remembered by his surving comrades of the Civil war and by his host of other friends.

CARL I. WHYMAN. - In Section 27, Adams township, on the outskirts of the town of Adams, may be found the beautiful residence of Carl I. Whyman, farmer and business man and a representative of one of Gage county's most prominent and influential pioneer families. Mr. Whyman was born at Adams, this county, on July 9, 1882, and is a son of Frank E. and Mary (Windle) Whyman. Frank E. Whyman is a native of Pennsylvania, born July 25, 1854, and he received his early education in the schools of his native state. As a youth of fourteen years he came with his parents to Nebraska and the family home was established in Adams township. Gage county, - in 1868. The father homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land, which he reclaimed and imimproved. Frank E. Whyman eventually bought land and engaged in independent farm enterprise. He thus continued his activities until 1882, when he disposed of his land and engaged in the drug business in the village of Adams. In this business he continued for some time and he then sold out and engaged in the furniture and undertaking business, also buying and selling live-stock. In 1914 Mr. Whyman disposed of his business in Gage county, and removed to Boise City, Idaho, where he now makes his home. He is a son of Charles A', and Amelia (Allen) Whyman, who were natives of England and who came to the United States in 1852 : Charles A. Whyman passed to the hfe eternal March 23, 1911. The following extract is taken from an article which appeared in the Adams newspaper at the time of his death :

"Charles Whyman was bom April 1,5, 1827, at Great Bowden, Leicestershire, England. He was the youngest son of eleven children born to Henry and Anne Whyman. He was left fatherless at the age of twelve, which threw him upon his own resources, with the care of a widowed mother. This, together with the rigid conditions of England at that time, developed in him a spirit of integrity seldom met with and, with the prayers of a Christian mother, as a young man of twenty he consecrated himself to Christ, beginning his life of service at that time by entering the Congregational church, and that actively as an earnest Sabbath-school teacher, one of a company ol young men who regularly taught in several villages each Sabbath. He married Amelia Allen, in the Butler Avenue Congregational church of Leamington, June 27, 1851. Mr. and Mrs. Whyman removed immediately to Mrs. Whyman's childhood home at Galbally, Ireland, where they resided about fifteen months, and where their first daughter, Mary, was born. In the fall of 1852 they embarked for America, which at that time meant a voyage of thirty-two days on a sailing vessel. They came to Pennsylvania and settled in Erie county, where they remained until 1868, when they came to Nebraska with twelve children, and settled on a homestead in Nemaha township. Gage county. Here they were welcomed by the hardy pioneers, and met the hardships with them. Many may remember the 'Old Log schoolhouse' church services. Father Whyman reading a sermon. In 1887 Mr. Whyman united with the Presbyterian church of Adams. Mr. Whyman's life has been one of activity as a farmer and merchant. He lived in the Adams vicinity for forty-three years. About four years ago he removed to the home of his daughter, Mrs. Cora Coffman, where on the morning of March 23, 1911, he passed peacefully to the home he had longed for, just ten years after the wife and mother departed. Ten of the fourteen children, forty-four grand children, and seventeen great-grandchildren are left to mourn the loss and cherish the memory of a noble father."

Carl I. Wyman was educated in the public schools of Adams, and is a graduate of the Adams high school. As a young man he clerked in a general merchandise store in Adams, and later he bought an interest in a furniture and undertaking business, with his father. This enterprise he continued to conduct until 1914, and in the same he is still interested. In 1914 Mr. Whyman bought sixty acres of land in Section 27, Adams township, and here he and his family now make their home, in a comfortable modern residence. He

November 27, 1902, Mr. Whyman married Miss Mary Ellen Meyer, .a daughter of the late Adolphus Meyer. Mrs. Whyman passed away on June 28, 1907, and is survived by three children. Bertha, Ruth and Harold, all at home. On April 21, 1908, Mr. Whyman was united in marriage to Mrs. Eliza A. Garrison, a sister of his former wife, and to this union one child has been bom, Josephine.

Mr. Whyman is one of a family of eleven children, as follows: George E., of Adams, Nebraska ; Ralph W. and Arthur, of Lincoln ; Harry, deceased; Eve, wife of George F. Bates, of Canby, Oregon; Estella, wife of Hugh Jones, of Monticello, Utah ; Annie, wife of Earnest DeH^aven, a soldier in the engineering corps of the United States Army; Esther and ' Mildred, of Boise, Idaho ; and Rose, wife of Charles M. Galloway, of Adams, Nebraska.

In politics Mr. Whyman is a Republican, and he and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church of Adams, where they are numbered among the most progressive and esteemed citizens.

JOHN BRADDOCK has proved himself energetic and forward-looking in his activities as a farmer and is one of the representative agriculturists and stock-growers of Filley township, where his attractive homestead is situated in Section 13. He is a scion of a sterling pioneer family of the Hawkeye state and was born in Marshall county, Iowa, October 16, 1853, a son of Martin and Delilah (Eepley) Braddock, who were born and reared in Ohio, where their marriage was solemnized and whence they removed to Iowa in 1850. They remained for a time in Mahaska county and then removed to Marshall county, where Martin Braddock entered claim to government land, perfected title to the same and developed a good farm, both he and his wife having there passed the remainder of their lives, the subject of this review having been the second of their eleven children, of whom eight are living. Martin Braddock made the overland trip to Iowa with team and wagon and on his arrival his available capital was represented in the sum of sixty-five cents. By energy and good management as a pioneer farmer he achieved independence and well merited prosperity, and his political, support was given to the Democratic party, his wife having been a member of the Christian church. Mr. Braddock was a son of William Braddock, who was born in New England, of sterling colonial ancestry, his father having come to America from England. William Braddock became a pioneer in Ohio, where he and his wife passed the residue of their lives. John Eepley, maternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Pennsylvania and was a resident of Ohio for many years prior to his death.

John Braddock acquired his early education in the public schools of his native county and there continued his association with agricultural pursuits until 1883, when he came to Gage county, Nebraska, and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land, of which sixty-five acres had been broken, a small house having been erected on the place. Since that time he has erected excellent farm buildings and made many other improvements, besides which he has added to the area of his farm estate until he now has a valuable property of two hundred and forty acres, devoted to diversified agriculture and to the raising of good live stock, including white-face cattle that are bred largely from registered stock. He is liberal and progressive as a citizen and in politics gives his allegiance to the Democratic party.

In 1890 Mr. Braddock wedded Miss Sarah Woods, who was bom in Johnson county, Iowa, and whose death occurred in February, 1893. She is survived by two sons, Ray and Frank, both active young exponents of farm entei-prise in Gage county. In 1900 was recorded the marriage of Mr. Braddock to Miss Edna May Hogle, who was, like himself, bom in Marshall county, Iowa, and they have three daughters - Bessie, Blanche, and Marjorie - all members of the United Brethren church. Mrs. Braddock is a birthright member of the

AMESBURY LEE, M. D. - Gage county claims as one of its representative physicians and surgeons Dr. Lee, who is a young man of excellent professional attainments and whose success is attested by his substantial and important general practice, as well as his unequivocal personal popularity. He maintains his residence and professional headquarters in the attractive village of Pickrell, in Holt township.

Dr. Lee was born in Jeflferson county, New York, November 6, 1886, and is a son of George A. and Mary (Jackson) Lee, of whose three children he was the second in order of birth; Chlevera is the wife of G. Bowles, of Theresa, Jefferson county, New York; and Irving died in infancy.

George A. Lee was born in England and was a marble-cutter by trade. He followed his trade in Jefferson county. New York, where both he and his wife died. Dr. Lfee''^aving been doubly orphaned when he was a lad of seven years and thus having little definite knowledge concerning the family history of either of his parents. He was reared in the home of kinsfolk and at the age of thirteen years he began to assist in the general merchandise store of his uncle, John Lee, at Triumph, La Salle county, Illinois. His rudimentary education was acquired in the public schools of his native state and thereafter he continued his studies in those of Illinois until he had completed the curriculum of the high school. In consonance with his ambition and well formulated plans he entered, in 1902, the pharmacy department of Valparaiso Univeristy, at Valparaiso, Indiana, where he continued his technical studies one year. Thereafter he was employed in a drug store in the city of Chicago, and in 1905, he came to Gage county and assumed a similar position in the establishment of the M. E. Schultz Drug Company, at Beatrice. In the following year he took a position in a drug store in the city of Omaha, and there, in 1906, he was matriculated in Creighton Medical College, in which he completed his professional education and was graduated as a member of the class of 1910. The Doctor depended entirely upon his own resources in defraying the expenses of his professional education and thus he applied himself with all of earnestness and assiduousness until he had won his coveted degree of Doctor of Medicine. Shortly after his graduation Dr. Lee returned to Gage county, and he has since been engaged in the active and successful practice of his profession at Pickrell. He is an appreciative and popular member of the Gage County Medical Society and holds membership also in the Nebraska State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party, he has received the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Masonry, his maximum York Rite affiliation being with the commandery of Knights Templars at Lincoln and his ancient-craft affiliation with Lodge No. 2, at Lincoln. He and his wife are popular figures in the social life of their community and their attractive home, a modern bungalow erected by the Doctor, is a center of gracious hospility.

May, 27, 1912, Dr. Dee wedded Miss Cecil Mayer, who was born at Beatrice, this coujify, where her parents, Joseph and Julia (Meyers) Mayer, still reside, Mr. Mayer being a prominent and influential citizen and having served at one time as mayor of the city. Dr. and Mrs. Lee. have one child, Amesbury, Jr., who was born October 6, 1914.

CHARLES A. JACKSON. - The late Charles A. Jackson was'one of the early settlers of Beatrice, Nebraska, where for many )'ears he was engaged in 'the drug business. He came to Gage county, in 1874, from Curran, Illinois. Mr. Jackson was actively identified with the civic and business development of Beatrice and contributed his share to the advancement and upbuilding of the little rural hamlet until it became the beautiful and prosperous little western city of the present day.

York, March 2, 1841, and he was reared as the youngest child of a widowed mother. Although he had no father's hand to guide him, his mother gave him good educational advantages and in the old Empire state he grew to adult age. Some time during his early manhood he went to Curran, Illinois, where he held various positions of trust. There, in turn, he taught school, was connected with the general merchandise business, was a railroad station agent, and served as the postmaster of Curran.

After the Civil war there was a great immigation movement trending to the west. In this general emigration from Illinois, Mr. Jackson came to Beatrice, Nebraska, where he and George W. Hinkle formed a partnership and engaged in the drug business. This partnership was dissolved a few years later, and Mr. Jackson continued the enterprise. For more than thirty years he devoted his entire time to the conducting of his prosperous business. After he and his young bride came to Beatrice he built a spacious house, and in this attractive old home Mrs. Jackson still resides. It has withstood effectually the disintegrating influences of the passing of years and, after several remodelings, is now a substantial and essentially modern dwelling. When it was first built it was pointed out as the nicest home in Beatrice. In this home the death of Mr. Jackson occurred September 3, 1907.

At Curran, Illinois, on the 10th of October, 1872, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Jackson to Miss Ann Kelly, who was born on a farm near that place and who is a daughter of Jonathan and Sarah (Cook) Kelly. Her parents were children at the time when the respective families became numberd among the pioneers of Illinois, the Kellys having come from North Carolina and the Cooks from Tennessee. John Kelly, grandfather of Mrs. Jackson, settled in Illinois in 1819, when that now great and prosperous state was still on the very frontier, and there he bore the full heat and burden of the day as a sterling pioneer who did well his part in the forwarding of the march of civilization and progress.

He hewed from the forest the logs with which to build his pioneer cabin, and this was the first log cabin to be erected in what is now the fair capital of Illinois, - the city of Springfield. In May, 1821, was held in this cabin the first session of court in Sangamon county, and the building has consequently been definitely memorialized in the recorded history of Illinois.

In addition to holding for many years a secure place as one of the representative business men and influential citizens of Beatrice, Charles A. Jackson further aided in the advancement of the interests of Gage county, for he became the owner of a valuable landed estate of three hundred and twenty acres, in Filley township. He was a thorough conscientious and successful business man, gave close attention t© his business but was always ready to give his influence and co-operation in the support of measures advanced for the general good of his home city and county. He commanded unqualified popular esteem and was one of the honored pioneer citizens of the county at the time of his death. Mrs. Jackson is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church.

Mr. and Mrs. Jackson became the parents of two children, but both died in infancy. They adopted three children, and of these the only survivor is Mrs. Alice Park, of Ashgrove, Missouri. Mrs. Park was born near Diller, Gage county, and she became the wife of William Jamison, whose death occurred in 1916. The one child of this union is John Jamison, who now resides in the home of Mrs. Jackson. In October, 1917, Mrs. Alice Jamison became the wife of Walter Park, and they now reside at Ashgrove, Missouri.

WILLIAM KRAMER. - Within the fiftytwo years of William Kramer's residence in America he has attained through indefatigable industry a substantial fortune. In these years of earnest endeavor he endured many deprivations and hardships of which the younger generation can have but slight comprehension. Like many other German immigrants to the United States, Mr. Kramer was a poor man financially when he landed on our hospitable shores, but he was blessed with robust health and strength and was imbued with an ambition to win success in the land of his adoption. He has accomplished his purpose and is now one of the wealthy farmers in Nemaha township, Gage county.

Hanover, Germany, has given many of its industrious, ambitious men to people the United States and dot its fertile lands with houses, barns, silos and herds of cattle. It was in Hanover, Germany, on the 24th day of June, 1848, that William Kramer first saw the light of day. He is a son of Herman and Mary (Tellkamp) Kramer, who were the parents of seven children, - six sons and one daughter. William was the sixth son born and the daughter was the youngest child. Mr. and Mrs. Herman Kramer remained in their home country until their death.

In 1866, William Kramer, when only eighteen years of age, heard of the vast opportunities offered in the United States for men of energy and a knowledge of farming, so he left the paternal fireside and took passage on a sailing vessel bound for the New World. The voyage took nearly two months on the slow cumbersome ship of that day, - a voyage that can now be made within six days' time. Mr. Kramer first located in Washington county, Illinois, where he labored as a farm hand. He remained there some time and then went to Menard county, Illinois, where he rented land for nearly eleven years. It was in this county that he married, and there his children were bom.

At this time in the world's history Nebraska Was fast being settled by men coming from the eastern states, and the men were coming from Illinois in great numbers. Mr. Kramer heard of the vast, fertile lands and decided to come and purchase some of this land. In 1886 he arrived with his family in Nemaha township. Gage county, where he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land, in Section 3. He made all of the improvements on the farm and has set out two or three acres of grove trees. From time to time as he was able, he has added to this original one hundred and sixty

When Mr. Kramer chose Wilhelmina vSachtleben as his wife, he chose a woman who has been truly a helpmeet to him. She has worked steadily and faithfully by his side, helping him in all of his plans for the acquiring and improving of their broad acres. Their marriage was solemnized March 18, 1875, in Menard county, Illinois. Mrs. Kramer was born in Germany and upon coming to this country she settled in Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Kramer have two sons and three daughters: Anna is the wife of Rev. M. Lehnenger, living near Plymouth, Nebraska; John is at home and assists his father in the work and management of the farm ; Henry is operating a grain elevator at Firth, lyancaster county; Maggie is the wife of James Ikerd, of Lancaster county; and Minnie is the wife of Fred Hochheim, a farmer in Highland township. Gage county. All of the children have received good educational advantages and are doing well their part in the world's work. They were reared in the Lutheran faith and in their youth the parental home was always open to their friends.

While Mr. Kramer has always been a busy man, he has had time to devote to the interests of the community at large. He was a member of the school board from 1887 to 1914, devoting his energies to the furtherance of the educational advantages of his district. He served as road overseer for some time, and did his work faithfully and well. His political views are in harmony with the principles of the Democratic party and it receives his support. The Kramer farm is known foi its fine breed of Short-horn cattle, in which their owner takes a great deal of pride. On his good Nebraska corn he has always fed a great many cattle for market.

WILLIAM R. Mckinley, who is now living virtually retired, in the city of Beatrice, was a young man of twenty-one years when he came to Gage county, fully forty years ago, and he was long and successfully identi- fied with farm industry in this section of the state, his experience covering fully the exigencies and labors incidental to reclaiming a pioneer fami. Mr. McKinley is a bachelor and it is a matter of supreme satisfaction and pride to him that he has remained constantly with his loved mother, to whom he has accorded the utmost filial devotion and solicitude and whose gentle presence, after she was venerable in years and in impaired health, rested as a gracious benediction upon him and upon their pleasant home, at 1208 Ella street, Beatrice, until she passed to the life eternal, her death having occurred May 6, 1918.

Mr. McKinley was born at Farmer City, Illinois, on the 20th of July, 1856, and is a son of John Wesley McKinley and Julia (Hays). McKinley, the former of whom likewise was a native of Farmer City, where he was born June 3, 1831, a representative of one of the sterling pioneer families of that part of Illinois. John W. McKinley was reared and educated in Illinois and there learned the trade of hamessmaker, but followed farming in that state until his death, he having passed away April 26, 1865. His wife was born in Butler county, Pennsylvania, was reared and educated at Bellefontaine, Ohio, and in the winter of 1854-1855 she became a resident of Dewitt county, Illinois, where, July 4, 1855, was solemnized her marriage to John Wesley McKinley, who was in the very prime of his useful manhood at the time oi his death. The children of this union were four in number, William R., of this review, being the eldest; the other surviving son, Charles S., who was born October 1, 1858, was taken into the home of his maternal grandparents after the untimely death of his father, and was by them reared and educated, in Illinois : , he is now a resident of Fowler, Colorado; and Lincoln and Joseph died in infancy. On the 30th of April, 1868, Mrs. Julia (Hays) McKinley became the wife of Alba C. Turner, of Upper Sandusky, Ohio, and there they continued to reside until the spring of 1878, when they numbered themselves among the pioneers of Gage county, Nebraska. For three years they maintained their residence in Sicily township, near the village of Blue Springs, and they then purchased eighty acres of land in Section 20, that township. This land, which was unreclaimed and entirely without improvements, challenged their energy and resourcefulness to the fullest extent in the early days, and their original dwelling was a primitive dugout, built in a bank of earth and then boarded up, the domicile having been fourteen by twenty feet in dimensions. Later a tract of forty acres was added to the pioneer farm, and on this old home place the death of Mr. Turner occurred September 11, 1885. The widow and children remained on the farm until 1909, when they removed to the village of Wymore, and four years later removal was made to the city of Beatrice, where the home has since been maintained. After the death of Mr. Turner his widow and her eldest son, William R. McKinley, purchased an adjoining tract of one hundred and sixty acres, and thus the farm was made one of the well improved and valuable places of Sicily township, the property being still in possession of the family and being now under the efficient management of Fred H. Turner, a son of the second marriage, he being the elder of the two children of his mother's second marriage and the younger, Lucy, being now the wife of James M. Skinner, of Beatrice. Lucy Turner's first husband was Frank L. Gray and they became the parents of two children - William L. and Nettie, the latter having from infancy been in the home of her maternal grandmother and her devoted "Uncle Will," by whom she was reared to maturity: she was afforded the advantages of the Gage county schools and is now a successful and popular teacher in the public schools of Beatrice. Mr. McKinley, as before stated, constantly remained with his loved mother, who cared for him with the utmost devotion during his childhood and to whom he found it a matter of great satisfaction to pay the tribute of filial love and attention which was so eminently her due in the gracious evening of her long and earnest life. She was born January 19, 1837, and thus was eighty-one years of age at the time of her death. This gentle and revered pioneer woman had been in impaired health for several years, but her alert mentality enabled her to enjoy the peace and prosperity that attended her and to appreciate the fact that her lines were "cast in pleasant places" in the c(>'inty in which she endured her full quota of the hardships and trials incidental to pioneer life, her circle of friends having been limited only by that of her acquaintances and she having been tenderly cared for by her devoted son.

JOHN W. CAMPBELL is the owner of one hundred and twenty acres of land in Section 33, Adams township, and is successfully engaged in farm enterprise, in which he makes a specialty of raising thoroughbred Polled Durham cattle and Duroc- Jersey hogs.

Mr. Campbell is a native of Rockford, Illinois, where he was born July 7, 1866, son of George W. Campbell, whose record appears elsewhere in this volume. John W. Campbell was two years old when his parents came to Nebraska and established the family home in Gage county. On his father's farm, which has been the home of the family for almost fifty years, he grew to young manhood. Receiving a good education in the schools of Adams, he taught school for two years, readily imparting to others the knowledge he had acquired. As his years and strength increased he assumed more largely the arduous duties and tasks incident to the work on the home farm, and in 1900 he purchased the old home place. Since that time he has directed, with marked progressiveness and success, the varied operations of his excellent farm. On the place substantial improvements have been made by him, and to-day it is one of the most valuable farm properties in Adams township.

On September 18, 1890, was solemnized the marriage of John W. Campbell and Miss Eliza E. Key. Mrs. Campbell was born in Illinois and was a girl of ten years of age when she accompanied her parents to Iowa, where she was reared and educated, and where her marriage occurred. Mr. and Mrs. Campbell became the parents of six children :

Darwin H., a machinist and motorcycle instructor, is doing valiant service for his country "somewhere in France" ; Edna is deceased; and Otto, Vera, Raymond, and Elvessa remain at the parental home.

Mr. Campbell and his family are members of the Methodist church. In politics he gives his support to the Republican party. He capably served as assessor of his township and for fourteen years he has been secretary of the Adams school, which is the only Agrade normal training high school in the county, outside of Beatrice. Fraternally Mr. Campbell is a Mason and member of the Royal Highlanders. In all things pertaining to the moral, social, and material uplift of his community he is always ready to give his influence and co-operation.

GUY S. ATKINS. - Near the village of Adams, Nebraska, in Section 34, Adams township, may be found Guy S. Atkins, a vigorous young farmer who operates one hundred and sixty acres of land belonging to David F. Bryson. Mr. Atkins was born at Sterling, Johnson county, Nebraska, on the 3d of January, 1893, and is a son of Ulysses Alden Atkins and Harriet C. (McClung) Atkins. Ulysses A. Atkins was bom at Minonk, Illinois, May 9, 1862, and he was about nine years old when he came with his parents to Johnson county, Nebraska, where they arrived April 20, 1871. He attended the public schools of Johnson county and assisted his father on the farm until he was twenty-one years of age, when he rented land and began farming on his own account, in Johnson county. In 1889 Mr. Atkins came to Gage county and bought one hundred and sixty acres of land in Hooker township. There he remained until 1913, when he sold out and bought eighty acres in Section 1, Hanover township - a property which he still owns. In 1908 Mr. Atkins retired, and he now makes his home in the town of Adams, where he owns a comfortable i-esidence property. On December 25, 1882, Ulysses A. Atkins was^ united in marriage to Miss Harriet C. Mc- Clung, a daughter of Alexander and Jane

(Matthews) McClung, and of this union were born six children : Cora is the wife of Harry Hillman, of Adams, this county; Viva is deceased; Ruth is an art teacher at Vancouver, Washington; Guy S. is the subject of this review; and Harold and Alden J. reside at Adams.

Guy S. Atkins was educated in the public schools of Adams, and he followed farming with his father until 1909. In 1910 he rented land on Section 34, Adams township, where he now lives. On June 13th, 1911, Mr. Atkins was united in marriage to Miss Velma LBryson, eldest daughter of David F. and Martha Bryson, of whom record will be found elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Atkins are the parents of four children, Rome Belmont, Polly Madge, Valeria Juanita, and Arline Genevieve.

Mr. and Mrs. Atkins are members of the Methodist church of Adams, and in politics Mr. Atkins is an independent voter who casts his ballot for the man rather than for the party.

ALBERT O. ULRICH. - This successful and representative farmer of Gage county may well consider that his "lines are cast in pleasant places," for independence and prosperity have crowned his energetic endeavors and he is the owner of a model farm estate of two hundred and forty acres in Section 18, Grant township, as well as three hundred and twenty acres in Deuel county, this state.

Mr. Ulrich was born in Livingston county, Illinois, on the 12th of March, 1870, and is a son of Charles G. and Johannah (Graff) Ulrich, who came to Gage county, Nebraska, when the subject of this review was a lad of twelve years, more specific mention of the parents being incidentally given on other pages of this work, as the family has been one closely and worthily identified with civic enterprise and industrial activities in this county. Albert O. Ulrich acquired his early education in the schools of his native state and later continued his studies in the district schools of Gage county, where he was reared on the home farm of his father, in Grant township.

He has not found it expedient or a matter of inclination to sever his active association with farm enterprise in the succeeding years and he purchased his present attractive farm in Grant township in 1903. Here his progressiveness and cumulative success are shown not only in the general thrift that characterizes all parts of the farm but also in the splendid improvements which he has made, including the erection of a handsome and modem house of ten rooms, placed on a fine site in the center of a field and one and one-half miles distant from the village of Dewitt, Saline county. On the place Mr. Ulrich has erected also a large barn of modern type, as well as minor farm buildings. He utilizes in his agricultural and stock-raising operations the best of modern accessories and has proved himself a leader in farm enterprise in this part of the county.

Mr. Ulrich is a stalwart advocate of the cause of the Republican party and his ability and popularity marked him as specially eligible when, he was made his party's candidate for treasurer of Grant township, an office to which he was elected in 1914. Later he was elected for a second term, and he is giving a careful and effective administration of the fiscal affairs of the township. Both he and his wife are earnest communicants of the Lutheran church and their attractive home is known for its generous hospitality and good cheer.

October 6, 1897, recorded the marriage of Mr. Ulrich to Miss Laura M. Meyer, who was born in Marshall county, Illinois, a daughter of Edward and Emma (Hanan) Meyer, the former of whom is deceased and the latter of whom resides on the old home farm in Adams county, Nebraska. Mr. and Mrs. Ulrich have six children, all of whom are, in 1918, still members of the happy home circle, namely: Meta, Carl, Edward, Gertrude, Johannah, and Herbert.

MAURICE KIRBY. - Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Kirby have a valuable farm estate of three hundred and twenty acres in Sicily township, and for nearly thirty years they have been identified with the agricultural life of their community. They are both natives of the Emerald Isle, that land of bouyant and generous people who have for so many years tried to get their rights and freedom as a free-governing people, but who are still under the rulership of England.

Maurice Kirby was born January 1, 1852, in County Limerick, Ireland, and is the only child born to Maurice and Johanna (O'Malley) Kirby, who passed their entire lives in Ireland, where the father devoted his active life to tilling the soil. When Maurice Kirby was nineteen years of age he left his aged parents and set out to see the world. Coming to America, he first settled in Detroit, Michigan. He there remained only a short time and then went to Pennsylvania, where he was employed for six years as a stone cutter.

In 1878 Mr. Kirby came to Gage county, Nebraska, and for fifteen years thereafter he was foreman of John Fitzgerald's ranch. In 1889 he purchased his present three hundred and twenty acres of land in Sicily township, but he did not establish his residence on the place until March 9, 1898.

February 7, 1887, holy wedlock united the lives of Maurice Kirby and Ellen Quinn. Mrs. Kirby was born in Ireland, and is a daughter of Patrick and Alice (Hawley) Quinn, who were tillers of the soil, and who, no doubt, experienced the oppression incidental to the landlord system by which England has handicapped the toilers of Ireland. While her people have been oppressed, Ireland has not lost her individuality or her propensity for fun and wit. Two brothers and one sister of Mrs. Kirby make their home in the United States - John Quinn and Maurice Quinn, the latter a machinist living at Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Margaret, wife of Charles Harms, of Omaha, Nebraska.

Eleven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Kirby, and of the number seven are living: Alice is a stenographer, employed in the city of Omaha ; Johanna is a clerk in Neumann's store at Wymore; Maurice William remains on the home farm; and Ed J. and Ella (twins), John and Jeannette are all under the parental roof and attending school.

Mr. Kirby has a nice residence and other farm buildings, and his place is fully equipped with the necessary farm machinery and implements. His vote is given to the Democratic party, he has served his township as treasurer and is now its efficient road overseer. Both he and his wife are communicants of the Catholic church, in the faith of which they were reared, even as they are rearing their children in the same faith.

JOSEPH H. SCHEVE. - In the all important domain of basic industry Mr. Scheve is consistently to be designated as one of the foremost agriculturists and stock -growers of his native county, where he is the owner of a splendidly improved landed estate of seven hundred and sixty acres, his attractive homestead farm being eligibly situated in Section 22, Blakely township, and comprising three hundred and twenty acres. Under the able supervision of Mr. Scheve is conducted the cultivation of ftilly one thousand acres of the excellent land of Gage county, the same being devoted primarily to the raising of wheat, corn, oats, and alfalfa.

On the old homestead that is now his place of residence Joseph H. Scheve was bom March 20, 1882, and he is a son of John and Marie (Meyer) Scheve, of whose eleven children he is the third in order of birth of five now living; Anna is the wife of John Meyer, of Thayer county, this state; Henry is a representative farmer of Jefferson county; Martha resides in the home of her sister Amanda, who is the youngest of the children and who is the wife of John Kuchenbecker, of Ruskin, Nuckolls county, Nebraska.

John Scheve was a native of Germany, where he was born April 28, 1842, and where he was reared and educated. About the year 1865 he came from his native land to the United States and settled in Bremer county, Iowa, where he worked two years as a farm hand, besides showing his ambition by studying English and other branches under the preceptorship of a leading teacher in that section of the Hawkeye state. In the autumn of 1867, the year that marked the admission of Nebraska to statehood, Mr. Scheve came to

Gage county and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of unbroken prairie land in what is now Blakely township. He Hved up to the full tension of the pioneer Hfe, and in this connection it may incidentally be recorded that in the early days he aided in fighting prairie fires on the site now occupied by the postoffice building in the city of Beatrice. He managed to provide himself with an ox team, and this he used in the breaking of his land, as well as in other farm activities. While this work was in progress he found diversion by an occasional friendly game of cards with other pioneers, anfi his genial and kindly nature gained to him the lasting i friendship of those with whom he came in contact in both the early and later days. John Scheve was a man of sterling character and his energy and persistence were on a parity with his resolute purpose. He labored early and late in reclaiming and improving his farm, and his early crops were taken overland to Nebraska City, which was then the nearest market point. He added from time to time to his landed possessions and became eventually one of the most substantial and progressive farmers of the' county. He had mature judgment and understood the true»; values of Nebraska land, so that he accumulated property of this kind not only,jjin Gage county but also in Jefferson county, land in Cheyenne county, Kansas, his landed ^l^ate at the time of his death having comp'roed two thousand seven hundred and twenty acres. Mr. Scheve was a leader in the civic as well as the industrial development and upbuilding of Gage county, was called upon to serve in various minor offices of public trust and was unwavering in his allegiance to the RepuMican party. Both he and his wife were iij.ost ear- ' nest and devout communicants of the German,, Lutheran church and he was the organizer of the church of this denomination in his precinct. He continued to reside on his attractive old homestead, the present abiding place of his son Joseph, of this review, until his death, which occurred October 9, 1911, only a few months prior to his seventieth birthday anniversary, his cherished and devoted wife having passed away on the 9th of the preceding

July, so that in death these honored pioneers were not long divided, Mrs. Scheve having been born in the province of Hanover, Germany, on the 15th of June, 1841, an-d having preceded her husband to eternal rest by exactly one month. Their engagement to be married was formed in Germany, but not until about 1866 did Mrs. Scheve find it expedient to come to America and join her fiance, their marriage having been solemnized in Iowa, shortly prior to their coming to the new state of Nebraska.

On the old homestead farm which he now occupies and which came as his heritage at the time of the death of his parents, Joseph H. Scheve was reared to manhood, and in addition to receiving in his youth the advantages of the public schools of his native county he completed a course in the Northwestern Business College, at Beatrice. He has gained precedence as one of the most progressive and successful agriculturists and stockgrowers of the younger generation in Gage county and has made his homestead place a veritable model. In addition to remodeling and enlarging the substantial house erected by - his father he has erected on the place two modern silos and iTiade other excellent improvements of permanent order, including the building of large sheds for the care of his ca,ttle. He is giving special attention to the breeding of shorthorn cattle, and in the season of 1917 has had upon his farm twenty-five head of purebred stock of this type.

Mr. Scheve has marked his appreciation of the advaiitages and attractions of his native county by his unfaltering civic loyalty and his productive activities along industrial lines. He has taken active part in public affairs of a local order and has held some manner of township office almost continuously since he attained to his legal majority. He is now serving as treasurer of Blakely township, of which office he became the incumbent in 1915. He is one of the stockholders in the cooperative farmers' grain elevator in the village of Hoag. - His political allegiance is given to the Republican party and he and his wife hold membership in the German Lutheran church.

May 7, 1908, recorded the marriage of Mr. Scheve to Miss Maria WoUenburg, who likewise was born and reared in Gage county, she being a daughter of William and Wilhelmina (Meyer) WoUenburg, who were born in Germany and who became pioneers of Blakely township, Gage county, where Mr. WoUenburg reclaimed and improved the old homestead farm on which his widow still resides. Mr. and Mrs. Scheve have four children - Josephine, Edward, Alvin, and William.

In a reminiscent way it may be stated that the father of Mr. Scheve was a man of exceptional physical strength and weighed more than two hundred pounds, though he was remarkably alert and vigorous. He purchased and placed in operation on his farm one of the first self-raking harvesting machines introduced into Gage county, and on one occasion when he had the harvester in commission he was caused some disquietude when a band of fifteen hundred Indians gathered at his farm to witness the marvelous working of the machine. The Indians were on their way to the west and at first their appearance on the scene caused some consternation to Mr. Scheve, but in their gutteral language and by their sign language they assured him of their friendship, as well as their curiosity, and they finally passed on without molesting him in the least. He and a man named Harvey were associated in the buying, ownership, and operation of the first threshing machine ever used in this county.

MRS. SARAH J. EASTMAN is one of the loved pioneer women of Gage county, and is a sister of Hugh J. Dobbs, the author of this history. A record of the family appears elsewhere in this volume.

In December, 1880, Miss Sarah Dobbs became the wife of Matthew Weaverling, who was born in Pennsylvania, in 1845, and who became a resident of Nebraska in 1869, when he settled in Lancaster county. In 1875 he came to Gage county, where he became one of the early-day school teachers. In 1878 he was elected county superintendent of schools, and by re-election he held this office six years.

In 1883 he bought and removed to a farm near Barneston, and soon afterward he purchased the Barneston Star, of which he continued the editor and publisher until his death, which occurred April 18, 1895.

Mr. Weaverling was a prominent figure in the educational, political, and social life of his adopted county. He was a member and an active worker in the Methodist Episcopal church. Concerning the children bom to Mr. and Mrs. Weaverling the following brief record is entered: Ray W. Weaverling is a traveling salesman for a hardware concern and lives at Huron, South Dakota. He married Miss Alice Parker, of Beatrice, and they have three children - Ralph W., Robbin Dale, and Carrol Eouise. Charles S. Weaverling died in the year 1912. Ralph E. Weaverling, a graduate of the law department of the University of Nebraska, class of 1910, is successfully practicing his profession at North Bend, this state. He married Miss Beatrice Moffit, of Lincoln, a graduate of the University of .Nebraska, and they have two children, Eleanor and Ralph W.

October 1, 1901, Mrs. Weaverling became the wife of Leonard A. Eastman, a native of Minnesota. He is engaged in brick and cement contracting. By a former marriage he had four children: Grace M., Guy B., Roy L., and Hazel. These are all at home except Roy L., who is in the United States Army and naw in active service in France. Mr. and Mrs. Eastman are held in high esteem in Beatrice, where they have an attractive home at 1401 High street.

JAMES H. FREEMAN is a native son of Gage county, a sciop of one of its foremost pioneer families, and in his individual versatility he has been successful along varied lines of productive endeavor. At the present time he is one of the leading real-estate dealers engaged in business in the city of Beatrice, his operations being of broad scope and importance and having included effective service in promoting desirable immigration not only into Nebraska, Missouri, and Texas, but also into the Canadian northwest.

The pages of this publication in which is outlined the general history of Gage county give due consideration to the interesting fact that the first tract of land entered under the provisions of the United States homestead act was that obtained in Gage county by the late Daniel Freeman, father of him whose name initiates this review, and on this first homestead thus obtained James H. Freeman was born February 27, 1870, a son of Daniel and Agnes (Suiter) Freeman. However, there is consistency in amplifying the data by incorporating in this article, with minor elimination and paraphrase, quotations from an oldtime issue of the Beatrice Daily and Weekly Express :

"One of the events connected with the early settlement of Gage county, and one which will eventually form a page of national history, is the taking up of the homestead of Daniel Freeman, the first under the homestead act passed by the United States congress. The securing of the first homestead, or the filing of the first application, by Mr. Freeman was more by accident than design. The homestead act was approved on the 20th of May, 1862, and took effect January 1, 1863. In July, 1862, Mr. Freman purchased a "squatter's right,' which he held until the 31st day of December following. The government land office was located at Brownville, and on December 31st Mr. Freeman went to that place to makje an entry and file his application under the homestead law. At this time he had been regularly enlisted in the United States army, and was in Nebraska Territory on special duty. He was under orders to report to headquarters and was therefore in some haste to file his application. While at the hotel in Brownville he was introduced to a young man who was to be clerk or assistant to the landoffice receiver. By this young man Mr. Freeman was informed that the next day being New Year's, and consequently a holiday, the office would not be open. Mr. Freeman stated the tirgency of his business and that he was ordered to report to the army headquarters without delay, after which he said that it would be a great accommodation to him if he could file his application before leaving for the army. Upon this representation, made on the evening of his arrival at Brownville, Mr. Freeman met with exceptional consideration, as the clerk sent for the register of the land office and before 12:05 o'clock on the morning of January 1st Mr. Freeman had made his filing on the first homestead ever taken under the homestead act."

The above mentioned entry was recorded in the archives of the United States land office in the city of Washington on the 6th of January, 1870, after Nebraska had attained to the dignity of statehood, and is filed as "Homestead certificate No. 1, application No. 1." The homestead of one hundred and sixty acres thus distinguished above all others in American annals is situated in Section 26, town 4 north, of range 5 east of the sixth principal meridian, and about four miles west of Beatrice, which city was a frontier village at the time when Mr. Freeman made the historic entry. The homestead, in the valley of Cub creek, became the nucleus of the extensive and valuable landed estate which Mr. Freeman eventually accumulated and improved in Gage county.

Daniel Freeman was born in Preble county, Ohio, April 26, 1826, and his death occurred December 30, 1908. He was a son of Samuel and Phoebe (Willis) Freeman, natives respectively of Vermont and Ohio, and in 1835 the family home was established at Abingdon, Knox county, Illinois, where Samuel Freeman became a citizen of prominence and influence: he was a successful merchant and also developed a prosperous enterprise in the extending of financial loans, his operations having included loaning money to the government at the time of the Civil war. Samuel Freeman died in Knox county, Illinois, February 6, 1887, one of its most honored pioneers, and his widow survived him by a number of years.

Daniel Freeman, second in a family of six sons and one daughter, was about ten years old at the time of the family removal from Ohio to Knox county, Illinois, in which state he was reared and educated. Concerning him the following interesting statements have been made:

"About the time of the Civil war he became connected with the interests of the government, and was sent to the west and southwest. While thus engaged he traveled over a large portion of the undeveloped western country, becomftig one of the most familiar characters of this section. He was peculiarly adapted for coming in contact with unruly frontiermen and the native Indians, nature having endowed him with an unusually commanding physique, the nobility of which was heightened 'by his military bearing, the while his keen black eye seemed to penetrate through hidden things. For weeics at a time he rode over the wilds oi the west, acting as a watch against the wary Indians, leaving his saddle only to obtain food and sleep and making the saddle his pillow as he slept on the hard ground. Such was the character of his experience that he had a wide range of information and an unlimited knowledge of the country in which he took up his permanent residence before the close of the War." Mr. Freeman reclaimed and developed one of the large and valuable landed estates of Gage county and was to the close of his long and useful life numbered among the honored and influential pioneer citizens of the county. His ser\'ice as a soldier in the Civil war covered a period of three years, during which he was a member of the Seventeenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. In 1864 he established his permanent home on his historic claim in Gage county and there he maintained his residence many years, the while he bore his full share" of the responsibilities and trials incidental to pioneer life. He served two terms as sheriff of the county, and also held the offices of coroner and justice of the peace. His was a noble figure in the history of the county, the territory and the state, and every record touching Gage county should pay to his memory a tribute of honor. His political support was given to the Democratic party and he and his wife were earnest and tolerant in their abiding Christian faith and practice.

The first marriage of Mr. Freeman was to Miss Elizabeth Wilber, whose death occurred in 1861, at Rock Island, Illinois. She was survived by three children, - Julia F., Charles and Loretta, the last named becoming the wife of Martin Rich. February 8, 1865, recorded the marriage of Mr. Freeman to Miss Agnes Suiter, of Scott county, Iowa, where she was born and reared, the date of her nativity having been November 16, 1843. This revered pioneer woman still resides in Gage county and owns the fine old homestead place which her husband secured in the early territorial days, as previously noted, the same being in Blakely township. Mrs. Freeman is a daughter of John and Eliza (Wright) Suiter, who were numbered among the early settlers of Scott county, Iowa, the farmer's father, Philip Suiter, having settled at EeClaire, that county, when the place was a mere Indian village, the same having been named in honor of Antoine LeClaire, who was Indian agent to the Sac and Fox tribes. Mrs. Freeman received good educational advantages in her youth and after coming with her husband to Gage county she had the distinction of being the first teacher in Blakely township, her first school having been held in a private house. Of the children of Daniel and Agnes (Suiter) Freeman all are living except Daniel, who died at the age of three years ; Eliza is the wife of D. Webster Carre, of Beatrice; Samuel is a prosperous farmer in Jefferson county ; James H., of this review, was the next in order of birth; John is a substantial farmer near Beatrice; Frank and LeClaire remain with their widowed mother on the fine old homestead farm; and Agnes is the wife of Clifford Quackenbush, another of the progressive farmers of this county.

James H. Freeman passed the period of his childhood and early youth on the old home farm and in the meanwhile profited by the advantages afforded in the pubhc schools. After leaving the parental home he was for a time identified with newspaper work at Beatrice, and thereafter he gave six months to the reading of law. Later he took up the study of medicine and he so fortified himself that though he did not receive a medical diploma he was engaged in successful practice four years. For the past decade he has been one of the most aggressive and influential expon- ents of the real-estate business in Beatrice, and his operations now extend to wide Hmits, as noted in an eariier paragraph of this article. As a business man and public-spirited citizen he is well upholding in Gage county the honors of the family name, and his political allegiance is given to the Democratic party. It is a matter of record that no other man in Beatrice has handled and sold as large an amount of land as has Mr. Freeman, and he is an authority in all details pertaining to the real-estate business. In 1891 Mr. Freeman wedded Miss Lelah Hare, who was born in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a daughter of William N. and Eliza Hare, who came to Nebraska in 1879 and settled at Pawnee, Mr. Hare having been an architect by profession. Of the four children of Mr. and Mrs. Freeman three are living : Laura is the wife of T. J. Ivong, who is engaged in the drug business at Mitchell, South Dakota; Alice is a popular teacher in the pubHc schools of that place; and Bobbie Josephine remains at the parental home, she being at the time of this writing a student in the public schools of Beatrice.

FRANK N. HOFFSTAEDT has the intellectual attainments and business acumen which make possible the effective accomplishment of results along any line in which he may direct his energies, and none can doubt his progressiveness and leadership as an exponent of agricultural and live-stock industry in the state that has been his home since his young manhood. Here he is the owner of one of the fine landed estates of this section of Nebraska, and the same comprises four hundred acres, - two hundred and forty in Highland township and one hundred and sixty in Section 13, Clatonia township. His homestead place, of eighty acres, is one of the best improved and most attractive rural demesnes in the county and is situated in Section 18, Highland township. This is a part of the estate locally known as the old Uplinger ranch, and here Mr. Hofifstaedt has made the best of modern improvements, including the erection, in 1900, of his handsome residence, which in facilities and appointments, as well as architectural design and construction, is of the most modern type. Mr. HofFstaedt gives special attention to the breeding and raising of short-horn cattle and is equally vigorous and progressive in directing the agrictfltural department of his farm enterprise. He is a stockholder and director of the Farmers' State Bank at Clatonia and is essentially one of the influential and representative citizens of the county.

Mr. Hoffstaedt was born in Winnebago county, Illinois, August 2, 1855, and is the eldest in a family of seven children; George W. died at Lincoln, Nebraska ; Theresa became the wife of J. P. Ticknor and is now deceased; Addie is the wife of J. I. Kemp, of Omaha; Frederick J. is a resident of Phoenix, Arizona ; Anna is the wife of Eugene Richardson and they reside in the city' of Omaha ; and David died in Pasadena, California. Frederick Hoffstaedt, father of the subject of this review, was born in Prussia, Germany, in 1822, and was a resident and honored pioneer of Lancaster county, Nebraska, at the time of his death, in 1895. He came to America when a young man and first settled in Winnebago county, Illinois. Later he became a pioneer in Minnesota, where he entered a homestead claim. He perfected his title to this homestead and after having there given his attention to farming for a few years, he continued his active alliance with farm industry in Winnebago county, Illinois, until 1882, when he came with his family to Nebraska and established his home in Lancaster county. There he reclaimed and improved a productive farm and there he continued his residence until his death. His wife, whose maiden name was Gertrude Hauser, likewise was a native of Germany, and she passed to the life eteirnal in Lancaster county, and was about sixty-three years of age at the time of her death.

Frank N. Hofifstaedt was reared to adult age in his native county, where he early learned the varied details of farm work and where he acquired his preliminary educa:tion in the district schools. In 1876 he entered Northwestern College, at Naperville, Illinois, and in this excellent institution he continued his higher academic studies three vears. In 1878 he came to Lincoln, Nebraska, and in Lancaster county he found exigent demand for his services as a teacher in the district schools. His success in the pedagogic profession was unequivocal and he continued as a teacher in the district schools for a period of ten years, in the meanwhile becoming successfully identified with farm enterprise. He continued his residence in Lancaster county until 1892, when he came to Gage county and purchased a farm three miles north of Clatonia. Three years later he purchased his present fine homestead farm, and his success is attested not only in his possession of a large and valuable landed estate but also in the admirable improvements which he has made on his property. From the time of coming to Nebraska Mr. Hofistaedt served consecutively as a member of the school board until 1914, and has served in other official positions in both Lancaster and Gage counties. He takes deep interest in all things touching the well-being of his home county and state and is well fortified in his opinions concerning economic and governmental polity. He has given effective campaign service in behalf of the Republican party but has manifested no ambition for political preferment of an official order. He is a stockholder of the Farmers' Grain & Coal Company of Cortland, which operates the modern elevator in that village and also conducts a substantial business in the handling of coal and lumber. He and his wife are active members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Hallam and he is a trustee of the same.

August 2, 1887, recorded the marriage of Mr. Hoffstaedt to Miss Diena Schmidt, who is a daughter of the late Jergen and Etta Schmidt, of whom incidental mention is made on other pages, especially in connection with the sketch of the career of John Carstens, who niarried their daughter Mary. Mr. and Mrs. Hoffstaedt became the parents of five children : Harold died at the age of five years ; Roy and Etta remain at the parental home ; Esther died at the age of ten years ; and Estella is the youngest member of the gracious home circle. Miss Etta Hoffstaedt was graduated in the Beatrice high school, and in 1918 she is a