Gage County, Nebraska - Chapter 31: People Who Have Done Their Part in Making Gage County, 1918 (part 7 of 29)

As previously stated. Dr. McGirr was a lad of twelve years at the time of the family removal to Nebraska, and he was reared to maturity in Gage county, where he continued to attend the public schools until he had profited by the advantages of the Beatrice high school. Thereafter he pursued higher academic studies in Western Normal College, in the city of Lincoln, and in preparation for the work of his chosen profession he went to the city of Omaha, where he was matriculated in the medical department of the University of Nebraska, Here he completed the prescribed curriculum and was graduated as a member of the class of 1897. After thus receiving his coveted degree of Doctor of Medicine he engaged in the general practice of his profession at Ellis, Gage county, where he remained three years. In the meanwhile he determined that he could expand his field of service and usefulness by devoting himself to special phases of professional work, and to fortify himself properly for such service he took effective post-graduate work in a leading medical school of New York city and later in one of the important institutions in Vienna, Austria. In each of these connections he gave special attention to study and clinical work pertaining to the diseases of the eye, ear, nose, and throat, and in 1901 he established his residence in the city of Beatrice, where he now gives his close and efficient attention to his special domain of practice, in which he has gained repute as one of the leading eye, ear, nose, and throat specialists in this section of the state, so that his practice is derived in appreciable part from points outside of local environs. The Doctor controls a large and representative practice, keeps in close touch with the advances made in medical and surgical science and is unremitting in his study of the best standard and periodical literature of his profession. He holds membership in the American Medical Association and is one of the active and valued members of the Nebraska State Medical Society, of which he has served as vice-president, and of the Gage County Medical Society, of which he was formerly secretary. The Doctor owns his attractive residence property in the city of Beatrice and also a valuable farm near Pickrell, this county. As a broad-gauged and progressive citizen he gives his cooperation in the furtherance of measures and enterprises tending to conserve the communal welfare, and his political allegiance is accorded to the Democratic party. He is prominently identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he is affiliated with both the local and encampment bodies, as well as with the auxilliary organization, the Daughters of Rebekah, and he is, past grand of Beatrice Ivodge, No. 187, of the Odd Fellows, besides having represented the same as a delegate to the grand lodge of Nebraska. He gives liberal support to the Baptist church of Beatrice, of which his wife is an active member. . In June, 1915, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. McGirr to Miss Myrtle Gue, who was born and reared at York, the judicial center of the Nebraska county of the same name, and the one child of this union is a son - John I., Jr., born November 6, 1916.

JOHN PETHOUD. - Ten years prior to the time when the Territory of Nebraska was transformed into a new state of the Union the late John Pethoud became a pioneer of what is now Gage county, and his was the distinction of turning the first furrow that was ever plowed on Gage county soil. A man of superior intellectuality and dauntless spirit. Judge Pethoud represented the finest type of pioneer, and it was his to wield large and benignant influence in the formative period of the history of southeastern Nebraska. This publication exercises a most consistent function when it accords a tribute to his memory.

John Pethoud was of French ancestry and was born in Lawrence county, Ohio, in August, 1798, the place of his nativity having been a tract of land that had been a French grant to the Pethoud family. His parents were called upon to meet the trials and hardships incidental to the pioneer period in the history of the old Buckeye state, and there he was reared to manhood, his early educational advantages having been limited, as a matter of course, but his alert mind and broad intellectual grasp having eventually made him a man of exceptional mentality and mature judgment. In his native state he became familiarly known as Esquire Pethoud, doubtless owing to the fact of his having served in the office of justice of the peace.

In 1857, in company with Edward Austin and H. J. Pierce, Judge Pethoud set forth for the wilds of Nebraska Territory. The three venturesome pioneers made the journe3^down the Ohio river and up the Mississippi and Missouri rivers by boat and upon arriving at some point near the Nebraska line, they bought ox teams and wagons, with which they continued their way to what is now Gage county. Within the limits of the county as then existing Judge Pethoud entered a preemption claim, for which he paid two hundred dollars. Gage and old Clay counties then lay contiguous and he built his modest frontier house on the Gage county side of the line, thus becoming the first settler in Gage county as then constituted. The land which he thus obtained from the government is now owned by David Graf and lies in Midland township. On this pioneer farm Judge Pethoud continued to reside until his death, which occurred September 5, 1883, after he had attained to the venerable age of eightyfive years. He was buried on that farm.

Judge Pethoud was a great reader and student, was well informed concerning history and current events,- and though he was not specifically a professor of religion he was a deep student of the Bible, with which he was familiar from cover to cover, and he had an abiding appreciation of the spiritual verities of the Christian faith. He was a man of strong convictions and prejudices, but both were usually well taken, and he guided his life according to the highest principles of integrity and honor. Though he was a resident of Gage county, he was called upon to serve as the first judge of the probate court of Clay county.

In Ohio was solemnized the marriage of Judge Pethoud to Miss Mary Thompson, who was born in Pennsylvania, and she shared with him in the experiences of life on the frontier after their home had been established in Nebraska. Concerning their children brief record is given, in conclusion of this memoir: Mrs. Cynthia Ann Blankenship was a resident of Ohio at the time of her death, which occurred more than sixty years ago ; Elizabeth was the wife of John Wilson, one of the early pioneer settlers of Logan township. Gage county; Francis M. was a resident of Midland township at the time of his death, and to him a memoir is dedicated on other pages of this volume; John T. is deceased, as are also Mrs. Rebecca Jones, Andrew J., and James K. P. All of the children except the eldest became residents of Gage county and the family name is one that has been signally prominent and honored in connection with the county's history.

KIRK GRIGGS. - In Sections 30 and 31 Blakely township is situated the well improved farm estate of Kirk Griggs, the place comprising six hundred acres and being given over to diversified agriculture and stock-growing. The owner has gained special success and precedence as a breeder of Holstein cattle, Hampshire swine, and Shire horses, and has made numerous exhibitions of his fine stock at various county fairs. He is one of the most progressive stock-growers of the county that has represented his home from the time of his birth and in which his parents were pioneer settlers.

county, on the 8th of January, 1873, and is a son of Lewis T. and Caroline (Gale) Griggs, of whose five children he was the fourth in order of birth; MoUie is the wife of Frederick W. Daniels, of Sheridan, Oregon; George L. is a resident of the city of Alliance; Clifton C. resides at Eureka, Utah; and Burt resides at Buffalo, Wyoming. Lewis T. Griggs was born in Ohio, on the 17th of April, 1843, a son of Lucien and Mary T. (Kirk) Griggs, and in the old Buckeye state he was reared on the home farm, with such educational advantages as were afforded in the common schools of the locality. He was a youtji of eighteen years at the inception of the Civil war and he tendered his aid in defense of the Union by enlisting, early in 1862, as a member of the Eleventh Indiana Cavalry, with which gallant command- he participated in many battles and important campaigns, it having been his fortune to receive a wound while taking part in the battle of Chickamauga. He was with his command in the battle of Fort Donelson and those of Lookout Mountain and Vicksburg, besides which he was with General Sherman on the historic march from Atlanta to the sea. In 1864 he was promoted to the office of first lieutenant, and as such he served until the close of the war, when he received his honorable discharge. After the war he returned to Indiana, to which state his parents had removed from Ohio, and in 1866 he and his half-brother, Thomas J. Griggs, each entered claim to a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres in Pawnee county, Nebraska Territory. On his pioneer homestead, seven miles southeast of the present thriving town of Liberty, Lewis T. Griggs erected a small house, the material for which he transported with team and wagon from Nebraska City. He instituted the development of his farm and in due time perfected his title to the property. In 1869 he wedded Miss Caroline Gale and soon afterward they established their residence at Beatrice, which was then a mere frontier village. On the site of the present Beatrice National Bank he had a little store in which he engaged in the handling of agricultural implements and machinery, and here he continued his successful operations in this line of enterprise until 1883, when he removed with his family to Atchison, Kansas, where he became a representative of one of the leading harvesting machine companies, the death of his wife having there occurred in 1885. Soon afterward he returned to Beatrice, and thereafter he was a traveling salesman for agricultural implements until 1888. In that year he removed to Newcastle, Wyoming, prior to the extension of the railroad to that locality, and there he became a successful exponent of stock-raising industry, with which he continued to be identified until his death, which occurred November 11, 1908. He was one of the influential pioneers of Weston county, Wyoming, where he served as clerk of the court and also as county attorney, he having studied law previously and having been admitted to the bar in the early '70s. At Newcastle, Wyoming, he engaged in the practice of his profession, as one of the leading members of the bar of Weston county, and in a fraternal way he was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, and the Grand Army of the Republic, in which last named organization he was a charter member of Rawlins Post, at Beatrice. His wife was born in the western part of Massachusetts and was reared by kinsfolk, members of the Gale family having been numbered among the early settlers of Gage county. Coming to this county prior to the admission of Nebraska to the Union, Mrs. Griggs became one of the early and popular teachers in the village schools of Beatrice, she having been, in fact, one of the first teachers thus rendering service in the little frontier village that has become one of the attractive and prosperous cities of the state. She was forty-two years of age at the time of her death, June 13, 1883, and was a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Upon coming to Gage county, in 1867, Mrs. Griggs, two years prior to her marriage, entered a homestead claim, and a considerable part of this property is now included in the Glenover addition to the city of Beatrice.

Kirk Griggs, immediate subject of this review, was born in a house that stood on the site of the present Beatrice high school building, and his youthful education was gained in the schools of this city and those of Newcastle, Wyoming, where the family home was established when he was a lad of twelve years. That he profited by these advantages is shown by the fact that he proved himself eligible for pedagogic honors and was for six months engaged in teaching in a rural school in Wyoming. In that state he remained on his father's extensive cattle ranch until he had attained to the age of twenty years, and for sixteen years thereafter he was successfully identified with railroad construction enterprise, with Kilpatrick Brothers and later with the McArthtir Company, leading New York contractors in this line of enterprise. His first service was in the capacity of stenographer, but later he became allied closely with the practical executive details of construction vi^ork, in which connection he organized camps of workmen, acted as auditor and superintendent and proved in all ways a vigorous and resourceful executive.

In 1913 Mr. Griggs purchased of his former employers, Kilpatrick Brothers, his present fine landed estate in his native county, and in the same year he erected his present modem and attractive residence, at a cost of six thousand dollars. His farm is one of the best improved and most effectively equipped of all in the county, and on the same he has two artesian wells, the while his modern facilities including a gas-lighting system for his house. After his return from the west Mr. Griggs purchased the house of his birth, in the city of Beatrice, and this property he finally sold to the board of education as a site for the present modern high school building. A man of thought and action, Mr. Griggs has become one of the representative agriculturists and stock-growers, as well as a popular and representative citizen of his native county. His political support is given to the Republican party and he is serving at the time of this writing as a director of school district No. 22. Both

June 12, 1901, recorded the marriage of Mr. Griggs to Miss Mabel C. Pyrtle, the younger of the two children of James and Nancy E. (Murphy) Pyrtle, the former of whom was born in Missouri, in 1847, and the latter in Indiana, on the 15th of September, 1852. Mrs. Griggs, prior to her marriage, had been for five years a successful and popular teacher in the schools of Gage county, her work including four years' service in the city schools of Beatrice. Mr. and Mrs. Griggs have four children - Theodore, Roger, Gale, and Jessie M.

HENRY EISHBACH. - Under the general communal conditions and exigencies of the present day no city can claim definite metropolitan facilities if there has been failure to provide proper accommodations for the conserving of food stuffs, and Beatrice is signally favored in this respect, as the city takes just pride in the excellent service given by the large and modern plant of the Beatrice Cold Storage Company, of which Henry Fishbach was the founder and of which he has continuously been the executive head. In establishing this important enterprise Mr. Fishbach demonstrated alike his civic loyalty and his progressiveness as a business man, and through his careful and effective administration the business has been developed from a modest inception to one of large volume and definite success.

Mr. Fishbach was born at Franklin Grove, Lee county,' Illinois, on the 16th of October, 1859, and is a son of Philip and Catherine (Hausknecht) Fishbach, both of whom vvere born in the now devastated province of Alsace-Lorraine, which was then an integral part of French domain and which has again become the stage of terrible polemic activities incidental to the great war in which France is again arrayed against Germany. The parents of Mr. Fishbach were young at the time of the immigration of the respective families to America and both families established residence in the state of Illinois, in the pioneer history of that commonwealth. Philip Fishbach devoted the greater part of his active life to his trade, that of stone-cutter, and both he and his wife continued their residence at Franklin Grove, Illinois, until their death - folk of sterling character and honored by all who knew them. To the public schools of his native county Henry Fishbach is indebted for his early educational training and there he continued to reside until he had attained to the age of nineteen years, when he went to the state of Colorado and turned his attention to farm work and other service that would give him a living recompense. He remained in Colorado three years and then returned to Illinois, where he was engaged in agricultural enterprise, in Lee county, until 1884. In the year last mentioned he came to Gage county, Nebraska, and though he had virtually no financial resources he had an abundance of ambition and self-reliance, as shown by the fact that he purchased eighty acres of land, in Greenwoood township, assuming indebtedness for practically the entire purchase price. The land had received but the slightest improvement, and for the first seven years of his residence on his embryonic farm Mr. Fishbach used as his house a primitive granery that had been constructed on the place. Energy and industry brought returns, and eventually Mr. Fishbach was able not only to clear himself of the burden of debt but also to add eighty acres to the area of his landed estate. He made good improvements upon his farm property, brought the greater part of the land under effective cultivation, and there continued his vigorous activities as an agriculturist and stock-grower for a period of nine years. That he had been successful is shown by the fact that in 1893, in company with his wife, he visited the great World's Columbian Exposition, in the city of Chicago, and in this connection his alert mind caused him to see an opportunity for the development of a prosperous business enterprise in his home county. His attention was called, while in Chicago, to a carload of live poultry that was being sent in for the use of consumers in the city, and he soon decided to establish himself in the poultry business in Gage county. To carry out his plans he purchased the small poultry business that had been established by a man named Greening, at Beatrice, and two years later he removed his business to the site of his present well equipped cold-storage plant, his original place of business having been in a building that was only ten by twelve feet in dimensions. Bringing to bear his characteristic energy and good judgment and having secure place in popular confidence and good will, Mr. Fishbach caused his business to expand substantially and normally in scope and importance, and to keep pace with demands he enlarged his quarters from time to time. In 1906, as a matter of business expediency, he effected the incorporation of the Beatrice Cold Storage Company, of which he has since been the president and active manager. His plant for cold-storage is of modern type in all respects and as an important adjunct to the same he has established a plant for the manufacturing of ice, besides conducting a creamery in connection and doing also a substantial business in the manufacturing of ice cream for the trade. Natural ice is harvested to supplement the artificial supply, and the company now controls an extensive business in the buying and shipping of poultry and eggs, with branch headquarters in the Nebraska towns of Norfolk, Fremont, Columbus, Wakefield, and Blair. In connection with the Beatrice plant of the company an average of eighty-five employes is retained, and at times the roster of employes includes as many as one hundred and fifty persons. Mr. Fishbach deserves much credit for the success which he has achieved and also for having given a substantial and progressive industrial and commercial enterprise to Gage county and its judicial center. He takes loyal interest in all measures and enterprises tending to advance the civic and material progress and prosperity of his home city and county, is the owner of two of the well improved and valuable farms of Gage county, each comprising one hundred and sixty acres, and recently, in connection with the national movement for the conservation of food products, he has had the distinction of being called to the national capital for conference with the food administrator, Mr. Hoover, in connection with the poultry, egg, and coldstorage business, as one of the leading exponents of these lines of enterprise in Nebraska. His advice in this conference has been of definite general value in connection with conservation poHcies. In politics Mr. Fishbach gives his allegiance to the Republican p'arty, and he and his wife are earnest members of the Christian church.

As a young man of twenty-five years Mr. Fishbach wedded Miss Mary Ellen Wolf, who was born at Leaf River, Ogle county, Illinois, and she passed to the life eternal in 1895, being survived by four children, concerning whom the following brief data are entered: Ralph is the manager of the Beatrice . Cold Storage Company's plant at Norfolk, Madison county, Nebraska; EulaHe, a young woman of much business ability, as well as social popularity, is treasurer of the company of which her father is president; Oscar is identified with ranching enterprise in the Canadian northwest; and Ethel is the wife of WilHam Myers, who is associated with the Beatrice Cold Storage Company as an employe at the headquarters in Beatrice.

On the 6th of March, 1898, Mr. Fishbach contracted a second marriage, in his union with Miss Laura Peck, who was born in the state of Kansas, and their attractive home is brightened by the presence of their three children - Agnes, Bertha, and Priscilla.

HEINRICH REIMER. - Though Mr. Reimer claims the great empire of Germany as the place of his nativity he was not yet two years of age at the time of' his parents' immigration to America and his entire experience has been gained in association with conditions and influences of the middle western states of the Union. He was yet an infant at the time when the family home was established in Gage county, in the pioneer days, and here he has made the best possible use of the advantages and opportunities afforded him, as is evident when it is stated that he is now numbered among the representative exponents of agricultural and live-stock industry in Blakely township, his well improved farm, of one hundred and fifty-five acres, being situated in Section 21, that township, and on rural mail route No. 1 from the city of Beatrice, which is about eight miles distant from his home.

Mr. Reimer was born in Prussia, Germany, December 13, 1874, and is a son of Bernhard and Helen (Goosen) Reimer, who became the parents of six sons and seven daughters, the father having had also two children by his first marriage. In 1876 Bernhard Reimer came with his family to the United States and engaged in farming in Iowa, but before the close of that year he came to Gage county and established the family home on a pioneer farm three miles west of Beatrice. He developed and improved this property into one of the productive farms of the county and there he continued to reside until his death, in 1896, at the age of sixty-four years, his devoted wife having passed away in 1885, at the age of forty-two years. Both were zealous members of the Mennonite church and assisted in the organization of the church of this denomination in their home district in Gage county.

Heinrich Reimer was reared under the influence of the pioneer farm and early began to lend his aid in its work, the while he profited duly by the advantages afforded in the local schools. In 1900 he rented a portion of the land belonging to his father's estate, and a few years later he purchased his present farm, upon which he has made good improvements, including the erection of a modern barn that is thirty-six by sixty-four feet in dimensions. Thrift and enterprise have given him place among the most progressive and successful agriculturists and stock-raisers of Blakely township and he is one of the stockholders of the farmers' grain elevator in the village of Hoag. He is a Republican in politics, and he and his wife are earnest members of the Mennonite church.

Gerhard Penner and Anna (Froese) Penner, her parents having been members of a sterling Mennonite colony that came from western Prussia and settled in Gage county in 1874. Mr. Penner is now pastor of the Mennonite church at Beatrice and is one of the revered pioneer citizens of Gage county. Mr. and Mrs. Reimer have one child, Gerhard, who was born October 27, 1902.

LOUIS GRAFF. - Successfully established in business in the city of Beatrice, Mr. Graff is a scion of one of the most honored and influential territorial pioneer families of Gage county and takes just pride in claiming the county as the place of his nativity. He was born on the old homestead farm of his father, Joseph Graff, in Blakely township, three miles west of Beatrice, and the date of his nativity was March 3, 1862, due record concerning the family history being given on other pages of this volume. Mr. Graff is a son of Joseph and Teresa (Meyers) Graff, and in his boyhood days he gained a full quota of experience in connection with the conditions and influences of the pioneer era in the history of this now opulent section of Nebraska. He herded cattle on the widestretching prairie, had experience in the fighting of prairie fires, and made his share of youthful inroads on the wild- strawberries, plums, and gooseberries that were then plentiful in this locality. He assisted in the work of the home farm and in the meanwhile made good use of the advantages of the schools established in Blakely township by the ambitious and progressive pioneers. He remained at the parental home until he had attained to the age of twenty-six years, and he then entered the employ of his older brothers, who were engaged in the agricultural-implement business at Wymore, this county. In 1889 he purchased an interest in a well established lumber yard in the city of Beatrice, and later he became sole owner of the business, which he has since successfully continued in the original location, at 413 West Court street, where he also controls a substantial trade in the handHng of coal, paints, builders' hardware, etc. He has secure vantage-place as one of the most substantial and progressive business men of the capital and metropolis of his native county and is equally well entrenched in popular confidence and esteem, as attested by the success that has attended his business activities. He is financially interested also in important cement manufacturing plants in Dallas, Texas ; near Kansas City, Missouri, and at Mason City, Iowa; and he handles the products of the same in connection with his extensive business at Beatrice. , Mr. Graff is the owner of fifty acres of valuable land on the Rio Grande river, in Hildridge county, Texas, and twenty acres near Lake View, Oregon. He is liberal and publicspirited in his civic attitude, is a Republican in politics, is affiliated with the Beatrice organizations of the Modern Woodmen of America, the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks, and the Woodmen of the World, and he and his wife are communicants of the Catholic church in their home city.

February 8, 1888, recorded the marriage of Mr. Graft' to Miss Elizabeth Buckley, who was born in Canada and who was a daughter of John and Mary Buckley. Her father was born in Ireland and was a young man when he came to America and established his home in Canada, where he married and where he remained until after the death of his wife. Finally he came with his six children to Gage county, Nebraska, where he engaged in farming and where he passed the remainder of his life, his remains being interred in the Catholic cemetery, at Beatrice. Mrs. Graff passed to the life eternal on the 8th of March, 1908, and is survived by three children : Irene T. is the wife of L,eo Werner, who is associated with Mr. Graff in the conducting of the lumber business at Beatrice; Joseph J. is a member of the United States aviation corps that is preparing for service in the great European war, and at the time of this writing, in the winter of 1917-1918, he is stationed at San Antonio, Texas; and Carl H., in January, 1918, passed the examination in the training camp for officers in the United States aviation service in the European war. In 1910 Mr.

Graff wedded Miss Mary Buckley, a sister of his first wife, and she is the gracious chatelaine of their pleasant and hospitable home. No children have been born of this union.

JESSE L. SCHLOSSER. - At this point it is possible to accord merited recognition to another of the venerable and honored pioneer citizens of Gage county, Mr. Schlosser having been a resident of Nebraska for the past forty years and now maintaining his home in the city of Beatrice.

Jesse L. Schlosser was bom in Greene county, Ohio, on the 13th of October, 1842, .and in the old Buckeye state he was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm, the while he made good use of the advantages offered by the common schools of the locality. He was still a youth at the time of the family removal to Michigan, where he continued his active association with agricultural industry, and in that state was solemnized his marriage to Miss Polly Schock, who was bom at Tiffin, Seneca county, Ohio. In 1877 Mr. Schlosser came with his family to Nebraska, and, prior to the construction of a railroad, they made the overland trip with team and wagon from Falls City to Gage county. Mrs. Schlosser had received as a heritage from the estate of her father a tract of eighty acres of land in Blue Springs township, this county, and on this embryonic farm Mr. Schlosser erected as ai domicile for his family a pioneer shanty, twelve by fourteen feet in lateral dimensions and provided with a "lean-to" about ten feet square. With the passing years he developed his farm and made good improvements on the same, and there he continued his active alliance with agricultural industry for twentytwo years. In the early days he hauled his wheat to Marysville, Marshall county, Kansas, two days being required to compass this overland trip, and he sold wheat at times for a price as low as thirty-five cents a bushel - a statement that is specially significant in comparison with prices demanded at the present time, when the government is putting forth every effort for food conservation, incidental to the nation's entrance into the great European war. It may further be noted that the first hogs which Mr. Schlosser raised on his farm were sold at the rate of three and onehalf dollars a hundredweight.

Mr. Schlosser remained on his farm, to the area of which he had added by degrees, until about the year 1898, when he sold the property and removed with his family to Beatrice, the county seat. For three or more years thereafter he was employed in connection with the grain business conducted by William N. Spellman, and later he was similarly associated with Henry H. Norcross, whose business finally was developed into that now controlled by the Dobbs Grain Company, with which Mr. Schlosser is connected. He is a recognized authority in the grain trade, as his experience has been long and varied, and though he is now venerable in years he preserves marked vigor of mind and physical powers, so that the thought of retiring from active association with business is repugnant to him.

Mr. Schlosser is a stalwart in the camp of the Reptiblican party and while residing on his farm he served for a number of years in the office of treasurer of Blue Springs township. He is afliliated with the Masonic fraternity and both he and his wife hold membership in the Presbyterian church. They became the parents of one child, Carrie M., who is the wife of Dr. Clemens A. Spellman, a leading dentist of Beatrice and individually mentioned on other pages of this work.

ALBERT T. MILBURN. - He whose name initiates this paragraph is the senior partner of the Milburn & Scott Company, printers and bookbinders, and the well established business with which he is thus connected is one of the important enterprises of Beatrice. This company has an establishment of most modem facilities for the handling of all kinds of job printing and book binding, a specialty being made of the manufacturing of high-grade blank books and the handling of a general line of supplies for county offices, banks, etc., while the concern keeps in stock also a full assortment of office stationery and supplies, so that the enterprise has been ex- tended far outside the boundaries of Gage county. Mr. Milburn has been a resident of Gage county since he was about twelve years of age and in his independent career has here found ample opportunity for the achieving of substantial success and established place as one of the representative business men of the metropolis and judicial center of the county.

Mr. Milburn was born on a farm near Chebanse, Iroquois county, Illinois, on the 22d of March, 1874, and is a son of Thomas H. and Sarah E. (Fanning) Milburn, who were born in the province of Ontario, Canada, and whose marriage was solemnized in the state of Illinois. The paternal grandfather, John Milburn, was born and reared in England, whence he finally immigrated to America and established his residence in the Dominion of Canada. Later he removed with his family to the state of Illinois, where he passed the remainder of his life, his vocation having been that of farming during the greater part of his active career. George Fanning, the maternal grandfather of the subject of this review, came to America from Ireland and after having lived for a term of years in Canada he removed to Illinois, where he became a prosperous farmer and where he died at the venerable age of eighty-four years.

Thomas II. Milburn established his residence in Illinois prior to the Civil war and he . was one of the early employes of the celebrated McCormick Harvester Company. Later he engaged in farming near Chebanse, that state, and through this medium he laid the foundation for his substantial success. In 1886 Mr. Milburn came with his family to Gage county, Nebraska, and established his residence at Beatrice. He purchased farm land in the county, having owned two or three different farms, and he gave his personal supervision to his farm properties in a general way, though he continued to reside in Beatrice until his death, in 1901, at the age of sixtytwo years. His political support was given to the Republican party and his religious faith was that of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which his venerable widow likewise is a devoted member, she still maintaining her home at Beatrice and the year 1918 recording the seventy-eighth anniversary of her birth. Of their three children the subject of this sketch is the younger of the two surviving, and George H. is actively identified with mercantile enterprise at Beatrice.

To the public schools of Illinois Albert T. Milburn is indebted for his preliminary educational discipline and after the family removal to Beatrice he here continued his studies until he had profited by the advantages of the high school. At the age of seventeen years he initiated his apprenticeship to the trade of book-binding, and also that of printer. He became skilled in all technical details of these lines of business and finally engaged independently in business by associating himself with others in founding the enterprise with which he is now connected and to the upbuilding of which he has given his best energies, his associates in Milburn & Scott Company being John C. Scott and Albert H. Buckman,

While unremitting in his application to business, Mr. Milburn has simultaneously stood exponent of loyal and progressive citizenship and has taken deep interest in the social and material advancement of his home city. His political views are indicated by the unwavering support which he gives to the cause of the Republican party, and as a representative of the same he was elected a member of the city council when he was but twenty-eight years of age. He held this office four years, during which he was the youngest member of the municipal body, and he did all in his power to further wise and economical administration of the city government and to promote needed public improvements. He is one of the appreciative and popular members of the local lodge of the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks, his religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal church and his wife is an active member of the Presbyterian church.

In June, 1909, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Milburn to Miss Martha McClellan, who was born and reared at Holmesville, this county, and whose father, the late Robert H. McClellan, was one of the early pioneer set- tiers of Gage county, where he reclaimed and improved a valuable farm and where he served for a long period in the office of justice of the peace. Mr. and Mrs. Milburn have three children - Robert, William, and Martha Virginia.

JOHN T. YULE. - In the spring of 1879 John T. Yule became associated with his honored father in the preparation of the first set of abstracts of real-estate titles for Gage county, and these initial records, as supplemented by the careful additions made in the intervening years, continue to be recognized as the ultimate abstract authorities in this county, the while John T. Yule continues actively to conduct the important abstract business in which he was the coadjutor of his father until the latter's death, on the 2d of June, 1907. He is not only one of the best known and most essentially representative citizens of Gage county but takes deep pride in the position of influence gained by his father, who was long numbered among the foremost and most honored citizens of this county, a special tribute to his memory being entered on other pages of this work, so that in the present connection is not demanded further review of the family history.

John T. Yule was born in Columbia county, Wisconsin, on the 3d of June, 1856, and is one of the two surviving children of Thomas and Mary (Todd) Yule. In his native county John T. Yule was reared to adult age and after having there availed himself of the advantages of the high school at Portage, the county seat, he followed the course of his ambition by entering the law department of the University of Wisconsin, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1877, his admission to the bar of his native state having been virtually coincident with his reception of the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He served a brief professional novitiate by engaging in the practice of law at Portage, but within a year after his graduation he accompanied his parents on their removal to Beatrice, Nebraska, where the family home was established in May, 1879. Here Mr. Yule did not find it expedient to engage in the work of his profession, but he became closely associated with his father in the extending of financial loans on real-estate security and also in the important work of compiling from the county records the first complete set of books containing concise and authoritative abstracts of title to all realty in the county. Later they expanded their abstract business into other counties in this section of the state, as well as into adjoining sections of Kansas, and the business became one of extensive and important order, its cumulative ramifications having continued to the present time and the subject of this sketch having continued in full control of the enterprise since the death of his father. He maintains his well appointed offices in the Drake building, and so admirably has all work been systematized that the most absolute efficiency of service is given by this pioneer abstract institution, the records being kept constantly up to date, by the proper entrance of data concerning every real-estate transaction in the county. In connection with his long and active association with this line of enterprise Mr. Yule has found his knowledge of the law of inestimable value, though he has not engaged actively in the practice of the profession for which he so carefully prepared himself. By virtue of his intellectual and business ability he is well fortified for leadership in popular sentiment and action and he has been active and influential in the local councils of the Republican party, though never manifesting any ambition for political preferment in an official sense. His civic loyalty has been of insistent and helpful order and he has given effective service both as city clerk and city treasurer of Beatrice. Through his business activities he has contributed his quota to the civic and industrial progress of his home city and county and he commands the unqualified esteem of all who know him. He and his family are active members of the Presbyterian church.

On the 24th of October, 1877, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Yule to Miss Emma Shattuck, who was born at Moundsville, Marshall county. West Virginia, and who was a girl at the time of the family removal to Wisconsin, where she was reared and educated. Mr. and Mrs. Yule became the parents of eleven children, and concerning the nine now living the following brief record is given in conclusion of this review : Alice is the wife of James R. Robinson, who is engaged in the automobile business at Ennis, Texas ; IvUcille is the wife of C. R. Taylor, of Beatrice ; Laura is the wife of Dale Chapman, of this city; Thomas K. is successfully and extensively engaged in the sheep-growing business in Colorado, with residence at Fort Collins, and it may be noted that in the season of 1917 he fed on his ranch twenty-one thousand head of sheep and lambs; Mary is employed as cashier in a leading meat market in Beatrice ; Miriam and Mildred hold responsible positions in business offices in their home city; Hattie holds a clerkship in a local mercantile establishment; and Arlene is the youngest of the number, she being at the parental home, as are also the other unmarried daughters, the family being one of marked popularity in the representative social activities of Beatrice.

JOHN B. FULTON, M. D. - To no man should be accorded a higher degree of honor than to the skilled and loyal physician and surgeon who has given years of earnest and effective service in the alleviation of human suffering and distress, and to Dr. Fulton is uniformly accorded this honor in Gage county, where he has lived and labored unselfishly and devotedly in the work of his humane profession and where, as a pioneer physician and surgeon, he lived up to the full tension of exacting service demanded of him in the early days, when he traversed the country over a radius of many miles, in summer's heat and winter's rigorous blasts, often finding his way on horseback over almost impassable roads and even across the prairie where no roads were defined - and all this in his zeal to aid those who made call for his ministrations. Though he has now passed the eightieth mile-stone on the journey of life, he retains splendid mental and physical vigor, keeps in touch with the advances in his profession and responds frequently to the calls made for his ministrations on the part of families to which he has given such service during the course of many years. A man of strength and honor, he has been the friend and benefactor of humanity, and it may -well be understood that he is held in reverent affection in the county that has so long represented his home and been the stage of his able and sympathetic services. Thus historic consistency is conserved in according to him a tribute in this publication, and even this brief record must bear its measure of lesson and inspiration.

Dr. John Blythe Fulton was born in Highland county, Ohio, on the 9th of June, 1833, and is a son of William and Catherine (Baskin) Fulton, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Ireland. The paternal grandparents of Dr. Fulton were born in Ireland and were numbered among the sterling pioneers of Pennsylvania. William Fulton, father of the Doctor, was reared and educated in the old Keystone state and thence went to Ohio, where he became a pioneer farmer in Highland county, both he and his wife there continuing their residence until they were summoned from the stage of their mortal endeavors - secure in the respect and esteem of all who knew them.

Under the sturdy and invigorating discipline of the home farm Dr. Fulton waxed strong of brain and brawn during the period of his childhood and youth, and his alert and receptive mind caused him to profit fully by the advantages afforded in the common schools of the locality and period. He supplemented this training by a course of higher study in Hillsboro Academy, a well ordered institution in his native county, and in preparation for the work of his profession he went to the state of Pennsylvania, where he prosecuted his technical studies under effective preceptorship and earnestly fortified himself for his exacting and responsible vocation. He began his professional novitiate in Pennsylvania, later removing to Fairbury, Livingston county, Illinois, and there he continued in active and successful general practice for the long period of twenty-one years. Gracious were the environment and associations which he there forsook to number himself among the pioneer representative of his profession in Nebraska, to which state he came in 1879, somewhat more than a decade after its admission to the Union. He estabUshed his home at Beatrice, the judicial center of Gage county, the now beautiful little city having then been a straggling frontier village, and in those days he was one of only three physicians in the county, the other two who were his contemporaries in this pioneer prestige having been Dr. Webb and Dr. Huff, both of whom have passed to the life eternal.

Dr. Fulton was earnest and indefatigable in his professional ministration during the pioneer epoch and in the latter years of opulent prosperity and progress, and in the early days he made a remarkably successful record in the treatment of the all prevalent fever from which the settlers suffered. The Doctor is an optimist by very nature and his altruism has always been on a parity with his abiding human sympathy, so that it may well be understood that his ministrations have been beneficent in the bringing of cheer as well as in relieving physical ailments. Aside from slight lameness, due to the improper adjustment of a broken hip when he was a youth. Dr. Fulton is still active and vigorous, the years resting lightly upon him and his lines being cast in pleasant places, as he lives and moves among a people who accord to him affectionate regard and hold him always as persona grata.

Dr. Fulton has been a leader in popular sentiment and action in Gage county during the many years of his residence within its borders and has been found aligned as a stalwart advocate of the principles and policies for which the Democratic party has ever stood sponsor in a basic way. He has for many years maintained affiliation with the Masonic fraternity, and while he was reared in the faith of the Presbyterian church, of which his father was an elder for forty years, his personal study and research have in later years

In 1882 Dr. Fulton purchased two bloodhounds and for thirty-six years he has maintained the "Beatrice Bloodhound Kennels," widely known for their effectiveness in breeding, raising, and training bloodhounds for use in tracing and locating criminals. The dogs are trained and managed by the Doctor's son, Richard, familiarly known as "Dick," who has a wide reputation as a detective. In the kennels are, in the spring of 1918, twenty or more animals, and at various times the number of hounds in these celebrated kennels has been as high as forty. A market for these animals is found all over the United States and in foreign countries, and high prices are paid for the animals.

As a young man of about twenty-nine years Dr. Fulton wedded Miss Sarah Phipps. who was born in Pennsylvania, a daughter of Judge David Phipps, and she passed to the life eternal in the year 1903. Of this union were born nine children, of whom eight are living, and concerning them the following brief data are available; Mary Maggie is the wife of W. W. Johnston, of Omaha, Nebraska; Oliver P. is engaged in the realestate business in Beatrice ; Belle is the widow of A. D. Butt, of Los Angeles, CaHfornia; Thos. B. is associated with the Beatrice Sun and has been engaged in the newspaper business for thirty years; William S. is a successful sign painter in Beatrice ; Hattie is the wife of J. H. Simon, of Boston, Massachusetts; Richard maintains his residence in Beatrice; Jesse E. died at the age of about thirty-five years ; and Fitch B. is a talented artist, now a resident of the state of CaHfornia.

In contracting a second marriage. Dr. Fulton wedded Miss Emily May, a daughter of one of the early clergymen of the Methodist church in Nebraska. No children have been born of this marriage.

FRANK E. LEFFERDINK. - Banking enterprise in Gage county numbers among its successful and popular exponents of the younger generation Frank E. Lefferdink, who

Mr. Lefferdink was born in Lancaster county, Nebraska, on the 16th of September, 1885, and his parents now maintain their residence at Hickman, that county, where his father is living virtually retired. William Lefferdink was born near the city of Amsterdam, Holland, in the year 1847, and was reared and educated in his native land. In 1868, about the time of attaining to his legal majority, he came to the United States. He passed the ensuing year in Wisconsin and then, in 1869, came to Nebraska, a state that had been admitted to the Union only two years previously. In Lancaster county he obtained a homestead claim of eighty acres, and he was so deeply impressed with the advantages and attractions of the new commonwealth that he soon returned to his native land and induced eighty of his fellow countrymen to come likewise to America and acquire for themselves government land in Nebraska. Later he made a second trip to Holland, and on his return he was accompanied by one hundred and thirtytwo earnest and industrious Hollanders, who became colonists in the vicinity of Hickman, Nebraska. He was thus primarily instrumental in gaining to Lancaster county a goodly contingent of most valuable citizens, as the Hollanders are known for their frugality, industry, and effective methods of intensive farming - not an inch of ground being by them permitted to go to waste in the matter of productiveness. William Lefferdink merits from Nebraska enduring gratitude for his efforts in bringing to the state in the early period of its history a valuable element that has been conspicuous in the development and advancing of the agricultural interests of this now opulent commonwealth. Mr. Lefferdink was a carpenter by trade, and as an able contractor and builder he assisted in the erection of many buildings in the city of Lincoln in the early days when the fifie capital city contained not more than twelve or thirteen buildings. With the passing years he added to his landed estate and gained substantial prosperity, so that, as the shadows of his earnest and useful life begin to lengthen from the golden west, he is enjoying well earned peace and comfort in the attractive home which he has provided in the village of Hickman.

While residing in Wisconsin William Lefferdink wedded Miss Anna Port, who was born in that state, in 1850, her parents having been pioneers of Wisconsin, where they continued to reside until their death and where the father was a farmer by vocation. William and Anna (Port) Lefferdink became the parents of seven children, concerning whom brief mention may be consistently made at this point: Dena is the wife of William Smith, a prosperous farmer in western Nebraska; Nellie is the wife of Richard Schutte, who has -charge of one of her father's farms near Hickman, Lancaster county; Henry is a retired banker and resides in the city of Lincoln; Emma is the wife of Alfred Christopher, a farmer near Ashton, South Dakota; Frank E-, of this review, was the next in order of birth ; William is cashier of the State Bank of Hadar, Pierce county, Nebraska; and Cornelius is cashier of the State Bank of Calumet, Iowa.

Frank E. Lefferdink acquired his early education in the public schools of his native county, and this discipline included a course in the high school in the city of Lincoln. He was graduated in the high school as a member of the class of 1904, and thereafter he completed a course in a business college in the capital city, with special attention given to thetheory and practical work of banking. In his initial experience in connection with the banking business he was employed two and onehalf years at Platte, South Dakota, and thereafter he held for a short period the office of president of the State Bank of Denton, Lancaster county, Nebraska. Prior to coming to Wymore, Gage county, he had been employed two years in the Farmers' Savings Bank of Gaza, Iowa, a position from which he retired to assume that of cashier of the Farmers' & Merchants' Bank of Wymore. Of this office he has been the incumbent since November 20,

1916, and within his tenure of this executive position the deposits of the bank have increased from one hundred and thirty thousand to two hundred and thirty-six thousand dollars - a definite testimonial to his ability and eifective executive policies.

In politics Mr. Lefferdink gives his allegiance to the Republican party, he was reared in the faith of the Dutch Reformed church, and his wife holds membership in the Lutheran church. After establishing his residence in Wymore he here erected the attractive modern house which is the family home and which is one of the beautiful and hospitable domiciles of the thriving little city. While he gives close attention to the banking business, Mr. LefTerdink has made judicious investment in valuable land in Lancaster county, this property having been purchased by him from his father.

In June, 1916, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Lefi'erdink to Miss Maude Martin, who was born at Hickman, Lancaster county, her parents having been pioneer settlers in that county. Mr. and Mrs. Leflferdink have a winsome little daughter, Dorothy.

JOHN L. HERSHEY is the efficient and popular incumbent of the position of official engineer for Gage county and also the city of Beatrice, and in his chosen profession he has won a station of substantial success

Mr. Hershey was born in Monmouth, Illinois, on the 19th of September, 1881, and is a son of Samuel and Barbara Ella (Swilerl Hershey, both natives of the state of Pennsylvania, where the former was born December 6, 1843, and the latter on the 22d of September, 1850, she being a daughter of David Swiler, who removed with his family to Kansas in an early day. Samuel Hershey was reared and educated in the old Keystone state and he was a young man when he accompanied his parents on their removal to Illinois. He is a son of Jacob Hershey, who was a farmer and miller in Pennsylvania and who became a successful exponent of agricultural enterprise after his removal to Illinois, where he and his wife passed the residue of their lives.

Samuel Hershey learned in his youth the trade of carpenter and he became a successful contractor and builder in Illinois. In 1884 he came with his family to Gage county, Nebraska, and established his residence in Beatrice, where he continued his activities as a contractor and builder and had the supervision of the erection of a number of important public and business buildings, including the Gage county court house, the Beatrice postoffice and many of the attractive business blocks of the city of Beatrice. He and his wife still maintain their home in the county's metropolis and he is now in the employ of the Dempster Mill Manufacturing Company. Mr. and Mrs. Hershey became the parents of five children, of whom four are living: Frances R. is the widow of Charles F. Rogers and is now a popular teacher in the public schools of Beatrice; Charles W. is in the employ of the Pacific Electric Company, in the city of Los Angeles, California; Archibald C. is engaged in the real-estate business in Los Angeles ; and John L., of this review, is the youngest of the number. The children received excellent educational advantages, all attending the University of Nebraska except Charles W., who finished his education at Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois. Samuel Hershey is a Republican in politics, is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and both he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church.

John L. Hershey, the immediate subject of this review, was about three years of agewhen the family home was established in Beatrice. Here he attended the public schools until he had completed the curriculum of the high school, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1900. In 1906 he graduated from the Engineering College of the University of Nebraska, and for two years thereafter he was employed in the construction of reinforced concrete buildings in the state, for a Lincoln firm. The next five years, found him in charge of important irrigation work in Colorado and Idaho, and this experience added greatly to his practical skill in his profession. In 1913 Mr. Hershey returned to Beatrice and, as an able and experienced civil engineer, was given appointment to his present responsible position as special engineer for the city and as county engineer, in which connection he had done a large amount of important work, especially for the city of Beatrice.

In politics Mr. Hershey is a Republican, and he takes loyal interest in all things pertaining to the welfare and progress of his home city and county. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and both he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church.

In March, 1907, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hershey to Miss Mae E. Brubaker, a daughter of the late I. H. Brubaker, who was a successful farmer and grain dealer in Gage county. Mr. and Mrs. Hershey have a winsome little daughter, Martha E.

PHILIP CRAFE. - The man who can today qualify as a progressive and successful exponent of the great basic industries of agriculture and stock-growing as carried forward under the admirable conditions and influences provided in the state of Nebraska, may well consider himself fortunate and have full confidence that his "lines are cast in pleasant places." Gage county is favored beyond measure in the personnel of its representative farmers and stock-raisers, and as one of the specially vigorous and resourceful exemplifiers of these all-important branches of productive enterprise Mr. Graff is eminently entitled to recognition in this history. He is the owner of one of the finely improved and distinctly model landed estates of Gage county, the same comprising six hundred and eighty acres, situated in Blakely township, with service on rural mail route No. 1, from the city of Beatrice.

Mr. Graff was born in the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on the 21st of May, 1857, and is a scion of one of those sterling German families that were destined to play so large and benignant a part in the development and progress of the Badger state. Mr. Graff is a son of Joseph and Theresa (Meyer) Graff, both of whom were born in Baden, Germany, where they were reared and educated, and who were married in Wisconsin. In 1854 Joseph Graff severed the ties that bound him to the German fatherland and came to America. For a few years after his marriage the family home was maintained in the city of Milwaukee, and eventually he removed to Iowa, where he worked on the river. Soon, however, he determined to cast in his lot with the Territory of Nebraska, which was then aspiring to statehood. On the 15th of April, 1860, he arrived with his family in Gage county, which at that time was little more than an unbroken prairie wilderness, Indians and all manner of wild game being still plentiful in this section of the territory. He purchased a tract of wild land in what is now Blakely township and the same constitutes an integral part of the present highly improved farm property of his son Philip, the immediate subject of this review. Joseph Graff began the breaking of his land and making it available for cultivation. This work was done with ox teams and afforded no sybaritic indulgence, as may well be imagined. Nebraska City, about sixty miles distant, was at that time the nearest trading point and many deprivations and hardships were necessarily borne by these early settlers who laid the foundation for future opulence and progress in this section of Nebraska. After Nebraska had gained the dignity of statehood he was still found vigorously employed in the improvement and cultivation of his farm, and with the passing years he made the same one of the best in the county. As prosperity attended his efforts, he erected good buildings and made other modern provisions on the homestead, and here he remained, respected by all who knew him, until his death, on the 10th of October, 1897, at the age of sixty-seven years, his devoted wife, who had been a true helpmeet, having passed to the life eternal on the 2d of June, 1894, at the age of fifty-six years. Both were devout communicants of the Cath- ' olio church and the first Catholic services to be noted in the history of the county were held in the modest log-cabin home of these honored pioneers, besides which they assisted materially in the organization of the first Catholic church in the county and in the erection of the first church edifice. They became the parents of nine children, concerning whom the following brief data are accessible : Henry died at the age of fifty-five years ; Philip, of this review, was the next in order of bi^th; Gustav is now a resident of Pasadena, California ; Caroline died in infancy ; Louis is successfully established in the lumber business at Beatrice; George, John, Otto, and Frederick are deceased. Of the immediate family only two continue as residents of Gage 'county, as the above record indicates.

Philip Graff was three years of age at the time of the family removal to the frontier wilds of Nebraska Territory, and on the old homestead farm in Gage county he was reared under the conditions and influences of the pioneer era, so that his memory compasses the entire period in which have been wrought the marvelous progress and development in this now favored section of the state. As soon as possible the pioneers established primitive schools for their children, and in these early "institutions of learning" the subject of this sketch acquired his youthful education. From his boyhood to the present day he has continued to be closely and actively associated with the agricultural and live-stock enterprise in Gage county, and in 1898, shortly after the death of his father, he purchased the interests of the other heirs and assumed full ownership of the old home place.

When but seventeen years of age Mr. Graff initiated independent enterprise in the operation of a threshing machine, incidental to the garnering of the generous harvests in this section of the state, and he has continued his active alliance with this important industrial accessory during the long intervening years. From his youth he has done all of the threshing on the old homestead, as well as on many neighboring farms, and he has owned and operated several threshing outfits, in which connection he has kept his equipment up to the best standard, his present threshing outfit being of the most modern type. In addition to giving attention to well ordered agricultural exploitation Mr. Graff has been an extensive grower and feeder of cattle and has made this an important and successful feature of his farm enterprise. His progressiveness is further shown in his being a stockholder and vicepresident and treasurer of a well ordered cement manufacturing company at Bonner Springs, Kansas; the New Monarch Mining Company, of Leadville, Colorado ; and also of the company operating a modern smelter at Salida, Colorado. In a local way he has extended his business and capitalistic interests by becoming one of the principal stockholders of the German Savings & Loan Company, of Beatrice, of which important financial and fiduciary organization he is now the president, his well ordered executive policies having added much to the success of the business.

Mr. Graff has not been troubled with political ambition and though he has not consented to appear as a candidate for public office and is independent of strict partisan lines in politics, his influence and cooperation may always be counted upon in support of those things that conserve the best interests of the community, the state and the nation. He .and his family are communicants of the Catholic church, as members of the parish of St. Joseph's church in the city of Beatrice, where he also maintains affiliation with the Knights of Columbus.

On the 24th of November, 1886, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Graff to Miss Mary Meyer, who was born February 2, 1867, in Effingham county, Illinois, and who is a daughter of Joseph and Crecentia (Hiebler) Meyer, natives of Germany. The parents of Mrs. Graff came from Germany and settled in Illinois about the year 1853, and there they remained until 1870, when they came to Gage county, Nebraska, and settled on a farm in Blakely township, where they passed the remainder of their lives. In the concluding paragraph of this review is given brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Graff: father in the work and management of the home farm; and the younger children of the ideal family home circle are Theresa, Linda, Hugo, and Harold.

JAMES E. BEDNAR. - It is gratifying to the publishers of this history to offer within its pages recognition of James E. Bednar, a native son of Gage county, who is honoring the county in his efifective services as a member of the Nebraska bar. He is now successfully engaged in the practice of his profession in the city of Omaha, as junior member of the firm of Ringer & Bednar, with offices in the First National Bank Building. Mr. Bednar is a son of the late Albert Bednar, an honored Gage county pioneer to whom a memoir is dedicated on other pages of this volume.

James E. Bednar was bom on the family homestead in Sicily township. Gage county, September 28, 1882. As a boy and youth Mr. Bednar contributed his due quota to the work on the home farm, and after having availed himself of the advantages of the district schools, he continued his studies in the high school at Wymore. He defrayed the expenses incidental to acquiring his higher academic training and his professional education largely through his own resources. He taught the Sunny Side district school in Lancaster county prior to entering the University of Nebraska, was graduated from the University of Nebraska, in 1907, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, but continued his service in the pedagogic profession for a short time as instructor in rhetoric and debating in the high school at Beatrice, Nebraska. In the meanwhile he was but working definitely along the course of his ambitious purpose, which was to prepare himself for the legal profession. Finally he was matriculated in the law department of his alma mater, the University of Nebraska, and from this department he was graduated in June, 1910, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws and with virtually coincident admission to the bar of his native state. Shortly afterward he formed a professional partnership with J. Dean Ringer, with whom he has since continued to be associated in the practice of law in the city of Omaha, under the firm title of Ringer & Bednar. He has proved resourceful and successful both as a trial lawyer and well fortified counselor and is now serving his second year as deputy county attorney of Douglas county.

In politics Mr. Bednar accords staunch allegiance to the Democratic party. In the timehonored Masonic fraternity he has completed the circle of the Scottish Rite to the thirtysecond degree, besides being affiliated also with the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Both he and his wife hold membership in the Presbyterian church. On the 16th of June, 1910, the same day he received his long coveted "sheepskin" from the college of law, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Bednar to Britania Daughters, who was born at Mooreshill, Indiana, but who at the time was a student in the graduate college of the University of Nebraska. Mr. and Mrs. Bednar have two children - James E., Jr., born October 13, 1911, and Bryce Renwick, bom August 3, 1916.

ELBERT J. DOLE, who is a leading photographer in Nebraska's capital city, is a native son of this state and is a representative of a family that has been specially prominent and honored in Gage county, as is shown by reference to the review of the life of his mother, Mrs. Sophia H. Dole, of Beatrice, the founder of the Dole Floral Company, of which also is given specific record in this volume.

Elbert J. Dole was reared and educated in Gage county and thus is fully entitled to personal recognition in this history. He was born in Seward county, Nebraska, December 3, 1877, and he was about nine years old when the family home was established in the city of Beatrice, judicial center of Gage county. Here he continued his studies in the public schools until he had completed a course in the high school, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1898. Soon afterward he took up the study of the photographic art, and in the same he has become a recognized expert and successful professional exponent of the photographic business. He has in the past been employed in some of the best studios both in Beatrice and Lincoln, as well as by the State Journal Company, and his experience in his chosen profession has been wide and varied. Since 1912 he has conducted in the capital city of Nebraska his present handsomely appointed and thoroughly modern photographic studio, at 1125 O street, and his large and representative patronage denotes alike his professional skill and his personal popularity. Mr. Dole is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and he and his wife hold membership in the Christian church.

In 1904 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Dole to Mrs. Sadie Crumpton, who was born in the state of Ohio and who was a resident of Lincoln, Nebraska, at the time of their marriage. They have no children.

EL WOOD BIGLER. - Prominent among those whose successful activities are potent in upholding the commercial prestige of the city of Beatrice is Elwood Bigler, who here conducts a substantial and prosperous general hardware and implement business, the same having been established in 1896, under the firm title of Jacob Bigler & Son. He has conducted the enterprise in an individual way, under his own name, since 1907. His honored father, who was senior member of the original firm, was a resident of the city of Lincoln, this state, at the time of his death, in 1898.

Mr. Bigler was born in Hardin county, Ohio, on the 23d of November, 1865, and is a son of Jacob and Margaret (Runyan) Bigler, the former of whom was born in the fair little republic of Switzerland, in 1838, and the latter of whom was born in the state of Ohio, in 1842. Jacob Bigler was reared and educated in his native land and was a young man when he came to the United States. He found employment in connection with navigation activities on the Mississippi river, with headquarters in the city of New Orleans, and he was on the last packet boat that passed up the river prior to the outbreak of the Civil war. His loyalty to the Union was marked by decisive action, as he enlisted in a regiment of volunteers that was organized in the city of St. Louis, and was with his command in numerous engagements, including the battle of Wilson's Creek, Missouri, in 1861 - an engagement in which the gallant General Lyons met his death. After the war Mr. Bigler turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, and he was engaged in farming in Hardin county, Ohio, for some time prior to 1869, the year that was marked by his removal with his family to the new state of Nebraska. He settled on a pioneer farm near Crete, Saline county, in 1869, and there he continued his successful activities as an agriculturist and stock-grower until the Centennial year, 1876, when he was elected sheriff of Saline county. At that period the office of sheriff was no sinecure in Nebraska, for the state had an undue quota of lawless and incorrigible men within its borders, but Mr. Bigler gave so effective an administration in his county that he was continued as the incumbent of the shrievalty for six consecutive years, the ensuing two years finding him giving equally effective administration in the office of county clerk. After his retirement from this position he engaged in the hardware business at Crete, that county, where he remained until 1887, when he removed to Imperial, the judicial center of Chase county, where he established himself in the hardware and lumber business. He developed a large and prosperous enterprise in these lines and continued his residence at Imperial until 1895, when he removed to Lincoln, the capital city of the state, where he thereafter lived virtually retired until his death, which occurred in 1898. He was one of the sterling pioneers who contributed a generous quota to civic and material progress and prosperity in Nebraska and he commanded the high regard of all who knew him. His venerable widow now resides in the home of her son Elwood, subject of this review, and in addition to receiving the utmost filial solicitude she is graciously compassed by many friends who pay to her tribute as one of the noble pioneer women of this now favored commonwealth. Three children survive the honored father and of the number the sub-

Elwood Bigler was a lad of about three years at the time of the family removal to Nebraska. He was reared to adult age in Saline county, and was one of a few scholars in the first school established in that county. He profited by the advantages of the pioneer schools and early began to assist his father in the latter's varied business operations. In 1896 he became associated with his father in the establishing of a well ordered hardware business at Beatrice, and of the enterprise he assumed full charge, his father having been at the time a resident of Lincoln, as previously noted. He is now one of the leading exponents of the general hardware trade in Gage county, his well equipped store being situated at 400 Court street and each department of the same being well stocked at all times, so that the most efficient service is always given to the large and appreciative patronage.

Mr. Bigler takes loyal interest in all things touching the civic and material welfare and progress of his home city. He accords staunch allegiance to the Democratic party and does his part in the furtherance of its cause. In the time-honored Masonic fraternity he has received the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, his maximum York Rite affiliation being with Mount Herman Commandery of Knights Templar, besides which he is a member of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. In his home city he is likewise a popular member of the lodge of the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks and the aerie of the Fraternal Order of Eagles.

In 1909 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Bigler to Miss Nellie B. Swartz, who was bom in Brown county, Kansas, and who was a resident of Beatrice at the time of her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Bigler have no children.

JAMES G. LAWRENCE. - In Gage county, Nebraska, not to know James G. Lawrence is virtually to argue oneself unknown, for this sterling pioneer citizen of Nebraska has served as assistant postmaster at Beatrice for fully thirty years, his incumbency having continued under the administrations of eight different postmasters, including John R. Mc- Cann, who is now in tenure of this office and who is individually mentioned on other pages of this publication. Mr. Lawrence came to Nebraska shortly after attaining to his legal majority, and that he gained his quota of pioneer experience is assured by the fact that he here established his residence in 1871, about four years after the territory had gained the dignity of statehood. He has done specially efficient service as an educator and was one of the efficient and popular representatives of the pedagogic profession in Nebraska in the early days, as well as in later years. Known and honored for his character and service, his circle of friends is coincident with that of his acquaintances and it is gratifying to be able to accord him recognition in this history.

A scion of sterling New England colonial stock, Mr. Lawrence was bom in the city of Clinton, Worcester county, Massachusetts, on the 3d of February, 1850, and is a son of James S. and Caroline (Lowe) Lawrence, the former of whom was born at Harvard and the latter at Clinton, both in Worcester county, Massachusetts. James S. Lawrence learned in his youth the trade of comb-maker, and for many years he was employed as shipping clerk in the Foster & Lawrence wholesale furniture house in the city of Boston. He later engaged independently in comb manufacturing at Clinton, Massachusetts, and through this medium he achieved definite success and prestige, both he and his wife having continued their residence at Clinton until their death and both having been zealous members of the Congregational church, in which connection it may be noted that during the period of his residence in the city of Boston Mr. Lawrence maintained membership in the historic old Winthrop church of this denomination. The subject of this review was the third in ordfer of birth in a family of six children, and concerning the others the following brief data are available: Oscar is in the service of the municipal government of Worcester, Massa- chusetts; John is a prosperous farmer near Northboro, Worcester county, Massachusetts ; Charles and Caroline are twins, the former being a resident of Northboro, Massachusetts, and the latter the widow of Harrison P. Fay, maintaining her home at Nanuet, New York, where her husband had been principal in the public schools ; and the sixth child, a son, died in infancy. From the. above record it will be discerned that of the immediate family James G. Lawrence is the only representative in the west, and his loyalty to Nebraska is on a parity with his appreciation of the historic old commonwealth of which he is a native son.

Mr. Lawrence is indebted to the public schools of his native city for his early educational discipline, and there he was graduated in the high school as a member of the class of 1(S68. Soon afterward he became a clerk in the postoffice at CHnton, and there he served as assistant postmaster for two years. In 1871, at the age of twenty-one years, he came to the new state of Nebraska and after visiting Beatrice, which was then a mere village, he made his way to Thayer county, where he entered claim to a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres of virgin land. He remained on the place until he had perfected his title thereto and later he disposed of the property. Mr. Lawrence soon found opportunity for making effective use of his ability as a teacher, and for a number of years he taught in the public schools of Thayer and Gage counties. After his marriage Mr. Lawrence returned to the east and engaged in comb manufacturing at Clinton, Massachusetts, but after an experience of two years he was unable to resist the lure of the vital and progressive west and accordingly returned to Beatrice, where he gave his attention to teaching in the county schools until he was appointed assistant postmaster, in 1887, under the administration of President Cleveland. He has held this position during the long intervening years, his original appointment having been made under the regime of Samuel E. Rigg as postmaster, and it may well be understood that each successive incumbent has placed high and fully justified estimate upon the value of his services, for no man in Gage county has a wider acquaintance with its people and none has so comprehensive a grasp upon all details pertaining to the administration of the postoffice business in Beatrice, where his service ha.'i kept pace with the march of civic and material development and progress that has made Beatrice one of the vital and prosperous cities of the state. A man of broad mental ken, strong in his convictions and unequivocally loyal and public-spirited as a citizen, Mr. Lawrence is unfaltering in his allegiance to the Democratic party and has been prominent in its local councils in Gage county. He is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America and attends and supports the Christian church, of which his wife was an active member.

On the 2Sth of December, 1878, Mr. Lawrence wedded Miss Laura E. Pheasant, whose father, the late Edward Pheasant, was one of the representative pioneers of Gage county, where he became the owner of a large tract of land and developed the same into a well improved and valuable property. In conclusion is entered brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence: Harold E. is. assistant superintendent of the Dempster Mill Manufacturing Company, of Beatrice; Clifford J. remains at the parental home; James E. is city editor of the Lincoln Daily Star, in the capital city of Nebraska, and he has been very successful as a representative of newspaper work, even as he showed his ambition and resourcefulness by defraying almost entirely through his own eflForts the expenses incidental to his course in the University of Nebraska, in which he was graduated: he married Miss Helen Graves, of Lincoln, and they have one child, Helen E. ; Esther, the only daughter now living, was graduated in the Beatrice high school and since the death of her mother, which occurred November 23, 1917, she has taken the latter's place in the family home; Ruth, the youngest child, died at the age of eleven years.

a representative of one of the sterling pioneer families of Nebraska, and in his independent career he has well maintained the honors of the family name, both in the matter of loyal citizenship and also through his productive activities in connection with agricultural industry.

Mr. Hebel was born in Bohemia, Austria- Hungary, and the date of his nativity was January 3, 1858. He is a son of Joseph and Mary (Machova) Hebel, who likewise were born and reared in Bohemia, the former having been bom in 1833 and the latter in 1840. In 1869 Joseph Hebel, Sr., immigrated with his family to America and in the same year he numbered himself among the pioneers of the new state of Nebraska. Prior to coming to the United States Mr. Hebel had served eleven years in one of the governmental military organizations of his native land. Upon coming to Nebraska he obtained a homestead claim in Saline county, and upon this wild prairie tract he built as a home for his family a primitive dug-out of the type common to the early pioneer days. This rudimentary building had a roof that was thatched with hay, and the only floor was the earth. On this pioneer farm Mr. Hebel continued his sturdy activities for ten years, at the expiration of which, in 1879, he came to Gage county and established a home on a tract of one hundred and sixty acres that is now in Section 7, Paddock township, the land having originally been a part of the Otoe Indian reservation, which had but shortly before been opened to settlement. Here Mr. Hebel continued his farm operations with vigor and success until he was called from the stage of his mortal endeavors, his death having occurred in 1889. His widow subsequently contracted a second marriage and she now resides at Wilber, Saline county, she being a devout communicant of the Catholic church, as was also Joseph Hebel, her first husband. Mr. and Mrs. Hebel became the parents of twelve children: Joseph is the immediate subject of this review; James was a resident of Rawlins county, Kansas, at the time of his death; Annie is the wife of Lewis Rathbun, of Glenwood township. Gage county; Charles likewise is a resident of this county ; Mary is the wife of John Cacek, of Paddock township; Nettie is the wife of Joseph Synovec, of Paddock township : Robert is a resident of Fairbury, Jefferson county; Mary is the wife of Joseph Turhlicka, of Glenwood township, Gage county: and the other four children died when young.

He whose name introduces this review was a lad of ten years at the time of the family immigration to the United States and he was reared under the conditions and influences that marked the pioneer period of Nebraska history. As a boy and youth he herded cattle and worked on his father's farm in Saline county, and in the meanwhile he attended school when opportunity afforded. He was a sturdy youth of about twenty years when he accompanied his parents on their removal to Gage county, and before he had attained to his legal majority he purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land in Paddock township, this being the homestead place on which he has resided during the long intervening years. When he came into possession of this embryonic farm not a furrow had been turned on the land and no improvement had been made in any way, as the tract had but recently been placed on the market, as a part of the former Otoe Indian reservation. Within the forty years of his residence on this farm Mr. Hebel has made excellent improvements upon the place, as he has erected good farm buildings and given other distinct evidences of his progressiveness and good judgment. The passing years have brought to him a generous measure of prosperity, as attested by the fact that he has gradually added to his holdings until he now owns a valuable farm property of two hundred and forty acres. This achievement and success represent the tangible results of his own well directed efforts and unflagging industry.

As his wife and helpmeet Mr. Hebel chose Miss Mary Fitte, who was born in Bohemia, March 8, 1862, and who was twelve years of age when she came with her parents to the United States. She was a daughter of Michael and Anna Fitte, who were numbered among the early settlers of Saline county, Nebraska, and who now reside in the village of Swanton, that county. Mrs. Hebel was called to the life eternal on the 12th of September, 1908, and concerning the children the following brief record is consistently entered: Emma is the wife of Frank Vanosek, of Glenwood township; Minnie is the wife of Emil Novotny, of the same township ; Kate is the wife of Frank Fleisleber, likewise of Glenwood township; Nellie is the wife of Philip Graff, of Sicily township; and Annie, Mattie, and Augusta remain at the paternal home.

Joseph Hebel is one of the highy respected pioneer citizens of his community, and he is always ready to give his influence and support to any cause tending to advance the best interests of the county in which he has maintained his home for more than forty years. In politics he maintains an independent attitude, and votes for men and measures that meet the approval of his judgment. He has for eighteen years given efficient and valued service as treasurer of his school district, and has been influential in bringing the educational work of the district up to its present high standard.

Reverting to his many youthful experiences in connection with pioneer life in Nebraska, Mr. Hebel relates that on one occasion he accompanied his father on foot from the home in Saline county to Nebraska City. When night came they asked for lodging at a farm house, but no place could be found to accommodate them. They then attempted to sleep on a pile of straw in the barnyard, but they became so cold that they had to arise and travel on. They covered on foot the entire distance of eighty-five miles between their home and Nebraska City, and on their return trip they were more fortunate in obtaining a night's lodging, as they were given a place on the floor of a pioneer farm house and provided with a covering of sheep pelts. This is but one of many incidents which Mr. Hebel recalls concerning the conditions of the early days.

HENRY WILLIAMSON. - A resident of Gage county for nearly forty years, Mr, Williamson proved himself specially energetic and resourceful in his productive activities as an exponent of farm industry in this section of the state, and he developed one of the valuabfe farm properties of Glenwood township. He finally retired from the old homestead to establish his residence in the city of Beatrice, but a life of ease had no allurement for him and he has here proved again his success-proclivities by engaging in the coal business, in which line of enterprise he controls a large and representative trade - based alike on fair and honorable dealings and upon his unqualified personal popularity in the community. A share of pioneer honors attaches to his name and achievement and consistency is observed when he is here accorded recognition as one of the representative citizens of Gage county.

Mr. Williamson was born at Dixon, Lee county, Illinois, on the 6th of December, 1855, and is a son of John and Margaret (Uhl) Williamson, the former a native of Ireland and the latter of the state of Maryland, where their marriage was solemnized. In the early '50s John Williamson and his wife enrolled themselves as pioneers of Lee county, Illinois, to which section of the state they made their way from Chicago by means of team and wagon. In that county Mr. Williamson purchased^ at the rate of one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre, a tract of land that is now worth more than two hundred dollars on acre. He continued to give his close attention to the reclamation and development of his farm until the outbreak of the Civil war brought to him the call of higher duty. In response to President Lincoln's first call, he enlisted, early in 1861, as a private in Company A, Seventy-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He proceeded with his command to the front, took part in the various ' engagements in which it was involved up to and including the battle of Missionary Ridge, in which engagement he was captured by the enemy. He was incarcerated as a prisoner of war in the famous Libby Prison of odious memory, and there it was his to endure the horrors and privations that made the name of that Conferedate prison-pen, infamous in the annals of history, besides which he made the supreme sacrifice in behalf of the cause for which he had enlisted, as he died while in Libby Prison, in November, 1863. His widow survived him by more than twenty years and was a resident of Carroll, Carroll county, Iowa, at the time of her death, on the 31st of January, 1887. They became the parents of six children, of whom four are living: George, a painter by trade and vocation, resides at Odell, Gage county, Nebraska ; Lydia is the widow of E. L. Burkett, and maintains her home at Beaver Crossing, Seward county, this state; Henry, of this review, was the next in order of birth ; and Anna is the wife of C. C. Collins, who is engaged in the lumber business at Oak Park, Illinois. The honored father espoused the cause of the Republican party at the time of its organization and as a man and citizen he commanded the high regard of all who knew him. His father, George Williamson, likewise came from Ireland and became an early settler and prosperous farmer of Illinois, where he passed the remainder of his life. Peter Uhl, maternal grandfather of the subject of this review, likewise became one of the pioneer farmers of Illinois, where he remained until the close of his life. Mrs. Margaret (Uhl) Williamson bravely and unselfishly devoted herself to the care and rearing of her children after the untimely death of her husband, and she exemplified the truest and noblest traits of gracious womanhood, her religious faith having been that of the Methodist Episcopal church.