Gage County, Nebraska - Chapter 31: People Who Have Done Their Part in Making Gage County, 1918 (part 8 of 29)

Henry Williamson was a lad of about eight years at the time of his father's death and soon afterward he became a member of the family circle of his uncle, Heniy Uhl, a far- 'mer near Dixon, Illinois. He remained with his uncle until he had attained to his legal majority and in the meanwhile profited by the advantages afforded in the schools of the locality. Soon after attaining to his legal majority Mr. Williamson went to the city of

I^eokuk, Iowa, where he completed a course in the Baylies Business College. For two years thereafter he was engaged in the grain and coal business at Carroll, Iowa, and in the spring of 1880, shortly before his marriage, he came to Gage county, Nebraska. He had first come to this county in 1872 and had purchased a tract of land in the southern part of the county - at the rate of three dollars an acre. At that tiine the railroad came only to Beatrice and from this point he had to go twenty-five miles on horseback to look over the land which he purchased.

On this embryonic farm of one hundred and sixty acres, in Section 30, Glenwood township, Mr. Williamson instituted improvements and he had provided a comfortable house before bringing his bride to the new home. Mr. WiUiamson developed his original farm into one of the valuable properties of the county and became specially successful in his well ordered activities as an agriculturist and stock-grower. While on the farm he was prominent in community affairs, served as justice of the peace and also as school director, and he continued his active association with farm industry until 1910, when he removed to the city of Beatrice. Here he lived retired for one year and he then engaged in the coal business, with which he has since continued his active and successful association. He handles also wood, tankage, and oil meal, and his business is of substantial order in all departments. Mr. Williamson is still the owner of a. well improved landed estate in Gage county, his farm being in Midland township, near Beatrice, and comprising eighty acres. He is the owner also of a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in southeastern Kansas, and of another tract, of four hundred and eighty acres, jn Washington county, that state. He has been in the most significant sense the founder and builder of his prosperity, as he had neither financial reinforcement or influential friends to aid him when he set forth as a youth to gain for himself independence and advancement. As a representative of livestock industry in this section of Nebraska Mr. Williamson did much to improve the type of cattle raised, and he exhibited on more than one occasion fine cattle at the international stock shows in the city of Chicago. In this connection it should be noted that the handsome silver cups which he was awarded on his exhibits of fine cattle are the only trophies of the sort held by a citizen of Nebraska. He specialized in the breeding and growing of fine Hereford cattle and of this stock he shipped a load to Chicago in December, 1907, where his exhibit gained not only a large silver cup but also a prize of three hundred dollars in cash. Later he received a silver cup on the exhibit which he made in the city of Denver, where further recognition was given in his being awarded a cash prize of seven hundred dollars. On his farms Mr. Williamson is now giving special attention to the raising of Hampshire swine, and he has more than four hundred head of these hogs yearly on his Gage county farm. Mr. Williamson is found staunchly aligned as a supporter of the cause of the Republican party, he is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, and both he and his wife are active members of the Christian church in their home city.

THOMAS E. HIBBERT. - As a sterling pioneer citizen, a veteran of the Civil war, and as a member of the Nebraska legislature, the late Hon. Thomas E. Hibbert left a deep and benignant impress upon the history of the state in which he established his residence prior to its admission as one of the sovereign commonwealths of the Union, and this history of Gage county exercises a consistent function when it accords a tribute to his memory.

Mr. Hibbert was born in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the year 1846, and he was one of the honored pioneer citizens of Gage county, Nebraska, at the time of his death, which here occurred on the 3d of March, 1905. The paternal grandparents of Mr. Plibbert were born and reared in England and upon coming to America they settled in Wayne county, Pennsylvania, the father of the subject of this memoir having been a lad of nine years at the time.

Thomas E. Hibbert was reared and educated in the old Keystone state, and was but fifteen years of age at the outbreak of the Civil war. His youthful patriotism was roused to responsive protest and action, for at the age noted he gallantly tendered his services in de^ fense of the Union. He weighed at the time only one hundred and five pounds but his loyal enthusiasm was unbounded. He enlisted from Wayne county, at Salem, in Company A, One Hundred and Thirty-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, under Captain J. M. Buckingham and Colonel Bassert. His regiment was assigned to the Third Brigade of the Second Division of the Sixth Army Corps, General Hancock having command of the brigade, in Franklin's corps of Smith's division. Mr. Hibbert took part in the battle of Poolsville, Maryland, September 10, 1862, and engagements in which he thereafter participated may be here noted: South Mountain, September 14, 1862; Antietam, September 17, 1862, his his regiment having buried almost two thousand Confederate soldiers after the battle and on the field of Antietam. From his original brigade Mr. Hibbert was transferred to the

Third Brigade (Paul's), First Division (Wadsworth's), First Army Corps (Reynolds'), and with this command he took part in the battles of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862, and Chancellorsville, April 28 to May 12, 1863, having incidentally participated in the historic "mud march" of General Burnside's command. His t«rm of enlistment had been for ninety days, and after the expiration of the same he was mustered out, on the 6th of June, 1863. He at once re-enlisted, and was assigned to Battery C. Second Pennsylvania Veteran Artillery. Thereafter he served with the Twenty-second Army Corps in the defences around Washington until May, 1864, when he again went to the front, in the Eighteenth Army Corps. He took part in the battle of Cold Harbor, in June, 1864, and on the 12th of that month he embarked on a transport, at Whitehouse Landing and sailed down the York river to Chesapeake Bay, past old Fortress Monroe. He thence proceeded up the James river to City Point, Virginia, and on the 15th of June he was in the movement against Petersburg. His regiment made the first attack on that city and he took part in all of the engagements in which the Eighteenth Army Corps was thereafter involved, up to the time when the Twenty-fourth Army Corps was organized, when the Second Pennsylvania Veteran Artillery became a part thereof and was assigned to its Third Division. Under these conditions Mr. Hibbert continued in active service until the surrender of General Lee, after which he was engaged in provost guard duty until he was mustered out, on the 6th of February, 1866. Further details concerning the gallant military career of Mr. Hibbert have been given and the record is worthy of perpetuation in this connection, as follows : "Despite his youth, Mr. Hibbert carried the heavy musket of the Civil war days and performed in the camp and field the same service that was expected of his older comrades. At the battle of Chapin's Farm he was reported killed, but he wrote to his father to announce the fact that he was alive and well, he having been reported among the dead by reason of the fact that a shell from a gunboat had exploded so close to him that he was knocked senseless for a few moments. Within the course of his service Mr. Hibbert was tendered a commission in a regiment of colored troops. He had been color guard in his command and upon the return of the regiment to Pennsylvania he carried back its state flag, which, on July 4, 1866, he in person handed to Governor A. G. Curtis, the famous war governor of the Keystone state. This stand of colors went out in 1861 and came back in 1866. Within this long interval Confederate hands never touched these colors. In general orders Mr. Hibbert was mentioned for making the three best shots at a target with a twenty- fourpound howitzer, while serving in the defences of Washington, he having been the gunner and having sighted the piece. When the Confederates made an attack on Redoubt Carpenter, below Dutch Gap, January 25, 1865, his services were loaned to a battery of the Thirteenth New York Artillery, and he was complimented for the assistance rendered by his howitzer in repulsing the enemy."

In 1866, after the close of his war service, Mr. Hibbert came to the Territory of Nebraska and entered claim to a homestead in Gage county, this place being in Section 13, Hooker township, and having been by him reclaimed and improved into one of the valuable farm properties of the county. On this homestead he passed the remainder of his long and useful life, and here his death occurred March 3, 1905, his widow still remaining on the old homestead, which is endeared to her by many hallowed memories and associations.

In politics Mr. Hibbert was a stalwart Republican and he gave yeoman service in the advancement of the party cause. He was influential in public afifairs in Gage county and represented the same several terms in the lower house of the Nebraska legislature. He retained vital interest in his old comrades and manifested the same through his active affiliation with the Grand Army of the Republic.

On the 19th of March, 1874, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hibbert to Miss Nannie E. Fuller, of Adams, this county, her father having been an honored pioneer of Gage county, both he and his wife passed the closing period of their lives. Mr. Fuller was of English lineage and birth, and was a child when he accompanied his parents to the United States. The parents were residents of Wayne county, Pennsylvania, for many years and there their death occurred. In the concluding paragraph of this memoir is given brief record coqicerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Hibbert:

Guy is now a resident of Spearville, Kansas ; Ila E. likewise lives at Spearville ; Roscoe C. continues his residence in Gage county and lives in the village of Adams ; Thomas E. resides at Crab Orchard, Johnson county, and Benjamin H. at Alliance, Box Butte county; Martha C. is the wife of Melvin Liggett, of Alliance, this state; James G. is perpetuating the patriotic spirit of his honored father, as he has become a member of the great national army that is being prepared for participation in the European war, he being, in the spring of 1918, a member of Company A, Three Hundred and Fifty-fifth Regiment, stationed at Camp Funston, Kansas ; George D. remains with his widowed mother on the old home farm; Anna Josephine died April 6, 1877; Charles Edward passed away January 30, 1880; and Mary Pearl died February 17, 1880.

JACOB W. WIEBE. - This- substantial farmer and honored citizen of Blakely township is a representative of the fine element of German citizenship that has exercised such beneficent influence in connection with the civic and industrial development of Gage county, and he is the owner of a well improved farm of one hundred and sixty acres, in Section IS of the township mentioned.

Mr. Wiebe was born in Prussia, Germany, on the 29th of August, 1864, and is a son of Jacob and Emeline (Penner) Wiebe, his father having been a farmer by vocation and having been a comparatively young man at the time of his death. The subject of this sketch attended school in his native land until he was fourteen years of age, when he came with his widowed mother, his elder brother and his only sister to the United States, the family home being established in Gage county, where the two young sons found employment at farm work. The little family thus came to the county in 1878 and here the devoted mother remained until the summer of 1883, when she returned to her native land for a visit. Her health was impaired at the time and she did not live to rejoin her children, as her death occurred in 1884, while she was still in Prussia, she having been nearly fifty years of age at the time. Mrs. Wiebe was one of the pioneer representatives of the Mennonite faith in Gage county and was most earnest and zealous in church work.

After having been employed six years at farm work in this county Jacob W. Wiebe became associated with his brother, Henry J., of whom mention is made on other pages, in the renting of a farm, and his energy and ability brought to him success in these independent activities ' as an agriculturist and stock-grower. In 1896 he purchased his present homestead farm, upon which he has made excellent improvements of a permanent order and which he has brought up to a high state of productiveness. He remodeled the house and has also brought other buildings on the farm into good order, and he planted a goodly number of trees on the place, many of the same being now of large size and adding materially to the attractions of the homestead. Mr. Wiebe has not neglected his civic responsibilities while furthering his individual prosperity, but has given his influence in support of legitimate measures and enterprises tending to advance the general welfare of the community. He is a stockholder in the grain elevator at Hoag and is a substantial citizen who commands unqualified popular esteem. He is an independent Republican in politics and he and his family are zealous adherents of the Mennonite church, in the affairs of which they are actively interested.

The marriage of Mr. Wiebe to Miss Agatha Penner was solemnized November 16, 1899. She was bom in Prussia and is a daughter of Johannes and Magdalena (Penner) Penner, who established their home in Gage county in 1877. Mrs. Penner passed to the life eternal in 1911, at the age of sixty-three years, and her venerable husband, who celebrated in 1917 his seventy-seventh birthday anniversary, now resides in the village of Hoag, this county. Of their five children who attained to maturity Mrs. Wiebe is the eldest. The pleasant home of Mr. and Mrs. Wiebe still claims as members of the family circle all of their children, namely: Harry, Edwin, John, Eouis, and Richard, but one child, Anna, died when young.

JOHN RIECHERS. - Through enterprise and excellent management Mr. Riechers has gained distinctive success in connection with business affairs and is now established in the general merchandise business in the village of Clatonia, his ample and well appointed store receiving a representative supporting patronage and the stock in each department, including that devoted to furniture, being kept up to the standard of the trade requirements. Mr. Riechers has been a resident of Nebraska since boyhood and prior to entering the mercantile business he had been actively identified with agricultural industry in Gage county.

Mr. Riechers was born in Lafayette county, Wisconsin, on the 30th of May, 1873, and is the only child of Herman and Margaret (Helms) Riechers, he having been an infant at the time of his mother's death.

Herman Riechers was born in the province of Hanover, Germany, September 29, 1844, and was one of the honored citizens of Gage county, Nebraska, for many years prior to his death, which here occurred in 1909. He was reared and educated in his native land and in 1865 he came to America in company with his brother Justus. Both established residence in Wisconsin, where their parents joined them two years later, to pass the remainder of their lives as sterling pioneer citizens of the Badger state. In Wisconsin Herman Riechers continued his productive activities as a farmer until 1883, when he came with his family to Nebraska and settled on a farm three miles west of Clatonia, Gage county. He purchased a half-section of land in Saline county and became one of the progressive and successful agriculturists and stock-growers of the county, besides which he added to his landed estate by purchasing three hundred and twenty acres just across the line in Gage county, in 1892. He was a man of strong and upright character and at all times commanded the high regard of his fellow men, his religious faith having been that of the Lutheran church. About the year 1875 Mr. Riechers contracted a second marriage, when Miss Sophia Hillman became his wife, she likewise being a native of Hanover, Germany, and having become a resident of Wisconsin about two years prior to her marriage. She now resides in the village of Clatonia, where she celebrated in 1917 the seventieth anniversary of her birth. Of this second marriage were born three sons and thi-ee daughters, all of whom survive the honored father: Diedrich owns and resides upon a part of his father's old homestead farm, three miles west of Clatonia ; Herman is engaged in the hardware business at Clatonia ; Grover is conducting a prosperous business as' a dealer in agricultural implements, in the same village ; Mrs. Emma Hunecke likewise resides in Clatonia; Mrs. Louisa Kock is a resident of Clay Center, Kansas ; and Mrs. Nora Kracke and her husband maintain their home on an excellent farm five miles southwest of Clatonia.

John Riechers gained his rudimentary education in the district schools of his native county and was a lad of ten years at the time of the family removal to Nebraska. Here he found ample demands upon his youthful attention in connection with the work of the home farm, the while he made good use of the advantages of the public schools of the locality. In 1896 he rented land from his father and began independent operations as an agriculturist and stock-grower, but in 1899 he removed to Clatonia, where for the ensuing ten years he was engaged in the farm implement business. In 1909 he sold his well established business to his brother Grover, after which he here conducted a prosperous furniture business until 1914, when he amplified the scope of the enterprise by installing a stock of general merchandise, the efficient service given in his establishment combining with his personal popularity to make the business one of substantial and. representative order. In politics he gives loyal support to the cause of the Democratic party and he served four or five terms as treasurer of Clatonia township. Both he and his wife are earnest communicants of the German Lutheran church in their home village.

December 26, 189.S, recorded the marriage of Mr. Riechers to Miss Margaret Hereth, who was bom in Bavaria, Germany, daughter of John and Anna Hereth, who established their home in Gage county in 1883, the father being now deceased and the widowed mother being a resident of the state of Washington. Mr. and Mrs. Riechers have four children - Rosa, Amelia, Herbert, and Anita.

WILLIAM A. MULLIGAN, B. D., the honored rector of Christ church, Protestant - Episcopal, in the city of Beatrice, was born in Ontario, Canada, on the 10th of March, 1863, and is a son of William and Lucy (Montgomery) Mulligan, the former a native of the Province of Ontario, Canada, and the latter of Ireland. The parents of William Mulligan came to America from the north of Ireland and settled at Port Hope, Ontario, Canada the father becoming a prosperous farmer of that province and he and his wife having there passed the residue of their lives. William Mulligan long held precedence as one of the substantial exponents of agricultural industry in Victoria county, Ontario, and was a citizen of no little prominence and influence in his community. Both he and his wife were devout communicants of the Church of England. Of the five children the subject of this review is the eldest : John H. is a retired farmer residing in Ontario, Canada; Thomas lives on his father's old homestead farm, in Victoria county, Ontario ; Alexander, a resident of Superior, Wisconsin, is in the fovernment service, having been for fifteen years an attache of the customs service ; Mary is the wife of William Carty, of Bobcaygeon, Canada. Rev. William H. Mulligan acquired his early education in the public schools of his native province and his higher academic training through Trinity College, Toronto, and has a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Seabury Divinity School, of Minnesota. Father Mulligan was ordained to the priesthood at Detroit, Michigan, by Rt. Rev. Thos. F. Davies, D.D., bishop of the diocese of Michigan, and his first pastoral incumbency was that of assistant rector of St. James church at Sault de Ste. Marie, Michigan, where he remained six years. He then assumed the charge of Ascension church at Ontonagan, Michigan, and in the following year the entire town was virtually destroyed by fire, the Episcopal church edifice having been reduced to ashes in this conflagration. In the same year, 1896. Father Mulligan came to Beatrice, where he has since labored with all of consecrated zeal and devotion as rector of Christ church, the spiritual and temporal work of the parish having been vitalized and prospered under his earnest regime, and his status being that of one of the able and representative clergymen of the Protestant Episcopal church in the Nebraska diocese.

Father Mulligan has the vigor and civic loyalty that make him a leader in community thought and action and he is one of the honored and valued citizens of the Gage county metropolis. The church of which he is rector has a membership of two hundred and fifty and all departments of parish work are in excellent order. In connection with the affairs of the parish Father Mulligan issued a monthly church paper, the Message. He is a Republican in his political allegiance and is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity.

In 1889 was solemnized the marriage of Father Mulligan to Miss Mary Williams, who likewise was born and reared in the Province of Ontario, Canada, and whose father, Thomas Williams, was a prosperous farmer in the state of Michigan at the time of his death. In conclusion is given brief record concerning the children of Father and Mrs. Mulligan : Harold R. is an efficient and popular teacher in the high school in the city of Omaha, besides being athletic director of the school, and incidentally he is pursuing a course of study in the medical department of the University of Nebraska ; Stella is a teacher in the public schools of Beatrice ; Allan W. is a member of the class of 1920 in the medical department of the University of Nebraska; Edna K. is attending the school for trained nurses that is connected with the Clarkson hospital in the city of Omaha ; Frederick A. is a member of the class of 1918 in the Beatrice high school; and Ernest A. and Arthur M. are likewise students in the high school.

FREDERICK O. McGIRR is one of the youngest men that has thus far been called upon to serve as a commissioner of the supreme court of Nebraska, and his appointment to this high office not only gave significant recognition of his fine professional attainments but also reflected distinction upon Gage county, where he was reared to manhood and where he had gained secure vantageground as a representative member of the bar of this part of the state. Prior to his elevation to his present office, involving his removal to Lincoln, the capital city of Nebraska, he had been for more than twenty years engaged in the successful practice of his profession in the city of Beatrice, and on this score alone he is entitled to special recognition in this history, as is he likewise by reason of his being a scion of one of the sterling pioneer families of Gage county. Of the McGirr family a further record is given on other pages of this work, in the sketch dedicated to Dr. John I. McGirr, brother of him whose name initiates this paragraph.

Judge Frederick O. McGirr was born in Kankakee county, Illinois, on the 11th of December, 1870, and there received his earlier educational discipline in the public schools and was fifteen years of age at the time of the family removal to Nebraska. Here he continued to attend the public schools until he had completed the curriculum of the high school, and in preparation for the work of his chosen profession he began reading law under the able preceptorship of Robert W. Sabin, a leading member of the bar of Gage county and its capital city. Through close application he made rapid progress in the absorption and assimilation of the science of jurisprudence, and he was admitted to the bar on the 20th of June, 1893. He served his professional novitiate in Beatrice and his character and ability soon enabled him to build up a substantial practice. In 1907 he formed a professional partnership with Menzo W. Terry, under the firm name of McGirr & Terry, and this alliance continued until December, 1912. In 1908 Judge McGirr was elected prosecuting attorney of Gage county, and of this office he continued the incumbent four years, retiring therefrom in January, 1913, after a forceful and able administration that inured greatly to the advancing of his professional prestige. He then resumed the practice of his profession, with a substantial and representative clientage, and continued as one of the leading members of the Gage county bar until June, 1915, when he was appointed a member of the supreme court commission of the state, for a term of two years. He assumed the duties of this office September 20, 1915, and at the expiration of his first term he was reappointed, for another term of two years, on the 20th of September, 1917. It is needless to say more than that on the bench he has fully justified the wisdom of his appointment and that he has shown the true judicial temperament, as well as a broad and accurate knowledge of law and precedent.

Judge McGirr is one of the honored members of the Nebraska State Bar Association, is a vigorous and efifective advocate of the principles and policies of the Democratic party, for which he has done yeoman service in various campaigns., and he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks, in each of which he has held various official chairs.

On the 20th of December, 1899, Judge Mc- Girr wedded Miss Mary Moody, daughter of Samuel S. Moody, a pioneer merchant of Beatrice, wherie he was successfully established in business for many years. He had also conducted a mercantile business at Peru,

Nemaha county, and it was while the family home was there maintained that Mrs. McGirr was born, she being one of the gracious and popular native daughters of Nebraska. Judge and Mrs. McGirr have no children.

HOMER B. AUSTIN, who died at his home, in the city of Beatrice, on the 12th of April, 1906, was an honored pioneer of the Territory of Nebraska and of Gage county, his character and his work having been such that a tribute to his memory properly finds place in this publication. In offering such a memoir it is but fitting that liberal and slightly modified quotation be taken from an appreciative estimate that appeared in a Beatrice newspaper at the time of his demise.

Mr. Austin was born at Austinburg, Ashtabula county, Ohio, in 1830, and there he was reared to manhood on his father's farm, in the meanwhile attending the common schools when opportunity afforded. In 1853 he wedded Miss Mary A. Dunbar, of Camden, Oneida county. New York, and in 1857 he joined the initial tide of immigration moving toward Nebraska Territory, his wife and infant son joining him in the following year. From the article that appeared in a local paper at the time of his death are made the following extracts : "He chose Gage county as his place of residence and selected a claim on Town creek, east of the present village of Pickrell and in the neighborhood of the Pethouds, the Joneses, the Wilsons, Judge Hiram W. Parker and other old friends from Ohio who were pioneers in the new territory. His claim joined the one occupied by Judge Parker, and a warm intimacy, cemented by trials, privations and dangers of pioneer life and destined to be broken only by death, sprang up between the two families. After spending a few years on his claim Mr. Austin returned with his family to Ohio, but in 1884 he returned to the west and established his residence in Washington county, Kansas, where he remained until 1895, when he returned to Gage county and established his hume in Beatrice, where he passed the remainder of his life, the death of his devoted wife having here occurred in 1897, and the refnains of both rest in the beautiful cemetery at Beatrice. He was survived by one son, Charles N., of whom mention is made oh other pages, and by a cousin, L. E. Austin, who was a resident of Beatrice at the time of his death, in 1909, and who is survived by two sons - Lewis Benjamin, a resident of Kansas City, Missouri, and Edward, who is in the aviation service of the United States. Edward S. Austin, another cousin of Homer B., likewise became one of the very early settlers of Gage county, and he erected one of the first grist mills in the county. At a point eight miles north of Beatrice he laid out a little village, to which was given the name of Austin, and here he had charge of the pioneer postoffice which depended for mail service on the facilities afforded by the overland pony express. Edward S. Austin passed the remainder of his life in Gage county and here developed a valuable farm estate. The subject of this memoir assisted in the erection of the first saw mill in the little village of Beatrice.

"Though never taking an active part in public affairs Homer B. Austin was a publicspirited citizen, and up to the hour of his death was a useful and exemplary member of society. He was sober and industrious and in all of the relations of life was scrupulously honest. He was a man of strong feeling and deep emotion and although a good friend, when once his anger or resentment was aroused he was apt to be as implacable in his hatred as he was true and loyal in his friendships. By nature he was deeply religious. He believed, with a constancy and devotion that nothing could disturb, in the existence of a spiritual world, and that this is a higher and holier world than that which our poor senses apprehend. For many years this good man has been a familiar figure upon the streets of Beatrice, and it is no exaggeration to say that many in this community will learn of his demise with genuine sorrow."

It may well be said that in all of the relations of Hfe Mr. Austin exemplified the faith that makes faithful, and as he was true to himself, so was he true to those who came

WILLIAM F. ALBERT. - He whose name initiates this paragraph merits recognition as one of the representative agriculturists and stock-growers of his native county and also as a scion of one of the honored pioneer families of this favored section of the state. His well improved farm of one hundred and fifty-six acres, in Section 22 Clatonia township, is that on which he was born and reared, and his progressiveness and enterprise are further signalized in his ownership of three hundred and twenty acres of valuable land in South Dakota. A tribute to his honored father, Henry Albert, appears on other pages of this work, so that further review of the family history is not demanded in the present connection.

On the fine homestead farm which he now occupies William Frank Albert was born January 25, 1874, and in addition to receiving in his youth the advantages of the public schools of Clatonia township he also completed an effective course in a business college in the city of Lincoln. He has never wavered in his allegiance to the great fundamental industries of agriculture and stock-raising and he purchased his father's old homestead farm in 1906. He has here made excellent improvements of a permanent order, including the erection of his present modern and attractive residence. Prior to buying the old home farm he had successfully conducted a horse ranch for a period of about five years, and at the present time he amplifies his farm enterprise by doing a prosperous business as a buyer and shipper of live stock. He stands exponent of loyal and liberal citizenship and though he has had no ambition for political preferment of any kind he accords staunch allegiance to the Republican party.

On the 26th of February, 1902, Mr. Albert wedded Anna Carstens, who likewise was horn and reared in this county, where her parents established their home more than forty years ago. Mrs. Albert is a daughter of Tebbe G. and Scente (Gerdes) Carstens, whose marriage was solemnized at Rushville, Illinois, March 2, 1870, and who became residents of Gage county in 1876. Mr. Carstens was born in Hanover, Germany, March 4, 1846, a son of John and Gesche (Aschen) Carstens, the latter of whom died in Germany and the former of whom passed the closing years of his life in Gage county, where two of his sons established homes in the pioneer days. Upon immigrating from his native land to America, in 1867, Tebbe G. Carstens settled in Illinois, and there he continued his active association with agricultural pursuits until 1876, when he came with his family to Gage county. Here he farmed on rented land for the first four years, and he then purchased eighty acres in Section 10, Clatonia township. Later he added eighty acres to his landed estate and he continued as one of the energetic and successful farmers of Clatonia township until 1904, when he and his wife established their residence in the village of Clatonia, where he has sirice lived virtually retired. Mrs. Carstens was born at Scheindorff, Germany, April 24, 1847, a daughter of Joachim A. and Steinten W. (Rademacher) Gerdes, who passed their entire lives in Germany. Mrs. Carstens came to America in 1869 and her marriage occurred the following year, as previously noted in this sketch. Mr. and Mrs. Carstens became the parents of five children, concerning whom the following brief data are available: Gesiene, who became the wife of Edward Krauter, is deceased ; Joachim and John M. are residents of Fairbury, Jefferson county, Nebraska; Mrs. Anna Albert was the next in order of birth ; and William G. has the active management of his father's old homestead farm. Mr. and Mrs. Albert have three children - Melvin, Verneita, and Kermit.

DANIEL E. TRACEY. - For nearly sixteen years Daniel E. Tracey has been successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits in Adams township. One of the prime elements of success in any position, calling or profession in life is adaptability, and strength in this essential has been the secret of the success achieved by Daniel E. Tracey and his wife, who has been his earnest helpmeet and coadjutor. In their definite adaptabihty they have proved able to cope with the problems of life as they presented themselves.' Mr. Tracey is a man among men - one to whom his fellow citizens look with confidence - and he takes his place among the many who are earnest in service that makes for the advancement of the community along civic, educational, and spiritual lines.

Mr. and Mrs. Tracey are zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal church, he is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity in an active way, is a newly ' elected member of the school board of Adams, and for a number of years he was president of the Farmers' Elevator Company at Adams, Nebraska. Both Mr. and Mrs. Tracey take an active part in church life and in the affairs of the Order of the Eastern Star, Mrs. Tracey being in 1917- .1918, the worthy matron of Adams Chapter, No. 163.

Daniel E. Tracey was born at Bloomington, lUinois, on the 20th of October, 1869, and is a son of John and Margaret (O'Brien) Tracey, both natives of Ireland. John Tracey became a successful contractor at Bloomington, Illinois, where he continued his residence until 1883. In that year he came with his family to Nebraska and established the home in the city of Lincoln, where he continued his activities as a contractor until the time of his death, in 1890. He left to mourn his loss his wife and their six children - Daniel Edward, Mary Alice, Winifred, John and Margaret (twins), and Harry James.

He whose name initiates this review was fourteen years of age at the time of the family removal to Nebraska, and he was an earnest and ambitious youth of twenty years at the time of his father's death. Always ready to hear and respond to the cry of the widow and orphan, he assumed large measure of responsibility in connection with home affairs after the death of his father, and proved himself a boy of whom any mother might well be proud, the while the responsibilities which thus devolved upon him tended to mature and solidify his character.

Mr. Tracey received his youthful education in the public schools of Bloomington, Illinois, and Lincoln, Nebraska. In the latter city he was for several years in the employ of the Standard Oil Company, and in 1894 he became a member of the Lincoln fire department, in which he rendered valuable and efficient service for a period of eight years. He became lieutenant at Engine House No. 1 and was about to be advanced to the position of captain when he resigned to take up his residence on the farm on which he now lives. This is a valuable tract of one hundred and twenty acres, in Section 23, Adams township, and one mile northeast of the village of Adams. This property came to him and his wife as a part of the parental inheritance of Mrs. Tracey. On this fine rural estate Mr. and Mrs. Tracey have worked together earnestly and effectively and on the same they have erected a residence which is as comfortable and commodious as any other of the farm homes in Adams township and which is a favored resort for the host of friends whom they have gathered about them.

On the 9th of August, 1899, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Tracey to Miss Mary A. Zuver, who was born January 24, 1877, a daughter of Byron P. and Nancy (Adams) Zuver, concerning whom definite record is made on other pages of this volume. Mrs. Tracey is a granddaughter of John O. Adams, the first settler of Gage county, and she can recount many interesting incidents of pioneer life, as told to her by her mother. The Adams family located at Adams in the spring of 1857, a full decade before Nebraska Territory became a state, and at that time the site of Adams, named in honor of this sterling pioneer family, was nothing more than a barren prairie. Mrs. Tracey was born in a log cabin in Hooker township, this county, and most of her life thus far has been passed in her native county. Mr. and Mrs. Tracey became the parents of three children: Harold Edward and Winifred Lillian remain at the parental home, and Marjory Josephine died in infancy. Mrs. Tracey was graduated in the high school at Adams and later attended a leading conserva- tory of music in the city of Lincoln. Both Mr. and Mrs. Tracey are active in Red Cross work since the nation has .become involved in the great world war and are also prominent in community affairs in general.

FULTON JACK. - Associated with Judge Alfred Hazlett in the control of a large and important law business in the city of Beatrice, Mr. Jack is junior member of the .firm of Hazlett & Jack and, like his honored professional coadjutor, of whom specific mention is made on other pages of this publication, he claims the historic old Keystone state as the place of his nativity, his paternal great-greatgrandfather having been a native of Ireland and having settled in Pennsylvania in the early colonial history of that commonwealth. Patrick Jack, great-grandfather of the subject of this review, was a captain in the war of the Revolution, in which he was a representative of Pennsylvania.

Fulton Jack was born in Indiana county, Pennsylvania, on the 17th of June, 1869, and is a son of James }.l. and Elizabeth (Fulton) Jack, both of whom were likewise bom and reared in Pennsylvania and both of whom were residents of Indiana county, that state, at the time of their death, their religious faith having been that of the Presbyterian church and the father having given the major part of his active career to the basic industry of agriculture. After having duly profited by the advantages of the public schools of his native state Fulton Jack there entered historic old Washington & Jeflerson College at Washing, ton; Pennsylvania, this having been the first collegiate institution founded to the west of the Alleghany mountains'. He was graduated in this college in 1892. Mr. Jack began the reading of law when he was about twentythree years of age, his studies having been pursued in the Northern Indiana Law School, and under the preceptorship of Alfred Hazlett, and with utmost diligence and receptiveness he applied himself to the mastering of the involved science of jurisprudence. He has been a resident of Beatrice, Nebraska, since 1894, and was admitted to the bar in that year. In the following year he became associated with Judge Hazlett in practice, this effective professional alliance having since continued without interruption. Mr. Jack is recognized as an able trial lawyer and well fortified counselor, and he has appeared in connection with much important litigation in the courts of this and other states.

In politics Mr. Jack is arrayed as a staunch supporter of the cause of the Republican party, and while he has shown a lively interest in the furtherance of the success of his party and been an active worker in its local ranks he has not been imbued with any ambition for public office, as he considers his profession worthy of his undivided time and attention. He is affiliated with the time-honored Masonic fraternity. He and his wife are active members of the Presbyterian church.

August 20, 1896, recorded the marriage of Mr. Jack to Miss Angle Pollock, who was born and reared in Nebraska, where- her parents, Robert H. and Maria (Parks) Pollock, established their home in the pioneer days, Mr. Pollock having been one of the early settlers of Pawnee county. Mr. and Mrs. Jack have three children. Fulton, Jr., with youthful loyalty and patriotism that mark him as a worthy scion of Revolutionary stock, enlisted in Co. C, Fifth Nebraska National Guard, at the outbreak of the trouble with Mexico in 1916, and as a member of that company he entered the service of his country in the great European war. At the time of this writing, February, 1918, he is at Camp Stanley, Texas, an officers' training camp, to which he was recently appointed. The two daughters, Elizabeth and Mary Josephine, are students in the Beatrice high school. The family is one of prominence in the representative social life of the community.

A. L. BOYER, who has been for thirty years actively engaged in the work of his trade in the village of Virginia, is known as a skilled blacksmith and has developed a substantial and prosperous business in the operation of his well equipped shop, which was the first to be opened in the village and which has continued to be the only establishment of the kind at Virginia during the long period of years that have here marked his close application to his sturdy trade- Mr. Boyer was a boy at the time when the family home was established in the new state of Nebraska, and he gained a plethora of experience in connection with the conditions and influences of the pioneer era in the history of Gage county.

Mr. Boyer was born in Jefferson county, Pennsylvania, on the 8th of October, 1855, and is a son of John and Elizabeth (Shunk) Boyer, both of whom likewise were born in the old Keystone state, where the mother passed her entire life. John and Elizabeth (Shunk) Boyer became the parents of six sons and four daughters, and three of the number became residents of Nebraska. Of the children the subject of this review is now the only survivor. For his second wife John Boyer wedded Mrs. Mary Yohe, widow of Henry Yohe, and in 1865 they came to the west and settled in Iowa county, Iowa, John Boyer having there followed his trade, that of harness-maker. In May, 1868, Mr. Boyer came with his family to Gage county, Nebraska, and took up a homestead claim in Nemaha township. He there developed a productive farm and on the same both he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives, no children having been born of the second marriage.

A. L,. Boyer gained his early education in the schools of Pennsylvania, Iowa, and Nebraska, and was a lad of thirteen years at the time when the family home was established in Gage county. Here he was reared to adult age and in the meanwhile he assisted in the development and other work of the home farm. When he was- sixteen years of age he had a somewhat thrilling experience in the saving of the family house and other property from destruction by a prairie fire. This experience occurred on Sunday. He had started to accompany, his parents to church at Adams, but a seeming premonition urged him to return home, and it was most fortunate that he heeded the impulse. He had on his best suit of clothes, and he sacrificed the coat in his strenuous efforts to check the fire. With buckets of water and his coat he saved the house from destruction, as well as a pile of grain in a log enclosure and three of the five stacks of hay. He was overcome finally by the smoke and heat and was found lying on the ground when his parents returned. At the age of seventeen years he hauled grade stakes for John Lyons, who was then laying out the township of Adams. Among his other early experiences was that incidental to three years of application in breaking wild prairie land.

At the age of twenty years Mr. Boyer went to Hamburg, Iowa, where he served a thorough apprenticeship to the blacksmith trade. In October, 1888, he opened the first blacksmith shop at Virginia, and, as before intimated, he has had no competitor in this line during the long intervening years. He is widely known as an expert artisan and turns out in his shop the best grade of work, with facilities including modern machinery and accessories for the handling of all kinds of blacksmith work, as well as wood work for wagons, plows, etc.

At Tecumseh, this state, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Boyer to Miss Mary Jane Applebee, a sister of John Applebee, in whose sketch, on other pages of this work, is given due record concerning the Applebee family. The eldest of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Boyer is Arthur, who resides in the village of Virginia, the maiden name of his wife having been Catherine McGafifey ; James Melvin married Miss McGafifey and he is an evangelist of the Christian church, his field of work being in Nebraska ; James Milo married Miss Lantz and they reside at Newcastle, Wyoming; Gertrude is the wife of Clarence Haus, of Sherman township, Gage county ; Iva is the wife of David Hoover, of Lewiston, Pawnee county; and Maggie, Ellen, and Lewis remain at the parental home.

and he has since continued as one of its representative business men and valued citizens. The first children born in the village were his twin daughters, Gertrude and Myrtle, the latter of whom is deceased.

J. HENRY STEINMEYER. - He whose name initiates this paragraph is a representative of one of the most honored and influential pioneer families of Gage county and in addition to having shared in the generous rewards that eventually crowned the productive industrial activities of his pioneer father he has marked his individual course with large and worthy achievement, with the result that he is now one of the substantial landholders of Gage county and an influential factor in banking enterprise and other lines of business. In his home county he is the owner of four hundred acres of well improved and valuable farm land, besides which he owns six hundred and forty acres of excellent agricultural land in Allen and Coffey counties, Kansas, so that the total area of his landed estate is over one thousand acres. His capitalistic interests in Gage county are varied and important and since 1910 he has maintained his residence in Beatrice, the attractive metropolis and judicial center of the county, his residence, at 821 North Eleventh street, being one of the fine and modern homes of the city and being a center of gracious hospitality.

J. Henry Steinmeyer was born in the province of Hanover, Germany, on the 17th of May, 1853, and is a son of Henry and Elizabeth (Fredker) Steinmeyer, both of whom were likewise natives of that attractive section of the great German empire, the father having been born in July, 1814, and the mother in August, 1810. In the fatherland Henry Steinmeyer was reared to the discipline of the farm and there he continued his alliance with agricultural enterprise until 1856, when he immigrated with his family to America and settled in Scioto county, Ohio. There he worked in the iron furnaces for the ensuing ten years, and in addition to providing well for his family he was able to accumulate a modest reserve fund of money. The voyage across the Atlantic was made in a sailing vessel of the type common to that day, and seven weeks elapsed ere the family disembarked in the port of Baltimore, Maryland, whence shortly afterward they proceeded to southern Ohio and located in Scioto county, as before noted.

Though he had prospered during his association with the iron-furnace industry in the Buckeye state, Henry Steinmeyer had not abated his loyalty to and appreciation of the great fundamental industry of agriculture, and as soon as conditions made it expedient he resumed his alliance with the same. In 1866 he came with his family to the territory of Nebraska, which was admitted to statehood the following year and to which his sons William and Fred had preceded him by about one year. With ox teams Mr. Steinmeyer brought his family overland from Nebraska City to Gage county, and here he entered claim to a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres - the southwest quarter of Section 22, Clatonia township. The original family domicile was a rude dugout of the type common to the pioneer era, and the stable which he provided for his oxen and horses was constructed principally of straw. Grappling vigorously with the task that confronted him, Mr. Steinmeyer gradually broke his land and made it available for cultivation, besides which he improved the place by setting out trees and, eventually, by the erection of a good house and other farm buildings. After giving his personal attention to the homestead for ten years he gave the property to his son J. Henry, of this review, with whom he lived in retirement after the death of his devoted wife, their marriage having been solemnized in 1835. Mrs. Steinmeyer passed to the life eternal in 1874, and her husband long survived her, he having been somewhat more than eighty years of age at the time of his death, in 1895, and his name meriting a place of enduring honor on the roster of the honored pioneers of Gage county. Both he and his wife were earnest members of the German Methodist church and as a naturalized citizen ever loyal to the country of his adoption, he gave his political support to the cause of the Republican party. Of the six children one died in infancy; Mary, who became the wife of William Marsh, died in the year 1868; William, who became one of the representative farmers and influential citizens of Clatonia township, continued his residence in Gage county until his death, which occurred in 1911; Frederick, who is now living retired in the village of Clatonia, was a valiant soldier of the Union in the Civil war, in which he served three years, as a member of the Fifty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry; J. Henry, of this sketch, was the next in order of birth and is the youngest of the children. J. Henry Steinmeyer was about three years of age at the time of the family immigration to America and was a lad of thirteen years when removal was made to Nebraska Territory. He acquired his early education in the schools of Scioto county, Ohio, and supplemented this by attending at intervals the pioneer district schools of Clatonia township, Gage county, Nebraska, where he was reared under the invigorating influences of the home farm, which was finally given to him by his honored father, as noted in a preceding paragraph. In 1885 he engaged in the general merchandise business at Dewitt, Saline county, where he continued operations along this line, in connection with the buying and shipping of grain, until 1894. When, in the year last mentioned, the village of Clatonia was established on a portion of his father's old homestead farm, Mr. Steinmeyer manifested his loyalty to the old home county and the new town by becoming one of the first and most active business men of the ambitious village, where he established a well equipped grain elevator and developed a substantial and profitable business in the buying and shipping of grain and live stock. He was one of the first two stockholders of the Farmers' Bank of Clatonia, in the organization of which he was associated with his brother William, and in 1905 he established the Holmesville Bank, in the village of Holmesville, of which institution he is now the sole stockholder. He was also one of the organizers and is the chief stockholder of the company which installed and still operates the electric power and lighting plant at Holmesville, of which company he is the president. In the domain of business and industrial enterprise he has found ample demands upon his time and energy and thus he has not been imbued with any desire for special political activity or for public office, though he is found aligned as a loyal supporter of the principles for which the Republican party stands sponsor. In 1901 Mr. Steinmeyer was elected to the Nebraska state legislature, serving one term. He is affiliated with the Modem Woodmen of America and both he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist church in their home city.

On the 18th of March, 1875, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Steinmeyer to Miss Ellen Unland, who was born in Cass county, Illinois, a daughter of Rev. F. and Nancy (Wagle) Unland, the former of whom was born in Germany and the latter in the state of Kentucky, where their marriage was solemnized. In 1873 Rev. F. Unland came with his family to Nebraska, as a pioneer clergyman of the German Methodist church, and he had in the early day's pastoral charge of the church of his denomination at Kramer, Lancaster county, and that in Clatonia township. Gage county. He and his wife are both deceased. Of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Steinmeyer the eldest is Emma, who is the wife of Dr. B. M. Deardorfif, who is successfully established in the practice of his profession at Clatonia and who is one of the representative physicians and surgeons of Gage county; George W., now of Beatrice, was superintendent of the Holmesville Mill and Power Company, and is one of the young men who are representing our nation as a soldier in the great European war, his training for service as an officer being received in the government cantonment and training camp at Fort Snelling, Minnesota; Nettie E. is the wife of Charles S. Brown, of Aurora, Nebraska, who is cashier of the Fidelity National Bank ; Myrtle B. is the wife of W. G. Chittenden, and they reside on her paternal grandfather's old homestead farm, in Clatonia township; Robert H. is cashier of his father's bank at Holmesville; Gladys is the wife of H. W. Alquist, of Be-

EDWARD W. A. ULRICH. - In Section 5, Grant township, a well improved farm of one hundred and sixty acres is owned by Mr. Ulrich, and he is so ordering his productive activities as to have secure status as one of the representative agriculturists and stockgrowers of the younger generation in this part of Gage county.

Mr. Ulrich was born in Marshall county, Illinois, on the 13th of April, 1880, and is the of the six children of Charles G. and Johannah (Graff) Ulrich. Concerning the other children the following brief data are consistently given: Mena is the wife of F. Burger, a prosperous farmer near Wilber, Saline county; Anna is the wife of George Burger, a farmer of Grant township; Mary is the wife of J. Menter, another of the substantial farmers of Grant township, within whose borders Albert Ulrich, next in order of birth, likewise is a progressive exponent of farm industry; the fifth child, Charles, died when about twenty-one years of age.

Charles G. Ulrich was born in Germany, on the 28th of November, 1840, and there he continued his residence until about 1865, when he came to America and settled in Illinois. He became one of the substantial farmers of Marshall county, that state, where he continued his residence until 1883, when he came to Nebraska and purchased the farm now operated by his son Edward, of this review. He made good improvements on the place and developed the same into one of the valuable farm properties of Grant township. Here he remained, an honored citizen and enterprizing farmer, until his death, which occurred in October, 1913. After the death of his first wife he eventually married Miss Amelia Boise, who likewise was bom in Germany, and who now resides in the village of Dewitt, Saline county. Of the second marriage there are two daughters - Augusta, who is the wife of H. Feldhus, of Dewitt, and Dora, who remains with her widowed mother.

Edward W. A. Ulrich was a child of three years at the time of the family removal to Gage county, where he was reared to manhood on his present farm and where he made good use of the advantages of the district school located on a part of the home farm, his father having aided in the organization of this school district (No. 149) and having served a number of years as a director of the same. Upon the death of his father Mr. Ulrich inherited eighty acres of his present farm, and later he accumulated through purchase the remaining eighty acres. As a vigorous and successful farmer and liberal citizen he is well upholding the prestige of the family name, he is a Democrat in his poHtical adherency and he and his wife hold membership in the German Lutheran church.

On the 24th of February, 1909, Mr. Ulrich wedded Miss Katherine Spilker. She was born and reared in Grant township, a dai:ighter of William and Louisa (Pieper) Spilker, who still remain on their home farm in this township and both of whom were born in Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Ulrich have six children - Edna, Emil, Helen, Arnold, Walter, and Norma.

EDGAR ROSSITER. - A native son of Gage county and a representative of an honored pioneer family, Mr. Rossiter is now successfully established in the meat-market and ice business in the village of Dewitt, Saline county, where he has maintained his home for more than a quarter of a century and been a specially progressive and influential citizen.

Mr. Rossiter was born in Midland township^ Gage county, October 11, 1862, about five years prior to the admission of Nebraska to the Union of states. He is a son of Richard and Mary (Green) Rossiter, and is the fifth of a family of seven children. A memoir of Richard Rossiter will be found elsewhere in this publication.

Edward Rossiter was reared to the invigorating discipline of the pioneer farm on which he was born, received such educational advantages as were afforded in the common schools of the locality and period, and con- tinued to assist his father in practical farm operations until he attained to his legal majority. He passed the ensuing three years in Colorado and upon his return to Nebraska settled in Dewitt, Saline county, where he engaged in business, with which he was successfully identified for a term of years. Since 1904 he has conducted a well equipped meatmarket in the village and also has a prosperous business in the handling of ice. He has here maintained his home for twenty-eight years and has been influential in civic affairs, having served fifteen years as a member of the village council, and on three occasions he was mayor, or president of the village board. Liberal and progressive, he has done much to further the social and material development and advancement of Dewitt and he commands the high esteem of all who know him. He is a stalwart in the local camp of the Republican party, is actively affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and the Brotherhood of American Yeomen, and he and his wife are communicants of the Protestant Episcopal church. He is the owner of the undivided interest of the old homestead in Grant and Blakely townships, the same being part of the estate accumulated by his father.

On January 28, 1882, Mr. Rossiter wedded Miss Pluma A. Thompson, who was born at Leavenworth, Kansas, and who is a daughter of Martin W. and Evelyn (Jones) Thompson, the former a native of Kentucy and the latter of Virginia. Mr. Thompson came with his family to Gage county, Nebraska, about the year 1864, and settled eight miles north of Beatrice, where he reclaimed and improved a good farm and where he continued to reside for many years. He was at Eeadville, Colorado, at the time of his death, his wife having survived him only a short time, and the remains of both are interred in Dolan cemetery in Gage county. Mr. and Mrs. Rossiter have four children: Charles E. is a railroad employe at Wymore, Gage county; Burton W. is associated with his father in the meatmarket business ; Edna A. is the wife of Ralph W. Venrick, of Norfolk, Madison county, Nebraska; and Vera is the wife of Willis H. Leacock, of St. Joseph, Missouri.

ADAM CRIPE, who is now living virtually retired on his excellent farm of one hundred and sixty acres, in Section 23, Rockford township, is one of the venerable and highly esteemed pioneer citizens of Gage county, where he has maintained his home since 1877.

Mr. Cripe was bom on a farm near the city of Goshen, Indiana, May 11, 1844, and is a scion of a sterling pioneer family of the Hoosier state, his parents, Henry and Magdalena (Miller) Cripe, having been natives of Ohio, where the former was born in 1818 and the latter in 1817. Both families have been notable for longevity and Henry Cripe attained to the age of ninety years, his death having occurred in 1908, while his widow passed away in 1911, at the age of ninety-four years, their marriage having been solemnized in Indiana, where Mr. Cripe became a pioneer settler in Elkhart county. He obtained a tract of heavily timbered land, made a clearing and erected thereon a log house, with dirt floor, and this constituted the original home of the family. Of the twelve children the subject of this review was the fourth, and of the number six are now living. The parents continiied their residence in Indiana until their death and prior to his demise the father had divided his land among his children: his father, Jacob Cripe, was a pioneer of Indiana and there died at the patriarchal age of one hundred and three years. The wife of Henry Cripe was a daughter of John Miller, who was a native of Pennsylvania and a pioneer settler in Ohio.

Adam Cripe was reared on the pioneer farm in Indiana and acquired his early education in the common schools. He received from his wife's parents eighty acres of land in Kosciusko county and there continued his activities as a farmer until his removal to Montgomery county, Illinois, where he was engaged in farming ten years. He then, in 1877, came to Gage county, Nebraska, where for the ensuing three years he farmed on rented land. He then purchased the quarter-section which constitutes his present well improved homestead, and his farm is now under the active management of one of his sons.

reared in Indiana, and of the eight children of this union five are living : Harley is a farmer near Mankato, Kansas; Eva Jenetta is the wife of Ray Lancaster, a farmer in Rockford township; William E. has charge of his father's farm; Jesse left the parental home fifteen years ago and his family have lost all trace of him; Mary is the wife of Frank Heiston, who is engaged in the automobile business at Lincoln, Nebraska.

Mr. Cripe is well fortified in his political views and gives his support to the cause of the Democratic party. Both he and his wife, who has been his companion and helpmeet for more than half a century, are earnest adherents of the Brethren church..

ROBERT PEASE. - In his specific field of business enterprise Mr. Pease is contributing much to the facilitating of the basic industries of Gage county and he holds secure vantage-ground as one of the alert and progressive business men and representative citizens of Beatrice, where he is the owner of the large and prosperous business conducted under the title of the Pease Grain & Seed Company. He combines the energy and thrift of his New England forebears with the vital and progressive spirit of the west, and thus he is well equipped for playing a useful part in the communal and business life of his adopted city and county.

Mr. Pease was born in Somers, Connecticut, on the 19th of December, 1869, and in that state his parents, Robert and Eliza Billings (Hall) Pease, passed their entire lives, his father having been a farmer by vocation. He whose name introduces this review is indebted to the public schools of his native state for his early educational discipline and there also he gained his initial experience in connection with the practical affairs of a workaday world. In 1892, at the age of twenty-two years, Mr. Pease came to Nebraska and established his residence in the city of Omaha, where he entered the employ of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, in a clerical capacity. Later he was employed in the United States railway mail service for a period of about seven years, and after his retirement from this position he passed three years in the state of Colorado, where he gave his attention principally to general mercantile business. Thereafter he was located at Salina, Kansas, until 1906, when he came to Beatrice, Nebraska, and purchased a half interest in the grain and seed business then conducted under the title of Cummings & Laughlin. In 1910 he assumed sole control of this well established enterprise, which he has since conducted under the title of the Pease Grain & Seed Company, his operative facilities being of the best and including a grain elevator with a capacity for the accommodation of sixty-five thousand bushels. Mr. Pease has one of the most thoroughly modern elevators in the west. It is equipped with machinery for the handling and cleaning of grain and with other facilities seldom found outside the principal terminal markets. The seed department of his business has been built up by himself and has become one of major importance. In this department are the best of provisions for the handling of both field and garden seeds of all kinds and a large and constantly expanding trade is controlled by this department, both wholesale and retail.

Known as a liberal and progressive business man and public-spirited citizen, Mr. Pease has had no desire to enter the arena of practical politics but is found aligned as a loyal supporter of the cause of the Republican party. Both he and his wife are members of the Congregational church.

In the year 1901 Mr. Pease wedded Miss Bertha E. Clark, who was born in the state of Michigan, and the three children of this union are Robert, Jr., Florence C, and Geraldine.

OLIVER TOWNSEND. - A publication of this nature exercises a most important function when it accords recognition, through fitting memorial tribute, to the life and labors of so influential and honored a pioneer as the late Hon. Oliver Townsend, whose record of service and achievement is a very part of the history of Gage county and especially its ju- dicial center, the fair city of Beatrice. His character was the positive expression of a strong and loyal nature, his mentality was of high order and he was well equipped for leadership in popular sentiment and action when he numbered himself among the earliest settlers of Gage county. He was the true apostle of civic and material progress and made his life count for good in its every relation.

Oliver Townsend was bom in Ulster county, New York, October 4, 1834, the youngest son in the family of nine children and a member of one of the sterling pioneer families of that section of the old Empire state, and likewise of one that was founded in America in the early colonial era of our national history, the lineage of the Townsend family tracing back to staunch English origin. The subject of this memoir was a son of Joseph and Nancy (Tompkins) Townsend, the former a native of Connecticut and the latter of the state of New York. Joseph Townsend was a very early settler in Ulster county, New York, where he reclaimed from the wilds a productive farm and held secure status as an honored and influential citizen. His wife there passed away in 1847, and he survived her by twenty years. Oliver Townsend was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm and in his native county acquired his preliminary education in the common schools. As a youth he became clerk in a hotel in Knightstown, New York, and later he was similarly engaged at Hudson, that state. Later he amplified his educational training by attending school both at Claverack and Ellenville, New York.

In 1856, as a young man of twenty-two years, Mr. Townsend went to Huron county, Ohio, and in January of the following year he made his way to the little frontier town of Sioux City, Iowa, where he remained until the following autumn, when he came to southern Nebraska and here determined to establish his permanent residence - a full decade prior to the admission of the territory to statehood. He entered claim to a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, a portion of which is now included within the city of Beatrice, and for the ensuing four years he devoted himself strenuously to the reclaiming and improving of his land, which is now a very valuable property and which he held in his possession many years.

In 1865 Mr. Townsend became associated with the late H. M. Reynolds in establishing a general merchandise store at the corner of Court and Third streets in the little town of Beatrice, and in 1867 Hon. Nathan Blakely was admitted to the firm, the title of which then became Blakely, Reynolds & Company. Four years later Mr. Blakely sold his interest in the business, which was thereafter continued under the firm name of Reynolds & Townsend until 1872, when Mr. Townsend retired, selling his interest to Mr. Reynolds. In 1874 Mr. Townsend engaged in the clothing business, and to the same he gave the major part of his time and attention from 1877 until 1893, when he retired from active business, after a long and honorable record as one of the most successful and popular merchants of Gage county.

Unswerving in his allegiance to the Republican party and well fortified in his convictions concerning matters of economic and governmental import, Mr. Townsend was influential in political affairs in this section of the state. In 1858 he was elected county clerk, and of this office he continued the efficient and valued incumbent for ten years, or until the admission of Nebraska to statehood, besides which he was ex officio register of deeds for the county during the same period. In 1867 he had the distinction of being elected a representative of Gage county in the first legislature of the new state, and in this office he made a characteristically admirable record of faithful and efifective service during his term of two years, his influence being given earnestly to the furtherance of the movement that resulted in the establishing of the state capital at Lincoln. He was at all times liberal and progressive in his civic attitude, loyally supported measures and enterprises tending to advance the social and material advancement of his home city and county, and none, had more secure place in popular confidence and esteem. His religious faith was that of the Unitarian church, of which his widow likewise is a devoted adherent, and he passed the closing period of his life on his beautiful farm, just to the east of the city of Beatrice, where his death occurred April 31, 1914, and where his widow still resides - one of the loved pioneer women of Gage county.

On April 21, 1880, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Townsend to Miss Kate Monce, who was born in the state of Ohio, July 6, 1859, and whose father, the late Samuel Monce, was one of the early settlers of Nebraska City. Mr. Townsend is survived by three children : Jeane Beatrice is the wife of Dr. Irwin A. Port, a successful physician and surgeon engaged in practice in the city of Chicago ; Ruth, who is a graduate of the Beatrice high school and a popular factor in the social life of the community, remains with her widowed mother; and Catherine Ann is a member of the class of 1918 in the great University of Chicago.

FORD LEWIS. - There is a full measure of consistency in according in this history a tribute of honor to the late Ford Lewis, though he never established his home in Gage county. He was a man of distinctive ability and his mature judgment was significantly shown when he made large investments in Nebraska lands in the year which marked the admission of the state to the Union. His operations in the handling of real estate in other sections of the Union had already been large and important, and thus his knowledge of land values was essentially authoritative. Not mere speculative venturing attended his investment in land in the new commonwealth of Nebraska, for he had the prescience to discern the wonderful future possible for the state and was prepared to do an active part in furthering its civic and material development and upbuilding. He thus early became the owner of Gage county land and he not only developed and improved his various holdings here and elsewhere in the state but he also gave vital and liberal support to important undertakings and enterprises that proved of inestimable value in fostering the march of progress in the new state. Mr. Lewis became well and favorably known in southeastern Nebraska, where he passed much time at intervals, in the supervision of his landed interests, and such was the benignant influence which attached to his activities as touching Gage county that, as before stated, it is most consistent that representation be accorded him in this publication. Mr. Lewis was a man of fine constructive powers, much initiative and administrative ability, and noble character - a man who did much for Nebraska and especially for Gage county, where his only daughter, Mrs. Dwight S. Dalbey now maintains her home.

Ford Lewis was bom at Deckertown, New Jersey, on the 25th of July, 1829, and for many years he maintained his home at Jerseyville, Illinois, where his death occurred on the 30th of November, 1901, after he had passed, by about two years, the psalmist's span ot three score years and ten. Mr. Lewis was a scion of a family that was founded in America in the colonial period of our national history and his father became a prosperous merchant at Deckertown, New Jersey. In his youth Mr. Lewis was afforded good educational advantages, as gauged by the standards of the locality and period. Thus it may be noted that he was a student at Mount Retermet Seminary, that he later attended William Rankin's classical school, and that finally he took a practical business course under the tutorship of Christopher Marsh, widely known as the man who devised and perfected the doubleentry system of bookkeeping, his school having been at the corner of Reade street and Broadway, New York city. After finishing school work Mr. Lewis found employment as a bookkeeper in business establishments, and he was thus engaged first at Hamburg and later at Hackettstown, New Jersey. His vigorous ambition was not, however, to be satisfied with such occupation, for in his youth, as throughout his entire life, he was essentially a forwardlooking man. After he had gained due preliminary experience in connection with the real- estate business Mr. Lewis determined to identify himself with the progressive west, but after proceeding as far as Syracuse, New York, he was induced to become a member of the firm of Chapman & Lewis, which there engaged in the manufacturing of watch cases and in the importing of high-grade watch movements. The firm suppHed watches of standard type to railway officials, including conductors and engineers on the New York Central and other railways, and with this prosperous enterprise Mr. Lewis continued his alliance until 1856, when he sold his interest in the business and accepted the general agency of the large Morse publishing house of New York City, with headquarters at Charleston, South Carolina, during the winter season and at Cleveland, Ohio, during the intervening summer months. This connection he maintained until 1859, when he accompanied his parents and his sister on their removal to Jerseyville, Illinois, - a place that was to represent, his home during the remainder of his long and useful life. There he engaged in the real-estate business, handling both town and farm property, and his success in this important line of productive enterprise led him to extend his operations into Nebraska when the territory assumed the dignity of statehood, in 1867. In company with Hon. Robert M. Knapp, Mr. Lewis made in that year his initial visit to Nebraska, where he also made his first investment in government land in the new commonwealth. In Gage, Johnson, Pawnee, Otoe, and I^ancaster counties, as now constituted, he became the owner of about eighteen thousand acres of land, and much of this he retained in his possession until the close of his life, the appreciation in its value under his well ordered policies of improvement and incidental to the rapid settlement and development of the state in general, having added largely to the value of his estate, which was a large and substantial one at the time of his death. The various deeds to the land which he thus obtained in Nebraska bore the signatures of Presidents Johnson, Lincoln, and Grant, and the documents are now in the possession of Mr. Lewis's only surviving child,

Mrs. Dwight S. Dalbey, of Beatrice. Mr. Lewis had unfaltering faith and confidence in Nebraska, and during the successive summers he here passed considerable time in supervising the development and other improvement work in connection with his landed interests. He was essentially the apostle of progress and gave freely of his influence and cooperation in the support of measures and enterprises that tended to advance the social and material development and prosperity of Nebraska. He was specially influential in promoting the enterprise which eventuated in the construction of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad line through southeastern Nebraska, also the Kansas City & Northwestern, which terminated at Virginia, and these lines traversed lands owned by him. The now fine little town of Virginia, Gage county, was founded by Mr. Lewis and was named in honor of his only daughter, Virginia. He contributed most liberally to the development and upbuilding of this town, as did he also to that of Lewiston, Pawnee county, which likewise was founded by him and which perpetuates his name. Further incidental data relative to the life and achievement of Mr. Lewis appear on other pages, in the sketch dedicated to Dwight S. Dalbey, of Beatrice, husband of Mr. Lewis's only surviving child. Mr. Lewis was the owner of valuable properties in his home city of Jerseyville, Illinois, as well as in other parts of the country, and his success was large in connection with the various enterprises with which he identified himself. He was not, however, self-centered, but was appreciative of the responsibilities which success involves and had a high sense of personal stewardship. He lived an earnest, honorable and useful life and upon its record there rests no shadow now that he has passed from the stage of his mortal endeavors.

Mr. Lewis was essentially a man of though and action and though he was well fortified in his convictions concerning economic and governmental policies and was a staunch supporter -of the principles of the Democratic party, he had no desire for public office of

On the 24th of July, 1864, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. I-,ewis to Miss Elizabeth Davis, of Jerseyville, Illinois, and this gracious companion survived him by about fifteen years. From the year 1097 until her death she passed a portion of each year with her only remainder at her old home in Jerseyville, Illidaughter, in Beatrice, Gage county, and the nois. She was summoned to the life eternal on the 9th of August, 1916, her memory being revered by all who came within the compass of her gracious influence. Of the only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis more specific mention is made on other pages of this volume, as already intimated.

HARM D. HARMS gives his effective service in the management and operations of a well improved farm of one hundred and sixty acres which he and his wife own in Section 23, Hanover township, and he is known as one of the representative agriculturists and stockgrowers of this township. He was born in Atchison county, Missouri, December 4, 1878 and has been a resident of Nebraska since he was a child of three years. He is a son of Dirk and Ellen Harms, the former a native of Germany and the latter of the state of Missouri, where their marriage occurred. Dirk Harms was a young man when he came to the United States and prior to coming to Ne^ braska he had been actively engaged in farm enterprise in Illinois and Missouri. In 1881 he came with his family to Gage county, where he engaged in farm operations for the ensuing thirteen years. He then removed to Franklin county, where he became a prosperous farmer and where he passed the remainder of his life, his death having occurred about the year 1912 and his widow being still a resident of that county.

Harm D. Harms acquired his early education in the district schools of Gage county and later attended school for a time after the family removal to Franklin county. He thereafter found employment at farm work and was thus engaged after he returned to Gage county. Here, in the year 1905, he married Miss Mary Remmers, who was born and reared on their present farm, which she inherited from the estate of her father, Thomas Remmers, of whom mention is made on other pages of this publication. The old homestead farm occupied and owned by Mr. and Mrs. Harms is one of the well improved and attractive places of Hanover township, and here he is successfully carrying on his operations as a general farmer. He and his wife have four children, - Sophia, Emma, Dirk, and Carrie.

VICTOR E. RYHD. - In another article appearing within the pages of this publication is given special mention of the Dole Floral Company, which is one of the leading concerns of its kind in this part of Nebraska and the operations of which contribute materially to the industrial prestige of the city of Beatrice. Of this important corporation Mr. Ryhd is the secretary, and his standing as a progressive business man and loyal and public-spirited citizen of Betarice clearly entitles him to recognition within these pages. He maintains his residence on the fine grounds of the large greenhouses of the company and has become a recognized authority in the practical details of floriculture and landscape gardening.

Mr.Ryhd was born in Bernshammar, Sweden, on the 28th of May, 1872, and to the schools of his native land he is indebted for his early educational discipline, which was coupled with practical experience, as he was but ten years of age when he began working at otherwise leisure hours in greenhouses in his home city of Bernshammar. His youthful ambition to acquire a thorough technical knowledge of floriculture finally led him to enter a college in which special attention was given to teaching and practical work pertaining to floriculture and landscape gardening, and he continued his studies in this institution until his graduation. Mr. Ryhd continued his association with his chosen vocation in his native land until 1905, when he came to the United States, as he felt assured of better opportunities for here achieving independence and success along the line of his profession.

Proceeding to the city of Chicago, he there found employment in the most extensive greenhouses in the entire west, - those conducted by Pullman Brothers, the conservatories of this concern having fully two million square feet of glass. From Chicago Mr. Ryhd finally went to St. Joseph, Missouri, where for five years he held a responsible position with the large Stuppy greenhouses. He then came to Beatrice, where he has since continued in active charge of the large and modern green houses of the Dole Floral Company and where his ability and progressive methods have aided much in conserving the splendid advancement and success of the company, he having been elected its secretary in the year 1917. He became one of the stockholders of the company at the time its reorganization was effected, in 1913, for commercial expediency, and as secretary he has shown marked circumspection in the directing of the business policies of this important concern. He takes loyal interest in all that touches the welfare of his adopted city and gives his political allegiance to the Democratic party, both he and his wife being communicants of the Lutheran church.

In his native land, in the year 1902, was recorded the marriage of Mr. Ryhd to Miss Emma Hetland, and the two children of this gracious union are Louis and Telle f.

CHARLES C. LePOIDEVIN was bom -on the farm which is now his place of residence, in Section 13, Midland township, and is a son of that sterling territorial pioneer of Gage county, Thomas LePoidevin, of whom specific mention is made on other pages of this work. Charles C, who holds secure prestige as one of the representative farmers of the younger generation in his native county, was born July 27, 1882, and was reared to manhood under the influences of the home farm, the while he made good use of the educational advantages aflforded in the public schools of the locality. At the age of eighteen years he began working by the month as a farm hand, and two years later he rented land and engaged in farming in an independent way. Since 1911 he has had the active control and management of his father's fine farm estate of two hundred and forty acres, where he is bringing to bear the energy and good judgment that insure the maximum of success in well diversified agriculture and stock-raising. In addition to the old homestead he gives supervision also to a well improved farm of one hundred and twenty acres which he individually owns and which also is in Midland township. His political allegiance is given to the Democrat party and he and his wife hold membership in the Christian church at Beatrice, from which city their home receives service on rural mail route No. 3.

On March 6, 1907, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. LePoidevin to Miss Mary Barnard, who was born in Clay county, Kentucky, and who is a daughter of George Barnard, her father being given individual recognition elsewhere in this publication. Mr. and Mrs. LePoidevin have three children - Velma, born January 16, 1908; Lucile, born December 14, 1914; and the third child, born February 4, 1918.

BARTLET ADEN was another of the sterling pioneers who gained through association with agricultural and live-stock industry in Gage county a generous measure of success, and though his financial resources when he came to Nebraska were of most limited order he so directed his activities that at the time of his death, January 16, 1910, he was the owner of a valuabled landed estate of three hundred and sixty acres, in Hanover township.

Mr. Aden was born in Hanover, Germany, August 18, 1853, and was there reared and educated. As an ambitious youth of eighteen years he immigrated to America and made his way to the state of Illinois, where he was employed by the month at farm work for some time and where he continued his residence until 1872, when he came to Gage county, Nebraska, where, after having been for three years identified with farm enterprise as an employe, he purchased eighty acres of unimproved land in Hanover township. His first house was a rude dug-out of the true pioneer type and with increasing prosperity he later constructed a substantial frame house, which since his death has been notably remodeled and enlarged by his widow and his only son, who remain on the old homestead. Indefatigable in energy and careful and methodical in his business policies, Mr. Aden achieved unequivocal success through his farm enterprise, and he was one of the representative citizens of Hanover township at the time of his death.

After coming to Gage county Mr. Aden wedded Miss Annie Carstens, a member of an influential pioneer family of this county, and she passed to eternal rest in 1890, a zealous communicant of the Lutheran church. Of the three children of this union two died in infancy and the one surviving is Heye B., a progressive and resourceful young man who is most efficiently managing the family farm estate, in Section 35, Hanover township, save for a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, in Section 32, which latter property is rented to a good tenant. As his second wife Mr. Aden married Miss Rachel Schone, who was born in Adams county, Illinois and who remains on the old homestead, as do also her two children, Elsabe and Annie, who are popular factors in the social life of the community. The family hold to the faith of the Lutheran church and the attractive home is known for its gracious hospitality and good cheer.

Heye B. Aden, only son of the honored subject of this memoir, was born on the old home farm of which he now has the active supervision and the date of his nativity was December 26, 1883. Here he has constantly maintained his residence and here he early learned the vital lessons of productive industry, the while he made good use of the advantages afforded in the public schools. He shows great energy and discrimination in his activities as an agriculturist and stock-grower and is a representative exponent of farm enterprise in his native county. He brings to bear modem policies in all departments of his farm industry and is committed firmly to the use of the automobile. He holds membership in the Lutheran church. He has under his supervision a fine farm estate of two hundred acres.

On June 23, 1917,. was solemnized the marriage of Heye B. Aden to Miss Margaret Rohlfs, a daughter of Herman and Mary (Schone) Rohlfs, natives respectively of Germany and Adams county, lUinois. They are now living on their fine farm of eighty acres, in Filley township. Gage county.

JOHN NELSON FULLER was born February 22, 1831, at Paris, Maine, but soon afterward his parents removed to Livermore, Maine, where he grew to manhood. He was a scion of a sterling family that was founded in New England in the colonial period. The original Fuller came to this country in 1644, and settled on the winding banks of the Charles river, at Newton, now a part of the city of Boston.