Hall County, Nebraska - Chapter 28, 1920 (part 14 of 16)

FREDERICK E. MIETH, whose fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres is situated in section thirty-three, South Loup township Hall County, is an industrious and successful farmer and respected citizen. He was born in the city of Chicago, May 5, 1866, the third in a family of six children born to his parents, August and Mary (Pingel) Mieth, the father of which family was among the early settlers of Hall County and of whom a complete record is found elsewhere in this volume.

Frederick E. obtained his education in the public schools and assisted his father on the farm, until the death of the latter, when the son came into possession of the old home place, and here he carries on a general farming industry.

Mr. Mieth and his family attend the Baptist church. He is an honest, upright citizen and independent in politics. He is now serving as justice of the peace.

ARTHUR COX HUTTON, whose valuable, well improved farm of eighty acres is situated on section twelve, Cameron township, is a representative citizen and prosperous farmer of Hall County. He was born in Bartholomew County, Indiana, in 1854. His parents were George and Lydia (Beard) Hutton, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania and the latter in Ohio. They had three sons and three daughters. Of the former Arthur Cox Hutton is the only survivor, both brothers dying in infancy. Of the latter, but one survives, Mrs. Mary Benafield, of Shelbyville, Indiana. Anna Elizabeth died in Grand Island and Eliza Jane died in Clay County, Illinois, the former being the wife of Robert Heinzle. The father was a farmer and his death was occasioned by the kick of a horse, when he was but thirty-five years old, and the mother did not long survive him. They were members of the United Brethren church.

In 1879 Arthur C. Hutton came to Adams County, Nebraska, where he worked for a time at farm labor, then went on the Spring ranch in Clay County, then came to Hall County and worked for a time in the grain business for E. R. Wiseman & Co. After another period of farm work in Hall County he went to Blue Hill, Nebraska, and from there to Colorado, where he remained for eight years and during that time became one of the responsible men of his neighborhood and helped to organize its first school district. When Mr. Hutton came back to Hall County, he bought eighty acres of pleasantly situated land, and here he has made substantial improvements and carries on general farming and raises a good grade of stock.

Mr. Hutton married in Clay County, Nebraska, Miss Emma Kenworthy. who was bom in 1862, in Clay County, Illinois, and the following children were born to them : Sidney, conducts a ranch in South Dakota; Orville, a farmer in Hall County ; George, who served with an engineer corps in France with the American Expeditionary Force, one of the brave American boys who helped turn the tide of war, is still in Europe ; Genevieve, the wife of M. E. Tennant, a druggist at Cairo; Ray, who served with the American army in France and saw action in the trenches, returned April 17, 1919; Roy on the home farm; and Hubert and Laverne, both of whom are at home. Mr. Hutton is a Republican in politics.

RAY ALBERT. GREEN, a representative citizen of Hall County, in which part of Nebraska almost his entire life has been spent, owns a well improved farm of one hundred and sixty acres situated in section thirty-four. South Loup township, and also is proprietor of what is known as the Greenville store.

Ray A. Green was born in Tuscola County, Michigan, October 14, 1869, the son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Smith) Green, who were born, reared and married in England. His brothers and sisters were as follows: Thomas, who died in Hall County; Anna, deceased, the wife of P. R. Stradley, a retired farmer who lives in Broken Bow, Nebraska; Julia, the wife of Luther S. Trefern, a farmer and lumber man in Oregon; Mary, wife of William R. Goss, a farmer in Hall County; Nina, the wife of George F. Filsinger, living at Cairo, Nebraska, and William and Kitty, both of whom died in infancy. Joseph Green was a sawyer by trade in his native land, from which he came to the United States in early manhood. After locating at Pontiac, Michigan, he worked as a painter but later became a farmer, in 1873 he came to Hall County, Nebraska, homesteaded and proved up and also bought a quarter section of railroad land in section twenty-seven. South Loup township, all of which remains a family inheritance. He improved his property and built the first frame house in this part of the country. Like other settlers he had many early hardships to contend with and during the grasshopper invasion practically lost all his crops. Both he and wife were members of the Baptist church. In his political views he was a Democrat. His death, which occured March 17, 1904, removed one of the sterling men of Hall County. His wife died March 31, 1908.

Ray Albert Green obtained his education in the public schools and remained at home assisting his father. He carries on a general agricultural line and his industries prove profitable because they are intelligently and systematicallly directed. For eighteen months he has operated what is known as the Greenville store, an enterprise connected to some extent with the Farmers' Grange movement, with which he is in full sympathy and for some years has been a member of the organization, which includes the most progressive fanners in the state.

Mr. Green has a pleasant and hospitable family circle, including, wife, two sons and one daughter. He married Mary L. Balcom, who was born in 1872, in Macon County, Illinois, and their children are: Albert, who assists his father on the home place ; Julia, attends school at Cairo ; and Joseph, attending the district school. Mr. Green and family are members of the Baptist church at Bluff Center. He keeps well posted on all that is going on in the world, and when it comes to casting his vote does so with the discretion his own good judgment justifies. In addition to his Grange membership he also belongs to the Odd Fellows.

JOHN W^ARREN MAHAFFEY, a practical printer and for years closely identified with newspaper work over the country as publisher, owner and editor of different journals bought the Cairo Record in June. 1918, and has developed it into an influential newspaper and a paying property. Few men in or out of the profession are better known in several states, for Mr. Mahaffey has been likewise concerned in other business enterprises.

The Mahaft'ey family probably originated in Ireland. It is known to have settled early in the New England states and later to have lived in Kentucky and still later in Iowa, in which state the grandfather of John Warren jNIahaft'ey lived to the age of ninety-three years. His own birth took place near Fairfield, in Jeft'erson County, Iowa, February 27, 1863, the youngest of a family of four children born to his parents, John and Lucinda Frances (Mahaft'ey) Mahaft'ey, who were very distantly related. Their other children were : Belle, who was for many years a teacher in government Indian schools, resides at Broken Bow. 'Nebraska, the widow of Joseph M. Steele, formerly under-sheriff' of Washington County, Kansas ; Luella, who died in Henry County, Iowa, at the age of four years ; and Laura, who is the wife of J. D. Fell, who has been manager of the Chicago Lumber & Coal Company at Concordia, Kansas, for thirty years.

John Mahaffey, father of John 'W. Alahaffey, was born in Kentucky and accompanied his father to Iowa where he afterward bought a quarter section of land and engaged in farming and stockraising until 1862. when he enlisted for service in the Civil W\ar, becoming a member of Company C Thirtieth Iowa Infantry. He was a brave soldier and did his duty but in the summer of 1863 was captured by the enemy and was incarcerated in the infamous Libbey Prison. At one time he succeeded with others in making his escape through a tunnel the wretched men evcavated but he was recaptured and transferred to the prison on Belle Isle, where he died, his age being only thirty-three years.

In a reminiscent mood, Editor Mahafifey sometimes recalls early boyhood days when he earned his board and twenty-five cents for every day that he drove the lead team attached to a self-raking reaper on the farm, of John Hoefer and afterward the same munificent salary from Farmer Lilly in the home neighborhood in Washington County, Kansas. The family then moved to Washington, Kansas, and there he had a chance to attend the high school. He kept busily employed, chopping wood, herding cattle and breaking horses until he was seventeen years old and about that time made a trip with three hundred head of cattle from Witchita, Kansas, to the Otoe reservation in Nebraska and was there at the time the Otoe Indians were removed to Indian Territory. This vigorous out-door life had built up his health, for Mr. Mahaffey like an illustrious American lately deceased, had suffered serious illness and for nine months, when about thirteen years old, had been near to death from an attack of lockjaw and spinal meningitis.

Under Wesley E. Wilkinson, on the Seneca Courier, Seneca, Kansas, Mr. Mahafifey served a three years' apprenticeship to the printing trade after which he became a school teacher, taught seven terms in Washington and Riley counties. His first active connection with a newspaper was manager for one year of a paper at Burr Oak, Kansas. In 1892 he established the Esbon Leader, and later owned the Miltondale leader, the Green County Monitor and the Vermillion Times, which last named paper he sold in 1900 and then located in Concordia, Kansas, and went into the auction business, from which he retired for a time because of throat trouble. He then became a traveling salesman for two years for the Topeka Paper Company; then went with the Shaw Novelty Advertising Company of Kansas City, Missouri, and after that bought the Linn (Kansas) Digest, operating it for eighteen months before disposing of the paper. Mr. Mahaffey then permitted himself three months of leisurely travel during which he visited the exposition at Seattle and the coast states. Following this he accepted a position with the Grand Island Business College, being occupied thus four years before establishing the Doniphan (Nebraska) Enterprise, printing his first paper

May 18, 1916. He sold this journal in March, 1918, and invested in what, at the time, was considered a "dead" newspaper proposition, the Cairo Record. He started out with his first issue, June 13, 1918, with no business, while, by January, 1919, every department of the office is so overcrowded that the entire force cannot handje it, and Mr. Mahaffey is enlarging his plant. He has always been a Republican, even during the period when this section of the country was given over to the populist party theories.

Mention has been made above of the throat trouble that caused Mr. Mahaffey to retire for a time from the auction business, but it fortunately yielded to treatment and by 1904 was well enough for him to resume a line of business in which he has been interested and in which he has been remarkably successful. He has embarked in the auction business at Cairo, and as an example of his ability in this direction it may be mentioned that in two hours and twenty minutes, on December 14, 1918, he sold stock and other property worth $2,160.

Mr. Mahaffey married in Greenleaf, Kansas, Miss Evelyn J. Dunn, who was born at Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Mahaft'ey has been identified with many fraternal and social organizations at different times but has retired from activity in many because of lack of time, still maintaining however!, his Masonic and Woodmen connections.

GEORGE LEWIS RAVENS, a substantial and representative citizen of Cairo, Nebraska, has been a resident of the United States since he was fifteen years of age. He was born in Germany in 1840, one of a family of three children born to his parents, George Jacob and Adaline Ravens. Mr. Ravens had one brother, the late George W. Ravens, who was in the banking and insurance business at Ottawa, Illinois. He also had one sister, Mrs. Amalia Stanch, who is now deceased. The father of Mr. Ravens was a millwright by trade. After coming to the United States he settled at Kansas City in 1857, here he worked as a carpenter until his death there at fifty-five years of age and Mr. Ravens's mother passed away also there at the age of fifty-three years. She was a member of the Lutheran church but the father was a Free Thinker.

George Lewis Ravens attended school in Germany but was apprenticed to no trade. He was an office boy for a lawyer before coming to America, and though only a lad of fifteen he made the trip across the ocean alone. He left Bremen on a sailing vessel spending six weeks on the ocean before landing at the port of New York. It required considerable courage to leave the old country for America as the only relative he had here was a brother. For three years after reaching St. Louis, Missouri, he worked as a general laborer. In search of employment he went to New Orleans, becoming a clerk in a hardware store there for six months and then returned to St. Louis as that city seemed more homelike and he remained there one year longer. He then secured a position in Memphis, Tennessee, but as sectional feeling was strong at that time and he did not want to enter the Confederate army, he came as far north as Illinois. There he found ready employment learning a fine trade and for the next thirteen years he remained at Ottawa, working in a bakery. By this time Mr. Ravens was prepared to go into business for himself and opened a bakery at Morris, Illinois, which he conducted prosperously for six and a half years, but like so many fine men of German descent he felt the call of the land and during the next two years he followed farming in Kansas. In 1883 he came to Hall County and bought one hundred and sixty acres of railroad land, put substantial improvements on it and sold advantageously. He then returned to Kansas and invested in land which he sold in the next three years, before coming back to Hall County to take up his residence in Cairo.

Mr. Ravens married Miss Amanda Warner, who was born in West Virginia in 1845 and died in 1914. They had the following children : George, who died in Illinois ; Frank, who also died in Illinois six weeks later; Amelia, the wife of E. E. Bellamy, died on her husband's farm in Michigan ; Rose, the wife of Mr. Jessen, a gardener in California; Jennie, the wife of Fred Willis, a farmer in Hall County ; Lewis David, a farmer ; Mable, the wife of John Cady, an undertaker at Beatrice, Nebraska ; and Rena, the wife of C. A. Clark, a farnler in Hall County. Mr. Ravens is a member of the Lutheran church. He has never been active in politics but has held minor offices in the order of Odd Fellows, with which organization he has been connected for many vears.

GROVER CLEVELAND RAVEN, cashier of the Farmers State Bank of Cairo, Nebraska, has been identified with banking institutions ever since he entered business life, having been connected with the above financial institution since its organization. He has won ness methods, while at the same time his personality is such as to make friends for any business house with which he may be associated ; as a result he has a wide circle of these at Cairo.

Grover Cleveland Raven was born in 1884, in Linn, Kansas, the son of Herman and Theresa (Loop) Raven, natives of Germany. They had five children, of whom Grover C. is the eldest, the others being: Jacob, who lives in Portland, Oregon, is a ship builder; George and Marvin, who are bankers; and Anna, a clerk in a store, in Linn, Kansas. The parents of Mr. Raven came to the United States in the sixties and directly after landing came west to locate in Linn, Kansas, later purchasing a farm in Washington County. For some years the father operated an elevator at Linn and was considered a successful business man. He gave political support to the Democratic party and held so high a place in the community that he was elected a justice of the peace, serving many years in that capacity.

Mr. Raven obtained his education in Linn and because of inclination and natural gifts early entered business life, soon becoming assistant cashier of the Exchange State Bank of Linn. He also served as bookkepper of the National Bank of Commerce, of Kansas City, Missouri, for two years. In 1910, on the organization of the Farmers State Bank of Cairo, he came to the institution as cashier, an association which has continued to the present time. This bank is capitalized at $15,000, with a surplus of $3,000 and deposits of $230,000. Its officials are: C. C. Hansen, president ; Fred Voss, vice-president ; Grover C. Raven, cashier; and T. M. Sorensen, now a soldier in France, assistant cashier.

Mr. Reven married, in 1905, Miss Mertie Jones, who was born in Linn, Kansas. Politically he is a Democrat and served as chairman of the village board for one year, while fraternally he belongs to the Odd Fellows and the Woodmen.

CHARLES HENRY DE SOE, for many years a well known farmer and orchardist in Hall County, was born near Sandusky, Ohio, in 1846, and died in Cairo, Nebraska, January 25, 1898. He was one of a family of five children, being one of the three sons who came to Hall County. His brother George De Soe was a Civil War veteran who embarked in business for a time in Wood River as also did Orrin De Soe, a second brother,

Charles Henry De Soe was reared and educated in Ohio and followed farming until he enlisted in the First Ohio Heavy Artillery for service in the army during the Civil War. He served one year and to the end of his life was interested in the Grand Army of the Republic, belonging to Simon Cameron Post. On account of failing health he went to Colorado and while there purchased mining stock which proved a good investment and which he later traded for two hundred and eighty acres of land in Cameron township, Hall County. He resided on this farm for about twenty years, in the meanwhile greatly improving it, setting out and caring for one of the finest orchards in the county at that time. He also carried on general farming and took pride in raising fine stock. After retiring from his farm he moved to Concordia, Kansas, where he remained four years before coming to Cairo, where his last days were spent.

Mr. De Soe married Miss Hannah Cole, who was born in Ohio in 1855. One son, James A. De Soe, carries on the farm industries and is a well known livestock dealer. Mrs. De Soe is a member of the Baptist church. Mr. De Soe was a Republican in his political views, was an honest, straightforward man, strict in the fulfillment of every obligation, and all the acquaintances he made in his own and in other neighborhoods held him in the highest possible esteem, so that his sunset years were passed in prosperity and happiness.

JAMES HENRY HULETT, one of the best known citizens of Mayfield township. Hall County, came here as its first permanent settler, and he still owns the land that he bought forty-five years ago. He may truly be called a pioneer of the county and perhaps no resident of the township is more highly respected. His reminiscences of old days cover the sod house period, the dry years and the grasshopper invasion, and he can tell also of the brave struggles that he and his neighbors made before they were able to break the barriers that nature seemed to place in their way. At the present time Mr. Hulett is one of the county's most substantial retired farmers and stockmen, and is a justice of the peace.

James Henry Hulett was born in 1841, in Preble County, Ohio. His parents were Amos and Sarah (White) Hulett, the former of whom was born in 1812, in Vermont, and died in 1896, and the latter born in Rutland, Vermont in 1818 and died in 1898. She was the eight generation, a direct descendant of John and Priscilla Alden. They were married in Ohio and then moved to Illinois to establish their pioneer home, the father of Mr. Hulett securing the last pre-emption claim of eighty acres in Whiteside County, for which he paid $1.25 an acre. He was a cabinetmaker by trade and a skilled mechanic, was early a Whig in his political leaning but later a Republican and held local offices, and both he and wife were fervent members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Of their children James was the eldest, the others being: William, who lives retired at Ames, Iowa ; Robert, a retired farmer at Morrison, Whiteside County, Illinois ; and John W., who owns a ranch in Montana.

A country school provided Mr. Hulett with his education and he remained on the home farm until he entered the service of his country during the Civil War. He was appointed as paymaster's steward and served one and one-half years in the United States Navy, cruising from the east coast of Florida to fifteen miles above Charleston, entering the service at Port Royal and discharged at Charleston. In 1874 he left Illinois for Nebraska driving a "bunch" of cattle the entire distance. He brought capital with him and when he looked about for investment, found land that pleased him in Hall County and shortly afterward he owned the first claim taken in Mayfield township, which he has since owned. Like his neighbors Mr. Hulett and family lived at first in a sod house and were as comfortable and independent as any, although he had the advantage of having money with which to start putting up buildings. In the course of time the present comfortable and substantial structures took shape and proportion and other improvements followed, and additions were made to the original acreage. Mr. Hulett now owns two hundred and forty acres of valuable land. In the early days he did some freighting from Grand Island. Every one at the present time is familiar with the word "aid" but Mr. Hulett heard it many years ago when the settlers and their families and stock would have perished in Nebraska because of the devastations of the grasshoppers between 1874 and 1876, had not men like himself traveled over the ravaged fields with sustaining food. He was one of the Aid Society.

Judge Hulett married Anna Olds, who was born in 1846, at Bonn, Canada, and died in Hall County in 1913. They had the following children : Rexford E-, an electrical engi- neer employed with the Canada Cement Company, in the city of Winnipeg; Howard L., conducts the home farm, carrying on a general farm line and feeding hogs during the winter; and Effie J., who died in 1901. At the time of her larnented death she was a student in the High School in Grand Island. In politics a sturdy Republican all his life, he has served as town clerk and as justice of the peace. He belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.

of Lincoln; and Ruth, who is the wife of Herman Vierk, a farmer of Buffalo County, Nebraska. All his children have been given educational advantages and all are well fixed in life. He has never been much of a politician in the sense of following the dictates of any political party but he always casts his vote as a good citizen, giving support to the candidate who in his estimation is qualified for the office. Mr. Goss can relate many interesting stories of the early days in Hall County.

LEROY WELLINGTON GOSS. - In naming the early families which settled in Hall County in the neighborhood of Cairo that are still well represented here, that of Goss will quickly come to mind, Leroy W. Goss still possessing his farm of one hundred and sixty acres in the same township where he homesteaded in 1872. He has been a continuous resident here and has done his part in bringing about the fine agricultural development that marks this section.

Leroy Wellington Goss was born in 1850, in Oswego County, New York, the son of Oliver and Sophronia Goss, both natives of the Empire state. He was one of four children, the others being : Orsemous, who is deceased ; Ada, the wife of Albert Thomas, a dairyman in Jefferson County, New York, and Arleta, Avho also lives in New York.

Leroy W. Goss came to Hall County in 1872 and soon secured a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, situated six miles south of Cairo. Later he went to Wyoming to work on a railroad, but shortly returned and began the cultivation of his land, breaking the virgin sod with a yoke of oxen. It was not until his second year on this prairie farm that he owned a wagon. Today Mr. Goss has fine improvements on his place which include a comfortable farm house, but when he first settled here he lived in a sod house, as did most of his neighbors. He engaged in general farming and raised cattle and stock until he retired in 1909.

Leroy W. Goss married Miss Laura L. Holly, who was born in Jeiiferson County, New York, in 1853, became the mother of the following children : Minnie, the wife of Henry Vierk, a mail carrier at Cairo ; Leon H., assistant treasurer of the Cudahy Packing Company, Chicago; Bernice, the wife of Emoiy Herriman, a carpenter living in Oregon; Nora, the wife of L. E. Van Winkle, a farmer in Hall County; Mabel, the wife of George Mortimer, in the automobile business at Shelton; Blanche, the wife of C. C. Stahl

HANS JOERGENS RUNGE, well known and highly respected in Hall County who has been a resident of Cairo since 1904, is engaged in the business of buying cream for the Harding Cream Company of Omaha, with which dairy company he has been connected for the last sixteen years. He was born in Holstein, Germany, in 1855, a son of Hans J. and Catherine (Ranmiers) Runge. His father was killed while Hans was serving in the army, his horse accidentally falling on him. The mother was later married to John Goss, and two daughters born to that union are living: Mrs. Margaret Paulson, of Grand Island, and Mrs. Lina Soil, of Wyoming.

Hans J. Runge has been a hard worker all his life. He started as a laborer when he was a boy, remaining for nine years with his first employer. In 1887 he landed in the United States and came directly to Grand Island, where he was first engaged as a general laborer but as soon as he became known he made friends through his industry and honesty and found employment with the grocery houses of H. D. Hennings, William Baker and Hayden Brothers. After that he rented land and engaged for a time in farming. In 1904 he removed to Cairo and since then has managed the cream business of the above mentioned Omaha firm, a business connection of long standing which has been mutually profitable.

Mr. Runge married Augusta Lange, who was born in Germany in 1840 and is now deceased. The following children were bom to them: Rudolph, who works in the railroad shops in Grand Island; William M., who is a farmer in Hall County; John, a farmer in Buffalo County; Ernest, who works at Grand Island in the railroad shops ; Fred, a sailor in the United States navy; Charles, with the United States Engineers serving in France ; Peter, also with the American Expeditionary Force in France, belongs to the artillery; Anna, who lives at Grand Island; August, a soldier in the United States army ; and Emil, a schoolboy at Cairo. Mr. Runge and family attend the Baptist church. In politics he is a Democrat. He belongs to the Plattsduetchen society, to the Fraternal Union and the Modern Woodmen. Mr. Runge is a man whose word is as good as his bond at any time.

JESSE M. RUTH, owner and proprietor of the Cairo Pharmacy, in Cairo, Nebraska, and interested here along other lines of modern business, impresses a stranger as one of the most progressive, alert and enterprising citizens of this community.. He is a native of Nebraska, born at Emerick, Madison County, in 1882, the elder of two sons born to his parents, Phineas W. and Rachel (Collingwood) Ruth. The second son, Silas B. Ruth, who resides at Spokane, Washington, is sales manager of the Ryan Fruit Company.

The father of Mr. Ruth was born in Allegheny County, Pensylvania, in 1856, came to Madison Count}^ Nebraska, and still resides in that county, being one of the prominent business and public men of Newman Grove, now serving as treasurer of Madison County. When he first located here he was practically a poor man, but soon secured a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, took an active part in the development of that section and kept on acquiring land until he now owns many acres on the Canadian frontier and valuable reahy at Newman Grove. He is an important factor in the Republican party there, having served two terms as county assessor and was a member of the first city council of Newman Grove. He is one of the pillars of the Congregational church and fraternally is identified with the Odd Fellows and the Woodmen. He was in business as a contractor and builder and did much work at Newman Grove, but is now retired from this line of activity. ' The mother of Mr. Ruth was born in Pennsylvania in 1860 and is deceased.

Jesse M. Ruth was graduated from the Newman Grove schools in 1896 and for the next four years was engaged as a bookkeeper for the Crowell Lumber and Grain Company, when he entered the drug store of C. V. Anderson as clerk and student remaining there until the fall of 1902, when he entered the school of pharmacy in Creighton College, from which he was graduated in 1904. For the next two years he was with the drug firm of Sherman & McConnell, and then went to Bloomfield, Nebraska, where he conducted the Corner Drug Store until 1908, before coming to Cairo to enter the employ of Dr. Tische, taking charge of the Cairo Pharmacy. In 1909 Mr. Ruth purchased the business but has continued to conduct it under the old well known name. Under his ownership it has been greatly improved and the scope of the business widened. In addition to carrying a complete line of fresh pure drugs, patent medicines, including The Penslar's Line, also Hess & Clark's products, livestock remedies and the innumerable toilet and other preparations now found in every first class drug store. Mr. Ruth has added other departments and handles cut glass, jewelry, wall paper and paints. He has one of the finest soda fountains in Hall County and his entire establishment would be creditable to a much larger city. He has shown unusual enterprise along other lines, notably when he founded the Gem Theatre, in 1915, of which he is the owner.

Mr. Ruth married Miss Rena B. Cain, who was born in 1884, at Creston, Nebraska, and they have three children, namely: Winifred, Laverne and Kenneth, all of whom attend school. The family belongs to the j\Iethodist Episcopal church. In politics he is active as a Republican, and in fraternal life his connections are with the Masons, the Odd Fellows, the Highlanders and other leading organizations.

KARL ALFRED RASMUSSEN, one of Cairo's most successful young business men, has won his present prosperity honestly and fairly through his own efforts. Many young men acquire good business prospects but few of them, perhaps have to do so much alone and unaided as did Mr. Rasmussen, who, when but eighteen years old, came to a far ofif land to make his way among total strangers. It is much to his credit that he has done so well. He was born in Denmark, July 28, 1889, and his parents and two sisters and three brothers still live in that country.

Karl Alfred Rasmussen attended school near his birthplace and was only twelve years old when he began to learn the blacksmith trade, entering upon a certain period of apprenticeship, in the meanwhile cherishing an ambition to come to the United States, which he was only able to gratify by borrowing his passage money for the voyage to this country. After landing in America he made his way to Dannebrog, Howard County, Nebraska, where Oscar Carlson employed him in his blacksmith shop for sixteen months. Mr. Rasmussen then came to Cairo, where he worked for eighteen months for Fred Erickson, at the end of that time buying the shop from his employer. It was just a plain, ordinary blacksmith shop but it was the beginning of Mr. Rasmussen's business success for in the course of time he put up a first class blacksmith building with modern appliances, twenty by one hundred and thirty feet and a second building almost as large and now hadles farm implements of all kinds in addition to modern blacksmithing, making a specialty of acetylene welding. He is also manager of the city water and light plants.

Mr. Rassmussen married after he came to Hall County, Miss Anna Eggers, who was bom here and they have one daughter, Helen Dora, who attends school. Mr. Rasmussen has not identified himself with any political party but casts an independent vote as his own excellent judgment dictates. He belongs to the order of Odd Fellows and also to the Danish Brotherhood.

AMOS HENRY SHATTUCK, pastor of the Baptist church in Cairo, is a man whose intellectual acquirements and broad vision have made him take interest in many lines of useful effort that have given him marked leadership in both business and public affairs in this village. He has been one of the invigorating forces here since 1908. He was born in 1897, near Winona, Minnesota, and was but two years old when he became a resident of Nebraska.

The parents of Mr. Shattuck were Amos and Elizabeth (Thackery) Shattuck, the former of whom was born in New York in 1830, and the latter in 1850, in Indiana. Both are deceased. They had the following children: Mrs. Emma Harpham, who is deceased ; Mrs. Abby Mott, who lives in Iowa ; Eugene G., employed in the freight department of the Burlington Railroad at Hastings ; and Amos Henry, who resides at Cairo. The father of the above family went to Indiana in early manhood and from there to Minnesota prior to 1870, and in 1872 removed with his family to Adams County, Nebraska. He homesteaded there and acquired a forty acre tree claim, the latter being of note because it was one of the very few that proved profitable. While he resided on his farm he made many improvements although, like his neighbors, he suffered hardship and loss at times, particularly from the violent wind storms that swept over the level prairie. His son recalls one of these furious storms during his boyhood, on which occasion the barn was blown entirely away and the family horses had to be brought into the house with the family until its violence subsided. His father, by setting out trees, did his part in bringing about the changed conditions that now prevail, Amos H. Shattuck remembering the early conditions and the first tree planted in Adams County. When his father retired from the farm he settled in the village of Juniata, where he lived the rest of his life. He was a man of sterling character, a faithful member of the Dunkard church, and so trustworthy in public affairs that his fellow citizens elected him to many political offices. At the time of his death he owned a large body of land and across his farm lay the old California trail.

Amos H. Shattuck remained at home with his father until he was eighteen years of age and then went to Washington, working there for one year as a carpenter. After coming back to Adams County, he engaged in farming for a year. In September 1892 he entered the Grand Island Academy and afterward the Baptist College, from which he received the degree of Ph. B., and afterward, from the Chicago University, the degree of Bachelor of Theology. Soon after graduation he located in Illinois and served as pastor of a Baptist church there for one year, then accepted an appointment as a missionary to Utah, remaining in that territory for one year. Prior to coming to Cairo, Nebraska, where he became pastor of the Baptist church, he had been stationed for a time in California. Here Mr. Shattuck has proved the invigorating quality of his citizenship by not confining himself alone to his pastoral work. On the other hand he embarked in business in the line of contracting and has put up a number of the town's substantial business houses, in the meanwhile being manager of the Nelson Lumber Company. An active and conscientious Republican, he has accepted political responsibilities and has served in school offices, as a police magistrate and is a justice of the peace.

Reverend Mr. Shattuck married Miss Clara L. Craig, who was born in 1875, at Jacksonville, Illinois, and they have the following children: Gordon, I .C, Ruth, Francis Rae, Clara Lucille, Paul Craig, Bessie Evangaline and Amos Bruce, the eldest being a sophomore in college at Ottawa.

PETER ELLIOTT, who came to Hall County, Nebraska, at a time when homestead claims could be secured here and plans made for future development that has really come to pass, purchased land which has never passed out of his ownership. The old farm is nicely located in South Loup township, within threa miles of Cairo.

York, in 1862, one of a family of six children born to his parents, Peter A. and Mary (Sevier) Elliott, natives of the Empire state. The father died there but the mother passed away in Nebraska. The father was a hard working man all his life and was respected wherever known, while the mother was a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Besides Peter they had children as follows: Sarah, the wife of Comstock Penn, a retired farmer; Viola, the wife of Ephraim Fowler, a retired farmer living at Arcadia : and I\Irs. Nellie Walker, Lucy and Tilly, all of whom are deceased.

When Peter Elliott came from New York to Hall County, it was with the intention of settling here permanently. He homesteaded eighty acres and secured a pre-emption of forty acres near Arcadia, in Valley County. Later he came to Hall County and bought three hundred and sixty acres of land. Times were hard from the first for he could make only fifty cents a day working on a ranch and that counts for very little when one's cash capital does not exceed $7.50. Perhaps Mr. Elliott remembered, however, that once he had worked on a farm for two months for '$5, for in those days people were unfamiliar even with such words as millions. After securing his land he built the regulation sod house, a kind of dwelling that, in spite of its disadvantages, has often been called exceedingly comfortable, where the family lived until better times came and another farm house was built. Mr. Elliott and his family went through the dry years, 1890 and 1894, and sufTered losses in crops and cattle as did their neighbors.

Mr. Elliott married Mertie Bower, who was born in Vermont in 1869 ; they have had five children : Nelson, a farmer in Hall County ; Sylvia, the wife of Joe Burry, a farmer in Hall County ; Minnie, the wife of Ralph R. Sherlock, a farmer near Angora, in Morrill County ; Percy, deceased ; and Florence, the wife of A. R. Dickerson, who is a farmer.

M. Elliott now lives retired in the village of Cairo. For some years he served as school director in his district and he has also been road overseer. In politics he is a Democrat, and he belongs to the Modern Woodmen lodge in Cairo. Mr. Elliott can relate much that is interesting concerning early days in this section of Nebraska.

NIELS C. NIELSEN, manager for the W. H. Harrison Company, owning a lumber vard in Cairo, has been a resident of Hall County since 1892. All his life Mr. Nielsen has been a stea-dy, hard working man and through his industry he has accumulated a fair competency, while his sound judgment and fair dealing, have won both business and personal friends in a land far from that in which he was born. His birth took place on the island of Jutland, Denmark, in 1859. His parents were Chris and Anna Nielsen, the former of whom died in Denmark, where the latter yet lives in her ninety-first year. Of their four children, two live in Nebraska, Niels C. and Chris, the latter of whom conducts a store at Rockville. The father owned a farm of 144 acres and was considered prosperous.

Mr. Nielsen had some school advantages in his boyhood and then worked as a farm hand in Denmark until 1881 when he came to the United States. He made his way to Chicago, in which city he found many of his countrymen doing well in business and highly respected, and he remained there for a time working for a market gardener. Following this employment he went to the lumber regions of northern Michigan and worked in a sawmill in the deep woods during the season, but 1884 found him farther west on a farm in Howard County, Nebraska. He then learned the mason and plastering trade and when not otherwise busy found employment in this line. For some years he was in a sawmill business in Washington, but in 1897 he came to Hall County to work in the lumber yard of C. H. Bogue & Co. ; subsequently he entered the employ of the W. H. Harrison Company of Cairo, having been associated with this firm for twenty-two years.

Mr. Nielsen married Sena Jensen, who was born in Denmark in 1875, and they have four children: Agnes, the wife of Albert Tagge, a farmer; Edna, the wife of Ray Ingalls, who owns an elevator; Clyde, in the government service, in the quartermaster's department, and Mildred, who resides with her parents. Mr. Nielsen votes with the Republican party and is somewhat active in local afifairs, having served both as village and as school trustee. He belongs to the order of Odd Fellows.

MELVIN L. HODGES, prospering as the result of his intelligent eiYorts in the stock industry, belongs to a well known Nebraska family that has been prominent in Hall County since 1897. Mr. Hodges was born at Shelton, Buffalo County, Nebraska, August 6, 1892. His parents were Lucian M. and Carrie (Atchley) Hodges, both of whom were natives of Ohio, educated and well bred people.

who came to Nebraska and located near Cedar Bluffs, Saunders County, in 1885. Two years later the father bought a farm near Shelton, and in 1897 moved to Jackson township. Hall County, locating three miles southwest of Wood River. That remained the family home, where the father died February 14, 1910, and the mother January 26, 1914. They had five children: Mrs. Minnie K. Bly, Everett L., Melvin L., Mrs. Blanche J. Williams, and Elmer J.

Melvin L. Hodges had educational advantages in the Wood River high school and at a business college in York, Nebraska, while practical training for his life work was gained on the home farm. Following the death of his parents he bought the interests of the other heirs and now owns one hundred and sixty acres, which is valued at over $200 an acre. It is highly improved and Mr. Hodges and his family enjoy a beautiful modern residence. He makes stockraising his leading farm feature and has done well, especially with his registered Duroc -Jersey hogs.

At Wood River, on April 17, 1918, Mr. Hodges married Miss Mabel M. Williams, a daughter of Oliver P. and Cora (Gillett) Williams, natives of Illinois, who have the following children : Charles B. Williams, Mrs. Jennie Hodges, Mrs. Mabel M. Hodges, Ruth, Edward P., John H., Bethel and Otis. Mr. and Mrs. Hodges are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is a Mason in good standing and has advanced as far as the fourteenth degree in the order. He is not active politically but is interested as a good citizen in all that concerns his country at home and abroad.

HENRY C. ORVIS, spending the evening of life in a comfortable home in Grand Island, is an honored veteran of the Civil War, and during the days of peace since that memorable struggle has had various experiences as a pioneer in Kansas and Nebraska. His account of the trials and hardships of the early days may almost seem incredible to the present generation who are accustomed to the comforts and conveniences of the present day, and the life record of such a man cannot help but inspire those who may have the opportunity to read this volume.

Henry C. Orvis was bom in Durand, Illinois, September 18, 1849. His parents were Victor M. and Mary L. (Tyler) Orvis, the former born in Vennont while the latter was a native of New York. As a farmer and a shoemaker the father reared a family of ten children. Henry C. was the fifth in order of birth, the others being: John R., Mary E., Mrs. Matilda Wells, Mrs. Harriett M. Moore, Mrs. Delilah Smith, all of whom are deceased ; Mrs. Lucinda L. Adams of Dubuque, Iowa ; and three who died in infancy.

Mr. Orvis was reared in his native state and in recalling his youthful days he says the first money he ever earned was feeding an old wooden cane mill, with a horse as the motive power, grinding cane to make sorghum molasses. When he was fifteen years and ten days old a recruiting officer came to the home and wanted young Henry to become a soldier in the Union army during the Civil War. As the lad was anxious to go the father gave his written consent and at Marengo, Illinois, September 28, 1864, he enlisted in Company D, Twelfth Illinois Cavalry. It was sent to Memphis, Tennessee, where the men were put on patrol duty watching the movements of General Hood's command. Mr. Orvis took part in a number of skirmishes, his company going to Vicksburg and later to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he served to the end of the war, being mustered out of service and receiving an honorable discharge at Springfield, Illinois, June 28, 1865. He was a gallant defender of the nation's cause and was always found at his post of duty.

In 1879 Mr. Orvis moved to Kansas, with a team of horses and a capital of ten dollars in money and the remainder of his worldly possessions loaded on a wagon. His home was a dugout. Crops were poor owing to the drouth. He lost one of the horses and traded the other for a yoke of oxen. He hauled freight from Waukeeney to the settlement of Prairie Dog Creek, a distance of sixty-five miles, a trip requiring five or six days. He slept under the wagon in all kinds of weather.

In 1881 he made a trip to Custer County for com, and bought corn raised on the ground where the court house stands in Broken Bow. There was nothing raised in Kansas and he would take a load of pigs and selling them would trade them for corn. On the way back he slept in an old sod house and turned his oxen in the corral.

That same year he and his brother John C. went to Iowa, settling in Brush Creek, Fayette County. Here ]\Ir. Orvis was united in marriage September 22, 1867, with Miss Frances E. Richardson, a native of Peoria, Illinois, a daughter of Josiah and Rhoda Richardson, natives of Massachusetts. Soon after this event Mr. Orvis and his wife went to Morton County, Kansas, where after losing five consecutive crops from drouth they decided to remove to a more congenial climate. In the fall of the year when there were five or six inches of snow on the ground, his children barefooted, with his worldly possessions loaded on a wagon drawn by a yoke of oxen they travelled one hundred and eighty miles, camping out at night and his cash capital consisted of one dollar and fifty cents with which they made the entire trip. That winter he found employment hauling coal at a dollar per ton a distance of eight miles from Minersville to Concordia, Kansas, and to help provide for the needs of the family the wife taught school. The next spring he returned to the homestead and engaged in farming while the wife continued to teach. The son Winnifred was a small child and Mr. Orvis fastened a box on the cultivator and took the little fellow with him to the field all day long. In the fall of 1883, Mr. Orvis again made a move and became one of the early settlers of Custer County, Nebraska, making the trip there with a wagon drawn by a yoke of oxen, secured a homestead near West Union, where he resided for fourteen years. While living here his wife died March 14, 1891. November 23, 1893, Mr. Orvis was again married to Mrs. Emily N. Loghry, who was born in Steuben County, New York. Her parents were John G. and Dilla (Johnson) Van Houtin, the former born in Steuben County, New York and the latter a native of Connecticut. She also was a pioneer of Nebraska, locating here at an early day and so suffered many of the privations and hardships of the early settlers. By a former marriage Mrs. Orvis had eight children : Mrs. Maggie L. Thorpe; Harry; Mrs. Minnie Verly; John; Mrs. Kittie Belle Disert; Mrs Grace Marsh; Walter C, and Thomas D. Mr. Orvis is the third old soldier husband of Mrs. Orvis, she seeming to have a preference for veterans. In January, 1891, in company with Mr. S. D. Butcher, of Broken Bow, Mr. Orvis made a trip with team and wagon to the Pine Ridge country, arriving there three days after the Battle of Wounded Knee. They took more than forty views of interesting scenes in that vicinity.

After a busy, eventful life Mr. Orvis now occupies a comfortable home in Grand Island, surrounded with all the comforts and many luxuries of life, a condition which he justly deserves. He has been as faithful in days of peace as when following the Stars and Stripes on the battlefields of the south. Mr. Orvis maintains pleasant relations with his old army comrades by membership in the W. A. Whipple Post, at Burkett, his home being near the Soldiers and Sailors home of Burkett.

DANIEL LYHANE, a well known and highly respected resident of Hall County for many years, will long be remembered as a man of high character, sterling honesty and great industry. He was born in Ireland, in May, 1858, and died on his valuable farm in Jackson township. Hall County, Nebraska, May 29, 1917.

Daniel Lyhane lost his father by death when he was two weeks old. Later when his young mother found an opportunity to come to the United States, she left her child in the care of strangers, but she did not forget him. In the land across the sea she married again and when Daniel was eight years old she sent for him to join her in Nebraska. He learned the painter's trade in addition to farming, easily making friends because of his genuine kindness and good will.

On May 5, 1884, Mr. Lyhane married Miss Mary C. Kerr, at Aurora, Nebraska. Her parents, James and Mary (O'Hare) Kerr, had the following children: Mrs. Margaret Savage, James D., Mrs. Mary C. Lyhane, Mrs. Delight L. Caveny, and Mary T. Mr. and ]\Irs. Lyhane had three children born of their own : John G., an engineer, resides in Cheyenne, Wwoming, married Lillie McElharen ; Mary E., the wife of Thomas Mullen, a mechanic in the railroad shops in Grand Island, has one daughter; and Maro D., who resides at home, is a graduate of the Wood River high school.

After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Lyhane bought land near Aurora, Nebraska, on which they resided for nine years. In 1893 they came to the present home farm, Mr. Lyhane purchasing eighty acres at that time and through industry adding to it until now the family owns two hundred and forty acres, valued at $200 an acre. Maro D. Lyhane is successfully carrying on farming and stockraising. Mrs. Lyhane has a beautiful country home here, built at a cost of $6,000. The Lyhanes are members of the Roman Catholic church.

NORMAN J. ELDRIDGE, an enterprising business man and progressive agriculturist of Hall County, is a representative of a pioneer family that came here to settle in the wilderness sixty years ago. Industry, enterprise and frugality have always marked this family, prosperity resulting from these qualities, and the old homestead secured in 1859 still belongs to the Eldridges.

of William G. and Sarah S. (Shenton) Eldridge, the former of whom was born in Indiana and the latter in England. They were married at \\'ood River, November 11, 1860, by Fred Hedde, aiid the following children were born to them : Mrs. Anna S. Winslow, Norman J., Mrs. Mary E. Calnor, Jasper J., and Mrs. Fannie R. Williams. William C. Eldridge came to Hall County from Attica, Indiana, in 1859, being accompanied by his brother, Jesse F., and their father, Jasper J. Eldridge. He pre-empted the northeast quarter of section fourteen, range eleven. Wood River township, was married in the following year and this land continued to be the family home. The father of Norman J. died here December 13, 1908, and the mother on November 27, 1916. Mrs. Eldridge was an estimable woman in every relation of life and was not only precious to her own family but was universally beloved.

Norman J and his brother Jasper J. Eldridge have always lived on the old homestead, where in a general way, they have always been associated together in business. On February 13. 1899, they entered into a regtdar partnership. They own the old home place, which is worth $200 an acre, and also own an irrigated tract of one hundred and sixty acres, near Douglas, Wyoming. They carry on general farming and have profited greatly in their stock business and at the time of writing have just completed plans to engage in raising registered Hampshire Down sheep on an extensive scale. In building up their fortunes, they have gained a reputation for business integrity that is entirely deserved. Mr. Eldridge remembers when Indians were still in this neighborhood and when it was not an unusual thing to see a herd of bufifalo.

At Grand Island, on April 10, 1910, Jasper J. Eldridge married Miss Annie E. Rickard, the only child of T. L. and Catherine A. (Mc- Dermot) Rickard. Mr. and Mrs. Eldridge have two sons : Jasper W., six years old and Jesse L, two years younger. The latter had the distinction of being the youngest purchaser of Liberty Bonds in Hall County, when he invested at the age of two and a half years. While the Eldridges are not active politically, they are fine, upstanding citizens and dependable in every way when the welfare of Hall Countv is under consideration.

WILLIAM M. REED. - With our country just emerging from its participation in the World War, it is only natural that more than ordinary attention be paid to the record of

William M. Reed was born in McDonough County, Illinois, March 7, 1896, a son of George W. and Alaria (Stoneking) Reed, both of whom were born in Illinois, the father, May 31, 1834, and the mother March 4, 1862. They were married in the fall of 1887, and in 1899 became residents of Hall County, Nebraska. George W. Reed was a soldier during the Civil War, serving in an Illinois regiment during the last three years of that terrible conflict. He took part in twenty-two hard fought battles, and was one of those who escaped being wounded. He maintained pleasant relations with his old army comrades by membership in the G. A. R. He was successfully engaged in farming for many years, but is now making his home at Purcell, Colorado. His wife succumbed to typhoid fever March 2, 1890. They reared a family of six children, as follows : Isaac M., Francis B. Henderson, Emma L. Helty, Joseph S., William M. and Elnor L. Pence.

William M. was reared on the farm and completed the course of study prescribed for common schools in 1912. When just past his eighteenth birthday, he enlisted in the United Statesi Regular Army, March 11, 1912. at Fort Logan, Colorado. While at Fort Bliss he had the misfortune to have a leg broken by the kick of a horse. No sooner had he recovered from this when the other leg sutifered the same fate by having a horse fall on him. He was at Douglas, Arizona, when Villa and Caranza had their three days fight starting on Thanksgiving morning.- He and five comrades were sitting on the school house steps when the outlaw. Villa, crossed the line and fired on the First Artillery at Aqua Prieta. When the Mexicans spied our subject and his comrades they became somewhat reckless in the use of fire arms, which caused the soldiers of Uncle Sam to come down from their seats and as Mr. Reed does not relate what took place after that it is left for the reader to surmise. As a member of the machine gun company of the Twentieth Infantry, with the Third Battalion and the Twelfth Infantry of Regulars, he participated in the skirmish with the Mexicans when they crossed the line at Nogales, Arizona. This seems to have been a red letter day for the Jones', all of the ten wounded men were of that name.

While stationed at New Orleans he met and fell in love with Miss Anna M. Oldenwalder, whom he married on the 12th of June, 1918. She remained in her parent's home until her husband was released from the army and put on the reserve Hst, when he returned to that city and brought his young bride home with him and they are now making their home on the farm in Wood River township. A portrait of the subject of this record will be found on other pages of this volume, and it is needless to say that in the years to come he will be found as loyal as when following the Stars and Stripes as a member of the United States army.

GEORGE B. FRAZELL, one of Hall County's substantial men and representative American citizens, has been well and favorably known here for many years. He is a man who built up his fortune through personal effort and in doing so has always commanded the respect of those with whom he has been associated.

George B. Frazell was born at Oquawka, Henderson County, Illinois, February 19, 1857, the fifth in a family of seven children born to George B. and Janq (Strickland) Frazell. The other children were : Warren, a soldier in the Civil War; Mrs. Amelia Martin, deceased ; Ray, a veteran of the Civil War; Mrs. Philena Romans, who survives; Mrs. Leona Gregg, who is deceased, and Jennie, also deceased. The paternal grandparents were Warren and Jane (Van Galder) Frazell. From a chronological history of the Frazell family that George B. Frazell has in his possession and justly prizes highly, he can prove that his ancestors came from France between 1620 and 1625 and landed at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts. The early Frazell family was prolific and the vigorous -descendants spread over many states and the name is held in respect in many sections of the country in addition to Hall County.

When George B. Frazell was five years old, his father, a cooper by trade, passed out of life and the child was made an orphan as his mother had died a year earlier. A family by the name of Martin sheltered him but were not kind and when less than seven years old the little boy ran away, going to an uncle named Moses Frazell, with whom he remained until he was twenty years old. He worked on his uncle's farm in the summer seasons but went to school in the winter time and thus acquired a fair amount of general book knowledge. He has not forgotten his days on the old farm, however, when he hoed corn through the long hot summer days and felt the joy of a capitalist when his wage of a dime was placed in his hand.

prairie schooner from Warren County, Illinois, to Shelton, Nebraska. He bought eighty acres of land situated on section 5, Jackson township, Hall County, contracting to pay $10 per acre, but forced to go into debt for the greater part of it. He worked this land for two years and then accepted an offer of $20 per acre and after selling it went to the western part of the state prospecting for cheaper land. Finally, however, he returned to Hall County and bought eighty acres in the same section as before, settled on it and has remained ever since. He now owns two hunded acres that have a market value of $200 per acre, and in addition owns an attractive modern residence at Shelton. His farm is considered one of the best alfalfa farms in Nebraska.

In Warren County, Illinois, on November 2, 1882, Mr. Frazell married Miss Anna Snell, who was born in Henderson County, Illinois, the only survivor of ten children born to Levingston and Esther (Freeman) Snell. The mother was a native of Kennebec, Maine, and the father of Indiana. To Mr. and Mrs. Frazell the following children were born : Jessie M. Harvey, Eugene, Erma F., Bernice B., and Lura I. Of these Harvey and Bernice B. are deceased. Jessie M. is the wife of Clyde Burkerd, in the insurance business at Shelton, and they have two children. They belong to the Methodist Episcopal church. ]\Irs. Burkerd is a graduate of the Shelton high school. Eugene Frazell operates his own land near his father's. He married Inez Dubbs and they have three children. They attend the United Brethren church. Erma F. is the wife of Milo Faser, a farmer near Kearney, and they have one son and one daughter and are members of the United Brethren church. Mrs. Faser is a graduate of the Shelton high school, also attended the Normal school at Kearney and taught school for one year prior to her marriage. Lura I., the youngest of the family, resides with her parents. A graduate of the Shelton high school and a teacher for two years, she is also accomplished in music and teaches the same. She is prominent in social circles and with other members of her family, has been exceedingly active in Red Cross and other patriotic movements. Mr. and Mrs. Frazell belong to the United Biethren church. For eighteen years he has been a member of the township school board and foremost in all laudable enterprises for the welfare of the county.

has spent forty-seven useful years here. After vaHant service as a soldier in the Civil War, j\Ir. Dickinson, in the spring of 1872 came to Hall County and took a soldier's homestead in section 4, Jackson township, where he resides. He was born July 25, 1842, at West Northfield, Massachusetts, the only survivor of a family of four sons and four daughters born to Porter and Ardelia T. (Williams) Dickinson.

Nathaniel P. Dickinson remained at home to give his father assistance on the farm until he was nineteen years of age, in the meanwhile having attended the common school and enjoyed four terms in the West Northfield high school. He had been reared to love his country and believe in the principles on which the mighty union of states had been founded, hence, the precipitation of the Civil War found him ready to fight for its preservation. He enlisted in the Union army, at Burlington, Vermont, November 19, 1861, entering Company F, First Vermont Cavalry, and served three years and two months before receiving his honorable discharge at the place of enlistment. In Mr. Dickinson's military record of forty-two battles and skirmishes in which he participated, may be found the following suggestive list: Banks' retreat. May 24, 1862; Occupation of Culpepper Court House, Virginia, July 12, 1862; Bamet's Ford, July 18, 1862; Orange Court House, August 2, 1862; Kelley's Ford, Virginia, August 21, 1862; Waterloo Bridge, August 24, 1862 ; Thoroughfare Gap, August 28, 1862; second battle of Bull Run, August 30, 1862; Chantilly, Virginia, September 1, 1862; Ashby's Gap, September 26, 1862 ; Manassa Junction, October 20, 1862; Warrington, November 25, 1862. The record of this one year was repeated in those that followed. When his whole duty was done, Mr. Dickinson gladly returned from the awful carnage of the battlefield to his former peaceful life on the farm and remained in Massachusetts until March. 1872, when he entered upon a new career by becoming a pioneer settler in Hall County.

Before two months had passed by Mr. Dickinson had a comfortable log cabin nearing completion on his claim, which became a home indeed when his marriage was completed, at Gibbon, Nebraska, on May 17, 1872, to Miss Harriet E. Gleason. This was the first recorded marriage in Buffalo County. Miss Gleason was also born in Franklin County, New York, and there awaited Mr. Dickinson's preparations in Hall County for their future joint home before joining him at Wood River for their marriage. The little cabin proved acceptable in every way and after taking possession, Mr. Dickinson immediately set about planting sod com and starting a garden and in all his work found an indefatigable and cheerful helper in his young wife. In commenting on those early days, Mr. Dickinson mentions that their nearest neighbor was Seth Lee, located two miles north, who had arrived on the same train with him at Grand Island and they entered their claims on the same day. Mr. Dickinson brought with him $500, but after purchasing a team, wagon and necessary farm equipment, a cow and a hog, his money was about gone. There was never any lack of meat for the larder as game was plentiful at that time in this section. Hard work was the rule of the day for a long time but Mr. and Mrs. Dickinson had expected that feature of pioneering and with faith and courage faced and overcame hardships, as later they have together borne some family bereavements. They now own two hundred and eighty acres of valuable land, their farm being improved with two sets of substantial buildings. Mrs. Dickinson's parents were Sherman C. and Rhoda (Goodrich) Gleason, both of whom were born in towns bearing the name of Benson, the mother in Vermont, and the father in New York. He was a soldier in the War of 1812. Of their seven children, Mrs. Dickinson and one brother, Shennan L. Gleason, who resides with Mr. and Mrs. Dickinson, alone remain. To Mr. and Mrs. Dickinson the following children were born : Ardelia, who died February 3, 1898, was a highly educated lady, a graduate of York College and for seven years a popular teacher ; Alma Filia, who died January 28, 1896, at that time was a member of the class graduated with honors in the previous year from the Wood River high school; Ada J., the wife of Frank A. Dority, a farmer near Shelton, Nebraska, and they have two sons, Verle and Wayne, and Ellen F., who died May S, 1916, was the wife of Burt Jones. Mr. and Mrs. Dickinson are members of the United Brethren church. They are known far and near for their sterling worth and neighborly kindness.

RICHARD MOORE. - A story as interesting as any romance might be made of the life of the late Richard Moore, who was one of Hall County's earliest settlers and during a long and busy life, a man of sterling worth. Although some years have elapsed since he passed away, there are many men still living in the neighborhood of Wood River, who well remember his neighborly kindness, his honest

Richard Moore was born in County Cork, Ireland, in 1835. His parents were Patrick and Anna S. (Collins) Moore, who had four children born to them ; Michael, Patrick, Richard and Mary. The father was not what was considered a poor man, when he left Ireland, but of all his money, chest and boxes shipped on a sailing vessel when the family started for the United States in 1847, no trace was found after the surviving members of the family landed. The voyage consumed seven weeks and during the passage ship fever broke out and the father of Richard Moore died and was buried at sea. While detained in quarantine on Ellis Island, the mother of Mr. Moore and little sister Mary, both died, and Michael died soon afterward. Of the family only two remained, Patrick and Richard, who found shelter in the home of a cousin, in the city of New York.

In 1859 the two Moore brothers made their way to Hall County. They squatted on a tract of one hundred and sixty acres of land located two miles west of Wood River, and as soon as the land was surveyed, Patrick pre-empted this land and Richard pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres adjoining on the west, moving onto it about the time of his marriage. For those days he was in good circumstances, in comparison to many others, and his good fortune was increased when he secured as his wife the admirable woman who so cheerfully bore early hardships by his side and through her good management and frugality helped to build up his fortune.

On February 18, 1862, Mr. Moore married Miss Honora Noonen, at Iowa City, Iowa. She also was born in County Cork, Ireland, being fourteen years old when she came with her parents and two brothers to Iowa. The names of her parents were Maurice and Catherine (Fitzgerald) Noonen, both born in Ireland. Tliey had eight children: Margaret, Mary Anne, Catherine, Elizabeth, Honora, Daniel, Patrick and John. To Mr. and Mrs. Moore nine children were bom : John, a farmer near Wood River, married Tillie Gillespie, and they have three children ; Richard, a railroad man and lives at Salt Lake City, Utah, married Carrie Richmond, and they have one daughter; Elizabeth, the wife of Michael Carey, a retired farmer of Salt Lake City, has three children ; Mary N., who died June 2, 1898, was the wife of Austin Ryan, a painter by trade, living in Hastings, Nebraska.

left two sons and one daughter; Margaret and Catherine, twins, of whom the latter is deceased, the former being the wife of Patrick Mahoney, a farmer near Wood River; Francis, a railroad man with home at Salida, Chaffee County, Colorado, married Rose Ross and they have one daughter; Nora, the wife of Michael J. Carey, a farmer near Wood River, has four sons, and Anastatia, who is deceased.

Mrs. Moore still resides on the old homestead which is endeared to her by many memories. She tells of her early married life here, when savage Indians might be expected to raid the little settlement at any time and when Mr. Moore never went to his fields to work without strapping on his revolver. On account of the solidity of their house and their generous hospitality, it was a haven of refuge on many occasions and Mrs. Moore at one time entertained a house full of frightened neighbors for a space of two weeks. The neighbors settled within a radius of five miles of Mr. Moore in 1859, were the following: Anthony Moore, James Jackson, John Mahar, Edwin O'Brien and Mrs. M. Keefe. With all these and many, many others, Mrs. Moore became well acquainted and perhaps no one in this section is more highly esteemed than she because of her unvarying kindness. The homes of her children are open to her, but she prefers her own home and the management of her own affairs. She is a faithful member of the Roman Catholic church. The death of Mr. Moore occurred March 22, 1910.

CARL F. RICKERT, who has spent many years in Hall County, would probably be surprised if all the friends he has made here would gather around him to wish him well, reminding him how often in old days he had helped one or another of his neighbors by friendly advice, by cheering word, or, where all were poor, spared of his scant earnings in case of distress. Mr. Rickert now lives retired on his farm in Jackson township, but is known and highly respected all over the county. He was born in Germany, April 19, 1855. His father's name was Jacob T. Rickert. His mother died when he was very young, leaving one son and one daughter, the latter's name being Mrs. Marie Moore. For some time the father worked for the German government as a contractor.

Carl F. Rickert grew up in a community where even the little children worked, and after his mother died, he was set at the task of watching geese to keep them from eating the field crops and for this service he received three pence a day. A part of his daily duty was to gather the goose eggs and he confesses that sometimes, when his one sandwich of coarse black bread was not satisfying enough for his growing appetite, he would manage a little fire in a secluded place and boil one of the eggs for his own delectation. This was a very risky procedure, however, and would have brought punishment from the owner of the geese if discovered. Later he herded cattle and in the meanwhile attended the schools of his class and secured a good foundational German education. He married in 1877 and in 1881 came to the United States. After coming west for two years he farmed in school section No. 16, Harrison township, on land which he leased, and in 1883 when he settled on that place with his family, he had a wife, three children, one cow and twelve chickens. He lived on the same land for fifteen years, making many improvements on the place. At the end of that time, through circumstances over which he had no control, he had to let his property go at a sacrifice. In early days the eigthy acres he now owns changed hands on one occasion when the trade was completed for $20 and a bottle of whiskey. This land is now valued at $150 an acre and the improvements are worth at least $5,000. In Germany, on August 25, 1877, Mr.. Rickert married Margaret Bauman, who was born in Germany and died in Hall County, Nebraska, November 25, 1918. Her parents were George and Catherine (Rave) Bauman and she was the youngest of their nine children, and two of her sisters live in the United States : Mrs. Johanna Brenchenbach, of Brooklyn, New York, and Mrs. Emma Stenge, of Grand Island. Six children were bom to Mr. and Mrs. Rickert : Frederick. Amanda, George, Bertha, Charles and Christina. Frederick married a young woman who was a Red Cross nurse in Europe in 1917-18 and received a gold service medal for her work during the war ; Amanda is the wife of John Kink, a farmer near Shelton. George resides with his father on the home farm and is operating a half section of land for himself. He is one of the most enterprising and progressive young agriculturists of Jackson township, taking a great deal of interest in breeding Belgian horses, and having magnificent pedigreed jack at the head of his stud. Bertha is the wife of Otto Schroeder, fanning his own land near Alda. They have six children. Charles is a farmer near Wood River, married Nora Leonard, and they have four children. Christina is the wife of Henry Swartz, who owns and operates a farm near Stoneham, Colorado. They have three children. Mr. Rickert has witnessed many changes since he came first to Hall County and his stories of people and events of early days possess much interest.

JOHN A. EWING, who is one of the recognized capitalists of Hall County, came to Wood River in 1872 with his widowed mother, five brothers and three sisters. He was born in Allegheny County, New York, September 26, 1857, a son of Robert and Mary (Furgeson) Ewing, both of whom were bom, in Scotland. Of their children the following survive: Mrs. Helen Crawford, Mrs. Marj' West, John A., and Edward F. The father died in 1871.

John A. Ewing was fourteen years old when he lost his father, but fortune was kind to him in having a wise and resourceful mother. He attended school as opportunity was afforded and continued to work on the farm, agricultural pursuits always engaging his attention from the time in early boyhood when he earned his first money by dropping corn for a wage of ten cents a day. Later Mr. Ewing taught school and is listed with the early educators here. He has always taken an interest in the public schools, and for four years was chairman of the county board of commissioners that not only built the new county courthouse, but did much to place the schools on their present solid foundation. Mr. Ewing is a heavy landowner, his possessions aggregating seven hundred and ten acres, all lying in Hall County except three hundred and ten acres in Lincoln County.

At Wood River, Nebraska, May 16, 1882. Mr. Ewing was united in marriage to Miss Laura B. Dubbs. Her parents were William W. and Mary E. (Coy) Dubbs, who had children as follows : Mrs. Laura B. Ewing, Mrs. Etta Alay Rinderer, Ralph E., John H., Mrs. Elizabeth Holden, Mrs. Mary M. Turney, Willard, Walter, George, Marion F., Raymond B., Emmett C, Mrs. Inez Frazell and Daniel. Mrs. Ewing came to Wood River in the spring of 1872. She is an active worker in the Christian church.

To Mr. and Mrs. Ewing five children have been born: Mary G., William R., John A., James A. and Theophilus H. The last named is the military member of the family and in the soldier section of this work will be found the photograph and service record of this young hero. Miss Mary G. Ewing was graduated from the Wood River high school. For fifteen years she served most acceptably as a teacher, but at present fills a responsible position in the Quartermaster's Department, at Washington, D. C. William R., the eldest son, who was graduated in the class of 1904 from the college at Fremont, is an electrician. He spent one year in the State University and has taught school for three years. John A., who assists his father, lives on the home farm. James A., who is farming a part of his father's land,married Florence Ooley, and they have three children : Beulah, and Laura and Lawrence, twins.

Having spent so many years in Hall County, Mr. and Mrs. Ewing have a wide acquaintance. The entire family has reflected credit on the community and friendly interest is felt for all. Mr. Ewing was reared in the Presbyterian faith. He is a member of the fraternal order of United Workmen, and for ten years Mrs. Ewing was financial secretary of the Degree of Honor while she resided in Cameron township.

THOMAS H. CONNOR, a representative citizen of Hall County, is a substantial farmer and stock raiser in Jackson township, where he owns a large body of highly developed land. Mr. Connor came to Hall County with his parents, more than forty years ago and he has been a continuous resident in the neighborhood of Wood River ever since.

Thomas H. Connor was born at Holmesburg, Pennsylvania, July 4, 1861. His parents were William and Catherine (Welch) Connor, who had the following children : Thomas H., Francis P., Mrs. Mary Billert, William A., and Mrs. Catherine Tallmire. In the spring of 1878, the father came with his family to Hall County and bought one hundred and sixty acres of land situated two miles west of Wood River. Thomas H. attended school before the family removed to Nebraska, and while yet a boy was able to help with the family income by working in a calico print factory at Holmesburg, where he received a wage of $4 a week, and occasionally had twenty- five cents of this salary to devote to his own entertainment. After coming to Hall County he assisted his father and afterward embarked in general farming and stockraising on his own account. His valuable farm of two hundred acres is located three and a half miles west of Wood River and all of it is under a fine state of cultivation His excellent improvements include a handsome modern residence equipped with comforts and conveniences.

On March 2, 1886, Mr. Connor married Miss Elizabeth Quinlan, the ceremony taking place at Omaha. Mrs. Connor was born at Iowa City, Iowa, a daughter of Patrick and Mary (Carney) Quinlan, natives of Ireland, who had children as follows : Mrs. Margaret Shanahan, Mrs. Catherine Dennis, Michael, Mrs. Ellen Henley, Mrs. Mary Power, William, Mrs. Jennie Baldwin, Mrs. Elizabeth Connor, and Mrs. Alice Reardon.

To Mr. and Mrs. Connor six children have been born : William P., in the drug business at Wood River, is a graduate of Creighton College of Pharmacy in Omaha, married Ellen Maughan and is a Fourth degree Knight of Columbus; Charles F., who is deceased; Leo T. and Charles V., both of whom have honored Hall County through military service, have extended mention in the soldier section of this work ; Bernard F., assisting his father on the farm, and Alice M., in school at Hastings, Nebraska. Mr. Connor and family are all faithful members of the Roman Catholic church, and in that connection and every other, are held in the highest esteem. Mr. Connor is a Knight of Columbus and has been a tireless worker in its war activities, also for the Red Cross and for the success of the Liberty loans, in all these movements earnestly working for what true American citizenship means. He has been moderately active in politics, but the only public office he has ever accepted is that of road overseer, which office he has held for the last twelve years. He belongs to the order of Modern Woodmen.

DALE P. STOUGH, District Court Reporter for the Eleventh Judicial District, with District Judge Bayard H. Paine, is the Associate Editor of the Hall County History. Mr. Stough has compiled the greater part of the statistical matter used in this work, and has written a number of the chapters in the history. His industry and initiative have been of invaluable assistance to the editors of the work.

Mr. Stough was born June 29, 1888, at Bigelow, Holt County, Missouri. His father, Charlie Bion Stough, at that time was a railroad brakeman on the St. Joseph-Villisca branch of the Burlington railroad system. For a short time his father worked on the St. Joseph and Grand Island road. After a venture in the grocery business in St. Joseph, Missouri, the father of the subject of this sketch returned to railroad work, residing for a time at Villisca, Iowa, and moved on Dale's fourth birthday to Creston, Iowa. Charlie B. Stough came from a family that had lived in Ohio and Pennsylvania since early in .the eighteenth century, when the first Stough to come to America fled from Germany with a refugee German princess. His mother's family, the Greenwalts, were a Holland-Dutch family. Mr. Stough's mother was Mina Bigelow Stough, a descendant of the old English family of Bigelows.

It was in the public schools of Creston, Iowa, that Dale received his education. He was graduated from the Creston high school in June, 1905. A year later he finished a commercial course from the Crest City Business College. For the next two years and three months he was engaged as a local reporter for the Creston Daidy Morning American, and as a clerk in the division railroad offices of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad at Creston and timekeeper of construction work on the Western Iowa division of that road. In September, 1908, he came to Nebraska and entered the law school of the State University of Nebraska. During his freshman year in college he served as reporter for the law school on the Daily Nebraskan.

In the summer of 1909, Dale went to Omaha and worked as a stenographer in the general ofiices of the Union Pacific Railroad, until later in the summer when he became registrar and librarian of the Creighton Law College, and clerk to the secretary (now dean) Paul L. Martin, and in that capacity was enabled to complete his law course. He received his LL. B. degree in May 1911.

After considering many tentative points of location foi" the practice of his profession, Mr. Stough came to Grand Island in June, 1911, and prepared to open a law office in the Ryan Building. In a few weeks, upon consultation with a number of Grand Island lawyers, he deciced to go to Ravenna, where there was then no law office open for general practice, and practiced there that summer. But in the fall of that year, 1911, he became associated with Former Supreme Judge James R. Dean of Broken Bow, returned to the Supreme Bench in 1917. For the next three years and a half he practiced law in Ciister and adjoining counties.

During his residence in Ravenna and Broken Bow, Mr. Stough served at both places as secretary of the Retail Merchants Federation. At Broken Bow, Mr. Stough served as superintendent of the Sabbath school and as clerk of the church of his affiliation, St. John's Episcopal. In political circles he served as secretary of Democratic County Central Committee and secretary of the Sixth District Congressional Committee in 1912.

In January, 1915, Mr. Stough went to Lincoln to become secretary to Chief Justice Conrad HoUenbeck of the Nebraska Supreme Court. LTpon Judge Hollenbeck's death, which occurred two weeks after his inauguration, Mr. Stough remained with Chief Justice Andrew M. Morrissey for three years. During that time Mr. Stough was author of the History of the Nebraska Supreme Court, which was published in December, 1917, by the Lawyers' Cooperative Publishing Company of Rochester, New York, the leading monthly law magazine, "Case and Comment."

Ill December, 1917, Mr. Stough returned to Grand Island, as District Court Reporter, and took up his residence once more in the city of his choice.

On his twenty-fifth birthday anniversary, June 29, 1913, Mr. Stough was united in marriage to Miss Cassia Mary Beeler, of Davenport, Iowa. At the time of her marriage. Miss Beeler was Dietitian and Assistant Superintendent of the St. Luke's Hospital of Davenport. They have one child, a daughter, Ida Mildred Stough, five years of age. Mrs. Stough is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Beeler, and was bom at Perry, Iowa. She was educated in Worthington, Minnesota, Harris, and Des Moines, Iowa. Her father was a native of Wurtemberg province, and son of a high court judge in that state. Her mother was born in Alsace-Lorraine of French and German parentage, and educated in Zurich, Switzerland. Mrs. Stough has three brothers and six sisters, hying in Iowa and Minnestota. She is an accomplished musician, being both a piano and violin player, and contralto singer. With the spread of the influenza epidemic during the past year, she temporarily gave up her musical studies, overcame the difficulty of leaving home duties and the care of her little daughter and spent considerable portion of her time nursing the afflicted, and enrolled in the Red Cross Home Defense. In December, 1918, she took charge of the City Emergency Influenza Hospital, which was then conducted in the old Brewster Hotel property and superintended it during the last weeks of its career.

Mr. Stough was a member of the Lancaster County Council of Defense in 1917, resigning when he came to Grand Island. During 1918 he served as a four-minute man and in such other ways as he could. He is a close student of transportation and traffic matters with a view of specializing upon that phase of legal

WILSON H. FULMER, successfully operating a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, situated four and a half miles west of Wood River, in section 22, Jackson township, is one of Hall County's good farmers and patriotic citizens. He was bom in Pennsylvania, :\Iarch 10, 1862, the only child born to L. B. and Elizabeth Fulmer. His father fell on the battlefield at Gettysburg, in the Civil War.

Wilson H. Fulmer attended the public schools and made his own way from youth, working as a fanner and also in a grist mill. In 1900 he came to Nebraska and two years later settled in Valley County, where he engaged in farming for four years. The next four years he spent in Ohio but returned to Valley County, from which section, in March, 1918, he came to Hall County and rented the farm in Jackson township.

On September 17, 1889, Mr. Fuliner married at Lockhaven, Pennsylvania, Miss Emma J. Allen. Her parents were Christopher and Lydia M. (Horner) Allen. She had one sister, Catherine, who is deceased. Six children have been bom to Mr. and Mrs. Fulmer : Gertrude, the wife of William Christiansen, of Wood River; James A., who died January 20, 1919, formerly assisted his father on the farm; Raymond D., a soldier in the Army of Occupation, in Germany, is particularly mentioned in the soldier section of this work ; Zeola H., who resides at home, is a graduate of Davis Creek Academy, in Valley County; Harvey G., a student in the Wood River high school," and Ava O., attending school. Mr. Fulmer and his family are members of the Presbyterian church. Beside parting with his son for service in the World War, Mr. Fulmer has many times testified to his good .American citizenship, taking an interest in all necessar}' war work and investing in Liberty bonds to the limit of his means.

:MICHAEL p. HANNON. owner of the Evergreen Farm and one of the leading stockmen in Hall County, has spent almost his entire life on Wood River, and has been in the cattle business since boyhood. He was born Alarch 19, 1865, in Kentucky. His parenter were Daniel and Mary (Francis) Hannon. who had the following children : Michael. Sarah, John, Patrick. Maria and Winnie. During the Civil War the father was a fireman on a gunboat, and shortly after its close came

Michael P. Hannon was four years old when his parents came to this county, their neighbors in 1869 being: Patrick Neville, F. C. Dodge, the Lamberson brothers, James and Patsy Crane, Thomas Francis, Patrick Dugan, John ^^lullen and Lawrence Kilkeney. There were many Pawnee and Omaha Indians in this vicinity and, while they were never considered dangerous, their thievish ways made them a great nuisance. On one occasion as j\Ir, Hannon relates, the family dinner was much delayed because his mother had trustingly hung her cooking utensils on the outside of the log cabin over night, only to find them gone in the morning and never returned. This was a calamity for in those times it was not very easy to replace domestic articles of any kind. Mr. Hannon was eight years old when the W^ood River settlement experienced the greatest storm that has ever swept over Hall County, in which hundreds of cattle perished in the Platte River.'

From boyhood Mr. Hannon has devoted himself to agricultural pursuits and has made Evergreen Farm notable because of its fine products. With the first money he eamed he bought a calf; that was the beginning of a business in cattle that has made him the foremost factor in the cattle industry in the county. He feeds and ships from three to seven car loads annually. His beautiful estate consisting of four hundred and eighty acres, is situated in Jackson township, four miles west of Wood River, and he is said to have some of the finest alfalfa land in the state, -isnq 3;i3jnD0i2 'injaJBO 'U33>] joj uouE^ndsj b He would not consider less than $250 an acre for any of his land, which is quite an advance over the price his father paid in 1869 when he settled one' and one-half miles east of Shelton.

On June 7, 1893, Mr. Hannon married Miss Bridget O'Brien, a daughter of Patrick and Mary (McCue) O'Brien, and they have had a family of nine sturdy sons bom to them: Daniel, a farmer and' in the stock business near Shelton, was educated at Wood River and in the Grand Island Business college, is an Elk and a Knight of Columbus; Edward P., about completing his law course in Creighton College, belongs to the Knights of Columbus ; Earl, preparing to enter the agricultural school of the State University; Howard, a high school student in Wood River, and Michael P., William M., Charles R.. Walter J. and Gordon, all of whom are at home. Mr. and Mrs. Hannon may well be proud of this fine family, all of whom have been carefully reared in the Roman Catholic church. Mr. Hannon has always taken an active part in township affairs and has been particularly useful in the matter of the public schools. Largely owing to his earnest efforts Jackson township has its first class school with two competent teachers that carry the pupils as far as the tenth grade. He has been assessor of Jackson township continuously since 1898, with the exception of four years. In all war work, he has proved untiringly patriotic, and is chairman of the Council of Defense.