Richardson County, Nebraska - Biographical sketches, 1917 (part 18 of 19)

family. Here he was reared to j'oung manhood and responded to his country's call for men, during the first year of the Civil "War, enlisted and was enrolled as a member of Company B, Forty-eighth Regiment, Indiana \'olunteer Infantry on December 15, 1861. He was given the post of first sergeant of his company and, later during his service, was transferred to the Union Veteran's Reserve Corps and was stationed at Washington, being one of se\'enteen men who were taken from Jefferson barracks, St. Louis, and placed on duty at Washington, D. C, to perform clerical work on account of sick disability. Thus Mr. Edwards was employed as a scribe in the War Department until he was mustered out of service in August, 1865. The Fortyeighth Indiana Regiment, which was organized at Goshen, Indiana, in 1861, fought at Ft. Donelson, February, 1862, and was at the siege of Corinth, Mississippi, in Alay, 1862. It then joined in the pursuit of General Price and fought at the battle of luka, September, 1862, where one hundred and sixteen of its number were killed out of four hundred and twenty engaged. In October of that year, it took part in the second battle of Corintli, under General Rosecrans, and later joined Grant's army, with which it pushed to the rear of Vicksburg and took part in the skirmish of Forty Hills, 'Slay 3, 1863. Later in that month, it participated in the battle of Raymond. Mississippi, on the 13th, and at Champion Hills on the 14th, where it lost thirty-three killed and wounded. On May 22, 1863. it took part in the assault on Tunnel Hill and the Vicksburg forts. The regiment re-enlisted as a veteran organization in January. 1864, at Huntsville. Alabama, and later the\- were on duty at Carterville, Georgia, until they joined Sherman's armv on its march from Atlanta to the sea. Following the capture of Savannah, they took part in the campaign through the Carolinas to Raleigh, thence to Petersburg, Virginia, and on to Washington, from which city they were transferred to Louisville, Kentucky, and mustered out on Jul\ 15, 1865. Andrew J. Edwards was transferred to the A'eteran's Reserve Corps on September 22. 1863, and re-enlisted on June 23, 1863, for tliree years additional service. While a member of the Veteran's Reserve Corps, he served with various companies and detachments and received a furlough in January, 1865.

During the last vear of the war. he came to Nebraska and located at Omaha, where he was employed as driver on various stage lines for some vears. He was then employed in the construction of the Union Pacific railroad and was stationed at Ft. Laramie, Wyoming, for some time. Upon his return to Nebraska, he was again employed on mail and stage lines running out of Omaha and served as driver on the east side of the Missouri river. He made his residence in Otoe county for some years and, after farming in Nemaha county, Nebraska, for some years, he located at Humboldt, Richardson county, in 1885. He died at Humboldt on November 15, 1906. Mr. Edwards was a member of the Presbyterian church.

Andrew J. Edwards was married, firstly, at Three Rivers. Michigan, to a Miss Kauffman, who died leaving him one child, Mrs. Cora Edwards- Tyler, of Sterling, Nebraska. His second marriage occurred in Atchison county, Missouri, in 1875, with Mrs. Alvira Belle Houchins nee ]\Iullins, who was born on April 19, 1849, in Crawford county, Indiana, a daughter of Lewis Clasby and Elizabeth (Hume) Mullins, natives of Lexington, Campbell county, Kentucky. Lewis C. Mullins was born, September 26, 1815, and was a son of Lindsey and Millie (Sutherd) IMuUins, natives of Virginia, and members of old American families. The Mullins family came to Nebraska and made a settlement here in i860. Mrs. Elizabetli (Hume) Mullins was a daughter of John Gray Hume. The Mullins family is of Scotch descent. To this second marriage of Andrew J- Edwards were born children as follow: Gila J., of Humboldt, Nebraska; Lewis Clifford, subject of this review; Warren C, of Dawson, Nebraska: Calvert T.. a resident of Lincoln, Nebraska; Marcia, wife of Hark Bradley of Dawson, Nebraska, and Jesse Lee, who died in Nemaha county, Nebraska.

Lewis C. Edwards received his education in the public schools of Glen Rock and Humboldt, Nebraska. He served an apprenticeship in a photograph gallery at Humboldt for a time, and then entered the office of the Humboldt Standard in 1890. Here he learned the trade of printer and was next employed in the office of the Hmnboldt Enterprise, under E. F. Sharts. He was also with the Hmnboldt Leader under H. P. Marlile for some time. His ambition had been to become the proprietor of a newspaper and he realized his ambition by purchasing the Hmnboldt Standard in 1901. He operated this newspaper for a period of five years, later being associated with Oliver Hall, under the firm name of Edwards & Hall. In November, 1905 Mr. Edwards was elected register of deeds for Richardson county and assumed office on January i, 1906. At the expiration of his term of four years, he was re-elected and served for five years, making nine years in all in this important office. In November, 1916, he was a candidate on the Democratic ticket for state senator and carried his home county b\- a large majority, his name being written on the ballots 1)y his friends, altiiuugh Mr. Edwards made no active canvass for the ollice. In January. 1917, he was appointed deputy clerk of the district court uniler Charles Liiree and is now filling this position.

Mr. Edwards was married at Nebraska City on September 28, 1909, to Jessie Paxton, who was born at Chaml>ers, Nebraska, a daughter of Dr. Galen C. and Laura B. (Cain) Paxton, of Falls City, the latter of whom is a daughter of William R. Cain and wife, pioneer settlers of Richardson county. Dr. Galen C. Paxton is a son of William L. Paxton, also a pioneer of Richardson county. One child has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Edwards, a daughter, Betty Isabelle, born, March i, 191 1.

Mr. Edwards is a Democrat in his political affiliation and is one of the recognized leaders of his party in Richardson county. He and Mrs. Edwards are members of St. Thomas Episcopal church of Falls City. He is fraternally affiliated with Nemaha Valley Lodge No. 34, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Falls City Lodge No. 9, Ancient Free and Accepted ]\Iasons. Eureka Chapter No. 5, Royal Arch Masons, and the Royal Highlanders. Mr. Edwards has pronounced literary talent and is a lover of history, he with others having made some valuable researches along the banks of the Missouri river, in this county, and have unearthed various parts of skeletal remains, beads, and the like, which have been pronounced by high autliorities to he remains of a prehistoric race which once lived in this section.

John Henry Hutchings

John Henry Hutchings, well-known business man and farmer, of Falls City, is a native son of Richardson county and has lived here all his life. He was born on a farm, east of Falls City, January 12, 1872, a s^m of George and Eliza (Sleight) Hutchings, natives of England, the former born in 183 1 and the latter in 1836, who came to the then territory of Nebraska from Illinois in 1864 and settled on the farm in section J, Falls City township. George Hutchings developed a good farm there and became a well-to-do and influential pioneer of Richardson count}-. He was endowed with an intellectual nature, and, in this pioneer society, his greatest interest was in its moral and intellectual development. He died in 1890 and his widow survived him more than ten years, her death occurring in 1901. They were the parents of seven children who grew to maturity, of whom the subject of this sketch was the sixth in order of birth, the others being : Elizabeth, who married F. W. Thompson and died in western Kansas in 1906; Kate, who married W. P. Jones and is now living in Nuckolls county, Nebraska; George F., of Kansas City: ]\Iary. who is the librarian of

Reared on the home farm east of Falls City, John H. Hutchings completed his schooling in the Falls City high school and remained on the farm until his removal to Falls City in 1905. In the meantime, during the years 1903-04, he had served as a member of the board of county supervisors from his district, and in 1905, having been elected county clerk, moved to Falls City to take charge of that office and for the better prosecution of the business interests he had developed. In 1907 he was reelected to the office of county clerk, serving two terms, at the end of which term of service he was elected county treasurer and served in that capacity for five years, 1910-15. Since that time he has been devoting his attention to the varied business interests he has developed in and about Falls City, with residence at 2213 Stone street. Mr. Hutchings is the owner of a fine farm of about four h'undred acres, two and a half miles east of Falls City, and of farms in Kansas and Oklahoma. He also has oil lands which have been successfully producing for the past three years, and he is one of the Falls City business men who are taking steps to ascertain if there be oil deposits in this county. With this aim they have spent considerable time and money in securing oil and gas leases on several thousand acres of land in the western part of the county. The reluctance of farmers to lease their land has delayed the test, but the company expects to begin drilling in the fall of 1917.

In 1909, Mr. Hutchings, in connection with others, laid off the Boule- A-ard addition to the city of Falls City, and later laid off the Hutchings and Maust addition, a tract of forty acres, situated two blocks west of Stone street, and there built a number of houses, graded the streets and otherwise improved the addition. Mr. Hutchings is a Democrat and has for years been regarded as one of the leaders of that party in this part of the state. He is, at present, .serving as a member of the city council and, in addition to his further public service set out above, has in other ways contributed of his time and his energies to the advancement of the common welfare.

On June 29, 1909, John H. Hutchings was united in marriage to Mary Emily Davies, who was born in Pennsylvania, December 2;^, 1882, a daughter of Rev. Enoch Israel and Maud (Kirby) Davies. Reverend Davies was born in Wales in 1853 and entered the ministry of the Presbyterian church. He died in 1903, while pastor of the Presbyterian church at Teciunseh, this state. Maud (Kirby) Davies was lx>rn in Pennsylvania in 1849. She is a descendant of Revolutionary families, among them the l^otter and Strickland families, and thniugh the latter the descent is traced from the Plantagenets, of England. Mrs. Hutchings graduated from the state university at Lincoln, taking an A. \l. degree in 1904, and was for some time, prior to her marriage, engaged in teaching in the high schools of Falls City. Nebraska, and Passaic, New Jersey.

]\Ir. and Mrs. Hutchings have two cliildren, John Henry, Jr., born, June 23. 1912, and Sarah Eliza, born, January 13, 1915. Mr. and Mrs. Hutchings are luembers of the St. Thomas Episcopal church of Falls City anil take a very active interest in church work, Mr. Hutchings having been a member of the vestry of this parish since attaining his majority. Both Mr. and ]\Irs. Hutchings are actively interested in the general good works and social and cultural activities of their home city. Mr. Hutchings is a Knight Templar and a member of the local lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Royal Highlanders. As a progressive business man, he has done much to advance the general business interests of his home town and has long been regarded as one of the "real live wires" of the citv.

One of the best-known and most successful of the younger dentists of Richardson county is Dr. Cyrus Norton Allison, of Falls City, who was born. September 11, 1879. on a farm near Florence. Kansas, a son of Alson N. and Elizabeth (Brandon) Allison. The father was born at Marietta. Ohio, in 1839. and died in 1912. He was a son of Hugh Allison, a scion of an old American family. Elizabeth Brandon was born about 1853 and died in 1890. Alson N. Allison devoted his life to farming, but when he came west aliout i860, was for some time engaged in freighting from Omaha. Nebraska, to Fort Laramie, Wyoming. He had a dangerous job for nnich of this long route was through a hostile Indian country, which was alsc} infested with highvi'aymen ; hence, as a rule, only men of courage undertook such work. Mr. Allison also engaged in freighting to Denver, Colorado, and to the states of Montana and New Mexico. He owned his own mules and complete outfit, which he used in this work, and, after spending several vears at it, followed gold mining until about 1870. He took up a homestead near the present site of the city of Bozeman, Montana, lived on it two vears and dien moved to Kansas, where he took up a home-

Stead, a mile and a half southwest of Florence, in Marion county. Tiiere he developed a fine stock and fruit farm and spent the rest of his life. He was serving as township trustee at the time of the grasshopper plague and had charge of the relief work there.

The following children were born to Alson N. Allison and wife : Louisa Belle, the wife of J. M. Kilburn, who lives on a farm adjoining the old home place near Florence, Kansas'; Ida May, a stenographer and bookkeeper for the Illinois Thresher Company, at Sycamore, Illinois; Thomas Walter, farming on the home place in Marion county, Kansas; Myrtle Lusanna, deceased; Dr. Cyrus N., of this sketch; Mrs. Cora Elizabeth Orr, living in Loveland, Colorado, and Luther Devin, who is engaged in the grocery business at Greeley, Colorado.

Doctor Allison, of this review, was reared on the home farm where he worked when a boy. He received his early education in the public and high schools at Florence, Kansas, and then spent three and one-half years in the Kansas Agricultural College, at Manhattan, from which institution he was graduated in 1901 with the degree of Bachelor of Science. Deciding that he preferred a professional career, he gave up the idea of scientific farming and entered Central Dental College at Indianapolis, Indiana, where he spent his first year, and then studied during his secimd and third year at the \\'estern Dental College, Kansas City, Missouri. During the years 1903 and 1904. he practiced his profession in Oklahoma, under state license. He completed his course in 1905 in the last named college, receiving the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery. Soon thereafter he located in Falls City, Nebraska, where he has since engaged in practice, building up a large clientele of the best people in this locality. He has a modernly equipped office in the Richardson County Bank Building. His work is first-class in ever\- respect and he keeps well up to date in his profession.

Doctor .\llison was married in August, 1903, to Leonora D. Eggen, of Manhattan, Kansas, who took the course in domestic science in the Agricultural College of Kan.-as. She is a daughter of J-ames Collier Eggen, a wellknown citizen of Manhattan. To the Doctor and wife one child has been born - Loren, whose birth occurred July 12, 1909.

Politically, Doctor Allison is an independent voter. He belongs to the Presbyterian church and is active in church affairs, especially Sunday school work. He was for three years secretary of the Richardson County Sunday School Association and he has been superintendent of the Falls City Sunday schools for the past nine years. His work has been very effective in this connection and we reproduce the following tribute to him which appeared in The Nebraska Sunday School Record, in its issue of January, 191 5:

Di-. C. N. Allison, secretary-treasurer of the Kicliardsou Couuty Sunday School Association, is a product of Nebraslca's neighbor, the Sunflower state. It is none to his discredit to know that he was reared under environments which brought him to his majority before witnessing the presence of the open saloon. The force of character manifested in his life today proves the value and influence of early training and proper moral surroundings.

Doctor Alli.son siient much of his early uianhuod in high sc'hool and college work at Manhattan, Kansas, before entering upon his professional career, which, in a measure, explains his efficient service in the field to which Itichardson county has called him. Busy as has been his professional life as a dentist, he has for a number of years given much time and energy in Sunday school and church work as Sunday school superintendent, and as a member of Falls City Presb.neriau CTkii-Ch Session.

He is now entering upon his second year of service as secretary-treasurer, unanimously rechosen because of his careful, iwinst.ikhii.' methods of work.

Any county may well consider itself fortun.itc in tindiug one so well-fitted as Doctor Allison for this important position. By nature modest, by training efficient, he. in his quiet, unassuming way, renders much valuable service with no thought of plaoiug himself in the limelight of public praise. May we have many more like him.

In the memorial annals of Richardson county there are few names held in better remembrance than that of the late Hon. Philo S. Heacock, of Falls City, former representative from this district in the Nebraska General Assembly, former mayor of Falls City and for many years actively engaged in the grain, coal, live-stock and milling business in that city, where his death occurred on December 19, 1916, he then being seventy-three years, five rnonths and thirteen days of age. His widow is still living in that city.

Philo S. Heacock was a native of the Dominion of Canada, born at Delta, in the province of Ontario, July 6, 1843, but had been a resident of Nebraska ever since he was twenty-five \ears of age. When cjuite a young man, he left Canada and went to Illinois, where he remained until 1869. in which year he came to Nebraska, driving across the prairies of Iowa by prairie schooner and crossing the Missouri river at Nebraska City, which was then a thriving river town. He proceeded thence to Johnson county, where he located on a farm and where he remained about seven years, at the end of which time, in 1876, he moved down to Falls City, where he built a grain elevator and where he ever afterward was successfully engaged in the grain, live-stock and coal business, to which, in later years, he added the business of milling. From the very beginning of his business career in Falls City, he was ever regarded as one of the leading business men of Richardson county, as well as one of the most active and influential factors in the development of the county's interests along all proper lines. It was not long after Mr. Heacock became engaged in the grain and live-stock business at Falls City that he began expanding that business, and from that time to the day of his death was recognized as one of the heaviest shippers from Falls City over the Burlington. At one time he owned and managed about twenty elevators on the Burlington line, but of later years had cut down the number of his elevators and had been giving more attention to the manufacture of flour, having bought the Douglas mill after his elevator at Falls City was destroyed by fire some years ago. In 1880 Mr. Heacock was elected to represent this district in the Legislature and he served during the sixteenth and seventeenth sessions of that body. He also served as mayor of Falls City for one term and in other ways gave of himself unselfishly to the public service, ever helpful in promoting an}- movement designed to advance the common welfare. He was an earnest member of the Presbyterian church and, at the time of his death, was an elder in the same, an office to which he had been ordained in 1905. He had a brother, Albert Heacock, formerly a resident of Falls City, now living at Alberta, Canada ; two sisters, Mrs. Ida Fredenbaugh and Mrs. E. A. Barnes, of Toronto, Canada; another sister, Mrs. David Beatty, of Pony Sound, Ontario, and a fourth sister, Mrs. Emma Stevens, of Chicago, Illinois.

Mr. Heacock was twice married; the first time, in Canada, to Isabella Beatty, who died leaving two children, Jessie, who died in Canada in 1884, and Philo, who died in Falls City in 1892. In 1882, at Falls City. Mr. Heacock married secondly, Florence Thome, of that city, who was born at Ottawa, Illinois, and to that union four children were born, namely: Bess, wife of V. R. Gould, of Omaha, Kate, Roy A. and Ruth, who are still at home with their mother in Falls City. The Heacocks have a very pleasant home and have ever given proper attention to the general social activities of their home town, helpful in promoting all local good works and in advancing such movements as are designed to promote the common welfare.

Roy A. Heacock, who is now managing the extensive interests and properties left by his father and operating the mill and the coal business in behalf of the familv, was born at Falls City on March lo, 1886. He (86) cninpleted his schooling at the University of Nebraska in 1905 and then became actively connected as a partner with his father in the business the latter had built up at Falls City. For the last six years of the elder Heacock's life, he had been a practical invalid and thus much of the weight of the management of the business fell upon the shoulders of the younger Heacock. who thus became practical manager of the mill and the other interests of liis father. Since the latter's death, the son has continued to conduct affairs as before and is continually extending the operations of the mill. Mr. Heacock is one of the most energetic and public-spirited business men in Falls City and takes an active part in the general affairs of that city. He is a Mason and a member of the local lodge of the Benevolent and Prottctive Order of Elks and takes a warm interest in the aft'airs of both of these orders.

James Kelly

James Kelly, a farmer and stockman of Liberty precinct, Richardson county, and the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres of choice land in section 18, was born on November i, 1870, in Manitowac, Wisconsin, the son of Martin and Nora ( O'Neil) Kelly, well-known farming people.

Martin Kelly was boni in Ireland in 1829. At the age of twenty ^ears he left his native land, in 1849, the year of the memorable famine in Ireland, and came to the United States, there being a general exodus from the Emerald Isle about that time. On arriving in this country he went on to Wisconsin and settled on a farm, which he later purchased, and continued to live there until 1879, when he came to Richardson county, continuing his farming operations until the time of his death in 1902. He was married to Nora O'Neil. also a native of Ireland, who was born in 1834 and who died in 1898. Tlie> were married in Wisconsin and were the parents of the following children : James, the subject of this sketch; Martin, who lives in Liberty precinct; Ellen. the wife of J. Tangney, and lives in Kansas; Katherine, who married \\'illiam Riley, of (irant precinct; Bridget, who lives with her brother. John; Nora, living with her brother. Miles; Mrs. Lizzie Cully, who lives near Lincoln. Seward county, this state; John and Miles, farmers, of Ohio precinct.

On coming to Richardson county in 1879, Martin Kelly bought a farm in Ohio precinct and as he prospered in his farming operations, developed and improved his land and became one of the substantial farmers of his neighborhood. He and his wife were hnmely people and were earnest members of the Cathohc church, in the faith of which tlieir children were also reared. Their deaths, separated by a few years, were generally regretted throughout the community.

James Kelly, son of the worthy couple whose lives have just been noticed, was nine years old when he came with his parents to Richardson county and was educated in district school No. yj. On leaving school he helped his father in the work of the farm. In 1906 he bought his present farm of one hundred and sixty acres, which he is operating successfully. In addition to his work on the farm, he is also engaged in handling Duroc-Jersey hogs and well-bred Shorthorn cattle, and has been equally successful in these lines. In 1916 Mr. Kelly built a substantial modern house, etiuipped with all mod ern conveniences and is lighted throughout with gas.

On October 10, 191 1, James Kelly was united in marriage to Elizabeth Joyce, daughter of John and Mary (Cleary) Joyce, natives of Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Kelly are the parents of two children, daughters, Eleanor, born on February 21, 1914, and Elizabeth Mary, July 25, 1917.

Mr. Kelly is a Republican and gives a good citizen's attention to local affairs, but has never been a seeker after office. He and his wife are members of tlie Catholic church and are interested in all neighl)orhood good works. Mr. Kellv is a member of the Knights of Columbus.

Charnock W. Williamson

One of the leading farmers of Nemaiia precinct, Richardson countv, is Charnock W. Williamson, who was born near Lawrence, Kansas, Octol)er 7. 1859. He is a son of Robert and Maria (Cade) Williamson. The father was liorn in Coshocton county, Ohio, INIay 5, 1830, and died in 191 2. He left Ohio about 1858, going to Iowa, later moving to Missouri. In i860 he went to Kansas, but moved back to Missouri, but in 1861 went to Kansas again. In June, 1865, he bought the farm on which the subject of this sketch resides in Nemaha township and moved here at that time. He built a small house and began improving the place in a general way. He carried 011 general farming and fed large numbers of cattle, having ])lentv (U' range on the prairies at that time. He became one of the most successful farmers of the county, owning at the time of his death seven hundred acres, which he divided among his cliildren. He was well known and held in liigh esteem.

He was a son of Henry Williamson and wife, the latter of whom was a JIaxton, natives of Ohio, where they lived and died. The mother of the suhject of this sketch was born in Maryland, July 2, 1828, and her death occurred in 1910. She was a member of the Presbyterian church. Robert Williamson was a pioneer in three .states. He bought his first land in Xeb'.aska from the government, paying one dollar and twenty-seven cent^ an acre for the same. It was part of an Indian reservation. He paid for his farm by hauling lime about forty miles from A\'hite river. He used oxteams to break up his land. He endured many hardships, including the grasshopper years, but he was a man of courage and by perseverance won out. His wife made all the clothes for the family for several years, spinning the cloth herself. To these parents five children were born, namely; Mrs. Martha Runyon. who lives in Xemaha precinct, this county; Samuel, who lives in Durant, Oklahoma; Lucinda, the wife of C. L. Lynch, of Sabetha, Kansas; Charnock VC., the suljject of this sketch, and Robert K., who lives on a farm in Xemaha precinct.

Charnock W'. Williamson grew to manhood on the home farm, where he worked hard when a boy, assisting his father develop the place and cultivate the general crops. In the winter time he attended the local schools in district X'^o. 71. When a young man he herded cattle on the plains a great (leal. In 1884 he began farming for himself on eighty acres which his father gave him and also on rented land. He later purchased a part of the estate. He is now owner of two hundred and forty acres of excellent land in section 36, Nemaha precinct. He has made all the improvements on the same, and now has a comfortable home and a good group of outbuildings. He set nut a large orchard some year^ ago, which was destroyed by a storm, but he planted another and now has an excellent orchard on his north eighty. He is a breeder of Shorthorn cattle. He raises a large quantity of grain each year, much of which he feeds to live stock.

Mr. \\'illiam.son was married on October 30, 1884, to Maggie Smith, who was Ijorn in Richardson county, where she grew to womanhood antl was educated in school district Xo. 71. She is a daughter of Julius and Rosalee Smith, a .sketch of \\hom appears on another page of this vt)Iume. h'ive children have been 1)orn to Mr. and Mrs. Williamson, named as follow: h'loyd, who is farming in Xemaha county, Kansas; Robert, who is farming in Salem precinct, this county; Dottie, deceased; Elva, deceased, and Loring is at home. I'oliticalK-, Mr. \\'illirun,si)n is a Democrat. He belongs t<i the Independent ( )nkT of ( )il(l h'ellows and to the Modern AX'oodmen.

Frederick H. Harkendorff, proprietor of a well-kept farm in section jy. Ohio precinct, and one of the best-known and most progressive young farmers and stockmen in that part of the county, is a member of one of the very first families in Richardson county, his grandfather, John F. Harkendorff. having come here in 1854 and settled on a pre-emption claim on the Muddy river at a time when there were but three other white men within the confines of what is now Richardson county. Two of these earlier comers were horse thieves whose careers not long afterward were cut short at the end of ropes, the not-uncommon fate of their ilk in those days.

John F. Harkendorff, the pioneer, and his wife, Mary (Kephandt) Harkendorff, were natives of Germany, who left their home in Mecklenb'urg- Schwerin with their family in 1852 and, after a nine-weeks voyage on a sailing vessel, reached the shores of America, and proceeded from port on out to Illinois, settling in Jackson county, that state. Two years later, they pushed on West into what then was the great territory of Nebraska, just created that year from what formerly had been somewhat indefinitely known as the Indian country, and settled on a tract of land lie had |)re-empted on the banks of the Muddy, about where the village of Straussville now stands in this country. As noted above, there ^yere, at that time, but three other white men in the territory now included within Richardson couiitv, two of these being- horse thieves and the other a real settler. It was al)Out this time that Jesse Crook, the Goolsbys and t)thers of the early colony of Tcnnesseeans .settled here. John F. Harkendorff put up a log cabin on his claim and, with the oxen which had drawn his covered wagon, family and household goods over from Illinois started in to lireak the sod and develop his farm. He and his family were always on friendly terms with the Indians, who were then present in large numbers hereabout, and when he got a start with his herd of cattle the Indians bought his surplus cattle. The scrupulous fidelity with which the Indians observed tlieir part in the transactions was proof to the pioneer that his red neighbors were inherently honest, for when they had no money with which to |)av for the cattle they would leave with him ponies double in value the amount of their purchase as a pledge against the time of the government's periodical payment to the Indians. The Harkendorffs were an earnest, |)eaceable familv and were not much bothered by the horse thieves, only one of their horses being stolen during those early days when horse stealing was all too com- mon. On that piuiieer farm and on their later farm in Ohio precinct. John V. Harkendortt and his wife .spent the remainder of their hves, rearin.t; their family and developing a fine piece of farm property, useful and influential pioneers and good neighbors. The old log cabin in which they began their residence in this county is still standing, one of the most precious relics of the jiioneer days to be found within the whole confines of the county.

Fred J. Harkendorff, sun of John b". Harkendorff and wife, was born on March 11. 1841. and was eleven years of age when he came to this country with his parents and about thirteen when they came from Illinois to the then Territory of Nebraska and settled in this county. His youth was spent on the pre-emption claim on the site of the present village of Straussville. and be then moved with the family to the farm in the precinct of Ohio on which the subject of this sketch now lives. There he grew to manhood and, after his marriage, established his home, remaining there imtil 1903 in which year he retired from the farm and moved to Falls City, where he spent his last days, his death occurring there on November 3. 1913, and where his widow is now living, past sixty years of age. She, Mary C. Hasenyager, was born on a farm ten miles from St. Louis, Missouri, daughter of John . Hasenyager and wife, who became pioneers of ]\ichardson county and substantial residents of Ohio precinct. Fred T. and Mary C. (Hasenyager) Harkendorff were the parents of seven children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the sixth in order of birth, the others being as follow: John, a farmer, of Ohio precinct; Anna, deceased; ?klary, wife of 1'. W. Wittrock. of the precinct of Ohio; Charles, of that same precinct ; William, deceased, and Louisa, who died in infancy.

Frederick H. Harkendorff was born on the farm on wliich he is n<iw living, in section 29 of the precinct of Ohio. July 11. 1889. and has lived there all his life. His early schooling was received in what is still known as the Harkendorff school in that precinct, and he supplemented the same l)y two vears of attendance at the Falls City high school and attendance for two terms at the business college in that city. From the days of his boyhood, he had lieen a valued aid in the labors of developing and improving the home place. .Several vears before his father's death, he was given eighty acres of the home farm, including the home place, and has ever since farmed tlie same, establisliino lijs lidnie there after his marriage in the s])ring of KjIJ. In addition to his own farm. Mr. Harkendorff is farming adjoining land and is n(i\v successfully cultivating tliree hundred acres

On April i8, 1912, Frederick H. Harkendorff was united in marriage to Freida Lentzsch, who was born at Craig, Missouri, daughter of the Rev. C. H. and Elizabeth (Haartje) Lentzsch, natives, respectively of Germany and of Indiana, who were the parents of six children, of whom Mrs. Harkendorfif was the fifth in order of birth. She was reared in Missouri and there received schooling both in the German schools and the English-speaking schools. Mr. and Mrs. Harkendorff have two children, Erwin and Alma. They are members of the German Lutheran church at Falls City and take a proper interest in church work, as well as in the general good works and social activities of the community in which they live. Mr. Harkendorff gives a good citizen's attention to local civic aft'airs. but is "independent" in his political views.

Hon. Charles Frank Reams

Charles Frank Reavis, m.ore familiarly known as Frank Reavis, son of Judge Isham and Annie M. Reavis, was born in Falls City on September 5, 1870, and has lived all of his life as a resident of the city of his birth.

Mr. Reavis is a graduate of the Falls City high school and attended the Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois, for one vear. He studied law in the office of his father, the late Judge Isham Reavis, and was admitted to practice in March, 1892. Immediately upon his admission to the bar, he entered into the practice as the law partner of his father under the firm name of Reavis & Reavis, which partnership relation continued until the death of his father in the spring of 19 14.

Mr. Reavis was married in June, 1895, to Myrta L. Abbey, daughter of W. W. and Azelia Abbey, widely known and universally beloved pioneers of Richardson county. Two children have been born of this marriage. Lieut. Charles Frank Reavis, Jr., and John Wallace Reavis.

Mr. Reavis is both a York Rite and a Scottish Rite Mason, and is fraternally connected with the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Modern Woodmen of America and the W^oodmen of the World. He affiliates with the Methodist church.

He was elected county attorney of Richardson county in 1894 and was defeated for re-election in 1896. In 19 14 he was elected to the Sixtvfourth Congress to represent the first congressional district of Nebraska and is now serving his second term to which he was elected in 1916.

Ernest Wickham

Fruit growing is lx)th pleasant and profitable lo the man who loves nature and is willing to devote his closest attention to the work. One of the successful fruit growers and gardeners in Richardson county is Ernest ^^'ickham, of Salem precinct. He was born, December 14, 1867, on his present farm, being a son of James and Eliza ( Barrow^ ) Wickham, pioneers of the county. The father was Iwrn in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, December 18, 1833, and his death occurred in 1905. He spent his earlier years in the Buckeye state, coming to Richardson county, Nebraska, in 1867. settling in Salem, where he engaged in the fruit business until his death.- He was a soldier in the Civil W'ar and took part in many important engagements and was with the army that marched under General Sherman from Atlanta to the sea. He and Eliza J. Barrows were married in i860. She was born in Linn county, Iowa, in February, 183 1, and is now making her home in St. Petersburg, Florida, at the advanced age of eighty-six years. To these parents seven children were born, named as follows : Mrs. Clara A. Bohrer, who lives in Florida, and whose husband is deceased; Blanche, the wife of C. A. Hassen3'ager, who lives in Bern, Kansas; James E. and Olive both living in St. Petersburg, Florida; Bertha, wife of Drew McCulley, living in Chicago, Illinois; Una, the wife of F. Fitch, of St. Petersburg, Florida ; and Ernest, of this sketch, w-ho was fourth in order of birth.

Ernest Wickham was reared on the farm and he received a commonschool education, including one year in the Salem high school. After teaching one year, he went to Florida, where he worked as a telegraph operator for nine years, then returned to Salem, Nebraska, and took up the fruit business with his father. They shipped as many as one hundred and twentvseven carloads of fruit in one year. He owns thirty acres of rich and wellimproved fruit land, on which he has seven acres of strawberries and raspberries. In 1913 he began growing the "ever-bearing" l^rand of strawberries, which he has since made a spe'cialty. He has made horticulture a special study for many years and is one of the best-informed and best-known men in his line in southeastern Nebraska. In 1904 he began in the printing business and he was editor of the Salem Index until the building burned in 191 1, whereupon he discontinued that line of work, although he had been ver\ successful in the same and made the Index one of the popular and influential newspapers in Richardson county.

a daughter of N. F. and Fannie Butler, natives of I'ruitland Park, Florida, but Mrs. Wickham was born in South Carolina. The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Wickham: Roland, who was graduated from the Salem public schools after which he spent three years in the normal school at Peru, Nebraska, and is a civil engineer, living at Atlanta, Georgia ; Mary, who was graduated from the normal school at Peru and is now engaged in teaching at McCook, Nebraska ; Faye. who is attending the normal school at Peru at this time (May, 191 7) ; John, a student in the Salem high school, and Kenneth and Vernon, both at home. These children have been given excellent educational advantages and are making a splendid start in life.

Charles F. Pribbeno

Charles V. Pribbeno, of Preston, one of Richardson county's most extensive landowners, the owner of nearly three thousand acres of land in this state and in the neighboring state of Kansas, is a native of Wisconsin, but has been a resident of this county since he was about four years of age and has therefore been a witness to and a participant in the development of this region since pioneer days. He was born in the city' of Madison, capital of the state of Wisconsin, June 27, 1859, son of Charles and Caroiline (Thompson) Pribbeno, the former a native of Germany and the latter of Norway, who became residents of Richardson county in 1863 and here spent the remainder of their lives, useful and influential pioneers of the precinct of Arago and of the village of Preston, where they both died.

Charles Pribbeno was born in the city of Berlin on June 3, 1837. and was seventeen years of age when he came to this country and located in Madison, Wisconsin, where he presently engaged in the butcher business. There he married Caroline Thompson, who was born in the kingdom of Norway on June 17, 1831, and who was but a girl when she came to this country. It was in 1858 that Charles Pribbeno was married and after his marriage he remained in Wisconsin until i860, when he went to Pike's Peak, Colorado, where he became a mine owner. In i86j he came l)ack East, driving through by ox-team, and decided to locate in the then Territorv of Nebraska. He settled in Richardson count v and for several sum- niers following was engaged in freighting to Denver and other joints West, at times going on to Salt Lake City. He would freight corn, cornmeal and cured pork across the plains with two or three big freight wagons, three yoke of oxen to each wagon, and sometimes would sell out in Denver, at other times going on to Salt Lake City to dispose of his stuff, returning with a load of furs and bufifalo robes. During this period of his career the elder Pribbeno gained the apt soubriquet of "Pike's Peak Charley," which name persisted among his friends as long as he lived, and so accustomed did he become to the name that he seemed to prefer to be thus addressed than by his real name. In 1863 Charles Pribbeno moved with his family to the then Territory of Nebraska and settled in the precinct of Arago, this county, renting die farm now owned there by his son, Henry Pribbeno, a l)i(igraphical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume, on that farm getting a start as a farmer and stockman on which he gradually improved until he eventually became one of the leading farmers in that part of the county and the owner of eight hundred acres of land. There he and his wife lived until their children were grown and married, after which they retired from the active lalxjrs of the farm and turned the home place over to their son Henry, afterward taking a trip to Spokane, Washington, on a \isit to their daughter, Mrs. Anna Ernst. Six months later they returned to this county and bought a house in the village of Preston, where they si)ent the remainder of their days, her death occurring on March 28, 1909, and his, ^March 4, 1917.

Reared on the home farm in Arago precinct, Charles F. Pribbeno received his schooling in the schools of district No. 27 and remained at home, a valued aid in the labors of developing and improving the home place, until he was twenty-two years of age, when he married and bought an "eighty" in section 27 of Arago precinct, the start of his present extensive land holdings. This place had on it a little twelve-by-fourteen house, plastered with vellow clav. the house having a seven-by-fourteen lean-to made of common boxing, the side wall of which was five feet high, which was used as a kitchen. While Mr. Pribbeno tlien could only buy eighty acres, his father paving i)art cash for him for the same, he assuming a mortgage at eight per cent interest for the balance, lie was able to rent one hundred acres on the side, giving one-half the crop for rent the first year, and his start therefore was made more as a renter than as an owner. Years ago Mr. Priblieno found himself in possession of a mortgage claim on tlie land of a discouraged liomcsteader in Chase county, this state, and took a couple of carloads of cattle out there to "range" the same. While there he hought land in that county and has since enlarged his holdings there until he has a considerable ranch in that county, grazing three hundred head of stock on the same. Air. Pribbeno never lived on that ranch over two months at any time, the place now being operated by his sons, who also have farmed six hundred acres each year for the last ten years. In addition to his land holdings in Chase county Mr. Pribbeno is the owner of four hundred acres in Labette count>-. Kansas, three hundred and twenty-se\en acres in Cofifee county, same state, and two hundred and ninetv-seven acres in tlie precincts of Arago and Jefferson, this county, two thousand nine hundred and two acres in all, the greater part of which is well improved and profitably cultivated. In 1892 Mr. Pribbeno engaged in the mercantile business at Preston, but after six years and fifty days in the mercantile business traded his store for a bit of land in CofYee county, Kansas. After two years he bought the store building and a bankrupt stock of goods in for cash and resumed the mercantile business, continuing to operate the store for eighteen months, at the end of which time he traded the buildings and stock of goods for the Labette county (Kansas) farm' and has since given his attention to his land interests. He has owned and built several houses in Preston and now owns a modern home in the southern part of the village, where he and his family are very comfortably situated. The home farm of two hundred and fifty acres adjacent to the village and the one hundred acres he is still renting on the side, receive Mr. Pribbeno's immediate attention, his two younger sons having charge of the same. Air. Pribbeno is a Republican and has ever . given a good citizen's attention to local civic affairs, but has not been a seeker after public office, though for ten years, consecutively, he served as a member of the drainage board in district No. i.

On September 23, 1880, Charles F. Pribbeno was united in marriage to Mary E. Zoeller, who was born at Buffalo, New York, September 26, 1858, daughter of Charles and Ernestina (Closa) Zoeller, natives of Germany, who settled in Richardson county in 1864 and both of whom are now deceased, and to this union eleven children have been born, two of wiion^ died in infancy, the others being as follow: Mrs. Laura Pfiuni. of Chase county, Nebraska; Edward G., whojs on Mr. Pribbeno's ranch in Chase county; Ida. wife of William C. Margrave, president of the WUliam A. Margrave Company, ranchers, and a biographical sketch of whom, together with a history of the late ^^'illiam -\. Margrave and his extensive land devel(Ji)meiit umlertakings. is presented elsewhere in thi> volume; i'Llnier C. of Chase county; Howard H.. of Coffee count}-. Kansas; Anna L.. at home: Mrs. ilary ^NI. Frasier. of Chase county, and William H. and Charles \\'.. at home. The Pribbenos are members of the Evangelical Association and take an interested part in church work, as well as in the general good works and social activities of the Preston neighlxirhood. helpful iti promoting all worthy causes thereabout.

Strphex Rovd Miles

Stephen F)0}d Miles, who though departed from this life this many years, left an impression upon the early pioneer history of Richardson county and Nebraska, which will long figure in the historical annals of the county and state. He was prominently identified with the early formation of the state and was a leader in that picturesque epoch of the old stage coach and overland mail route days. Xo man in his day was more activel\ identified with the industrial development of this section of X'^ebraska than Mr. Miles. He had the distinction of having established the first great stock ranch in the western part of the state of Xebra.ska, which ranch is being conducted at the present time by his son. Joseph H. Miles.

Stephen Boyd Miles was born on January 9. i8jj. anil was a scm of Thomas and Sarah (Boyd) Miles, natives of York county, Pennsylvania. where Stephen Boyd Miles was lx)rn. Thomas Miles was a son of Joseph Miles, who came to the American colonies from Liverpool. England, in 1732, and became a well-established landowner in York county, Pennsylvania, where his famil\- is still honorably and substantially represented. Josej)!! y.I\\es was a soldier, who fought during the American Revolution.

\\'hen the development of the Great West began. Stephen B. Miles became interested in the ])ossibilities presented by the opening up of what had previously been known as the great American desert, and securetl from tlie United States government the contract for carrying the mails from rndependence, Missouri, to Salt I^ke City, Utah. He undertook this mailroute in the early fifties and remained with it for some years. The schedule time of the stages operated -by Mr. Miles was thirty days each wav. The distance between Independence and Salt Lake Cit}' was twelve hundre<l and fifty miles b\- stage road, and the drivers usually dro\e six horses or the ^ame numl)er of mules to the stage. The Indians were often rather trouble- some, especially when first the Sioux and the Cheyennes were on the warpath. The late Joel T. Jones, of Humboldt, and his two brothers were in Mr. Miles employ for some years on this and other routes. For several years Mr. Miles was engaged in the mail contract business, his routes covering all sections of the \\'estern country, including Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Texas.

In 1856, Mr. Miles secured a tract of several thousand acres of land in what is now the neighborhood of Dawson, this countv, to be used as a suitable place for the recuperation of the large numbers of horses and mules required in the mail service. This tract, whereon he made his home, was the nucleus of the present great Miles ranch, one of the most complete agricultural plants to be found in the West and which was the first great ranch to be established west of the Missouri river. Mr. Miles made his home on the ranch to the time of his death.

At the close of the Civil War, Mr. Miles secured his Texas mail contract and retained the same for a period of four years, at the end of which time, in 1871, he retired from the mail carrying enterprise and engaged extensively in the cattle industry, bringing cattle in great herds from the Texas ranges and feeding them on his ranch in preparation for shipment to the Chicago markets. His son, Joseph H. Miles, was an able and competent assistant in this work, and made the long trips to and from Texas in charge of the herds of cattle brought from the Southland for fattening on the ranch. It was not long until the Miles ranch and its products became known far and wide among the cattlemen of the West, its area being increased until it comprised six thousand acres in one body.

From the very beginning of his residence in Nebraska, Stephen Bovd Miles took an active and influential part in the civic afifairs of the new and growing country, and for many years was one of the leaders of the Democratic party in this section. In 1859 he was appointed on an interterritorial committee of four members from the state of Nebraska and four members from Kansas to meet at Lecompton, Kansas, for the purpose of arranging for the creation of a new state, whose northern boundarx- should be the Platte river and \\hich would be Iwunded on the south l)y the Kaw . The deliberations of the committee were rent in twain over the (juestion of slaverv and, after a stormy session at Lecompton, the joint committees disagreed and nothing came of the movement which then passed into history.

Mr. Miles also took an active part in the general business affairs of tlie new countrv, and was a stockholder of the old National liank of St. J.ouis, which failed during the Civil War period. In 1872. in association with William Nichols, of St. Louis, he organized the Commercial Bank of St. Louis, and in i88_' he organized the First National Bank of Falls City and continued as its president until his death. In 1884 lie organized the Bank of Rulo at Rulo, Nebraska, later changed to the State Bank of Rulo, and remained president of the latter institution until his death. He had ever retained a warm interest and affection for his old home town back in Pennsylvania, and in 1890, he returned there and established the ililes National Bank of Delta, becoming president of the same. Joseph H. Miles, his son. Ixcanie cashier, and bought h\< fatiier"s interest in the bank in 1894.

Stephen B. Miles departed this life on October 30, 1898. His death marked the passing of one of the strong and historical figures of Richardson county and Nebraska. He was essentially a builder, whose creations stand to this day as monuments to his enterprise and industry. He builded solidly and substantially, as few men of his day and time have done.

Mr. ^liles was reared in the Presbyterian faith and ever took a proper interest in benevolent works, his purse being open in time of need or distress U> his fellowmen, but he was not an active churchman. He was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and took considerable interest in lodge work and affairs, though his business activities seemed more important to him than the social diversions of life.

Samuel Lichty

One of the best-remembered citizens of a past generation in Richardson county, who is deserving of having ^is life-record perpetuated on the pages of local historv, along with other sterling characters who have made this one of the banner counties of Nebraska, was the local Samuel Lichty. He was b(jrn, September 29, 1847, in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, a son of Solomon Lichty and wife. When young in years, he removed with his parents to Carroll county, Illinois, and in March, 1875 came to Falls City, Nebraska, and engaged in the banking business with John Hinton. He made his first visit to Nebraska in 1869, when he purchasetl land, .\fter several years residence in Falls City, he withdrew from the banking business and purchased a farm, two and one-half miles northwest of Falls Citv. where he resideil until 1902, when he sold out and moved back to

Falls City. He had been equally successful as a farmer as he was a banker, and by his industry and judicious management accumulated a handsome competency. He was also successful in other lines of endeavor, notaljly the insurance business. It was due to his efforts that the Legislature uf Nebraska, during its session of 1887, passed an act permitting the organization of farmers mutual insurance companies, and the following year he organized the Richardson County Mutual Insurance Company. He became its secretary, the duties of which responsible position he discharged with ability and credit until his death; in fact, it was very largely due to his efforts that the undertaking proved to be successful. In 1897 'i"d 1898 he served as deputy state insurance inspector.

Mr. Lichty was active and influential in public affairs, for he served to the satisfaction of all concerned in the offices of school director, road overseer and as a member of the county board of super\'isors to which he was elected in 1886, serving two years. In his earlier life he was a Republican, but when the Farmers Alliance was organized in 1889 ^^ joined it and was either a Populist or Prohibitionist. At one time the taxpayers demanded that the county wards and county officials be investigated, so Mr. Lichty was chosen chairman of the investigating committee. He was a director and a member of the Dwelling House Mutual Insurance Company, and was a charter member of the Nebraska Mutual Insurance Company. He was an able adjuster, a successful insurance writer, careful and honest in ail his work. He was always a great admirer of William J. Bryan and was a Free Silver Prohibitionist. While deputy insurance inspector, he e.xposed the methods of the insurance department as practiced by his chief, whereby, it was alleged, a wholesale graft was practiced, the Federal and other insurance companies being the victims. Whereas, the law provided for five dollars per da}' and expenses for inspecting insurance companies in Nebraska the examiners habitually charged the companies from one hundred dollars to two hundred and fifty dollars for services and, it was charged, pocketed the proceeds. Mr. Lichty secured evidence of the graft which he presented before the state Legislattire for investigation. His action raised quite a furor, and for his work in this line he was dismissed from office by his superior on Feljruary 10, 1899. Governor Poynter took a stand on the (|uestion and thus the work of the subject of this sketch as a reformer resulted in the accomplishment of much good, liis actions being heartilv endorsed by the law-abiding ])ef>ple of the state. Init it was by no means pleasing to the i>oliticians. He was also cominended by the Ijest people for refusing to accept railroad passes, or in any way placing himself under obligations to corp()rations or anyone asking favors they were not entitled to.

Mr. Liclity was an active member of the Brethren church and assisted in every department of church work. h"or a number of years he was secretary and treasurer of the National Home Missionary Society of that church, and gave up the duties of the same only when compelled to do so on account of failing health.

-'At the natioual conference of the Brethren church, met at Dayton. Ohio, August 31, 1913, following the resignation of Bro. Samuel Lichty of Falls City, Nebraska, as .'secretary and treasurer of the Missionary Boara of the Brethren church, the following resolution was onlei-eil incorporated in the regular resolution of the conference.

-Thar wi' most heartily and lovingly express our fullest aiiproiiation in behalf of Samuel L!<hty in his ureat and effective work as secretary and treasurer of the Missionary Board of the Brethren church and commend his succes.^ful .idiiiinistration to his successor.

"By the order of the same conference, the copy has lieen herewith prepared and signed and sealed by the officers of the said conference for presentation to Samuel IJclity for personal preservation.

Mr. Lichty was charitably inclined and known as a liberal and cheerful giver to all worthy causes. He always advocated giving to charity work and the missions, and was a frequent contributor of interesting and forceful articles on this subject to various publications.

Mr. Lichty was first married to Olive Ransom on March 26, 1876, in Carroll county, Illinois. To this union two children were born, namely : Ransom, who lives in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Mrs. C. A. Marsh, who lives in Denver, Colorado. The death of Mrs. Olive Lichty occurred on December 22, 1896. The second marriage of Mr. Lichty occurred on January 27, 1898, when he espoused Ellen Gnagey. of Milledgeville, Illinois. She was born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, July 29, i860, and is a daughter of Joel and Catherine ( Fike ) Gnagey. The father was born on February 9, 1836, in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, in the old family homestead there, his parents having been pioneer settlers in that section of the Keystone state. He is still living and is remarkably well-preserved for one of his a(l\anced years. He has long been engaged in the ministry of the Brethren church and is still filling the pulpit occasionally at Alyersdale, Somerset county, Pennsvlvania. To Mr. Lichtv and his second wife one child was borii, Ruth.

The death of Samuel Lichty occurred on December 15. 1915, at the age of sixty-eight years. He had lived a successful, useful and highly commendable life, deserving of the high esteem in which he was held wherever he was known.

Thomas T. Gist

Thomas J. Gist, secretary, treasurer and manager of the Leo Cider and X'inegar Company at Falls City, former vice-president of the Falls City State Bank, former deputy county treasurer and for years actively identified with the general commercial and industrial afifairs of Falls City and of Richardson county, is a native of the neighboring state of ^Missouri, but has been a resident of this county since he was four years of age. He was horn at Tipton, May 2, 1863, son of Silas P. and Margaret (Black) Gist, natives of Kentucky and Tennessee, respectively, who were the parents of seven children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the third in order of birth and the first-born of whom died in infancy, the others being as follow: Phoebe, who married W. A. Greenwald, of Allentown. Pennsylvania, and is now deceased: Luella, deceased: William, deceased; Samuel, deceased, and Ray, who is vice-president of the Humboldt State Bank of Humboldt, this county.

Both Silas P. Gist and Margaret Black were orphaned when children, both being reared by kinsfolk. They were married in Kentucky, and in i860 came west and settled on a farm in the immediate vicinity of Tipton. Missouri, where they remained until 1867, the year in which Nebraska was admitted to the si.sterhood of states, when they came over into the new state and settled on a farm in the neigliborhood of Salem, in the precinct of Crant, in this county. Two years later they left the farm and moved into the village of Salem, where Silas P. Gist engaged in the grain and livestock business. Later he extended his operations to include the general mercantile business and. from the very l)eginning of his residence in that village, became (^ne of the most active factors in the development of the same. For the past thirty-five years he has been engaged in the banking business, president of the Bank r>i Salem and president of the State Bank of Humboldt, and. despite the fact that he is now past eighty-two years of (87) age, still takes an active part in the business affairs with which he so long has been connected. His first wife died in 1913, at the age of seventy-two years, and at the age of seventj'-eight he married again.

As noted above, Thomas J. Gist was but four years of age when his parents moved over from Missouri into this county and he grew up at Salem, supplementing the elementary education he received in the schools of that village by attendance for a year at the Nebraska State University. In 1880 he became engaged, in association with his father, in the mercantile business at Salem, remaining there until 1886, in which year he received the appointment as deputy treasurer of Richardson county and for four years thereafter was engaged in performing the duties of that office, residing during that time at Falls City, where, in 1888, he married. Upon the completion of his service in the court house, in 1890, Mr. Gist resumed the mercantile business and was thus engaged until 1893, when he helped to organize the Falls City State Bank and was made vice-president of the same. Mr. Gist continued actively engaged in the banking business until 191 1, when he was made secretary-treasurer and general manager of the Leo Cider and Vinegar Company, and has since given his undivided attention to the affairs of that flourishing concern, though retaining his stock in the bank and remaining a member of the board of directors of the same. Mr. Gist is a Democrat and, since the days of his boyhood, has given his earnest attention to local civic affairs. In addition to his service in the county treasurer's office years ago, he has given several years of service to the city as councilman from his ward. He was first elected to the city council in 1901 and served for four years thereafter and again in 1915 he was elected to the council, during all that period of service giving his best attention to city affairs.

It was on September 5, 1888, that Thomas J. Gist was united in marriage, at Falls City, to Annie Reavis, who was born in that city, daughter of Judge Isham and Annie M. (Dorrington) Reavis, the former a native of Illinois and the latter of New York, who were among the most prominent of the early settlers at Falls City and the latter of whom is still living there. Judge Isham Reavis, who was for years one of the most influential men in this part of the state, died in 1914. To Thomas J. and Anna (Rea\is) Gist, four children have been born, namely: Isham Reavis, a graduate of the Nebraska State University, who is now assistant cashier of the State Bank of Humlwldt: Silas Frank, who isr engaged in the manufacture of vinegar at Springfield. Missouri : Annie W.. who is now attending the Nebraska

State University, and J-:iizabeth W., at home. Mr. and Mrs. Gist are meni- Ijers of the Methodist Episcopal church and the former has been a member of the official board of the same for the past thirty years. He is a Royal .Vrch Mason and a member of the local lodge of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and in the affairs of both of these organizations takes a warm interest. Mrs. Gist long has been an active participant in the club life of the city, doing much toward the extension of the cultural activities of the community, and is widely known in the work of women's clubs throughout tlie state. She received her education in the Illinois Women's College, of which educational institution she is a graduate in the classics and music, and a member nf the board of regents. For the past twenty years Mrs. Gist has served as pipe organist for the Methodist Episcopal church. Mrs. Gist was president of the State Federation of Women's Clubs from 1910 to 19 13, and she served as state secretary of the General Federation of Women's Clubs from 1913 to 1915. Her ability as an organizer and public speaker is recognized and her active interest in aft'airs affecting the advancement of women in public spheres of usefulness has been considerable. Mrs. Gist is a member of and was the first regent of Reavis- Ashley Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and, at present, is filling the post of state chairman as a member of the national committee of the organization. For the past twenty years she has served as ])il/e organist at the Methodist Episcopal church.

Charles A. Lord

All do not reach the heights to whicli the}- aspire, but some by perseverance and courage make stepping-stones of their adversities and finallv attain the goal sought. But as a rule long years of struggle must necessaril) precede any accomplishment of important magnitude. Such has been the history, briefly stated, of Charles A. Lord, successful automobile distributor, now living in the city of Lincoln, but formerly one of the enterprising business men of Shubert, this county.

Charles A. Lord was born on March 21, 1868. in Rushville, Illinois, a son of Joseph and Anna (Boyd) Lord, the former a native of England and the latter of Illinois, who became pioneers of Richardson county and here spent their last days.

:inil there attended school. In 1844, when twenty-five years of age. he cniigrated to America, coming on West to Ilhnois, locating on a farm, and soon thereafter he married Anna Boyd, who was born in that state in 1830. Her parents were pioneers there. Mr. Lord continued to operate his farm in Illinois until 1868, when he removed to Nebraska, settling in Richardson county, buying land that had been only partly improved. It was in the old Indian Reservation, three and one-half miles southwest of Salem, and there he established the future home of the family. He worked hard in developing his land into a good farm, making e.xtensi\e improvements in the way of buildings, etc., and there he continued farming and stock raising until his death in 1874. His widow survived him many years, dying in igo2 on the old homestead, at the advanced age of eighty-two years. To these parents twelve children were born, seven sons and five daughters, namely : James, i*" ranees. W^illiam and Elizabeth, all deceased ; Robert A., a retired farmer, who is now making his home in Oklahoma City; ^Irs. Sarah Ellen Clark, who also lives in the state of Oklahoma; Joseph and Josephine, twins, the former of whom is engaged in farming south of Salem, Richardson county, and the hitter, now !Mrs. Harris, living in the town of Salem; Mrs. Amanda M. Moore, a widow and the owner of extensive ranches in Nebraska; Joshua S.. cashier t)f the First National Bank of Falls City, a landowner of Richardson county and formerly representative from this county to the state Legislature, who is mentioned in a separate sketch in this volume; Charles A., the subject of this biographical review, and Thomas, who is a properous farmer near I'eru. in Nemah;i county. Nebraska.

Charles A. Lord grew to manhood on the home farm, where lie worked wlien a boy during the crop seasons, attending the tlistrict schools in the winter time - Rock Creek. No. -J2, in Salem precinct. Later he was a student in the liigli school at Salem. He left school in 1.S88 and learned the barber's trade, which he followed in Salem twelve years. In 1001 he l)ought a hardware and furniture store at Shubert, this county, to which be added implements, harness and an undertaking business. lie took a course in embalming in a school in Omaha, receiving a first-grade certificate in looJ. He conducted his various business interests in Shubert with very satisfactory results until lyio. wlien he sold out and remoxed to Lincoln, where lie turned his attention to the automobile distributing business and has continued in this line to tlie present time with ever-increasing success. .Mr. Lord is agent for the Hudson automobile in the South l'l;itte territory and for the state of Nebraska and the northern part of Kansas for the Lexington and Harroun cars. He maintains one of the finest and most modern exhibit rooms in Lincohi, occupying the first floor and basement of tlie Eag-le building, at 230 North Twelftli street. He distributes one thousand automobiles annually, thus making him the second largest distributor in the state. He understands every phase of the business in which he is now engaged and has met with pronounced success from the first. He also is a stockholder in the l)ank at Elk' Creek, Nebraska, the Orpheum Theater building, the Platner-Yale ^Manufacturing Company, both of Lincoln; owns two hundred and twenty-five feet of business blocks on ( ) street. Lincoln, and also a fine fruit farm near Peru, Nebraska, containing forty acres of apples and pears. He erected his present well-appointed and magnificciu residence in Lincoln at a cost of forty thousand dollars. ]\Ir. Lord is a man of rare business acumen and foresight and has been very successful in all his undertakings. He is one of the substantial and progressive men of affairs of Lincoln, where he is well known and influential in industrial circles.

On December 2j, 1891, at Salem, this county, Charles A. Lord was married to Nellie Malone, who was born at Salem, a daughter of Morris and Anna (Young) Malone, the father a native of Ireland and the mother of Illinois. Mr. Alalone came to America when a young ni;ui. He was a butcher and merchant and engaged in these lines in .Salem, Nebraska, from 1870 until his death in 1902, he then being fifty-three vears of age. He was a well-known and influential citizen there and one of the leaders in the Democratic party in his precinct. After his death his widow married Edward Graham, a farmer of Salem. In 1904 diey moved to Shubert, and there her death occured in 1907. at the age of fifty-nine vears. Her second union was without issue antl only one child. Nellie, was born lo her first marriage.

Two children have been l)orn lo Mr. and Mrs. Lord, namely; Gladxs M., who was born at Salem, where she spent her girlhood and attenile<I the public schools, including high school. She also studied at the Shubert high school until 1910, then entered the Lincoln high school. She then took a course in the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, from which she was graduated in 1916. The second child born to Mr. and Mrs. L^ni, a daughter, died in infancy.

Politically, Mr. Lord is a Democrat. He belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and has also been a ni^imber of .several ether l(Hlj,'es. Personally, he is a man of tine attrilmtes, being honest in all his business transactions, helpful and obliging in his dailv associations with the world, and a comjianionable and genial gentleman whom it is a pleasure to meet.

John' K Harkkxdorff

One of the well-known and respected farmers and stockmen of Ohio precinct, Richardson county, is John F. Harkendorfif, who was born on March 3, 1869, in the locality where he still makes his home, having Ijeen contented to spend his life in his native community. He is a son of Frederick J. and Mary C. (Hasenyager) Harkendorff. brederick J. HarkendorfY. who was a son of John F. Harkendorfif. one of the early pioneers of Richardson count}-, was born on March 11, 1841, and was thirteen years old when he came to this county from Illinois with his parents, before Nebraska was admitted to the Union. His youth was spent on the pre-emption claim on the site of the present village of Straussvile. He later moved with the family to the farm in Ohio precinct, on which Frederick H. Harkendorff, brother of the subject of this sketch, now lives, where he grew to manhood and where, after his marriage, he established his home, continuing general agricultural pursuits there until 1903. when he retired from active life and moved to Falls City, where he spent the rest of his life, dying there on November 3, 1913. His widow is still living there. She was lx)rn on a farm ten miles from St. L(niis, iVIissouri, and is a daughter of John Hasenyager and wife, who were among the pioneer settlers of Richardson county, locating on a farm in Ohio precinct. Seven children were born to Frederick J. and Mary C. Harkendorff, namely: John 1'".. the subject of this sketch; Anna, deceased: Mary, wife of F. W. Wittrock. of Ohio precinct; Charles, of the same precinct; William, deceased; Frederick H., a farmer of Ohio precinct, a sketch of whom appears on another page of this work, and Louisa, who died in infancx".

The jiaternal grandparents of the above-named children were John b". ;ui(l Mar\- ( Kepbandt ) Harkendorff. The\- were natix'es of (iermany. and there the\" grew up, were married and made their bonie in Meckleniiurg- Scbwerin until 1852, when they emigrated with their famil\- to America, the \'oyage requiring over two months. They came on West to Illinois, settling in Jackson county, but two years later left that state and came to Richardson countv. Nebraska, settling on the banks of the Muddy, about where the village of Straussville now stands. There were then hut three other white men in what is now Richardson county, two of these being horse thieves, and trading posts were many miles remote, so tlie family endured many hardships and privations, but they persevered and established a comfortable home as a result of their industry.

John F. Harkendorff, subject of this sketch, grew to manhood on the home farm, and he attended the common schools. He rented land and worked for his father until he was twenty-three years old. He then rented seventy- three acres. He bought ^his present farm about 1904, and now owns a valuable and productive farm of one hundred and sixty acres in section 30, and one hundred and si.xty acres in section 26, Liberty precinct. His land is all well improved and under a high state of cultivation. He has a new modern, commodious home and numerous convenient outbuildings, and has been very successful as a general farmer and stock raiser.

On March 23, 1892, Mr. Harkendorff was married to Louisa M. Bauer, a native of Arago precinct, this county, where she grew to womanhood and attended school. She is a sister of John Bauer, a citizen of Richardson county, and of whom a sketch will be found on another page of this volume, containing the history of the Bauer family. Two children have been born to John F. Harkendorff and wife, namely: \\'illiam H. and Edward J., both at home with their parents. Politically. Mr. Harkendorff' is a Republican. He belongs to St. Mark's Lutheran church and is a trustee of the same.

John A. And Guy A. Crook

Crook Brothers, John A. and Guy A. Crook, of Falls City, founders of the Monarch Engineering Company, which had its origin and main offices at Falls City, with offices in Kansas City, Missouri, and Denver, Colorado, are native sons of Richardson county and are grandsons of the fir.st permanent pioneer settler of Richardson county, the late Jesse Crook, concerning whom there is a full account elsewhere in the historical section of this \oIume. Under the energetic and capable management of these young men the Monarch Engineering Company has risen to become an important an.d prosperous concern and a vast amount of bridge construction, city paving, irrigation-dam building, and public building work has been done under their supervision. During the less than ten years which tlie firm has been operating, or since 1908, its activities have constantly increased and in this year (1917) they purchased the Denver Steel and Iron Works in order to facilitate the material supply part of the construction work in which thev are engaged.

John A. Crook, senior member of the Monarch Engineering Compan\ . was born in Falls City, April 9, 1879, and is a son of Hon. \\\ H. Crook, well-known hardware merchant of Falls City. John A. Cnwk received his education in the public and high schools of Falls City and studied in the State University. He pursued an engineering course with the International Correspondence School, of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and was first employed with the Canton Bridge Company, of Omaha, as structural and construction engineer for two years, 1898-1900. He returned to Falls City in 1900. entered the employ of the John Gilligan Bridge Compain- and remained with this concern until 1908. He then established the Monarch Engineering Company, being joined by his brother, Guy A., in 1910. In October of 1 9 16 tlie magnitude of the business growth of the concern required that lie locate in Denver, Colorado, where he has charge of the Denver Steel and Iron W'orks and looks after the company's Western operations.

Mr. Crook was married in 1900 to Miss Minnie Dalbey, of Coin, Iowa, a daughter of George W. Dalbey. Two children have blessed this union, namely: Constance, aged thirteen years, and John A., Jr., deceased.

Mr. Crook is a member of the Ancient Free and .Vccepted Masons and has taken all degrees in Masonry up to and including the thirty-second degree, having taken both the York and Scottish Rite l^egrees. He is also affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

(ni}- A. Crook, junior memljer of the Monarch Engineering Company, was born June 9, 1885. in Falls City, and is a son of W. H. Crook, concerning whom an extended biography is given elsewhere in this volume. Mr. Crook received his early education in the Falls Cit\r public and high schools. after which he entered the University of Nebraska and was graduated fruin the engineering department of the same in 1908, with tiie degree of Civil luigineer. Following his graduation he was engaged in the automobile business in Falls City for a period of two years. He then l^ecame a partner with his l)r()ther in the ^Monarcli Engineering Company and has assistetl materially in Iniilding up this important concern to the position which it now enjoys.

Mr. Crook is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted ]\Iasons and is a Scottish Rite or thirty-second degree Mason. He also is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

Monarch Engineering Company

The Monarch Engineering Company, contractors and builders, of Falls City and Denver, is a Falls City institution begun and pushed to a place of prominence and influence in the industrial world by two young Falls City men who were Ijorn and reared in Falls City, namely, John A. and Guy A. Crook. This imixjrtant concern does an immense amount of bridge construction, paving, irrigation-dam work and erection of public buildings. It was established in 1908 by John A. Crook, who was joined by his brother, Guy A. Crook, in 1910. Fifty men are constantly employed by the firm and upwards of that number, depending upon the amount of work under construction by the firm.

The construction and building work undertaken by the company is going on in several states. Much bridge work is being done and has been completed by them in Oklahoma and Nebraska. Only recently they ha\'e finished three miles of brick paving in Falls City, and have done and are doing a great deal of county work, such as highway bridges in Richardson, Nemalia, Otoe, Cass and Sarpy counties, Nebraska. One of their notable undertakings was a bridge across the Platte river at Sutherland, Nebraska, costing thirty thousand dollars. Another was the bridge across the Elkhorn river at Gretna, in Sarpy county, Nebraska, costing twenty-five thousand dollars. They have construction work going on in Missouri, South Dakota and Wyoming. The JVIonarch Engineering Conii>any erected the new court house at Basin, Wyoming, at a cost of sixty thousand dollars, and are at present building two dams across the Big Horn river at \\'^oreland, Wyoming. A big government bridge, costing twenty-six thousand dollars, is in process of construction in their charge at Umatilla, Oregon. Another go\ernment bridge is being built by them at Salt Fork, Oklahoma, between Noble and Kay counties. Only recently they have finished a government bridge at Arapahoe, in Fremont county, Wyoming. They also are erectin-- two large bridges in Calhoun county, Iowa.

This concern maintains offices at Falls City, Nebraska; Kansas Cily. Missouri, and Den\er, Colorado. .\t the latter city they ])urchased in I''eb- ruarv, 1917. the Denver Steel and Iron Works which are in charge of John A. Crook, the senior member of the firm. This plant is the work 'shop of the Monarch Engineering Company and contains a complete structural steel fabricating plant, machine shop, blackmith shop for heavy forging and culvert .shop.

Rev. Andrew J. Rumbaugh

The Rev. Andrew J. Rumbaugh, a pioneer resident of the precinct of Barada, in this county, and one of the best-known and most influential ministers of the Holiness church in this section of the country, is a native of Ohio, but was reared amid pioneer conditions in Iowa and has been a resident of this county since 1868, he having established his home in the precinct of Barada, where he still lives, after his marriage in that year. He was born in Ohio on August 7, 1847, son of John and Mary (Higginbotham) Rumbaugh, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Ohio. John Rumbaugh was a member of one of the old Colonial families in Virginia. He was born in 1826 and his wife was born in 1831. They were married in Ohio and after farming in that state for some time moved to Indiana, in 1854, and in the following year, 1855, moved from the Hoosier state to Iowa, settling on a farm in Harding county, where they spent the remainder of their lives, John Rumbaugh dying there in 190 1. His widow survived him for four years, her death occurring in 1905. They were the jiarents of twelve children, those besides the subject of this sketch being as follow : Joseph, who is now living in Phillips county, Kansas ; Thomas, deceased; James, who is living in Indiana; Albert, who is living on the old home place in Iowa; Harvey, deceased; Nancy Jane, deceased; George, deceased; Rebecca, deceased; Mrs. Lucinda Nulton. of San Diego, California, and two who died in infancy.

Andrew J. Rumbaugh was about eight years of age when his parents established their home in Hardin county, Iowa, and there he grew to manhood on the home farm, receiving his schooling in the neighboring schools, remaining there until his marriage in 1868, in which year he came over into Nebraska and in the spring of 1869 settled on the farm in Barada precinct, in this county, where he is still living, one of the real pioneers (if that neighborhood. For years Mr. Rumbaugh had given close and thoughtful attention to church affairs and about 1896 began preaching, as a minister of the Holiness church and was tiius engaged continuously until lu's retire- nicnt from the ministry some little time ago. Though practically retired from the ministry, he continues, however, to preach occasionally, as the occasion or emergency arises, and has for years heen regarded as one of the most influential ministers of his church in this part of the state. During the years of his active service in the pulpit, the Rev. Andrew J. Rumbaugh served his people faithfully and well and his influence for good in tlie community in which his labors were directed was far-reaching in many directions. Politically, he is "independent" and his efiforts have ever been directed toward the extension of good government.

As noted above, it was in the year 1868, in Iowa, that the Rev. Andrev J. Rumbaugh was united in marriage to Anna Huff, who was born in Mahaska county, that state, in 1851, a daughter of Thomas and Zilpha (Hale) Huff, and to this union ten children have been born, namely : William, who died at the age of twenty years; Edward, deceased; John, who is living on a farm in Nemaha county, south of Auburn; May, wife of Ernest Slagel, of Hubbell, this state; Fred, of Montrose, Colorado; Grace, wife of Henry Leslie, of Graham county, Kansas; Iva, wife of Harry Cline, nf the precinct of Barada, this count)-; Roy, who is also farming in Barada I)recinct; Daisy, wife of Fred Plympton, living near Burr, this state, and Arthur, who is looking after the home farm in Barada precinct. The Rumbaugh s have a very pleasant home on the old home farm and have e\er been an active influence for good in that neighborhood, taking an earnest part in all movements having to do with the advancement of the general welfare of the community.

James T. Margrave

James T. Margrave, of Preston, vice-president, of the William A. Margrave Company, one of the most extensive ranch corporations in the state of Nebraska, is a native son of Richardson county and has lived here all his life. He was born on the great Margrave ranch in the ])recinct of Jefferson, June 28, 1880, son of William A. and Margaret R. (Rubeti) Margrave, the former a native of Illinois and the latter of Kansas, and further and fitting mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume in a l)iographical sketch relating to William C. Margrave, elder brother of tlie subject of this .sketch and president of tlie William A. Margrave Coni])any. Tlie late William .\. Margrave, who for \ears was one of tin- most extensi\e cattlemen in Xebraska. was hut fifteen years of age when he came to this part of the country with liis parents from lUinois in i860, the famiK locating at Hiawatha, and he early entered upon a career whicli eventually marked him as one of the most successful men hereabout, the owner of thousajids of acres of land and one of the most successful cattlemen in this part of the state. He married jNIargaret R. Rubeti, who \\aborn in the neighboring county of Doniphan and who ;it the time of her marriage was teaching in the Indian .school at Reserve, and after his marriage established his home in the vicinity of Preston, in Jefferson precinct, this county, where he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring; there in the summer of 1906. His widow still survives him and is now living at Hiawatha. They were the i)arents of five children, one of whom, a daughter, died in infancy, the others being Mrs. Julia LeClere, wife ot George W. LeClere, storekeeper on the Margrave estate; William C, president of the William A, Margrave Company; James T., the subject of this biographical sketch, and Earl I., secretary and treasurer of the companx, who is now living at Gordon, in Sheridan county, this state, looking after the company's extensive ranch interests in that count} and in the adjoininj; county of Cherry.

Reared on the ^largra\e ranch, James '1". Margrave completed lii> schooling in the academy at Hiawatha and early became actively identified with his father's great ranch interests, presently being given charge of the ranch in the vicinity of Gordon, but has lately made his home at Preston, where he and his family are very pleasantly and very comfortably situated. In 19 1 7 Mr. Margrave remodeled his house at I'reston, making it modern in its appointments throughout, and now has one of the finest homes in the county. Mr: Margrave is a Rei)ublican. with "independent" leanings on local issues, and has ever taken an interested part in local ])olitical affairs, Init has not been included in the ofifice-seeking class.

On December 24, 1901, James T. Margrave was united in niarriatic to Mary Honstedt, who was born at \\'ilson, in Ellsworth county, Kansas, December 24, 1881, daughter of Daniel and Lucy (Bleame) Honstedt, natives of Canada and early .settlers in Kansas, and to this union three children have been born, Margaret, born on March t8. m)05: WilHam, June 2, 1907, and Stuart, Septemljer 19. 191 2. Mr. and Mrs. Margrave are members of the Evangelical church at Preston and take an active [lart in church works, as well as in the general good works of the community, Mr. Margrave being a teacher in the Sunday school. They also take an interested

Willia.M E. Slagle

William E. Slagle, former superintendent of schools of Richardson county, former justice of the peace in and for the precinct of Barada. former assessor of that same precinct and a well-known and substantial farmer, the owner of a fine farm of two hundred and thirty acres a mile east and a mile north of the village of Barada, in the precinct of that name, is a native of the neighboring state of Iowa, but has been a resident of this county practically all the time since the days of his early infancy and is thus properly enough accounted one of the real pioneers of Richardson county. He was born on a pioneer farm in the \icinity of Anamosa. county seat of Jones county, Iowa, February i6, 1859. son of Hiram and Alma (Pike) Slagle, natives, respectively, of the state of Pennsylvania and of New York, who later became pioneers of Richardson county, remaining here until their retirement from the farm and removal to the village of Auburn, where their last days were spent.