Mr. Rickert, with his mother, came to Saunders county, Nebraska, in the early days, 1866, settling seven miles south of Fremont. They drove from Illinois to the claim they took up in Saunders county, and while residing here, and when our subject was fourteen years of age, he went to Omaha and drove an ox team freighting from Omaha to Fort Kearney for fifteen dollars per month to help his mother. They then took up a timber claim in Saunders county also, building a frame house and put out ten acres of trees. Antelope and deer were plentiful in those early days in Nebraska, and during those pioneer times our subject and his mother saw a great many hardships and privations. In the years of 1873 and 1874 the grasshoppers destroyed all their crops, and in the blizzard of 1873 they lost their cattle, which was a very serious blow to them at that time.
   Mr. Rickert and his mother moved to Antelope county in 1883, after becoming discouraged in their Saunders county home, and upon their arrival here took up a homestead claim, and built a shanty eight by ten feet, and here in their first days of residence on this homestead they had many discouraging experiences. Wood was scarce and hard to get in those days, and our subject and his mother burned hay and corn for fuel.
   Mr. Rickert was united in marriage in 1880, to Miss Maggie Fox, who died May 25, 1885. To this union three children were born, all of whom are deceased. On July 19, 1896, he was married to Miss Nora Rickman and they have had four children, as follows: J. Earl, L. Rosie, Flossie, deceased, and Gladys. Mr. and Mrs. Rickert and family are highly esteemed and respected in the community and have a host of friends. Mr. Rickert is a republican in political affiliations.

 

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JOHN MORDECAI AMOS.
(Deceased.)

   The late John Mordecai Amos was one of the best known and highly respected citizens of Custer county. He was a public-spirited citizen interested in all pertaining to the general welfare and ready to do his share to promote the same. He was born in Pennsylvania, of English extraction, in March, 1831, third of the five children of John and Metsy Amos. He has two brothers living in Ohio, the only survivors of the family. When but a child Mr. Amos went with his brother, William, to Carroll county, Ohio, living on a farm and attending the district schools. He was there married, March 25, 1849, at the home of her parents, to Miss Catherine Thompson, daughter of Zechariah and Priscilla (Albaugh) Thompson, and a native of Ohio. Mr. Thompson was born in Maryland and was an early settler of Iowa, where he died. His wife was born in Ohio and died in Illinois. Mrs. Amos has three brothers in Iowa.
   In the late seventies Mr. and Mrs. Amos went to Fayette county, Iowa, where they carried on farming until the spring of 1883, when they came to Custer county and took a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres on section twenty-one, township eighteen, range eighteen, and a tree claim of like size adjoining. This was the home place for a number of years, but in 1905, Mr. Amos retired from active life and purchased ten acres in Wescott, where he lived until the time of his death, July 13, 1907. He is survived by his wife and seven children: Alfred, of Custer county; Lycurgus, Zachariah and William, all married and living in Custer county; Mrs. N. E. Armstrong, of Broken Bow; Mrs. Emma McCuen, of Custer county; Mrs. Laura Westerville, of Scotts Bluff, Nebraska.
   Mr. Amos was always interested in the upbuilding of his locality and his wife likewise has identified herself with various measures for the public good. She is active and vigorous and still has the old home, although she spends considerable time visiting among her children. She enjoys the regard of a wide circle of friends and is well known in the community.
   Zachariah D. Amos, third son of John M. and Catherine (Thompson) Amos, was born in Ohio, and when sixteen years of age accompanied his parents to Iowa. He came to Custer county in the spring of 1883 and took up a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres on section twenty-eight, township eighteen, range eighteen. He was married in Valley county, June 7, 1891, to Miss Arabella Love, who was born in Wisconsin, and for some time before her marriage had been a teacher in Nebraska schools. She had also homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land on section twenty-two, township eighteen, range eighteen, where she and her husband now reside. He has served for a number of years as moderator of the school board of district number two hundred and forty-two. Mr. and Mrs. Amos have three children living: Ailsa Bell, Maud L. and Frieda B., all at home. They also have in their household circle, Alice Emerson, whom they have reared since her infancy.

 

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JAMES LINDLY.

   James Lindly has made a notable success of farming and stock raising in Custer county and is a self-made man, having come to Nebraska without capital. He has had an eventful life, from the time he enlisted in the army for service in the civil war, through his experience as a freighter, stockman and farmer. He is one of the pioneers who have been closely identified with the, growth and development of central Nebraska and has always been interested in worthy projects for advancing the interests of all. Mr. Lindly

was born in Jones county, Iowa, April 2, 1846, next to the oldest of four children in the family of Amasa and Mary J. (Garrison) Lindly, who had three sons and one daughter. Both parents were natives of Ohio and they were married in Indiana. The family moved from Indiana to Iowa about 1845, and were pioneers of that state, arriving before the railroad had reached there. The mother died in Jones county, Iowa, in 1853, and the father died in Morley, that county, in 1908, in his eighty-fourth year. The parents of the father were married in Pennsylvania, of which state it is believed they were natives, and they were early settlers of Ohio. The only children of Amasa and Mary Lindly who now survive are James and his brother, Albert, the latter of whom lives at Columbia, Marion county, Iowa.
   Mr. Lindly was reared on an Iowa farm, where he lived until his enlistment in the army. His brother, Albert, enlisted in the fall of 1863, in Company G, Thirty-first Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and James enlisted March 6, 1865, running away from home to do so, and becoming a member of Company G, Seventeenth Iowa Infantry, near the close of the war. He was mustered out at Louisville, Kentucky, and received his final discharge papers at Rock Island, Illinois. After the war he returned to Cedar county, Iowa, and resumed farm work, and in the spring of 1866 crossed the Missouri river and went to Omaha, then went on to Grand Island and for several months worked for the Union Pacific railroad company. Returning to Omaha he became driver of ox teams, "deck hand on a bull train," as it was jokingly expressed, freighting across the plains to Denver, Colorado, where he remained from August, 1866, to December 15, 1867, when he went to Cheyenne, Wyoming, then a mushroom town of shacks, the terminus of the Union Pacific. He returned to Cedar county and again engaged in farming.
   Mr. Lindly there married Charlotte Wood, daughter of George A. and Martha (Loughery) Wood, pioneers of Iowa. Her Grandfather Loughery was one of the earliest settlers of his part of Iowa and a prominent citizen. Their marriage occurred in the fall of 1868, and the following spring they moved to Marion county, Iowa. In February, 1874, he and his wife, with their one child, came to Lancaster county, Nebraska, Mr. Lindly driving through with a wagon and team and his wife and child coming by train as far as Plattsmouth. He traded for land in Lancaster county, but in the fall of 1874, after the crops were taken by grasshoppers, he returned to Iowa and remained there until the spring of 1878, when he returned to Lincoln and remained there until August, 1880. His wife died in Lincoln in the fall of 1879, leaving three children, namely: Charles E., and Rosella May, both deceased; and Albert, living on section twenty-five. township nineteen, range twenty-two, Custer county, married Georgiana Karnes, and they have eight children.
   Mr. Lindly came to Custer county in the latter part of August, 1880, and on September 1, went on to New Helena and took a pre-emption on the northwest quarter of section twenty-seven, township nineteen, range twenty-two, and also filed an entry on a tree claim on the southwest quarter of section twenty-two in the same township. In 1883 he took up a homestead on section thirty-four, and is one of the very few (if there be any others) who proved up and received patents on a pre-emption, timber claim and homestead.
   In the, fall of 1880, Mr. Lindly returned to Marion county and married Mrs. Mary J. Busby, who had three children by a former marriage. Their union took place February 3, 1881, and March 17, with their four children, they left Iowa with a wagon and team for their Nebraska home. a strenuous trip through deep snow and bad roads, and they landed at the pre-emption claim April 22, 1881. They were unable to cross the Missouri river by the ferry, owing to the overflow, so had to cross by the transfer train over the Union Pacific bridge between Council Bluffs and Omaha. Mr. and Mrs. Lindly have had five children: Grace, wife of Garland E. Lewis, of Broken Bow; Mabel, wife of Fred H. Anderson, of Custer county, has three children; Maud, wife of Ernest E. Bell, of Custer county, has three children; Fred G., married and living on a farm adjoining his father, has one child; Leonard V., at home. By her first marriage Mrs. Lindly had children as follows: Alice, wife of Louis A. Karnes, of California, has two children; Luella, wife of Harry G. Karnes, of Idaho, has two children; John Busby, married and living in Meridian, Idaho, has three children.
   Mr. Lindly and family are pioneers and have a wide circle of friends and acquaintances. He has twenty-two hundred acres of land, and makes a success of farming and stock raising, being active in the management of his affairs. He first carried on the farm of Charles Mathews, of New Helena, having landed at that place penniless, as he had spent his last dime at Westerville for tobacco. He now has a pleasantly located farm home, with a splendid grove of trees, and his place is well equipped and improved. It is known as "Pilgrim's Rest," from its having been the stopping place for early settlers traveling from the cattle country along Dismal river and beyond to Kearney and Grand Island. We show a full page view of the Lindly home on another page of our work. Mr. Lindly's first residence in Nebraska was a "soddy," and later, while building a "soddy" on his present place, the family lived temporarily in a dugout and a corn crib, the latter being their sleeping quarters. A snow storm in November, 1884, almost cut them off from passage from one to the other, the drifts between the two buildings being three to four

feet. Mr. Lindly and three friends were caught away from home and weathered a blizzard that must have been forty degrees below zero. On January 12, 1888, Mr. Lindly was out in his yard, and observed the windmill, against which a warm south wind was blowing, whirl suddenly in the opposite direction. He knew at once a severe storm was on, and looking to the north saw the wall of frozen mist bearing down on them. Taking a supply of wraps, he started to the school house, a mile and a half away, to get the children. Finding them safely housed at a neighbor's he followed others until they reached home and then made his way back to his own house, facing the suffocating blasts for more than a mile and a half. Few men were out so long in that storm and survived; during that winter the family burned corn for fuel. In 1894, the dry year, Mr. Lindly planted five bushels of potatoes and gathered three pecks.
   In politics Mr. Lindly is a republican. He is member of the Masonic fraternity, and with his wife, of the Order of the Eastern Star.

"Pilgrim's Rest," Residence of James Lindly.

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GEORGE LINDWURM.

   George Lindwurm, a prosperous tenant of large farms in northeastern Nebraska, has been a resident of the state for over a quarter of a century, and has proved himself to-be a man of sterling character and worth.
   Mr. Lindwurm was born in the village of Abdachwind, Bavaria, July 5, 1858, and here received a common school education. On attaining military age, he served his native country in the army from 1879 to 1881. A brother, Adam Lindwurm, still resides in Germany.
   Mr. Lindwurm came to America in 1884, sailing from Bremen and landing at Baltimore after a voyage of thirteen days. He came to Fremont, Nebraska, and engaged in farm labor for a few years, and in 1887 came to Knox county, renting land for six years. In 1893 he came to Pierce county, and cultivated a half section of fertile farm, land in section seventeen, township twenty-eight, range three. he has met with comparatively little misfortune, the two hailstorms of June and August, 1900, causing his most serious loss, ruining all his crops.
   Mr. Lindwurm was married in Germany in 1883, to Miss Rosa Stellweg, a native of the village of Alten Schembach, Bavaria. Mr. Lindwurm preceded her to America, saved his earnings, and sent for her in 1887. Four children have been born to them, named as follows: William, born in the old country; Jennie, John, who died in 1889; and George. Jennie is married to Mr. Kumm, and lives near her parents.
   Politically, Mr. Lindwurm is a republican, always voting that ticket. He is a member of the Lutheran church, and is affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
   As before stated, he cultivates a fine farm of three hundred and twenty acres, and is a prosperous man. He has gained the esteem of all in his community. He owns a quarter section of good land in Phillips county, Colorado, which is as yet in its wild state but is growing more valuable each year.

 

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HENRY H. BOESEN.

   In the person of the gentleman named above we have another of those sturdy spirits who came from a foreign country and through thrift and perseverance succeeded in accumulating a competence and building up for himself a good home, besides acquiring many friends. Mr. Boesen is one of the best known pioneers of Howard county, and stands very high as a worthy citizen in the estimation of the public.
   Henry H. Boesen was born in Denmark, November 27, 1832, grew up there, and received the education common to the middle classes in that country. At the age of twenty-three years he was married to Hannah Sorensen, also born and reared in his home province, and they remained in Denmark during the first five years of their married life. In 1860 the young couple came to America, their first location after landing being in Wisconsin, where Mr. Boesen secured work on a farm. Mr. Boesen followed farming in that state up to June, 1873, then accompanied by his wife and three children, emigrated to Nebraska, settling on a homestead of eighty acres, situated on section fourteen, township thirteen, range twelve, and here all worked together to build up a home. They improved the land in good shape, remaining on the original farm until 1901, then our subject sold it and built a home in Boelus, where he now lives. While occupying the farm Mr. Boesen was active in developing the country, and was also one of the leading spirits in establishing schools, etc. For five years he served as director of his district, and for the same length of time held the office of road supervisor.
   Since locating in Boelus Mr. Boesen has been active in public affairs, being a member of the city council from 1903 to 1907, inclusive. In 1909, he was again made a member of the council, and is still serving in that capacity. Mr. Boesen is rated as one of the well-to-do men of his community, owning some town property besides the residence which he occupies.
   Five children were born to our subject and his good wife, of whom three are now living, named as follows: Peter, who resides in Greeley county, Nebraska; Louis, father of five children, of the same county, and Chris, also having a family of five children, living in Howard county. Mrs. Boesen died June 9, 1905, and was deeply mourned by her devoted family and a host of friends. Mr. Boesen has three great-grandsons. aged respectively, two, three and five years. The

entire family are greatly liked by their associates, and occupy a, high position in their respective communities.

 

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CHARLES H. WELLMAN.
(Deceased.)

   Charles H. Wellman, deceased, son of Chester and Lavina (Axtel) Wellman, was born in Salem, Massachusetts, May 29, 1844; he was the youngest of two children, the elder child, a sister, is now living in Oregon. The father died in 1865, his death occurring in the state of Wisconsin, while the mother passed away in the year 1878, in Greeley county, Nebraska. In 1851, our subject went with his parents to Wisconsin, where he received his education and grew to manhood on a farm.
   On May 18, 1867, Mr. Wellman was married to Miss Mary Francisco, a daughter of Phillip and Eliza (Covil) Francisco, both natives of New York; the father was of French descent, his grandfather being a native of France. Mrs. Wellman was born in New York and was a teacher in Wisconsin schools for a number of years. Mr. and Mrs. Wellman have four children, namely: Lowell C.. a resident of North Loup, Nebraska; Edward E., is the station agent in the service of the Union Pacific at Callaway, Nebraska; Clyde E., is married, has one daughter, and resides in North Loup; Merrill, the youngest, is associated with his brother in business in North Loup.
   In May, 1872, Mr. Wellman came with his wife and one son to Greeley county, Nebraska, and homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land in section thirty-one, township eighteen, range twelve, living there about six years. He then moved to North Loup, where he purchased a good home and engaged in general mercantile business, until time of his death, May 4, 1899. He was survived by his wife and four children.
   In the early days Mr. Wellman served on his school board for a number of years. He was a progressive man of affairs, widely known and highly respected; he was reared in the Methodist church and was for many years the faithful treasurer of the North Loup Masonic lodge.
   Mrs. Wellman still lives in the North Loup home surrounded by a large circle of friends and still owns her original homestead; with three of her sons she is still conducting the mercantile business left by her husband. The Wellman home is a reconstruction of the building used for North Loup's first school house and first church, the Seventh Day Baptist.
   Mr. and Mrs. Wellman were among the earliest settlers, and passed through the trying experiences and hardships of pioneer life; their nearest trading point in those times was at Grand Island, nearly fifty miles away. Mr. Wellman is held dear in the memory of all who knew him and his good wife, who survives him, is highly esteemed and respected by all, and she is surrounded by a host of good friends and acquaintances.
   Mrs. Wellman's parents are deceased, the father passing away in 1865, in the state of Wisconsin, and the mother's death occurring in the same state, in February of 1899; she has a brother residing in Wisconsin, one in Oregon; a sister in Iowa, and another in South Dakota. Two of Mrs. Wellman's brothers served through the civil war, both receiving wounds in the Battle of Shiloh.
   The Wellman family endured the many hardships incident to pioneer life. Grasshoppers devastated their crops two years, the seasons of 1876 and 1877. The three days' blizzard of April 12 to 14, 1873, will long remain in their memory; Mrs. Wellman kept her boy wrapped in blankets before the fire to keep him from freezing. For the first six years they lived in a log house, which was later swept away by a flood in the spring of 1879.

 

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SYDNEY D. ROBERTSON.

   Sydney D. Robertson, one of the leading citizens of Norfolk, Madison county, Nebraska, is a prosperous professional man of good standing, and possesses true public spirit. He is a son of William and Anna (Garver) Robertson, and was born in Madison, Nebraska, September 24, 1878, and is the youngest son of three children, one sister living in Ithica, New York, and one brother, deceased.
   Mr. Robertson received his elementary education in the public schools of Norfolk, and in 1897, 1898, and 1899, attended the Nebraska State University at Lincoln, where he received his degree of law in June, 1899. He then returned to Norfolk, Nebraska, and entered his father's law office as his partner. On January 22, 1907, Mr. Robertson's father died, and since then he has maintained the office, and enjoys a good practice.
   Mr. Robertson is one of Madison county's pioneer native-born young men, is successful and widely and favorably known, and is one of the coming young men of this county. He lives in Norfolk with his mother, and they enjoy the esteem and confidence of all who know them.
   He is a member of the Masonic order, the Elks and the Odd Fellows. He votes the republican ticket.

 

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ROBERT M. SEEVERS.

   Robert M. Seevers has long been identified with the progress and welfare of Custer county and is one of the best known men of central. Nebraska. He was born in Mahaska, county, Iowa, July 18. 1862, next to the youngest child of Benjamin F. and Elizabeth (Forney) Seevers, who

were parents of eight children. Besides Robert M., a daughter, Mrs. J. D. Ream, lives in Custer county; two daughters live in Colorado and one in Kansas, and the other children are deceased. The father and mother were natives of Virginia; he of French extraction and she of German parentage. He died in Iowa and she died in Custer county in 1893.
   Mr. Seevers reached maturity on his father's farm in Iowa, receiving his education in local schools. He was employed at civil engineering several years as a young man, then engaged in farming. In May, 1883, he came to Custer county, Nebraska, securing a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres of land on section twenty-six, township eighteen, range twenty-three, which has since remained the home place. He also secured a tree claim of like size adjoining. On June 3, 1887, he wag married, at the home of her parents in Ortello valley, to Rosa Butler, a native of Illinois, who accompanied her parents to Custer county in 1881. Mr. Seevers and wife have ten children: A. Franklin, of Custer county; Lewis O., Bly, Guy, Ina, Xa, Tava, Ada, Cecil and Howard, at home. They also had twin sons who died in infancy.
   Mr. Seevers has been active along all lines of progress in the county and is a prominent man of affairs in his community, interested in everything pertaining to the general welfare and prosperity. He was instrumental in organizing school district number two hundred and forty-one, serving many years as a member of its board. Being one of the early settlers of Custer county, he has passed through various periods of its history and through his enterprise and energy has attained success and prosperity. He has added to his homestead from time to time and now owns eight hundred acres of land, which is well equipped and improved. It is well adapted for stock and grain and in 1907 he erected a splendid modern residence at a cost of over five thousand dollars. He also has new barns and other buildings and is one of the leading stock men of the region making a specialty of thoroughbred hogs and horses.

 

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A. A. BELL.

   Perseverance and good management, supplemented by honesty of word and deed, have placed the gentleman named above among the most prominent and. influential farmers of Wayne county. He has a pleasant home in section twenty-eight, township twenty-six, range one, east, and owns a farm of one hundred and sixty acres.
   He is a native of Illinois, and was born on September 30, 1859. His father, W. C. Bell, was a Canadian, but his mother came from Vermont. On the paternal side, the family was of Irish stock.
   In 1888, Mr. Bell came to Wayne county, Nebraska, where he ultimately purchased the homestead of Doctor M. R. Regan. He at once set to work to improve the place in every way. New buildings were added, fences were built, and trees were planted, until now, his farm and home are most comfortable and convenient.
   Mr. Bell was married, in 1881, to Miss Elizabeth MaCauley [sic], a native of Illinois. Four children have been born to bless the home of Mr. and Mrs. Bell, upon whom they have bestowed the names of William, Grace, Lottie and Edward.
   Mr. Bell has certainly done his full share toward the development of the agricultural interests of the community, and he has a wide acquaintance and is universally esteemed as a farmer and citizen.

 

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THOMAS J. STEARNS.

   Among the representative pioneers of eastern Nebraska, the gentleman above named occupies a prominent place, and he has spent many years of his life in this section, and has succeeded in building up an enviable reputation and competence, and is recognized as one of the influential residents of Merrick county, well known and highly respected by all.
   Thomas J. Stearns, son of Isaac and Minerva (Castle) Stearns, was born in New York state, January 24, 1836, and was tenth of eleven children. He has one brother residing in Omaha, Nebraska, one sister in Wisconsin, and another in Arkansas, the others being deceased; the father died about 1875, and the mother one year later. Our subject's mother was in a direct line of descent from ancestors who came over in the Mayflower.
   Mr. Stearns was educated in his home schools and later engaged in farming. In 1856, he went to Wisconsin, remaining three years, then returning to New York state. On August 27, 1861, Mr. Stearns enlisted in Company I, Sixtieth New York Infantry, and received his discharge November 9, 1862, at Washington, D. C. While in service he participated in the second battle of Bull Run. Afterwards he returned to New York and on March 24, 1863, was married to Miss Caroline C. Loney, who was born in Cornwell, Ontario, Canada. In the following June they moved to Wisconsin and engaged in farming. On September 24, 1864, Mr. Stearns enlisted in Company D, Sixteenth Wisconsin Infantry, serving until hostilities ceased, receiving big honorable discharge June 16, 1865, at Madison, Wisconsin. He was with Sherman on his famous march through the Carolinas and on to Washington, a continual skirmish. After the war he returned to Wisconsin and resided in Stockbridge.
   In the spring of 1878, he came to the Pawnee Indian reservation, which was that year opened for settlement and organized as Nance county. At this time Mrs. Stearns was one of the very few white women in the county, and for six

months of their residence there they saw nothing but Indians and coyotes. On the seventeenth of the following March, Mr. and Mrs. Stearns came to Clarks, Merrick county, Nebraska, where Mr. Stearns purchased considerable city property and built a good home where they now live. Mr. Stearns had commenced learning the carpenter's trade in New York state and after coming to Clarks followed the business of contracting and building for many years. He has built many of the best homes in Clarks.
   Mr. and Mrs. Stearns are among the earliest settlers of their portion of the county, and enjoy the esteem of all who know them. They have had six children born to them: Evelyn, deceased in 1889, survived by her husband, Harry D. Showman, and two children; Cora, wife of C. B. Case, has two children, and resides in Overton, Nebraska; Willard A., physician in Hot Springs hospital, South Dakota; Archie, married, has one child, and lives in Clarks, Nebraska; Fannie M., wife of A. M. Cosner, has four children, and resides in Clarks, Nebraska; and Brownie, wife of Hugh McDermott, has two children, and resides in Central City, Nebraska.
   Mr. Stearns joined the Odd Fellows at Brillian, Wisconsin, in 1876, and is one of the older members of the order in Merrick county. He takes an active interest in public affairs and served for three years on the Clarks city board.

 

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EDWARD J. MEAHAN.

   For a man to have made use of advantages offered him to make an established place for himself in the world when given a fair chance, is creditable; but for a boy, reared amongst strangers, given no advantages as a child, to be unable to read or write at the age of seventeen, and then to acquire a better knowledge of fundamentals than the average man, to be free from the average small vices, liquor and tobacco, to acquire a competency and attain a business acumen the equal of his competitors, is a credit to a man far beyond the ordinary course in life. Such is the story of Ed. J. Meahan, proprietor of the Racket store in Butte, Nebraska. He has led a life of vicissitudes and come out of life's crucible a credit to himself and family, setting a high example for his children to follow.
   Ed. J. Meahan was born at Naperville, Illinois, a small town near Chicago, on September 17, 1858. His mother died during his infancy, and he was adopted by a man in Dupage county, named Tom Stanner, who showed more humanity to his stock than he did to the orphan boy and his sister, who was also a member of the foster family. The orphans were given scant food and clothing and no school advantages at all; drudgery was their unhappy lot, which the boy endured until he was nine years old. At this time he revolted and ran away from the cruel household, and found a home in the family of John Craig, living in Will county, about three miles east of Joliet. A year later he found a home with Albert S. Hunt in the same county, who proved to be a kind hearted, fatherly man, and when he sold out the next year and moved to Battle Creek, Michigan, he took the boy with him. A year later they moved to Schoolcraft, in Kalamazoo county. Here the lad grew to manhood and lived until the spring of 1876, when he came west and took up his residence at Malvern, Mills county, Iowa, where he found employment at farm labor in the vicinity.
   Here Mr. Meahan was married and engaged in farming until coming to Nebraska in the fall of 1884. Leaving his wife with her sister at West Point, Mr. Meahan, with his brother-in-law, John Newman, and two friends, started to drive through to Gordon seeking a location. At Springview, in Keya Paha county, one of their mules went lame, and liking the looks of the country they decided to locate in that county. Mr. Meahan filed on a homestead claim sixteen miles northwest from the county seat, and returned to Malvern, Iowa, for the winter. On returning in the spring, he found his claim had been "jumped," so he had to select another tract six miles from town and seven miles from the state line, and lived on his land eighteen months. He next bought three relinquishments, that he might get the land he wanted, and secured four forties out of three-quarters lying along a stream, on which he proved up under the homestead law. After completing the necessary five years' residence to perfect his title, he rented his ranch and moved down to the Platte country. Here he bought an eighty-acre tract three and a half miles southeast of Creston, after having lived for a year on a rented ranch two miles nearer town.
   Here from 1891 until his return to northern Nebraska in April, 1899, Mr. Meahan was engaged in farming much of the time. He resided in Albion for seven years, and sold medicines and stock food throughout Boone county. In 1906 he went into the real estate business there, but learned later that his partner was fleecing him. In the fall of 1909 he dissolved the partnership, but it took some months to close up the deals in land. In February, 1910, he traded his Keya Paha ranch for a stock of goods in the Racket store, together with the business, and took possession of his new property April 7, 1910.
   Mr. Meahan was first married at Malvern, Iowa, in January, 1880, to Miss Rosa Lee Montgomery. One son was born, Silas Howard, who is married to Miss Helen Smith, and is farming near Creston, Platte county, Nebraska.
   Mr. Meahan was married a second time at Omaha, Nebraska, February 15, 1903, to Mrs. Mary Fothergill. Like Mr. Meahan, his wife was a foster child, adopted by the family of Henry H. Folkner, of Lincoln, Nebraska. By her first marriage, Mrs. Meahan became mother to one daugh-

ter, Mildred, whose father was killed on the railroad prior to her birth. To Mr. and Mrs. Meahan four children have been born: John Paul, William Clarence, Floyd Wendel, Pearlie Irene.
   Mr. Meahan has always been a republican in politics. He was a communicant of the Baptist church in Iowa, and a member of the Odd Fellows lodge at Butte.
   At the time of the blizzard of January 12, 1888, Mr. Meahan was on his Keya Paha ranch and had hitched up to go for a load of wood. Hearing the roaring, be hurried his team to the barn and had difficulty in forcing his way through the icy mist to the house. He fought prairie fires to such an extent that carrying matches became a habit with him that he has not shaken off to this day, although he is now in no danger of such conflagrations and does not smoke. Unlike most of the men of the west, he neither uses tobacco in any form nor liquors of any kind, and stands almost alone in his abstemiousness. During the seven years he occupied his homestead, a sod house was his dwelling, and a comfortable house it was, well finished with a sub-cellar, which offered a safe retreat should a cyclone come their way. They never had to burn hay, corn, or stalks, as in many parts of the west settlers had to do, but got good wood in the river canyons at one dollar per load. One year he had ten cords all cut and neatly piled ready for the summer's use when a prairie fire swept through their place and burned the last stick of the wood. The loss was a severe one at that time, for dollars, as well as fuel, were scarce then. To secure ready cash, Mr. Meahan and a neighbor took their teams and worked on grading of the main line of the Burlington railroad in Custer county, and later secured work of the same kind in the northwest corner of Iowa, on the line between Sioux City and Sioux Falls, returning by the way of Yankton, Running Water, Niobrara, the trail up the river of that name, and the Keya Paha river to his home, richer in pocket and experience.
   An orphan boy, Mr. Meahan's education was totally neglected. At the age of seventeen he could neither read nor write. He set about to acquire an education by his own efforts, and by perseverance has acquired a fund of knowledge equal to that of the average man. One in converging with him would never think of him as ever having been deprived of early advantages.
   Of such men are the bone and sinew of the country; self-made, self-reliant and self-uplifting. His life should be an inspiration to his sons.

 

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JESSE B. GALYEAN.
(Deceased.)

   The gentleman whose name heads this personal history was for many years a prominent agriculturist of Boone county, Nebraska, and one of the leading old settlers in this section of the country. He was successful in building up a good farm and home in section four, township twenty, range seven, accumulated property, and lived in the town of Albion, where he enjoyed life, in his later years. His death occurred at Albion, May 23, 1910.
   Jesse B. Galyean was born in Wayne county, Indiana, October 13, 1829, and after reaching manhood be moved to Delaware county, Iowa, where he followed farming.
   On March 11, 1856, Mr. Galyean was married to Miss Catherine Stoner, who was born in Indiana, but a resident of Iowa at the time of her marriage.
   In the spring of 1880, our subject came to Boone county, Nebraska, homesteading one hundred and fifty-two acres in section four, township twenty, range seven, and a timber claim of forty-seven acres adjoining the homestead. He lived on the homestead until 1894, when he retired from active farm life and moved to Albion, where he purchased a comfortable home, which was his residence until his death.
   While living in Iowa, Mr. Galyean served three years as constable, and also assessor for nine consecutive years; and during his residence in Nebraska was director of school distict [sic] number forty, for a number of years.
   Mr. and Mrs. Galyean had eight children born to them, five of whom are living: Josephine, wife of Alfred Clark, lives in Albion; Leora, wife of Walter Havens has two children, and lives in Loretto; Florence, died in childhood; Eudora, deceased; George, married, has three children and resides in Albion; Nettie, deceased, was the wife of Milton Hartsock, and is survived by her husband and one son; Minnie, wife of Harley Longnecker, has three children and resides in Boone county; and Elva, wife of B. E. Morehead, lives in Albion.
   Mr. Galyean was one of the earliest settlers in Boone county, and widely and favorably known.

 

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FRED BAUMANN.

   The gentleman above mentioned is counted among the oldest settlers in Antelope county, Nebraska, and since locating here May 21, 1881, has taken a foremost part in the development of his region. He is a highly respected citizen in his community, and holds the regard and friendship of all.
   Mr. Baumann is a native of Germany, his birth having occurred in Ril village, Wurtenburg province, February 7, 1845. He grew to manhood in the fatherland, and served his native country in two wars, the Austro-German, and Franco-German wars; after growing to an age old enough to learn a trade, our subject was taught the blacksmith's trade, his father, George Baumann, having followed that occupation also.

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