a successful man of affluence, form the extremes of this excellent citizen of Plainview, Nebraska.
   Born in the little village of Storehedige, eight miles from Copenhagen, Denmark, June 4, 1849, his life from the start was one of struggle. Left an orphan at the age of six by the death of his father he had to do his own share in helping the other support the family.
   At the age of seven he was employed by a farmer to herd the geese along the highway. Falling asleep one day, his charges wandered into a rye field, for which the farmer gave him a beating. His mother counseled him to continue at his post, as the fault was on his side. When old enough he learned the shoemaker's trade at which he worked until emigrating to America, receiving sixteen dollars a year for his services, a wage much less than prevails in that country now. While at his bench one day, an acquaintance returned from the New World came into the shop. Our boy noticing how much better he was dressed than when he went away, expressed a wish that he too might go to America. The friend suggested that he come, and finding the boy had no money for his passage, paid it for him, one hundred and ten dollars. Sailing from Copenhagen, to Hamburg, Germany, the two crossed the North Sea to Hull, England, and in April, 1868, embarked at Liverpool for Quebec, which they reached in sixteen days, having been three days on the way from the Danish capital to the English coast. His friend secured work for him on a farm near Story City, Iowa, where the first year he paid the debt and had ten dollars surplus, with which he felt himself rich.
   The second year Mr. Johnson worked near Marshalltown, Iowa, and in the year following his time was divided between Kansas City and Lawrence, Kansas. Returning to Marshalltown, he secured work is a gardener for a time, and then conducted a billiard hall and bowling alley. After this he bought and sold cattle with great success, had married, and owned forty acres of land near town.
   In the fall of 1881, he sold his business there, loaded his household goods and some thirty head of fine cattle and several teams of horses into cars, and shipped them to Nebraska, reaching Pierce county in November. Settling on a tract of land seven miles southwest of Plainview, he built a small dwelling, and a sod barn a hundred feet long to house this large herd of stock; not being acclimated, many of the animals died. He was compelled to sell some to buy feed for the others, and so came out in the spring with much loss than he had in the fall. The winters were severe; he had to haul hay from Willow creek and frequently when the roads were bad he had to throw off part of the load from time to time, until by the time he reached home he had left little more than enough to feed for that day. At one time he hauled bundles of hay on a hand sled from a neighbor's, to keep the stock from starving. Snow drifted so deeply at times that he had to dig a stairway eight or ten steps deep, to get to his well, and he frequently dug a hole through the roof of the stable to water and feed his stock, the doorways being drifted full and closed.
   Misfortune seemed to pursue him. Intending to raise some hogs, he bought a young one, which was continually breaking out and straying; when being driven home with the stock after one of these escapes, it laid down and died. A horse which Mr. Johnson bought with his last hundred dollars died a few days after he bought it, leaving him with a load of wood miles from home. These are but samples of hardships to be endured, and many were the tears shed by the young wife in the lonely prairie home. They longed to return to Iowa, but were too proud to go back with less than they had brought away. But times changed, crops improved, Mr. Johnson began dealing in cattle and got on in the world. He first filed on a homestead and later on a timber claim, to which he added from time to time. He now has three quarter-sections in one plat in Antelope county, six miles west of Plainview, another quarter west of that, and fifty acres adjoining the town of Brunswick, where he and his sons own the bank.
   In 1889 Mr. Johnson traded a farm for a stock of goods in Plainview and for four years conducted a general store. In 1893 he bought a stock of clothing and confined his efforts to that line until 1906, when he sold to his sons and retired from active business life. With his sons he in 1908 purchased the Bank of Brunswick, of which he is vice president, the sons being president and cashier. Their deposits amount to one hundred and thirty thousand dollars and are increasing each year. Mr. Johnson purchased the hotel at Plainview, enlarged and refurnished it, fitted it with a modern equipment, and secured a tenant who has made it the best hotel in northeastern Nebraska, if the word of traveling men is any criterion.
   Mr. Johnson is the son of Herman and Mary (Christen) Sorensen, whose name by a peculiar Scandinavian custom, is not the same as his own. An elder brother preceded him to this country several years, and with four companions was attacked by Indians on the plains and scalped, only one escaping to send the sad news to the parents at home. The second year in America Mr. Johnson sent for his twin brother, followed the next year by his brother Charles; later the mother and sister were sent for, coming in 1873, and all have prospered and done well.
   Mr. Johnson and his twin brother were married the same day, August 27, 1875, the former to Miss Mary Nelson, a native of Denmark, born in the province of Jutland, near the village of Skibstedt. Her parents were Christian and Mattie Marie (Jenson) Nelson, the mother dying when Mrs. Johnson was but eleven months old. The father came with his family to America in 1871, settling

first at Marshalltown, Iowa, but soon bought a farm near New Sharon, and in 1883 bought in Antelope county, Nebraska, to be near his daughter. One brother remained at Marshalltown, and the other went to Colorado, and did not see his kin for thirty-eight years, when he visited them at Plainview.
   Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have four living children: Mary, who is married to Doctor Harry Malarian, a prominent practitioner of Sioux City, Iowa: Margaret, wife of Charles Watson, a prosperous stock dealer of Brunswick, Antelope County; Albert L., married to Alice Drayton, and William L., married Lorinda Wauser, the two sons being engaged in banking in Brunswick.
   Mr. Johnson owes much of his success in business to his sterling honesty, his word and credit being good from his earliest business career. Good judgment was a factor in his success, and to this add his genial happy disposition, and you have the secret by which any man may succeed.
   Mr. Johnson is republican and has served on the town council. He is a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, as well as of the Odd Fellows, and Pythian lodges, and with Mrs. Johnson is a member of the Rebekah degree and the Order of the Eastern Star. They were reared in the Lutheran church, and Mrs. Johnson now communes with the Congregational denomination at Plainview.
   When they came to the west, all was open prairie without a tree in sight. They have seen the saplings they planted grow to trees fifty to sixty inches in circumference, and the hills and valleys dotted with fine shady groves. In 1910 they revisited their native country, but returned thankful that fate had cast their lot on the fertile Nebraska plains.

 

---

JOE PEARSON.

   The gentleman above mentioned has resided in Howard county, since 1883, during which time he has become thoroughly familiar to all, and takes a leading place as an energetic agriculturist and public-spirited citizen. He is the owner of a valuable farm, and makes his home on section thirty-one in Elba precinct.
   Joe Pearson was born in Sweden on April 24, 1866, the third in a family of three boys and one girl born to Peter and Elna Munson. Joe grew up in his birthplace, receiving an unusually good education, and in his seventeenth year came to America, accompanied by his father, mother and one sister. After landing in New York, they came straight on to Nebraska, arriving at St. Paul on the 27th day of March, 1883, where they joined a brother of our subject, John Pearson, he having settled in Elba, in 1879, where he was successfully engaged in the lumber trade. The father rented land in partnership with Joe. They continued together until the latter was twenty-eight years of age, at which time he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land on section thirty-one, township sixteen, range eleven, settling permanently on it in 1899. Here he has made money, and now has one of the finest and best equipped grain and stock farms in the vicinity. He has erected good buildings, planted trees, etc., and has one of the best growing orchards in his precinct. Mr. Pearson also owns eighty acres of land lying to the east of his home farm, and altogether has a very valuable estate.
   On September 7, 1893, Mr. Pierson [sic] was united in marriage at St. Paul., to Miss Christina Lassen, and to them were born seven children, five of whom are now living, named as follows: John H., Lilly M, Harry, May, and Victor, who form a most interesting family group. Oscar Wilhelm and Elna are deceased. They have a very pleasant home, and are among the popular members of society in their community.
   Mr. Pearson is a member of the school board of district number forty-eight. He has seen all the changes that have come to Howard county since its early settlement, and has become. prosperous and also gained a high reputation as a worthy citizen.

 

---

EPHRAIM A. FOWLER.

   Ephriam A. Fowler is one of the younger men among the pioneers of Valley county and is a large landowner, having twelve hundred acres in Valley and Custer counties, leasing eight hundred acres additional. He is an active and successful man of affairs, an excellent business manager, and he has been prominent in public matters in his community. Mr. Fowler was born in St. Lawrence county, New York, August 20, 1872, the eldest of three children of Alonzo and Amelia (Durham) Fowler, the latter a daughter of William and Diantha (Jones) Durham. A sketch of the father and rather extensive mention of the family appear in this work. Mr. Fowler has a brother in Idaho and a sister deceased. His father now resides in Valley county and his mother died in Hall county in 1881.
   In October, 1878, Mr. Fowler accompanied his parents to Hall county, Nebraska, and about four years later came to Valley county, where he finished his education and grew to manhood on a farm. On July 27, 1892, he married Clara Harris, a native of Huntsville, Illinois, who died April 8, 1906, leaving seven children: Orville, Myrtle, Lloyd, Elgin, Alvin, Letty, and Goldie. The last named child died July 28, 1906, and three other children died in infancy.
   Mr. Fowler served several years as moderator of school district number four, and has always furthered the cause of education and other worthy causes.
   For a number of years after attaining his majority, Mr. Fowler rented land, and in 1902 purchased a six hundred and forty acre farm

section nineteen, township fifteen, range seventeen, which he has almost doubled since, making a fine stock farm, well improved and containing substantial buildings. This has since been the home place, and he has become one of the largest land owners of central Nebraska.
   On November 23, 1909, Mr. Fowler married Jessie Coe, a native of Fremont county, Iowa, a daughter of Charles and Jennie (Clark) Coe.
   Mr. Fowler is a democrat in politics and a member of the Royal Highlanders and the Modern Woodmen of America.
   Mr. Fowler was farming for himself in 1904, the dry year, renting part of his father's land, from which he gathered six hundred bushels of corn, much more than was usually raised that year. Hail damaged or destroyed his crops four different years since he has been doing for himself, but in spite of all misfortunes he has prospered far beyond the average man.

 

---

WILLIAM HORSHAM.

   The gentleman above mentioned, who resides on section eighteen, township twenty-two, range one, west, is counted among the oldest settlers of Madison county, Nebraska, where he has made his home since locating here in 1870, and has taken a foremost part in the development of his region. He has helped to build up a good home and farm where he now resides, which as before stated, is in section eighteen, township twenty-two, range one, west.
   Mr. Horsham was born in Canada, May 17, 1861, a son of John and Caroline (Courtney) Horsham, who came to Canada in 1853 from England on a sail boat, embarking at South Hampton and landing in Quebec after a voyage of forty-nine days. The father was a miller by trade, and after settling in Canada he worked in a mill at Waterford.
   In 1868, our subject, with his parents, came to Linn county, Iowa, where they remained two years. In 1870 they started by ox team for Stanton county, Nebraska, and after reaching their distination the father took up a homestead in section fourteen, township twenty-one, range two, on which they built a sod house, the family living in this seven years. Our subject's father also took a free claim on Union creek.
   In 1889 Mr. Horsham bought his present farm, and has steadily improved same, and now owns two hundred and forty acres of good land, on which are five acres of fine orchard and forest trees.
   The family experienced many hardships in those early days, burning hay, corn and corn stocks for fuel; and the grasshoppers destroyed all the crops the first four years of the family's residence in Nebraska, which fact alone was enough to discourage the bravest heart, but they persevered through all. At that time Columbus and Wisner were the nearest market places, several miles distant.
   Mr. Horsham was united in marriage in 1893 to Miss Clara Burglan, and they are the parents of four children, namely: Maud, Harry, Emily, and William. Mr. and Mrs. Horsham and family enjoy the respect and esteem of all who know them, and in their home are surrounded by many friends and acquaintances.

 

---

ROBERT FARLEY.

   Robert Farley has witnessed the western empire's growth from the Missouri river to the Rocky mountains and has had many exciting and interesting experiences during his years in various parts of the west. He is one of the early settlers of Custer county and has been identified with its various interests since 1878. Mr. Farley was born in Platte county Missouri, February 14, 1844, next to the oldest child of Josiah and Nancy (Mason) Farley, who had five sons and three daughters. The father was a native of Tennessee and the mother of Kentucky. He died in Kansas in 1857 and she in Missouri in 1872. The only two of the family who survive are Robert and James both living near Milburn postoffice, Custer county.
   About the time he reached his eighteenth year, Mr. Farley started out in life for himself, and in the fall of 1862 took a position as teamster in a freighting outfit from Leavenworth, Kansas, across the plains to Denver, driving ox teams. In the winter of 1862-63 he returned home by the "overland trail" and in the spring of 1863 drove an ox team from Leavenworth to Fort Union, New Mexico, with government freight. Returning to Fort Leavenworth early in the fall of the same year, he soon afterward made a trip with freight for the government post at Denver. He continued in the freighting business until the spring of 1865, when he returned to Platte county, Missouri, and remained there until 1868. He then went to Texas and engaged in driving Texas cattle up the trail to various government posts, several of these trips being made to Spotted Tail agency in South Dakota. He continued on the cattle trail until 1877, then returned to Kansas, and engaged in the cattle business with the Smith & Tee outfit in Russell county. He came to Custer county with this cattle outfit in October, 1878, and located a ranch on the Middle Loup river. In 1880 Mr. Farley took a homestead on the southwest quarter of section ten, township twenty, range twenty-one, which has been his farm and ranch since then. He was the first man in the neighborhood to take up a homestead, another man being located some four or five miles south of him. All his supplies were freighted in from Kearney, North Loup and Ord. He had been in the saddle as cattleman most of the time for fifteen years and has seen Custer county progress

from the ranch and cattle days to its present state of development and prosperity. He is one of the most widely-known among the early settlers and has been closely identified with various public movements. During the first administration of President Cleveland, Jeanette postoffice was established in Mr. Farley's house and he was its first postmaster, serving until the removal of the office. Prior to 1890 he had served five or six years as county supervisor. He has also served as notary public and deputy county assessor and for a number of years was justice of the peace. He is known as a progressive and enterprising citizen and has been active in Custer county's affairs since 1878. In politics he is a staunch democrat, and a member of the grange. He was identified with the "Church of God" while it maintained an organization at New Helena.
   On March 30, 1880, Mr. Farley was married at Grand Island, by County Judge Harrison, to Mrs. Ellen (Sweet) Carpenter, a native of Illinois, who was reared in Iowa and came to Nebraska in 1878. Mrs. Farley died at the home ranch April 6, 1901, a pioneer woman who had passed through the various periods of Custer county's history from its cattle days, and who had endeared herself to a large circle of friends. She had borne her husband six children, two of whom died in infancy; four now survive, namely: Nina, wife of F. R. Snyder, who lives in Blaine county, two and one-half miles northwest of Milburn postoffice, has six children; Mary, wife of John T. Huffman, living on the old Farley homestead, has three children; Gertie D., wife of M. S. Dailey, living south of Milburn postoffice, has six children; Ellen Frances, wife of John Barton, lives on a Kincaid homestead in Blaine county, and has two children. There is one adopted son, Arthur Farley, living two and one-half miles northeast of Anselmo, has three children. Mr. Farley has one stepdaughter, Rosa, now Mrs. J. T. Leep, living near Milburn postoffice, has five children. Mrs. Leep has one daughter married, who has a daughter, making the last-named Mr. Farley's great grandchild. He has twenty-five grandchildren.

 

---

CHARLES MILLER.

   Charles Miller, a leading farmer and stockman of Wayne county, Nebraska, who has been influential in promoting the general welfare and progress of his community, has been a resident of the state for nearly thirty years, and has spent most of this time on his present farm.
   He is a native of Germany, born in Mecklenburg, February 8, 1856, and his parents died when he was a small boy, leaving four children. He was educated in his native country. He left his home and native land in 1871, and sailed from Hamburg for New York. He first went to St. Joseph county, Michigan, when he joined an uncle, and where he made his home for several years. In 1875 he came to Sarpy county, Nebraska, remained one year, working in a grist mill and on a farm, and then returned to Michigan. In 1883 he again located in Sarpy county, Nebraska, where he engaged in farming. Six years later he came to Wayne county and bought the French farm of one hundred and sixty acres. This land was almost wholly unimproved, and he set about the development of a farm. He has brought his land to a high state of cultivation and erected a very comfortable house and other buildings. He carries on general farming and pays considerable attention to raising stock. He has added two forty acres to his first purchase, and now owns two hundred and forty acres.
   Mr. Miller was married at Three Rivers, Michigan, in 1881, to Miss Caroline Wagner, who was born in Mecklenburg, and the daughter of Carl and Christina Wagner, natives of Mecklenburg, who came to the United States when Mrs. Miller was six years old. Mr. Miller and wife are parents of nine children, six of whom are living, namely: Elizabeth, Carl, Mary, Bertha, Otto and Mable. Those who died were John, William, and August.
   Mr. Miller is actively identified with the agricultural interests of his county and state, and is accounted one of the intelligent and enterprising farmers of his locality. He has always been a friend to educational advancement and other measures beneficial to the general prosperity, and both he and his wife have made many warm friends in the community. He has worked hard in improving and cultivating his farm and is now enjoying the results of his early struggles and industry. His home is most pleasantly situated on section two, township twenty-seven, range three.

 

---

DAVID H. BURKE.

   David H. Burke was born in Potsdam, St. Lawrence county, New York, June 28, 1861, and is eldest of eight children in the family of William and Mary Burke. Mr. Burke lived in his native state until he became a lad of sixteen years of age, receiving his early schooling there; and in May of 1877 came with his parents to Merrick county, Nebraska. With the exception of five years in the employ of the Union Pacific railroad, in 1880 to 1885, inclusive, Mr. Burke has followed farming and stock raising, in which business he has made a great success.
   Mr. Burke was united in marriage October 24, 1884, to Miss Mary J. Farrell, the ceremony taking place in Central City, Nebraska. Mr. and Mrs. Burke have three children living.
   The family now reside on their fine stock farm which is located about one and a half miles west of Central City. They have a fine home and enjoy the respect and esteem of a large circle of friends and neighbors.

C. D. LOEBEL.

   C. D. Loebel, the veteran merchant of Creighton, has been a resident of Nebraska since the summer of 1872, when his parents came into the state, locating on a homestead in Cuming county.
   Mr. Loebel is a native of Bavaria, born in the viIlage of Altdorf, on December 17, 1859. In the spring of 1872 the family took passage from Antwerp to Hull, crossed England by rail, and sailed in the steamer "Batavia" from Liverpool, landing in New York after a voyage of ten days. This ship was lost on the return trip and all on board perished. The Loebel family settled in Cuming county on a homestead, and our subject assisted his father in the farm work until he reached his majority. In 1880 he moved to Creighton and opened a furniture store which he carried on for nine months, then engaged in the general merchandise business. He built up a splendid trade through his native courtesy, square dealings, and close attention to business, and has prospered in a very marked degree. He has always kept fine stock of goods, complete in every line, and has been assisted in the work by his sons, who will continue in the business when their father decide's to give up the active management.
   Mr. Loebel has witnessed four severe blizzards since coming to the west, including those of the winters of 1873, 1880, 1883, and 1888. In the first of these his father was caught out on the prairie, and for about seven hours buffeted with the icy blasts before he succeeded in reaching shelter with the family of a settler, where he was obliged to remain for three days, his family fearful that he had been lost in the storm. Our subject himself had a very unpleasant experience in a blinding snowstorm, when be started out at one time with the thought that be could find his way without difficulty from his house to a well after a bucket of water. In the swirling snow he was carried past the well and found himself in a grove which was some distance from the dwelling, and only after considerable hustling was able to get his bearings and find his way back home. The family went through prairie fires, drouths, etc., and has seen every phase of frontier life.
   Mr. Loebel was married in Creighton, on January 25, 1885, to Miss Wilhelmina Lindermann, who is a native of Prussia, coming to America with her parents in 1861 and settling in Knox county, Nebraska, where her father died in 1893. Mrs. Loebel's death occurred February 13, 1911. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Loebel, namely: Anna, Paul, Chris, William, and Wilfred, all of whom with the exception of the last mentioned, have passed through the Creighton schools. Paul and Chris are musicians of more than ordinary ability, and are members of the Creighton band. The former has an unsual [sic] talent for drawing, and his pen work, in which he has had no special instruction whatever, is equal to that of many who have spent considerable time in the art schools.
   In politics, Mr. Loebel has always supported the democratic party in general issues, but in local affairs votes for the best man nominated, regardless of party. The family worship at the Lutheran church, and are liberal contributors to all branches of church work.

 

---

AUGUSTUS G. MANSFIELD.
(Deceased.)

   Augustus G. Mansfield and family, of wife and eight children, came to Boone county, Nebraska, from McHenry county, Illinois, September 16, 1880, to their home on the southwest quarter of section twenty-two, township twenty, range six, purchased some years prior, which remained his home farm until time of his death, November 2, 1906, in his seventy-ninth year. About one hundred acres of this farm is now platted and is a part of the residence portion of Albion, within the corporation limits of that city, which is the county seat of Boone county. Mr. Mansfield was active in all things pertaining to the welfare of his county and state, and also along church and temperance lines. Mrs. Augustus Mansfield died December 19, 1893. Mr. and Mrs. Mansfield were survived by six sons and three daughters; five boys reside in Boone county and one in Illinois; one daughter lives in Texas and two, Mrs. S. Z. Williamson and Mrs. F. J. Pierce, reside in Boone county. The Mansfield family were widely and favorably known. Mr. Mansfield was born in England and came to America when fourteen years of age, and Mrs. Mansfield was a native of New York state.
   Edwin T. Mansfield came with his parents to Boone county in 1880, and Boone county has been his home to this date.
   Mr. Mansfield was married November 3, 1887, to Miss Eva Garrett at the home of her parents one mile south of Albion. Mr. and Mrs. Mansfield have six children: Lulu; Ona and Ora, twins; Irma, Alice, and Ethel, all of whom reside at home.
   Mr. Mansfield was in the implement business in Albion for a number of years and also followed farming and stock-raising. He is now residing on the original home place in Albion, and owns about six hundred acres of choice farm land.

 

---

C. L. BRIDGE.

   C. L. Bridge, one of the old settlers of the region where he chose his residence in the early days, occupies a good home and valuable property in section thirty-one, township twenty-seven, range seven, Antelope county, Nebraska. He has done his full share in the upbuilding of his locality, and is well and favorably known throughout this part of the state.

   Mr. Bridge is a native of Clinton, Massachusetts, born on a farm in 1853, and he is the son of Charles H. and Rebecca (Prouty) Bridge, the father being born in Lancaster, Massachusetts, April 6, 1810, and died in 1865. Our subject's mother was born November 13, 1816, and died in 1892. Her ancestors came from England as far back as 1620. From Massachusetts our subject moved to New Hampshire and in 1872, came to Antelope county and opened up a small store (in partnership with Mr. Smith who now is in business and resides in Clearwater,) in what is now known as French township, where he remained a little over a year, then went to Holt county. During the blizzard of 1873 on Easter Sunday Mr. Bridge was living in the log house where he kept store. On several occasions Mr. Bridge tried to go to the stable where they had their horses but was driven back. After the second or third day they managed to get to the horses by tunneling through snow. They found one horse dead and one nearly so, the snow had blown into the barn and the horses had trampled it down until their backs were up against the roof. Mr. Bridge and Mr. Smith had to take off the roof which was of logs and straw, to get the live horse out of the stable. They then brought the horse into the store it being the only place available and tied him to the counter until the storm was over and they had again built a roof over the barn.
   In 1874-75, the grasshoppers destroyed all of Mr. Bridge's crops, and did great damage to all vegetation.
   Mr. Bridge went from Antelope county to Holt county, Nebraska, where he took up a homestead in section twelve, township twenty-six, range nine, on which he built a log house. His home was situated on the bank of Elk Horn river, and in those early days wild game, such as deer, antelope, elk, and wild turkey was plentiful, and the settlers also had a great many scares from the Indians in those times. In 1880 he returned to Antelope county and took up a tree claim in section five, township twenty-six, range eight, where he remained until 1900, when he bought land where he now lives in section thirty-one, township twenty-seven, range seven. This was originally the homestead of Jesse Myers.
   October 22, 1873, Mr. Bridge was married to Miss Mahala Chafin. Mr. and Mrs. Bridge are the parents of ten children: Henry, Nellie, Charles, Jessie, Mary, Alfred, Fred, Rufus, James, and Grace. Mr. and Mrs. Bridge and family are highly esteemed and respected by all who know them, and they have a host of friends.

 

---

MERITT A. JOHNSON.

   Meritt A. Johnson, a prominent and successful farmer of Custer county, belongs to an old and honored family in the region of his present home. He was born in Jasper county, Iowa, March 18, 1865, son of Reuben and Selina (Cisson) Johnson, who had six sons and two daughters, of whom he was the fourth born. In the summer of 1884 the father came to Custer county, where the son Meritt had located the previous year, and the former secured some school land on section thirty-six, township seventeen, range eighteen. The rest of the family came in the fall of that year and they lived on the farm until the father's death April 11, 1902. The mother died in Lincoln, December 20, 1903. They were survived by six children, four of whom reside in Nebraska, namely: Cordelia, Mrs. Bion Glover, of Custer county; Ellen, a teacher in the public schools; Albert C., of Lincoln; and Meritt A., of this sketch. One son lives in Chicago and one in Florida. The father was a prominent citizen and served for a time as a member of the county board of Custer county.
   Mr. Johnson was reared on a farm and lived in Jasper county until the spring of 1883, when he located in Valley county, and the following January came to Custer county. He pre-empted and filed on a timber claim in Morrell county which he later sold. He bought his present place in 1893 and owns a fine grain and stock farm the south half of the southwest quarter of section twenty-four, township seventeen, range eighteen, which he has improved and developed by his own efforts; he has three hundred and twenty acres under lease situated a mile north. He has been actively interested in the development and welfare of the community and is regarded as a public-spirited, desirable citizen. He was married March 26, 1890, to Mary A. Richtmyer, a native of Seward county and daughter of Marcus and Hannah (Hosford) Richtmyer, early settlers of the county, who lived on their farm in township seventeen, range eighteen. They came to Nebraska from Wisconsin about 1868, the father being a native of Schoharrie county, New York, and a veteran of the civil war. They first secured a homestead in Seward county and about 1884 came to Custer county. The mother, a native of New York, born near Jewett, died December 29, 1901, and the father September 17, 1910. Mr. Johnson and wife had five children, four of whom now survive, namely: Reuben Clair, Mary Kate, Harold Marcus and Doris Cordelia. The family is widely known and has a high standing in the community, its members being identified with the best interests of the county and state.
   Mr. Johnson is republican in national questions but in local elections votes for the man regardless of party lines. While "batching it" on his pre-emption claim Mr. Johnson lived in a "dug-out." The family have lived in a sod house on two different occasions but now occupy a neat modern dwelling.
   At the time of his migration to Morrell county -- then a part of Cheyenne, he camped by the way, the journey occupying three weeks. On one stretch of the road it was twenty-six miles between water. During the blizzard of January 12, 1888,

Mr. Johnson, who was two miles away from home, found his way through the fearful blinding storm.

 

---

FRITZ H. KUEHL.

   Fritz H. Kuehl, who is proprietor of a fine estate in section thirty-two, is one of the prominent and successful ranchmen of Valley county, Nebraska. He has made this region his home for some twenty-four years, and has been a resident of eastern Nebraska for the past thirty-two years. Mr. Kuehl is a native of the village of Rensburg, province of Holstein, Germany, and was born September 6, 1860, the youngest of five children in the family of Paul and Lottie (Mohr) Kuehl, who had four sons and one daughter.
   In January, 1880, Mr. Kuehl, in company with two others, came to America, first locating in Douglas county, Nebraska, near Omaha. Mr. Kuehl was a farm boy in the old country, and upon coming to the United States was employed at farm labor the first year, then worked one year as a section hand at Millard on the Union Pacific railroad. He resumed farming in Douglas county, coming thence to Valley county in the spring of 1886, purchasing the southwest quarter of section thirty-two, township nineteen, range fourteen, and this has since been his home. The place is well adapted to grain and stock raising, and Mr. Kuehl makes a specialty of pure bred Shorthorn cattle. He now owns a farm of four hundred acres; a half-section in Ord township and an eighty-acre tract in Enterprise township. In 1905 he built a modern ten-room house, elegantly furnished, a large barn, and numerous well-kept outbuildings. We call attention to an excellent view of this country home, surrounded by its groves and orchard and its blooming shrubs and flower beds. Mrs. Kuehl is a lover of birds and flowers, and her success in floriculture is in evidence to one who may have the pleasure of visiting her home. Mr. Kuehl has gained his present standing and property through hard work and economy, and is one of the most prosperous and successful younger men of Valley county, having successfully passed through the hardships and privations of the early years of development. For six months he lived in a sod dugout found on the place when purchased. He lost all his crops by drouth in 1894, and two years later hail beat every growing thing into the ground. There were a few deer and antelope in the county when he came, and he has seen wagon loads of them brought into Ord from the sandflats.
   Mr. Kuehl was married to Miss Anna Sieh, November 23, 1881, in Omaha, Nebraska. Mrs. Kuehl was born in Germany, daughter of Juergen and Lena Sieh; she came to Nebraska in January of 1880. Mr. and Mrs. Kuehl had four children, whose names are as follows: Anna, wife of John Conner, has one child, Willard Robert Conner, and they reside on the Conner farm across the road from Mr. Kuehl; Mary, Fritz, and Sophie; the younger children live under the parental roof. Mrs. Kuehl died January 27, 1895. In February, 1906, Mr. Kuehl was married to Mrs. Henry Reithardt, who in maidenhood was Sophie Kuehl, a native of Holstein and distantly related to her present husband.
   Mr. Kuehl is a democrat in politics, and is a Member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and, with Mrs. Kuehl, of the Degree of Honor.

Residence of Fritz H. Kuehl.

---

ARTHUR J. ANDERSON.

   Among the younger members of the farming community, the above gentlemen is well and favorably known. Although still a young man, he is also regarded as one of the original settlers having come to Custer county at an early period, when he was very young. He is the owner of a fine stock farm of about two hundred acres or so, and is one of the most progressive and successful farmers of the locality.
   Mr. Anderson, the son of David and Katherine (Wolf) Anderson, was born in Red Oak, Iowa, on the 18th of December, 1875. He was the eldest of three children, all of whom are still living. His father was of English birth, but had spent practically all of his life in America. He was for years in the ministry of the Evangelical church, and was esteemed by all as a man of high integrity and sterling character. He died on April 21, 1903, on his Custer county farm. The mother, who was of German descent, died in Hamilton county, Nebraska, in 1883.
   In early childhood, in fact when he was only about four years old, Mr. Anderson came with his parents to Hamilton county, where he grew to manhood, receiving his education in the local schools. As he grow older, he engaged in farming. In 1892, he came to Custer county, and seven years later, in 1899, on March 22, he was united in marriage to Miss Mary Kimball, a native of Stockbridge, Wisconsin, who came to this state in the summer of 1883.
   For some years, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson lived on rented farms, but in 1904, he purchased a two hundred acre stock farm in section nineteen, township sixteen, range seventeen. Since his purchase he has made many improvements to the place, so that now it is one of the finest equipped stock farms in the region. A beautiful modern house was built in 1909, which the subscriber and his family now occupy. We are pleased to call attention to a view of the home with its pleasing surroundings, adorning another page of this work.
   Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, all of whom are living, and at home. They are named as follows: Leo W., David A., Harold W., and Bernard R.
   Mr. Anderson, at present serving as director of his school, district number one hundred and

---

© 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 for NEGenWeb Project by T&C Miller, P Ebel, P Shipley, L Cook