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Edmunds homestead is now within the corporate limits of Providence, and is also built up with city residences.

      Reared on a farm, Mr. King, of this review, obtained his elementary education in the district schools near his home, and later attended Tilford Academy, at Vinton, Iowa; Cornell College, Mt. Vernon, that state; and the Iowa State Agricultural College, at Ames, graduating from the last named institution in the class of 1877. He then entered the Law School at Des Moines, where he completed the course and was granted the degree of LL. B. in 1878, and on the 12th of June of that year was admitted to the bar. Thus ably fitted for his chosen profession he opened an office in Vinton, Iowa, where he engaged in practice until June of the following year and then came to Nebraska, locating in Osceola in July, 1879. For two years he was a member of the firm of Cornish & King, the following year a member of the firm of King & Thurman, and was then alone in business until 1893, when the present partnership between Mr. King and Mr. Bittner was formed. It was not long before his skill and ability in mastering difficult cases were widely recognized, and to-day he ranks among the foremost lawyers practicing in all the courts of the state. It is said that if a man follows that pursuit for which nature intended him he cannot but win success, and nature evidently intended Mr. King for an attorney if success is any criterion. As a fluent, earnest and convincing advocate he has but few equals, and he commands alike the respect of the court and the esteem of his associates at the bar.

      On the 27th of March, 1880, Mr. King was united in marriage with Miss Abby Fowle, who was born in Newark, New Jersey, September 25, 1854, a daughter of Edwin and Emeline P. (Lyon) Fowle. Her mother is now deceased, but the father is still living and makes his home in Clarkesville, Iowa. Mrs. King attended the high school at that place and was later a student in the State Agricultural College at Ames, Iowa. By her marriage she has become the mother of two children, both born in Osceola, Nebraska-Edna L., January 19, 1881, and William Ross, August 8, 1886.

      Besides being an able attorney, Mr. King is a capable business man, and is now vice-president of the Osceola Bank, and also owns an improved farm in Polk county. Fraternally he is a prominent member of the Masonic order, is past master of the local lodge, and also belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America. He is one of the leading Republicans of the county, and being a fluent and able speaker, has rendered his party efficient service as a stump speaker in every campaign. He is also an active worker in the conventions of his party, and his fellow citizens recognizing his fitness for public office have honored him with a number of important positions. For fifteen consecutive years he has been a member of the Osceola school board, of which he has been president the greater part of the time; was county attorney for Polk county in 1887 and 1888; and in 1885 was a distinguished and popular member of the state legislature. 

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UDGE HAMMOND H. BROWER, who is living in an honored and well-deserved retirement in McCool junction, Nebraska, has had a history that reaches well back into the first part of the century, and has had a hand in some of the most stirring experiences of early 'times. He is now drawing well towards his eightieth birthday. He bears the burden of years with dignity, arid keeps his intellectual faculties unclouded to the present time.

      Judge Brower was born April 7, 1819, in what is Fulton county, New York, and is a son of Abraham and Philotha (Webster) Brower. His father was a native of New

York, and his mother was from Connecticut, and a relative of the famous Noah Webster. The senior Brower was a millwright and a carpenter, and most of his life was engaged in farming. In the summer of 1831 he brought his family to Ashtabula county, Ohio, traveling by wagon into a country which the railroad had not yet penetrated. They located on a farm in the timber twenty-five miles south of the city of Ashtabula. Mr. Brower died at the home of his son in LaSalle county, Illinois, when past ninety-four. His wife died a number of years previously in Ohio.

      Judge Brower was twelve years old when his parents brought him into Ohio, and he had the privilege of an education superior to what was the common lot of farm lads in his time. He passed through the public school, and attended college at Meadville, Pennsylvania. He had learned the shoemaker's trade while a lad, and he worked at it during the years he was preparing for a legal career. He was admitted to the bar in Ashtabula county, where he practiced law quite successfully for a number of years. In 1852 he located on a farm north of Ottawa, Illinois, and after several years had passed resumed the practice of his profession at Pontiac. It was there that he was appointed to fill a vacancy on the bench, and has since worn the title of ''Judge," which accords so well with his judicial spirit and candid mind that it has never been dropped by his friends. In Pontiac he was highly respected, and was frequently a candidate on the Democratic ticket for county and legislative positions. He came within forty-two votes of being elected prosecuting attorney in a county which cast over one thousand normal Republican majority. When he left Pontiac, the members of the bar presented him with a gold-headed cane, bearing the following inscription, ''Presented to H. H. Brower, by the Livingston county Bar, as a token of professional esteem. Pontiac, Illinois, May 22, 1877." He came to this state and entered upon the conduct of a farm, being obliged to give up professional labors on account of failing health. Here he has made his home with the exception of five years spent in Colorado, until he moved into McCool Junction in 1896. He has sold his farm in Fillmore county, but still owns eighty acres of land in this county with a quarter section in Custer county and a block in the junction.

      Judge Brower was married for the first time in Ashtabula county, Ohio, to Miss Maryette Crosby, who died in Earlville, Illinois, in 1854. There were four children born to this marriage, Charles, Casendane, Douglas (deceased) and Castarah. He was married again in LaSalle county, to Miss Margaret J. Furrow, in 1857, by whom four children were born. The oldest of these, Frank, was recently mustered into Company H, Third Nebraska Volunteer Infantry. George is the second in the family, Flora is dead, and Alice is the youngest of the family. The judge has been a Mason for many years, and is probably one of. the oldest in the state, having joined the order in 1849. 

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ON. NATHAN V. HARLAN.--What ever else may be said of the legal fraternity, it cannot be denied that members of the bar have been more prominent actors in public affairs than any other class of American people. This is but the natural result of causes which are manifest and require no explanation. The ability and training which qualify one to practice law also qualify him in many respects for duties which he outside the diametrical lines of his profession, and which touch the general interests of society. The subject of this record, one of the oldest attorneys in York county, is a man who has brought his keen perception and thorough wisdom to bear not alone in pro-

fessional paths, but also for the benefit of his county and state.

      Mr. Harlan was born in Darke county, Ohio, October 22, 1846, and is a son of Valentine and Elizabeth (Polly) Harlan, natives of South Carolina and Kentucky, respectively. The father, who was a farmer by occupation and a local preacher, died when our subject was only three years old, and the mother when he was but eighteen. With the family he removed to Lee county, Iowa, at the age of five years, and was educated at Howe's Academy, in Mt. Pleasant, and Oskaloosa College, Oskaloosa, that state. After leaving school he successfully engaged in teaching for ten years, and for about half of that period devoted his leisure time to the study of law, being admitted to the bar at Keosauqua, Iowa, in 1878. The same year he came to York, Nebraska, and at once began the practice of his chosen profession, in which he has been remarkably successful. As an attorney he ranks among the ablest in this part of the state. He is a good judge of law, and, what is of almost equal importance, is a good judge of men, and it is this quality, together with his great earnestness and ability as a speaker, that has given him such marked success in the trial of cases.

      In 1871 Mr. Harlan married Miss Vina Carmine, a native of Iowa, and they have become the parents of two children: Gertrude, who was born in 1872, and is now Mrs. William G. Boyer; and Edmund V., born in 1881. In his social relations Mr. Harlan is both an Odd Fellow and Mason. He is a recognized leader in the ranks of the Republican organization of the state, and has been honored with a number of important official positions. For three terms he served as mayor of York, and in 1885 and 1887 represented his district in the lower house of the state legislature, serving as its speaker during the last year. He is a born leader of men, and in this august body his qualities were quickly recognized. In 1890 he was the candidate of his party for congress in his district but was defeated, and is now serving his second term as county attorney. Socially he is deservedly popular, as he is affable and courteous in manner and possesses that essential qualification to success in public life, that of making friends readily and strengthening the ties of all friendships as time advances. In connection with this sketch is presented a portrait of Mr. Harlan. 

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HARLES B. SUPPIGER, the present able and popular clerk of Seward county, lives at Seward, but has a circle of friends and acquaintances that covers the entire county. He has been engaged in trade for many years, and proved so reliable and trustworthy that he had little difficulty in securing his present responsible position. Integrity and honor have characterized his career in this county, and the people depend upon him as prompt and accurate.

      Mr. Suppiger was born in Highland, Madison county, Illinois, February 4, 1852.

      His parents, Xavier and Lucy (Hitz) Suppiger, were Swiss, and came to this country in 1833, locating at Highland. The husband and father was a harnessmaker, and followed that business all his life. The grandfather, Johnson Suppiger, was a farmer and a weaver, and came with his son to this country. He spent his last days at Highland. He was the father of three sons and eight daughters. The family of his son Xavier consisted of one son and two daughters, of whom the son and one daughter are now living.

      Charles Suppiger received a very liberal education for the times in which he grew to manhood. He took what the Illinois public schools afforded, added to it at a school in Oakfield, Missouri, and completed his studies

at Jones' Business College, a well-known St. Louis school. He became a harnessmaker, and worked by his father's side for many years. In 1875 succeeded to the business at Highlands. He sold out in 1883. He spent one year in Kansas, but was not satisfied with its opportunities, and moved a second time. He came to this county and settled at Staplehurst, where he was in business for thirteen years. He built up an extensive trade, and conciliated the good opinion of the public. In 1897 he was elected county clerk, and is now discharging the duties of that position in a most acceptable manner.

      The marriage of Charles B. Suppiger and Miss Minnie Frey was celebrated in Highland, Illinois, in 1875. She was a lady of many good qualities, and has helped to promote her husband's success. They are members of the German Evangelical church, and take an active interest in the upbuilding of the faith. Two children have been given to them, both of whom are living; Minnie E. is the wife of L. Biek, and has her home in this county; John X. is fast verging into manhood, and is still dwelling under the parental roof. Mr. Suppiger is a Democrat, and previous to his election to his present position, was somewhat conspicuous in public affairs. He was village and township clerk, and school director, and is known throughout the county. 

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MANUEL BABLE.--An excellent example of a self-made American citizen and a grand exemplification of the progress that an ambitious foreigner can make in this country of unbounded opportunities, is shown in the case of our subject, one of the leading German-American residents of York county, his home being on section 24, Leroy township. His success is due to his own energy and the high ideal which his lofty and laudable ambition placed before him. Success in any walk of life is an indication of earnest endeavor and persevering effort--characteristics that he possesses in an eminent degree.

      Mr. Babel was born in Prussia, Germany, in October, 1830, and is a son of Francis and Margaret (Hereford) Babel, who spent their entire lives in that country, the father following the tailor's trade. Reared in his native land, our subject there acquired a limited education. He worked on a farm during his early years, but seeing no chance of advancement, his wages being only fifteen dollars per year, he decided to come to the new world, where he had heard better opportunities were afforded industrious and ambitious young men. Accordingly in 1850, at the age of twenty years, he took passage on a sailing vessel, and after a voyage of six weeks landed at Quebec, Canada, in debt seventy-six dollars in gold for his passage. He was not only without money, but also was without friends on this side of the Atlantic. His baggage consisted of only seven pounds. Going to Michigan, he secured work on a farm, where he received seven dollars per month, which was almost half of what he had received annually in Germany.

      After living seven years in Michigan, Mr. Babel removed to Lewis county, New York, where he was married in February, 1865, to Miss Mary Tiebald, who was born near the River Rhine, in Germany. They have become the parents of the following children: Anna, Mary, Margaret, Lizzie, Minnie, now Sister Martha at the York Convent; William, and Lillie A., and two that are dead.

      Mr. Babel purchased a farm of fifty acres in Lewis county, New York, which he operated for four years and then sold. Removing to Illinois, he engaged in farming there for the same length of time, and at the end of that period decided to go farther west where land was cheaper. In the fall

of 1872 we find him en route for Nebraska in company with Henry Schmidt, and on reaching York county he took a homestead claim of eighty acres on section 24, Leroy township. Returning to Illinois, he there spent the winter, and the following February brought his family to their new home. Their stock at that time consisted of two horses, a cow, four pigs and a few chickens. Mr. Babel erected a sod house for his family and a sod stable for his stock, and during a frightful snow storm, to keep his pigs and chickens from perishing, he brought them into the house. One year the grasshoppers destroyed all his crops, and he and his family underwent all the hardships and trials of pioneer life. He has steadily overcome all obstacles in his path, however, and is now one of the well-to-do and prosperous citizens of his community, owning a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres, which he has placed under a high state of cultivation and well improved, with a modern residence, good barns and outbuildings, fruit and shade trees, which add greatly to the value and attractive appearance of the place. Mr. Babel has not only gained a comfortable home and competence, but has also secured the confidence and respect of those with whom he has come in contact either in business or social life. 

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WEN D. WILSON, JR., is the proprietor and editor of the Geneva Gazette, the official paper of Fillmore county. This paper was established in 1884 under the name of the Geneva Democrat, by W. H. Cooksey and J. D. Carson. In 1894 the name was changed to the Geneva Gazette under the management of J. J. Burk, present deputy clerk of the district court. In October, 1895, Miss Edith M. Pray became the editor, and July 20, 1896, Mr. Wilson purchased the paper and it has since continued under his management. It is a six-column, eight-page, bright, newsy sheet, and espouses the principles of the Populist party, and reaches the minds and consciences of many of Fillmore county's prominent citizens and also prominent men in other and adjoining counties. The able editor of this paper, Mr. Owen D. Wilson, was born in Rock Island county, Illinois, December 14, 1851, a son of Lewis and Minerva (Tipton) Wilson, the former a native of Ohio, and the latter a native of Indiana. The father was a farmer by occupation and located in Rock Island county, Illinois, in 1850, and entered government land, being among the first settlers of that section of Illinois. He became well known there and figured quite conspicuously in Rock Island county's politics, being one of the leaders of the Democratic party. He was one of the first supervisors elected in the county under the law for township organization and representation in the county board, and served in that capacity for many years. He was twice a candidate for legislature, and once for the state senate, but was defeated, owing to the overwhelming Republican majority.

      Our subject was reared on a farm in his native county, and received his education in the common schools. His mother died during his infancy. When he attained the age of twenty-one years he left home and began the battles of life on his own responsibility. He started for Nebraska, making the entire trip with a team and emigrant wagon, and arrived in Fillmore county, May 6, 1873. His worldly possessions at that time consisted of his team and wagon and about fifty dollars in money, but he filed a homestead claim to an eighty-acre tract of land, four miles east of Geneva, and began work with a will. This property he still owns, and continued to cultivate it until July, 1896, when he discontinued that line of work to assume the management of the newspaper he had purchased. He has taken a keen interest

in all matters pertaining to politics since his boyhood, which can perhaps be attributed to the position his father held in the political world. He is well versed in the current events, and has ably conducted the various departments of his newspaper enterprises, and he has built up for himself an excellent reputation as an editor and a large patronage for his paper. He has never aspired to nor held a public office other than that of supervisor, in which capacity he served for five years under the township organization. Socially, he affiliates with the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and also the Modern Woodmen of America.

      Mr. Wilson was married in 1877 to Miss Sadie E. Hope, also a native of Rock Island county, Illinois, and a daughter of David and Margaret (Campbell) Hope. Her father was for many years a locomotive engineer and was killed in accident at Keokuk, Iowa, when Mrs. Wilson was about three years of age. Her mother died in December, 1892, in Fillmore county, Nebraska. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson are the parents of a family of three children, whose names and present ages are as follows: Lena L., twenty years; Bertha, fifteen years; Leila, four years. 

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. H. BETZER, the editor of the Blue Valley Blade, which has become one of the influential and popular journals of Nebraska, lives at Seward, and takes a prominent position in the editorial fraternity of the west. He was born in Ross county, Ohio, January 24, 1836. His parents were William I. and Francis (Beeler) Betzer, natives respectively of Ohio and Kentucky. The father was a farmer and moved from Ohio in 1856 to DeWitt county, Illinois. He died there one year later, and the wife and mother died at Seward at the age of eighty-three.

      Mr. Betzer received his early training in Ohio. He attended the common school and the academy at Frankfort, and was well prepared for the responsibilities of life. He moved to Illinois in company with his parents, and was engaged in running the engine of a saw mill for six years. In 1866 he bought the Blade, at Pella, Iowa, and was its editor and manager for eleven years. He sold it at the expiration of that period, and was connected with the Times, at Monroe, Iowa, for a short time, when he bought it, and moved the outfit to Chariton, and entered upon the publication of the Chariton Republican. In 1878 he disposed of his Chariton enterprise, came to this county, and bought the Seward Advocate, and changed its title to the Blue Valley Blade. In this paper he is still engaged and for some time has been having the association of his son, Elmer E., who acts as its assistant editor and manager.

      Mr. Betzer was married in 1858 to Miss Rhoda C. Welch, a native of Indiana. They had two sons and three daughters, America A. (now Mrs. Hugh Logan), Elmer E., Mary E. (now Mrs. C. M. Hall), Welby S. and Clystie M. Mr. Betzer has been three times married. His first wife died in 1891. His present wife is Miss Mary E. Storms, and was a resident of Colorado at the time of her marriage. The paper has always been Republican, and has long been regarded as the organ of the party in this county. It has a large circulation in this and the adjoining counties, and is one of the most popular country papers of the state.

      Elmer E. Betzer, who is associated with his father in the publication of the Blade, was born in Marion county, Iowa, August 17, 1862, and was educated in the schools of his native state. He entered his father's printing office when thirteen years old, and has thoroughly mastered the 'printer's trade. He has had charge of the mechanical department of the office for a number of years, and to his watchful care is very largely due the credit for the neat appearance the Blade

always presents. He was married in 1891 to Miss Rose M. Gordon, a native of Logansport, Indiana. 

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EORGE B. FRANCE is one of the ablest lawyers practicing at the York county bar, having that mental grasp which enables him to discover the points in a case. A man of sound judgment, he manages his cases with masterly skill and tact, and is regarded as one of the ablest jury advocates in York. He is a logical reasoner and has a ready command of English.

      Mr. France was born in Ohio, January 10, 1837, and is a son of Adam D. and Lydia (Griffith) France, the former a native of Pennsylvania, the latter of Ohio. The father, who was a farmer by occupation, followed his chosen calling in Ohio until 1851, and then removed to Laporte county, Indiana, where he made his home until called to his final rest in 1891, at the ripe old age of eighty-four years. Reared upon the home farm in the Hoosier state, our subject obtained his early education in the country schools of the locality, but at the age of twenty-one years he entered Oberlin College, at Oberlin, Ohio, where he was a student for seven years, graduating with the class of 1867. Later he entered the law department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and on completing the prescribed course was granted the degree of LL. D. on his graduation in 1868.

      Resolved to try his fortune in the west, Mr. France came to Nebraska immediately after his graduation and opened an office in Milford, Seward county, where he successfully engaged in practice until the 4th of January, 1876. He also took quite a prominent part in public affairs, and for six years acceptably served as superintendent of public instructions in Seward county. On leaving Milford, he located in York, where he has since made his home, and soon succeeded in building up a large and lucrative practice, which he still enjoys.

      Mr. France was one of the boys in blue during the war of the Rebellion, having en-listed August 15, 1862, in the Twenty-first Indiana Battery. He held the rank of sergeant, and was in a number of skirmishes and also the battle of Hoover's Gap, remained in the service until August, 1863, when he was severely wounded at University Springs, Tennessee, by the explosion of six hundred pounds of powder. On the 1st of September, 1874, Mr. France was united in marriage with Miss Edith M. Courtright, a resident of Dixon, Illinois, and they have become the parents of two children, a son and a daughter: George W. and Era H., both living.

      Mr. France has always been a stalwart Republican in his political belief, but is an advocate of the free coinage of silver. He is one of the most prominent Masons of the state, having attained to the thirty-third degree, and in 1888 served as grand master of Nebraska, but it is as a successful lawyer that he is most widely known. Holding marked precedence among the members of the bar in York county, and retaining a clientele of so representative a character as to alone stand in evidence of his professional ability and personal popularity, Mr. France must assuredly be accorded a prominent place in this volume. 

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ON. MICHAEL CHARLES DELANEY is the owner of four hundred acres of rich farming land in section 31, Skull Creek township, Butler county, Nebraska, and is one of the most strongly marked characters to be found in that enterprising and progressive region: He is a farmer a reading and thinking man, thoroughly informed on all topics of interest, and a political leader of acknowledged skill and power. The impress of his own person-

ality rests on the history of the county, and he is recognized as a strong man throughout the state.

      Mr. Delaney was born in Washington county, New York, August 28, 1843, and is of Irish ancestry. His father, John and his mother, Rosa Delaney, both came from Ireland. They married in New York, and when little Michael was only two years old, moved to Waukesha county, Wisconsin, and remained there until the spring of 1870. The early days of Mr. Delaney were spent in that state, and he acquired a good education in its common schools, finishing at the Horicon high school. He was a farmer lad, and grew up in that close contact with nature that gives a steadiness arid strength to character that the children of the city pavement seek in vain. He early began teaching in the public schools, and followed that avocation until he had reached the age of twenty-five. He combined farming with his work as an instructor, and removed to Iowa in 1870, proposing to work along the same lines. In that state he had a brother near him of congenial temper and habits, and the two came into Nebraska in search of a promising location. They covered a wide territory in their search, and finally selected Butler county as the most inviting locality they had seen, and in the spring of 1872 Mr. Delaney bought two hundred acres of section 31, Skull Creek township, at the price of three dollars an acre. The same year he was married in Jasper county, Iowa, to Miss Kate Hanna, a daughter of Patrick Hanna. The young couple applied themselves earnestly to the making of a home on their Butler county farm, and in 1879 put up a house on it that was regarded as quite pretentious for those times. They have witnessed the marvelous improvement in this county that began about the year 1880, and have done not a little to help it along.

     Mr. Delaney was born and raised a Democrat, and when he came into the state he found it apparently hopelessly in the possession of his political enemies. Butler county frequently gave as high as five hundred Republican majority. He longed for a different state of things, and set himself to make a revolution. Gradually new men and measures came to the front. His long and successful career as a teacher and his evident familiarity with the details of school work fitted Mr. Delaney for the position of county superintendent, and to this place he was nominated and elected. His term of office covered four years and in that time sixty-eight school districts were organized. It was an immense work, but it was thoroughly and systematically done. He raised the grade of the teaching force of the county, and witnessed a very general advance along all lines of educational activity. He declined a nomination to the state legislature, but could not refuse a second nomination in the fall of 1888, and was elected as a member of the legislature that year and again in 1894. During the session of 1889 he took an active part in anti-monopoly legislation, attended to every interest of his constituency, and was an unusually efficient legislator. He is widely spoken of as a rising man. Mr. and Mrs. Delaney are the parents of a family of seven children, and four of these, Agnes, John P., William Francis and Rose Etta, were born in Iowa. The others, Michael, Leo, George, Charles Eugene and Mary, were born in Butler county. 

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RS. ANNA FUNK, who was born in Pennsylvania in the early years of the century, belongs to the number of the most venerated residents of Nebraska, and still abides on the old homestead near Bradshaw, York county, which her husband secured almost a third of a century ago. She is almost eighty-three years old, and her eye is still

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