sult in ultimate loss, but they knew that the venture could be made to pay a handsome profit on the investment necessary, and their present flourishing business is full proof of the correctness of their ideas.
   The father of our subject, Horatio A., was born in New Jersey in 1802, was of Scotch and French origin, deriving the French blood from his mother's side. He is still living in Mills County, Iowa, having come there from New Jersey in 1859. The grandfather Baldwin held a commission as Major in the American Army during the War of 1812, having had a previous experience in army life, having been in the service when a boy under Gen. Washington during the Revolutionary War. His mother, Mary E., was born in England: she died in June, 1882, aged eighty-one years. Two children, Mary and William J., our subject, were born to the parents. Mary is the widow of A. H. Sherman, and she now resides in Malvern, Iowa.
   Mr. Baldwin, our subject, is popular, and well and favorably known as; a horseman throughout the Southeastern part of the State. His love for the equine tribe is inherited, and aside from the profits he realizes, his horses afford him an unbounded degree of pleasure, and the animals, exhibiting a degree of intelligence approaching human knowledge, seem to realize that he is their friend, and reciprocate the feeling in a touching manner; by gentleness he has won their confidence, and when he is among them the happy feelings are mutual. He traces his ancestry back to the early American families, many of his people having fought valiantly in both the Wars of the Revolution and of 1812, to secure and hold the absolute freedom and liberty of their country. The Baldwin people as a family are like our subject -- large, handsome, heavily bearded, broad-shouldered, deep-chested and base-voiced, possessing a remarkable strength and wonderful degree of vitality. Mrs. Baldwin, although past the meridian of life, is hale and hearty, and is very active in body and mind, and a study of her face and bearing shows that in her youth she was an exceedingly handsome woman, which she has not yet outgrown. Always cheerful and happy, kind and considerate of the comfort and pleasure of her family and friends, she holds and fills to perfection a prominent place in the first rank of the wives and mothers of our State. Her home gives evidence throughout of a rare taste and skillful management.
   The home of these excellent people is a neat one and one-half story frame house, equipped with all the available conveniences, and is surrounded by fruitful orchards and shady groves. The farm yards are large and laid off regularly so as to accommodate to the best advantage the stock for which they are provided, and their arrangement indicates the action of a mind able to grasp all the details of the business. The barns and sheds are good and admirably adapted for sheltering the herds, and are supplied with water by a system of iron piping from a tank which is filled by a windmill pump.
   Our subject is a prominent member of the Knights of Pythias, being Master of Finance to that Order. He has never sought nor held any public office, preferring to devote his time exclusively to the pursuit of his private affairs.

ETER ROELOFSZ was the first man to take up and improve a homestead in Tipton Precinct, which he did in the spring of 1868. He had been renting farms in Monona County, Iowa, and feeling that he could do better fly making a home for himself, he started overland with tennis and wagons to Nebraska, crossed the Missouri River at Nebraska City, continuing on to Tipton, where he took up his present home and immediately began improving the same. He built a small house and spent the summer there, and in the fall he went back to Iowa for his family. He remained there until the winter came on, then moved to Glenwood, Iowa, where he obtained work. He returned to his homestead the following spring, and resumed the improvement of his claim by setting out groves and planting an orchard. At this time it was rather a lonely life, as it was four miles to the nearest neighbor.
   When not engaged in improving his farm he followed freighting between Nebraska City and Lincoln. Under no circumstances could he be induced to part with his homestead, but continued

to improve it in all directions, dividing it up into fields by well-kept fences of hedge and wire. In 1879 he built a new and comfortable residence. He devotes his attention to general farming and the raising of thoroughbred stock, graded Shorthorn cattle and full-blooded Poland China hogs.
   The subject of this sketch was born in Gulletland, Holland, Aug. 8, 1839. His early life was spent on the farm, and he attended one of the excellent schools of that country. At the age of fourteen he began to learn the weaver's trade, which he followed until he left Holland for America. When fifteen years of age, in the fall of 1854, he came to America with his parents, by the way of Havre, France, and Liverpool, England; thence by sailing-ship to New York, where they landed in Castle Garden, after a voyage of twenty-three days. The whole family continued their journey to Iowa, where they settled on a tract of forty acres of raw land in Monona County.
   Our subject remained here until he was twenty-one years old when he began to engage in business for himself. In October, 1862, he enlisted in the 3d Missouri Cavalry, Company C. He was mustered into the service at Palmyra, Mo., and saw service under command of Gen. Prentiss, Col. Glover and Capt. Black. The regiment was largely employed doing guard duty along the line of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad. When they were relieved from this service the regiment was ordered to Rolla, Mo., where our subject was taken sick, and was seat to the general hospital at St. Louis, Mo., where he remained until he recovered. He was then mustered out, and honorably discharged at St. Louis on account of physical disability. The bulk of his army service was in chasing bushwhackers and squads of Gen. Price's men; he participated in the battle of Sturgeon, Mo. Returning home after his discharge, he went to work on a farm in Lyon County, Iowa, drove an omnibus for a season in Cedar Rapids, which engaged his attention up to the time we find him located on his homestead at Tipton.
   This gentleman is one of a family of ten children -- Elizabeth, Henrietta, Chauncey, Corrina, Johannah, Joseph, Josina, and Cora and Henry, younger; all living except Chauncey and Corrina, who were drowned, and Joseph, deceased. The brother Joseph was a Captain in the Netherlands army, and was stationed in the East Indies. He was killed by the giving way of a veranda.
   Peter Roelofsz, Sr., the father of our subject, was born in Amsterdam, Holland, and was a clerk in a large wholesale establishment. After marriage he moved into Gallerland, and went into stock-raising; also operating a grist and oil mill, until he became very wealthy. At one time he was worth more than $100,000, but, going security a great deal for his friends, he finally failed. In the fall of 1864 he came to America, and settled in Monona County, Iowa, and he began improving his home. At the same time he engaged in the mercantile business in Pella, Iowa. In this venture he did fairly well for a while, but, going security for his son-in-law, he failed a second time. He then moved to St. Louis, and lived with one of his daughters until he died, in September, 1880, at the ripe old age of seventy-nine years. The mother had died in Iowa in 1862, being then fifty-two years old. She was Miss Elizabeth G. Phillips, and was born in Germany.
   Grandfather Roelofsz was a banker in Amsterdam, and was very rich. Our subject was married in Lynn County, Iowa, Oct. 9, 1863, to Miss Julia Hawks, daughter of James and Annette (Dunckler) Hawks. Grandfather Dunckler was a cooper. He went to Chicago when there were only two or three houses, and bought 900 acres of land a few miles from the present site of the city. He built a residence in Chicago, and his decease occurred there in 1861, when he was sixty-nine years of age. The father of the wife of our subject was a farmer, and also a merchant of Grand Rapids, Mich., and removed from there to Chicago. He owned a farm west of that city, and operated it until 1861, when he removed to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he purchased a farm and operated a hotel.
   The family next moved to Kingston, again engaging in the hotel business. Leaving Kingston they went to Nebraska, where they took up a homestead in 1869. They operated this farm until 1881, when they sold the property and went to Howard City: he is now living with his daughter at Buffalo, Neb. The father is seventy years of age, and the

mother sixty-seven. Julia A., the wife of the subject of this sketch, was one of a family of twelve children -- Mary E., Laura A. and William are older; Alonzo A., Hiram, Vincent R., Chase M., Eben, Frank, Jennie and Carrie E. Of this number Hiram, Eben, Frank and Jennie are deceased. The brother William served three and a half years in the War of the Rebellion, enlisting when only sixteen years of age.
   The lady was born in Grand Rapids, Mich., Jan. 8, 1849, and was thirteen years of age when the family removed to Iowa. She received a good education, is a kind and considerate wife, and is a joy and comfort to her husband and family -- very hospitable, striving to make the stranger within her gates happy and content. Twelve children have been born to this couple -- Elizabeth A., Christina I., Anthony D., Peter, Jr., Josina, Maud, Arthur, Ralph, Blanche. Grace, Ray and Ethel. All are living except Elizabeth, Anthony, Peter, Jr., Maud and Arthur. Josina is at school in Weeping Water; the rest are at home.
   Our subject has been in America so long and has become so thoroughly identified with the country that he feels perfectly at home. He has never entered largely into public life, preferring to attend strictly to the improvement and care of his farm. He has been a member of the School Board for a year, Postmaster at Sunlight for two years, and Constable. Himself and wife are members of the United Brethren Church, and he has been Superintendent of Sunday-school at Tipton school-house. In politics he is a strict Republican.

HILIP TRITSCH, one of the early pioneers of Eight Mile Grove Precinct, owns and occupies a good farm on section 12. He was born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, May 9, 1846, and is the son of Philip and Maggie Tritsch, who were also natives of the Fatherland, and the former is how deceased. The father died when Philip, Jr., was a lad nine years of age, and two years later our subject emigrated with his mother, one brother and one sister, to the United States, making the voyage from Havre to New York City on an ocean steamer, in fourteen days.
   The Tritsch family proceeded directly westward from the metropolis to Tazewell County, this State, where they located, and where the mother was subsequently married to Philip Horn, now a resident of Plattsmouth Precinct, this county. Of her first marriage there have been born three children: Elizabeth, now the wife of Adam Fornoff, of Eight Mile Grove Precinct; Philip and Jacob. Of her marriage with Mr. Horn there were born four children: Mary, the wife of Theodore Starkjohann; Maggie, Mrs. Frederick Kahne; and Catherine, Mrs. Henry Hirtz; all of whom live in Plattsmouth Precinct. Lizzie is the wife of John Koffenberger.
   Our subject was reared to man's estate in Tazewell County, Ill., where he attained his majority, and a good education in both German and English, largely through his own efforts. He at the same time became familiar with farming pursuits. In 1866 he came to this county, where he sojourned one year, then returned to Illinois, but in 1869 came back to Nebraska, and has since been contented to remain. He was married, in December of the latter year, to Miss Charlotte Vellery, a native of Ohio, who bore him three children -- John P., Philip H., and Henry, deceased. Mrs. Charlotte Tritsch died April 4, 1874.
   Our subject contracted a second marriage, April 26, 1876, with Miss Mary, daughter of Theas and Magdalena (Timm) Starkjohann; she was born Nov. 26, 1854. Her parents were natives of Germany, and emigrated to America in 1867. The father is now deceased. Mrs. T. was thirteen years old when her parents came to this country, and made permanent settlement in Plattsmouth Precinct, where the death of her father took place Feb. 20, 1874; the mother is still living on the old farm, and is now nearly seventy years old. Their family consisted of six children, only three of whom are living, namely: Theodore; Mary, the wife of our subject, and William, all residents of this county. The deceased are Henry, Emile and August.
   To our subject and his estimable wife there have been born six children, namely: Helen, deceased;

William, Edward, Anna, and Mary and Maggie, twins, both deceased. For a number of years before settling upon his present farm Mr. Tritsch operated as a renter; he came to this place in 1874. He has 240 acres well improved and very fertile, and one of the handsomest residences in the county, erected in 1884. The other buildings correspond with the dwelling, and the whole premises reflect great credit upon the proprietor. Mr. and Mrs. T. are identified with the Lutheran Church, and our subject, politically, votes the Democratic ticket. Although frequently solicited to accept office he invariably declines.
   The traveler in passing through this section of Cass County seldom sees a more desirable estate than that built up by Philip Tritsch. He inherited from his excellent German ancestry the qualities most needed in the pioneer citizen, those qualities which led him to persevere amid difficulties and hardships, and have placed him in the front rank among his fellow-citizen. A man prompt to meet his obligations, his word is considered as good as his bond, and his name is eminently worthy to be placed among those of the representative citizens of Southern Nebraska.

ON. S. M. KIRKPATRICK, late a member of the State Legislature, and one of the most prominent men of Cass County, has for years been intimately connected with the most important interests of Southern Nebraska. He came within its precincts when it was but a Territory, making a claim on the 18th of June, 1855, the land pre-empted being on section 18, in Liberty Precinct, and he was the very first settler in the valley of the Weeping Water at this point. He came here when around him was an unbroken waste, before the county could boast of but one log house and a cabin of sufficient importance to be designated as a village, and when the flourishing city of Plattsmouth was the site of a few little huts, put up by adventurous but impecunious people, who were struggling to delve from the soil enough to keep soul and body together. Indians still roamed over the country, and wild animals also. The outlook was anything but promising, but the subject of this sketch was a man of more than ordinary determination. He had come to stay, and was not to be driven from his purpose by any ordinary circumstances. He clung steadfastly to his resolution to continue and "grow up with the country," at a time when white settlers were frequently making a stampede from the depredations of the Indians, although to tell the truth Mr. Kirkpatrick says that there was a great deal more smoke than fire during those times, and many of the people were unnecessarily alarmed.
   Our subject secured his land before the Government survey had been completed. It included one of the finest mill sites along the Weeping Water, which he utilized as soon as possible, erecting a sawmill, from which he began dressing lumber in September, the same year of his arrival. It is hardly necessary to state that the equipments of that mill were somewhat inferior to those of the present time. The year following however, Mr. K. introduced some new improvements, including a set of burrs, with which he intended to grind wheat, but afterward transferred the property to other parties, before beginning operations as a flour miller. This was the first mill building erected on the Weeping Water, in fact the first mill of any kind built in the county. For some years it accommodated the people for miles around.
   At the time of the settlement of Mr. Kirkpatrick there were only about 180 votes in the county. He was readily recognized as a man of more than ordinary ability, and was soon selected to represent the county in the Territorial Legislature at Omaha, being a member of the Senate, and re-elected three times by the RepubIicans of his district. He was in the Constitutional Conventions of 1871 and 1875, in the latter of which were adopted the existing laws of Nebraska. Prior to this he had represented the people of Cass County in the Territorial Legislature, and afterward was Speaker of the House. Since 1874 he has withdrawn from politics, although often being solicited to return to the field. During his public life it was conceded, even by his enemies, that in his day he was one of the most able parliamentarians of the State.
   The public duties of Mr. Kirkpatrick brought

him into contact with many eminent men, while his own habit of observation resulted in yielding him a large fund of useful information. He is intimately acquainted, not only with the history of Nebraska, but the general development of the Great West, which has been a subject uppermost in his mind for a long period. A close student and an extensive reader, and a man of decided views, he is one also whose opinions are generally respected, and who has borne no unimportant part in the building up of Cass County, and introducing those measures best calculated for its advancement. The village of Nehawka was platted on his land, and to it he has extended his fostering care. It is evidently destined in the near future to be a business point of no small importance.
   The farm of Mr. Kirkpatrick embraces about 300 acres of finely improved land, and upon it are the buildings naturally suggested by the means and requirements of its proprietor -- a substantial dwelling with pleasant surroundings, an abundance of fruit and shade trees, which, together with the live stock and farm machinery, fulfill the modern idea of the well-regulated rural estate.
   A native of Adams County, Ohio, Mr. Kirkpatrick was born Aug. 31, 1815, and is the scion of an excellent family, being the son of Absalom Kirkpatrick, who was the son of Andrew, the son of William. The latter was the first representative of the family in the United States, crossing from Londonderry, in the North of Ireland, probably during the Colonial days, and settling in Maryland. They were of Scotch ancestry, and like the forefathers of hundreds of other people in this country, were driven from their native land during the religious wars of three centuries ago. William Kirkpatrick must have made his home in Maryland the remainder of his life. His son Andrew enlisted in the Revolutionary War, and participated in the battle of Brandywine, at which he had a brother killed, and also in other important engagements. He married a lady of Welsh descent, Miss Elizabeth Bowen, who was born on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. They subsequently moved to Virginia, and later to Ohio, locating a few miles east of the present city of Cincinnati, where they spent the remainder of their lives, dying when quite aged.
   Absalom Kirkpatrick, the father of our subject, was one of the seven sons of Andrew and Elizabeth Kirkpatrick, which completed their family, they having no daughters. The sons all lived to man's estate, were married and became the fathers of families. Absalom, with four other brothers, was subjected to the general call for soldiers in the War of 1812, in which, however, they were not called upon to engage in any active battles, probably being held in the Reserve Corps. Absalom must leave attained his majority in the Old Dominion, as he was not married until the removal to Ohio. He was there wedded to Miss Elizabeth Van Pelt, who was born in St. John's, Nova Scotia, where her father had settled about the time of the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Prior to this he had lived on Staten Island. Upon removing from Nova Scotia to the States they settled first on the Nolachucky, a branch of the Tennessee River, in Tennessee, whence they removed to Ohio, where the father, Tunis Van Pelt, died soon afterward.
   Absalom Kirkpatrick and his wife began their wedded life together on a farm in Ohio, where they lived until after the birth of all their children. They then changed their residence to Montgomery County, Ind., where they spent the remainder of their days, not far from the town of Crawfordsville. The father died in 1855, at the age of sixty-eight years. He was a man of strong character and fine intelligence, and was prominent in public affairs. The mother, after the death of her husband, made her home with her son A. F., at the old homestead, and passed away in 1863, at the advanced age of eighty years. She was in all respects the suitable companion of her husband, being a lady of more than ordinary intelligence, high minded, with cultivated tastes, and was a beautiful singer.
   The subject of this sketch was the fourth child and second son of his parents, whose family included five sons and three daughters. Of this large family only two sons are surviving, S. M. and big brother C. Q., of Lafayette, Ind. Our subject lived in Ohio until a lad of fourteen years, where he began the rudiments of a practical education. He removed with his parents to Indiana, and from his youth up has been a lover of books, and by this means added to his store of knowledge when he could no longer attend school. He has always entertained an especial interest in matters of history and there are few men of the present day possessing a more complete store of general information.
   The marriage of Hon. S. M. Kirkpatrick and Miss Elizabeth C. McMillin was celebrated at the home of the bride in Crawfordsville, Ind., Oct. 11, 1836. Mrs. K. was born in 1816, in Campbell County, Tenn., and brought up in Tazewell County, Va., and accompanied her mother to Indiana when fifteen years old, in the fall of 1830. Later she spent one and one-half years in Louisa County, Iowa, where Mr. K. was engaged in merchandising, and where Mrs. Kirkpatrick died, together with their only child, in September, 1839.
   Mr. Kirkpatrick contracted a second marriage, in Thornton, Ind., April 1. 1841, with Miss Elizabeth Craig. This lady was born in Adams County. Ohio,

May 6, 1823, and is the daughter of Robert Craig, a native of County Down, Ireland. Robert Craig, the father of Mrs. K., was of Scotch ancestry, and her mother Sarah Kerr, the daughter of Paul Kerr and June Weir, who were married on the Atlantic Ocean while coming to America. Many of their descendants became prominent people, and are now scattered in various parts of the Union. One cousin has for forty years been a resident of Canton, China, belonging to the American Foreign Mission.
   Mr. Craig emigrated to the United States when a child, and was reared by an uncle in Pennsylvania. There also he was married, later moved to Ohio, and thence to Indiana. He died in Boone County, that State, when a very old man, aged ninety-three years. Mrs. Kirkpatrick was well reared and educated, and is a very intelligent lady, possessing all the womanly virtues. Of her union with our subject there have been born ten children, two of whom are deceased: Sarah V., who died when three years old, and Julia F., who died in infancy. The survivors are recorded as follows: Edwin A. married Miss Oella D. Black, daughter of Dr. John Black, of Plattsmouth, and is engaged in the grain trade at Nehawka: John M. married Miss Cornelia F. Goodrich, and is carrying on farming extensively in Wheeler County, this State, where he owns a large amount of land; Elizzie H. is the wife of Orlando Tefft, a sketch of whom appears else where in this volume; Lee C. is residing at the home of his parents; William W. married Miss Maggie Gaffney, and is farming in Wheeler County; Robert C., Mary S. and Kate L. are at home with their parents. Mary is a student of Lincoln University.

ON. NICHOLAS SATCHELL, the present Representative to the State Legislature from the Cass County District, is pursuing a career in the assembly which is creditable to himself and satisfactory to his constituents. He conveys the impression of a man studious of the best interests of his community and conscientious in the discharge of his duties. His homestead comprises a fine farm located on the southeast quarter of section 18 in Weeping Water Precinct, and with its improvements forms one of the most attractive features of that part of the country. His domestic affairs are presided over by a very amiable and intelligent lady, who has the welfare of her husband and children at heart.
   Mr. Satchell is the offspring of an excellent family, the son of Daniel and Atha (Moore) Satchell, the former a native of Dorchester County, Md., and the latter born in Ohio. The paternal grandfather, Joseph Satchell, was of English descent, while grandfather Nicholas Moore traced his ancestry to Germany. Daniel Satchell removed with his parents, when a child of six years, to Ross County, Ohio, and some years later to Illinois, and engaged in farming in both Clinton and DeWitt Counties. His next removal was to Poweshiek County, Iowa, where he purchased 300 acres of Government land, which he improved and sold, then removed to Mahaska County, where he lived during the war. Next he changed his residence to Marion County, where he spent his last days, dying in 1875, at the age of sixty-nine years. He was in early life a Whig, then a Republican, and in religious matters belonged to the Methodist Episcopal Church. The mother of our subject passed away prior to the decease of her husband, dying in 1856, at the age of thirty-five years. Their five children were named respectively, Nicholas M., Joseph, Daniel, Jr., William M. and Sarah C. Joseph, during the Civil War, enlisted in Company C, 28th Iowa Infantry, and served until the close.
   The subject of this sketch was born in Clinton, DeWitt Co., Ill, Jan. 2, 1842, and remained under the parental roof until a young man of nineteen years. He assisted in the labors of the farm and attended the district school. Soon after the outbreak of the Rebellion he enlisted in Company F., 10th Iowa infantry, under the first call for the three year's men, this being the first Company which left Poweshiek County. He was mustered into service at Iowa City, Aug. 7, 1861. His regiment was assigned to the Army of the Tennessee, 15th Corps, under command of Gen. Logan, and going South at once participated in many of the important battles of the war.
   Our subject in the spring of 1863 joined the Yazoo River expedition under Grant's command, and later was in the siege of Vicksburg, and fought in other important battles. He was slightly wounded across the head at Champion Hill. Later he was with Gen. Sherman and witnessed the fatuous fight of Hooker above the clouds. At the expiration of his first term of service he re-enlisted, and later participated in the famous match to the sea, after which the troops journeyed up through the Carolinas to Washington, and Mr. Satchell was present at the Grand Review. He was in Little Rock, Ark., until August, 1865, and from this point was sent to Davenport, Iowa, where he was mustered out and received his honorable discharge on the 1st of September.
   Our subject on retiring from the army spent one year at farming, then became a student in Oskaloosa College, remaining there also a year. After this he resumed farming, which he prosecuted in

Iowa until 1872. That year he came overland with teams to Nebraska and took up a homestead claim five miles South of Aurora, in Hamilton County. Two years later he rented a farm in Cass County, located in what was then Elmwood, but now Mt. Pleasant Precinct. In 1880 he sold his Hamilton County farm and purchased that which he now owns. The improvements have been made mostly by himself, and in connection with general agriculture he engages considerably in raising and feeding cattle and full-blooded Poland-China swine.
   In Oskaloosa, Iowa, Jan. 4, 1861, our subject was united in marriage with Miss Minerva White. This lady was born in Oskaloosa, Iowa, Jan. 4, 1848, and is the daughter of William and Jane (Huskey) White, the father born in North Carolina in 1785, and the mother in Indiana in 1820. Mr. White served as a soldier in the War of 1812, after which he settled in Indiana, where he was married. He carried on farming there until his removal to Iowa. He purchased land in the latter State in 1845, 160 acres near Oskaloosa, where he lived until passing away, in 1864. The mother is still living at the old homestead, and is now sixty-eight years old. Their eight children were named respectively: Martha, Rebecca, Minerva, Ella, Emma, William, Isaac and George. Mr. and Mrs. Satchell have three children: Raymond V., Jessie B. and Gail L.
   Mr. Satchell in the fall of 1886 was elected to the Nebraska Legislature on the Republican ticket, and re-elected in 1888. He has held the various school offices of his district. He uniformly votes the straight Republican ticket, and has frequently served as a delegate to the County and State Conventions of his party. Socially he belongs to Euclid Lodge No. 97, A. F. & A. M., of Weeping Water. He is a K. of P., Crescent Lodge No. 91, Elmwood, and belongs to LaFayette Post No. 61, G. A. R., at Weeping Water.

A. BARDEN, a resident of Avoca was the first man to erect a business house within its limits, in 1882, and is engaged quite extensively in handling pumps and windmills, operating over a large territory throughout this and Otoe Counties. In former years he engaged considerably in boring wells. He owns considerable property in Avoca and vicinity, including six lots within the town limits.
   Mr. Barden removed to this point from Weeping Water Precinct. He has been a resident of this county most of the time since 1866. He carried on farming a number of years up to 1877, then began well-boring, which he prosecuted a period of ten years, more or less. Some of his wells were twenty feet deep and some ninety. He came to Nebraska from Illinois, in which State he had settled with his parents in the spring of 1855, remaining there eleven years, and there was reared and educated.
   A native of Bennington County, Vt., Mr. Barden was born Sept. 28, 1850. His father, J. T. Barden, was a Vermont farmer in fair circumstances and the son of Alden Barden, a patriot during the Revolutionary War who lived and died in New England. Alden Barden departed this life when comparatively a young man, and the father of our subject as reared by his maternal grandparents, whose names were Baily. Upon reaching manhood he was married in his native State to Miss Mary McCall, who was also born in Vermont, of Scotch ancestry. Her father, Hugh McCall, was a farmer by occupation and served as a commissioned officer in the War of 1812. He was born on the Isle of Lesmore in Argyleshire, Scotland, and was the son of John and Isabelle (Campbell) McCall, who came to America when Hugh was a lad of seven years, settling in the Green Mountain State, where they spent the remainder of their lives. Hugh McCall lived to be over ninety-two years old.
   The parents of our subject spent the first years of their wedded life on a farm in Vermont, where their three eldest children were born. They came to the West, in March, 1855, locating in Cook County Ill., and from there some years later removed to Ridgefield, McHenry County, settling on a farm, where they still live. The father, however, is in failing health. He is sixty-three years old, and the mother one year younger.
   Our subject was yet a minor when he landed in Nebraska. He spent some time as a teacher in this county. Upon the event of his marriage he returned to Cook County, Ill., where he was married to Miss Fannie G. Hawks. This lady was born at Schuyler's Lake, near Otsego, N. Y., June 4, 1852, and is the daughter of Charles and Fannie (Leighton) Hawks, who are still living there, and occupy a prominent position in their community. They are each approaching their fourscore years, and were also natives of the Empire State. Mrs. Barden was reared under the home roof, and educated in the common schools. She removed to Illinois with a sister, and lived there several years before her marriage. This union resulted in the birth of six children: one infant, born July 3, 1882, died July 10 following: Alton F., was born March 19, 1877, and died March 31, following. The living are; Robert M., who was born July 9, 1874; Alden, A., Aug. 21, 1878; Blanche M., Aug. 5, 1885; and M. Ethel, April 1, 1868. Mr. Barden, politically, is a sound Republican, and has held the local offices.