WILLIAM STEUFER, State Treasurer, was born in Watertown, Wis., in 1847, and removed to Cuming county, Nebraska, in 1863, locating on a homestead near the present site of West Point. He remained here looking after his own farm until 1873, when he moved to West Point and engaged in the insurance business. In 1875 he was appointed deputy county clerk, and held the office for four years. His election was on the Republican ticket in the face of a good stiff Democratic majority in that county. In 1894 Mr. Steufer was elected state senator from his district, and served with credit in the legislature of 1895, his record proving him to be a man of sterling integrity. At the present time he is president of the West Point National Bank and vice-president of the West Point Creamery, both institutions enjoying a state reputation. In his official, business, and private life, Mr. Steufer has made a creditable record which can be verified by his many warm personal friends, not alone in Cuming county but in all parts of Nebraska.

   FRANK N. PROUT, Attorney General, was born in 1852 in New Jersey, but came to Illinois with his parents three years later, who located in Stark county. Mr. Prout began the study of law at an early age and was admitted to practice by the supreme court of Illinois in 1875, and practiced there six years. In the fall of 1881 he came to Nebraska, locating at Blue Springs. After practicing law there seven years he removed to Beatrice in 1889. In 1897 he was appointed city attorney at Beatrice by Mayor Bourne, which office he filled with signal ability for two years, when there was a change in the city administration. In 1898 he was elected to the state senate, and during the twenty-sixth session was chairman of the committee on revenue and reform schools and other asylums. He served as a member of the Cornell investigating committee, of which body he was appointed chairman. The subject of this sketch is popular among the members of his profession, as he is among the townspeople, where his ability, integrity, and high character are known and appreciated. As an attorney and exponent of the law he ranks with the best talent in the state, and his loyalty to party and principles is above reproach.

   G. D. FOLLMER, Commissioner of Public Lands and Buildings, was born July 17, 1844, in Montour county, Pennsylvania. He started out to battle with life's trials while quite young. He left his school life behind him when thirteen years of age, and secured a position as clerk in the general merchandise store of Jacob Seidell, at Danville, Pa., in 1875, where he remained five years, when he went to Hazelton, Pa., and clerked for Engel and McHah, in the general merchandise business. In 1864 he moved to Oil City, Pa., and secured a position as clerk in the wholesale and retail establishment of John H. Gotshall & Co. He came west in 1868, and associated himself with D. W. Montgomery in the general merchandise business at Red Oak, Iowa. He sold out his interest in the business in the summer of 1870, came to Nebraska in January, 1871, and took a homestead in Nuckolls county in February, 1871. He afterwards bought and located on a tract of land in the valley of the Little Blue river in the same county, where he has remained ever since, engaged in farming, stock raising, and real estate business, and by continued application to hard work and the exercise of energy and thrift has accumulated a fair competency. He was appointed county treasurer in the summer of 1871, soon after the organization of the county, which office he held until January 8, 1879. At the close of his term of office he moved back to his farm in the eastern part of the county. In the year 1874 he was married to Miss Eva M. Smith of Grant, Iowa, and together they have reared a large family of children, to whom they have given superior educational advantages.

   W. K. FOWLER, Superintendent of Public Instruction, was born in 1864 in New Jersey. He comes of sturdy old Scotch peasantry, both his parents being born in Scotland and emigrating to this country about 1850. He attended the public grammar schools of New York City until 1879, when he was graduated with the highest honors of his class, entering the College of the City of New York, the sixth in rank out of nearly twelve hundred applicants. After attendance there for a year he entered the employ of a firm in Maiden Lane, New York City, was promoted each year with the substantial recognition of an increase in salary until the spring of 1883, when the western fever brought him to the farm of his brothers in Dodge county, north of North Bend, Neb. Mr. Fowler has served as president of the high school section of the Nebraska State Teachers' Association, was for two years clerk of the educational council, and is still a member of it, has served on the legislative committee of the council, and is now serving his third year as a member of the executive committee of the State Teachers' Association. He has been an active member of the National Educational Association since 1892, and is also a member of the National Department of City Superintendents. He has also served on many other minor committees of the State Association, where his associates consider him a valuable aid in counsel, and they recognize and appreciate his energy. Mr. Fowler married in 1889 Miss Adda F. Barker, and now numbers in his family four bright children: Marie, aged nine years; Kirk, aged seven; Frank, aged three and one-half years, and Baby Adda, aged four months.

   J. N. KILIAN, Adjutant General of the Nebraska National Guard, was born September 9, 1860, in Baden, Germany, and came to this state from Wisconsin. He was married to Myrtle F. Patrick, February 7, 1888. They have two boys and one girl; reside at Columbus, where he is engaged in the practice of law. Mr. Kilian was mustered in as Captain Co. K, 1st Neb. Nat. Guard, June 2, 1896; Captain Co. K, 1st Neb. Inf., U. S. Vol., May 9, 1898. Commanded a battalion during entire Philippine war; was under Colonel Stotsenburg as captain, and recommended by that strict and eminent soldier hero for Brevet Major, for bravery on 5th, 6th, and 7th of February, 1899.

   COLONEL FRANK E. MOORES, the present mayor of the city of Omaha, the ideal citizen-soldier, patriot, and successful business man, fifty-nine years old, was born in Hamilton, Butler county, Ohio. At twenty years of age he was among the first to respond to the call of President Lincoln for 75,000 troops, and was enrolled in Co. G, 11th Ohio Inf; in July, 1861, he re-enlisted for three years in Co. D, 44th Ohio Inf., and in December, 1863, while in camp near Knoxville, Tenn., was one of the first of his command to be mustered as a veteran to serve for a still longer period; the tall, handsome, and vigorous young soldier being commissioned as Captain of Co. D, 8th Ohio Cav., in recognition of gallant and meritorious conduct on the field. He was several times badly wounded, and carries a leaden ball in his body as a reminder of the battle-field. During his military service he was taken prisoner, and sent to the famous Libby prison in Richmond, Va., when, after being confined with other Union officers, he was exchanged. He rejoined his command, and was mustered out in August, 1865.

   Colonel Moores is a colonel on Gov. Chas. H. Dietrich's staff, and an officer of fine, commanding appearance. For many years after the close of the war, Colonel Moores followed the railroad business, and on coming to Omaha in 1875 was appointed the city ticket agent for the K. C., St. Joe & C. B. Co. He was afterwards elected as clerk of the district court of Douglas county, which office he filled for eight years, with credit to his constituency, his business talent being widely recognized, and his integrity and personal popularity winning for him hosts of friends in official circles. In the spring of 1897, he was elected mayor of the city of Omaha, and in March, 1900, was re-elected for a second term. As the executive head of the municipal government, Mayor Moores is universally conceded to be the best fitted in every way, that Omaha has ever had, his broad, generous spirit being especially shown in administering the city's affairs during the Trans-Mississippi Exposition period, and in receiving President McKinley and his cabinet, and other distinguished visitors to Omaha. Colonel Moores is a lifelong Republican, and an ardent and loyal worker in the party councils in the state, as also at home. In June, 1900, Colonel Moores sustained a severe loss by the death of his wife, a son and two daughters who survive sharing with their noble and devoted parent the deep affliction that had so cruelly robbed their home of a loving and tender mother's care.

   HARRY C. LINDSAY, private secretary to Governor Dietrich, was born in Columbia county, Wisconsin, November 8, 1861, his father being Hon. Richard Lindsay, one of the leading lawyers of the Badger state. Mr. Lindsay commenced the study of law in his father's office, and was admitted to practice in the year 1882. He removed to Pawnee City in the fall of 1883, has served the people of Pawnee county for six years as prosecuting attorney, and was chairman of the county central committee for several years. Mr. Lindsay was chairman of the Nebraska Republican state central committee during the 1900 campaign, and to his splendid executive and organizing ability Is largely due the bringing of Nebraska back into the Republican column.