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ship, where they lived for a quarter of a century. They then bought a farm five miles farther west in Lost Creek Township. In 1915, they retired from active farm life and moved into Platte Center.

Mr. and Mrs. Weber had six sons: William, Jr., of La Center, Washington, married to Amanda Treinies; George, of Columbus, married to Mary Bruns; John, a farmer near Monroe, married to Hattie Schroeder; Henry, of Fonda, Iowa, married to Martha Gertsch; Frank of Norfolk, married to Celia Peterson; and Charles, of Columbus, married to Ella Huschen.

EDWIN H. WEERTS

Edwin H. Weerts was born August 25, 1912, at Diller, Nebraska. He is the son Lottmann Weerts. John Weerts of John P. and Lena was born February 28, 1879, in Oldenburg, Germany. Lena Weerts was born March 5, 1881, at Diller, Nebraska. Edwin H. had two brothers and two sisters.

Mr. Weerts spent his early years in Diller, and in 1927 moved to Fairbury, Nebraska, where he completed grade and high school. He attended Northwestern University while in residence at Fairbury. He came to Columbus as Chamber of Commerce Secretary in November, 1939.

In 1941 he was active in the improvement of the Agricultural Park, in the organization of the Platte County Agricultural Society, and in all work concerning the Platte County Agricultural Fair. He remained in Columbus as Chamber of Commerce Secretary until January, 1943, when he was appointed chairman of the State Bond Drives during World War II. His headquarters were then moved to North Platte. In January, 1945, he moved to Scottsbluff, Nebraska, where he worked as secretary of the Scottsbluff Chamber of Commerce. He also owned and operated a credit bureau there. In 1948, he went to Denver to conduct a general insurance business.

On December 14, 1935, Edwin Weerts was married to Miss lone B. McCallum, the daughter of Robert A. and Georgia Hall McCallum, at Grand Island, Nebraska. Mr. and Mrs. Weerts have a son, Richard Robert, born July 4, 1945, at Omaha.

Mr. Weerts was engaged in commercial organization management for several years. He is a member of the B.P.O.E. (Elks). Politically he is a member of the Democratic Party. Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Weerts are members of the Lutheran Church.

JOHN PAUL WEIDNER

John Paul Weidner, early Granville Township farmer, was born June 28, 1856, at Buffalo Grove, Illinois. His father, John P. Weidner, Sr., died in Arlington Heights, Illinois. In 1880, John Weidner Jr. came to Platte County. He had one brother and two sisters: Peter, deceased; Catherine, Mrs. Andrew Stahl; and Clara, Mrs. Joseph Smith. Both sisters live in Illinois.

Mr. Weidner was twice married. On September 7, 1880, he was married to Miss Mary A. Rendler in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. They had three children: Phillip, of Spokane, Washington; Pauline, deceased; and Anna, Mrs. Frank Wagener, of Chicago. Mary Rendler Weidner died in the late 1880's.

On May 1, 1890, Mr. Weidner was married to Miss Anna Van Dyke, daughter of Paul and Detje Luurtsema Van Dyke. Her father and mother were natives of Uithuizen, Holland, where they died.

They had eight children: Leo and Frances, of Columbus; Victor, of Norfolk, Nebraska; Julius, of Humphrey; Alban, of Grand Island; Mrs. Nona Weidner Beneke, of Columbus; and Efphram and Cyril, deceased. All attended St. Francis Parochial School of Humphrey.

Mr. Weidner was in business in Humphrey as a grain dealer, merchant and farmer until his death July 12, 1912. He was a member of St. Francis Catholic Church of Humphrey, and the Catholic Order of Foresters.

DANIEL WEISER

Daniel Weiser, Sherman Township farmer, was born February 3, 1855, in Neufang, Austria. He was the son of Frank and Johanna Brauner Weiser, natives of Austria. Frank Weiser, a weaver, served seven years in the Austrian army as an officer. Both he and Mrs. Weiser died in Austria.

After attending the schools in Austria, Daniel Weiser worked on a farm until 1877, when he immigrated to the United States. He purchased land in Sherman Township, paying one hundred fifty dollars for eighty acres. His first home on this land was in a sodhouse.

On November 21, 1882, he was married to Miss Bertha Beitel, daughter of August and Bertha Koenig Beitel. August Beitel, a factory worker in Austria, immigrated to the United States in 1879.

Mr. and Mrs. Weiser had ten children: Anna, Mrs. Adam Keimig, of Minnesota; Joseph, who died December 5, 1908; Johanna, who died in infancy; Bertha, Mrs. Alphons Hamling, Pauline, Mrs. Hubert Bernt, of Shelby, Nebraska; and Louis, Emma, Martha, Ella, and Ida, at home. All attended School District 46 and the parochial school at St. Mary's. Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Weiser had fifteen grandchildren.

The Weisers were members of St. Mary's of the Angels Catholic Church in Grand Prairie Township. Mr. Weiser was associated with the Men's Society of that church. He was a Democrat.

Mr. Weiser died on January 11, 1944. Mrs. Weiser and her daughters moved to Columbus in 1948. She died there in 1950.

JONAS WELCH

Jonas Welch was born August 22, 1840, at Dorsetshire, England. He was the eldest son in a family of seven children. His father, Moses Welch, was born in Dorsetshire in 1815. His mother, Harriet Rawlings Welch, was born in Dorsetshire in 1818. Both were descendants from old English families. In 1847, Moses and Harriet Rawlings Welch immigrated to the United States, landing at New Orleans after a voyage of fifty-nine days. From New Orleans, they went to St. Louis, and two years later moved to Alton, Illinois, where they lived for four years on a farm near Brighton. During that time, Jonas Welch attended the public schools.

In March, 1857, when he was sixteen, he came to Nebraska with his parents, who made the trip from Brighton to Council Bluffs, Iowa, driving three yoke of oxen. At Council Bluffs, they took the ferry across the river to Florence, Nebraska. They drove west to Platte County, settling near Genoa, which is now a part of Nance County. They arrived there May 19, 1857, and were among the early settlers in that part of the county.

Jonas Welch spent the next two years in breaking prairie for the settlers, and for a year was employed on the Pawnee Indian Agency Farm.

In 1860, he joined a party that went to Colorado, attracted there by the discovery of gold. That same year, he returned to Platte County, and again entered the government service at Genoa, working four years in the blacksmith shop and four years as a government miller. In 1869, he joined John Peter Becker in building and operating a water mill on Shell Creek in what is now Colfax County, under the firm name of Becker and Welch. This was the grist mill of central Nebraska. People came from many miles in the surrounding territory to have their flour made. The mill was conducted for seventeen years, from 1869 to 1886, during which time, Mr. Welch farmed his three hundred twenty acre farm where he also fed cattle and hogs.

In 1886, he disposed of his interest in the mill and moved into Columbus, where until 1892 he was in the grain and coal business.

From 1892 until September 17, 1911, he was engaged in banking, and in the management of farm properties. He was one of the organizers of the Commercial National Bank in Columbus, and was on its Board of Directors for many years.

On December 25, 1862, Jonas Welch was married to Miss Margaret Shackelton, a native of England. They had nine children. Thresa E., deceased, was the wife of William S. Fox. After Mr. Fox's retirement from work on the Union Pacific Railroad at Council Bluffs, Iowa, he moved to Columbus, where he was an active member of the Lions Club; he also attended the Platte County Pioneer Association, having acquired the right to membership through his wife, a pioneer. William J., deceased, was a resident of Genoa. Henrietta, deceased, was the wife of Harry Newman of Columbus. Caroline, deceased, was the wife of George W. Galley, Jr. Martha, who was the widow of M. H. Watts, married Jackson C. Echols. Mr. Echols is deceased, and Mrs. Echols lives in Columbus. Charles A. and Robert M. Welch are deceased, and two children died in infancy.

When a boy, Jonas Welch heard Abraham Lincoln in the renowned Lincoln-Douglas debates. In 1857, on a trip from Omaha to Denver driving oxen, he passed only five places where people lived. The trail was that of the Forty-Niners. On his trek through Colorado, he found a straggling mining camp which later became the city of Denver.

Jonas Welch was a Mason, and belonged to Lebanon Lodge. He was a Democrat and a member of the Presbyterian Church.

MARY ELIZABETH WELCH

Mary Elizabeth Welch, the daughter of Henry and Margaret Pilling Welch, was born in Shell Creek Township, Colfax County, on June 1, 1873. Her father was born in England, October 7, 1842, and died in Columbus, August 12, 1917. Her mother was also born in England, at Lancashire, on November 4, 1842, and died in Colfax County, September 20, 1905.

Mary had two brothers and two sisters: Charles H., Lillie A., Robert C., and Stella B. Welch. Her father came to Nebraska in 1857, with his parents, Moses and Harriet Rawlings Welch, and settled near Genoa. Henry and his brother Jonas filed on homesteads along Shell Creek, before Colfax County was created. Jonas Welch later operated a mill there with J. P. Becker.

Mary Welch attended school in District 8, Colfax County, the Columbus High School for two years, and was then enrolled at the Fremont Normal.

Among her childhood experiences, she recalled vivid pictures of the Blizzard of 1888. She related in part how the teacher of the school in District 8, Peter Sattler, sensed the storm the minute the wind changed and dismissed his classes. He sent the eight pupils who lived south of the District 8 school house to their homes, and the other seven pupils, including Mary, he took to his home nearby, to spend the night. And how Emil Held, who lived west of the school house, had started out three times to get his younger brothers from the school, but failed each time because his horses refused to go on in the fury of the blizzard.

Mary E. Welch, veteran teacher of Platte and Colfax Counties, completed her fiftieth year in the classroom in May of 1948. Her first term of school was taught in District 8, Colfax County, and her last term in District 54, Platte County. During the intervening years, she taught in Districts 8, 23, 27, and 41, in Colfax County, and Districts 9, 35, 36, 44, 53 and 54, in Platte County. For many years, her means of conveyance to and from school was with a horse and buggy, but in the later years, she used an automobile.

Mary Welch was not affiliated with a political party. She held membership in the Episcopal Church.

HOWARD LEROY WELCH

Howard L. "Dutch" Welch was born September 22, 1903, at Berwyn, Nebraska. His parents were Roy R. and Vallie Sigourney Welch. Roy Welch was born

January 4, 1879, at Atlantic, Iowa, and died at Berwyn November 13, 1933. He spent his active years as a farmer. Vallie S. Welch was born at Exeter, Nebraska, June 15, 1880. Howard Welch had one brother and two sisters.

Howard Welch received his early education in Berwyn, and in Gothenberg, Nebraska, and was graduated from the Gothenberg High School. He attended the University of Nebraska, and was graduated from Hastings College at Hastings, Nebraska, where he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts.

On August 8, 1928, he was married at Hastings to Bessie Genevieve Greenslit, the daughter of Henry Martin and Bessie Viola Greenslit. Henry Greenslit, of Surprise, Nebraska, formerly was a railroad worker. Mrs. Welch had two brothers, neither of whom lived in Platte County.

Howard and "Jen" Welch had one son and one daughter: Donovan Leroy, born June 3, 1932; and Sandra Sue, born October 12, 1935. Both attended the Gothenberg schools and the Columbus schools. They were enrolled at Kramer High School.

Mr. Welch came to Columbus from Gothenberg in August, 1940, to take over the position of head athletic coach of Kramer High School, and athletic director of the Columbus City Schools. He remained in that position until 1945, when he became associated with the Nielsen Chevrolet Company as sales manager. In January, 1950, he became a partner of E. M. Nielsen in the Chevrolet Company at Kearney.

Howard L. Welch held memberships in the Masonic Lodge, the B.P.O.E. (Elks), the Columbus Chamber of Commerce. He is a Republican. Mr. and Mrs. Howard L. Welch attend the Methodist Episcopal Church.

MARTIN BERTILUS WELIN

Martin Bertilus Welin was born June 17, 1879, in Monroe Township. His parents were Peter and Betsy Berlin Welin. Peter Welin was born in Skone, Sweden, August 2, 1848, and came to the United States in 1869, first settling in Kewanee, Illinois. In 1874, he came to Platte County, homesteading on Section 6 of Monroe Township. He died in St. Edward, Nebraska, on March 7, 1922. Betsy Berlin Welin, also a native of Sweden, was born December 17, 1849, and died October 6, 1936, in St. Edward. Martin Welin had two sisters, Effle B. and Rebecca V., both of whom live in St. Edward. Rebecca Welin is the widow of Doctor D. G. Walker, of Lindsay.

On January 4, 1917, Martin Welin was married to Gladys A. Eliason, the daughter of Lewis and Sarah Furnas Eliason of Letts, Iowa. Mrs. Welin was one of five children.

Mr. and Mrs. Welin had four children: Lewis Peter, born January 14, 1919; Stanley Martin, born August 21, 1920; Bette Maxine, born August 5, 1922; and Elinor Floy, born January 31, 1924. All were born in Genoa and attended the District 62 rural school, and the St. Edward High School. Bette attended the Midland College at Fremont, and the Clarkson Memorial Hospital School of Nursing. Elinor Floy died in Genoa, February 10, 1932.

Martin Welin, a farmer and stock feeder in Woodville Township, has also worked as a carpenter and blacksmith. He is a member of the Palestine Baptist Church in Woodville Township, and the Scottish Rite A. F. & A. M.

JOSEPH S. WEMHOFF

Joseph S. Wemhoff was born October 15, 1879, at Humphrey, Nebraska. His parents were Joseph and Appollonia Veronica Krenz Wemhoff. Joseph Wemhoff, Sr. was born in Westphalia, Germany, April 1, 1850, and came to Platte County, May 24, 1866, settling on a homestead in the St. Mary's Community in Grand Prairie Township. He died January 30, 1931, at his home there. Mrs. Joseph Wemhoff, Sr. was born August 8, 1848, at Posen, Germany, and died February 3, 1929, at St. Mary's in Grand Prairie Township.

Joseph S. Wemhoff, Jr. had two sisters and three brothers: Anna, Mrs. B. J. German; Clemence C., married to Alvina Ruhkamp; Theodore P., married to Mary Weiser; Appollonia, Mrs. Joseph Bisping; and Phillip, married to Anna Kopetzky. All live on farms in the St. Mary's Community, except Mrs. Bisping, who lives at Winsted, Minnesota.

Joseph S. Wemhoff attended St. Mary's Parochial School at St. Mary's. He has been engaged in the business of farming and stock raising for forty-eight years in Grand Prairie Township.

On February 5, 1901, he was married at Winsted to Miss Mary Bisping, the daughter of Carl and Elizabeth Wudki Bisping. Her father, a farmer, was born at Muenster, Germany, in 1846, and died at Winsted October 22, 1936. Her mother was born at Pomern, Germany, September 21, j86,, and died at Winsted in September, 1915. Mary Bisping Wemhoff had two sisters and one brother all of whom live at Winsted.

Joseph S. and Mary Bisping Wemhoff had four (adopted) children: Aloys Aaron, Roberta Louise, Edith Mary, and Dorothy Louise, all of whom attended the St. Mary's Parochial School in Grand Prairie Township. Roberta Louise also attended St. Bonaventure High School in Columbus.

Mr. Wemhoff's hobbies are horseback riding and fishing.

The Joseph S. Wemhoff family are members of St. Mary's of the Angels Catholic Church. Joseph Wemhoff is a member of St. Joseph's Society, the Knights of Columbus, and is a Democrat.

THOMAS WERNER

Thomas Werner, a former postmaster of Humphrey, was born July 12, 1883, in Humphrey, Nebraska. His father, Ignatius Werner, was born in 1837 in Austria and came to Platte County in 1873. He farmed in Platte County until his death July 5, 1913. His wife, Antonia Rohatch Werner, was born in 1843 in Austria and died in Humphrey, May 19, 1914. Ignatius and Antonia Werner had four sons and four daughters: Joseph, a Franciscan brother; Theresa, Mrs. Moritz Viek; Louis, married to Theresa Eckel; Antonia, Mrs. Joseph Hockenschneider; Lena, Mrs. Frank Herbes; Ignatius, a Franciscan Brother; Thomas; Mary, and Mrs. John K. Smith. Theresa died May 7, 1912, in Okarche, Oklahoma.

Thomas Werner received his early education at St. Francis Parochial School in Humphrey, and later attended St. Joseph's College in Hinsdale, Illinois.

On February 10, 1909, he was married in Okarche, Oklahoma, to Margaret Smith, the daughter of Fredrick H. and Anna Ottis Smith of Okarche. Mr. and Mrs. Werner had ten children: Gertrude, born December 20, 1909; George, born October 1, 1911; Martin, born April 18, 1913; Marcella, born December 2, 1914; Marion, born August 14, 1917; Agnes, born October 24, 1918; Jerome, born August 26, 1920; Mark, born July 4, 1925; Rosemary, born April 20, 1927; and David, born March 1, 1929.

After attending school in Illinois, Mr. Werner worked at the Farmers' Elevator in Humphrey for two years. He was then employed for eighteen years in the Ottis and Murphy bank, and for two years held the position of Postmaster in Humphrey. Mr. Werner also served for a period of four years as a justice of the Peace, and as a member of the Town Board. He was an active member of St. Francis Catholic Church of Humphrey and served as Choir Master for many years. He was a member of the Knights of Columbus, Woodmen of the World, the Catholic Order of Foresters, and the Humphrey Commercial Club. He died February 28, 1930.

JACOB WESSEL

Jacob Wessel, St. Bernard Township farmer, was born January 16, 1883, at St. Bernard. His father, Fred Wessel, came to St. Bernard from St. Louis, Missouri, in 1879. He was born in Berlin, Germany, January 11, 1843, and died October 12, 1927. His mother was born in 1853 in Germany. Jake Wessel had three brothers and six sisters: Joseph, Tony, Henk, Anna, Clara, Lizzie, Kate, Susie, and Laura.

Mr. Wessel, a farmer and stock raiser, lived in St. Bernard Township since 1883.

On May 14, 1912, Jacob was married at St. Bernard to Miss Amelia Zweiner, the daughter of Ernest and Amelia Koenig Zweiner, natives of Austria. Mr. and Mrs. Wessel had fifteen children:

Caroline, Mrs. Alfred Classen, was born March 16, 1913. Adeline, Mrs. John Rezac, was born January 31, 1914. Gertrude, who was a beauty operator in Grand Island, was born January 27, 1915. Joseph, born February 22, 1916, served almost four years in the United States Army during World War II, in the European Theatre of Operations. On his return, Joseph was married to Miss Lovina Navin of Des Moines, Iowa. Agatha, Mrs. Albert De Capp, was born March 5, 1917. Anthony, married to Eileen Classen, was born March 24, 1918; he served more than four years in the United States Army, and was stationed at Kodiak Island, Alaska, for twenty-six months before being sent to the European Theatre. Urban Joseph, born August 16, 1919, was deferred for essential farm work during the war. Myron, born November 9, 1920, was also in the United States Army for almost four years; he was at Adak Island for two years, and is married to Dorothy Foltz. Eunice, Mrs. Richard Olmer, was born April 30, 1922. Frederick, born December 23, 1923, and Marie Ann, born November 13, 1924, died in infancy. Louis, born February 1, 1926, served in Paris with the United States Army. Honoratus, who is farming, was born September 9, 1927. Valerian, born December 11, 1929, and Melvin, born September 7, 1931, attended high school.

Jacob Wessel takes a keen interest in farm programs. Politically he is affiliated with the Republicans. The Jacob Wessel family are members of the Catholic Church.

JUDGE CHARLES H. WHALEY

Judge Charles H. Whaley came to Platte County from New York State around the first of May in 1857.

He was accompanied on his trek to the West by his brother Chris Whaley, and two men by the names of Pierce and Baty.

According to tradition Leander Gerrard came to Omaha in 1856 and worked there for two years in a land agency with a lawyer by the name of J. W. Newton.

On May 1, 1857, Leander Gerrard is said to have staked on land near the center of Monroe County which at that time seemed a likely location for the county seat.

Shortly thereafter the Whaley group from New York State arrived in Monroe County and also staked out their claims in the center of the county. They then proceeded to Omaha to file on the claims at the Government Land Office.

During their absence the Mormons took possession of the land. In the legal procedure which followed Whaley, Gerrard and Ray were accorded the rights of ownership based on the record of their filings previous to May 10, 1857. The Mormons then vacated the land and moved to the Beaver where they took two thousand acres of land. According to history, this land later became the Pawnee Indian Reservation and is in Nance County.

Many other claims and changes were made in Platte County before the expiration of 1857.

In the winter of 1859 at a session of the Nebraska Territorial Legislature, an act was passed attaching Monroe County to Platte County. In that year Monroe Precinct was made to comprise all of Platte County west

of Columbus. The voting polls were then located at the house of Charles H. Whaley.

In 1861 at a meeting of the County Commissioners on the motion of W. Davis, the polls in Monroe Precinct were changed from the house of Charles Whaley to that of Charles Sander.

On January 5, 1865, the Nebraska Territorial Council was divided into districts and Judge Charles H. Whaley was appointed as the representative of the Platte District.

He was probably the first lawyer in Platte County. A certificate issued by the Supreme Court of Oneida County, New York, which admitted him to the Bar of New York, bears the date of February 2, 1857. By an act of the presiding judge on May 9, 1866, this certificate was declared legal in all of the courts of the Territory of Nebraska.

On May 6, 1863, in Omaha, Nebraska, Judge Charles H. Whaley was married to Miss Elizabeth Ricketts. In order that the wedding ceremony might be performed by a priest of the Episcopal Church, of which Miss Ricketts was a life long member, the bride, groom and the bride's aunt, Mrs. Elvira Platte, drove to Omaha. That was in the early days of the building of the Union Pacific Railroad.

Elizabeth Ricketts Whaley was born near Oberlin, Ohio, November 7, 1843. She taught school for a short time in Iowa, and about 1860 came to Genoa, Nebraska, to make her home with Mrs. Elvira Platte who was then the matron of the Indian School.

In that early day Indian battles and raids were frequent, and from the window of Mrs. Platte's home in Genoa, Elizabeth witnessed the scalping of a Pawnee squaw by a Sioux Indian.

When Judge and Mrs. Whaley came to Columbus to live it was but a small village on the Loup. They were both prominent in establishing the Episcopal Church in Columbus.

The Golden Age of July 12, 1866, contained a notice stating that Bishop Clarkson, a bishop of the Episcopal Church, would hold services in the "Town Hall" in Columbus.

In 1867, while the Episcopal Church was being started in Columbus, Judge C. H. Whaley was baptized his being the first baptism administered in Platte County in accordance with Book of Prayer of the Episcopal Church. This ceremony took place at the American Hotel.

In January, 1868, Reverend Samuel Goodale, who served the Columbus Mission, moved his family from Omaha to Columbus.

Judge Whaley and Richard Brown were the first State delegates to the Episcopal meeting held in 1868.

Judge Charles H. and Elizabeth Ricketts Whaley had two sons*, George and Charles A. George was married and lived in Illinois for many years. Charles A. was married to Hattie Plant. A grandson was F. Howard Whaley who married Marguerite Weaver, and a great-grandson was F. Howard Whaley, Jr. A great-granddaughter, Elizabeth Louise Whaley, is Mrs. Charles Gruenig of Boone, Iowa.

Judge Whaley died in September, 1869, and in October, 1872, Mrs. Whaley was married to George Lehman.

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* A third son was probably Frank Whaley.

CHARLES A. WHALEY

Charles A. Whaley, son of Judge Charles H. and Elizabeth Ricketts Whaley, was born in Columbus, December 30, 1865, and died May 7, 1915. His father died in 1869, and his mother was married to George Lehman, in October, 1872. Charles had one brother, George, a half sister, Clara Lehman, now Mrs. A. M. Gray, and a half brother, William Lehman.

Charles Whaley attended the Columbus schools, and at the age of seventeen, secured a position as brakeman on the Union Pacific Railroad. While with the Union Pacific he maintained his headquarters at Ogden, Utah, where shortly after his twenty-first birthday, he received a promotion to conductor.

On December 17, 1890, at Ogden, he was married to Hattie M. Plant, of Columbus. Mr. and Mrs. Whaley had one son, F. Howard, and a daughter, Ethel, born June 23, 1897, who died November 20, 1906.

In April, 1891, the Charles A. Whaleys came back to Columbus to make their home. Shortly afterward, they opened a small laundry in the basement of the Thurston Hotel Building. Mr. Whaley, with Mrs. Whaley's assistance, soon built a thriving business. In 1893 they established the Columbus Steam Laundry, in its present location, 1264 Twenty-seventh Avenue. Mr. Whaley managed it, and they made it one of the most successful business undertakings in the city.

Charles A. Whaley was a member of the Woodmen of the World Lodge, and the Whaley family were members of the Congregational Church.

F. HOWARD WHALEY

F. Howard Whaley, son of Charles A. and Hattie Plant Whaley, was born in Evanston, Wyoming, in 1892. He was graduated from the Columbus High School in 1911, and that year he entered the employ of the Columbus Laundry, which was owned and operated by his parents. He learned the laundry business from them.

After his father's death, in 1915, Howard acquired a financial interest in the establishment when he formed a partnership with his mother, and took over the active management of the Columbus Laundry. In 1917, he bought his mother's interest and became the sole owner. Howard was a keen student of modern business methods and he made an instant and continued success in his work. He also was co-owner of the Toggery Cleaners, a local firm established in the early 1920's.

On November 27, 1913, Howard Whaley was married to Marguerite Weaver, the daughter of Louis and Phoebe Grace Schrack Weaver. The Weavers were a pioneer Columbus family. Mr. and Mrs. Whaley had two children: Elizabeth Louise, Mrs. Charles Gruenig,

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