W. W. HAWLEY, Mayor of Nelson, Nebraska, and station agent for the B. & M. R. R. Company, was born in Rock County, Wisconsin, January 27, 1864. His father was an Englishman and his mother was born in New York, of German parentage. He came to Nebraska in 1867 and has lived in the State ever since, having resided in Nemaha, Clay, Johnson, Otoe, Gage and Nuckolls counties. He attended the high school at Brownville and also at Sutton, Nebraska, and has followed railroading.

 

      Otoe County was organized in 1855, one year after Nebraska became a State. Nebraska City, the county seat, has 7,380 inhabitants, about one-third of the entire county population. This is a fertile rolling prairie, relieved by the valleys of the Missouri and Nemaha Rivers and Wolf, Muddy and other creeks The bluffs along the Missouri are very well adapted to the cultivation of fruit, and the county holds first place in the number of fruit trees. Land is 35 per cent more valuable than it was five years ago, and the demand is greater than the supply. The price of the best farm land is from $60 to $75 per acre. Fair tillable land sells at $45 to $55 an acre: hay land is worth from $40 to $45, and pasture land is sold at prices ranging from $35 to $40. There are 148,267 acres of corn, and in 1900 6,268,696 bushels were shipped to market, together with 48,370 hogs. There are five flour and grist mills and three brickyards in the county. Before 1844 Otoe County was entirely occupied by Pawnees, Otoes and Omahas. In 1846 Company G, Second U. S. Dragoons, established a military post where Nebraska City now stands. The blockhouse stood near the middle of Fifth, between Main and Otoe Streets, and the officers' quarters were a log house near the Seymour House. The first permanent inhabitant was John B. Boulware, who conducted a ferry at the foot of Commercial Street. The winter of 1856 was very severe, and many lives were lost because of insufficient shelter and food. Even the wild animals were starved, and it is said that deer ran through the Nebraska City streets pursued by packs of wolves. The drought of 1859 and the flood of 1881 were other hindrances to the progress of the county. In 1873 Hon. J. Sterling Morton succeeded in having Arbor Day established. The school system is very good. The county is divided into 102 districts and school property amounts to $197,789.88. There are nine graded schools, in which sixty-four teachers are employed. The children of school age number 7,234. No school has a term of less than six months.

      E. H. FINIGAN was born in Otoe County, Nebraska, on the 10th of September in the year 1880, and has been a resident of the state ever since, his present home being at Nebraska City. His father and mother, L. D. and M. E. Finigan, came from Illinois and New York, respectively. For five years he held the position of cashier of a bank at Unadilla, Nebraska. In September of 1903 he was married to Goldine Dunn. He is a Democrat and is serving his first term as Clerk of the District Court. With one exception he is the youngest county officer in Nebraska, being only twenty-three years old at the time of his election.

      C. E. SHRADER is a lumber and grain dealer of Nebraska City and is in his second term of office as Sheriff of Otoe County. He received his education in the public schools and is Republican in politics. He was born in this county March 17, 1876, and has always remained a resident. His parents are Germans, his father having come direct from the old country, and they are farmers by occupation. He was married October 6, 1897, and has two children.

      R. C. KING was born May 13, 1879, at Lincoln, Illinois. He has lived in Nebraska since 1892 and his home is at Nebraska City. On April 30, 1902, he was married to Clara Anderson. They have one child. He obtained his education in the common schools of Illinois and later at Valparaiso. He has been engaged in school work and is at present serving his second term as County Superintendent. His politics are Republican.

      M. C. JOYCE is of Irish parentage, his people having emigrated from the old country in 1845. He was born in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, July 29, 1851. He is in the harness and saddlery business at Syracuse, Nebraska. His father was a blanket manufacturer, and was making blankets for the Union soldiers at the time of his death. His marriage

to Hattie A. Russell occurred in 1882, and they have three children. After a residence of four years in Iowa he came to Nebraska in 1880. He is serving his third term as County Judge, being a Republican in politics.

      R. W. KELLY is a school teacher and bookkeeper by profession, but at present is serving his second term as County Treasurer. He is a member of the Republican party. Mr. Kelly was born on the Isle of Man, August 9, 1870. After the death of his mother his father came to America in 1888 and settled in Otoe in 1889. He obtained the Queen's Certificate, which authorized him to teach in any part of Great Britain. In December of 1894 he was married to Maggie Koontz They reside at Nebraska City, and have three daughters. Mr. Kelly has served as Treasurer of the Nebraska Epworth Assembly.

      ARTHUR A. BISCHOF was born on the 11th of January in 1874. He is a practicing lawyer of Nebraska City, which was the place of his birth. His parents were born in Germany. His father is a merchant and his mother is deceased. He obtained his education at the University of Nebraska, where he took his A. B. degree in 1898 and LL. B. in 1900. He is at present County Attorney and was elected on the Republican ticket.

     CHARLES H. BUSCH was born in the Province of Hanover, Germany, on December 30, 1867, and came to Otoe County in 1881.