term as County Clerk and Clerk of the District Court in Thomas County. He homesteaded in this county in 1903, and was engaged in ranching for a time. He is a member of the Republican party.

      CHRIS FRITZ was born at Erie, Pennsylvania, May 10, 1859. In 1862 his parents moved to Iowa, where his father died. He moved to Cherry County, Nebraska, in 1886, where he lived before coming to Thomas County, in 1900. His occupation was that of a ranchman until elected County Surveyor, in 1901. He held this office for two years, and is now serving his first term as County Treasurer. Politically he is a Populist. He was married November 23, 1896, to Mary E. Cooper.

      NELLIE Z. VANDLING was a graduate of Bucknell Institute, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1893. She was born in Northumberland County of that State, came with her parents to Abbott, Hall County, Nebraska, in 1897, and two years later to her present home at Seneca. She was Principal of the Seneca schools in 1903 and 1904 and was also elected Principal at Thedford. She is now Superintendent of Public Instruction in Thomas County.

      J. S. MILROY was born September 5, 1875, in Oneida, Illinois. His father, A. Milroy, was a farmer. The family removed from Illinois to Clay County, Nebraska, where Mr. Milroy was engaged in farming for several years. When he became of age he and his brother went into the livery business, which occupation he pursued until he came to this section of the State, where he was elected County Surveyor of Thomas County. He now resides in Blaine County, where he was married, and is now engaged in stock raising and farming. He has about three thousand acres under his jurisdiction.

      JOHN W. CARNEY is the oldest settler and father of the first white child born in the county. Born in Philadelphia, April 18, 1856, his parents moved to Washington, D. C., and lived there until after the war. They then came to Chicago and were living there in 1871. Carney moved to McPherson County, Kansas, and homesteaded for a time; then moved to Southern Texas until 1878. During that year he came to Nebraska and landed in Thomas County, and in 1886 took a homestead. He made a preliminary survey for the Burlington and Missouri Railroad and has since been in their employ, and is now foreman of the round-house at Seneca. He has been justice of the Peace and County Commissioner for two terms. He is affiliated with the Democratic party.

      C. E. WEST has been Postmaster at Thedford since November of 1897. Mr. West was born in a sod house at York, Nebraska, August 11, 1871. He moved with his parents to Broken Bow in 1882 and came to Thomas County in 1888, which has since been his home. He has been in the newspaper business at Thedford. His wife, whom he married in March of 1900, was Mrs. May Dill-Brown of Thedford. He is affiliated with the Republican party.

      J. M. McMILLAN is a native of Washington County, Pennsylvania, where he was born February 18, 1864. He moved to the eastern part of Nebraska in 1883 and farther west the following year. He located in Thomas County in 1886, at which time he took the homestead which he still holds. He is proprietor of a general merchandise store at Thedford and is also interested in ranching. In 1890, on the 9th of October, he was married to Miss Anna F. Franklin of Cass County. He served as County Treasurer of Thomas during four terms. He is a Republican.

      WILLIAM M. WALTERS was educated in the common schools and the State Normal of Pennsylvania, where he was born in Cumberland County on the 9th of March, 1848. He taught school in Pennsylvania before coming west. In 1880 he settled in Clay County, Nebraska, where he was made Deputy Treasurer. He homesteaded in this county in 1889, but sold the land and moved to his present home near Thedford in 1890. He has held the offices of Commissioner, Treasurer and Judge of Thomas County, and is an Independent voter. He was married to Miss Nancy A. Austin of Clay County in 1881.

 

      Seventy-five per cent of Thurston County is good land, and capable of cultivation. The remainder is rough, yet suitable for grazing. The principal occupations are agriculture and stock raising. Corn and spring wheat cover the greater part of the 214,151 acres included in farming land. The raising of sugar beets as an industry is just in its beginning. Small grain, corn and alfalfa are successfully raised, and timbers, fruit and vegetables are found everywhere. Farming land has increased one-fourth in value recently. The county has a deep, black soil with an under layer of clay. The best farm land is worth from $60 to $75 Farm land of average quality sells at prices ranging from $25 to $45 an acre. The eastern part of the county is washed by the Missouri. Thurston occupies 398 square miles and possesses 16.88 miles of railway. Pender, the county capital, has 943 people. County organization took place in 1889 and the present census shows a population of 8,756. The value of live stock in 1900 was $1,320,393. Two flour and grist mills are operated here. There are twenty-three school districts and twenty-seven miles of unorganized territory. The majority of the schools have terms of nine months or more. There is one graded school which employs nine teachers. There are 2,187 school children.

     HIRAM CHASE, County Attorney, was born September 9, 1861, on the Omaha In-