and chattel loan businesss (sic), which, with his farms, has occupied all his time.
Mr. Snider has taken a leading part in the politics of his county and state and is regarded as one of the most progressive citizens of the county, in the development of which he has taken so prominent a part. He has held several offices of trust and has always given entire satisfaction to those whom he has served. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is one of the trustees, also a member of the Masonic fraternity, and has served as a notary public since 1889. During the panic of 1893 our subject's bank and the banks of two of his competitors were the only ones that kept their doors open in that part of the country. After the panic he was instrumental in helping to secure aid to Perkins county's poor people.
On March 12, 1874, Mr. Snider married Dora M. Fisher, daughter of W. W. Fisher, of Charleston, Illinois. Mr. Fisher was a prominent business man of Charleston. In 1876 our subject moved to Charleston and March 12, 1876, a son named Harry E. was born to Mr. and Mrs. Snider and on March 1, 1879, the little one was called to join the angels above. Mr. and Mrs. Snider were father and mother to a nephew of Mrs. Snyder, George W. Kennedy. They took him to their home when he was nine years old and sent him to school until he was a voting man and then set him up in business. He is post master and owns a large store at Colegrove, California, near Los Angeles.
In 1900 Mrs. Forsythe, a sister of Mrs. Snider, was left a widow with a little girl one year old. Mr. and Mrs. Snider took them to live with them and Mr. Snider has looked after their interests ever since, and has been a father to little "Marie", who thinks as much of him as if he was her own father. They all have a beautiful home at Ogallala, where our subject spends his time looking after his farms of five hundred acres, loaning money and selling his lots at Wauneta; does odd jobs in insurance and real estate business, is enjoying good health and takes life as easy as he can.
Oscar Starr, one of the old-time settlers in western Nebraska, resides on his well-improved farm in section 4, township 33, range 35, Cherry county. He has always done his full share in the upbuilding of the community in which he lives, and is highly esteemed as a man of sterling character and strict integrity.
Mr. Starr was born in Vernon county, Wisconsin, June 4. 1866. His father, Comfort Starr, was a farmer by occupation, and one of the pioneers of eastern Nebraska. He drove in this state with a team and covered wagon containing his household goods, in 1876, locating in Butler county, where his death occurred in the fall of 1878. Our subject settled in Cherry county in 1887 and remained there up to the early spring of 1908, when he moved to Mt. Vernon, Washington. He had nothing to start with, and took up a homestead on Niobrara river, his first building being a log shack. He got a team of bulls and began to break up his farm, batching it for the first two years. He gradually built up his place and proved up on it, and then moved down on the river bank. After getting started he added to his acreage, and now has a ranch of six hundred and eighty acres, one hundred of which is cultivated. He has good buildings, plenty of water, and has made a fine place of it. He has seen many hard times, and often became discouraged during the drouth periods and other failures of crops.
Mr. Starr was married in 1890 to Miss Hattie Maybee, daughter of William Maybee, a pioneer in Holt and Cherry counties. Mr. and Mrs. Starr have a family of seven children, named as follows: William, May, Louie, Roy; Laura, Murray and Cora.
Politically Mr. Starr is a stanch Republican, and has held numerous local offices, and was serving as justice of the peace at the time of his removal to the coast. He is always active in affairs of interest to his community, and lends his time and influence to the betterment of home conditions. Mr. Starr has always been an enthusiastic huntsman, and has been all over this part of the country and the reservations in South Dakota, camping out for weeks at a time, and has brought down some fine specimens of game of all kinds.
Louis N. Hollingsworth, a leading old settler of Buffalo county, who has gained an enviable reputation as a progressive agriculturist and worthy citizen, resides on his fine farm on section 8, in Center township, where he has a pleasant home. He has been a resident of this locality for the past twenty years, and is closely identified with the history of the development and growth of the agricultural and commercial interests of this region.
Mr. Hollingsworth is a native of Iowa, where he was born in 1857. He was raised there, on a farm, and spent about all his life in Iowa, until 1887. In 1887 he came to Buffalo county from Green county, Iowa, and here purchased the
eighty-acre farm he now lives on, and has added to this farm other lands adjoining until he now owns two hundred and forty acres. During the first years he met with much discouragement in the failure of crops, but since 1895 he has raised splendid crops, his wheat averaging twenty bushels per acre, and for the last four year's thirty bushels, one piece containing ten acres going as high as forty bushels per acre. This Wood river bottom land cannot be beaten any place; there is no sand, and all is good rich soil, and no wash-out. In addition to his farming operations Mr. Hollingsworth feeds a good many cattle, during the winter running twenty-five head of fine Hereford milch cows. He has a fine large barn with ample stable room for his horses and cattle. Our subject considers that the splendid alfalfa produced here, with corn and all kinds of grain, makes Buffalo county one of the best farming sections to be found. He is one of the best and most careful farmers in the county, and his opinion is of weight in giving a statement of this kind. Mr. Hollingsworth and family occupy a fine residence, which is situated on a rise of ground from which is obtained a commanding view of the Wood River valley for miles east and west, the town of Kearney, a distance of seven miles, being plainly visible.
Mr. Hollingsworth was united in marriage in 1882 to Miss Jane Downs, who was raised in Madison county, Iowa. To Mr. and Mrs. Hollingsworth the following children have been born: Verlie, Louie, Walter, Frank, Ethel and Roy. They are graduates of the Kearney high school, and have been of great assistance to their parents in the farm and domestic work. Louie is now teaching; Roy is in high school, and Frank and Ethel are attending the State Normal.
John Anderson, residing on section 13 on the banks of Bordeaux creek, is well-known to all in this part of Dawes county as a man of sterling character and strict integrity in word and deed, who has aided in the development of his community from the time of his settling here, in 1891, and he is one of the public-spirited citizens of his precinct. Mr. Anderson has built up a good farm and has a pleasant and comfortable home.
Our subject is a native of the village of Schleswig, Germany, born in 1851. His father was a laborer all his life, working out in his native province at whatever he could find to do, and was able to support his family in fairly good shape, giving his children an opportunity to attend the school and each learn a trade, as is the universal custom in that country. Our subject learned the stone cutter's trade and worked at that for four years in his native land. In 1883 he came to America, and after landing in New York city, came directly west to Bryant, Iowa. He had been married in Germany and brought his wife with him. After locating in Iowa he went to work for the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company as a section hand, and after a couple of years was promoted to the position of foreman, taking charge of Sec. No. 76 at Bordeaux Station, and he continued at railroad work for several years. In 1891 he filed on a homestead in section 13, township 32, range 47, built a house of logs and started a farm. He had not much to begin with, but owned a cow and calf and two horses, and managed to break up a little ground and put in a crop. The first years he had hard times in getting along, being put back considerable by the drouths, although he never had but one entire failure, while others in his vicinity lost everything. He was often able to when a fair crop when his nearest neighbors' crops were utterly ruined, so he gradually succeeded in building up his farm, and added more land to his first quarter, until he now owns one thousand five hundred acres altogether, all of which he has fenced, and one hundred and twenty acres of it under cultivation. He has erected a good house and commodious barns, and keeps everything about the place in first-class order, showing good management and thrift at every turn.
Mr. Anderson's wife was, prior to her marriage, Katherine Peterson, born and reared in Germany, where he married her in 1879, and they have one living child, Harvey Henry, aged twenty-seven years. They have lost three children, Hartwig, Jennie and a baby, not named.
Mr. Anderson takes an active part in local affairs of his community, and has done his share in building up the schools and bettering conditions generally in his locality. He has been school treasurer for fifteen years, and also school director for one year. Politically he is a Democrat, but votes an Independent ticket.
In giving to the public the life history of the gentleman above mentioned we are submitting the name of one of the oldest settlers of Grant county, Nebraska. He came to that region when it was in the first stages of development, and has in no small degree aided in its up-building, by giving liberally of his personal help and promoting its growth along agricultural, ranching
and commercial lines. Mr. Moran resides in section 35, township 22, range 36, where he is owner of a pleasant home and valuable estate.
Frank P. Moran was born in Marion county, West Virginia, on July 9, 1852. His father, Robert, was a colonel in the Civil war, and had a brilliant record as a soldier. Robert Moran, the father, was the owner of a large tannery in Marion county, West Virginia, and a prominent man in his community. He married Sarah Pride, also a native of that state.
Our subject was reared and educated in his native county, spending most of his boyhood years on the home farm. At the age of twenty-one he left his parents' home and worked out for five years near home, and in 1879 came west to Nebraska, landing at Columbus, Platte county, on February 18th of that year. He located on his father's ranch and started in the cattle business, also begun farming, living on the ranch for eight years, and did exceedingly well. He was married in Platte county in 1884, to Mary A. Snyder. Her father, C. J. Snyder, was an old settler in that vicinity and one of the first homesteaders there.
In 1886 Mr. Moran came with his family to Grant county, arriving here in the spring of the year. He filed on a homestead in section 34, township 22, range 36, and also took up a tree claim adjoining, all located eighteen miles south of Whitman. In coming to that region in Grant county he teamed all the way from Platte county, Nebraska, his nearest postoffice after settling here being North Platte, a distance of eighty miles. He did his trading at North Platte for quite awhile.
His first buildings were of sod, and he began ranching, having fair success, and was able to improve his place to some extent. He planted many trees during the early years, and now has one of the finest groves in his county, his residence being surrounded by a fine grove, making it one of the most sightly places in the vicinity. Mr. Moran's ranch consists of one thousand one hundred and twenty acres, all deeded land, and on the place is a valley two miles in length and half a mile wide, making the finest pasture imaginable for his stock.
Mr. Moran had a family of twelve children, as
follows: Alice G., born in 1884, Leslie R., 1888, Sarah E., 1890,
Vera L., 1891, Robert P., 1892, Milford G., 1897, W. J. Bryan,
1899, Dorothy B., 1901, Victor M., 1904, and Vernon D., 1906. They
are a very bright and intelligent group, and form one of the most
happy family circles to be found in many days' travel. Two
children, Clarence and Otho, are dead. A picture of Mr. Moran and
family will be found on another page.
James S. Scofield, numbered among the pioneers of Dawes county, Nebraska, has built up a fine farm and ranch in section 14, township 31, range 51, surrounded by the comforts of life and esteemed by his associates. His father located there in the early days, and by thrift and good management became owner of well cultivated tracts of land, and in whom the citizens found worthy support.
Mr. Scofield is a native of Harrison county, Iowa, born in 1868. His father, Eugene Scofield, was born in New York state, of old American stock, and was a pioneer in Dawes county, coming here in 1885 and settling on the farm our subject now owns, located in section 14. The family came here from Iowa, where they lived for several years, the father having run a milling business there. After arriving here they put up a log cabin, finishing it with a sod roof and dirt floor, and went through all the pioneer experiences. They first engaged in the cattle business and continued in that almost exclusively up to 1893, and since then have run a sheep ranch. The ranch comprises one thousand eight hundred acres, and this is kept up in the best possible shape, improved with good buildings, fences, etc. The father died here September 13, 1891, aged fifty-three years.
Our subject was united in marriage in 1898 to Miss Minnie Darrow, daughter of William and Helen Darrow, who came to this county as a pioneer and have one of the fine estates in the county. Mr. and Mrs. Scofield are the parents of three children, namely: Theron, Esther and Myrtle, the latter now deceased,
Mr. Scofield has always taken a commendable interest in local public affairs, and has aided materially in the development and growth of the commercial and educational conditions here. He has never sought public preferment, and is deservedly held in the highest esteem by his fellowmen.
Dr. J. A. Andrews, a leading physician of Holdrege, Phelps county, Nebraska, located here in 1903, and has built up a large practice. He has just built a large hospital equipped with all surgical, therapeutical and medical improvements
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