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tion with that company to enter into business for himself. He was chief conductor of the Order of Railroad Conductors in 1900 and 1901, No. 95, for two terms. He was very successful in his work on the railroad, but concluded that western Nebraska had the finest climate and best prospects for advancement of any business enterprise of any part of the country he had yet seen, and decided to enter the business world, so he started in the real estate business, dealing in concrete and cement contracting of all descriptions, in 1905 purchasing a cement plant and organizing the McCook Stone & Cement Company. He enlarged the work by the erection of a new building, and owns the site on which it is located. The capacity of this concern is four hundred blocks daily of the very best material, which is shipped to all parts of western Nebraska. In this business he has an associate, J. O. Hammond. They have had large contracts for cement walks, and have put in about twenty thousand feet in McCook, and the coming year will lay at least sixty thousand feet in this city alone.

     Mr. Bump married Miss Mollie B. Adamson, daughter of Evan Adamson, of Adams Grove, Iowa, one of the earliest settlers in that locality, who came from Tennessee. Mr. and Mrs. Bump have no family. Mr. Bump is a member of the Knights of Pythias. He is a Republican.

      In 1865 Mr. Preston was married to Miss Elizabeth Shaw, born in Iowa in 1845, and in 1880 she died, leaving three children - William, May and Minnie - all of whom are now living. In 1883 our subject married Miss Della Witherbe, born in 1857 in Michigan and raised in Nebraska since she was ten years old. Her father, Francis Witherbe, now lives in the Black Hills, at Custer, South Dakota. Four children were born of this union, named as follows:. Maude, Marjory, Frank and Anna, all born and raised in this locality except Maude, who was born in David City, Butler county, Nebraska.

     After the war closed Mr. Preston moved to Iowa, farming it there for two years, and in 1867 settled in Butler county, Nebraska when antelope were running where Lincoln now stands. Here he farmed it for sixteen years, going through even harder times than he ever saw in Sheridan county, being many miles from a railroad for several years. In 1885 he struck out for Sheridan county, driving the distance with team and wagon. Having very little capital to start with, he pre-empted on southeast section 35, township 31, range 43, which he still owned and lived on. Afterwards he proved up on a Kincaid homestead. After farming for nine years he ran out of seed and quit, then commenced stock buying and raising stock.

     Mr. Preston owned eleven hundred and twenty acres, farming about one hundred and forty acres and using the balance for hay and grazing, running about eighty to one hundred and fifty head of stock. He was constantly improving his ranch and had he started in the cattle trade earlier instead of farming he said he would have been much better off. At the time he started in Butler county his only capital was a team, wagon and one dollar and fifty cents, and here he experienced his hardest times, being compelled to go forty miles from home, where he obtained a job husking corn, for which he received every seventh bushel, and from the sale of this he managed to support his family. In view of this, Mr. Preston was well satisfied with what he accomplished, and declared he would not live anywhere except on the frontier.

     In 1894 he visited Iowa and saw all the old friends there, but could not be prevailed upon to stay for more than two nights, as he said "it was too thickly settled for him." Mr. Preston departed this life the 4th day of April, 1908, near the age of sixty-six years, leaving a wife and four children to mourn the loss of a true and affectionate husband and father.

     In political faith Mr. Preston was a Republican. On another page is presented a picture from an old photograph showing Mr. Preston's property.

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men who have made them are among the bright and wide-awake Americans who put their mark anywhere with their name as the sign of achievement Among the men who do and dare, and have redeemed this part of the state from the wilderness, is the gentleman whose name introduces this article, and is a prominent figure at Newport and indeed throughout Rock county.

     Mr. Smith was born in Branch county, Michigan, January 1, 1863, a son of Calbert R. and Lucille (Dickenson) Smith, both descendants of long established American families. The father was a farmer and was born and reared in the state of New York, of which state his parents were also natives. C. R. Smith was the father of nine children, of whom the subject of this article was sixth in the order of birth. He lived many years in Branch county, and here his family was mainly educated and prepared for the work of life.

     When Milton E. Smith had reached the age of twenty-two years he left home and struck out into the world to care for himself. From the time he was twenty he taught school until he was twenty-five years of age, and won a very favorable reputation as a teacher. However, the school room was not to be his permanent field of labor, as we find him in 1887 going to the Black Hills in South Dakota as a civil engineer in the employ of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railway, and remained in the service of that corporation for some three years. For nearly a year and a half he was engaged in office work for the railroad in the Black Hills, and spent about a year in doing construction work, operating from Whitewood, South Dakota. It was in the spring of 1893 that Mr. Smith came to Newport prepared to grapple with the problems of business in the awakening community. He saw the possibilities of the town and county, and was ready to take part in any laudable enterprise that might open to him. His brother, A. O. Smith, had established a general store some years before, in which our subject had been interested from the start. Its rapid growth and development seemed to demand the presence of both brothers, and accordingly he came to the city, and when A. O. was elected county treasurer in 1895, Milton B. took full charge of the store. The building in which this enterprise has been carried on is sixty by seventy feet, and almost everything demanded in the county trade is handled here except dry goods and groceries. Especially full stocks of farm supplies, furniture and undertaking are carried, and the store commands a wide trade. Their two-story warehouse, forty by eighty feet, is stored with surplus stock to supply their extensive trade.

     Milton E. Smith and Miss Cornelia Hudspeth were married January 10, 1891, and to them have come two bright and charming girls - Mildred and Lucille. Mrs. Smith's father, Royal Hudspeth, was a pioneer settler in Rock county, and assisted much in the development of the country. Mr. Smith and his brother have taken a very active interest in whatever has to do with the general welfare of the community, and outside of their investments at Newport, the Commercial Bank at Bassett is largely under their control. Still young men, they have a bright future before them. The Democratic party has Mr. Smith's unwavering fealty. He fraternizes with the Bassett lodge of Masons, the Odd Fellows and Workmen of Newport and the Elks of Norfolk,

     Our subject was born in east Prussia, Germany, in 1852, and was reared in his native land, enjoying very good educational advantages. He learned the baker's trade, which he followed for fifteen years, and during that time he traveled a great deal.

     Charles F. Reinert was married in Germany, September 26, 1879, to Fredericka Long, daughter of Ferdinand and Mary (Bring) Long. Her parents lived in the city of Loitz, where she was reared and educated. Mr. and Mrs. Reinert have four children - Oscar, Emma, and Richard and Freda, twins.

     In 1882 our subject and family came to America, living in New York city for some time and from thence moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where they resided for eight years, Mr. Reinert being in the employ of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company. In 1890 the lure of the west came upon them and they moved to Nebraska, settling on a tree claim on Schull creek, Rock county, Nebraska, where they lived for eleven years. They then proved up and sold out. Their first dwelling was a sod shanty, but they have built up a good home and farm and have it well improved. In the fall of 1901 Mr. Reinert

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came to his present location and settled on an unimproved homestead on the Calamus river, fourteen miles from Burwell. He has three hundred and twenty acres of land, with about one hundred acres under cultivation. He has quite a number of good buildings, a stone barn twenty-eight by fifty feet. twelve feet high, a horse barn twenty-four by forty feet, and a hog shed twenty by fifty feet; also three wells and windmills. The farm is fenced and cross-fenced in excellent shape and everything is up-to-date in all respects. Mr. Reinert takes particular pains in raising hogs and has been quite successful. He is also quite extensively engaged in the creamery business; and makes a fine income from that branch of his business.

     Charles F. Reinert is prominent among the old settlers and is respected as a man who has done his part in adding to the material development of the community in which he lives.

     On one of the illustrated pages will be found a group portrait showing the family and residence.

     John Oldershaw was born in Lincolnshire, England, August 5, 1852, a son of Burrell and Elizabeth (Lowe) Oldershaw. He grew up there, following the usual occupations of the middle classes, receiving a limited schooling, and at the age of thirty years left his native land for the United States, sailing from Liverpool on the "City of Richmond." After a voyage of twelve days he landed in New York in 1882. He came directly west, spending a year in Kearney, Buffalo county, Nebraska, then came on to Cheyenne county. He had followed farming in England, working with his father; he therefore decided to engage in that vocation here, and started to work on the M. M. Fitch ranch, remaining for six months; then, securing a position with the Union Pacific Railroad Company as car repairer, in the Sidney shops. He was with that company for about eighteen years. He purchased a quarter section of land in section 30, township 15, range 50, during this time. This he sold. He came to his present location in 1904, filing on a homestead in section 6. township 14, range 50, which is now his ranch home, containing three hundred and twenty acres.

     Mr. Oldershaw has about fifty acres under cultivation, and runs quite a herd of stock. He has a set of good farm buildings, and is one of the progressive and up-to-date farmers and ranchmen of his section.

     On the 22d day of February, 1882, prior to his sailing for the new world, Mr. Oldershaw was married to Miss Suzanna Edis, a daughter of Thomas Holland and Sarah (Cornor) Edis, the former a carpenter by trade. Mrs. Oldershaw is also a native of England, where her mother still resides. Her father and both her husband's parents died there within the past few years. Mr. and Mrs. Oldershaw have a family of three daughters, namely: Jennie, now a teacher in the public schools at Potter, Nebraska; Edith and Minnie are graduates of the Sidney high school, class of 1908. The former is teaching near Potter and the latter taking a post-graduate course to finish the twelfth grade.

     Mr. Oldershaw has always taken a commendable interest in local affairs, and in political views he is an Independent. The family are all communicants of the Episcopal church. Mr. Oldershaw affiliates with the Modern Woodmen of America, while his estimable wife holds membership in the Royal Neighbors.

     Mr. Coffman was born in Mahaska county, Iowa, in 1857. His father, John, of German stock, was a native of Indiana, and his mother was Jane Campbell, of Yankee stock, raised in the east. When William was twenty years old he came to Clay county, Nebraska, where he lived for three years, following farming, and from there went to Missouri and Iowa, where he spent about a year, mostly on a visit. He then returned to Clay county, Nebraska, and remained three more years. He then came to Thedford in 1887 and took up his present ranch as a homestead, which is situ-

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ated on section 10. township 24, range 27. which was entirely unimproved land. He had but a very limited amount of cash to start his farm, and almost his entire start amounted to one horse and an ox team. There was no water on the place, and he was obliged to haul his first supply a distance of two and a half miles. He broke up land for his crops with his ox team, and was able to raise a little grain and a few vegetables during the first summer, and for several years went through very hard times. Two seasons his crops were a total failure, and during those times there was nothing to be seen for miles around except dry grass and sand hills. Mrs. Coffman states that she distinctly remembers when the sand hills were absolutely bare of any grass or hay, and it was only in the low wet places that one could see any signs of verdure. However, they went to work with a will, never giving up courage, but constantly added improvements little by little, and finally succeeded in raising good crops, also got together some stock and were able to lay by little money, the family having three Kincaid homesteads adjoining their father's original homestead, and at present the ranch consists of twenty-four hundred acres, all fenced in good shape, plenty of timber, fruit and shade trees, etc., and there is a good supply of water from wells which are supplied with windmills. The ranch has a comfortable house and good buildings of every description, and is one of the most valuable estates in the county.

     Mr. Coffman was married in 1878 at Hastings, Nebraska, to Miss Marintha J. Barnes, daughter of Anath Barnes, a well known pioneer farmer of western Nebraska. Five children were born to them, namely: Edward, Anath, Francis, Cecil and Arnim. Edward and Anath are both owners of fine homesteads in this vicinity. During 1907 the family suffered a serious fire loss, the fire consuming a considerable amount of hay, etc., amounting to three or four hundred dollars.

      Mr. Coffman is counted among the earliest settlers of Thomas county. He went through all the pioneer times, watching the growth and development of the locality into its present state of fertility and progress. and himself took an important. part in this success. Besides his farm and ranching interests he owned considerable property in Thedford, and during the school sessions his children occupy one of his residences in that city. For a number of years prior to his demise.

     Mr. Coffman was active in local affairs, serving as county commissioner for two terms, also was sheriff for one term. He was elected district assessor and held the office for five years. In politics he was a stanch Democrat and attended numerous conventions as a delegate. His death was a severe loss to the community, as he always stood bravely for the right and never shirked a duty as a good citizen and sympathetic neighbor.

     He is now breeding thirty mares to imported Spanish jack "Lissido," and has two young jacks from this sire. He has a number of jennies that have taken first prize at the Nebraska State Fair, also sweepstakes. These were bred in Kentucky. He has a fine drove of pure-bred Duroc Jersey hogs, twenty-five in number, and has some splendid animals, selling them right along to the best breeders in this part of the state. Our subject has invented a chute for use in dehorning cattle, on which he dehorned, with a saw, seventy-seven animals in one hour, beating the world's rec-
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ord by twenty-five. He is now placing this device on the market and expects to make a good thing out of it.

     His father, G. W. Wineland. was a pioneer of Lancaster county, this state, a breeder of standard bred horses for many years, now retired, and a member of the city council at Lincoln. He came from Lenawee county, Michigan, and is a veteran of the Civil war, enlisting in Company K, One Hundred and Thirty-ninth Indiana Infantry, serving all through the war. Our subject's grandfather was a soldier in the War of 1812 and was with Perry in the Lake Erie victory. G. W. Wineland married Luella Lowe, whose grandfather, Captain Lowe, belonged to the New York troops. In 1892 Mr. Wineland married Miss Ethel Lowe, of Custer county, Nebraska, daughter of B. W. and Edith (Gaylor) Lowe, who came to that county from Lenawee county, Michigan, and settled on a ranch. Mrs. Wineland died April 13, 1906, leaving her husband with two children, Harold and Howard, both now attending school.

     Thomas B. Miller was born in Delaware county, Indiana, September 26, 1859. His father, Harvey Miller, was born in the Shenandoah valley, in Virginia, on a farm adjoining the home of General Robert F. Lee. Abraham Miller, the grandfather of the subject of our sketch, owned this adjoining farm and was a personal friend and neighbor of General Lee. Abraham Miller's father was George Miller, a native of Germany. Thomas B. Miller's mother was Jane Moffett, born at Moffett, Tennessee, which town was named after her father, and Mr. Miller's great-grandmother was Mary Donaldson, a native of Ireland, County Armagh. Thomas B. Miller's parents were pioneer settlers of Indiana and lived about a mile and a half from the village of Alexandria, where Thomas B. attended high school.

     October 31, 1878, at Alexandria, Indiana, Mr. Miller was united in marriage with Miss Emma M. Perry, daughter of Aaron Perry, who was a blacksmith and contractor. Her mother was Sarah (Howard) Perry. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Miller has been blessed with ten children, three of whom are dead. Those living are: George W., Mary M., married and living in Indiana; Harvey L., a farmer in Blaine county; Ethel, married and a resident of Blaine county, Nebraska, in which she was the first-born white female child; Thomas Radle, Joy F. and Timothy C.

     Thomas B. Miller followed the occupation of farming in Indiana for a few years, living close to the old Erie canal. In the spring of 1885 he came west into Nebraska as far as the end of the railroad at North Loup. He then, in company with Bill Stevens, an old settler, went by team to Taylor, and then rode up the river in company with A. J. Robinault, and filed on a homestead and timber claim in Blaine county, Nebraska. He built a sod house and a sod barn and then for ten or twelve years engaged in freighting from North Loup, Ord, Broken Bow and Dunning. He took a construction contract in 1886 on the new line of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad west of Dunning. Mr. Miller had a great amount of business on his hands in those days and camped out with his work in both winter and summer. He relates about getting lost one cold night when they had to stop and camp: the teams got rest, but he and his men had to run about on the prairie till sunup to keep warm.

     The years of drouth were very severe on Mr. Miller and he lost a great deal of money during that time, but better days dawned and great energy and perseverance won at last. Mr. Miller proved up on his homestead and timber claim. In 1892 he bought the farm of three hundred and twenty acres where he now lives and he has added very thorough and complete improvements. There is a fine grove of trees and the place is fenced and cross fenced, and in 1904 Mr. Miller built a fine brick home and later, in 1906, constructed a large barn. He keeps about one hundred and thirty-five acres under cultivation, the balance of the farm being used for pasture, as his principal attention is given to stock raising.

     Mr. Miller has been closely identified with all the public movements in his community and has always taken an active part in political matters. He has held the office of justice of the peace, and in early days was chairman of the association formed for the purpose of preventing the organization of Blaine county. Mrs. Miller is postmistress of Moulton postoffice, which is located on her husbands farm.

     For years Mr. Miller was engaged in raising thoroughbred Hereford cattle for purely beef purposes. But as the country settled up and the cattle ranges became more confined, Mr. Miller could see that the farmers and

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ranchmen must adopt other kinds of stock. He argued that the milk strain of cattle must be introduced so that milk and cream could be made a source of income from the more confined grazing. Mr. Miller sold off all his beef breed of Herefords and has shipped in the first and largest herd of Holstein cattle ever brought into the county.

     The Holstein cattle hold the best record for milk and butter producers of any breed. The returns from each individual animal is the best of any breed. Mr. Miller has a fine herd of registered Holstein cattle and will soon have many such milch cows and stock to sell. On another page will be found an interesting picture showing some of Mr. Miller's property.

     Mr. Bates was born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1877, and is the son of John M. and Sarah (Glazier) Bates. both descendants from New England families, who took part in the Revolutionary war. The father, a clergyman of the Episcopal church, is one of the pioneers of northwestern Nebraska, and is well known and is highly respected all over this part of the country. His first service in this part of the state was in 1887. when as a missionary he traveled a distance of three hundred miles along this line of the railroad then under construction.

     Mr. Bates and family came to Kansas in 1883, and later moved to Nebraska, where Luke was educated, finishing at the academy at Kearney, Nebraska. In 1899 he graduated from the law department of the University of Nebraska and was admitted to the bar of the supreme court in the same year. He at once located at Long Pine and began the practice of law, at which he engaged in 1906, when in February he was appointed register of the United States land office at Valentine, assuming the duties of office in March.

     From 1899 to 1905 Mr. Bates was editor of the Long Pine Journal, which he made felt in the political arena of western Nebraska. In 1900 he was elected attorney of Brown county, which office he efficiently filled two years, and in 1906 was elected county commissioner, but resigned to accept his present office under federal appointment.

     In 1902 Mr. Bates was married to Miss Odessa Kiner, whose father, S. H. Kiner, is a prominent old-timer in Long Pine. One daughter, Helen, has been born to them, and a son, John M. Both Mr. and Mrs. Bates are members of the Episcopal church. Mr. Bates is on the rolls of the legal fraternity, Phi Delta Phi.

     Mr. Phillips is a native of Lake county, Indiana, born in 1853. His father, George P. Phillips, settled in Indiana September 15, 1836, and lived on the same farm up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1893, aged eighty-one years. He was born in Meadville, Erie county, Pennsylvania, December 13, 1821, and was raised in New York. Our subject's mother prior to her marriage, which occurred March 11, 1849, was Miss Eleanore Van Valkenburg, of near Sing Sing, New York, her parents being old settlers who came from Holland in the early days. Mr. Phillips first came to Nebraska in 1878 and settled in Adams county in March. His next move was to Kearney county in 1881, and he bought one hundred and sixty acres of railway land in Lincoln township, where he built a house and farmed up to 1899, and had added to his holdings until he owned three hundred and twenty acres of good land, well improved with good buildings, and stocked up in good shape with horses, cattle and hogs. He also engaged in grain raising and his wheat yield ran as high as thirty bushels to the acre, with corn up to fifty bushels per acre, which shows that banner crops can be raised on this soil. He considers this is one of the best farming counties he ever saw, as the soil is easy to work, there are no stumps or stones, and one man can do as much work here as two or three can do in Indiana.

     Mr. Phillips was married in 1883 to Miss Theresa Lavina Franklin, who was born in 1868 in North Carolina. She is a daughter of J. T. Franklin, a southern gentleman, who came north after the war, and also served in the United States army during the war. Mr. and Mrs. Phillips have three children, named as follows: Bertha, George and Mabel.

     Mr. Phillips takes an active interest in all local and county affairs, and is thoroughly up-to-date in his opinions regarding matters of

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importance. He was supervisor of Lincoln township for two years, and served on the county board for some time. He was also justice of the peace for three terms, a member of the school board for a long time, and treasurer for seven years. In political faith he is an independent voter.

     William H. Zimmerman was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, in 1848. on a farm. His father, Samuel, was of German descent, a miller by trade, and the family spent quite a long time in Bedford county. Pennsylvania, where our subject grew up. He learned the miller's trade as a boy and worked at it for several years, also was on the public works for a time at Riddleburg Furnace, Pennsylvania. In 1885 he left the east and came to Nebraska, locating in Sioux county, teaming from Blair, camping out during the journey, and finally picking out a homestead on section 27, township 33, range 55. During the first years he followed railroad work in South Dakota and to the west of Chadron, also helped build the Chadron roundhouse. Finally with his family he settled on his farm permanently, erecting a good log house and adding improvements as he was able, and has of late erected a fine frame residence, modern and up-to-date. He worked his farm during the summers, and for five winters worked in the coal mines in Wyoming in order to lay by a little money. When the dry years came along he suffered severe losses from crop failures, and finally gave up trying to farm, working into the stock business, and from that time on met with better success. He has built up a splendid ranch, consisting of eleven hundred and sixty acres, having plenty of good pasture range and hay land for his cattle, Sow Bellie creek running through the place. He has about seventy-five acres irrigated and raises good crops of small grain, etc.

      In 1873 Mr. Zimmerman was married to Miss Maggie A. Snyder in Bedford county. Pennsylvania, whose father, Adam, was a farmer in that vicinity, and she was raised there. Eight children have resulted from this union - George E. (deceased), Myrtle, Samuel I., Lillie, Eli D., Emery E., Clarence S. and Grover C.

     Since locating in this region the family has experienced all the joys and sorrows of pioneer life in the west, and have seen much suffering and privation. One incident in particular occurred in the year 1895, when the roof of their house was blown off during a windstorm, taking away the entire upstairs of their house. Mr. Zimmerman has done his share in the upbuilding of the locality, and aided materially in establishing the schools there. He has held the office of precinct assessor for five years. Politically he is a Democrat, and an earnest worker for party principles.

     Mr. Roberts was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, where he was reared and educated. Our subject came to Holdrege in the fall of 1883, at the time the town was first started, and at once engaged in the contracting business, at which he has worked ever since. He has erected all of the finest buildings here, and put up the last school building, the high school, costing twenty-three thousand dollars; also the Johnson store building, the Nelson block, the City National Bank and First National Bank, the Hampton Hotel and nearly all of the brick buildings in the business section of the city. He has built most of the finest residence buildings in Holdrege, and his work wherever found is of the best, and is greatly admired by all who view it. He uses the best material in the construction of all his work, and through his honesty and integrity has won the confidence and esteem of all with whom he has had dealings.

     For the past eighteen years Mr. Roberts has been chiarman (sic) of the county board. eight has been a member of the city council for eight years. and president of that body several terms He also has been a member of the, school board for fifteen years, ever since the city was first organized, and resigned some time ago. He was a candidate for the state legislature in 1906 and elected to represent Phelps county on the Republican ticket.

     Mr. Roberts was married to Miss Mary Child. They have a family of children named

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as follows: Reynold, who served in the First Nebraska regiment during the war with the Philippines, corporal in Company I, and after the war went back there as a teacher, residing near Manila; Arthur, who was in the United States army, and is at present in the Philippines, connected with a railway company, there; Ray, residing at Boise City, Idaho; May, living at home. The family are members of the Congregational church and earnest workers for that faith.

     Mr. Raum was born in the town of Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, in 1847. His father, J. A. Raum, was a farmer and hotel keeper, of American stock, from one of the oldest American families. He married Miss Mary Bailey, also of good old American blood, born at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Both parents' ancestors fought in the early American wars, and their names figure prominently in the history of the earlier days.

     Our subject served in the Civil war with Company D, Second Pennsylvania regiment. He received a severe wound at the battle of Cold Harbor, June 2, 1864, and was discharged from the army on November 2, of that year on acount (sic) of disability. During his career as a soldier he fought with his regiment at the battle of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, and was also in the army of the Potomac.

      After leaving the war Mr. Raum returned to his native state and worked on the railroad as a fireman and engineer for the following seven years. In 1876 he came to Nebraska, settling in Lancaster county, where he took up a homestead and pioneered there for several years. He next moved to Frontier county, where he farmed for three years, then to Sioux county, landing here October 1, 1881, driving from Frontier county with a team and wagon containing his household goods. He first settled on government land and started to build up a farm, remaining there for three years. Soon afterwards he settled on his present farm, in section 23, township 32, range 53, being nine miles northwest of Crawford, where he has lived for many years, engaged extensively in stock raising and farming. His ranch contains nine hundred acres, the place being well supplied with timber, plenty of good running water the year round, and good soil.

     Mr. Raum was united in marriage in October, 1872, to Miss Virginia Ross, whose father, James R. Ross, was an old settler in Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Raum are the parents of five children, namely: William, Clarence, Edwin, Henry and Mabel.

     Mr. Raum is one of the leading public-spirited citizens of his locality, and takes a prominent part in local and county affairs. He has served as county clerk of Sioux county for four years, and represented his county as delegate to different state conventions. In political views he is a Democrat.

     Mr. Allen was born in Coles county, Illinois, May 23, 1869, a son of Francis W. and Matilda J. (Gardner) Allen. Both the Allens and the Gardners belong to good American lineage, and count among their forebears some honored men who have done the country good service. Francis W. Allen devoted his life to farming, and was a pioneer settler in Kansas, migrating to Cowley county in 1882. Our subject was the second child in a family of four children born to his parents.

     William H. Allen was partially reared and educated in Kansas, whither his parents removed as before stated. In 1891 he left home to care for himself, and the following year opened a wholesale hay business in Newport, Nebraska, being among the very first to take up this line of trade. He had so little money that he was able to do business only on the closest margin. His business, however, rapidly assumed large proportions, and it was found that he was handling more hay than almost any man on the market and up to the present time his patronage has been equal to the occasion as the output has increased.

© 2001 NEGenWeb Project Resource Center, Marilyn J. Estrada, T&C Miller