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is extensively engaged in the stock raising and farming business.

     Magnus Johanson is prominent in local affairs, and has done much to forward the interests of his township. He is at present acting as moderator of school district No. 12. He is a staunch Republican.

     The subject of this review, since April, 1906, has been associated in business with her husband, J. M. Doyle, proprietor of the Washington Hotel, at Holdrege, Nebraska. Mrs. Doyle was formerly the wife of F. D. Traverse, of Holdrege, and came to Holdrege from Pennsylvania, in 1880. She was at that time the widow of Jesse Evans, and the mother of one child, Henry Evans, now residing at Seattle, Washington, a successful builder and contractor of that place.

     Mrs. Doyle is a native of Wayne county, Pennsylvania, born near the town of Sherman in 1853. and is a daughter of Henry and Margaret (Bush) Jayne, the latter at present residing in Prairie township, hale and hearty at the age of eighty-three years. The Jayne family came from England, settling in Long Island in 1660, and Henry Jayne had four great uncles, who fought in the Revolutionary war: Colonel William Jayne, on Washington's staff; Captain Timothy Jayne, who had forty-nine members of the Jayne family in his company of soldiers, all relatives, and all were captured at Fort Washington, only eighteen of whom returned, the others having died on the Jersey prison ship. Henry Jayne's father, Benarah Jayne, was in the war of 1812, and he himself served in the Civil war. Mrs. Doyle has one brother, Benjamin Jayne, of Goodland. Kansas, and two sisters, Mrs. Ella Dohson, of Holdrege, and Anna B. Scott, of Omaha.

     Upon coming to Phelps county Mrs. Doyle took up a homestead, and at present is the owner of several fine farms in this vicinity, and since taking her first homestead she has been constantly engaged in farming operations, and has bought and sold farms and residences, always with a profit, and is a shrewd business woman. Prior to her marriage to Mr. Traverse, which took place in 1887, and since his death, in 1892, she was sole manager of her large interests. She bears testimony to the fact that her son, Henry. when only a boy, became a great help to her, and later was very successful in managing farms and raising stock, also in feeding and buying and selling stock of all kinds. Prior to his locating in Seattle, he was married to Miss Hattie Rowland, of Dubuque, Iowa, a niece of George Rowland, of Industry township. F. D. Traverse came to Holdrege in 1884, and for four years served as postmaster under President Cleveland. He was county treasurer for two years, from 1890 to 1892 inclusive, and was engaged in the real estate and loan and insurance business, and gained a reputation as being one of the best business men here, always in the front rank of those who work for the upbuilding of Holdrege, and the development of this county. He was one of the "pushers" along all lines, an active member of the Democratic party, and his popularity was demonstrated by the fact that with only four hundred Democrats in Phelps county to one thousand eight hundred Republicans, he was elected treasurer, irrespective of party lines. He was a Mason, an active member in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and was one of the organizers who also helped to build the Presbyterian church of Holdrege. He was proprietor of several fine farms, and personally operated and managed three hundred and twenty acres in Lake township, of which he was half owner. He was very successful in these lines, and after his death his widow sold cattle to the amount of $4,000 which he had on these farms. His success in grain raising was equally pronounced, and he was a successful farmer and business man in every sense. He left a family of two children, namely: Margaret, married B. C. Baker, of Holdrege, a prominent piano dealer; and Frank D. Traverse, attending school at Holdrege.

     In 1905 our subject was married to J. M. Doyle, well known all over the state, having been in the real estate, insurance and mercantile business for over twenty years, in Lincoln, Hastings and Alexandria. Mr. and Mrs. Doyle made a success of the hotel business, and run a first-class house patronized by only the best people.

     Our subject is one of the best agriculturists in this locality, having in one year cleared $1,879.25 from one hundred acres, hiring all the help in operating this land.

     Mrs. Doyle is a prominent member of the Baptist church of Holdrege, and was one of the organizers of the church, and is an earnest worker in its interest. She is most successful in raising funds for its support, and devotes much of her time to the work of the upbuilding of the locality in which she chose her home. She is a very estimable lady, and enjoys a host of warm friends and acquaintances.

     J. H. Clearman, of Minden, Kearney county, is prominently known as a successful and prosperous business man and worthy citizen of his locality. Mr. Clearman is proprietor of the New

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York department store in Minden, with branches at Norman and Keene, both in Kearney county.

     Mr. Clearman was born in 1859 at Springfield, Missouri. He came to Nebraska in 1884, locating at Sutton, where he was in business for many years. He then had branch stores at York, Harvard, Stanton, Upland, Clay Center, Hartwell, Wilcox, Keene, Norman, Chester and other points, and was very successful in his management of his large enterprises. He is a man who attends strictly to his business matters, and is thoroughly up-to-date in all his methods, and a hustler. His main store at Minden is a fine brick building forty-four by one hundred and forty-four, which he built in 1900. This has a full size basement, and the whole building is devoted to salesroom space. It is a modern, up-to-date store in every way, and he carries a full line of general merchandise. He has an immense trade steadily spreading out, now extending all over Kearney and the adjoining counties, and is favorably known by everyone in this section for his strict honesty in all business dealings. Both Bradstreet and Dun's give him the credit of being the only man to manage branch stores successfully all through the hard times of the past several years, and during the different panics that occasionally swept over the country. He operates on a strictly cash basis, and is a merchant and not a banker, being willing that the banks should carry the people's paper and accounts, but he only buys and sells for cash at the right prices. He is a great believer in the opportunities of Nebraska as a money-making state, and besides his residence and business property in Minden he owns an eight-hundred-acre ranch in Lincoln county. also other farm lands in different parts of Nebraska.

     Mr. Clearman was married in 1884 to Miss Hattie Morgan, daughter of D. Morgan, a retired merchant and capitalist of Minden, and Mrs. Clearman assists her husband in the management of his mercantile affairs, and he realizes that this constant association and confidence and help are important factors in his success.

     Mr. Clearman does not take a pronounced part in public affairs as an office seeker, but only as a citizen who is interested in the upbuilding of the state that has been his home for the past twenty-four years.

     The gentleman whose name heads this review is one of the prosperous agriculturists of Sheridan county, where he has a valuable estate and pleasant home. Mr. Strong is a native of Jefferson county, Iowa, born in 1849, near Fairfield. When he was two years old his parents moved to Lucas county, Iowa, and here he was raised on a farm until he was twenty. His father, Thomas L. Strong, was of Scotch-Irish descent, born and raised in Ohio. He was the first settler in his precinct in Lucas county, and built the first school house in that locality, which was named "The Strong School," and still bears that name. There were six children in his father's family, of whom he was the second member, and he remained at home up to 1869, then began working out on farms by the month, and continued at this for about five years. He then rented a farm and started in for himself and followed farming in Iowa for eighteen years, but never made much money at it, so in 1893 he decided to go where he could get free land, and came to the state of Nebraska. His first location was seven miles west of section 25, township 24, range 44, his present home, and here he tried farming, remaining on that place for seven years, and at the end of that time was poorer than when he came here. He kept a few head of stock, and this helped him out some, but he could not make any money at mixed farming, as the land was sandy, and when the dry time came on it blew out and took the crops along with it. In 1900 he sold that farm and bought his present home of one hundred and sixty acres. Nearly one hundred acres of this is good hayland, and here he went into the stock business. He had some seventy head of stock when he took this farm, and engaged exclusively in the stock raising business, and never had tried farming here. He soon afterwards took an additional four hundred and eighty acres, all of this being range land, and besides this leases the same number of acres of school land. His children also have a homestead which is located near his place, so he has plenty of hay and pasture land for his stock, and handles about two hundred head, doing all of the work of caring for this himself, except in haying time, and then is obliged to hire outside help. Mr. Strong is satisfied that he has done splendidly here, and much better than had he stayed in Iowa on rented land, but had he bought land there and held it for a raise, he might have made a good thing of it. When he first struck Nebraska he did not have much capital, and made a big mistake in trying to farm, but he had always followed that work and did not like to give it up, and in fact, likes it much better than stock raising, and may at some future time sell out his present range and buy a good farm.

     In 1874 Mr. Strong was married to Miss Lorinda Wyland, a native of Elkhart county, Indiana. Her father, Israel Wyland, was of

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