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Custer county and settled on government land. His first building was a sod shanty without a floor. He took with him a team and two cows, which was his start on that place, and these were his sole possessions with the exception of some farm implements. The nearest railroad point from his claim was Grand Island, a distance of seventy-five miles. He went through hard times in getting started, meeting with many discouragements, and finally sold the place and moved to Cheyenne county, driving to his new location with his team and a covered wagon, taking his cows and household goods with him. There he first tried mixed farming and stock raising, and again went through pioneer experiences. His nearest trading point and railroad station was Hay Springs, and he has the distinction of having shipped the first carload of goods into the town of Alliance, which town had just been started at that time. He remained upon that place up to 1901, and made a success of the undertaking, improving it in fine shape, and building up a good home. He sold out his rights there and then moved to his present location, which was a fully improved ranch. This is located in section 31, township 24, range 48, and is situated nine miles from the town of Alliance. The place contains eight quarter sections, all deeded land, and, besides this, he leases twelve quarters, all of which is fenced and cross fenced, and supplied with every improvement, good buildings, etc. This ranch is well stocked with cattle, and he is also engaged in farming, having about one hundred and sixty acres under cultivation.

     Mr. Phillips was married September 14, 1871, while living in Pennsylvania, to Miss Maggie Fox, daughter of Michael Fox, a native of Germany, who emigrated to America when a young man and settled in Pennsylvania, and there followed farming all his life. He married Elizabeth Sommers, born in England, and Mrs. Phillips spent her girlhood in her native state, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Phillips are the parents of fourteen children, who are named as follows: Minnie, Theodore, Lillie, George, Amy, Maggie, Annie, Charles, Pearl, Ethel, Frank, Walter, Elsie and Clarence. They form a very interesting family group and those still living at home assist their parents in running the ranch. The family have a pleasant home and enjoy a large circle of warm friends and congenial neighbors.

     Our subject is a well read, intelligent man, Of superior attainments, who keeps well abreast of the times, taking an active interest in local affairs of importance.

     Albert Lowe, one of the best known and most influential citizens of Keya Paha county, Nebraska, resides on his vast estate in Pine precinct. He has devoted many years of his life to farming and has met with the greatest success in the work, and he has done more than any other one man to develop this county and promote its interests in every way.

     Mr. Lowe was born in Iowa county, Wisconsin, July 18, 1833, reared and educated on a farm, where he saw plenty of hard work from the time he was a small boy assisting his father in grubbing and clearing his place there. The latter was of English parentage, born on Prince Edward Island, who came to the states at the age of twelve years, following farming all his life. When our subject was eighteen months old his mother, who was Annie Adams, died, and he remained with his father until he was twelve, then started out for himself, working on farms in the vicinity of their home for four years. He then bought land from the Chicago & Northwestern railway, located in Craword county, Iowa, and farmed there for six years. This land cost him eight dollars and eighty cents per acre, on ten years' time, and he made quite a little money on the place, clearing about six-thousand dollars in the six years. He next came to Keya Paha county, locating on a homestead on section 14, township 33, range 19, and this is his present home. He first built a log house and lived in it for five years, then put up a sod house and "batched it" for twelve years. When he first came here there was only one house in what is now Mills, and one at Carns, and his nearest neighbor was miles away. He kept buying land before the dry years came on, and sowed it to rye, and cleared eighty-six cents a bushel on his home place of one hundred and sixty acres. He has never had a total failure of crops, and assisted others, taking county warrants for grain furnished to men needing aid in the hard times. Mr. Lowe now has a farm of six thousand acres, all fine farming land, and cultivates one thousand acres, using the balance for hay and pasture. He also has ninety acres of alfalfa, and gets an immense crop of this grass each season. Twelve hundred and forty acres of his farm is medium low land and the drouths never affect this. He is the largest grain farmer in the county, and farms more than any three men in this county, and in addition to this deals quite extensively in stock, running from five hundred to six hundred cattle, and forty head of horses. He has set out a large num-

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ber of trees on his farm, and in all has about forty acres of forest and fruit trees. His pastures are immense, one containing six sections and another four sections, and in all has thirty miles of fence on his ranch, so that he does not have to herd his stock. His farm is the best improved and most valuable of any in Keya Paha county, and every appointment of the place shows the best of care, and good management in its operation.

     On Christmas day, 1890, our subject was married to Miss Matilda Schultz, whose parents were early settlers in Keya Paha county, coming here from Hamilton county in 1884. Mr. and Mrs. Lowe have three children, namely: Henry, Vernie and Ferne, all living at home.

     Politically Mr. Lowe is a Republican, but has never had the time to devote to taking an active part in politics.

     While the gentleman whose name heads this review is one of the new comers to Cheyenne county, Nebraska, he is rapidly becoming known as a man of active public spirit and manifests a truly commendable interest in the welfare of his community. Mr. Babb is a nephew of Steve Babb, well known in this locality, also a nephew of Henry Weilman, who is an old-timer in the region, and from whom our subject purchased his present ranch.

     David E. Babb is a native of Pottawatomie county, Iowa, where he was born January 12, 1869, and reared. During his boyhood he followed farming, receiving a good education, remaining with his parents until he reached manhood, and then farmed for himself, owning a hundred and twenty acres in his native county. He came to Cheyenne county, Nebraska, March 4, 1906. He purchased the four hundred and eighty acres in section 24, township 16, range 49, formerly known as the Old Henry Postoffice. Here he farms about one hundred and forty acres, and uses the balance as hay land and pasture for a large number of cattle and horses. The ranch is well equipped with a good set of buildings, all fenced and finely improved in every way.

     On April 3, 1895, Mr. Babb was married at Atlantic, Iowa, to Miss Laura B. Selders, who was born and reared in the Hawkeye state. The young couple made their home in Iowa until they came to Nebraska. Five children were born to them, who are named as follows: Elsie E., Hazel M., Clarice O., Gladys B. and Roy B. The family have a very pleasant home and are well liked by their neighbors and associates. Mr. Babb is a supporter of Republican principles and in religious matters is liberal, while his wife is an earnest member of the Christian church.

     Dr. Elmer E. Barr, who is numbered among the leading old settlers of western Nebraska, came to that region when it was just being first inhabited by white men, and from its earliest days of civilization he has been an important factor in its growth and development. He owns a nice property in Hyannis, where he carries on a drug business, and also has a wide practice throughout the county and stands high in the medical profession.

     Dr. Barr was born in Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, in 1863, and reared on a farm there. His father, James, was of Scotch-Irish stock, and he married Eliza Long, of Pennsylvania Dutch blood. Our subject remained in his native county up to 1880, then came west, locating at Cedar Falls, Iowa, and remained there for about nine months, then emigrated to Grand Island, Nebraska, settling in Alda. Soon after coming to this state he began teaching in the public schools in Hall county, and followed that occupation for seven years, at the same time taking a course of study the Nebraska State University, having prepared for this by attending the Rush Medical College at Chicago and the State University of Iowa. He graduated from the medical department of the University of Iowa in 1887 and began the practice of his profession, establishing his first office at Benkelman, Dundy county, Nebraska, remaining there for a year, then removed to Stratton, Hitchcock county, Nebraska where he followed his calling for two years. In the fall of 1890 he opened an office at Alliance and lived there for six years, and was appointed assistant surgeon for the Burlington Railway Company, building up a good practice, at the end of that time spending two years in travel.

     He returned to Nebraska in 1899, locating at Whitman, Grant county, where he his profession for five years, then Alliance for a year, and then came Grant county.

     Dr. Barr settled in Hyannis in opened an office, and rapidly built patronage, now extending all over Grant county, also into Cherry and McPherson counties. He has carried on a drug business since locating here, purchasing this store in 1905,

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and carries a complete line of drugs and has one of the best equipped stores in the county.

     On November 27, 1901, Dr. Barr was married to Flora E. Dahlberg, who was born and reared at Creston, Iowa. They have two daughters, Thelma and Genevieve.

     Dr. Barr was an early homesteader in Hooker county, and proved up on a farm there. In political views our subject is a Republican, and has served as coroner of Grant county for several years.

     Michael Wuest is readily accorded a prominent position among the influential and successful old settlers of Keith county, Nebraska. He was born in the town of Grafton, Jersey county, Illinois, November 5, 1860. Our subject's ancestors were of German nativity. His father, Bernhard Wuest, was born in Ober Amt, Rothenberg, Germany, and was a farmer and mason by trade, while his mother, Johanna (Hartman) Wuest, was born in the village of Hirschau, province of Wuertemberg, Germany; they came to America about 1856.

     Our subject was reared on a farm and received his education in the common schools. After he was twenty-one he worked out in Illinois for seven years in Jersey and Greene counties.

     In the fall of 1886, Mr. Wuest was united in wedlock with Miss Louise Egelhoff, also a native of Jersey county, Illinois. She was the daughter of John and Mary (Ocherbauer) Egelhoff, natives of Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Wuest have been the parents of nine children: Adolph Lewis, Carl Henry, Bertha Stella, Wils Frederick, Edward Harry (deceased), Michael Irving, Johanna Lela, August John and Herbert Andy

     In the spring of 1887 Mr. Wuest decided to seek a home in the far west, and came to Nebraska, locating a homestead in section 14, township 12, range 40, in Keith county. He built a good substantial sod house and lived in it for eight or nine years; his first well, one hundred and ninety-eight feet deep, he dug by hand, his wife drawing most of the debris up with a windlass; for the first eight years he had to haul water for stock purposes from one-half to six or seven miles. He used oxen for the first six years and with them broke up a large part of his land. He witnessed all the hard times brought by drouth and other calamities, lost many crops and was sometimes in a seriously low condition, financially. In order to make a living he had to work out a great deal and engaged often as a herder of sheep, receiving one time only fifty cents per day, while the children served as herdsmen to help keep the family in food. But he clung to his farm and at last he made a splendid success and is well established financially. He owns a fine farm of four hundred and eighty acres, cultivating about a half section, sixteen acres of which are in alfalfa, the place is well improved with fences, barns, well, windmill, cistern, and sheds, and has a fine grove of trees started. The new house erected in 1908 has eighteen foot posts, full two stories and is the tallest country house in the county; is the acme of comfort and convenience. He has been very successful in his farming operations and in 1907 threshed more grain than any other farmer in Keith county, the amount being over five thousand bushels.

     Mr. Wuest wields a strong influence among his fellows in the local affairs of his community and is especially interested in school work. He is a Republican in politics and has held the office of assessor, overseer, and justice of the peace. In every way Mr. Wuest is a capable and efficient conservator of the interests and welfare of the people. He is a member of the Ogallala lodge, Modern Woodmen of America, while Mrs. Wuest holds membership in the American Yeoman. They are in religious faith Lutherans.

     A history of Keya Paha county would be incomplete without describing the part taken in its formation and development by the man whose name heads this article, and who was one of the farmers and stockmen of Keya Paha county, living in section 12, township 32, range 22, until the spring of 1908, when he removed to Ainsworth in Brown county. A portrait of Mr. Moore will be found on another page.

     Her parents, John and Ellen Hartman, were also of American descent.

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     Our subject and his father have had the experiences usual to pioneers in a new country. They have seen the labor of a whole season disappear in less than thirty minutes under a swarm of grasshoppers; they have also seen the Texas long horn together with the deer, antelope, elk and wild horse disappear from the prairies of Nebraska.

     They were among the first to introduce alfalfa culture into Keya Paha county and time is beginning to prove its value to the county.

     Both father and son have always been Republican in politics, though neither of them have held office, but both have always tried to upbuild and develop the community in which they have so long resided.

     W. S. Moore, the father of M. E. Moore, was born in Holmes county, Ohio, March 27, 1843. He grew up in his native state and lived there until the breaking out of the Civil war. His parents were of old American stock and he inherited the patriotism for which the American people are noted. When the war came on, he promptly answered the call of his country and enlisted in the Sixteenth Ohio Infantry, and after his enlistment expired, he re-enlisted, this time in the Fourth United States Veteran Regiment under General Hancock. He was engaged in the siege of Vicksburg and several other very important battles, fourteen in all. In all the terrific campaigning in which he was engaged, he never received a wound and was never captured by the enemy although he was stunned by the explosion of a shell and left on the field for dead in one battle. In several of the engagements, his comrades were shot down around him almost like grass before the reaper, and many things can be related about his experience; when he wore the blue for over four years in the greatest war ever known in the civilized world.

     After the war, he went to Missouri, then to Iowa and after returning to his native state two years he moved to Buffalo county, Nebraska, in 1876. He remained in Buffalo county until coming to Keya Paha county in 1883. He was married in 1867 in Holmes county, Ohio, to Miss Samantha Riggs, who was the daughter of Charles Riggs. She was born April 17, 1847. This union was blessed with four children, of whom two are living. He engaged in farming and stock raising in Keya Paha county for twenty-five years, but in the spring of 1998 he sold his fine farm and moved to Ainsworth in Brown county, a few miles from his former home.

     In the death of the gentleman whose name heads this review, Rock county, Nebraska, lost one of its most worthy citizens. For many years he was identified with the financial and agricultural interests of this region, and was one of the potent factors in bringing about the present prosperity enjoyed here. He was a man of good business capacity and sterling character, and proved a worthy citizen and good neighbor.

     Mr. Whiton was born in Connecticut in 1849. His father was of old American stock whose ancestors fought in the Revolutionary war, and figured prominently in the early history of this country. He was a farmer by occupation, and our subject was raised on the home farm where he received a country school education, remaining at home until he reached the age of twenty-one. He then went into the butcher business and followed that employment at Southbridge, Massachusetts, for some time. In 1880 he came west, locating in Missouri where he farmed for four or five years, then went to Kansas and engaged in the stock business, working at this for ten years. He came to Nebraska in 1890, settling in Grant county, where he opened a farm and went into the stock business. He lived there for several years, then came to Bassett in 1900 built the Hotel Whiton, and in connection with this business opened a meat market. He built up a large trade, and became one of business men of the town, aiding in materially in its growth and the advancement of its commercial interests. He was engaged in buying and shipping stock, also fed sheep and hogs, and was one of the largest operators in this line of business in the locality. Mr. Whiton was married in Kansas in 1893 to Miss Helen Martin, who was born in Michigan on a farm. Mr. Whiton died April 12, 1906, at his residence in Bassett, mourned by his family and a large circle of friends, who realized that by the death of Mr. Whiton, the community had lost a man who had taken an active part in the upbuilding of the country; a man who always stood for what was just and right and one of whom it could be truly said, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

     A portrait of Mr. Whiton will be found on another page.

     Charlie K. Miller came to America from Germany, his native land, when he was sixteen years old. He was born in 1863 and he has

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traveled all over the United States engaged in various occupations. His father, Charlie Miller, was a brewer by trade; his mother was Anna (Froster) Miller, and both parents were of German descent.

     The subject of our biography received his first training in Germany and, on coming to America, he made Chicago his headquarters for nearly four years, and from thence he went to Des Moines, Iowa, where he remained for a short time. In 1884 he came to Loup county, Nebraska, and filed on his present homestead June 12. North Loup was the nearest railroad town. Mr. Miller built a sod house and dugout, and his first team was a yoke of oxen. He broke some of his land, set out some trees and otherwise improved his farm, but he had to work out a great deal for years. He has been employed at railroading, mining, etc., and was along the Pacific coast for years.

     In 1905 Mr. Miller settled on his farm for good, making hog-raising his principal business and he is making a splendid success in this line. He has a fine farm of three hundred and sixty acres, with two hundred acres under cultivation; has good buildings, well and windmill, and the trees that he planted years ago have become a fine grove. He intends very soon to contruct [sic] a fine residence.

     Mr. Miller is one of the old settlers and he has made it pay to hold on to his farm. He takes an active part in the affairs of his community and his word is respected as coming from a man of wide and varied business experience. A picture of him will be found on one of the illustration pages of this volume.

     R. R. Greer, whose portrait will be found on another page, is well known throughout western Nebraska as an "old-timer" and prominent business man. He located at Kearney, January 12, 1873, and opened a general store which he operated constantly up to 1889. then sold out and for a time retired from active business. In 1905 he started a dry goods store in the opera house block, which he is developing very successfully. Mr. Greer is a man of sterling character and thorough business principles, held in the highest esteem by his fellows and associates.

     Mr. Greer is a native of Rushville, Schuyler county, Illinois but came west at an early day. In the seventies and eighties "Bob" Greer was a familiar character from the Kansas line to South Dakota, and drew immense trade all this distance from among the pioneer settlers, especially during the settlement of the Republican Valley. He has always been most active in public affairs, both local and state, serving several terms in the city council and as county commissioner. He was appointed by the Governor on the commission to distribute two hundred thousand dollars among the settlers of western Nebraska during the drouth years, and served with this body for one year. Mr. Greer also was deeply interested in agricultural matters, and was a director on the state agricultural board for twelve years, and president of this board for two terms, from 1889 to 1890. He was appointed commissioner general of the Nebraska commission for the World's Fair, and worked at this for eighteen months, preparing most of the exhibits from this state, planning the state building, and other important work for the fair. In 1893 the Democratic state officials demanded his retirement and filled the position by another of their party.

     As an instance of the development and progress of this county, Mr. Greer emphasizes the fact that in the seventies not ten farmers in this region had bank accounts, and now, in 1908, hardly that number in the whole county are without bank accounts.

     Mr. Greer was a delegate to the great Trans-Mississippi convention held at Denver some years ago, that demanded and obtained from Congress a grant of over six million dollars for the improvement of the Galveston harbor, and he has always taken a great interest in the development and welfare of that part of Texas.

     In May, 1873, Mr. Greer was married at Bloomington, Illinois, to Miss Sue Peters, a native of Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Greer are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Our subject is an active Republican.

     Moses O. Grantham, of Anderson township, Phelps county, Nebraska, is one of the enterprising and prosperous farmers and stock raisers of his locality. He is one of the leaders among the pioneers and has done his full share in the development of the region in which he lives.

     Mr. Grantham is a native of Bates county, Missouri, and came from there to Phelps county in 1895, purchasing the one hundred and sixty acres where he now resides, with a fine house, good barns and other improvements. He is an intelligent, wide-awake farmer, considers Phelps county as good as any place he has ever seen or heard of, and he knows all about farming lands by experience in Missou-

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