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business until his death, which occurred February 3, 1897.

      May 20, 1875, Mr. Nobes was united in marriage to Miss Helen Richardson, also a native of Joliet, Illinois. She is a daughter of Benjamin and Sarah (Ovaitt) Richardson, both of whom are now dead. To this union have been born two children, Jennie R. and Nellie B., both of whom are still living. Mr. Nobes was for a short time vice-president of the City National Bank, of York. In politics he was identified with the Republican party, and was a Knight Templar of the Masonic fraternity.

      A portrait of Mr. Nobes is shown on another page. 

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ON. JOHN JAMES ENDICOTT.--Few men are more prominent or more widely known in Seward county than Mr. Endicott, whose home is on section 35, N township. He has been an important factor in agricultural and political circles and his popularity is well deserved, as he is public-spirited and thoroughly interested in whatever tends to promote the moral, intellectual and material welfare of the community.

      Mr. Endicott was born in Des Moines county, Iowa, January 16, 1849, a son of Joseph and Abigail (Logan) Endicott, the former of English, the latter of Scotch-Irish descent. His paternal grandparents were John and Anna K. (Saddler) Endicott, and his maternal grandparents John and Elizabeth (Ward) Logan. Until he attained his majority our subject remained under the parental roof. He attended the district schools of Des Moines county until his mother died in the spring of 1860, when his father sold the farm and moved to Rush county, Indiana, where he continued his studies in the district schools until eighteen years of age, and then entered Richland academy, in that county, remaining there two years. In the meantime his father had married again, his second wife being a Miss Whitlock, and they now reside in Connorsville, Indiana.

      When not in school John J. Edicott (sic) devoted his time assisting in the labors of the home farm, and on leaving there, at the age of twenty-one years, went to Shelby county, Illinois, where he operated a rented farm for one year. Believing that better opportunities were afforded young men farther west, he came to Nebraska, and finding that the northwest quarter of section 35, precinct N, was still unsold, he contracted with the South Platte Land Company for it, paying three hundred dollars down. He then returned home and engaged in farming there for two years. Converting his possessions in the east into money, he returned to Nebraska, paid for his land, and with the money he had left he purchased a yoke of oxen and prairie plow, with which he started to turn the sod and prepare it for planting. The first season he broke fifty acres of land, and of this he planted ten acres in corn and potatoes, which yielded not less than twenty bushels to the acre, being enough for his own use. Being unacquainted in this locality, he dug a room in the side of a ravine, made a sod front to this little home and covered it with willow twigs and then threw dirt upon it to fill up the cracks. This made an excellent roof, very useful to keep the room cool in summer, but was not water proof when it rained. Here he lived alone day after day, cooking his own meals, from the spring of 1873 until December, 1876, being married on the 27th day of that month to Miss Catherine Connell. Her parents, Hugh and Agnes (Mitchell) Connell, were natives of the lowlands of Scotland and emigrated to America in the spring of 1855, landing at Quebec, Canada. The first four years were spent in the towns of Furgis and Elora, and for nine years they made their home in Harriston, after which they came to the United States and took up
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their residence on section 10, township 8, range 2 east, Seward county, Nebraska, where Mrs. Endicott made her home until her marriage.

      Renting a small frame house adjoining his farm, our subject and his wife lived there for one year until a home of their own could be erected. Four children blessed their union, three of whom are still living. Estle Earl, who lives on a part of his father's farm, not over a mile from his old home, married Emma Nelson, daughter of Nelson P. Nelson, a farmer of Saline county, Nebraska. Herman John is unmarried, and when the President called for volunteers during the Spanish-American war, he hastened to respond, becoming a member of Company C, Third Nebraska Volunteer Infantry. For some time he was stationed at Pueblo Beach, Florida. Myrtle Agnes is at home attending the district schools and it is the intention of her parents to give her every educational advantage she may desire.

      With the encouragement and aid of his excellent wife Mr. Endicott has prospered in his business ventures, and they now own four hundred and forty acres of rich and arable land, all under a high state of cultitivation (sic) and improved with large and substantial buildings. He was reared under the teachings of the Methodist Episcopal church and she under the Scotch Presbyterian, and though not members of any religious denomination at the present time, they have ever taken an active and prominent part in Sunday-school work as teachers. They are widely and favorably known and their friends are many throughout the community where they have so long made their home. Mr. Endicott has always been a Democrat in politics, and in the fall of 1898 was the candidate on the fusion ticket for representative in the state legislature, and was elected to the same. He has been township clerk and a member of the school board for twenty years, and his public as well as his private duties have always been most faithfully and conscientiously performed. 

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NDREW ANDERSON, a worthy and honored representative of the early pioneers of Polk county, is a true type of the energetic, hardy and courageous men who actively assisted in the development of this wonderful region. While contributing to the welfare of his adopted county, he has been enabled to accumulate a very comfortable fortune, and is now the owner of a valuable and well cultivated farm on section 10, township 14, range 3, Osceola precinct.

      Like many of the best citizens of the county, Mr. Anderson is a native of Sweden, born at Oster Gotland, October 31, 1839, and in that country grew to manhood. There his parents spent their entire lives, his father, Nels Anderson, working as a common laborer. Andrew and his brother August were the only ones of the family to come to America, and both are now prominent citizens of Polk county, Nebraska.

      Andrew Anderson obtained his education in the common schools of his native land, and in 1868 sailed for the new world, locating first at Galesburg, Illinois, where he spent three years and three months engaged in farming and railroading. On the 3rd of September, 1871, he and another young man, Albert Noren, left that city in a wagon, and after driving for three weeks finally reached Lincoln, Nebraska. In looking up a location they visited Clay, Seward and Fillmore counties, this state, but not being satisfied with the prospects there, they returned to Lincoln, where they heard of the Headstrom colony, who were settling in and around Stromsburg, Polk county. In company with Charles Thelander and Albert Noren, Mr. Anderson then came to

this county, and took up a claim in the fall of 1871. The following year he built a dug-out at a cost of seven dollars and fifty cents, which continued to be his home for three and a half years, and was then replaced by a frame house 14x20 feet. His present comfortable residence was erected in 1884 at a cost of seventeen hundred dollars. On locating here the few settlers of the county were widely scattered, his nearest neighbor being three miles away, no roads had been laid out, and not a frame house was to be seen in any direction. The first year Mr. Anderson raised only eight acres of sod corn. His personal property consisted of a yoke of cattle, a cow, an old wagon and thirty dollars in cash, but he owed forty dollars at Lincoln, and in May, 1872, he was obliged to sell his cow to obtain money to have the first well dug on his place. He was living in his little sod house during the great snow in April, 1873, which was so deep that he was unable to pull his wagon from a shed with two yoke of oxen. That year he raised eight acres of wheat and twenty-five acres of sod corn; the grasshoppers destroyed his crops in 1874, but in 1875 he had a good harvest, and has steadily prospered, his success being due to diligence, close application and perseverance. He is now the owner of four hundred acres of highly cultivated land, divided into two farms, and improved with two sets of good farm buildings which he has erected. It is all free from debt.

      In 1872 Mr. Anderson led to the marriage altar Miss Caroline Isaacson, a native of Sweden, who came to America in 1870. To them have been born two children: Albert, now twenty-two years of age; and Emily, nineteen. The parents are consistent members of the Lutheran church, in which Mr. Anderson is serving as deacon. As a Republican, he takes considerable interest in local politics, has been a delegate to county conventions of his party; served as judge of elections for several years; and has been school director in district No. 8 for eight years. He is a member of the Scandinavian Farmers' Mutual Insurance Company, and has served as its vice-president. For the success that he has achieved in life he deserves great credit, for it has been entirely through his own efforts that he has secured a home and competence for himself and family. 

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OHN A. MAUK.--This gentleman is accredited with the ownership of one of the best farms of its size in Baker township, York county, it being pleasantly located on section 21, and to its cultivation and further improvement he still devotes his attention with good results. He was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, May, 21, 1850 a son of Hamilton L. and Mary J. (Murray) Mauk, the former also a native of that county, the latter of Virginia, who with her parents removed to Ohio when young. Hamilton L. Mauk carried on farming in his native state until 1856, when he removed to Lucas county, Iowa, taking with him his family. They were among the first settlers of that region, and upon the farm where they first located the parents still continue to reside.

      The subject of this sketch was six years old when he removed to Iowa, and he early became familiar with the arduous task of transforming wild land into rich and productive fields. His education was obtained in the public schools of Lucas county, and there he continued to make his home until sixteen years of age, when he went to Mills county, Iowa where he worked on a farm about six years. Returning home, he was married in October, 1875, to Miss Annette Powers, a native of Lucas county, Iowa, and a daughter of John and Mary (Bell) Powers, who were born in Ohio, and were among the pioneer settlers of Lucas county, where

they entered a tract of government land. There they spent their remaining days, dying in 1874. Mr. and Mrs. Mauk have a family of four children: Minnie M., Charles H., Daisy I. and Wadie E.

     After his marriage, Mr. Mauk engaged in farming in Lucas county until 1882, when he removed to Nebraska, arriving in York county on the 8th of March, of that year, and locating on eighty acres of land on section 21, Baker township, which he had purchased the previous December. About half of the tract had been broken and a few improvements made, but the land is now all under a high state of cultivation and supplied with good and substantial buildings, which stand as monuments to his thrift and enterprise. One of the intelligent and enterprising farmers of his township, Mr. Mauk has taken considerable interest in public affairs, and has most capably and satisfactorily filled the official positions to which he has been elected. In politices he is a stanch Republican, and in his social relations is identified with the Ancient Order of United Workmen at Charleston, while religiously his wife is a consistent member of the Christian church at that place. 

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REDERICK ROLFSMEIER, one of Seward county's most wealthy farmers and influential citizens, lives in section 1, j precinct. He was born in Germany, March 9, 1825, attended, the common schools of that country from the age of six years until he was fourteen, and at that age was confirmed in the Evangelical Lutheran church, of which he has ever since been a sincere member and earnest worker. At the age of sixteen years he began as an apprentice to learn the cooper's trade, which required two years, after which he followed this line of work for six years. At the age of twenty-seven he was united in marriage to Miss Caroline Dammerman, and three years later, with his wife and one child, started to cross the Atlantic in a sailing vessel. They landed in Quebec, and from there made their way by means of another vessel to Milwaukee, and from there they went to Madison, Wisconsin.

      Upon reaching Dane county, Wisconsin, Mr. Rolfsmeier bought a farm of forty acres for the sum of five hundred dollars, but it was very hilly and only about six acres of it was fit for cultivation. Ten years later he sold this place and migrated to Seward county, Nebraska, by means of three wagons drawn by two yoke of oxen and one team of horses. Here, he bought a homestead right to a quarter section of land in J precinct, for the sum of one thousand four hundred dollars, and on this farm he lived with his wife and family of five children for two years in a dugout. Although this domicile was a capital protection from the cold, it did not shelter them from the rain, and for hours after the rain was over the water would continue to ooze through the soil that composed the roof of their residence, and drip upon the occupants below. During one of these heavy storms, the wall of the dugout caved in and Mrs. Rolfsmeier and the children were obliged to evacuate, and found what shelter they could in a little log house which had no roof. Upon the loss of the dugout, our subject set about to build a log house, and in this structure the family lived five years. During this time they paid the remainder of the indebtedness on the farm, and then began building their present home. To add to the hardships of becoming established in an unsettled country, our subject twice suffered the loss of nearly his whole crop from the grasshoppers, and once all of his possessions were consumed or greatly damaged by a prairie fire. During the rest of that season, the family subsisted on burnt corn, which they ground and baked into bread, and the wheat, being already roasted, was very convenient to

grind for coffee. They now own one thousand eight hundred and sixty acres of farm land that compares favorably with the best. land in the county, and, from a distance, the buildings upon it have much the appearance of a small village, and the whole place shows evidence of thrift and prosperity.

      Mr. and Mrs. Rolfsmeier are the parents of a family of seven children, upon whom they have seen fit to bestow the following names: Frederick, Wilhelm, Henry, Charlie, Christian, Minnie and Annie. Mr. Rolfsmeier's parents, Wilhelm and Charlotte (Schloman) Rolfsmeier, lived and died in Germany. Mrs. Rolfsmeier is a daughter of Christian and Angel (Hamsmeier) Dammerman. She was also educated in Germany and was confirmed in the Evangelical Lutheran church. 

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. H. NABER, a farmer on section 34, Waco township, York county, holds a good position in a kind where natives of every country on the face of the earth are free to bring their best gifts and engage in friendly competition for the honors and emoluments of life. In a strange land and surrounded by strange institutions, he did not lose heart, but pushed ahead, and is now in a position to enjoy the results of honor and integrity.

      Mr. Naber was born in Oldenburg, Germany, January 3, 1841, and was born and bred a farmer. His father died in Germany, but his mother lived to share his home in the far away new world and died in Nebraska. He came to America in 1872, and immediately made his way to this county, where he located on the homestead which constitutes his home to-day. This same year he was married to Miss Geradina Schmidt. She was a native of the town where he was born, and they had been playmates from infancy. Their first home in this state was in a sod house. This they occupied for some fifteen years, when they moved out of it into their present handsome and satisfactory residence that was put up at a cost of over fifteen hundred dollars. In 1872 he raised a little sod corn, and the next year harvested a full yield of corn. In 1874 he had wheat but no corn, and thus life has gone on with them. He now owns four hundred and forty acres, which he has brought to a high state of fertility, and is still improving his land. He is a devotee of general farming, and has good graded stock on his place.

      Mr. and Mrs. Naber are people of the very best standing in the township. They are regarded as kind friends, good neighbors, and public-spirited citizens. They have had ten children, of whom all are now living but two, Carl and one not named. The others are Wilhelm, Emma, Bertha, Matie, Henrietta, Clara, Oscar and Hugo. They are members of the Lutheran church, of which he has been treasurer for three years and trustee for the same length of time. He is a Republican in his national politics, but holds to the theory of honest men for office in local affairs. 

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EORGE S. GOULD, banker and dealer in grain, is one of the leading business men of Butler county, and is making his home and base of operations at Bellwood. He is a man of large means, liberal and public spirited, and has taken a leading part in all matters and moves calculated to benefit his town or county, and his name is indissolubly connected with the history of the growth and development of Butler county.

      Zebina Gould, our subject's father, was born at Charlton, Worcester county, Massachusetts, in 1804, and was reared in his native county. Later he moved to New York and located at Watertown, and afterward at Rochester, where he learned the milling trade. Early in the '30s he moved to Michigan City, Indiana, where he set up

an extensive milling plant, known as the "City Mills." In the early days of Michigan City, this plant was practically one of its suburbs. It later became a very popular and widely-known plant, and, for a time, supplied Chicago with flour. Mr. Gould made this his home until his death, which occurred in 1872. He was married in Michigan City, Indiana, to Miss Mary Rees, in 1848. She was a daughter of Henry J. Rees, of Ashtabula, Ohio, who ran a stage between Cleveland and Ashtabula, in the early days.

      Our subject's grandfather was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. Their ancestors came with the Puritans to this country. There is to-day in the possession of the family a commission signed by John Hancock, Governor of Massachusetts, and two signed by Samuel Adams, Governor of Massachusetts, authorizing our subject's grandfather to enlist and drill the militia, and appointing him ensign, captain and colonel, successively. These antedate the Revolution. Our subject's maternal grandmother was a Hubbard, of Holland Patent, New York. Her father and two brothers made the overland trip to Ashtabula, and one of the brothers being a surveyor, they laid out the town of Ashtabula. Of Zebina Gould's family, four sons, H. R., A. H., George S. .and R. C., have become quite prominent in the affairs of Butler county. H. R. Gould moved to Omaha in the fall of 1876, and for fifteen years was general agent for the McCormick Harvester Company in that place. He is now general agent of the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company, for Nebraska, and is also president of the Platte Valley State Bank of Bellwood, Nebraska. A. H. Gould is the cashier of this bank.

      George S. Gould, the subject of this sketch, became connected with Nebraska's interests in 1887, when he went to Omaha and took a position in the office of the McCormick Harvester Company, under his brother, H. R. Gould. In the spring of 1888, he went to Chase county, Nebraska, and entered the Chase County Bank at Imperial, where he received his first practical knowledge of the banking business. In the fall of 1888 he came to Bellwood and was connected with the Platte Valley Bank until April, 1889, when he returned to Omaha to take a position with the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, and was thus engaged until the spring of 1891. At this time he returned to Bellwood and built the first steam elevator in the city, and operated same until March, 1896. During that year he became interested in a coffee plantation in Mexico, and has since spent much time in that country, although he still retains his interest in Bellwood, both in the grain business and in the Platte Valley State Bank.

      December 19, 1889, while in Omaha, in the employ of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, Mr. Gould was united in marriage to Miss Ella Armstrong, a daughter of Maj. George Armstrong, of Omaha. To this union have been born two bright and interesting children, Roberta and Henrietta, both born in Bellwood. Mrs. Gould's father, George Armstrong, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, August 1, 1819, a son of George Armstrong, Sr., a planter of Wheeling, West Virginia. He was of Scotch descent, and his ancestors participated in the Revolutionary war. George Armstrong married Julia Ewing, of Chillicothe, Ohio, where he was engaged in the newspaper business prior to 1854. During that year, he moved to Omaha, Nebraska, then a mere village, and took a tract of land that is now in the heart of the city. He served in the Third and Fourth territorial legislatures, was mayor of Omaha in 1861 and 1862, was commissioned major of the Second Nebraska Cavalry, and later raised a company of which he was made captain

and later promoted to major and brevet lieutenant-colonel, and finally to the office of colonel. This company served in the Civil war. Since the war he has served for nine years as clerk of the district court and has also served as clerk of the supreme court of Nebraska. He was Past Grand Master Mason, thirty-third degree. He practiced law in Douglas county. Nebraska, for many years and was an author of ability and recognized merit. Ella (Armstrong) Gould is his youngest child. 

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EWIS C. KLINZMAN.--The name of this well-known resident of York county, has long been familiar to the people of this section of the state as that of one of their most valued citizens, resolute, energetic and enterprising, and one who has been eminently successful in business affairs. He now makes his home on section 18, McFadden township.

      Mr. Klinzman was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, April 14, 1859, a son of Christian and Mena (Kratz) Klinzman, natives of Germany, who emigrated to America about 1854 and located in Pennsylvania, where the father bought a small tract of land. In 1864 they moved to Peoria, Illinois, but soon afterward located on a rented farm near that city. The father purchased a farm in Livingston county, and there he and his wife made their home until 1893, since which time they have lived in Dallas county, Iowa. When he landed at Baltimore, Maryland, on coming to the United States, he was obliged to sell a couple of feather beds he had brought with him in order to get money enough to take his family to Pennsylvania. The characteristic thrift, the birth-right of every German, has certainly asserted itself in Christian Klinzman, and after a long life of hard work and good management he is now enabled to pass the evening of life in comfort and ease. He still owns his farm of two hundred and forty acres in Illinois, besides four hundred and ninety-five acres of land in Dallas county, Iowa, where he makes his home.

      The subject of this sketch was about nine years. old when he accompanied his parents on their removal to Illinois, and amidst scenes incident to farm life he was reared there, receiving a fair public-school education. Leaving home at the age of twenty-one years, he bought a team of horses on time, rented some land and began life on his own account. He continued to rent land in Illinois until coming to York county, Nebraska, in the spring of 1885. The year previous he had visited this locality, and bought one hundred and sixty acres of land in McFadden township, upon which the village of McCooL Junction is now located. In 1887, when the village was surveyed and platted, it included the entire farm, and Mr. Klinzman became half owner of the town site. A year later he bought the southeast quarter of section 18, McFadden township, upon which he now makes his home, and also owns fifty-five acres in lots, streets and alleys belonging to the village. He purchased the company's interest in the same, and adding it to his farm makes a valuable place of two hundred and fifteen acres on section 18, all under a high state of cultivation and improved with good and substantial buildings. Besides this he still owns fifty lots in the village.

      In 1885 Mr. Klinzman was united in marriage with Miss Lena Hammersmith, a native of Germany, who came to America when twelve years old with her parents, Leonard and Henrietta Hammersmith, locating in Monticello, Piatt county, Illinois.

      Her father was a miller by trade. She received an excellent education, completing the literary and musical courses in the high school at Monticello, from which she graduuated (sic). By her marriage she has become

the mother of five children: Flora Emma, Lena Pearl, Lewis Leonard, Mary Catherine and Henrietta Wilhelmina. The parents are both earnest and consistent members of the Dunkard church, and in politics Mr. Klinzman is a Republican. On attaining his majority he started out in life for himself empty-handed, but has steadily worked his way upward by the exercise of his native resolution and industry and is today one of the well-to-do and prosperous business men as well as one of the highly respected citizens of his community. 

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ENRY PETER KLUMP is an honored resident of G precinct, Seward county, where he is living, retired from active business, and is now, living in a cozy home, where he is surrounded with such home comforts as make life enjoyable. He is one of the oldest settlers of Seward county, formerly being one of its successful farmers, and is now passing the evening of his life enjoying the fruit of his labor.

      Our subject was born December 26, 1824, in Pfalzdorf Kreis Clave, Rheinvreussen, Germany, where his parents spent the greater part of their lives and are now buried. He was educated in the common schools of the land of his nativity, attending from the age of six until he reached fourteen years. At the age of fourteen years, also, he was confirmed in the Evangelical Lutheran church, and spent the next six years of his life helping his parents on the farm. At the age of twenty he entered the German army, and after serving three years he received his honorable discharge, but was later recalled to serve six weeks longer. He then returned to the farm and continued the pursuit of agriculture until he was twenty-nine years of age, when, in 1854, he emigrated from thence to America. Leaving Antwerp, March 1, he crossed the Atlantic in the "Jennie Lind," a sail vessel, which was managed by Captain Bunsen, and landed in New York April 20. Here he was not satisfied, as he was desirous of finding a home farther west where he could homestead, and he accordingly set out for Louisville, Kentucky. From here he went by steamer to St. Louis, Missouri, where he remained three weeks, and from thence went to Warsaw, Hancock county, Illinois. After making his home in Warsaw for eighteen (sic) years, he migrated, in 1862, to Seward county, Nebraska, took a claim of eighty acres, built a frame house and began to break and otherwise improve and subdue the tract of raw prairie that comprised his homestead into an attractive home and profitable farm. In this undertaking our subject has met with eminent success, for he has managed to add to his original homestead by purchase, from time to time, until he now owns a fine farm of two hundred acres, and the entire tract is highly improved and tillable. This, however, was not brought about without its share of sacrifice and persistent effort. The lumber for the buildings was hauled from Lincoln, a distance of twenty-two miles, after being purchased at the rate of forty dollars per thousand feet. Trees and shrubbery were unknown in this part of the state, except along a few of the streams, and deer and other wild animals roamed over the prairie. Now Mr. Klump has his farm furnished with over one hundred apple trees, some of which are over twenty-five years old and are bearing abundantly, and also with grapes, cherries and peaches. Mr. Klump has now retired from active life and is enjoying the results of a life of economy, both of time and of money. He is an honored and valued citizen of the community in which he lives and is held in high esteem by all who have the pleasure of his acquaintance.

      Mr. Klump has two children, Henry, now living at Warsaw, Illinois, and Annie, now living in Seward, Nebraska.

UGUST KALIFF, a wide-awake and energetic citizen of York county, who owns and successfully operates a good farm on section 31, Leroy township, was born in Sweden, April 12, 1856, and is a son of John and Johanna (Johnson) Kaliff, also natives of that country. The father worked at his trade of carpenter and cabinet-maker in his native land, and also served in the regular army of Sweden for several years. In 1869 he emigrated to America with his family and settled in Jefferson county, Iowa, where he rented land and engaged in farming until coming to York county, Nebraska, in 1872. Here he homesteaded eighty acres on section 6, McFadden township, being among the first settlers of that locality, but in 1880 sold that place and bought another eighty-acre tract four miles west of York, where he made his home until his death, which occurred in January, 1894. His wife is still living at the age of seventy-five years, and resides with her daughter in York township. In the family of this worthy couple were seven children.

      The subject of this sketch was about sixteen years of age when he came with his parents to York county, but two years later he returned to his former home in Iowa, where he worked as a farm hand for three years and a half. On again coming to York county, in 1878, he purchased eighty acres of railroad land on section 31, Leroy township, which at that time was still in its primitive condition. For a few years, while working his land, he lived with his parents, but after his marriage he located upon the place, which by industry and perseverance he has transformed into one of the best farms of the locality. As his financial resources have increased, he has added to the original purchase until he now owns one hundred and seventy acres of valuable land, and in connection with its cultivation he also leases and operates eighty acres of school land. Upon his place he has erected a fine residence at a cost of seventeen hundred dollars, and made other valuable improvements to exceed three thousand dollars. He has set out all of the trees upon his place and now has a large and thrifty orchard.

      In 1880 Mr. Kaliff led to the marriage altar Miss Ida L. Johnson, a native of Sweden, who came with her. parents to America in 1875 and settled in Henry county, Iowa, but they took up their residence in York county, Nebraska, three years later. Our subject and his wife now have eight children, namely: Florence H., Segrid E., Linda O., Augusta C., Rudolph L., Charles A., John Franklin and Otto L.

      Mr. Kaliff is an energetic, enterprising citizen, keenly alive to the demands of a growing country, and ready to meet and aid any utilitarian scheme for its benefit. He has taken considerable interest in educational matters and has served for nine years as treasurer of his school district. Politically he is a supporter of the Republican party, and socially is identified with the Modern Woodmen Camp at McCool. 

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ILLIAM M. MILLER.--Not on the plains of affluence did this gentleman start out on life's journey but in the valley of limited circumstances, with the rough and rugged path of hard undertaking before him. He is not only a self-made man but is self-educated as well, and for several- years was one of the most successful and popular teachers in this section of the state.

      Mr. Miller was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, December 1, 1863, a son of Moses Miller, also a native of that state, where he was educated in the public and high schools. At the age of twenty-three he married Miss Sybilla Miller, who was then twenty-one, and to them were born seven children, four sons and three daugh-

ters, of whom Sarah died at the age of fifteen years, ten months and three days, and was buried in Zion cemetery, Berks county, Pennsylvania. The other children besides our subject are Albert M., who is married and lives in Reading, Pennsylvania; Louise Loy, a resident of Berks county; Walter M., married and lives in Jackson county, Iowa; Landes F., who is married and is superintendent of the Industrial Life Insurance Company at McKeesport, Pennsylvania; and Mary M., who is married and lives in Berks county, Pennsylvania. The family at one time removed to Iowa, but soon returned to Berks county, where the father died at the age of forty-five years. The mother has since married Nathan Stump and still lives in Berks county at the age of sixty-three years.

      At the age of six years the subject of this review entered school, and until eleven attended the local schools three or four months every winter. His father dying at that time, he was thrown upon his own resources and immediately hired out to a farmer for five dollars per month for about six months during a year. From his wages he clothed himself and saved fifteen dollars per year. During the winter season he was mainly employed in doing chores for his board and the privilege of attending school three months. He continued to work as a farm hand at from five dollars to seven dollars per month until seventeen years of age, when he began to long for a home of his own. He then came to Iowa, and in Jackson county worked for his uncle Gabrial Miller, for two hundred dollars per year for two years and a half. He also attended school about four months during this time. Having saved up several hundred dollars, he went to Nance county, Nebraska, where he bought one hundred and sixty acres of land at six dollars and twenty-five cents per acre, which amounted to one thousand and forty dollars, a part of which he paid. On his return to Iowa, in connection with his cousin he rented a farm of one hundred and seventy acres for four hundred and fifty dollars cash, operating it for one year. As his cousin had married, our subject and his brother-in-law carried it on for two years, but the latter returned to Pennsylvania at the end of that time, and Mr. Miller concluded to abandon farming in Iowa, and accordingly sold his personal possessions there. He then entered the Northern Illinois College in Fulton, Whiteside county, Illinois, where he pursued his studies for eighteen weeks, during which time he graduated with high honors in the commercial course and received a diploma. He also completed a year's work in the scientific course. His funds being exhausted, he quit school and went to Nance county, Nebraska, where he had previously purchased property, and began to break and improve his land. The first fall he built a small barn for the accommodation of his horses and cattle, and a small frame house for his own use, living alone there for a year and a half. He devoted his energies to farm work during the summer months, and in the winter taught a district school for thirty dollars a month.

     On the 23d of August, 1888, Mr. Miller was united in marriage with Miss Carrie Bell Harman, a daughter of David and Susanna Harman, who are now living on a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres four and a half miles southeast of Silver Creek, Polk county, Nebraska. She had two brothers and one sister, who are also living in Polk county. She received a good practical education in the schools of Central City, Nebraska, and Avoca, Iowa. After a brief illness she died February 3, 1893, at the age of twenty-five years, and was laid to rest in Osceola cemetery, Polk county, Nebraska. She was a true and earnest Christian, a member of the Methodist Church, and was beloved by all who knew her for her many

© 2002 for the NEGenWeb Project by Pam Rietsch, Ted & Carole Miller