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of the land was still in its primitive condition, when not a furrow had been turned upon acre after acre, and since that time has ever borne his part in the work of improvement and progress, withholding his support from no movement intended to enhance the general welfare. His life has been well spent and he is numbered among the leading agriculturists of the community. He was born in 1835, probably in Hampshire, England, where his father, Henry George, owned a house and lot in a little town. He followed various occupations in that land and married Eve Marshall, daughter of Si Marshall. In 1839, when his son George was only four years old, he emigrated with his family to the United States, landing in New York city, whence he made his way westward to Wisconsin, where he entered a claim from the government. For this he paid a dollar and a quarter per acre, and continued its cultivation until 1876, when he sold his property there and started for Nebraska. He died in York county in 1882, at the age of eighty-six years, and his wife passed away in September, 1877.

      Daniel George was reared in the usual manner of farmer lads living on the frontier. He early became familiar with the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculturist and continued to assist in the cultivation of his father's farm until twenty-four years of age, when he was married and began farming on his own account. He wedded Miss Mary Henderson, daughter of David and Helen Henderson, who had come from England to America about 1834. Mr. and Mrs. George began their domestic life upon a farm in Wisconsin, and the former was engaged in the cultivation of his land when, in 1865 he joined the Forty-sixth Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers and was assigned to Company K. His command was principally engaged on guard duty. One night, when stepping from the cars in Alabama, carrying with him a heavy weight of over sixty pounds, Mr. George sustained an injury in his shoulder, which forced him to remain in the hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, for two months. He was honorably discharged in September, 1865, and after sufficiently recovering his health he returned to his Wisconsin home.

      In 1866, accompanied by his wife and father-in-law and his family, Mr. George came to Nebraska, and located in the southwestern part of York county on the bank of the southwest branch of the Big Blue river. There he secured from the government a quarter section of land and has since made his home thereon. It was entirely destitute of improvement, but with characteristic energy he began its development and now has a finely cultivated farm.

     Mr. and Mrs. George have three living children: Rose Ellen, Eve H. and Gertrude M. The first named was married May 19, 1887, to Gene D. Wright, son of E. O. and Emily (Seely) Wright. They reside in York and own the watermill in the outskirts of that city. They have three children--Ted George, Helen, and Daniel Alan. The second daughter is a graduate of the Sutton high school and the youngest is now a student in the high school of York. In his political affiliations Mr. George has been a stalwart Republican since casting his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1860. He belongs to Hayes Post, G. A. R., of Lushton, and is a representative citizen, esteemed for his sterling worth, and his fidelity to every interest entrusted to his care. 

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ARVEY SMITH BURGESS presents a striking example of what can be accomplished by persistent attention to business and unflagging industry. He has a home on section 5, Reading township, Butler county, and under his fostering care it has become a model farm. It is carefully

tilled, made to produce abundantly and in the quality and value of the crops it yields compares favorably with any other tract in the county.

      Mr. Burgess is a native of the state of New York, and his childhood home was Greene county, among the Catskill mountains, where he first inhaled the vital air in 1819. He came of an old New York family, and by both paternal and maternal lines of ancestry is related to some of the prominent people of the early days of the country. His father, David Burgess, was born in New York in 1778, and his mother, Abigail Ayers, was born in the same state in 1783. She was a granddaughter of a prominent Quaker, Samuel Adams, and was herself a lady of much refinement and force of character. He spent his childhood and youth in his father's house and did not leave New York until he reached the mature age of forty-four years. He went to Michigan in 1863, and followed farming a number of years. But he was not satisfied with the outlook in that state, and decided to go further west. His first intention was to settle in Kansas, but through the influence of a friend, S. W. Rising, he decided to change his destination and locate in Nebraska. He came into Butler county alone, but was soon joined by his family. He located on section 4, Reading township, in the month of March, i871, and immediately put up a modest shelter--a house 12 x 16 feet, and only six feet high. At that time this was an exceedingly wild country. There was not a house insight, nor as much as a tree to break the monotony of the prairie line. He built the first house in the township of Reading, and did not long lack for neighbors. Settlers rapidly followed his advent, and presently the county was quite fully populated.

      Mr. Burgess was married in Greene county, New York, January 30, 1844, to Harriet C. Brewer, a daughter of Samuel Brewer, and a grandaughter (sic) of James Whitney, who was an old Revolutionary soldier. The fruits of this union are eight child ren: Minerva, Josephine, Eugene, George W., Giles, DeWitt C., Anna and Ada Idell. Minerva Taylor lives in Missouri and Josephine Hill in Rising, Nebraska, which is also the home of her two brothers, George and DeWitt C. Anna Catlin is in Missouri and Ada Bowman is in Butler county. The Brewers were an old Holland family and exhibited many of the best traits that have made their blood vital to the progress and honor of the nation.

      His first wife died October 3, 1878, and he was again married May 12, 1880, to Mrs. Mary S. Dille, whose maiden name was Mary Paulus; she was a native of LaGrange county, Indiana. They have two children by this marriage--Harvey S. and Omer D. They belong to the Methodist Episcopal church of Rising City. In politics Mr. Burgess is a stanch Republican. 

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IRAM P. WALKER is one of the sound and substantial contributions that Pennsylvania has made to the prosperity of Nebraska, and his career has reflected credit upon his native state. He is an honest and industrious man, strictly upright and straight foward in all his dealing, and wronging no man deliberately. The vocation of a farmer calls for the exercise of good judgment, broad views and singleness of purpose. It developes (sic) neighborhood virtues, and makes for the noblest types of character. And the man whose name introduces this article may be regarded as representative of his calling.

      Hiram P. Walker was horn in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, August 1, 1854, and is a son of Eligha and Hannah (Frickey) Walker. They were both native Pennsylvanians, and were devoted to agricultural pursuits. They left their native state and

settled in Lee county, Illinois, in 1862; There the husband and father died in 1896, while his wife, the mother of our subject, still survives. They were the parents of one son and two daughters.

      Mr. Walker was educated in the common schools of Pennsylvania and was very fairly prepared for the duties of life by their excellent instruction. When he reached manly years he took up the vocation of farming, and followed it in Illinois until 1880. At that time he came to York county, and bought a homestead on section 34, Morton township. It was improved in a way at the time of his entrance upon it, having a sod house, which after a few years gave place to a very comfortable frame structure. He has given time and thought to his farm, and it may now be compared not unfavorably with the best in the county. He has followed an approved system of general farming and stock raising, and has accomplished very substantial and creditable results. He was married in 1878 to Miss Ella Troutman, a daughter of Michael and Rachel (Winters) Troutman, a native of Illinois. They are the parents of three living children, Claude C., Bessie A. and Era P. The family belong to the Lutheran church and parish. He belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and she to the Degree of Honor. In politics he is a free-silver Democrat, but has never been an office seeker or wire puller in any sense of the word. He has attended to his farm, and now derives much pleasure and comfort from the beautiful home he has secured. He stands well in the community, and hardly knows what more to ask. 

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. D. SPERRY, a public-spirited and enterprising farmer of Seward county, has a good home on section 4, precinct D, and stands among the foremost men of his calling in this part of Nebraska. He has devoted his life to agricultural pursuits almost exclusively, and his career is a striking illustration of the advantage of a single purpose, a resolute endeavor to accomplish it.

      Mr. Sperry was born in Platteville, Wisconsin, November 15, 1846, and is a son of Alfred Wade and Sophronia A. (Palmer) Sperry, who were natives of New York and Pennsylvania, respectively. They were married in Ohio; but came to Wisconsin very soon afterwards, and settled near Platteville on government land, where they remained until 1857. That year they transferred their interests to Lafayette county, where they improved a farm, and occupied it for thirteen years. In 1870 they entered Nebraska in search of a home, and found it on section 28, precinct C, Seward county. Here they spent the balance of their days. The husband and-father died April 13, 1872, while his widow long survived him, living in Seward, where she passed away March 6, 1895. They were the parents of eight children, two of whom served in the Civil war. Enoch died in the service, but the subject of this article, though he saw stirring scenes, and passed through tremenduous (sic) hardships, survives to see for himself the wonder of the work which was wrought in the saving of the Union.

      Mr. Sperry grew to manhood in Grant and LaFayette counties, Wisconsin, and was educated in the public school. He has been a close reader and a careful student of the world, and has very largely atoned for the deficiencies of his early school training. When not quite seventeen he enlisted in Company I, Second Wisconsin Volunteer Cavalry. He was mustered in October 7, 1863, and immediately joined his regiment at Vicksburg. The regiment operated through Mississippi and Tennessee during the remaining years of the war, and took part in numerous engagements, notably the second fight at Champion Hill and at Yazoo

City. He was under the command of three noted cavalry officers, Generals Grierson, Slocum and Dana. After the surrender of General Lee the regiment was put under the command of General Custer, and marched up the Red river to Alexandria, Louisiana, and Austin, Texas, where its officers and members were mustered out, Mr. Sperry's discharge bearing date November 15, 1865. He was wounded in the left arm at Yazoo City, but soon recovered, and met with no other casualty worth recording.

      The wedding of A. D. Sperry and Miss Mary Louisa Kanouse occurred July 14, 1867. She was a native of Kendalltown, LaFayette county, Wisconsin, where she was born July 31, 1851. Her parents, Benjamin and Martha (Fletcher) Kanouse, came to Wisconsin from Ohio in 1850. The young husband and wife lived in Wisconsin a number of years, but made their appearance in Seward county, with their three children, January 8, 1872, and ten days later located their homestead where they now live. There were a few sod houses in sight, and their first habitation was like their neighbors. Five years later they put up a frame, to which from time to time very substantial additions have been made until it is both comfortable and roomy. In 1872 Mr. Sperry had no crop, but broke ten acres, which he devoted to wheat the following year. In 1874 he saved his wheat, but his corn went to the grasshoppers; but nothing discouraged him, and today he owns five hundred and twenty acres of highly cultivated land. Each of his boys has received a slice, and there are eight hundred and sixty acres held in the family.

      Mr. and Mrs. Sperry are the parents of six living children--Robert H., Alfred W., Benjamin K., Arthur D., Rhoda M. and Sabra A. He is a member of Ulysses post of the Grand Army, and of the Masonic lodge at Surprise. Politically he is a stanch Republican, and has held several minor offices, such as road overseer and township supervisor two terms. He has been treasurer of his school district for thirteen years, and of the Old Settlers' society for eight years. 

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ENECA HUBBELL, a familiar figure in the vicinity of Bradshaw, Nebraska, and long known to the settlers of that part of York county, belongs to a family that was associated with the earliest history of southern Ohio. His grandfather with four brothers settled near Cincinnati, and owned the land on which the court house in that city now stands. He held it for some years, sold it at jt good price, and went north to Miami county, where he owned a farm, on which he lived for some years. He died in Shelby county, where he had gone to make his home the last days of his life, and was within three years of the century mark when he died. His son, Foster Hubbell was also a man of length of years. He was born in Shelby county, January 12, 1811, was a tailor by trade and died in Greene county, Indiana, February 28, 1897. Seneca Hubbell's maternal grandmother died when over ninety-nine years old. Her maiden name was Charlotte Anderson. Her daughter, the mother of the subject of this sketch, was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, December 13, 1814, and died at Bloomfield, Indiana, October 31, 1892.

      Seneca Hubbell was born in Shelby county, Ohio, April 11, 1843, and from the above outline of a family history has what life insurance men would call a tendency to long life. He is a strong and rugged man, and bears the weight of years with ease, and may live to rival any of his ancestors. He was married at the age of twenty-two to Miss Martha Brown, at the home of her mother, Mrs. Catherine Brown, in Miami county, Ohio. The wedding occurred in June, 1865, and from it came three sons,

Charles A., George Elmer arid John Orville. She died in August, 1875, and in the spring of 1879 her bereaved husband went to Denver, Colorado, to work at the carpenter's trade in that city, at Cheyenne, and at Grand Island, Nebraska. In the spring of 1881 he came to this county and located on the northeast quarter of section 21, township 11 north, range 4. west, and began its improvement. He put up a dwelling about twelve feet square, and perhaps seven feet high at the eaves. He worked at his trade, while the boys carried on the farm. He went back to Ohio in 1881, and wedded Mrs. A. Fuller, who was living in the city of Piqua. She was a widow, and had two children, Gertrude and Albert E., both of whom are married and settled in homes of their own. He brought his wife home to York county, and in the years that have elapsed since their marriage they have converted wild and rugged prairie acres into a beautiful farm, fitted with modern appliances and adorned with fruit and shade trees. They have two chidren (sic), Winfred R. and Allen C. These boys are respectively sixteen and fourteen years old. They attend the district school, and are busy young men on the farm where their father and mother still reside. Their parents are not members of any religious order, but are counted among the best people of the neighborhood. They belong to the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Degree of Honor, and are fond of neighborly associations. He has always been a Democrat, and feels that the path of national prosperity and honor is in the direction of the principles that party maintains. He was township assessor two terms. 

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ILLIAN (sic) M. SPRING, who has made his home in Butler county, Nebraska, since November, 1864, is not only one of the honored pioneers of this section of the state, but is also descended from good old Revolutionary stock, his ancestors having taken a prominent part in the early history of this country. He was born in New York city, in 1836, a son of Gardner and Susan (Barney) Spring, the former a native of Newburyport, Massachusetts, the latter of Connecticut. The father was a noted man and one of the leading Presbyterian ministers of his day. Our subject's paternal grandfather, John Spring, went as chaplain in Arnold's expedition to Quebec during the Revolutionary war, and his maternal grandfather was Commodore Barney, of the United States navy.

      Like his illustrious grandfather, our subject followed the sea from the age of twelve to twenty-one, and as a sailor traveled all over the world. In 1857 he left the east and removed to Henry county, Illinois, where he subsequently married Miss Corinne Johnson, who died in Butler county in 1896, leaving two children, Louis, now a Methodist minister stationed in California; and Alice, wife of Lofe Halstead. Since the death of his first wife Mr. Spring has married Harriet, daughter of Lanson Franklin.

      In 1864 Mr. Spring resolved to try his fortunes in the far west, and with ox teams drove across the country from his home in Illinois, arriving in Butler county in November of that year, after being eight weeks upon the road. Here, he homesteaded eighty acres on section 26, Platte township, near the village of Linwood, and has converted the place into one of the finest fruit farms in this region. He is a keen, practical man, well gifted with mental and physical vigor, and the success that he has achieved in life is due entirely to his own efforts. He was a charter member of the first Congregational church organized in Butler county and has always taken an active and prominent part in all church work. He possesses, to afull measure, all of the fine, ennobling qualities for which his ancestors were so noted, and his honesty, integrity,

gentleness and purity are a constant source of inspiration to his family and friends. 

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EORGE H. TERWILLIGER is one of the leading members of the Seward county bar. He has a clientele that includes many of the leading people and important corporations in this region, and his legal acumen and forensic ability entitle him to rank among the successful lawyers of this part of the state. Mr. Terwilliger is a native of Ringgold county, Iowa, where he was born November 15, 1860. His parents, George W. and Clarissa (Himes) Terwilliger, were natives respectively of New York and Pennsylvania, and the husband and father came to Iowa when a boy and remained in that state until 1881. That year hecame to this county, spent a brief time, and moved on to Oklahoma territory, where he is still living. Young George attended the Iowa public schools and began life for himself as a farmer. His ambitions, however, led him another direction, and he early began to shape his intellectual development towards the legal profession as his life work. He accompanied his father when he came to this county and here he has remained. In 1886 he was a student in the Iowa State University, and in the following year began the study of law under the direction of a Mr. Anderson. He was admitted to the bar in 1888, and at once began the practice of his profession in Seward.

      Mr. Terwilliger was married in 1889 to Miss Emma Knight. She was born in Iowa, received her education in Nebraska, having come to Seward county, Nebraska, when three years of age. She is a woman of many gifts and graces. They have one child, Ethel. The husband and father is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and is a Knight of the Maccabees, and is popular in fraternal circles. He is associated with the independent movement in politics, but does not seek office. As a leading lawyer of the county he finds his profession so exacting that he can give little time and attention to outside interests. His wife was a teacher in the public schools of Seward for a time. 

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RANCIS A. BAKER is one of Morton township's most reliable and progressive farmers, as well as one of the representative pioneers of York county. He was born in Fulton county, Pennsylvania, in 1858, and is a son of Jacob and Maria (Bergstresser) Baker, also natives of the Keystone state, where the father engaged in farming and school teaching during early life. Coming west in 1873, he went to Minnesota, but the same year came to Nebraska, and in 1874 took up his residence in York county, having purchased a tract of railroad land in Morton township. It is the farm now owned and occupied by our subject, and upon it the father died in 1879, the mother in 1886. He was a supporter of the Republican party. She was a sincere and faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Their children are D. W. and Francis A.

      During his boyhood and youth our subject pursued his studies in the schools of Pennsylvania, and when his parents left that state he came with them to the west. He took charge of the home farm in Morton township, and since their deaths has continued to operate the same with results which cannot fail to prove satisfactory. He thoroughly understands his chosen calling, and has succeeded in converting the wild land into highly cultivated and productive fields, which yield a golden tribute in return for the care and labor bestowed upon them. Fraternally he is identified with the Modern Brotherhood of America, and politically is identified with the Republican party. For two years he most ably served as jus-

tice of the peace and has also filled the office of school director in a most capable manner. Widely known, he has the confidence and esteem of the entire community, in which he has so long made his home. 

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ELS PETERSON belongs to that great number of Scandinavians who have done so much to redeem the west from the wilderness. He is a farmer, and his home is near Bradshaw, Nebraska, and during the years that have elapsed since his arrival on these shores he has thoroughly assimilated himself to American customs and fashions. He is a straightforward, honest man, and holds a good standing in the estimation of those who know him best.

      Nels Peterson was born in Sweden, January 10, 1846, and his father, according to local nomenclature, was called Pear Anderson. His mother was Cecil Anderson, and their home was in the district of Bloeking, Sweden. Nels came to this country at the age of twenty-three, and landed in Newark in the spring of 1869. He found employment on a railroad in Michigan. He went by water from Chicago to Duluth, and worked in a sawmill north of that Minnesota city for several months. In the fall of 1870 he made a journey to Burlington, Iowa, by a Mississippi steamboat, and from that point to Mt. Pleasant by rail. There he met an uncle, who had a farm near by, and accompanied him home, and worked upon neighboring farms four years at the rate of twenty-two dollars a month. Here he became acquainted with Mrs. Christine Peterson, and was married to her April 18, 1874. He rented a farm and began working for himself. By this time he had accumulated over five hundred dollars in money, and had property worth as much more. In March, 1878, he gathered up everything he owned and came to this county. He stopped with John Sandal about one month, and built a board house, a sod stable and chicken coop, and other necessary out buildings. When these were finished, he moved his wife and two sons, born in Iowa, into this new home on the southeast quarter of section 35, township 11, range 4 west. He prospered, and in a few years was able to purchase an additional eighty acres, which increases his farm to two hundred and forty acres of as good land as the county affords. He broke up at the beginning of his career eighty acres and planted trees, doing a thousand and one things that must be done in making a new home. He now has three hundred and twenty rods of osage hedge, and can show a fine orchard of all kinds of fruits.

      June 3, 1890, a terrible cyclone struck Bradshaw and vicinity, destroying nearly every building in that thriving little town.. It swept across his farm, wrecking his barn, windmill, corncribs, granary, and other adjacent buildings, narrowly missing his residence, from which it tore a few shingles. The damage which he suffered probably reached eight hundred dollars. He has a family of two sons and one daughter. She is now eighteen years old, and has assumed charge of the household, her mother having died about four years ago. Mr. Peterson believes his children should have a good education. With his family he belongs to the Lutheran church. He is a Republican, and is proud of his adopted state, which he holds presents the best opportunity in the world for a poor man to get ahead. 

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AVID HARMAN, a worthy representative of the agricultural interests of Valley precinct, Polk county, is the owner of a good farm of one hundred and sixty acres on section 14, township 15, range 3. A native of Switzerland county, Indiana, he was born May 19, 1839, a son of John and Nancy (Myers) Harman, who were born
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near Lexington, Kentucky. The Harmans were of Pennsylvania German stock; The maternal grandfather of our subject was killed by a wagon running over him while on his way to Kentucky. About 1830 John Harman, with his family, emigrated to Switzerland county, Indiana, where they were numbered among the pioneer settlers, and after living there for several years, removed to Ripley county, that state. By occupation he was a farmer, and in religious belief both he and his wife were Baptist, regularly attending all church services and living up to their professions. He died in 1880, and she passed away ten years later, honored and esteemed by all who knew them. They were the parents of seven children, who reached years of maturity, namely: Lucinda; Jonathan; Elizabeth, Mary Jane and Marion, all three deceased; David and Leonard.

      The boyhood and youth of our subject were passed upon the home farm in Switzerland county, and his education was acquired in the subscription schools of the neighborhood, which he attended when his services were not needed at home. At the age of twenty he was given his time, and started out in life for himself as a lumberman. Feeling that his country needed his services he put aside all personal interests to join the Union army, enlisting as a private September 18, 1861, in Company A, Thirty-seventh Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and was first sent to Louisville, later going into winter quarters at Green River, Kentucky. The following spring the regiment moved to Bowling Green, and on to Nashville, Tennessee, under command of General Nelson, and subsequently took part in the battle of Stone River under General Rosecrans, and also the engagement at Chickamauga. His right hand being injured, Mr. Harman was detailed as a guard at division headquarters, and remained with the army through the Atlanta campaign, after which the regiment was sent back to Indianapolis and mustered out in October, 1864, as their term of enlistment had expired. Fortunately our subject was never wounded, captured, or confined in the hospital by sickness.

      Returning to his Indiana home, Mr. Harman was married February 2, 1865, to Miss Susannah M. Gilliland, who was born in Ripley county, that state, January 24, 1846. Her parents, William and Margaret (Conyers) Gilliland, were natives of Ohio and Kentucky, respectively, but were married in Indiana, where they made their home upon a farm throughout the remainder of their lives, the mother dying April 19, 1868, aged fifty-four years, the father March 29, 1885, aged seventy-seven. Their children were as follows: Samuel C., a soldier of the Civil war, now deceased; Sarah Ann, deceased; James; Elizabeth Margaret, deceased; William F., who was a first lieutenant in the Eighty-third Indiana Volunteer Infantary (sic), during the Rebellion; Catherine J., Susannah M., America Olive, John T., Mary Alice, Newton Scott, and Abram Albert. Mrs. Harman's paternal grandfather was Samuel Gilliland, and maternal grandfather William Conyers, who was a soldier of the war of 1812, and a pioneer of Indiana. In the county of her nativity Mrs. Harman was reared and educated, and by her marriage to our subject has become the mother of five children; Eva Viola, who married E. P. Westcott, a resident of Polk county, Nebraska, and has one child, Lonnie; Carrie Belle, deceased wife of William Miller, by whom she had one child, Bird D. Leroy, now living with our subject; Newton Edgar, Albert R.; and Eurania, deceased.

      After his marriage Mr. Harman located on a farm in Ripley county, Indiana, where he continued to reside until 1872, when he removed to Pottawattamie county, Iowa, and after improving a new farm there, he

came to Central City, Nebraska, in 1880, making that place his home for eighteen months. In April, 1882, he located upon his present farm, then partially improved, and to its further development and cultivation he has since devoted his energies, placing sixty acres under the plow and fencing the entire half section, in 1884, at a cost of two thousand dollars. He has also erected all of the buildings upon the place, and now has one of the most highly improved farms of the township. He is engaged in mixed farming, raising both grain and stock.

      Socially Mr. Harman belongs to J. F. Reynolds Post, No. 26, G. A. R., and with the Baptist church he and his wife hold membership. He uses his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the Republican party, and her sympathies are also with that great political organization. They took an active part in the district reunion at Silver Creek, and Mrs. Harman furnished dinner for the speakers. She is known far and wide as one of the best housekeepers in Polk county, and her table is unsurpassed. She presides with gracious dignity over her lovely home, which is well furnished and shows the refinement and elegant taste of the mistress. 

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R. RICHARD CARSCADDEN, deceased.--In the death of Dr. Carscadden, York county lost one of its most able and popular physicians as well as one of its earliest settlers. He was born at New Castle, in the Dominion of Canada, February 1, 1840, a son of Robert and Elizabeth (Freeborn) Carscadden. The father was of French and the mother of Scotch descent. The father was a farmer by occupation and reared a family of seven children, six sons and one daughter.

      The Doctor received his preliminary training in the common schools of Canada, and also attended the Bellevue college. He then taught school in Canada for several years, and at the same time devoted himself to the study of medicine. In 1861 he entered the medical department of the University of Michigan and attended there one year. He then entered the Rush Medical college, at Chicago, Illinois, and graduated from that institution in 1866. He began the practice of his profession at Blackberry, Kane county, Illinois, remaining there for three years. He then moved to Sharon, Walworth county, Wisconsin, and made that his home for a short time. In 1879 he moved to York, Nebraska, and continued his practice in that city until his death, which occurred July 21, 1890.

      May 24, 1870, Dr. Carscadden was united in marriage to Miss Clara Sedgwick, a sister of S. H. Sedgwick, a sketch of whom will appear on another page of this volume. To this union have been born three children, whose names in the order of their birth are as follows: Ernestine P., Edna B., and Richard S., all of whom are now living. Mrs. Carscadden was appointed by Governor Boyd, April 30, 1891, to the office of superintendent of State Industrial Training School for girls, and held that position until July, 1897.

      The Doctor was also a graduate from the Chicago Homeopathic college, and was president of the Homeopathic State Medical Society for several years. He also filled the chair in the medical department of the State University of Nebraska, teaching the treatment of the diseases of the heart, lungs, etc., for two years. He was also a member of the York County Medical Society. He became widely known, during his life, as a physician of marked ability, and enjoyed a valuable and ever increasing patronage. In politics he was a Prohibitionist and was an ardent and enthusiastic temperance worker, not only in his own city and county, but in many parts of the state. He

was a member of the Knights of Pythias and some of the insurance fraternities, and was also a member of the Methodist church. 

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ZRA B. SHAFER, who is pleasantly located on section 28, precine (sic) G, has resided upon his present farm for thirty-two years and is therefore one of the pioneer settlers of Seward county. The improvements which we see to-day have been effected by his industry and good judgment, and he has brought the soil to a fine state of cultivation. The farm buildings are neat and substantial, and with their surroundings represent the pitcure (sic) of a complete country home, where peace and plenty abound.

      Mr. Shafer was born on the 3d of August, 1835, in Delaware county, New York, and is a son of Philip and Melvina (Benedict) Shafer, who were also natives of the Empire state, where the father followed farming throughout life. He reared a family of six sons and three daughters, but our subject is the only one to locate in Seward county. He attended the public schools of his native state and upon the home farm obtained an excellent knowledge of agricultural pursuits, so that he is now considered one of the thorough and skillful farmers of the community.

      Leaving the parental roof at the age of seventeen years, Mr. Shafer went to Erie county, Pennsylvania, where the following three years were passed, and in 1854 removed to Illinois, in which state he made his home until coming to Nebraska in October, 1866. He secured a homestead on section 28, precinct G, Seward county, and upon that land still resides. He was among the first settlers on the Blue river, and in those early days the Indians often came round his log cabin. The wild land he has transformed into a good farm and he now has two hundred acres under a high state of cultivation and well improved.

      Mr. Shafer was married in 1861 to Miss Eliza M. Castle, a native of Mercer county, Illinois, a daughter of Luman H. and Catherine (Murray) Castle, who were natives of New York and Pennsylvania, respectively. Her father died in York county, Nebraska. Our subject and his wife have three children, one son and two daughters, namely: Estella Mae, Eva R. and Edward N. In politics Mr. Shafer is independent, casting his ballot for the man whom he considers best qualified to fill the office, regardless of party affiliations. He is held in high esteem for his sterling worth and many excellencies of character, and his friends in Seward county are many. 

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ILLIAM TAYLOR, who is a numbered among the early settlers of Thayer township, York county, has assisted materially in the development of its agricultural resources, and is justly regarded as one of its most enterprising business men. His childhood home was on the other side of the Atlantic, for he was born in county Down, Ireland, December 15, 1830, a son of Walter and Isabelle (Cochran) Taylor, who were also natives of the Emerald Isle, but of English and Scotch descent. They spent their entire lives in Ireland, where the father was employed as a gardener and farmer.

     The common schools of his native land afforded our subject his educational privileges, and he remained in that country until 1856, when he boarded a vessel bound for ths (sic) United States, landing at Castle Garden, New York. From there he proceeded to Orange county, New York, where he made his home for two years, and in 1858 went to Mercer county, Illinois, where he found employment at farming until 1860. In September, 1861, he joined the boys in blue, going to the front as a member of Company H, Thirty-seventh Illinois Volun-

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