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complished much along these lines, and have made an honorable record, which is well worthy of perpetuation. Their home is now on section 29, Platte township.

      Mr. Johnson was born March 21, 1833 in Hartford, Connecticut, a son of Carmi and Urana Johnson, and in that state remained until he attained his majority, when he removed to Winnebago county, Illinois. There he was married, in 1856, to Miss Sarah Hobart, a native of Vermont, born in Essex, Chittenden county, May 30, 1836, and a daughter of Jehiel and Mandana Hobart, and a granddaughter of David Hobart. Her father was a native of Canada. In 1847 Mrs. Johnson removed with her parents to Winnebago county, Illinois, and there she made her home until coming to Nebraska.

      In the spring of 1859, Mr. Johnson started on a trip to Pike's Peak, but on reaching a point on the old military road opposite Linwood, on the Platte river, he decided to abandon the journey, for so many people were returning with unfavorable reports of the mining operation at that place. Being favorably impressed with the Platte Valley, he remained here and sent for his family, who arrived in the fall of 1860. They lived on the north side of the river until November, 1862, when they located in what is now Butler county, but before it was organized. Thus it will be seen that Mr. and Mrs. Johnson were among the very first white settlers of this region. In 1868 the first post-office in the county was established at Linwood and he was appointed postmaster and his wife deputy. It was she who named the post-office Linwood, and it was through her efforts that a mail route was established between Ashland and this point, the service thus rendered being of inestimable benefit to the early settlers. In 1865 she taught the first school in Butler county, in her own home near. the present village of Linwood, and in the fall of 1867, when the school districts Nos. 1 and 3 were organized, she became the first teacher in district No. 1, and Tabitha Vanderkolk, afterward Mrs. James V. Wood, was given charge of the other.

      Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have no children of their own, but have an adopted son, Charles H. Johnson, now twenty-one years of age, who recently enlisted in Company C, Second Nebraska Volunteer Infantry, for service in the war with Spain. He was taken to their home during infancy and knows no other parents. The first church in Butler county was a Congregational church organized in Savannah precinct in 1869, with thirteen members, among whom were Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, who have always taken an active and prominent part in all church work. They also give their support to every worthy enterprise calculated to prove of public benefit, or that will in any way advance the general welfare. They are widely and favorably known, and it is safe to say that no couple in Butler county have more friends or are more deserving of the high regard in which they are held. In politics Mr. Johnson is a Republican, and was present at the first election held in the county. 

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RANCIS M. DENMAN, a well-known citizen of Belle Prairie township, Fillmore county, Nebraska, residing on section 32, eminently deserves classification among those purely self-made men who have distinguished themselves for their ability to master the opposing forces of life and to wrest from fate a large measure of success and an honorable name. He had his nativity encompassed by those environments. which have ever fostered the spirit of personal independence and self-reliance which have furnished the bulwarks of our national prosperity.

      Mr. Denman was born on a farm in
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Miami county, Ohio, February 12, 1839, and is a son of Abraham and Margaret (Stickels) Denman, who were born, reared and married in Hamilton county, Ohio. They died at the ages of eighty and fifty years, respectively, and were laid to rest in the cemetery at Fletcher, Miami county, Ohio. They were devoted Christians, highly esteemed by all who knew them, and had many friends. To them were born eight children, but only two are now living, namely: Hiram, who is living retired in Miami county, Ohio; and Francis M., our subject.

      During his boyhood, Francis M. Denman received only a limited common-school education, and to agricultural pursuits he devoted his attention uninterruptedly until twenty-two years of age. At Camp Douglas, Chicago, on the fifth of October, 1861, he enrolled his name among the boys in blue of Company I, of the Fifty-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, under Captain J. C. Crooker and Colonel David Stewart. With the army of the Tennessee he took an active part in the following engagements: Shiloh, siege of Corinth, Chickasaw Bayou, Russell House, Arkansas Post, Haines Bluffs, Champion Hills, siege of Vicksburg, the relief of Knoxville, siege of Jackson, the battle of Kenesaw Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Fort McAllister, Savannah and Clinton. He participated in the siege of Atlanta, where he was wounded in the left leg on July 22, 1864, the battles of Jonesboro, Columbia and Bentonville, and was with Sherman on his march through Georgia and the Carolinas. On the first of November, 1864, he was made fourth sergeant of Company I, Fifty-fifth Illinois regiment, and served in that capacity until mustered out at Little Rock, Arkansas, August 14, 1865. He was present at the grand review in Washington, D. C., and while there visited the tombs of George and Martha Washington at Mount Vernon, Virginia.

      After his discharge from the service, Mr. Denman returned to his home in Miami county, Ohio, where he resumed farming. On the 2d of September. 1867, at Havana, Illinois, he led to the marriage altar Miss Julia A. McKnight, who was born November 2, 1846, and was educated in the common schools. Her parents, John and Martha (Giffin) McKnight, were natives of Ohio, where their marriage was celebrated. To them were born nine children, of whom Sarah and an infant son died in Illinois. Those still living are Nancy M., Mary E., Julia, Martha, Eliza, Harriet and Josiah. The father died in Mason county, Illinois, at the age of sixty-five years, but the mother is still living on the home farm there at the ripe old age of eighty-five. The four children born to Mr. and Mrs. Denman are as follows: Albert J., a young man of rare ability and sterling qualities, graduated from the Fremont Business College at the time T. R. Hamlin was president of that institution, and is now successfully managing the home farm for his parents. Ella is the wife of Erwin Cook and they now reside in Lincoln, Nebraska. Mattie is the wife of Samuel Wells, a farmer of Thayer county, this state. John F., the youngest of the family, received his education at the Bruning high-school, and the Lincoln Business College, and is now successfully engaged in teaching school in Thayer county.

      On the 15th of February, 1866, Mr. Denman removed from Ohio to Mason county, Illinois, where he engaged in farming for fourteen years. He came to Fillmore county, Nebraska, February 20, 1880, and in Belle Prairie precinct has since improved a homestead which stands as a monument to his thrift and industry. Although on his arrival here he was in rather limited circumstances, he is now the owner of two hundred and forty acres of the finest farming land in the township. As to improvements,

it is also equal to any, and is stocked with the finest and best breeds of horses, cattle and hogs. Besides this property, Mr. Denman owns some valuable town lots in Geneva, the county seat: of Fillmore county. He is now practically retired, surrounded by all the comforts and many of the luxuries of life, all of which have been acquired through his own good management and excellent business ability. Politically he is independent, voting for the men and measures that he believes will best advance the interests of the public. He cast his first presidential ballot for Stephen A. Douglas in 1860. In manner he is pleasant and genial, and all who know him esteem hint, highly for his genuine worth. Mr. Denman has preserved as a war relic, a genuine hardtack of 1860 fame, and this he now has nicely framed. 

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AMES D. THOMPSON.--In the great and fertile west are some prosperous farmers who bring to their calling rare business skill and excellent judgment (sic), and some of the most enterprising of these may be found in York county, Nebraska. Among them is Mr. Thompson, who to-day is one of the leading agriculturists of Stewart township, his home being on section 23. He was born in Huron county, Ohio, March 25, 1852, a son of John W. and Rosanna (Davis) Thompson, the former a native of Stark county, Ohio, the latter of Pennsylvania. They were married in the Buckeye state, and in Huron county the father cleared and improved a farm. He died in 1861, but his wife is still a resident of that county. To them were born eleven children, namely: Frederick; Elizabeth; Sarah, deceased; David, a resident of Antelope county, Nebraska; Aaron, of Chicago Junction, Ohio; John, of Michigan; Jane, of Wisconsin; Hannah, of Clearwater, Nebraska; Martha and Eliza, both deceased; and James D. The parents were both earnest members of the Church of God.

      Reared on a farm in his native county, James D. Thompson obtained his education in the district schools of the neighborhood. After the death of his father, he staid largely with his brothers and sisters, and in order to earn a livelihood worked as a farm hand. In 1872 he was united in marriage with Miss Ida Estella Decker, of Huron county. Her parents, Simeon and Jane (Devinney) Decker, were early settlers of that county, where the father cleared and developed a farm. He now makes his home in Seneca county, Ohio, but his wife is deceased. Their children were George, Ida Estella, Peter, and Melvin, deceased. Of the six children born to Mr. and Mrs. Thompson, five are still living: Nettie R., now the wife of George Lanphere, by whom he has one child, Leonard; Simeon J.; Floyd J.; Clarence; Tillie, and Owen J., dead.

      After his marriage Mr. Thompson lived in Henry county, Ohio, for six years, and then emigrated to Nebraska, taking up his residence November 19, 1877, on section 26, Stewart township, York county, on Lincoln creek. The farm was nearly all wild land, on which a sod house, 14 x i6, feet had been erected, but in the spring of 1878 a frame house, 9 x 16 feet and six feet high, was built, and in the fall another sod house was constructed on eighty acres of railroad land in Seward county, where the family lived for a year and a half. In 1880, Mr. Thompson purchased his present farm, of which thirty acres had been broken, and a rough frame house erected thereon. He now has two hundred and eighty acres, of which two hundred and fifty are under cultivation and improved, with an excellent set of farm buildings, good fences, trees, etc., which stand as monuments to his thrift and industry. The first winter spent in York county he had but five dollars with

which to pay all expenses, but by industry, perseverance and a determination to succeed, he has steadily prospered, until to-day he is one of the well-to-do and substantial citizens. of his community. Socially he is a member of the A. O. U. W., No. 152, of Gresham, and both he and his wife are members of the Degree of Honor, while politically he is identified with the Republican party, and has most capably filled the offices of treasurer of the school district for three years, and has been a member of the school board for eighteen years. 

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. E. DOAN, whose home is on section 22, Stewart township York county, is a worthy representative of one of the prominent and highly respected pioneer families of the county. They were among the first to locate here and in the development and prosperity of this region they have been important factors. Our subject's father, David Doan, was born in Indiana, Novem (sic) 24, 1832, and when a young man removed to Lee county, Iowa. In that state he married Nancy Hiatt, who was born in Ohio, in 1831, and on coming west located in Henry county, Iowa. After their marriage they resided in Henry and Lee counties, Iowa, until 1858, when they removed to Linn county, Kansas, where the father broke and improved about sixty acres of wild land. Upon his farm was also some timber. After the Civil war broke out he was obliged to leave Kansas, and after spending some time in Iowa, he came to York county, Nebraska, in 1868, locating on the east half of the southeast quarter of section 26, Stewart township. On coming to the county he was accompanied by James Stewart, who settled on the west half of the southeast quarter of section 22--the farm on which our subject now resides. They were the only white settlers in the township at that time, but Indians were still quite numerous, and wild animals, such as elk, antelope, deer and buffalo, were plentiful. After building a log house upon his place, Mr. Doan broke twelve acres of land and raised some sod corn; in 1869 he raised a small crop of wheat, and broke more land for sod corn. His nearest neighbor at that time was two miles and a half distant in Seward county; his market was Nebraska City, ninety miles away; no railroads had been constructed, and the basement of the capitol at Lincoln had just been commenced. He continued the improvement and cultivation of his homestead until 1893, when he sold the place and removed to Nuckolls county, Nebraska, where he purchased an improved farm, and still continues to make his home. He was a member of the Home Guards in Kansas, and by birthright both he and his wife are members of the Society of Friends. Their children are T. E., Mrs. Margaret J. Moore; Edgar; Mrs. Ollie Donovan, and Francis.

      Mr. Doan, whose name introduces this review, was born in Henry county, Iowa, June 19, 1853, and was fifteen years old when brought by his parents to York county. He attended the first district school conducted in Stewart township, and was early inured to the arduous labors of transforming wild land into productive and well cultivated fields. On attaining his majority he started out to fight life's battles for himself, and after one year spent in Iowa, located permanently in York county. After his marriage he rented land on section 26, Stewart township, and later moved to the east half of the northeast quarter of the same section, where he made his home until 1887. He then purchased his present farm, and now has one hundred and sixty acres under a high slate of cultivation, with the exception of eighteen acres, and is successfully engaged in general farming and stock raising.

      In April, 1879, was celebrated the mar-

riage of Mr. Doan and Miss Ella May Hendrickson, who was born in Illinois, in 1862. Her parents, Henry and Margaret Hendrickson, came to York county, Nebraska, about 1871 or 1872, and settled near Waco, but later removed to Custer county, Nebraska, where their deaths occurred. Eight children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Doan, but the eldest, Arthur, died at the age of twelve years. Those living are Nancy Alice, Mabel, Ellen, Elmer, Maude, Clarkson and Rhuie.

      Socially, Mr. Doan affiliates with the Ancient Order of United Workmen at Gresham, and the Masonic order at York; politically, he is independent,, preferring not to be bound by party ties. He is now efficiently serving as treasurer of school district No. 35, and his duties of citizenship are always most faithfully and conscientiously discharged. 

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1LLIAM ARMSTRONG COLLIER, one of Nebraska's old settlers, and the owner of one of the finest farms in N township, Seward county, was born September 16, 1836, in Licking county, Ohio, a son of Josephus and Nancy (Sells) Collier. His maternal grandparents were Samuel and Helen Sells. The Colliers are of Scotch-Irish descent and the Sells are German.

      Our subject lived with his parents until he was twenty-two years of age and then began the battle of life on his own responsibility. In August, 1861, he enlisted in Company E, Thirtieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for a term of three years. The captain of this company was Elijah Warner, and Colonel Hugh Ewing commanded the regiment. For eighteen months his regiment guarded the Kanawba Valley, which contained the great salt works of the state and were of great value to the Union armies. He then joined the army of the Potomac, which was under the command of General Pope, and took part in the second battle of Bull Run. From there he went with the command to Washington and was stationed at Upton Hill for the purpose of defending the capital. Here the army was reorganized and General McClellan was again placed at the head, and soon after the regiment to which our subject belonged and several others were ordered to Frederick City, Maryland, which up to this time was in the possession of the enemy. From there they were ordered to South Mountain, and after this place was taken, they were sent in pursuit of General Lee and encountered and defeated his army at Antietam. From this point they were sent to guard the Baltimore and Ohio railroad for a time, and from there they returned to Kanawba Valley. The command next went to Vicksburg, and there our subject was engaged in the construction of the cut-off canal that was dug with a view to making Vicksburg an inland town. After the surrender of this city, Sherman was ordered by Grant to pursue Johnston's army, and at camp at Black River Bridge, during this pursuit, our subject was taken with the measles and was sent to Young's Point hospital. As this disease proved to be of long standing, be was sent home on a furlough and did not return for sixty days. At the end of his furlough he was about to re-enter the ranks, but as he had not yet fully recovered, he was detailed by order of General Grant to assist in the camp known as the Soldiers' Home, at Cairo, Illinois, and at this place he served the remainder of his term of enlistment. Upon receiving his discharge he immediately returned to his home in Ohio and found his wife engaged in teaching school. They were married May 15, 1864.

      March 22, 1865, Mr. and Mrs. Collier left Columbus, Ohio, for what was then known as the "Wild and wooly West", and reached Nebraska City March 28. They

located on a ranch about sixteen miles west of that city, which was then a small village, remained there until September of the same year and then moved to a farm that was located where Milford now stands. While there he selected his homestead, dug a house in the side of the ravine, and in that he sheltered his family until he could cut and haul logs to build a log cabin. About four years later he traded this land for one hundred and sixty acres in sections 7 and 18, in N township, which is still his home and to which he later added by purchase twenty-five acres. When they first located in Nebraska, they had plenty of everything except money, for they had brought with them a supply of provisions and clothing, but it was not long until this supply was exhausted and cold and hunger were added to hardships to which settlers in a new country are subject. Mrs. Collier finally cut up the fine cloak which she brought from Ohio to make her husband a pair of pants. Their surroundings now are very different. Their farm is one of the best and the improvements upon it are quite extensive and are comfortable and convenient in their arrangement. It is supplied with a large orchard, and an artesian well from which water can be conveyed to all parts of the farm, and the are surrounded with such home comforts as make life enjoyable.

      To Mr. and Mrs. Collier have been born six children, five of whom are now living, and their names in the order of their birth are as follows: Lilly M., the first girl baby born in the town of Milford; Harry W., Charles P., Charlotte A. and Myrtle W. The oldest two are married and are living near the old homestead, and the rest are still living with their parents. None of the family are members of any religious denomination but are firm supporters of the Christian religion and usually attend the Methodist church. Mr. Collier has always used his elective franchises in the support of the candidates of the Democratic party until the last election, in which he supported the candidate of the Republican party.

      Mrs. Collier's maiden name was Charlotte Laurie, a native of Ohio. Her parents, Rufus and Sarah Laurie, came from Long Island and Connecticut. 

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OUIS KOSCH.--This gentleman is the fortunate owner of one of the fine estates of Savannah township, Butler county, and is well known as an agriculturist who is doing an extensive business. His farm consists of four hundred and twenty acres of choice land, and the buildings upon it are above the average in their substantial construction and the convenience of their arrangements.

      Mr. Kosch was born in Austria, June 24, 1849, the oldest son of John Kosch. Our subject was the first of the family to migrate to America. His brother, John, followed him the same year, and the next year the rest of the family decided to try their fortunes in the New World. Our subject first came from Hamburg to the United States and stopped in Philadelphia in 1876. In the same year he moved to Saint Paul, thence to Columbus, Nebraska, where he first worked on a farm by the month, and before the close of the year 1876, he located in Butler county. He first bought a farm of eighty acres in section 32, but has added to it from time to time as he became able until he now has a fine farm of four hundred and twenty acres, and the improvements upon it compare favorably with the best farm buildings in this section. The residence was built in 1893 at a cost of two thousand dollars.

      Mr. Kosch was married in February, 1880, to Miss Eloise Janieck, daughter of Frank Janieck, of Columbus, Nebraska, and their wedded life has been blessed by the advent of a family of eight children, upon

whom they have bestowed the following names: Hermann, Anna, William, Louis, Rudolph, Henry, Eloise and Lottie. Mr. Kosch is a very pleasant neighbor, genial, warm-hearted, and has an agreeable family, and resides in one of the most hospitable homes of the township. He has labored hard on his farm to make it one of the best stock and grain farms in his part of the county, and has provided it with all modern equipments and conveniences, and his home is a place of social and mental refreshment. He and family are members of the Catholic church. 

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ILLIAM M. PREUIT, whose well appointed farm on section 8, Waco township, York county, pleases the critical eye, belongs to the younger generation of Nebraska's capable and energetic farmers. He has been a resident of the state for nearly thirty years, and knows its history almost from the beginning. He has a quarter section of good land, and upon it he has erected a commodious and substantial dwelling, barn and outhouses, together with such other surroundings as make it a fit habitation, He is up to date in all his methods, and farms for profit.

      Mr. Preuit first saw the light in Washington county, Indiana August 8, 1851, and is a son of Warren and Mildred A. (Hogg) Preuit. His father was a native of Indiana, and there died while still a young man. His mother was from Virginia, and after the death of her first husband married Joseph Brinson, by whom she had one child, Joseph. The subject of this sketch is the only surviving child of his father, who died in his infancy, and h was brought up under the tender care of his grandfather, and at his home in Madison county, Iowa. He had but little opportunity for schooling, and from the age of nineteen has entirely supported himself, lie has a wide range of information, but his knowledge has been mostly self-acquired. In 1868 he began to shift for himself, and the next year he came into Nebraska in company with his stepfather, and spent some months in Nuckolls county. He was also in Kansas about this time, and was in that state some two years. He worked part of the time for a farmer and part of the time was in the employment of a transfer company in Kansas City. In 1871 he returned to this state and worked in several counties, came into York as a tracklayer for the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad. In November, 1878, he was united in marriage to Miss Mary L. Carpenter. She was a daughter of George W. and Martha E. (Middleton) Carpenter. She was born in Michigan, March 17, 1860, and came into York county in 1874. After their marriage they went on a rented farm, which they finally bought, and which constitutes their home at the present time. It, is the north half of the southeast quarter of section 8. He has, at the present moment, a quarter section under cultivation, and has greatly improved his holding in recent years. He built the residence in which he lives, the farm barn and all other outbuildings. Years ago he suffered the destruction of almost all improvements by a severe fire. But he did not lose heart, and is farther along today, perhaps, than he would have been had not the fire cleared the way for reconstruction. He has extensive orchards and fine young trees on the place. He follows mixed farming, and for the last twenty-one years has run a threshing machine in the fall of the year, and in that time has owned three different machines.

      Mr. and Mrs. Preuit are the parents of seven living children, whose names are William H., Amos A., Oral S., Grover C., Florence May, Lola Ellen, and Elmer L. They have buried one child. They are associated with the Christian church, of which he is a member. He also belongs to the Waco Modern Woodmen and the

Thayer Home Forum. He is a Populist, and is a worker for his party. He has been township committeeman for five years and cherishes the utmost confidence in the future of the free silver cause. He has been clerk and assessor of his own township, and takes a deep interest in school matters. 

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RED SCHNERINGER is known far and wide as one of the leading farmers and business men of York county, Nebraska, and is easily peer of the most enterprising characters of that enlightened and progressive region. His home is in Bradshaw, and he has a large and productive farm near that pleasant little railroad village, on which he had his home until a recent date. He knows both the theory and practice of farming, and it will broaden the average view of a man to spend a half hour with him in social conversation.

      Mr. Schneringer was born on a farm near Lockridge, Jefferson county, Iowa, and is a son of Frederick and Rachel Schneringer. The father came into Iowa in 1835, and spent the remainder of his life there, dying in 1873 at the advanced age of eighty-two. He was a native of Strasburg, and in early life served in the armies of Napoleon. Falling into the hands of the English as a prisoner of war, he was offered release from confinement if he would join an English expedition just setting out for the invasion of America. He accepted the proposition, and came to this country in the English army, and valiantly played the part of a soldier. But on the establishment of peace in 1815 he refused to accompany the English forces back across the ocean, and, escaping to the American lines, was warmly received, and devoted his remaining years to the arts of peace. He lived a long and useful life, and died at last at a venerable age, bearing the esteem and respect of his neighbors to the last.

     Fred Schneringer was the second child of his father by his second wife, and upon the death of his father began farming for himself. He was only nineteen years of age at that time, but he had a prompt and resolute character, and the following year he removed to Nebraska, where he purchased land in York county, and began a systematic and successful farming. He secured also an old homestead right, and under it secured the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 30, township 11, range 3 west. He is the proprietor at the present writing of a half section of as good land as York county can show. With the enthusiasm of youth he applied himself to the arduous labor of making a home out of the flower-loaded prairies. He put up a house, broke the sod, planted trees, and in 1876, feeling it was not good for man to live alone, he went back to Iowa, and was married to a Miss Veburg, who at one time had been a pupil in his school. They came back to Nebraska and applied themselves to the work of life with a resistless determination that was sure to command success. In these years he was recognized as the most successful wheat grower in the country. He commanded the respect of his community at once, and though very young was chosen as a justice of peace in 1878, and has since been re-elected several times to that important office. In 1883 the county adopted by a vote of the people what was known as the township organization, Mr. Schneringer was elected supervisor of his district, a tract of land eight miles square. He was made chairman of the board, though the youngest man upon it. He proved himself an active and efficient official, and his name is associated with some of the most important events of York county. He secured its redistricting, and the adoption of a uniform area for all townships, making them six miles square. He named his home township Lockridge, after his birthplace in

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COMPENDIUM OF BIOGRAPHY.

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FRED SCHNERINGER.

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