happily situated in every respect, and our subject has a bright prospect for the future, having already ascended several steps in the ladder of fame. Mr. George was formerly a member of Lodge No. 566, A. F. & A. M., at Albany, Ill., but since the organization of a lodge at Diller has attached his membership to the latter.

OBERT T. JERMAN. Among those who with patriotic heroism left all to stand in defense of their country when the storm of civil war burst upon us, was the subject of this sketch, who also has since done all that lay in his power to aid in the development and upbuilding of the Great West. Mr. Jerman is a native of the Buckeye State, having been born in Russellville, Brown Co., Ohio, on the 12th of April, 1837, and is the son of George and Rebecca (Bivans) Jerman, natives respectively of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. They were united in marriage in Hillsboro, and subsequently took up their residence in Brown County. In the year 1850 they went to Peoria County, Ill., and settled upon a farm near Trivoli. There the father of our subject died at the age of seventy-two years, in the year 1880, and the mother in the year 1884, aged eighty years and eighteen days. They were the parents of nine children, five of whom are living, whose names are recorded as follows: Julia, now Mrs. William Wright; Robert, our subject; Jonathan; Sarah; Fredonia, who is happily married to Arthur A. Pierce.

R. T. Jerman was reared upon the farm, and early initiated into the why and wherefore of things connected therewith. When the family removed to Illinois he was about fourteen years of age, and he remained working with his father until the bugle note of war's alarm rang throughout the country, calling men from office and store, and from bench and plow. Our subject responded with alacrity born of loyalty to the flag, and in 1861 he enlisted in Company C, 57th Illinois Infantry, and served for three years and thirteen days, when he was mustered out at Savannah, Ga. He was an active combatant in the battles of Shiloh and Corinth, Miss., besides a large number of engagements of less importance. Upon the 3d of October, 1863, he was twice wounded at Corinth, Miss., once in the face, and again in the right thigh. At Holly Springs he was taken prisoner, and after being held "in durance vile" for a period of ten days, he was paroled and returned home, and remained until April, 1863, when he again went to the front, and took part in the memorable Atlanta campaign, and was one of the heroes who accompanied Sherman in the memorable march which has become a household word in the nation, and supplied the theme for one of its most thrilling patriotic songs.

 Upon receiving an honorable discharge, our subject returned to Illinois and resumed farming, in which he continued prosperously engaged until he came to Nebraska, in the early part of 1880, and purchased 160 acres of land situated upon section 17 of Midland Township. Here he has been, if possible, more diligent, active and enterprising than in Illinois, and has accomplished a great deal along the line of improving his property, in spite of the fact that his health has never been the same since his army life. He has, however, not allowed this to hinder more than was absolutely necessary, and has the satisfaction of knowing that, should there come a time when labor will be an impossibility, he has quite a fair competency wherewith to help out the somewhat slender pension sent him by Uncle Sam in remembrance of the past.

The date of our subject's marriage, which has proved one of the happiest steps he ever took in life, was Feb. 5, 1868, when he was united to Magdalena Lehman, who was born at Polk, Ashland Co., Ohio, Aug. 9, 1846, and is a daughter of Jacob Lehman, a native of Pennsylvania. Her parents had a family of eight children. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Jerman comprises six children, whose names are recorded as follows: Oliver H., Sarah J., George A., Oland and Ohlie (twins) and Perry L.

The religious sentiments of our subject and his wife led them to affiliate with the communion of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which they are quite active workers. Socially, Mr. Jerman is connected with Rawlins Post No. 35, G. A. R. In his political sentiments our subject is in harmony with the principles of the Republican party, and

has always been thoroughly consistent and active in its service. He has for one term filled the chair of Justice of the Peace in a manner that reflects in a most complimentary manner upon him, by reason of his patient hearing, careful weighing of evidence, pro and con, and the impartial justice of his judgments.

SA THOMPSON is successfully engaged in farming on section 10, Blakely Township, where he has 200 acres of good land in an improved condition. He came to this county in 1878, and secured his land two years later, consequently all of the improvements have been made within the past few years. He was born in Montgomery County, Va., on the 30th of May, 1836, and is one of a family of twelve children, including seven sons and five daughters. He is a son of Archibald and Rachel (Reed) Thompson, who were natives of Old Virginia, and came of English parentage. For a time after their marriage they made their home in their native State, and then they moved to Greene County, Tenn., where they remained until the time of their death, that of the father occurring when he was seventy-two years old, and the mother when she was seventy-seven years old. The father was engaged in farming, and was a Dunkard minister, holding that relation to his church for a period of fifty years, and was active and zealous in the cause of his religion. The mother had also held the same religious faith all her life.

Our subject remained under the parental roof in Eastern Tennessee, and received his education in the common schools. On the 3d of July, 1857, he was united in marriage, in Sullivan County, with Miss Catherine Bond, who was born in that county on the 12th of January, 1839. Her parents were natives of the same place, and were engaged in farming, but both are now deceased. Mrs. Catherine Thompson lived to come with her husband to this State, but she died at her home in 1883, at the age of forty years. She was the mother of seven children, of whom Melvin and Mollie are deceased. James A. married Miss Lizzie Sparks, and they reside on a farm in Perkins County, this State, having been early pioneers there; R. Ellen is the wife of John Lamb, and they live in Jefferson County, where they are engaged in farming; Joshua A. married Miss Ella Reid, and they are living on a new, unbroken farm in Perkins County; Susan A., Alice B., Rufus E. and Hattie A. P. E. are at home.

Mr. Thompson was a second time married on the 28th of July, 1886, to Miss Anna C. Buckley, who was born in the Province of Ontario, on the 29th of November, 1856. Her father, John Buckley, was born in the South of Ireland, and came to Canada when he was a young and single man, and there engaged as a farmer. His wife was Mary Kurslen, who was also a native of the South of Ireland, and had come to Canada when she was a young woman, She had embraced the Catholic faith, and was the mother of a family of seven children, four sons and three daughters, all of whom are living. She died in 1875, at her home in Canada, aged forty-nine years, and the father afterward married Catherine Stephens, who was a native of Canada. They afterward came to Nebraska, and are now living on a farm in Blakely Township.

By his second marriage our subject is the father of one child, named John L. His farm is very nicely situated, and with its good buildings, fences, and other improvements which he has made, it presents a very fine appearance, and annually produces good crops of grain. Mr. Thompson is an ardent Republican, and is a public-spirited citizen, standing high in the estimation of his fellowmen.

UGH B. BILDERBACK, whose beautiful and thoroughly well-cultivated 80-acre farm is situated on section 28, Logan Township, is of German descent, and yet it were hard to find in this or any other State a more thorough American than he. His grandfather Bilderback was born in Germany, and came to the United States in the early part of the present century, and served throughout the War of 1812 as a private, and supplies the initial chapter of the history of the family on this side of the Atlantic.

James Bilderback, the father of our subject, was

born in Monroe County, Tenn., in 1824. His chosen occupation in life was that of husbandry. In 1862 he removed to Greene County Ill., and continued for many years one of the recognized, prosperous and wealthy farmers of the county. He is at present living at Greenfield, Greene County. His wife, the mother of our subject, was Miss Mary Moore, who was born in Tennessee in the year 1824, and after a happy wedded life died upon the homestead in Greene County, in 1854. She became the mother of five children, whose names are as follows: Nancy; Hugh B., our subject; Mary, Lee and Harvey; both the latter are deceased.

At the old Tennessean farmhouse, upon the 4th of March, 1849, the subject of this sketch was born, and there also remained until his father removed to Illinois, and from that time until he attained his majority he still made his home with his parents. In addition to the education supplied by the common schools, it was the privilege of our subject to take the High School course for three years. In 1873 he purchased a farm in Greene County, Ill., which he continued successfully to work for about six years, when, in 1879, he sold out and removed to this county, settling in Logan Township, and purchasing his present property.

While residing in Greene County, our subject became acquainted with a beautiful Illinoisan, a lady possessing in no small measure those attributes and qualities that have given to her sex the scepter of well-nigh unlimited sway, and places in her hands the power to make complete or utterly devastate the lives of those who come within the confines of the circle of her ascendancy. To this lady he was united in marriage on the 18th of September, 1873, and the subsequent history has shown that no happier step was ever taken by him. They have become the parents of three children--Adella, Mary (deceased) and Truman F.

 Miss Charlotte Wilkinson, the wife of our subject, was born in Illinois, on the 26th of March, 1850. Her father, Thompson Wilkinson, was born in England, May 7, 1817. His trade was that of a tinsmith, but for many years he has been ever increasingly successful in farming, and at present makes his home in this county. Her mother, Mary A. Gardner, was born in Vermont, in 1824, and is still living. Six children are the fruit of this union. These are Jane A., Mary, John, Charlotte, George and Arthur.

For three years our subject has filled the office of School Treasurer, but rather avoids the acceptance of any office, whatever its character. In the Methodist Episcopal Church both our subject and wife find that which is in harmony with their religious belief, and for many years they have taken their places among those deeply interested in the work. In political matters Mr. Bilderback is whole-hearted in favor of the Republican party, and is active in its interest. In every circle whether within or without the home, our subject impresses one with the idea of his manly character, his uprightness and honor, and he is accorded, as is also his wife, the unqualified respect and esteem of the community at large.

  H. WICKERSHAM is an adherent of that religious sect which bears a world-wide reputation for its principles of uprightness, and its strict adherence to the teachings of the Bible, carrying its religious zeal into the everyday business transactions, and exhorting its members to live lives of purity and holiness. Perhaps no other sect embraces a membership composed so largely of cultured and cultivated Christian people, successful in business life, uniformly charitable, and in harmony with the world, as that to which we refer--the Quakers--who had their earliest and ablest advocate in this country in the person of William Penn. The parents of our subject were connected with the Society of Friends, and the father, Abner, was born in Clinton County, Ohio, and the mother, Leah, near Lynchburg, Va. The father lived on his farm in Grant County, Ind., for fifteen years, and in 1855 he moved to Marshall County, Iowa, where he became very well situated and was the owner of 800 acres of land in that county, besides $15,000 in personal property. In the winter of 1887-88 he made a visit to Florida, and was taken violently ill, and died very suddenly on the 8th of March, 1888, in his seventieth year. The mother resides in Marshall County, and is seventy-one years old, having lived to see her five

children grown to manhood and well established. They are: Samuel, Thomas, Asaph H., Enoch H. and Benjamin Franklin.

Our subject was born near Marion, Grant Co., Ind., on the 6th of November, 1848, and was past six years old when he came to Iowa. He had just begun to attend school in Indiana, and when he reached Iowa the educational advantages were so limited that it was not until the third winter that our subject was near any school which he could attend. He grew up to young manhood, and remained at home until he was eighteen years old, when he went to Michigan, and engaged in the pine woods for which that State is so noted. He afterward went to St. Louis, and engaged in teaming, continuing that occupation for one and a half years, and then returned to his home, and worked for his father during one season. He then obtained permission to open up a farm of 160 acres in Mitchell County, which his father owned, and afterward, in 1871, he went to Kansas, and pre-empted 160 acres, and also homesteaded 160 acres, which was quite a large amount to he under the supervision of so young a man. But our subject was enterprising and industrious, and managed with great success until the fall of 1874, when he sold his homestead, and returned to Marshall County, Iowa.

In the fall of the year 1873 our subject was married to Miss Lydia E. Wickersham, a daughter of Tryon and Elizabeth Wickersham, who was a native of Columbiana County, Ohio, and he remained in Marshall County until 1877, after which he rented a farm, on which he remained for two and a half years, in Page County. In 1879 he moved to Atchison County, Mo., where he purchased 160 acres of land, and engaged in farming for four and a half years, meeting with much success. The large number of emigrants coming from foreign countries at that time and flocking to the Great West, caused an advance in the price of land, and our subject sold his farm at a good price, and came to Nebraska in the fall of 1883, having previously purchased 440 acres in this county. He has set out an orchard containing fifty fruit trees, and also a grove of hardwood trees, containing ash, maple, etc. On the 1st of July, 1888, he purchased 160 acres on the northwest quarter of section 3, Hooker Township, making him the owner of 600 acres.

 Our subject adopted Harry Wickersham, for whom he has cared, and in whose welfare he is interested as if he were his own child. He has been prosperous, and has built a very good and convenient house and farm buildings, and in various other ways he has improved and added to the value of his farm. Mr. and Mrs. Wickersham are well-known members of society, and enjoy the friendship and esteem of a large circle of acquaintances.

AVID LITTLEJOHN. To the citizens of Hanover Township and Gage County generally this gentleman needs no introduction. His extensive business relations as a farmer and ranchman, his prominence in political circles, and the influential position he has come to occupy since his settlement in the State, all render such introduction unnecessary. Without further remark, therefore, it will be endeavored briefly to sketch the salient features of his history. He is a descendant of a wealthy Scotch family of influence and position, and was born in Kilbirnie, Ayrshire, Scotland. His father, William Littlejohn, was a large land-owner, and an influential man in the community and district in which his property was situated. The mother of our subject, whose maiden name was Jeantte (sic) Fife, is the descendant of a long line of ancestry who bore that honored name, their record covering a period of over 700 years, and mingling always in honorable record through the stirring scenes of the history of the unconquerable country." In later times, when society had become more settled and its pursuits of a more peaceful nature, the representatives of this family came to occupy important positions in society and commercial circles as the proprietors and operators of extended factory interests. The father of the mother of our subject was superintendent of a large herring net factory, while on the paternal side the family represented extensive coal and iron interests.

Owing to the unfortunate hold that intemperate habits obtained over the grandfather of our sub-