the full term of six years. For the past five years he has served as President of the Board of Regents.
   The marriage of Mr. Gere to Miss Mariel E., daughter of Capt. John Claphan, of Washington, D. C., was solemnized in 1871. Of their union four children have been born, of whom three are living namely: Mariel, Ellen Bladen and Frances.
   In politics, the subject of this sketch is an ardent Republican, firmly and sincerely upholding the principles promulgated by that party. He has been Chairman of three State Conventions of the Republican party, and in 1873 was a member of the State Constitution Convention, and assisted in framing the present State Constitution. As a man of intelligence and energy, a citizen of influence and high moral principle, and a journalist of broad culture, versatility and good practical sense, Mr. Gere has won a prominent position in the legal, political and business circles of his State, where his career has been a distinguished one, justifying the expectations of his many warm personal friends.

OLON P. BINGHAM. Many of the most atrocious crimes that have ever been perpetrated in the history of the world have been committed in the name of, and ostensibly in behalf of religion, and not infrequently the mistake is made of charging to religion what should rightly be put to the account of the wickedness, bigotry, ignorance, selfishness and arrogant pride of men. At the same time, in many instances the repression, persecution and cruelty have fallen out for the advancement and benefit not only of those immediately concerned, but also for that of generations following them. An illustration and case in point, perhaps, would be the crime by English dignitaries that was the immediate cause of the voyage of the "Mayflower," which has brought a blessing to countless millions upon this grand continent. New England will always be connected in our minds with this thought.
   Courtney Bingham, the father of the subject of this sketch, was a New Englander, and was born in 1789 in Lempster, N. H. His school days were passed in the institution of his native town, and in that place he continued to live and labor until he reached the years of his majority. He was united in marriage with Rachel Howard, and there were born to them three children--Samuel Dexter, Mary W. and our subject. His wife died at the early age of thirty-six years, and some time after he contracted a second alliance, becoming the husband of Lovey Lebourveau. By this marriage he became the father of a son, George W. Mr. Bingham carried on an extensive business as a clothier, and was quite prosperous in the same. His religious associations and those of his family were within the pale of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he was always a warm friend and consistent member. At the time of his demise in 1863, he had reached the ripe age of seventy-three years.
   Our subject was born in Charleston, N. H, upon the banks of the beautiful Connecticut River. While in his childhood the family removed to Lempster, Sullivan County. In this new place our subject was enabled to obtain the rudiments of an education. Upon the removal of the family to Stoddard, he made some addition to this store, but the greater part of his mental training and development was obtained after the removal of the family to Keene, where he attended the common school for a considerable time. Our subject realized, however that his education was far from being complete when he passed into the school of experience, and began life in earnest, and he has, therefore never ceased to make the most of everything which promised to aid him in this regard. His home was with his father and family only during his earlier years, for, upon the death of his mother, his father broke up housekeeping, and he went to work upon a farm and earned his own living; and, although he was allowed the privilege of attending school sometimes, this was the real difficulty in the way of his obtaining a complete and regular course of study. He had to be content with two or three months during the winter.
   As soon as our subject was in a position to change the loneliness which came as the result of the above described circumstances. He was united in marriage to Miss Harriet E. Adams, a lady who was eminently fitted to bring into his life those elements

which would redeem it from the emptiness of youth and manhood, and in whom he has not been disappointed. Miss Adams is a native of Hillsboro County, N. H., and was born in Mason on the 5th of December, 1818. She is the daughter of Deacon Jonas and Sallie (Wright) Adams, and lived at home with her parents until her marriage. Her education was begun in the common schools of Mason, and completed in the Ladies' Seminary, of Keene, in which institution she was occupied, from the time of her graduation until her marriage, as a teacher. Her father, who lived to the green old age of seventy-four, was during life a very prosperous and successful farmer.
   After his marriage Mr. Bingham went West, in the spring of 1842, settling in Bureau County, Ill., about 100 miles from Chicago, on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. This he made his home for about twenty-six years, living in Dover and Princeton. From thence he removed to Union County, in Southern Illinois, engaging for the subsequent ten years in the fruit business. In 1878 the removal to Nebraska was proposed and effected, and the property two and a half miles from Lincoln was purchased. At that time it was unbroken prairie in all its native wildness, and was at that time valued and purchased at the rate of $9 per acre. Immediately he set about the work of providing a home for his family and improving his farm. His present elegant and commodious residence was erected in the year 1885. The view which will be found elsewhere in this volume will convey, however, a better idea of this model home and its surroundings than is possible in the written description. He sold 145 acres of his farm in the year 1887, receiving for the same $30,000, which speaks more eloquently than mere words of his prosperity during the years intervening, and the high state of cultivation to which he had brought the property. This sale still left him his residence and unusually fine orchard, containing about 500 plum, 200 apple trees, and one acre of grape vines, with sufficient land for his purpose--about fifteen acres in all making this property an exceptionally fine suburban residence. It is considered by all who know it as one of the most beautiful homes in the county. Previous to the sale of his farm our subject had been one of the most extensive stock-raisers and sheep-raisers in the entire district, carrying on also a large dairy business in the city. Although now no longer a representative of the farming and stock interests, he is one of the most prominent and prosperous citizens.
   To our subject and wife there have been given four daughters: Mary Ellen, who is now the wife of A. M. Trimball, of Lincoln; Sarah A., who became the wife of Edwin Collins, who is since deceased, leaving his widow with one son; Hattie B. was married to Prof. G. H. French, of the Normal University of Carbondale, Ill. It was their misfortune and sorrow to lose by death the youngest daughter, Helen E., shortly after she had reached the age of eleven years. The only grandchild of our subject is Eddie B. Collins, the son of his second daughter above referred to.
   The parents of our subject bore into their daily lives the Christian influences of a faith which received the highest devotion of their being. These influences surrounded the earliest days of our subject, and continued through the days when he was better enabled to grasp their meaning; they were not without result, being reproduced in daily emanation from the heart they had affected so deeply, and have continued growing stronger and deeper through the years of life. At the age of eighteen our subject made public profession of his devotion to the Christian faith, was immersed by the Rev. John Peacock, and received into the membership of the Baptist Church at Keene, becoming an active worker in the cause. Upon removal to Dover he transferred his membership to the church there, and for twenty-six years was unwearied in well-doing. Soon after he had reached the age of thirty-four he was elected and ordained Deacon of the church, and for fifteen years filled with efficiency the position of chorister, and for a similar period that of Superintendent of the Sunday-school. Upon the removal to Union he was obliged to resign these offices, to the great regret of all connected with the church and school.
   Mr. Bingham then transferred his allegiance to the church adjacent to his new home. During the years of his superintendency he had become passionately devoted to Sunday-school work, and in his