a stylish stepper of 1450 pounds weight and sixteen and one-half hands high. In color he is a lustrous coal black. He was brought to this State by Van Norman & Irvine, stock farmers. Mr. Polley has a farm of which any one might be proud. In the agricultural department, or upon the stock farm, in the stables or barns, among the machinery or implements and tools used in the various departments, all reveal in a most positive manner that the owner and head of the establishment is one who has spared no pains and begrudged no effort; one who possesses all intelligent grasp of his occupation, and who has made it a study to be posted upon all points. It further reveals a man of sufficient liberality to introduce new inventions and experiments, and push enough to turn all to success. Such a man, in energy, generous thought and intellect, and high character, is our subject.

ROF. AMBROSE P. S. STUART. Occupying a prominent place in the literary and scientific world is the subject of this biographical sketch, who is an influential citizen of Lancaster County, and an esteemed resident of Lincoln. He is a cultured man, of broad and progressive views, having studied in some of the best universities in this Country and abroad, and aside from the knowledge derived from books, he has a vast fund of practical information gleaned from visits made to various parts of the United States and the important countries of Europe.
   Prof. Stuart is a native of Massachusetts, born in the town of Sterling, Worcester County, Nov. 22, 1820, that town having been also the place of the birth and death of several of his ancestors. He is of Scotch descent, Donald Stuart, one of his paternal ancestors, having emigrated from Scotland in the early part of the eighteenth century, and settled in Rowley, Essex Co., Mass., where he died when nearly one hundred years of age. Charles Stuart, the great-grandfather of our subject, it is believed, from the best information at hand, was born in Sterling, Mass., where he died when quite a young man. His son Solomon, grandfather of our subject, was also a native of Sterling, and there spent the whole eighty-four years of his life. He was a farmer by occupation, and married Miss Elizabeth Moore, who bore him several children Their son Levi, father of our subject, was also born, reared, married and died in Sterling. He was brought upon his father's farm, and in addition to that branch of industry, learned the chairmaker's trade, at which he worked a part of every year, devoting the remainder of the time to agriculture. He was a much respected citizen, and lived a long and useful life, dying in the spring of. 1875 at an advanced age. In religion he was a worthy member of the Baptist Church, of which he was Deacon for many years. The maiden name of his wife was Jane Ames, also a native of Massachusetts, being the daughter of Phineas Ames, and a niece of Adam Howe, proprietor of the "wayside inn" immortalized by Longfellow in his poem bearing that name. She died at the old homestead in Sterling in 1855. To her and her husband had been born nine children, namely: Alexander, Ambrose P. S.,. Susan, Addison (who died in youth), Eliza, Addison A., Marietta, Washington and Charles Wesley. Ambrose and Addison A. are the only ones now living, the first Addison having died when five years of age and Alexander when an infant. Addison A. served in the late Civil War as a Captain in the 17th Iowa Infantry, and is now a resident of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He has great mechanical genius, and is an inventor of repute, having taken out several useful patents. He is also of a literary turn of mind, and is the author of a book entitled, "Iowa Colonels and Regiments," giving a history of the Iowa regiments of the war.
   The subject of our sketch received his preliminary education in the district schools of his native town, and at the age of thirteen years was sent to the academy at Templeton. Later be attended Westminster and New Ipswich Academies, and--at the age of twenty years entered the Worcester Manual Labor Institute, where he was prepared to enter Brown's University, at Providence, R. I., matriculating there in September, 1843, and being graduated from that institution in 1847, with the degree of A. B. From the age of seventeen years until his entrance to Brown's University, when his studies engrossed his whole time, our subject taught

during the winter season, thus partly defraying the expenses of his education. After graduation Prof. Stuart received an appointment in Acadia College, Nova Scotia, where he taught successfully two years, going from there to Providence, R. I., where he remained until 1852, as Principal of the Elm street grammar school. The following two years our subject spent in Danvers, Mass., having been selected as Principal of the Holten High School.
   In the fall of 1853 he returned to Nova Scotia, and was again connected with Acadia College, remaining as one of its faculty until 1858. In June of that year, being desirous of perfecting his knowledge of the sciences, Prof. Stuart went to Europe and attended the universities of Heidelberg and Gottingen, making a special study of chemistry. During the three years that he was absent from home he visited Italy, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, France, England and Scotland, and returning home in 1861, arrived in New York soon after the battle of Bull Run. In 1862 he accepted a position in the academy at Worcester, Mass, which he retained until 1865, when he was appointed Assistant Instructor of Chemistry in the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass. After his acceptance of this position our subject was called to Brown's University, but did not feel at liberty to accept, being already engaged at Harvard College, where he remained until 1868, when he resigned to accept the Chair of Chemistry in the Pennsylvania Agricultural College. Soon afterward the Professor was offered the Chair of Chemistry at the Illinois State University, at Champaign, which he accepted. He organized the chemical department of that institution, and remained there for six years as Professor, when he resigned and took a vacation for one year. At the time of his father's death, in the spring of 1875, our subject was selected to administer upon his estate, and in December of that year he came to Lincoln, and has been a resident here the greater part of the time since. With characteristic energy he at once identified himself with the best interests of the city, and has been a potent factor in assisting its marvelous growth. He has bought real estate and erected a handsome dwelling, where he now resides.
   Prof. Stuart has fine business talent, and is as great a financier as he is scientist, and is a Director in the Capitol National Batik of Lincoln. He is well acquainted with the topography of his native country, having visited nearly every section of it, and has crossed the Atlantic Ocean to Europe three times, his second visit having been made in 1867, when he visited the World's Exposition at Paris. In 1874 he made another trip to Europe, visiting the principal cities of England and the continent, in the interest of the Illinois University, buying books and apparatus for its chemical department.
   Among his literary brethren Prof. Stuart holds a high position, and is a fellow of the American Association for the advancement of science, and corresponding member of the New York Academy of Science, besides being a member of the German Chemical Society of Berlin.
   Prof. Stuart has been twice married. The maiden name of his first wife, to whom he was united in marriage in 1849, was Mary Wheeler. She was a native of Rhode Island and died in 1850, her married life having been of brief duration. Our subject was again married, June 6, 1876, taking for a wife Miss Martha E. Downing, a native of Kennebunk, Me. She is of English extraction, her grandfather, John Downing, a native of England, having emigrated to America accompanied by his brother George. The latter soon returned to his native country, but the former settled in Kennebunk. where he took up a tract of timbered land, from which he cleared a farm, and there spent the remainder of his years. After becoming settled in life, he married Miss Mary Clarke, a daughter of Adam Clarke, who was a native of England, and emigrated with his family to America. He held an office under the King, and had charge of the town records. Samuel Downing, the father of Mrs. Stuart, was born, reared, and spent his entire life in Kennebunk, dying in 1871. He owned a farm which he carried on, and was also extensively engaged in getting out ship timber. The maiden name of his wife, the mother of Mrs. Stuart, was Rachel Tarbox, daughter of James and Keziah (Hooper) Tarbox. She died at the old homestead in Maine. Mrs. Stuart is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as were her parents also.
   Prof. Stuart is, and always has been, a stanch Re-