debt that their father had contracted, and to pay his and his remaining sons passage to this country, sending $300 across the water to their father and brothers, who joined them in the fall of 1859 in Woodford County, Ill., whither our subject, his brother and sister had moved. They all rented a farm together, and our subject remained with his people until his marriage, in 1864, with Miss Henrietta Wittstruck, when he established a cozy home of his own. Mrs. Wessel was born in Germany, and was but a child when she came to America with her parents. She has proved an invaluable assistant to her husband in his work, and has made a comfortable home for her family.
   After marriage Mr. Wessel rented a farm for himself, doing very well thereon for four years. At the expiration of that time, in 1868, he bought a farm of eighty acres, which he sold in the fall of 1869, as he had been allured by the brilliant inducements held out to farmers by the wonderful agricultural resources of the then young State of Nebraska, and had determined to take advantage of them. He started with three wagons, three spans of horses and a stallion, with his wife and two small children, and their household goods. They arrived at Nebraska City on the 15th of November, having been exactly one month on the way. Mr. Wessel immediately looked up a suitable location, and being pleased with the country around South Pass, he pre-empted a tract of 172 acres on section 30 and two years afterward added the eighty acres on which his house now stands, which he took up under the provisions of the Homestead Act, and by further purchase he has further increased the acreage of his farm to 280 acres, all of which is in a fine state of culture, and provided with a substantial set of farm buildings.
   To our subject and his wife have been born eleven children, namely: Laura, Adolph, Mary, Clara, Anna, Charles, Kate, Fred, Lena, Louis and Eddie. Laura is the wife of Louis Rambow, of South Pass, and they have two children, Louis and Fred; Adolph assists his father in the management of the farm; Mary is the wife of C. Clursman, of Lincoln, and they have one child, Edward; Clara works in Lincoln. The remaining children live at home with their parents.
   Mr. Wessel is an active, wide-awake man, of resolute character, and undoubted integrity. Although of foreign birth, the years of his manhood have been passed in the United States, and as an intelligent citizen, familiar with her institutions and laws, our subject takes a hearty interest in the welfare of his adopted country. He sincerely believes the Democratic party can he most safely trusted with the guidance of National affairs, and earnestly advocates its principles. In matters pertaining to township and county affairs, he is, however, independent, voting for the man whom he thinks best adapted to the position. He has himself held public office very acceptably, serving the township as School Director, and as Road Master. He is a man of firm religious convictions, and he and his family are valued members of the Presbyterian Church, at Princeton.

AMUEL McCLAY, ex-Sheriff of Lancaster County, is a native of the Buckeye State, and born near the well-known town of Findlay, July 28, 1834. When a little lad seven years of age, his parents removed to Champaign County, in that State and from there later to Illinois, living for the first few years both in Tazewell and Fulton Counties.
   John McClay, the father of our subject, was born in Franklin County, Pa., and married Miss Jane Thompson, also a native of the Keystone State. He was a farmer by occupation, and after removing to Fulton County, Ill., established himself permanently and built up a good home, where his death took place in 1862. The mother later went to live with her children in Woodford County, and died there in 1868. The family circle included six sons and five daughters, and ten of the children lived to mature years; five are now living.
   The subject of this sketch was the sixth child of the parental family, and spent his childhood and youth under the home roof, becoming familiar with rural occupations and attending the district school. Later, in Illinois, he took a year's course at Brimfield Academy. He then began an apprenticeship at the carpenter's trade, which he followed four years

and until the outbreak of the Civil War. He was then one of the first to respond to the call for troops, enlisting in Company H, 17th Illinois Infantry, which was assigned to the Army of the Tennessee, and operated considerably in Mississippi. The 17th Regiment was a part of the 17th Army Corps, under command of Gen. McPherson. Our subject was first under fire at Fredericktown, MO., and later participated in the battles of Ft. Donelson, Shiloh and Vicksburg, besides meeting the enemy in various minor engagements and skirmishes. At Fredericktown he was shot through the arm, which disabled him for six months, but after rejoining his regiment he suffered no further injury, although experiencing many hairbreadth escapes. At the expiration of his term of enlistment he received his honorable discharge, in June, 1864, at Springfield, Ill., and returned to his old haunts in Illinois.
   Mr. McClay, after being transformed from a soldier to a civilian, resumed carpentering, which he continued in the Prairie State until the spring of 1867. Then, determined to seek the farther West, he made his way to the newly admitted State of Nebraska, stopping for a time at Omaha, and coming, in October following to Lincoln. He soon embarked as a contractor and builder, meantime being recognized by the citizens of this county as a valued accession to the community, being wide-awake, intelligent and energetic, with excellent business capacities and a good fund of information concerning matters in general. He was accordingly pushed to the front, and in the fall of 1869, after acquitting himself creditably in other positions of trust and responsibility, was elected Sheriff of Lancaster County on the Republican ticket. This office he held for a period of eight years, and upon retiring sought the quiet of the country and engaged in farming and stock-raising, having, however, his residence in the city.
   Mr. McClay was five years employed as a farmer, then turned his attention to real estate, and began handling both farm and city property, and since that time has been mostly thus occupied. The lady who has presided over his home for the last sixteen years was in her girlhood Miss Sarah J. Lamb, with whom he was united in marriage Feb. 8, 1872. Mrs. McClay was born at Mt. Vernon, Ohio, May 21, 1845, and is the daughter of John and Sarah E. (Cassell) Lamb, who were natives of Pennsylvania and Maryland respectively; the father is dead, and the mother is still living in Lincoln. Of this union there have been born two children, both daughters--Minnie J. and Hattie L. Mr. McClay has always been strongly identified with the Republican party.

ANIEL A. GILBERT. It has been customary to speak of men who have raised themselves to honorable stations in life without the aid of wealth or influential friends, as self-made men. There is much less significance in this expression than people suppose who use it. It would seem to imply that there are some men who are not self-made, that they were made by others, and that the qualities necessary to render a man successful in life need not be acquired, but may be conferred. That is not altogether true, though true to some extent, for all men must be self-made, if made at all. Every man must be the architect of his own fortune. There are many advantages, however, to be gained from having friends and means. A man starting out in life without either of these may finally achieve eminent success; and on the other hand, a man starting out in full possession of these advantages may make a signal failure unless he brings to bear some innate worth or virtue whereby to shape his course.
   Such efforts have been put forth and such success attained by the subject of this sketch, that he may well take rank among those who have molded for themselves successful careers. Mr. Gilbert is a native of Saratoga County, N. Y., the date of his birth being May 23, 1830. He is a son of Platt C. and Susan Gilbert, who were reared in the State in which he was born. He spent the years of his youth and early manhood in close proximity to the land through which flows the ever beautiful and picturesque Hudson River, his father living on a farm, of which there are none more romantically situated than are those in Eastern New York.
   Having received a fair common-school educa-

tion, Mr. Gilbert then decided to follow the advice given by Horace Greeley, "Young man, go West and grow up with the country," so in the year 1873 he came to Nebraska, and located in Lincoln. For some six years he engaged in the dairy business, in which he was successful, and afterward he engaged in the grocery business in the same place, which he conducted for some five years. Subsequently he farmed for two years in Denton Precinct, again returning to the mercantile business at Denton in 1885, since which time he has been here. He is the general merchant of this place, and besides his store business, he is engaged in buying and selling grain and coal, and anything in the line of farmers' produce. His storeroom is 24x40 feet in dimensions, the storeroom and village post-office occupying the front part of the building.
   Mr. Gilbert was appointed Postmaster in the spring of 1886. He enjoys the esteem and confidence of those with whom he is associated in business, and his integrity and uprightness of character are unquestioned. He not only enjoys a reputation as a successful merchant, but in his duties as a servant of the Government he has given general satisfaction. He is a Republican in politics, and readily approves of any measure by which the good of the community in which he lives can be secured or advanced.
   In New York State Mr. Gilbert was married to Sarah F. Coon; they have had seven children, five of whom are living, as follows: James C., Charles A., Carrie B., Martin T. and Mattie F. In the enjoyment of these domestic ties, and with the esteem and friendship of his fellowmen, may he continue his prosperous career, serving his country in the position which it has bestowed upon him with the strict integrity and uprightness which have heretofore been his characteristic virtues.

ICHAEL PETER. While every man is to a great extent responsible for the reputation which he bears among his fellowmen, there may be some circumstances bearing upon him to augment or depreciate in some degree what he might otherwise have become as an independent factor. It is true that to some extent heredity makes a man what he is; if his ancestry is illustrious, some beams of luster will fall on him; if it is degrading, some stain from the degradation will mar his otherwise spotless name. We are, pleased to state that the subject of our sketch need mention only with feelings of pride the ancestry from which he is sprung.
   William Penn is one of the most estimable characters in English biography; he embraced the tenets of the Society of Friends, and when religious intolerance became unbearable to him, he obtained a patent from Charles II to found a settlement, in North America, where the Friends might live unmolested. The settlement was organized on principles of perfect toleration, on the land which Penn purchased from the Indians, and on the 24th of August, 1682, he founded the city of Philadelphia (brotherly love), as the capital of his colony in Pennsylvania. The name of the city embodies the principle which he had at heart, his object in planting the colony "to afford an asylum to the good and oppressed of all nations, to frame a government which might be an example to show men how free and happy they could be." Among the people who composed this celebrated colony were the ancestors of the gentleman in whose honor we write this sketch.
   Mr. Peter was born on the 16th of November, 1818, in York County, Pa., and is a son of George and Catherine M. Peter, both natives of the same State. They had born to them a family of ten children, of whom but four now survive. Abraham is in Noble County, Ohio; Leo, now Mrs. Kline, and George, are also both in Noble County; and Michael, our subject, is one of the pioneers of Buda Precinct, residing on section 12. When Michael was about eight years old his parents migated to Ohio and settled in what is now known as Noble County, where the family were pioneers of the year 1826. There our subject was reared to manhood, and received what education he could from the early schools of his time.
   On the 10th of March, 1842, Mr. Peter was married, in Ohio, to Elizabeth Schell, a native of Bucks County, Pa., and they became the parents of twelve children, of whom the following survive: Andrew

lives in Colorado; Jacob in South Pass Precinct; Daniel in Noble County, Ohio; John in Sherman County, Kan.; Catherine, wife of Henry Oldemeyer, in Lincoln, this county; Margaret, wife of Hein Oldemeyer, in Colorado; Lydia, wife of S. B. Bundy, in Sherman County, Kan.; Mary, wife of George Sowers, in Gage County. In 1871 our subject and his family came to Lancaster County, and have since resided here.
   Mr. Peter homesteaded eighty acres of land, and improved it until it presents the title appearance of to-day, having also seen the development of the surrounding country in a like manner as was his own farm. He is interested in progress and improvement, and active in supporting any measures by which the good of the country can be secured. He is a member of the Congregational Church, at Princeton, in which he has served as Elder for a number of years. He is a Democrat in politics, and is now past seventy years of age but still able to do a great deal of labor, being in the enjoyment of good health. He possesses the entire confidence of his neighbors, and is one of the living pioneers who have done much to make this county what it is. No one is more worthy of a place in this work than the gentleman of whom we write, as is manifested by the respect and esteem in which he is held by the people of his community.

ETER GLEE is one of the old settlers of Centerville Precinct, residing on section 32. He is the youngest child of a family of nine children born to his parents, the names of his brothers and sisters being John, Hans, Inca, Anna, Henry, Katie, Dedlif and Telcia. This family were all born in their parents' native country of Prussia, Germany, and our subject was born on the 1st of January, 1834. He was enabled to acquire a very good education in his native tongue, and the education thus gained has been of countless worth to him.
   In the year 1864 our subject concluded that he would like to see the "America" of which so much had been said, and the name of which had long been ringing in his cars. It is not always pure curiosity that prompts those worthy people of foreign countries to visit this country, but it is oftener because she holds out inducements for the bettering of their condition, the truth of which they cannot help but believe and appreciate. Thus it is that so many industrious people have left their native homes to which they were then and still are very much attached, to seek in America that freedom, protection and encouragement which they did not before enJoy. Taking passage on in ocean steamer, our subject left Hamburg, and after a voyage of seventeen days he landed in New York City, from which place he went to Clay County, Ill. There he resided for two years, and in the year 1866 he came to Lancaster County, where he settled on the land which constitutes his present farm.
   In the year 1866 our subject was married to Elizabeth Krull, and they became the parents of eleven children, six of whom are living. The children who have been spared to brighten their days are William, Charles, Peter, Otto, Addie and Agnes. Those who were taken from them were Oscar, Hina and John, and two who died in infancy unnamed.
   When Mr. Glee came to this county he took up a homestead of 160 acres, and by careful management and industry he has subsequently been able to purchase at different times, until now he is the owner of 520 acres of good, well-improved land. He came without means other than a strong, vigorous body, a good education, and above all, a determination and will to succeed, which are really worth much more to a young man starting out in life than any amount of mere dollars and cents. When parents can bestow upon their children a certain amount of wordly goods, it may enable them to secure for themselves a fortune without really great labor, but if they cannot do this, they can yet send them out into the world fully equipped to lead successful and honorable careers, if they have but endowed them with strong bodies, good, sound minds and educational advantages, and taught them that self-reliance will accomplish great things.
   Our subject has been a worker all his life, and that, coupled with the fact that he is a good man has made him successful in what he has undertaken. He is a respected member of the German Lutheran Church, and in politics he votes with the

Republican party. When the Lutheran Church was being built in Centerville Precinct, he served as a member of the building committee, and is otherwise interested in the promulgation of religious principles. He is in favor of all the institutions that will lead to the advancement of the people and the improvement of the country, and as far as he is able he gives them his support.
   In connection with his regular farm work our subject has made a specialty of breeding fine stock and cattle, and he has a fine stallion of the Clydesdale breed which is now fourteen months old, and promises to be a fine horse. By giving attention to the improvement of the grade of those domestic animals and very useful servants, a farmer not only secures better results from their work, but exemplifies one of the truths of political economy which teaches that the best that can be done should be done for the general improvement of labor and the country.
   It is to the live, active, industrious and go-ahead principles which characterize our subject, that this county is indebted for its rise from a state of uncultivated, natural prairie land, dotted here and there with log houses and perhaps a school or two, to a state of the highest improvement in the condition of the farms, and the many beautiful and commodious dwellings and school buildings for which this county is particularly noted. As one of the men who has done much for the advancement of his adopted country, Mr. Glee is entitled to the respect, admiration and remembrance of the people in his community.

ON. HIRAM D. HATHAWAY, business manager of the State Journal Company, at Lincoln, a gentleman of education and ability, was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, Oct. 20, 1835, and is the third son and child of Artemas D. and Rachel (Hampton) Hathaway. The Hamptons were early settlers of New England, whence they removed later to Pennsylvania. Artemas Hathaway was one of the pioneer settlers of Ohio, locating in Trumbull County about 1826. Hiram D. remained on the farm during his boyhood, and acquired a district school education. His father died when he was only seven years of age. When sixteen years of age he migrated to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where he commenced the printer's trade, in the office of the Frontier Guardian, in 1852. This sheet was run off through an old-fashioned hand-press, and the first duty of young Hathaway was to act as roller-boy. Pining, however, for a more active life, he the following year set out on the long and hazardous trip across the plains to California, and remained five years upon the Pacific Slope, engaged in mining, lumbering, cattle-raising and farming.
   Our subject, in 1858, returned eastward as far as this State, which was then a Territory, stopping for a time at Wyoming, and resuming the printer's trade in the office of the Wyoming Telescope, of which, in due time, he became the business manager. From this point a year later Mr. Hathaway pitched his tent in Nebraska City, where he was employed as a "jour" on a paper called the Spirit of the West, and with which he continued until it collapsed. We next find him in the office of the Nebraska City News, of which he assumed charge of the mechanical and business department, remaining with it until 1865.
   In April of that year Mr. Hathaway established the Nebraska Herald, at Plattsmouth, which he conducted successfully for a period of seven years. Then withdrawing, he purchased a half-interest in the State Journal, at Lincoln, becoming the partner of Charles H. Gere. In December of the following year they added another member to the firm, and established a general printing, book-binding and stationery department, which from the start received an extensive patronage, and now gives employment in some seasons of the year to as many as 200 men. They carry a complete stock of job and printing material, besides fine stationery. They have added electrotyping, stereotyping and lithographing to their line of work, and have now one of the largest and cleanest establishments in the Northwest.
   Mr. Hathaway, when twenty-five years of age, and while a resident of Nebraska City, was united in marriage with Miss Anna Lauer, the wedding taking place at the home of the bride, Aug. 1, 1860, in Nebraska City. Mrs. H. was born in New York

City, in March, 1838. Of this marriage there have been five children, three living and two deceased, in order of birth: Charles C. died at the age of twenty-one; Fred H. died at the age of twenty; Frank L. is connected with the stationery department of the State Journal; Lillie E., a student of the State University; and Ralph H., attending the common school.
   In politics, Mr. H. is an uncompromising Republican, and has done good service for his party in Nebraska. He was elected a member of the Lower House of the Legislature in 1867, and two years later was elected State Senator at the first session held at Lincoln. In whatever station he has been called to fill he has acquitted himself conscientiously and intelligently, thus earning the esteem and confidence of the people at large. His comfortable and well-appointed home is located in the central part of the city, at the corner of Sixteenth and M streets, among whose people his face and form have been familiar for many years, and who have learned to estimate him at his true worth.

ILLIAM J. FOWLIE has one of the finest located farms in Lancaster County, situated on section 18 in the beautiful precinct of Nemaha, and its carefully cultivated acres, under his skillful management, are made to yield to the utmost the abundant harvests gleaned therefrom, furnishing evidence of the extreme richness and depth of the soil.
   Our subject is the son of William and Jennie (Chalmers) Fowlie, natives of Scotland, the father born in Aberdeenshire. The latter was a young man when he came to this country, and the mother was but a girl of fourteen or fifteen years. Mr. Fowlie was a miller and millwright by trade, and after settling in Smith's Falls, Province of Ontario, Canada, he built and ran a mill. He was very prosperous until his premature death, while still a young man, the result of having contracted a severe cold when in the water repairing the water wheel. He was gifted with energy, enterprise and a sound mind, all of which attributes made him a desirable citizen, whose death was a loss to the community in which he resided. The mother of our subject married a second time, John Scott becoming her husband, and they now reside in Ames, Story Co., Iowa. Mrs. Scott has no children by her second marriage. The four by her first union are: Gabriel C., William J., Margaret and Jennie.
   William Fowlie was born Sept. 13, 1846, at Smith's Falls, Ontario, Canada. He was a boy of nine when his father died. When he was ten years old he met with a serious accident while at play, breaking his leg, and it being improperly set, he did not recover its use until he was twenty years of age. This, while being a great misfortune, and at the time a great disadvantage to him, depriving him of the pleasures of boyhood, darkening his youth, the pain unfitting him for study, may in a manner have helped to strengthen his mind and mold his character, making him more thoughtful and observant, and turning him to books for companionship when he was able to read. As soon as regaining his vigor, he took up the business of photography, and did very well at it, considering his inexperience and lack of capital.
   Mr. Fowlie subsequently was offered a position as overseer or manager on a stock farm owned by a friend in Otoe County, near Nebraska City, this State, at which point he arrived in 1866. He took charge of the ranch for a year and a half, and then worked at carpentering for a year. He then took up the homestead where he now resides, on section 18, and after settling on his land he commenced to team lumber from Nebraska City to defray the expense of living and improving his land. The country round about was newly settled it that time, and there were no capitalists among the pioneers, our subject having but three cents after he arrived in Nebraska City. Since the trials amd privations of those early years he has been prospered, and may be numbered among the substantial citizens of Lancaster County. He owns eighty acres of land, and operates 160 acres, having rented eighty acres of his brother, who came to Nebraska in 1869, and pioneered with our subject on the adjoining homestead. He has a thrifty orchard of