well-to-do and prominent men of the county, who have been instrumental in elevating it to its present enviable position in one of the most prosperous commonwealths west of the Mississippi.

RTHA C. BELL, County Clerk of Lancaster County, is a young man whose sterling integrity and fine business qualifications have gained for him the high position which he so well fills, wherein he has won the full confidence of his fellow-citizens by his faithful discharge of the duties pertaining to his office. He is a native of Indiana, born in Cass County, Jan. 9, 1847, and is a son of George W. and Marrietta (Thomas) Bell, natives respectively of Indiana and Pennsylvania. His father was born April 30, 1824, and was in early life a farmer. In 1852 he became interested in mercantile business in Galveston, Ind., and later went to California, where he was engaged in mining. He also worked in the mines of Nevada and Idaho.
   In 1887 the elder Bell came to Lincoln and established himself in the real-estate business, which he is still prosecuting with success, so that he is now numbered among the substantial men of this city. His estimable wife died in Illinois in 1869. She was an exemplary woman of high character, and was much beloved by all who knew her, and a devoted member of the Christian Church, which at her death was deprived of one of its truest followers. Of the eight children born to her and her husband, our subject was the eldest; following is the record of the others: Gertrude P. married J, H. Davis, a merchant; Mollie B. became the wife of David T. Cook, a carpenter; George T. is also married and engaged in farming; Melinda is deceased; Lizzie married David Farnsworth, a carriage blacksmith; Harvey S., a fire and life insurance agent, married Kitty Rairdon; another child died in infancy.
   Ortha C. Bell was educated in the common schools, and as soon as large enough assisted in the labors of the farm. At the age of twelve years he entered the office of the Princeton (Ind.) Republican, and when seventeen, although but a youth, imbued with the fire and patriotism of one who loves his country he resolved to enlist in her service and do all that lay in his power to assist in suppressing the Rebellion. He was mustered in as a private in Company B, 10th Indiana Cavalry, and from December, 1863, served as bugler until he was honorably discharged from the army in August, 1865. He was present at the battle of Mobile Bay, and was on the courier line from Blakely to Spanish Fort and Pulaski; thence the march to Franklin and Nashville was almost one continuous fight, strongly contested by the Confederate General Hood. From the latter city his regiment proceeded to the river, and Hood was left behind at Florence. Our subject came very near being wounded in one battle, a button being shot off his coat. For a time he was sick in a hospital at Jackson, Miss., and when he was discharged was suffering from the army scurvy.
   After retiring from the service, Mr. Bell returned to his home in Indiana, whence he went the following year to Havana, Mason Co., Ill., where he worked in a printing-office four months. Then, he was employed in an express office for some time, and later, in a telegraph office, being the first telegrapher in Havana. He subsequently had a trial of life in Texas, being engaged in book-keeping there for one year. He then returned to Havana, and in February, 1872, turned his face westward again, and arrived in Lincoln on the 29th of that month. His first employment in this city was as a clerk in a boot and shoe store, and two years later he occupied the same position in the china store of S. C. Elliott, remaining in the employ of that gentleman for six years to a day.
   In 1880 our subject was appointed Deputy County Clerk, serving in that capacity for six years, the first two years being under L. E. Cropsey, and the remaining four years under J. H. McClay. Our subject showed such zeal and ability in the discharge of his duties that, on the expiration of the term of his predecessor, he was chosen County Clerk in his stead, being elected to that office by the Republican party in November, 1885, and entering upon its duties in January, 1886. In 1887 he was re-elected for the same position, being nominated by acclamation. Mr. Bell is a prominent member of the G. A. R., Farragut Post No. 25, of

which he is now Commander; and also of the I. O. O. F., Lancaster Lodge No. 39, in which he has held the highest rank. In politics he has always been true to the principles of the Republican party.
   December 10, 1874, Ortha C. Bell and Miss Minnie D. Polley were united in marriage by the Rev. A. Burns, pastor of the Christian Church. Mrs. Bell is a lady whose amiable qualities and high character have gained her many friends. She was born in the State of New York in 1855, and at in early age united with the Christian Church, and has ever since been a devoted and consistent member. Mr. Bell belongs to the same church, is influential in its affairs, and a member of the building committee which has in charge the erection of a new church edifice. The family circle of our subject and his wife includes two children: Jennie G., born March 10, 1877; and Hazel P., Aug. 26, 1888. One little daughter, Lena; died at the age of eleven months; and Ray H., a son, died when not quite three years of age.

AVID A. CLINE, Grand Secretary of the I. O. O. F., of Nebraska, and a man prominent among the affairs of the city of Lincoln, began life near the town of New Lexington, Highland Co., Ohio, on the 28th of March, 1831. His parents, Daniel and Mary (Miller) Cline, numbered nine children in their family, of whom David A. was the eldest. Daniel Cline was born in Hampshire County, Va., about 1795, and was a machinist by trade, which occupation he followed the earlier part of his life, but later engaged in farming. He emigrated to the Buckeye State in 1818, and settled among the early pioneers of Muskingum County, taking up a tract of Government land in the Muskingum Valley. After a residence in that region of ten years he removed to Highland, where he remained some time, and from there to Clarke County, and there spent his last days, passing away in 1867.
   The father of our subject was first a Whig, politically, and later a Republican, and a member in good standing of the Lutheran Church. He did good service as a soldier in the War of 1812, when near its close, as previous to that time he had been too young to enter the ranks. The paternal grandfather of our subject, Adam Cline by name, was also a native of the Old Dominion. and carried a musket in the Revolutionary War. Mrs. Mary Cline was born in Pennsylvania, Jan. 21, 1809, and emigrated with her parents to Ohio, Settling among the pioneers of Highland County. There the descendants of the Miller family may be found quite numerously to this day. The mother of our subject is most tenderly remembered by him as a modest and unassuming lady, possessing all the Christian virtues, and after living a most praiseworthy life, passed quietly away at her home in Clarke County, Ohio, in 1883, when well advanced in years.
   The subject of this sketch spent his youth and opening manhood under the parental roof, attending the common school, and assisting his father on the farm. In 1857, when twenty-six years of age, desirous of advancing his store of knowledge, he entered Wittenberg College, at Springfield, Ohio, where he pursued a thorough course of study for two years, and although not yet satisfied with his requirements, was compelled to abandon his books on account of ill-health. Subsequently he taught school for a time, in order to obtain means for the further prosecution of his studies, but for three or four years thereafter suffered greatly physically, and it was believed by his friends that he might die at any time. About 1862, however, he begin recovering his old vitality, and two years later we find him joining in the tide of immigration to Nebraska, which was then a Territory. He took up his residence in Nebraska City, and for about six years thereafter was variously engaged, teaching a part of the time, and also occupied as a jeweler.
   In 1870 Mr. Cline came to Lincoln, and opened an art gallery, having learned photography several years before. He conducted this successfully until 1880, then engaged in general merchandising four years. In the meantime he had been elected to his present position, with the I. O. O. F., when there were only about sixty lodges in the State. In 1885 he disposed of his mercantile interests, and aside from his duties as Secretary, gives his attention mainly to his private affairs. Under his supervision the I. O. O. F. in Nebraska has expanded from sixty-five to 162 lodges. He is a devoted

admirer of the principles of Odd Fellowship, and warmly interested in the success of the order. He became identified with it when a young man twenty-one years old, becoming a member and Chairman of Chosen Friends Lodge No. 45, in New Lexington, Ohio, and joined Shawnee Encampment in 1852, at Xenia, Ohio, and held all the offices subsequently in both the Subordinate and Grand Lodges. He has been prominent in the order for over thirty years. In 1872 he connected himself with the A. F. & A. M., as a member of Lincoln Lodge No. 19, and was at various times proffered a prominent post, which he declined to fill on account of the pressure of other business. Politically, he was first a Whig until the abandonment of that party, since which time he has cordially supported Republican principles.
   Mr. Cline has never been married, being really too much interested in Masonry and Odd Fellowship to be able to give his serious thoughts and attention to the formation of domestic ties of his own. He religiously believes that the principles of Masonry and Odd Fellowship properly lived up to would have the effect to ameliorate the condition of humanity at large. and further the highest precepts laid down in the Scripture. In his own life he has obeyed as far as was possible the sublime injunction, "We command you to visit the sick, relieve the distressed, educate the orphan and bury the dead."

SCAR A. CECIL is another of those who are prominent in West Oak Precinct in the line of stock farming. He is the owner of the whole of section 10, 640 acres of first-class farming land. His father, Henry Cecil, was born in Miami County, Ohio, in the year 1820, passed through the common school of his native town, and afterward became a farmer. After awhile he added to this the occupation of distiller, and continued until that business came under the ban of public opinion, when he substituted stock-raising. He entered largely into that occupation, breeding both horses and cattle, afterward adding sheep to the list, and with it the trade of wool-growing, which he continued until 1869, when he sold out and came to this State. He had then been for some years carrying as many as 6,000 sheep on his farm.
   Henry Cecil's first home in Nebraska was in Richardson County, where he bought 320 acres of land, which he has continued to occupy, although he has for some time retired from active farm work. He was united in marriage to Miss Catherine Mann; in Miami County, in about the year 1844. There have been born to them four children--Caroline, Elizabeth, Oscar, our subject, and Lillie. His wife was born in Miami County, Ohio, in 1821, and was a daughter of Jacob Mann, one of the early settlers of Ohio, but a native of Virginia, where he was born in 1777 and lived until 1855. He was only a boy at the removal to Ohio, but as quite a young man he took land in a heavily timbered section, and cut out his farm from these surroundings as he needed. He was a man of much physical power and dexterity, and has done more perhaps than any other man toward the location of the county seat. The strife had gone on between Troy and Piqua for a long time as to which should be the county seat of Miami County, and arrangements were made for the settlement by physical encounter, rather than arbitration. At one discussion of the subject it was agreed that both sides should select a man who should represent them. On the side of Troy Mr. Mann was selected, and accordingly he entered the ring against his antagonist. It is not necessary that the particulars of this encounter should be given; it is rather the result with which we are concerned, and that was shown in that Troy has the county seat; so that the father of the mother of our subject was he without whom Troy would have lost.
   Jacob Mann became the husband of Miss Shell, who died about 1859, leaving seven children, three sons and four daughters, all of whom are living. The grandfather of our subject, Thomas Cecil, was a native of Virginia, and died many years ago.
   Oscar A. Cecil, the subject of this sketch, was born in Tippecanoe, Miami Co., Ohio, on the 6th of August, 1852. Until he was fourteen years of age his education was that of the common school. From there he went to Oberlin College, and after that to Hillsdale College, Mich., where he remained two years. Schooling and college being over our

subject came to Nebraska, afterward returning to attend the business college at Poughkeepsie, finishing his course of instruction in the latter institution. From there he went into Ohio and became bookkeeper for one of the leading firms of his native town, continuing the same for two years; from thence again to Nebraska, where he went into the office of the District Court, and was clerk for four years in Nemaha County. During this time he was devoting himself to the study of law with much energy and was admitted to the bar, and went in with Judge Broady, of Beatrice. They continued to do business together in Brownsville for seven years, by which time they had quite a large clientage. Mr. Broady was elected Judge, and the county seat moved from Brownsville to Auburn, which inclined our subject to come here to his farm, and he settled in his present home in 1886.
   Among the work that has occupied our subject since that time is the putting up of a very fine two storied residence, farm buildings in keeping therewith, and the taming of a large part of his property. He has large herds of very fine stock; many are full-blood, and so registered, including horses, cattle and other and smaller stock. The marriage of our subject was celebrated May 19, 1886, and has been most felicitous in its results to all concerned therein. The lady of his choice was Anna McComas, the daughter of Judge E. M. McComas. She was born in 1858, in Nemaha, where she has always lived. She is a lady of education and refinement, and has abundantly proved her ability to make the life of Mr. Cecil complete.
   Judge McComas is a native of Miami County, Ohio, where he was born in 1829, until as a young man he started West. Immediately previous to his departure he was married to Miss Alumina Waggoner, a native of Troy, Ohio. Together they came and located upon the site of the present Kansas City, and continued residents there until 1858, when they removed to Nemaha, of this State. Here for some time he practiced medicine, which he understood somewhat, having been for some years in the drug business in the East. He was very active and prominent in political circles, and was elected County Judge, besides other lesser offices. The large majority of his neighbors are Republican, but that fact does not in any way deter him from following the dictates of his own opinions, and he is almost the only Democrat in the precinct; nevertheless, his high character and efficiency cause him to be the recipient of the best appreciation and esteem of the community.
   Mrs. Cecil is a very ardent supporter and devout member of the local Presbyterian Church. Our subject has for two years held the office of race Judge at Brownsville, and has been the City Treasurer for some years. The integrity and conscientiousness of his life in the community have led the people generally to accord him entire respect and confidence.

ARVEY WESLEY HARDY is one of the descendants of the Eastern heroes of the thrilling days of the Americo-Britannic Wars, and was born in Perry, Wyoming Co., N. Y., on the 29th of October, 1825. His father, Samuel Hardy, was a native of Hardwick, Mass. His father, Francis Hardy, grandfather of our subject, was by trade a tanner and currier, a native of the same State, and went through a greater part of the War of Independence. taking part in the memorable battle of Bunker Hill.
   Samuel Hardy was reared to manhood in Massachusetts, and from there removed to Vermont, and settled at Rutland, which was his residence for about ten years. In 1805 he started with his wife and two children for what was then called the Far West. All their movable property was put into a two-wheeled cart, and a yoke of oxen sufficed to draw the same. For forty-two days they traveled on in primitive style, camping and traveling alternately as day and night succeeded each other, in their course, until they arrived in what is now Wyoming County, and took a tract of timber land in what has since become the town of Perry. Here he built a log house, which was to be their home, and where afterward our subject was born.
   After clearing quite a large tract, and being successful in husbandry until the year 1830, Mr. Hardy removed to Gainesville Township in the same county, and bought 180 acres of land. For several

years after this settlement, Albany, nearly 200 miles distant, was the nearest market. It was so far removed from the farm that it did not pay to take grain there, although he used to take large quantities of pork. After the Erie Canal was opened, Rochester and Buffalo became the markets.
   The wife of Mr. Hardy was a native of Massachusetts, and a daughter of Stephen Parker; the bonds were severed by his death while residing upon the Gainesville farm, in February, 1855. The father of our subject went through the War of 1812, and among other battles participated in those of Lundy's Lane, Chippewa and Black Rock.
   Our subject was reared upon the faring at Gainesville, and continued to make it his home until the year 1868, at which time he moved westward with the star of empire. His education was somewhat more extensive than that provided by the common school, being supplemented by a course at the Wesleyan Seminary at Lima, and later at Genesee College. From his graduation he devoted himself until marriage to teaching, in which he was very successful. In 1868 he left his home at Gainesville, having found a good purchaser, and removed to Aurora, Ill., and engaged in the furniture business for two years; then, in 1871, he came to Lincoln and put in a large stock of goods, and commenced business. The city at that time was estimated to contain 1,000 persons, although it was probably less, and it stood surrounded by prairie land in all its native wildness, but he has lived to see the city grow until its population is numbered at 40,000 to 50,000.
   Our subject was married, June 6, 1855, to Charlotte Abbott. This lady was born in Churchill, Monroe Co., N. Y. Her father, Calvin Abbott, removed from Vermont to New York in 1815, the removal being made in the usual manner of the time. It was not long before he was busily at work upon his new property. He located at Ogden, Monroe County, bought a tract of timber land, and put up his log cabin. He brought a year's stock of provisions with him, at the end of that time expecting that his crops would be sufficient to go on with. As soon as his farm was cleared he erected a stone house according to the most perfect plans to which he had access, and upon its completion resided there until his death. The maiden name of Mrs. Abbott was Charlotte Clement, who was born at Danville, Caledonia Co., Vt. She died in their home in Monroe County, in December, 1854.
   Our subject is a man of public spirit and enterprise, with all the business energy, clear-sightedness and wise, thrifty push. He is also a man whose life is guided by the Golden Rule, and because of this he is, with his family, the recipient of the cordial support and highest regard of those by whom he is surrounded. He has been twice elected Mayor of the city of Lincoln, first in 1877, and again the year following. It was during the first year of his administration that the famous high license liquor law became an ordinance. The provisions of the ordinance were afterward copied by the Legislature, and became the law of the State, known as the high license liquor law of Nebraska.

DWARD B. HYDE. The power of the press is recognized all over the civilized world, and perhaps it exerts greater efforts to shape the thoughts and opinions of the masses than any other influence now extant. In politics, religion, educational and all social movements, it comes to the front and takes the lead in advancing and supporting new theories. It has caused a wonderful revolution in regard to the general intelligence of the people, thousands of whom owe all the learning they have ever acquired to the perusal of the daily and weekly papers. In politics, particularly, and in all questions of National reform do the opinions of the press assert themselves strongly, and they have become responsible, in a large degree, for the opinions entertained by their readers. The men associated with the press should be made to feel the responsibility of their position, and should endeavor to direct the thought of the people to the proper channel. In such honorable labor is the subject of our sketch now engaged.
   Mr. Hyde was born in Chicago, Ill., on the 8th of December, 1857, being the only son of Thomas H. and Rachel L. Hyde, of whom a sketch appears in this work. He received his early education in Sterling, Ill., and after coming to Lincoln he attended the city schools until the age of sixteen years, when he began to work in the Journal office.

In that office he continued until the year 1878, when, having a thorough understanding of the business, and knowledge of editorial requirements, he started a job printing office, and has been ardently engaged in that business ever since.
   In the year 1884 our subject formed a partnership in the Journal business, the name of the firm being Hyde, Hays & Hyde, and in 1887 the Lincoln News Company was formed, of which our Subject was appointed Treasurer. Since that time he has occupied that honorable office, with much credit to himself and with the approval of the company. On the 10th of May, 1878, he was united in marriage with Miss Ida Cooper, a daughter of P. A. and Sarah Cooper, of Platteville, Wis. They are the parents of three children--Fred C., Neta and Robert.
   As the profession in which he is engaged requires, our subject is well informed on all the important topics of the day, taking an active interest in the advancement and improvement of the public in general and of his own community in particular. He possesses fine social qualifications and is an esteemed member of society. He is a member of the Lincoln Lodge No. 108, I. O. O. F., Saline Encampment No. 4, Canton No. 2, and is also a member of Lodge No. 9, A. O. U. W. He is a member of the Republican political organization, and has firm faith in the policy of its administration.

OUIS DITTMER, one of the most enterprising young citizens of Buda Precinct, is a son of Henry and Louisa Dittmer. both of whom were natives of Germany. He was born on the 9th of April, 1862., in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg, and with his parents emigrated it an early age to America, taking passage on a steamer at Hamburg which landed them in New York City after an ocean voyage of about two weeks. They came directly to Lancaster County, and the father of our subject homesteaded eighty acres of land in Buda Precinct, on which they made their home until the death of the father, which occurred on the 15th of July, 1883. The mother, only surviving her husband the brief period of less than four years, died on the 28th of May, 1887. They were the parents of four children who grew to manhood and womanhood, namely: Elizabeth, who became the wife of Bernhard Steffen, of Buda Precinct; Henry; Louis, our subject, and Louisa, who became the wife of Henry Mink, of Lincoln.
   The father of our subject was one of the representative German pioneers of this precinct, and enjoyed the confidence and esteem of his friends and neighbors in a marked degree. He was a member of the Lutheran Church, in which he served in an official capacity, having been among the first in organizing the society and building the church edifice in his locality. He was a public-spirited man, and in his death the county lost one of her best German citizens. His word was considered as good as his bond, and having been industrious and managed well he was able to leave his family a fine property, including 360 acres of land, the result of a life of industry and economy. Politically, he was a stanch defender of the principles of the Republican party.
   Louis Dittmer received a good education, both in the English and German languages, and has had considerable experience of pioneer life, having been reared amid its toils and hardships. This, however, has simply contributed to the manliness of his character, and incited within him the desire for a home of his own and the position of a substantial citizen. With this end in view, on the 29th of February, 1888, he was married to Miss Ellen, a daughter of Carl and Mary Krause. The father is now deceased, and the mother resides in this county.
   While our subject inherited a share of the land which his father owned he has been active and industrious, and has added to that amount until he is now the possessor of 210 acres of well-improved land on section 2. He did not join the political organization of which his father was a member, but chooses rather to vote independently and support the man whom he considers best qualified to serve the interests of the people. He is a member of the Lutheran Church, in the establishment of which his father played an important part, and is regarded as one of the promising young men of the community, one who will with credit assist in perpetuating the name and estate of his honored sire.
   Henry Dittmer, Sr., the only brother of our subject, is half owner of the farm. He has traveled