ton Precinct; Ann, residing in Lincoln. Neb.; Edward, in Montana; Gertrude N., in Idaho; Ruth, wife of John Wigg; John, Lotta M. and James B., the last four named being in Denton Precinct.
   On the 17th of June, 1871, our subject with his family took passage at Liverpool for America, and after an ocean voyage of eleven days lauded at Quebec, and came directly to Nebraska. He resided for one year in Lincoln, at that time a place of 3,000 inhabitants. and removed in the following year to his present place of residence. On his arrival in Nebraska, in 1871, Mr. Abbott purchased from the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad Company 160 acres of land, at $15 an acre. Not a furrow had been turned, and he set about immediately to improve and cultivate his land, which achievement he accomplished by dint of industry and much hard labor. Thus he and his family duly appreciate and enjoy their present possession.
   Both Mr. and Mrs. Abbott are members of the Episcopal Church, and while in England Mr. Abbott was Church Warden some twenty years. He has the confidence and esteem of the general public, one evidence of which lies in the fact that he has creditably served as School Treasurer of District No. 69 for sixteen years, and is now serving his seventh year as Assessor of Denton Precinct. In political matters he bestows the honor of his influence on the Republican side, and approves of every measure which tends to the advancement and elevation of society in general and the public good.
   When Mr. Abbott first came here there were but six settlers in Denton Precinct. He engaged rather heavily in speculation with Texas cattle, but finding the business to be not remunerative he discontinued it. He now has one of the best farms in Lancaster County. With an artist's eye he combines the beautiful with the useful, and on his grounds surrounding the residence and through the fields he has nicely arranged rows of various kinds of shade trees, a source of blessing and comfort to the tired pedestrian during the sultry summer months. A fine fish-pond, now becoming well stocked with German carp, is likewise one of the many usefuI as well as ornamental improvements which the proprietor has constructed. In taking a birds-eye view of this excellent farm, the. observer realizes that the pioneer, who converted what was once virgin prairie soil into this cultivated and valuable estate, as a true type of the cultured scientific English agriculturist.
   Socially, Mr. Abbott is affable, of pleasing address, and possesses a high degree of culture, education and society in his youth having done much for him. None are more worthy of a place in the pages of this ALBUM than the enterprising subject of this sketch. His splendid farm is a standing monument to his energy, perseverance and good management, and his honesty, steadfastness of purpose and high moral principles, stand out in bold relief, and are a true index to his character. As he is at all times strictly conscientious in his dealings with his fellowmen, his reputation among them is unsullied.
   Mrs. Abbott, a well-educated and truly refined woman, has given much attention to the cultivation of her musical talent, and for the last five years she has been engaged in teaching that delightful accomplishment. Among the many views presented in this volume may be found that of the Abbott homestead.

ENRY FREYE. In Hanover, Germany, upon the 8th of April, 1828, there was born to Ernest H Freye and wife a son, who was christened by the name Henry, and a sketch of the more salient features of his life is herein offered. Our subject was reared in his native country until he reached his eighteenth year, receiving his education in its schools, and afterward being employed as a farmer, and continued in the same until he reached his eighteenth year, when he came to this country and located for a time in Jackson and Scioto Counties, Ohio, and followed the pursuits of agriculture upon land which he took up from the Government.
   Our subject was married, in March, 1844, to Elnorah Shaffer, who, like himself, was a native of Hanover, and was born in that country in the month of March, 1832, and was the daughter of Adam and Gertrude Shaffer; she came to this country with her parents in the year 1843, and settled in Ohio, remaining in the home of her parents until

her marriage. She was the fifth child of six children born to her parents, of whom two are living: Mrs. Freye and her brother, Joseph H.
   To our subject and wife there were born ten children, who are recorded as follows: Catherine, the wife of Lewis Willman; Mary, the wife of Fredcrick Steinmyer, of Gage County; Eliza, wife of William Wessel; Henry, William, Frank, Matilda, Lena, Emma and Ida, all at home.
   In the spring of 1868 our Subject emigrated to Lancaster County with his family, and settled upon the farm which is situated upon section 22, in Centerville Precinct, and which since his death has been operated by his wife. Our subject departed this life Dec. 31, 1873, after a long illness, from typhoid and lung fever, and left behind him many friends to mourn his death; for his life and character had been such that he was everywhere held in the highest estimation, and greatly respected.
   He did not leave much of worldly goods beyond his actual property, by which is meant the farm buildings, residence and farm, which was well cultivated, tillable land, well stocked and provided with the necessary implements and much of the machinery, required for the proper working of a property of that size.
   Our subject was a large-hearted, public-spirited man, inclined to lend his influence and energies in any and every enterprise calculated to help forward the community of which he was a resident. He was as a citizen true and loyal to the responsibilities incident thereto, patriotic and loyal; his home was the scene of true domesticity, and in the relations of husband and father he was most faithful, affectionate and true. He was a member for many years of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which communion his family continue. For many years prior to his demise our subject was Steward of the church, and was devoted to the interests of the society. In political questions he usually gave his support to the Republican party, although he was swayed in his decisions rather by principle than policy, as became his general character.
   Mrs. Freye, despite the trials incident to life under the most favorable circumstances, and the great affliction that is hers in the loss of her husband, has always met these difficulties and troubles with womanly spirit and Christian heroism and resignation. Throughout the years of wedded life she was linked with her husband so truly that she was a sharer in more than name in all the happenings and events of his life, rejoicing in his successes, cheering and sustaining him in the time of threatened defeat and actual trial, and throughout his sickness her presence was a necessity to him, a source of support and renewed strength, by which he was the better enabled to beat the pain and weakness of this last trial. A view of the Freye homestead is given in connection with this brief personal sketch.

OHN THOMPSON. Thirty years ago this entire district and State was just beginning to feel the first influences of the scintillating rays of Eastern life, and receive to its broad bosom the men from east and south who should build the noble superstructure of its history. Had the prophet of thirty years ago told of Nebraska as it is to-day with its populous cities, its lightning express trains, its vestibule trains, its immense commercial importance, its weight of political influence, there would not have been found wanting multitudes of incredulous, so little do we know of the future.
   Among those who have assisted in some measure in the development of this beautiful State is our subject, one of the old settlers in the northwestern part of this county, prominent is a citizen, good and true, whose home and farm is situated on section 29, West Oak Precinct, and comprises eighty acres of ground, and also the proprietor of 160 acres of exceptionally good land on section 28.
   .John Thompson, Sr., the father of our subject, is of English birth and parentage, and was born in England about the year 1809. Our subject continued to live in England until 1865, when in August of that year he came to Canada. In the mother country he had followed with prosperity the occupation of farming, and when he came to this country he continued in the same calling, and is still living, being resident with our subject.
   The father of our subject took for his partner in

life Miss Anna Gregg, a lady who proved herself in every way deserving of the highest tribute that can be paid to wife and mother. To Mr. and Mrs. Thompson were given five children, of whom four still live--our subject, John Jr., James and Annie. One son, Christopher, lived to take part in the War of the Rebellion, and fell in battle. The mother of our subject died in 1849.
   Our subject was born in York, England, June 10, 1826, receiving his education in the church schools of his native town. From school he became a student of Vulcan, and began to work at the forge, and bade fair to rival in a very short time the "village blacksmith." This apprenticeship began when he was thirteen years of age, and very shortly after the death of his mother. He served the regulation seven years, and continued in the same shop as a master workman for four years more. After that he worked for some time in machine-shops of the London & Northeastern Railway, at the city of York.
   In 1861 our subject left his native land and came to Iowa, and staid ten months, but was all the time sick with malaria, and he determined to go to Canada, where he worked at his trade for a short time, then returned to England, where he remained seventeen months, and while there was united in matrimonial bonds to Miss Jane Hammond, on the 11th of April, 1864. Almost immediately after this happy event he returned to America, accompanied by his father. He landed in Canada, and continued to follow his trade for six years, and then in the year 1871 came to the wilds of Nebraska's boundless prairies, and homesteaded eighty acres of land.
   By careful and strict attention to business, by well-directed energy and continued activity, the original eighty acres of Mr. Thompson have grown to be 240, all in a most excellent state of fertility. His house is built for comfort and convenience, and is in every way a home. Its interior decoration and arrangements, and the pleasant surroundings of the exterior, vie with each other to this end. In the vicinity of his house he planted four beautiful groves, and has set out in extensive orchard comprising a large variety of excellent fruit trees, besides finding time to provide for the production of small fruits of many kinds. The greater part of the farm is given to the raising of cereals, mostly wheat and corn.
   His stock farm has in it the foundation of an extensive business in that line. He has already some very fine cattle, including an excellent Galloway full-blood, and also several horses of good record and other stock, and requires the greater part of the corn produced by 140 acres for feed purposes.
   Mrs. Jane Thompson died on July 20, 1881, leaving three children--John C., James and Clara. The eldest son has become the husband of Miss Lucinda Sterns, and they make their home upon the other farm of our subject. On the 15th of September, 1882, our subject entered into a second marriage, with Mrs. Mary Payne, and to them also have been born three children--Rosa M., Bertha and Harry.
   Our subject has frequently been called upon to assist in the various offices of his district. For seventeen years he has been School Treasurer, for five years he continued to hold the office of Assessor, has been Supervisor several times, Deputy Collector for two terms, and he drew and paid the first money of the district. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and one of the Trustees of the new church at Crounse, which is the first that has been built in this vicinity. He has also been appointed Postmaster of the same town.
   Our subject sustains a very high character in the district as a man and a citizen in all the relations which he sustains, is much respected on account of his manliness and success, admired because of the intelligent and conscientious way in which he discharges any official duties committed to him, and in every circle is held in highest esteem.

RANK N. HOFFSTRADT. Among the intelligent and able members of the farming community of Lancaster County, our subject occupies an honorable position. He brings not only hands well trained in the work of a farmer, but also a cultivated mind to bear upon the scientific side of the problems that are testing in the skill and learning of the leading agriculturists of the day. His farm on section 30, Panama Pre-

cinct, is under admirable cultivation, and with the improvements that he is continually making bids fair to rank among the finest farms in the precinct.
   Our subject is a son of Frederick and Gertrude (Houser) Hoffstradt, respected citizens of South Pass, where they reside in a comfortable, commodious home, spending their declining years in the enjoyment of an income amply sufficient to procure them all the comforts and luxuries that they desire. The father is a well-to-do farmer, and owns a large farm comprising a half-section of land. He and his wife are both natives of Germany, born respectively in Prussia and Hesse-Darmstadt, he being now sixty-eight years old, and she fifty. They came to America after they had grown to man and womanhood, and were married in Rockford, Ill., and then settled upon her father's farm. They were among the pioneers of Winnebago County, were hard-working people, and took a very active part in advancing the religious, educational and social interests of their community, being prominently identified with the German Evangelical Church, of Davis. As years wore on, fortune smiled upon them, and they became prosperous and well-to-do. They finally sold their handsome farm in Winnebago County, Ill., and came to Lancaster County, Neb., to make their home in South Pass, of whose community they are still honored members. Mr. Hoffstradt has been in his day a man of remarkable strength and physique, and still retains much of his old-time vigor. He and his wife ire the parents of seven children, all of whom are living, namely: Frank N., George E., Theressa L., Fred J., Addie L., Annie and David G.
   Frank N. Hoffstradt, the subject of this sketch, was born Aug. 2, 1856, in Durand Township, Winnebago Co., Ill. His early education was obtained by private instruction, and he was not sent to the public schools until he was twelve years old. He was put to work when quite young, as his father, a man of uncommon energy and strength, was a hard worker, and expected much of his boys, at the same time giving them all the educational advantages possible. Thus our subject belongs to that class of farm boys who grew up in the same State as Abraham Lincoln, and many a day he passed behind the plow speculating upon the future and what it might have in store for him. As he grew to manhood, he became possessed with the desire to gain a thorough education, of which he had already gained a solid foundation. Consequently he entered the Northwestern College at Naperville, Ill., in the fall of 1876, and remained there a close student for three years. Being very ambitious to retain the high standing that he had attained in his classes, he studied too hard, his health gave way, and he was obliged to leave college a short time before finishing his course, to recuperate. He then resolved to try life in the Far West, and selecting Lancaster County, Neb., as his destination on account of its fine climate and other advantages, he arrived in Lincoln, April 16, 1879, a young man of twenty-three, alone and in a State new to him, without personal friends, and sought to establish for himself a new home where he might enjoy life, and regain his health. He soon entered upon the profession of teacher, and was identified with the educational interests of Lancaster County for three years. During that time his health improved greatly. and the next year after coming to Nebraska in 1880, he was united in marriage to Miss Jennie Dowd, of Durand, Ill., an estimable young lady of refined tastes. For two years they shared life's joys and sorrows, and then she was taken sick and died in October, 1884, leaving a little daughter, Ina Pearl, now a blooming child of four years.
   In the spring of 1880 Mr. Hoffstradt bought a farm of eighty acres in Panama, and made that his home, but still continued to teach while managing his farm until 1885, but he now confines his attention more exclusively to agricultural pursuits. His fine education, versatile talents, and prompt business habits, have given our subject a place among the leading citizens of the precinct. where he is popular and influential. He is a strong temperance man, and both in public and in private, his life is irreproachable. He is true to the principles of the Republican party, beliving in American government for American citizens, and he has the educational, social, religious and financial interests of the community at heart. He has held some important offices, and discharged their duties with characteristic fidelity, much to the satisfaction of his constituents. He was appointed Census Enumerator