DEFOREST P. ROLFE, Mayor of Nebraska City, is one of the leading business men of Otoe County, and his portrait is justly entitled to an honorable place in this work. He is a man of unusual ability, energy and forethought, and he has been a great power in advancing the commercial interests and promoting the growth of this city, of which he first became a resident in pioneer days. Mr. Rolfe was born at Cooper's Plains, Steuben Co., N.Y., July 20, 1839. His father, Joseph Rolfe, was a native of Monmouth County, N. J., born May 12, 1800, and was a son of Moses Rolfe, who was born in Virginia, and a descendant of an old English family.
   The grandfather of our subject removed to Monmonth, N. J., and later to Ovid, Seneca Co., N. Y., and was one of the early settlers of the county. He subsequently moved from there to Steuben County, where he spent the remainder of his life. The father of DeForest was a mere boy when his parents removed to the State of New York. He was reared and married in that State, Mrs. Eliza (Reed) Manrose, of Dutchess County becoming his wife. Her father, Gilbert Reed, was born in Kinderhook, N. Y., and, as a boy, remembered many scenes of the Revolution, his father being connected with the Commissary Department of the Continental Army at Valley Forge, and spent large sums of his own money in supplying the patriotic soldiers, and in return received Continental script. Mr. Reed passed his last days at Avoca, N. Y., being upward of ninety at his death.
   Joseph Rolfe established himself in the lumber trade in early manhood, and built up a large business, buying extensive tracts of timber land in Western New York, manufacturing lumber and rafting it down the Susquehanna River and its tributaries to tide water, where he sold it. He finally retired to private life, having secured a comfortable competency, and spent his declining years in the home of a son in Lawrenceville, on the Pennsylvania State line, dying there in January, 1878, having survived his wife, who died in Avoca, N. Y., in November, 1866. He was a man of undoubted probity of character, well gifted with mental and physical vigor, and throughout a long and honorable career his course was such as to command the highest respect of his fellowmen. Socially, he was a member of the I. O. O. F.; politically, he was a Whig until the organization of the Republican party, when he joined its ranks, and was ever after a steadfast supporter of its policy.
   DeForest P. Rolfe, of whom we write, was reared in his native county, receiving his education in the public schools. At the age of sixteen he entered the office of the Steuben Farmers' Advocate, a Weekly paper published at Bath, N. Y., and there

learned the art preservative, working in that office for four years. He then went to St. Louis, Mo., where, failing to get employment at his trade, he accepted a position as clerk in the auction and commission house of F. A. Kennon, remaining with that gentleman until February, 1861. He then returned to New York and visited home and friends for a few weeks, when he once more set his face toward the setting sun, and on the 14th of April in that year he arrived in Nebraska City, which was at that time the headquarters of the freighters who teamed goods across the plains, the Government having buildings here in which the goods were stored that were to be distributed to the military posts and to the Indians. The surrounding country was in a very wild condition, there being no settlements in the interior of Nebraska, only a few venturesome settlers had made claims away from the settlements, which were on the Missouri River, and had improved a little of the land; almost the whole of the territory was then owned by the Government, and for sale at $1.25 per acre. St. Joseph, Mo., was the nearest railway station, and all travel and transportation was by way of the Missouri or overland with teams, the stages making daily trips to St. Joseph during the winter season. Wild game was very plentiful; deer, elks and wolves roamed the prairies, and but a few miles westward the buffaloes still lingered. There were Indians in the vicinity, and members of the Otoe, Omaha and Pawnee tribes were frequent visitors to the place. The old block house, which was a part of old Ft. Kearney, and built by the Government, was standing, and was used by the city as a calaboose.
   Shortly after his arrival here our subject engaged in the grocery business with his brother R. M., and they continued together until 1863, when DeForest P. formed a partnership with William Fulton to establish a clothing and outfitting store. In 1867 he sold out his interest in the business and removed to Chicago, where he lived for two years. He then returned to this city and engaged in the lumber business until 1874, when he became interested in the Reed Plow Company. At the end of a year he severed his connection with that company to engage in the sale of agricultural implements, and was appointed general agent for Nebraska and Southern Iowa for the D. M. Osborne & Co. harvesting machinery. He held that agency until 1879, when he again took up the lumber business, which he has continued to the present time with great financial success, and he has built up a large trade, necessitating a branch yard at Julian, Nemaha County.
   Mr. Rolfe was married, Dec. 6, 1866, to Miss Susan Gilmore, a native of Bath, Steuben Co., N. Y., and a daughter of Perez and Susan (Towle) Gilmore. Mrs. Rolfe is an intelligent, benevolent, well-informed lady, with easy, pleasant manners, rendering her an important factor in the social circles of this city and county.
   Our subject has occupied an influential position in regard to the administration of public affairs in Otoe County almost from the very first, as his fellow-citizens early recognized his superior tact and good executive powers, and that, withal, he is a safe leader, as he is possessed of sound judgment, and his acts are ever controlled by the highest principles. His geniality, ready wit and liberality have won for him hosts of friends and make him very popular with the people. Politically, he has always affiliated with the Democratic party. He was appointed County Treasurer to fill a vacancy in 1863, was a member of the last Territorial Legislature, and was elected to the first State Legislature. He did not, however, take his seat in the latter body, as he differed with his constituents on the question that was to be decided that session as to the best site for the State capital, they preferring that it should be situated on Salt Creek, and he, with his usual tact, foreseeing the fact that another city built up so near Nebraska City on the west would materially retard the growth of the latter and blight her then bright prospects, would not vote for its location there, and not wishing to misrepresent his constituency in the legislative deliberations he resigned, thus showing that he cared more for principle than for empty honors. The people of this city have since been brought to a realizing sense that he was right, and that it would have been much better for their city if the capital had been located at a greater distance. In 1885 he was elected to the office of Mayor, but he refused to be a candidate in 1886. In 1888 he was again elected on a non-partisan ticket by an overwhelming majority, so great is his