terian Church, attending at Hopewell. Mr. D. has been a member of the School Board since the formation of the district, and Road Supervisor a number of years. He is warmly interested in the success of the temperance cause, and a member of the society in South Branch. He has built up a record of an honest man and a good citizen, one who enjoys a marked degree the esteem and confidence of his community.

EORGE F. LEE, whose portrait is presented on the opposite page, is well known in this section of the country, not only as a pioneer of Otoe County, who has been identified with its agricultural interests for many years, but also as a true Christian gentleman, than which no higher praise can be bestowed. By his influence and example he has done much to elevate the moral, social and religious status of the community where he resides. He has borne an honorable part in the public affairs of his adopted county, serving as its representative in the Territorial Legislature of 1858, as County Commissioner for three years. and he was Justice of the Peace for Otoe Precinct for sixteen years. He is now living a somewhat more retired life in one of the pleasantest homes in Otoe Precinct, where he has a valuable farm, from which, under his able and skillful management, he derives an ample income.
   Mr. Lee is of New England origin and having been born in the town of Guilford, New Haven Co., Conn., Dec. 16, 1830. His father, Eli Lee, and his grandfather, Eber Lee, were both natives that town, and of English descent. His grandfather was a farmer in his native State, and always followed that pursuit. He spent his last years with his only daughter, in Meriden, Conn., and died at the advanced age of ninety-four years.
   The father of our subject was reared and married in his native town, Lydia Everts, a native of Killingworth, Conn., becoming his wife. In 1833 Mr. Lee left his old New England home with his family to take up his abode in Ohio. They traveled by water to New York, thence up the Hudson to Troy, from there to Buffalo on the Erie Canal, and from there by lake to Cleveland. Mr. Lee bought a tract of timber land in Twinsburg, Cuyahoga (now Summit) County, built a small frame house to shelter his family, and at once entered upon the task of improving a farm. There were no railways there then, and Cleveland, twenty miles distant, was the nearest market. In 1847 he sold his place there and removed to Hiram, where he invested in village property, and resided there and in his native State many years. In 1862 he came to Nebraska, and made his home with our subject until his death, in 1876. His wife had preceded him to the better world during their residence in Twinsburg in 1842.
   The subject of this sketch was two and one-half years old when his parents moved to Ohio, and he continued to live with his father until his sixteenth year. He then went to reside with a farmer for two and a half years. He was a bright, thoughtful youth, and early evinced a strong thirst for knowledge, which was at the end of that time gratified by his admission to the High School, which he attended for two years. He was an earnest student, and he afterward entered the academy at Brockport. N. Y., where he pursued a course for six months. He thus secured an excellent education, and, returning to his native State, engaged in teaching in the winter and in farming in the summer until 1854. He then turned his attention to the trade of carpenter, which he followed until 1856. In September of that year he came to Nebraska by way of the railway to St. Louis, and thence by boat up the Missouri to Otoe City. Here he soon found employment at his trade, and in the same fall made a claim to the southwest quarter of section 13, Otoe Precinct. He erected a small frame house, and in the spring of 1857 his wife joined him, and they settled on the place and commenced to improve a farm. They resided there until 1872, and in the meantime he had bought the place where he now resides, and in that year built the house he now occupies. It is a tasty, modern frame structure, veneered with brick. He also erected a conveniently arranged frame barn, and other substantial farm buildings. All his buildings are octagon in shape. His farm comprises 160 acres of well-improved land, with a good supply of fruit.
   Mr. Lee was married, April 17, 1855, to Miss

Betsey W. Strong, who was born in New Hartford, Conn., in 1835. Her family since early Colonial times had been residents of Connecticut. Her father, Edward W. Strong, was born in the same town as herself, May 18, 1804, being the date of his birth. His father, Elijah Strong. was born in Coventry, Conn., in 1776, and his father, likewise named Elijah, was, it is thought, born near New Coventry, Conn., and spent his last years in New Hartford. Mrs. Lee's grandfather was reared in his native State, and there married to Betsy W. Sadd, a daughter of Noah Sadd. She was, it is thought, born in East Windsor, Conn., and she died in the village of New Hartford. March 4, 1821. Mr. Strong was a carpenter by trade, and later became a farmer. He was a good singer, and during the winter seasons taught a singing school in the county. He died in New Hartford, Conn., Sept. 1, 1850.
   Mrs. Lee's father was reared and married in Connecticut, and removed from there to New York in 1847. He took up his residence in Beekmantown, where he worked at the cabinet-maker's trade for several years. He then moved to Highgate, Vt., and made his home there until 1874, when he came to Nebraska, and spent his last years with Mrs. Lee, dying Jan. 24, 1886. The maiden name of his wife was Sally A. Shepard; she was born in New Hartford, March 19, 1802, and died at the same place March 16, 1842. The maternal grandfather of Mrs. Lee was Alvin Shepard, and he was born in New Hartford, Conn., Nov. 30, 1773, a son of Daniel and Jerusha (Ensign) Shepard. He was a wood-turner by trade, but he subsequently became a fur dealer, going as far north as Montreal for his stock. Later in life he settled on a small farm near New Hartford, and died there May 3, 1854. The maiden name of his wife, Mrs. Lee's grandmother was Sevila Holcomb. She was born in Granby, Hartford Co., Conn., and died on the home farm near New Hartford. in August, 1836.
   Mr. Lee has been an interested witness of the growth and progress of Otoe County almost from the very beginning of its settlement by the white men. When he first came here the land had not come into market. and the settlements were confined to the streams. The first settlers had taken up the timber land, thinking that the most valuable, and most of the land was held by squatters who were ready to sell their claims, whenever opportunity occurred, for from two to three times what the Government charged for it. The country round about was in a state of almost primeval wildness. Deer were plentiful, and wild turkeys and prairie chickens furnished many a delicious meal for the pioneers. No railways penetrated the Territory for some years, and steamers were constantly plying on the river. Our subject and his fellow-pioneers may well be proud that they have assisted in the development of such a grand and noble State as the Nebraska of to-day, from the sparsely settled, wild Territory of less than thirty years ago.
   Mr. and Mrs. Lee are active and influential members of the Congregational Church, he having joined in Ohio and she in Connecticut. They were charter members of the church in Nebraska City, and were active in securing the establishment of the church in their own neighborhood. They helped to organize the church, and he has been Deacon, Trustee and Treasurer, and Superintendent of the Sunday-school for many years. Mr. Lee is a strong temperance man, and so firmly believes that the temperance question is one of the great issues of the day that he carries it into politics like many others of his fellow-countrymen, and, whereas he was formerly for many years a Republican, he is now a Prohibitionist. Mr. Lee is Secretary of the Camp Creek Cemetery Association, and he has been connected with it in some official capacity since its organization in 1866. The cemetery was at that time laid out on a part of his farm. It is beautifully located on the southwest quarter of section 13, on a rise of ground that secures good drainage. It is tastefully laid out, and is indeed a lovely resting-place for the dead, and, with its sad and sacred associations, a hallowed spot for the living.

APT. FRED PAHDE. This is one of the best known and respected names in McWilliams Precinct, we had almost said in the county, and the gentleman who bears it is one of the most enterprising and successful farmers in the district, and also one of the most extensive stock-