stump speaker, of more than ordinary force, logical in his arguments, and one holding the attention of his audience. He has uniformly given his encouragement to the enterprises calculated to develop the county, and besides his connection with various other interests, is a stockholder and Director in the Nebraska City Street Railway Company. Capt. Roddy and family are members of the Catholic Church in Nebraska City.
   A fine lithographic view of the home and surroundings of Capt. Roddy appears on an accompanying page.

ILLIAM KROPP. Among the men who have assisted in the advancement of Wyoming Precinct as a farming community, the subject of this sketch holds no unimportant position, being one of its most prominent farmers and stock-raisers. He owns a valuable tract of land embracing 1,145 acres, 520 of which are embraced in the homestead, and this latter has been brought to a high state of cultivation and is provided with a fine set of farm buildings, including a substantial dwelling, and the barns and other structures necessary for the proper shelter of stock and the storing of grain. A view of the farm is presented in this connection.
   Mr. Kropp came to this county and Wyoming Precinct in December of 1863, although as early as the year 1857 he had taken a claim in Mt. Pleasant Precinct, Cass County, upon which he settled in the spring of 1858. This he sold live years later in order to change his residence to this county, and first purchased a quarter of section 23, in Wyoming Precinct. He was successful from the start, and added gradually to his possessions, being now numbered among the most extensive land-owners of the County.
   A native of what was then the Kingdom of Hanover, Germany, our subject was born April 25, 1833, and is the descendant of an ancestry noted for health and strength both of body and mind. His father, Henry Kropp, also a native of Hanover, was one of its most prosperous farmers, to which occupation he was reared from his boyhood up. He married there Miss Lota Twick, who was also of a good family, and a native likewise of Hanover. They settled upon a farm near their childhood home, and there were born to them four sons and four daughters, of whom our subject was the second son and third child. Four daughters and two sons are yet living, and all are married. William, however, is the only one who makes his home in this State, the rest of the children being residents of Lake County, Ill. With the exception of one daughter, the wife of a minister of the Albright Church, they are engaged in agricultural pursuits. One son, Henry by name, was drowned while attempting to cross the Weeping Water, July 4, 1864.
    In September of 1853 the parents of our subject left their home in Germany, and crossing the Atlantic, with their children took up their residence in Lake County, Ill, They are both now deceased. William was twenty years old at the time of emigrating to America. He had received a good education in his native tongue, and now set out on his own account, employing himself at whatever he could find to do, frequently working by the day. Upon the advice of Mr. E. Crover, one of the pioneers of Lake County, Ill., he resolved to push further westward, and coming to this county located a piece of land and prepared to settle. He only sojourned, however, for a brief time in this region, but returning to Lake County, Ill., staid there during the winter, and in the spring of 1858 secured to himself a wife and helpmate in the person of Miss Dorothea Stoll, who, like himself, was of German birth and ancestry, and born in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany, Feb. 2, 1834. The parents of Mrs. Kropp were Peter and Sophia (Huenemoeder) Stoll, also natives of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and the father a farmer by occupation. They also came of a hardy race of people, and the father was a farmer by occupation. They were married in Germany, and after the birth of three sons and four daughters, of whom Mrs. Kropp was the third daughter and fourth child, the whole family emigrated to America in August of 1834, and located at once in Lake County, Ill. A few years later, in 1858, they moved to Nebraska, locating again upon a farm in Cass County, where

the death of both parents occurred some years ago. Mrs. Kropp was reared and educated in her native Province, and was twenty years old upon emigrating to America. She continued a member of the parental household until her marriage, became thoroughly versed in all home duties, and was trained to habits of industry and economy. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Kropp started to Nebraska on their wedding tour, and soon afterward took up their residence on the new farm in Cass County. When they first moved upon it they immediately built a small frame dwelling, and after built a small addition, and that remained their home while they lived in Cass County. They worked together, hand in hand, with the mutual purpose of acquiring a competence and a home for themselves and their children. That they succeeded admirably is evident in noting their condition and surroundings to-day.
   Of the family of nine children who were given our subject and his estimable wife, only four are living, namely: George W., who is operating the first store built at the station of Wyoming, and who is now Postmaster; John H., William F. and Louis, who are at home with their parents. The two youngest are students of the college in Nebraska City. One daughter, Minnie, died at the interesting age of twenty-seven years. Her death took place April 23, 1887. She was a sweet and intelligent young woman, and her death was a severe blow to the affectionate hearts of her parents. Bertie, a little daughter of nineteen months, died in Cass County, Neb., in the spring of 1862. Edward died in October, 1876, when four years old, and Ernest died at the age of seven, in June, 1886. Mr. and Mrs. Kropp are consistent members of the German Methodist Church, and our subject, politically, is a sound Republican.

HOMAS R. WHITTAKER. Along the lines of the great railroads which stretch out into every part of the fertile and growing West hamlets and villages have sprung up. Many of these have grown into prosperous and busy cities, while others are but quiet and ordinary trading places for the neighboring farmers. Among the latter is Delta, a small place in McWilliams Precinct, and to this place our subject, who is now Postmaster, came in 1882, and embarked in the mercantile business. At that time he opened a general store, and for a time conducted the only business house in the place. In connection with still handling all the goods usually found in a country store, Mr. Whittaker also deals in lumber and coal, and in these lines is very extensively engaged. He can be justly classed among the solid business men of the county, and although enjoying no schooling in any particular line of mercantile life, having been brought up on a farm, he has displayed no little business tact and genius, and although a young man, has assumed great responsibilities in the business world.
   The biographical writers of this volume met comparatively few men actively engaged in business life who were natives of this county. Most of them came here after they had reaped the advantages of experience in the more serious duties of life, but we find in our subject a native of Otoe County, he having been born in Delaware Precinct, Sept. 4, 1859. He was educated in the public schools of that precinct and at the State Normal School, and such knowledge as he acquired in these excellent institutions was supplemented by a thorough course in Bryant's Commercial College at St. Joseph, Mo. In early life he had evinced a great liking for business transactions, and we see that he has enjoyed unusual success in this particular line. He is straightforward and upright in all his dealings, enjoys in an unusual degree the confidence and respect of the people throughout the community, and we predict for him a bright future.
   The father of our subject, Reuben Whittaker, is one of the extensive and well-to-do farmers of Delaware Precinct. He was a pioneer of this section of the State, having come to this region over thirty-three years ago. His wife was Miss Jane Wilson, to whom he was united in marriage here. She is one of the leading ladies of the precinct in which she resides, and the family are not only well known, but highly respected.
   Mr. Whittaker, our subject, was united in marriage with Miss Fannie Cooper, in Pottawatomie