County, Kan. This lady was born in the latter named county, in 1863. There she was reared. and received an excellent education in the common schools and at the State Normal School. She is a refined and intelligent lady, and prominent in the enterprises carried on by the ladies of her neighborhood. Her father is a well-to-do farmer of Pottawatomie County. She has become the mother of two children -- Roy and Eugene.
   Mr. Whittaker has become a leading member of the community where he resides, and has filled some of its most responsible official positions. He has served as Postmaster for four years, and is at present Postmaster of Delta, by recent appointment. He was also Justice of the Peace, and politically, is a sound Republican.

OHN WASHINGTON JAMES, one of the most successful general farmers of Wyoming Precinct. has been a resident here for a period of twenty-two years, occupying his present homestead, which is pleasantly located on sections 16 and 9, and now embraces 240 acres of thoroughly cultivated land. The buildings and other improvements are creditable to the industry and enterprise of the proprietor, and the homestead with its surroundings forms the ideal country place, where are enjoyed all the comforts of life and many of its luxuries.
   Mr. James came to Nebraska in the spring of 1867, soon after it had been transformed from a Territory into a State. He at once selected the land from which he intended building up a homestead, and after providing a shelter for himself and family, proceeded with the cultivation of the soil, and endured in common with the people around him the difficulties and hardships of life in a new settlement. He had learned farming in all its details in Mercer County, Pa., where he was reared from a boy to manhood.
   Our subject was cradled on the other side of the Atlantic, in County Donegal, Ireland, where his birth took place Nov. 1, 1847. He is of excellent Scotch-Irish ancestry, the latter being of those people who were driven from their native Scotland to the North of Ireland during the time of the religious persecution, when so many homes were made desolate. His father, William James, was a farmer by occupation, and a native of County Donegal, where he died in middle life. The mother, Mrs. Margret (Buchanan) James, was a native of the same county as her husband and son. After his death she and her children emigrated to America, locating in Butler County, and then a year later into Mercer County, Pa., where they lived for a number of years, then set out for the farther West. Some of the other members of the family had preceded them to this section, and joining them here, the mother took up her abode with her two sons, and here her death took place Oct. 15, 1884, when she was seventy-two years old.
   Our subject was next to the youngest child of his parents, whose family consisted of seven sons and two daughters. He was not quite three years old when he went with his mother to Pennsylvania, and was reared to manhood in Mercer County, Pa. There also he made the acquaintance of his future wife, Miss Mary Luella Van Tine, to whom he was married Feb. 24, 1881. This lady was born in Wyoming Precinct, Dec. 22, 1862, and is the daughter of Abraham D. and Eliza J. (Snell) Van Tine, who were natives of Pennsylvania, and pioneers of Wyoming Precinct, to which they came as early as 1857, while Nebraska was a Territory, and where they still live. Mrs. James was reared and educated in this county, and lived at home with her parents until her marriage. Our subject, politically, is a sound Republican, entertaining decided views, although having no desire to hold office.

ILLIAM BISCHOF. Few sojourners in Nebraska City, taking note of its business interests, fail to observe the hardware establishment which is the outgrowth of the enterprise of the subject of this sketch. He came to this place in the fall of 1867, and in partnership with Anton Zimmerer purchased his stock, and they conducted the business together until the spring of 1883. Mr. Bischof then purchased the interest of his partner, and has since operated alone. He

recognized as one of the leading men of the place, and has in the main been the architect of his own fortune, building up a good business from a very modest beginning.
   The city of Nuremberg, Bavaria, was the native place of our subject, where his birth occurred March 14, 1835. In common with the children of Germany, he was placed in school at an early age, and prosecuted his studies until a youth of seventeen, completing them in the Polytechnic Institute at Nuremberg. He had been a lad bright and thoughtful beyond his years, and determined to become a man among men, and secure for himself and those who might be connected with him by the ties of nature a good home and a competence. Not being satisfied with his prospects upon his native soil, he determined to seek his fortunes on the other side of the Atlantic. Accordingly, in the month of June, 1852, he set sail from the city of Hamburg, and after a safe voyage of six weeks set foot upon American soil in the city of New York. Thence he proceeded southwestward to Atchison County, Mo., by rail to Cincinnati, and thence via the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, which was at that time the most convenient route to that point. He left the steamer at what was then called Woerlens Landing, where a few settlers had collected together, and at a time when the country around bore little evidence of civilization. The now flourishing city of St. Joseph, seventy-five miles south, was then an unpretentious village, but the most important point in that region, and the nearest depot for supplies. Kansas and Nebraska at that time were unorganized Territories, inhabited almost entirely by Indians. To this place our subject had been accompanied by his brother, and they, securing a tract of land, began to till the soil. They were thus occupied a period of four years, but not being satisfied with the results, William laid down the implements of agriculture, and repairing to Sioux City, Iowa, engaged there as a clerk in an establishment of general merchandise. This place also was in its first stages of settlement, having only been laid out as a town the year before, but had already six or eight stores.
   After a residence of three years in Sioux City Mr. Bischof, in 1859, having with true German thrift and economy saved what he could of his earnings, concluded to become his own man and start in business for himself. Gathering together his personal effects he set out for the farther West, with the intention of starting a ranch and trading post combined, which should furnish a place of entertainment for freighters who traveled with teams over the country, and to whom a resort of this description was indispensable.
   Mr. Bischof selected his location at Cottonwood Springs, near McPherson, in Western Nebraska, at a period when the nearest house was ninety miles east, and nothing but wild Indiana and buffaloes were to be seen perhaps for a period of days together. Game of all kinds was abundant, and Mr. Bischof frequently stood in the door of his house, which was built of cedar logs, and brought down with his rifle a buffalo or deer. Elks and antelopes were plentiful, and troops of Indians frequently cast at the new settler and his establishment glances not altogether friendly.
   Mr. Bischof had transported a large stock of merchandise to this point, which he traded mostly to the Indians for buffalo skins and furs. A year later he moved to what was called Fremont Slough, twenty-five miles further west, and remained there six years. At the expiration of that time having a generous supply of solid capital, he decided to invest it within the bounds of civilization, and accordingly changed his residence to Nebraska City, where he has since lived. Many a man having had his experience, cut off as he was from intercourse with the more cultivated part of his fellowman, would have deteriorated mentally, but Mr. Bischof through it all maintained his love of reading, and by the best means at hand kept himself posted upon the current events. Mail facilities during his residence on the frontier were necessarily uncertain, but occasionally he would secure a book, paper or periodical, and of these it is hardly necessary to say he made the best use. Upon coming to Nebraska City he had no difficulty in being admitted to the intelligent circle of men here, where he has done good service in the encouragement of the institutions and enterprises calculated to build up the community socially and financially. He has been President of the Board of Education, and a mem-

ber of the City Council, was President of the Board of Trade two years, and is now Vice President of the Merchants' National Bank. He cast his first presidential vote for John C. Fremont, and has since continued an earnest supporter of Republican principles. Socially, he belongs to the I. O. O. F., being a member of Frontier Lodge No. 3, in Nebraska City.
   Our subject while living on the ranch was married in Nebraska City, Dec. 28, 1865, to Miss Kiny Zimmerer, a sister of his former partner, A. Zimmerer, and they became the parents of seven children, namely: William, Lulu, Otto, Eta, Arthur, Olga and Lillie. All of these are living and reside fit Nebraska City, except William, who is at Seward, Neb. The mother of these children departed this life at her home in Nebraska City, in the summer of 1884. In the sketch of A. Zimmerer, found on another page it, this volume, will be noted further mention of this family.
   On the 7th of August, 1886, Mr. Bischof contracted a second marriage, with Miss Matilda Belha, a native of Bohemia, and who came to America alone when twenty-two years old. The parents of Mrs. Bischof are now residing in Bohemia. Of this union there is one child, a son, Frederick, born in May, 1887. The family residence is pleasantly situated in the northwestern part of the city, and opens its hospitable doors to many friends. It is tastefully finished and furnished, and forms an abode entirely suitable to the means and tastes of its proprietor. Mr. Bischof in 1870 invested a portion of his surplus capital in a fine brick block at the intersection of Seventh street and Center avenue, which is occupied mostly by his own business.

REDERICK PAAP. The career of the self-made man is finely illustrated in the subject of this sketch, who began life in America dependent upon his own resources, without means, a stranger in a strange land. He is now one of the leading farmers and land-owners of Berlin Precinct, holding a clear title to 1,360 acres, which he has transformed from a tract of wild prairie to a highly productive condition. The homestead occupies the southwest corner of section 15, and presents one of the most attractive spots in the landscape of that region, being embellished with fine buildings, a commodious and convenient residence, a substantial barn, and the pens and sheds required for the shelter of stock, of which the proprietor makes a specialty. Within, the home is presided over by a lady well educated, refined and hospitable, who has done her share toward the building up of the reputation of the family, and assisted in drawing around them hosts of friends.
   Our subject was born in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg, Aug. 31, 1839, and is the son of Frederick, Sr., and Mary (Scholtz) Paap, who were natives of the same place as their son. The paternal grandfather, Dedloff Paap, was a cooper by trade, but served in the German Army during the war between France and Russia. On the mother's side, Grandfather John Scholtz inclined more to the peaceful pursuits of agriculture, being for a number of years overseer of a farm. Both spent their entire lives in their native Germany.
   The father of our subject occupied himself as a gardener near his native town until 1857, then resolved to emigrate to America. He was accompanied by his wife and children in the voyage across the Atlantic, and for two years thereafter lived in Cleveland, Ohio. In the spring of 1859, coming to this county, he purchased eighty acres of land on section 15, in Berlin Precinct, for which he paid the sum of $70, all the money he had in the world. He commenced in true pioneer fashion the development of the farm, and was prospered in his labors, building up a good homestead, and surrounding himself with all the comforts of life. He doubled his original purchase, and there spent his last days, passing away Aug. 4, 1879, when sixty-nine years old. The mother is still living, making her home with her son William, in Berlin Precinct, and is now seventy-eight years of age. Their three children were named respectively: Frederick, our subject; William and Louisa. The two latter are residents of this precinct.
   Mr. Paap attended the common schools of his native town until a lad of fourteen years, in the meantime learning the art of gardening of his father. After leaving the day school he pursued

his studies at an evening school four years longer. He came with his father to the United States when a youth of eighteen years, in 1857, making the voyage on a sailing-vessel, the "St. John," embarking at Hamburg, and landing at New York six weeks and three days later. In the meantime they encountered several storms, and at one time the ship took fire, but fortunately this was arrested before very much damage was done.
   Young Paap landed a stranger in a strange land, not being acquainted with a soul in America, and almost penniless. He made his way to Cleveland, Ohio, where for two years he employed himself at whatever he could find to do, sometimes by the month, and sometimes by the day. In 1859 he resolved to cross the Mississippi, made his way by rail to St. Louis, and thence by steamboat to this county, landing in Nebraska City. He was fortunate in securing employment on a farm, and worked the first year for Dave Martin, receiving at the close in payment for his services $150. This seemed quite a goodly sum; as he had landed in Nebraska with $5.
   Our subject the second year of his residence in this county was employed at a hotel in Nebraska City. In 1862 he engaged in freighting to Denver, and later worked in John Bennett's mill near Nebraska City. The years 1863 and 1864 found him freighting again, and later he was employed in a wholesale establishment at Nebraska City. His journeyings across the plains were invested with the usual dangers and hardships of those times, as the Indians looked upon the whites with very unfriendly eyes, and the traveler at no time felt secure either as regarded life or property. Mr. Paap, however, possessed a cool and temperate judgment, which enabled him to keep out of difficulty both with the tough white element of that region and with the Indians. During the early part of 1865 he was one of the company of home guards organized for mutual protection.
   The eighty acres of land which our subject occupies as his homestead proper was purchased by him in the spring of 1860, but he did not make any attempt at improvement upon it until after his marriage. Then, fortified by the assistance and sympathy of a good wife, he put up a modest dwelling, and in true pioneer style began the improvement of his property. In breaking the soil the wife frequently drove the oxen while Mr. Paap held the plow. After he had put in his first crop he began setting out fruit and shade trees, and has now fine groves and eleven acres planted with apple trees and choice fruits of the smaller varieties. In adding to his landed area he has paid all the way from $7 to $25 per acre, but for none of it would he to-day take less than $35 per acre. This he has divided into six farms, each being supplied with groves, orchards, houses and barns. For the building of his present fine residence he was obliged to haul all the material from Nebraska City. it is handsomely finished and furnished, and supplied with all modern conveniences.
   Mr. Paap began at an early date his operations as a stock-raiser, and has been remarkably successful. He keeps none but good grades of animals, and his horses are especially fine, being draft animals of the Clydesdale stock. Of these he has seventeen head, besides a span of valuable mules. In his stock operations he utilizes 320 acres of his land, over which he has personal supervision, and rents the balance.
   The marriage of Frederick Paap and Miss Caroline Sturm was celebrated at the home of the bride in Weeping Water, Feb. 2, 1864. Mrs. Paap was born in what was then the Province of Alsace, France, March 24, 1846, and received a careful education, becoming familiar with both the French and German languages. She came with her father's family to America when a young girl of thirteen years, in the spring of 1859. Her parents were Andrew and Madaline (Understock) Sturm, also natives of Alsace, and the father a prosperous farmer. The mother died in Germany in 1853. The family crossed the Atlantic on the sailing vessel "Brogress," and not long after landing in New York proceeded directly westward to Nebraska, locating in Cass County, where the father purchased 320 acres of land. Upon this he settled with his family, effected good improvements, And there spent the remainder of his life, his death taking place in April, 1874, at the age of seventy-three years. The children of the paternal household, five in number, were named respectively: Magda-

lene, Andrew, Sarah, Caroline and Mary. The brother and sister of Mrs. Paap are residents of Nebraska. Her maternal grandfather served in the French Army during the war between France and Germany, in 1812. Grandfather Sturm during his early manhood was the owner of a fine property, but for thirty-six years afterward was bedridden from an incurable disease which consumed the most of it.
   To Mr. and Mrs. Paap there have been born five children, namely: Omar, Alexander, Albert, Medora and Lydia, the latter twins. The eldest of these is twenty-four years of age, and the younger ones ten. They are being trained and educated in a manner befitting their station in life. Mr. and Mrs. P. are charter members of the German Methodist Episcopal Church at Berlin, and have always contributed liberally and cheerfully to its support. Mr. P. gave valuable assistance in erecting the church edifice, has been a Trustee for many years, and is Superintendent of the Sunday-school. Politically, he is a fervent supporter of Republican principles, and has done his party good service in this county, frequently being seat as a delegate to the State and County Conventions. He has also served on the Grand and Petit Juries. He is a man who keeps himself posted upon current events, one with whom it is interesting and profitable to converse.

ICHOLAS RUSH. Among the prominent citizens of South Branch, and one whose character is such as to commend itself to all, a successful farmer and an army veteran, is the gentleman whose life story is herein presented in succinct form. He is the son of Antonius and Augusta Rush, and now makes his home on section 28, where he operates successfully along the line of general farming and stock-raising, giving chief attention to the former, eighty acres of fine agricultural land.
   The father of our subject was born in Naples, Italy, and followed farming. His mother was born at Naples, and married under the sunny skies of that Southern European kingdom. They became the parents of six children, viz: Joseph, Pasco, Rosa, Caroline, Celestia and Nicholas. The latter was born in Naples on the 8th of May, 1837. His early life was spent in Italy. He continued upon the farm of his father until he was eighteen years of age. Then, in 1855, he went to France, where he studied as a musician, and from there to England in the practice of his chosen profession. In 1861, again taking his journey, he came to "the land of the free," landing in New York City; He traveled at first chiefly through the Southern States, and then went to Illinois.
   Although but so recently come to the country and almost before he was fully able to grasp the meaning of the new institutions of the New World, or thoroughly to imbibe the principles of its independence, Mr. Rush saw that country in the throes of a civil war, and enlisted in the Union Corps, serving in Company S, 2d Illinois Artillery. He was mustered in at Springfield in June, 1864. He did not come out of the struggles unscathed. Injuries were first received from being thrown off his horse, which stunned him and left some injury of the head that has rendered him permanently deaf. This the thundering cannon so affected as to almost entirely destroy the hearing, and he must ever remain in the stillness and comparative solitude that such a condition necessitates. He was mustered out at Chicago in August, 18659 and continued in Illinois until 1866, when he came west to this county.
   Life in the West has brightened for our subject, both in his farm and home, for upon coming he entered his present property of 160 acres, improved it, made it his own, and has taken good care of it from that time, until now it is one of the best cultivated farms in the district. His home has been made home to him in Nebraska. for here he was united in wedlock; first in Nebraska City, in the year 1873, to Miss Anna Wood, who died in 1875, aged twenty-five years. The second occasion occurred in Johnson County on the 17th of March, 1878. The lady, of his choice was Miss Jane Powell, the daughter of Stephen and Isabella (Mapps) Powell, who were natives respectively of New York and Pennsylvania. They came to Johnson County in 1857. They were among the pioneers and founders of the county. Mr. Powell died in

1863, aged forty-seven years, and the mother is still living. They are the parents of seven children: William, Angeline, Jane, Thomas, John, Joseph and Elizabeth.
   The wife of our subject was born in Joliet, Ill., Feb. 2, 1850. She was seven years of age when she came with her parents to this State, and has seen perhaps more than usually falls to the lot of man or woman in these days of advanced civilization in the West, of real frontier life. To Mr. and Mrs. Rush there have been given seven children, and their names are recorded as Mary M., Celestia E., Ida Sybel, Albert Wesley, Rosa A,, Edith Pearl and Willis Logan.
   Mr. Nicholas Rush is one of the substantial supporters and consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Rockford, and one of the prime movers in its organization. His wife also is with him in this relation. She is a lady of education and cultivation, and is one who has found the art of making home something more than a mere stopping-place; a place to be desired, looked for and prized. The political sentiments of our subject are strictly harmonious with those of the Republican party, of which he has always been a firm friend.

 CLARENCE REED, of Syracuse Precinct, stands prominent among its prosperous farmers and stock-raisers, and operates one of the best farms in this section of country, pleasantly located on section 25. He came to Nebraska in the spring of 1865, where he completed the rudiments of an excellent education, and later entered the State University at Lincoln. Completing his course in this institution he was employed two winters thereafter as a teacher, but aside from this has been most of his life engaged in farming pursuits. In his labors as a tiller of the soil he has met with more than ordinary success, having secured one of the most comfortable of modern homes, and a competency for his old age.
   The main points in the family history of our subjects are substantially as follows: His father, Cyrus Reed, was born in the State of Pennsylvania, and was the son of an old Pennsylvania family, the parents of which spent their entire lives upon their native soil. Cyrus Reed grew to manhood in his native county, where he became familiar with the various employments of the farm, and remained a member of the parental household until attaining his majority. His business career began as a live-stock dealer, buying cattle in Illinois, and driving them to the Eastern markets before the days of railroads. He was highly successful, and became the owner of several valuable farms in Pickaway County, Ohio, which were located near the now important town of Circleville. During the war he lost considerable property.
   In the spring of 1865 the father of our subject sold a portion of his Ohio property, and coming to Nebraska purchased 1,600 acres of land in Otoe County, nearly all of which was raw prairie. Upon this the family settled in a small house, and the father, imbibing a great admiration for the West, finally disposed of all his property in the Buckeye State, and turned his attention to stock-raising on his land in this county. He died at his home in McWilliams Precinct, Dec. 4, 1870, at the age of fifty-two years. He was a Republican in politics, and as a son of one of the earliest settlers in Pickaway County, Ohio, saw much of pioneer life, enduring many of its hardships and privations, He for a time engaged in general merchandising at Nebraska City, but his preferences were for farming and stock-raising.
   Mrs. Anna (Lowe) Reed, the mother of our subject, was born in Ulster County, N. Y., and is the daughter of Jacob and Susan Lowe, who migrated to Pickaway County, Ohio, during the period of its early settlement. There Mr. Lowe carried on farming until his death. Mrs. Reed afterward made the journey from Ohio to Nebraska in a buggy when she was over sixty years old. She was married to Mr. Reed in 1855, and after coining to this county became the wife of Edwin Parsons, and is now living on a farm in Delaware Precinct. Of her first marriage there were born five children, namely: E. Clarence, our subject; Harry H., Josiah E., Cyrus A. and John W. All of these are living, and residents of Nebraska and Colorado respectively.
   Our subject was born in Pickaway County, Ohio, July 29, 1857, and resided under the parental roof