the land which he rented in Hendricks, he sent for his family and subsequently proceeded as we have already indicated. He was first married, Jan. 6, 1844, in Schuylkill County, Pa., to Miss Catherine Diehl, who was born in Germany, Sept. 5, 1825, and only survived her wedding five years, her death taking place in the winter of 1849. This lady was the daughter of Phillip and Catherine (Schound) Diehl, natives of Bavaria, and the father was a coal miner by occupation. Upon coming to America they settled in Schuylkill County, Pa., where the father died at the age of fifty years, in 1842. The mother is still living in Pennsylvania. being now eighty-eight years old. Their children were Lewis, Phillip, Frederick, Caroline, Charlotte, Louisa, Augustus and Lizzie. Philip and Jacob are deceased.
   This union of our subject resulted in the birth of four children, all sons: Phillip Albert died when about three years of age; John Frederick is mail agent on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad. He served during the Civil War, in the 7th Pennsylvania Cavalry, and in the battle at Dallas, Ga., was wounded and captured by the enemy. He experienced the terrors first of Atlanta and then Andersonville Prison, but his life was spared, and he returned home after being paroled and exchanged. He was mustered out in 1865, with his regiment in Georgia, and is now in Syracuse. Charles is a stationary engineer by profession, and a resident of Schuylkill County, Pa.
   Phillip Diehl during the late war served as a Union soldier, and died at Hatteras Inlet. Caroline became the second wife of our subject in the fall of 1852. She was born Sept. 5, 1829, and was a child two years of age when she came with her parents to America. Of this union there have been born nine children, namely: Louis, Ernest A., Laura, Albert, Lizzie, Frederick, Henry, George and William. Louis and Ernest A. are farmers, one in Palmyra Precinct, this county, and the latter in Lincoln County; Laura is the wife of Harry Johnson, a well-to-do farmer of Lincoln County, and the mother of five children. The following are also in that county: Albert; Lizzie, the wife of Peter Lloyd; Frederick and George. The other children are at home with their parents.
   Mr. Diener, politically, is a decided Republican, and in religious matters belongs to the German Lutheran Church. His estimable wife is a member of the German Reformed Church. They have one of the pleasantest homes in the county, and their hospitable doors are always open both to friend and stranger, to whom they extend that welcome which is always so grateful to the recipient, and by which means they have gathered around them hosts of warm friends.

ILLIAM M. THALER. The life of this gentleman is illustrative of the fact that thoroughness is the key to success. As a boy this marked his life, whether in school or on the play-ground; it was equally true of him as a young man starting in life, as a soldier, and in his business relations of later years. He is a representative citizen of Palmyra, and has the esteem of his fellows. He is the son of John M. and Margaret Thaler, both of whom were natives of Germany. The occupation of his father was that of a stonemason, and he was considered a skilled worker. In the year 1839, when he had reached the advanced age of sixty years, he started with his family for America, and settled in Springfield, there continuing to follow his trade. About the time he was eighty-two years of age the sands of the hourglass of his life had run out, and he departed this life at Springfield, in the year 1861. His wife lived to be eighty-four years of age; she died at the residence of our subject in the year 1883. The father of our subject was twice married. By his first union he became the father of one child, and by the second, that to which reference is made above, of twelve children. Our subject is one of the younger children; he and his brother Charley, who died at New York in 1839, were twins.
   The native place of William Thaler is Honackon, Wurtemberg, Germany. He was born in the year 1836, but his residence in that county was of comparatively short duration, and his early recollections center around the Springfield home. His education was obtained in the Springfield schools, and was supplemented by a course of instruction in the Brooks Seminary. He was all that is meant

by the expression a thorough boy, vivacious, bright, an intense lover of fun, and perhaps at times a little too exuberant for the comfort of some less youthful. There was, however, always present with him a certain sturdy sense of manly honor, and his record is not tarnished as it might have been had his home training been less careful and complete. Upon leaving school the question of trade or calling was placed before him, and he elected to become a stone-cutter. He served an apprenticeship of two and a half years, working on the stone block representing Illinois in the Washington Monument for about six weeks, toward the latter part of his apprenticeship. Difficulty with the boss caused him to leave, and he went to Logan County, Ill., and there engaged on a farm.
   While in Logan County our subject met Miss Melinda Lanterman. who was born near Springfield, Ill., in 1834, to John and Elizabeth Lanterman. The father of this lady was a farmer, and prosperous in his occupation, his death occurring when she was about twenty years of age; she shortly afterward went to keep house for her brother, whose home was in Logan County. It was here the acquaintance was formed that resulted in their marriage on the 5th of March, 1857. They lived in Illinois until 1860, and then he came alone to this State, arriving in Nebraska City on the 5th of April, 1860, and his family came in March, 1861. The same day he went out to visit a cousin whose home was in the vicinity, and, upon being asked by his relative how he liked the Territory, replied: "I like it well enough to live and die in Otoe County." He has not yet changed his opinion.
   His visit to Nebraska City over, Mr. Thaler returned to Springfield, Ill., where he cast his first Presidential ballot for Lincoln, whom he had served in youth as a chore boy. He remained in Illinois over winter, and in the spring of 1861 returned with his wife and child, and rented first a farm in Otoe County, which he held for two years. At the close of that period, his first impression of the county being strengthened, he purchased a farm, but did not improve it before the war.
   At the risk of a retrogression, we mention an incident in connection with the first vote for President mentioned above, as indicating the principles that underlie the Character of our subject. At the time Fremont was spoken of for the Presidency Mr. Thaler sympathized with the Fillmore party. A day or two afterward he received from his former employer and benefactor. Lincoln, a sharp letter. Seeing the folly of his conduct, he made a vow that if Lincoln ever ran for office again he would vote for him; consequently, in the fall of 1860, when in Nebraska City, he did not think it too much to return to Illinois to cast his vote. The day after his return home he called on Lincoln, who was well pleased to see him, and filled with strong emotion as he understood the purpose of the journey from Nebraska. With a took that will ever be remembered by our subject he said: "Well, William, you have come a long way to vote for me, will you come that far to defend the principles you are voting for?" The promise was given that he would do so, and has since been nobly fulfilled.
   In 1861 Mrs. Thaler died at Nebraska City, leaving to the care of her husband a little daughter, Margaret, and, although the condition was unfavorable to the fulfillment of his promise to Lincoln, and his path in that direction thus tendered very difficult, he was so moved by McClellan's defeat, that, when the call came for 600,000 men, he started once more for Springfield, and enlisted in Company A, 73d Illinois Infantry, for three years, and served during the remainder of the war. Only about one week was allowed for drilling at Camp Butler, before they departed for the front. Everything else was learned under the rebel fire.
   The first battle in which our subject participated was that at Perryville, fought on the 9th of October, 1862. The next was at Chickamauga. He was taken sick with typhoid fever at Nashville, and lay between life and death for a long time, in the summer of 1863, in the hospital at that place and Chattanooga. After the battle last mentioned he was again taken ill, and upon recovery served in the engagement at Nashville. He was at Greenville, Tenn., when Lincoln's assassination occurred. At that place he served on detached duty. On the Easter Sunday he and his comrades were having a splendid time in exercises similar to those of the old-fashioned singing school; all were feeling happy and jubilant, but the news reached them just at

that time, and from the heights of pleasure they sank to the lowest depths of sorrow, to know that the President was no more. Receiving an honorable discharge at Nashville, on the 12th of June, 1865, Mr. Thaler returned to his home.
   Arriving in Nebraska City on the 20th of August, 1865, after an absence of three years and four days, our subject found things more changed than he had anticipated. On the 1st of September he started freighting over the plains to Colorado and to Ft. Laramie, Wyo. He carried on this business under Government contract for two years, then, coming once more to Nebraska City, on the 11th of January, 1867, he went to his farm, started to improve it, and has since gone on with that good work.
   The second marriage of our subject was celebrated on the 26th of November, 1868, and he then became the husband of Miss Permelia Ann Cassle, the daughter of John and Sarah (Thomas) Cassle. Her father was born in South Carolina and her mother in Ohio, but removed to Indiana, and finally came to Nebraska in 1856, and settled near Nebraska City. They became the parents of nine children, eight of whom are living. Mrs. Thaler is the fourth child, and was born on the 1st of July, 1837, in Warren County, Ind. At the time the family removed to Nebraska she was nineteen years of age. This union has been consummated by the birth of four children, whose names are as follows: Bertha M., who died when about sixteen years of age; Florence A., Willie W., and Milton, who died when but an infant. By his former marriage Mr. Thaler had two children--Margaret A., and John M., who died in Quincy. Margaret is the wife of Ira Gordon, and resides at Wabash, Neb., and is the mother of three children.
   In 1879 our subject sold his property and purchased a farm near Palmyra. In 1883 he went into his present business, which is that of a hardwareman and dealer in harness and saddlery. He built a brick corner block in 1883, in partnership with C. B. Coswell. This business venture has been most satisfactory in every regard, and he has prospered beyond his most sanguine expectations. He has also built a branch store at Hendricks, in which he has a half interest, and has erected a good residence in the best part of the town.
   Naturally Mr. Thaler is an enthusiastic member of the G. A. R., and has been the commander of the post. He is an earnest member of the Christian Church, his wife and daughter equally so of the Baptist Communion. Our subject feels strongly in the matter of Prohibition, and heartily espouses that cause. He has received many indications of the esteem in which he and his are held in the town, and also of the confidence reposed in him by his fellow-citizens. At present he is serving upon the Village Board his third term, holding the office of President of the same.

EMUEL E. SINSABAUGH, of Syracuse, was the first man to locate upon the present site of this City, coming here in August, 1871, and putting up the first building within its limits. He at once established a lumber-yard, and was accordingly the pioneer in this business. He is now engaged in the breeding of fine horses, being the owner of the celebrated Bashaw Stock Farm, where he has a fine stable of Cleveland Bays, the better class of road horses and Shetland ponies.
   Bradford County, Pa., was the early tramping ground of our subject, where his birth took place Feb. 16, 1839. His parents were David and Susan (Peck) Sinsabaugh. and as they died when he was a small boy, he knows little of the history of his ancestors farther than that his grandparents were residents of Orange County, N. Y. Of the parental family there were eleven children, ten of whom grew to mature years. These were: Rachel, the wife of Huston Munn; William, Richard, Alpheus, Hector; Elsie, Mrs. Millard DeGroff; Thomas M., Lemuel E.; Miranda, the wife of James L. Patterson; and Lois, Mrs. George T. Hunt. These are residents of Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Illinois and Nebraska.
   Our subject was left an orphan when a lad of ten years. and resided with his brothers for some time afterward. When a boy in his teens he was employed as a farm laborer, and in 1858 entered a factory where were manufactured agricultural im-

plements, at Athens, Pa. In 1860, going to Western, Pa., he engaged in lumbering, and the year following occurred the outbreak of the late Civil War. Soon after the first call for troops he entered the service as a member of Company H, 46th Pennsylvania Infantry, and operated with his comrades along the Shenandoah Valley under Gen. Banks, participating in all the battles of that campaign. On the 8th of August, 1862, the day preceding the battle at Cedar River, our subject was afflicted with a sunstroke, and during the conflict which followed was captured by the rebels, and confined at Libby Prison and Belle Isle until in January, 1863. He was then exchanged, and rejoining his regiment, participated in the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, after which this division of the army was transferred to Chattanooga and to the command of Gen. Sherman. Mr. Sinsabaugh afterward fought at Lookout Mountain, Resaca and Dallas, receiving at the latter place a gunshot wound, which, in connection with the effects of sunstroke, so disabled him that he was relieved from active duty, and sent to the hospital at New Albany, Ind. Later, at Harrisburg, Pa., he received his honorable discharge, after having given a faithful service of three years to his country.
   Upon leaving the army our subject returned to his old haunts in Bradford County, Pa., resuming his work, the manufacture of agricultural implements, until 1865. He then went into the oil regions, and was engaged in developing wells until the following year, when he returned to the factory. The summer of 1871 found him west of the Mississippi, and preparing to locate upon the present site of Syracuse, this county. He continued in the lumber business until 1878, and was succeeded by H. N. Carpenter. He now turned his attention to the raising of fancy poultry, and for this purpose erected a set of the finest buildings in the United States. His operations proved highly remunerative, his trade extending to every State in the Union, the Sandwich Islands and England. But, alas for human calculations, a conflagration, supposed to have been started by a firecracker, swept away the labor of years, entailing a heavy loss of property upon which there was no insurance.
   As soon as he could recover from his calamity, our subject invested his remaining capital in a stock of general merchandise, associating himself with a partner, and the firm of Page & Sinsabaugh continued in existence until the fall of 1884. Mr. S. then withdrew and established the Bashaw Stock Farm, and as a breeder of fine horses now occupies a position in the front ranks among the men of that line in Southern Nebraska. His stables are located near the city limits, where, in addition to his farm, he owns forty acres of land.
   Miss Jennie Bloodgood, daughter of Hiram and Sarah Bloodgood, of New York, became the wife of our subject Sept. 12, 1865, the wedding taking place at the home of the bride in New York. Mrs. Sinsabaugh was born in Tioga County, N. Y., and departed this life at her home in Syracuse, Neb., May 13, 1873. Of this union there were born four children: Ida M., now the wife of Henry Vose, of Syracuse; Grace is at home with her father, Willie, and one deceased. Our subject, politically, votes the Republican ticket, and is one of the pioneer members of the Masonic fraternity in this region, being the first man initiated in Mt. Moriah Lodge No. 57, in Syracuse.

AMES M. RILEY, the well-known and prosperous liveryman of Syracuse, is a native of the Buckeye State, and was born in Muskingum County on the 16th of June, 1857. His father, John Riley, was a native of that State, and followed the occupation of farming, and in that calling enjoyed even move than usual success. The maiden name of his wife, the mother of our subject, was Christiania McDonald, a native of Virginia, who, throughout the years of her married life, manifested a spirit beautiful in its parity and Christian helpfulness. She was in every sense of the word a true wife and mother. Mr. Riley, Sr., continued to make his home in his native State until 1885, when, owing to the death of his wife and two daughters, each of whom fell a victim to that most fatal of all known diseases, consumption, he determined to seek a climate where the surviving members of his family might have an opportunity to escape the same fell destroyer. Accordingly he sold

his farm and other property in Ohio and migrated to Kansas, where he purchased a section of land in Wahaunsee County. which he has improved and still operates as a stock farm. Of his family five children are still living, his son John M. being the eldest.
   The education of our subject was obtained in the usual institution of his native county, and as he made good use of his school days and has not been neglectful of self-improvement since, he is a well-informed man and capable citizen. On leaving school he became his father's assistant upon the farm, and continued thus employed until 1877. At that time he went to Kansas, where he took a commercial course in a college at Lawrence, and throughout the three subsequent years represented L. K. Hill & Co., of Kalamazoo, Mich., as their salesman of plow attachments in the State of Kansas. Upon resigning this position he engaged in stock-raising, in which his success was even greater than it had been as a salesman.
   The year 1885 is memorable in the history of our subject as that in which he was united in wedlock with Addie Daly, the estimable lady who has since that time been the companion of his life, and has enriched it by the matured intelligence, culture and inspiration of her womanhood. Mrs. Riley is the daughter of George W. Daly, of Kansas, who was born in the State of New York, but as a young man went to Kansas and taught school. While a resident there he met and married his wife, who was the daughter of one of the pioneers of Kansas. Mr. Daly is now agent for the Kansas Loan and Trust Company of Topeka, and very prosperous as a business man. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Riley has been the more firmly cemented and its happiness augmented by the birth of a daughter, to whom they have given the name Ethel.
   Kansas continued to be the home of our subject some time after he was married, in fact, until he came to this State in the year 1886, at which time he settled in Syracuse, and embarked with his usual thoroughness and enterprise in his present business. The good fortune which attended his former occupation did not leave him when he came hither, and although in a new country where are many difficulties and obstacles unknown in older settled districts, these have never turned him from his purpose. He has industriously looked after his business, and has firmly established a reputation in the community.
   Like his father before him, our subject is a stanch Republican, and when opportunity offers is always ready to manifest his faith by his deeds, hence is esteemed an extremely loyal and patriotic citizen.

NDREW STOUT, one of the prosperous farmers of Otoe Precinct, owning forty acres of farming land on section 20, 160 acres being the north quarter of the southeast quarter of the same section, the entire north half of section 30, and ten acres on section 23, a total of 530 acres, his residence being upon the first named, is the son of Emley and Elvira (Denney) Stout. His father was born in the State of New Jersey, but was brought up in Ohio, whence he was taken by his parents when about six years of age. This was the native State of the mother of our subject.
   It is believed from family tradition that the ancestry of Andrew Stout were subjects of the British Crown, and that the grandfather of Andrew was the first member of the family to come to this country, where he settled in New Jersey after the Revolutionary War. In the War of 1812 this gentleman served as a teamster for the army.
   Mr. Emley Stout and Elvira Denney were married in Morgan County. Ill., near the city of Jacksonville, in the year 1835. They are now residing near Ashland, Cass Co., Ill., and are respectively seventy-nine and seventy years of age. Their family circle includes twelve children, ten of whom grew to mature years. Their names are as follows: Andrew, Caroline, Hannah, Theodore, Aaron and Cyrus (deceased), George W., Charles E.; Mary F. died when one year old; Mary E. died aged about thirty-three; Lucinda and William.
   The subject of our sketch was born on the 1st of February, 1837, in Pike County, Ill. He grew up in Cass County from the time he was twelve years of age, previous to which he had lived in Morgan County from the time he was eighteen months old. Being the eldest son he was directed to farm work

at a very early age, and while still a youth was able to take charge of almost any department of such work. This was the more necessary because his father was by no means a rich man, and needed all the help that could be given. For this reason perhaps more than any other the education of our subject was not given that attention that would have been desirable, and, under other circumstances, possible. What schooling he obtained he received during the winter months only, and upon the foundation then laid he has never ceased to continue to build.
   After spending the first twenty-two years of his life under the home roof our subject started in life for himself by celebrating his marriage with Mary E., the estimable daughter of Nathan and Catharine (Epler) Blizzard. This lady was born in Clark County, Ind., and there lived until she was six years of age, when, with her parents, she went to Morgan County, Ill., which afterward continued to be her home until her marriage. The date of the latter event was Nov. 18, 1858. Both her parents are deceased.
   The young couple spent the first year of their married life in Illinois, and then sold out their property and came to this State, arriving in the fall of 1859. Their first purchase was the northeast corner of section 30. By care and unremitting labor, judiciously carried on, success so far crowned the efforts of our subject that the adjoining quarter of the same section was purchased and incorporated with their previous possessions. Mr. Stout followed for many years general or mixed farming, finding it more profitable than a more special line of operations.
   For six years Mr. Stout held the office of County Commissioner, and for two years he was Chairman of the board. While Mr. Stout was a member of the board many of the leading citizens of Nebraska City and the county requested the Board of Commissioners to submit to the voters the proposition to issue bonds to aid in the construction of the Midland Pacific Railroad. The proposition carried, the bonds were issued and the road built. Subsequent bonds were voted on and issued in aid of the construction of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad.
   The political faith of our subject is that of the Democratic party, of which he has for many years continued a stanch advocate and friend. When running for the Commissioner's office he ran far ahead of his ticket. He has been-prominent in the councils of his party in this county. In religious belief our subject and his wife are members of the Southern Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a charter member of the church organization at Harmony, and one of the Trustees.
   Charles E. Stout, the only son of our subject and wife, was born in Otoe Precinct, April 20, 1860. He has attended in addition to the usual institution of instruction the Nebraska City College, and also the State University at Lincoln. At present he is at home assisting his father in carrying on the farm.
   Mr. Stout is a man of fine character, manliness and personal worth. He has a high sense of justice and honor, and commands the universal esteem of his fellows. Concerning him as a public officer J. J. Hostettler, his fellow Commissioner, remarked as follows: "Mr. Stout is an a No. 1 man. In matters pertaining to the public good I found him very active. While we got along very harmoniously, yet when Mr. Stout would take a stand on any point he would do it because he thought it was right, and his natural ability and long experience made him one of the very best Commissioners Otoe County has ever seen."

IRAM HENDRICKS, of Hendricks Precinct, was the first white child born in the southwestern part of Otoe County. This event occurred on the 30th of December, 1859. Here he spent his boyhood and youth, and grew to a promising manhood. He is now numbered among the most enterprising young farmers of this section, and bids fair to reflect honor upon the name which has been familiar in this section of country for a period of over thirty years.
   Our subject, although young in years, has seen much hard labor, having been reared as the son of a pioneer, and at an early age commenced to assist his father in the development of a homestead. In the sketch of his brother, George Hendricks, found elsewhere in this volume, is given the par-

rental history. The first recollections of our subject are of the wild, uncultivated prairie and the primitive manner in which the people of that time were obliged to live. He spent his boyhood and youth on the farm, remaining with his parents until reaching his majority, and notwithstanding the many difficulties in the way of education, became master of the common branches, the study of which he diligently pursued, and from which he emerged with a goodly portion of practical knowledge. At the age of twenty-two years he purchased the eighty acres which he now owns and occupies from his mother, and began farming on his own account. He has made all the improvements which we see to-day, and which reflect great credit upon his industry and good judgment. He has a fine tract of native timber, and streams of living water running through the farm. He has planted an orchard of 150 apple trees and laid off the fields with beautiful hedge. He has added to his landed possessions by the purchase of forty acres on section 17.
   One of the most interesting and important events in the life of our subject was his marriage, which occurred April 17, 1881, his bride being Miss Jennie Fishel. This lady was born in Iowa. Aug. 19, 1861, and is the daughter of Charles and Jessie (McPherson) Fishel, the former of whom is a native of Ohio, and the latter was born on the other side of the Atlantic, among the Scottish Highlands. Mr. Fishel, a farmer by occupation, removed from Ohio to Iowa, thence in 1876 to this county, locating on a tract of land in Hendricks Precinct, where he labored successfully, and where his death took place in 1878. The mother is still living, and resides on the old homestead. Their family consisted of eight children, six of whom are living, and mostly residing in Nebraska. Mrs. Hendricks was the second child. and continued under the home roof until her marriage, acquiring her education in the common schools. Of her union with our subject there have been born three children -- Charles Edwin, Carrie Winnifred and Mary Elizabeth. Mr. Hendricks is a stanch Republican politically. and both he and his amiable wife are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Solon, in which he has been Class-Leader and Superintendent of the Sunday-school. Like that of his father before him, his house has always been open for religious meetings and every other good purpose. His energy and public-spiritednesss, his enterprise and intelligence, have commended him highly to the people of this county who expect of him still further good things in the future.

WIGHT WAIT. This gentleman is one of the enterprising young business men of Palmyra, and occupies the position of chief clerk in the hardware store of Mr. Thomas Bell. His father, Cyrus Wait, was born in Vermont, near Woodstock. Upon the father's side the family is of French origin, while upon the mother's the ancestry were Irish. Mr. Wait, Sr., was an enthusiastic worker in the great cause of religion, and almost as much so in that of abolition. He died at Woodstock, Ohio, in the year 1865, when only thirty-two years of age. After her bereavement Mrs. Wait lived with her sons. She made her home in Nebraska for two years and then returned to Indiana. She died there in the year 1886, having reached the age of seventy years. She was the mother of six children, viz: Cicero, Addison, Dwight, Hinda, Herbert and Fillmore.
   The subject of our sketch was born on the 22d of February, 1849, at the town of Woodstock, and grew up there. He was seventeen years of age when his father died. In common with a large majority of those gentlemen who occupy our pulpits, Mr. Wait had not been able to accumulate a competency, so that as a young man his son Dwight had to begin and climb the ladder of life for himself. One thing was in his favor -- his parents had been careful to give him a good English education, and had already given some tone and shape to his character.
   The first employment of our subject was as a farm hand, and he continued thus engaged in his native State until he came to Nebraska. In company with his brother Cicero he landed in Nebraska City on the 1st of April, 1872, and soon obtained work under Dr. Converse, in the construction of the Midland Pacific Railroad. He was fortunate in having known this gentleman while a boy in Indiana. Taking his shovel he began to work with the