native of Switzerland, was born in the Canton of Bern, Nov. 6, 1818. When a young man he emigrated to the United States. settling in New York City, where he followed his trade of baker, and came thence to Nebraska City in 1856, during its pioneer days. He purchased a tract of slightly improved land in Otoe Precinct, Otoe County, and for a number of years labored in its cultivation and the building up of a homestead, putting out an orchard of apple trees and the smaller fruits, and erecting a dwelling and the other buildings required for the comfort of himself and family. Upon this farm he is still living, and it is now numbered among the finest homesteads of the county. The land, 160 acres in extent, has been brought to a high state of cultivation.
   In his native Switzerland Jules Girardet was united in marriage with Miss Susan Zimmererer, and they became the parents of six children, five of whom are living and all residents of the West. The wife and mother departed this life Aug. 31, 1872. She was born Nov. 6, 1818. Mr. G. is a member in good standing of the Lutheran Church, and a man held in high esteem by his fellow-citizens.
   Our subject remembers Nebraska City when it was only a village, and often recalls the interest with which the citizens watched the completion of the first railroad, the Midland Pacific, which ran through it. When he settled in Weeping Water it was a little town of between 300 and 400 inhabitants, and there was being built through it the Missouri Pacific Railroad. He has practically "grown up with the country," and takes the deepest interest in its progress and development. His friends predict for him a most prosperous future, and that when years have added dignity to his age he will be numbered among the solid citizens of the place.
   T. L. Potter, the father of Mrs. Girardet, was married in early manhood to Miss Urilla Heistad, who was been in Ogle County, Ill., and is now in Maria, Neb. Of this union there were six children, five of whom are living and residents mostly of the West. Mr. and Mrs. Potter left this county in 1887, settling in Perkins County, Neb., where they are now living, and the father successfully engaged in farming. He was formerly in the jewelry business, having learned the trade in Illinois, and was one of the first practical jewelers of Weeping Water, where he carried on the business until failing health compelled him to seek a change of occupation. He served as a soldier three years during the late Civil War, participating in several active engagements. Both he and his estimable wife are members in good standing of the Congregational Church. Sterling F. Girardet has already signalized himself as a citizen interested in education and the other enterprises calculated to build up a city, giving to these his support and his substantial encouragement, and has served as a member of the Village Board, besides occupying other positions of trust.

LIVER JACOBS. In the career of the subject of this sketch we have that of a man who has arisen to a high position solely through his own unaided efforts, and through many struggles. He was at an early age thrown upon his own resources, and grew up to be a thoughtful and industrious young man, self-reliant, and imbued with those principles which have developed a character respected and liked by all who know him. A man remarkably quiet in his demeanor, there is little about him at first glance to indicate his strong qualities of character, and that which he has accomplished in the space of comparatively a few years. He possesses the innate culture and refinement coming only from an excellent ancestry, and has been fortunate in making the most of his opportunities of observation, his mind naturally turning to the useful and the good. Nature has not endowed him with a very strong body, but mentally, he has attained to the highest manhood. His business is that of a merchant in the young and growing town of Wabash, whose people have learned to respect him for his genuine worth, and with whose development he has been closely identified.
   Mr. Jacobs was born in the city of Cleveland, Ohio, April 7, 1853, and was orphaned by the death of both parents when a tender child of three. He was the youngest of three brothers and two sisters, these being named respectively: John, Henry,

Anna and Mary. Mr. Jacobs has no recollections of his father, and but a faint remembrance of his mother. After the death of the latter, who only survived her husband a short time, the little family was separated, and our subject was adopted by an Englishman, Thomas Talbot, who lived on a farm in the vicinity of Oneida, Knox Co., Ill. Mr. Jacobs was therefore reared amid the quiet scenes of rural life, with limited school advantages. Through all these years he had his doubts about the manner of his education and training, and when a youth of nineteen left the farm, and began working in one of the many iron manufacturing establishments of Cleveland. He was thus employed a period of five or six years, but in the fall of 1876 resolved upon another change of location.
   Mr. Jacobs now leaving Ohio made his way to the West. The fall of 1878 found him this side of the Mississippi, located near Blue Springs, in Gage County, this State, Later he sojourned in various places at Weeping Water and South Bend, employing himself at times on a farm and at times as clerk in a store. Amid all these changes he managed to pick up much useful information, gaining a good idea of business methods. Finally he started in business for himself at South Bend as a general merchant, and soon afterward was appointed Postmaster, holding this position two years.
   In April, 1886, Mr. Jacobs desired to establish himself at Wabash, and accordingly securing ground began putting up his present store building. It was completed in due time, and he moved into it with a stock of goods. It is a two-story frame structure which would do credit to a burg far more pretentious than Wabash, and which will be an ornament to the town when it shall have attained to much larger proportions. He soon took two partners in the business, Messrs. Emery, of Iowa, and P. Horton, of Wabash, the firm name being Jacobs & Co. They are all gentlemen of good business abilities, courteous in demeanor, and are rapidly building up a large and lucrative trade.
   As one of the first settlers of Wabash and one who risked his capital in a new town at a time when other men were afraid to invest a dollar, the name of Mr. Jacobs deserves to be preserved in its annals for all time. Liberal-minded and public-spirited, he has done much to develop the town, and bring to it a worthy class of people. When he put up his store building there were few houses in its vicinity, it being erected literally in a field. Wabash has now become one of the most promising villages on the line of the Missouri Pacific, between Nebraska City and Lincoln, and ships more grain and live stock than any other village of its size in the State. The early experience of Mr. Jacobs among agricultural pursuits has been of service to him in his later enterprises, as in connection with his merchandising he operates a market garden of twenty-five acres adjacent to the village. Like Horace Greeley, nothing gives Mr. Jacobs more pleasure and diversion than the hours devoted to horticultural pursuits. With an organization fully appreciative of the charms of nature, there is not a more lovely sight to his eyes than the springing up of vegetation on the soil, and its development under the action of the sun and rain. He recognizes as the spring of this the great Power which gives life to the universe, and before which every intelligent person must bow with reverence and praise.
   With an eye to the near future of an intelligent community who must have their pleasures and recreations, Mr. Jacobs and Mr. Horton have established a boating park immediately east of the village on a branch of the Weeping Water, which here winds around in graceful curves, as if purposely loitering to enjoy the beauty of the situation. Mr. Jacobs, upon discovering this bit of natural scenery, decided that a park might here he established with comparatively little trouble and expense, and accordingly set himself about it with his characteristic energy. He has, with the above-named partner, spared no pains to make it attractive as a summer resort, constructing a little lake, and placing row boats at the service of visitors, while the waters are stocked with that favorite fish, the German carp, for the recreation of anglers. This enterprise has met with the hearty approbation of the people in this vicinity, who fully appreciate the enterprise of its projectors.
   In fact there have been few projects tending to the growth and progress of Wabash Village to which Mr. Jacobs has not lent a helping hand. As the head of the Oliver Jacobs & Co. Commission

House of Lincoln, he has intercourse with the best business men of the county, and occupies a high place in their confidence and esteem. Although not a member of any religious organization he believes in the establishment of churches, and to this end has contributed liberally of his means, the Methodist and Baptist Churches of Wabash being the objects of his especial benefits. Socially, he belongs to the Modern Woodmen, having a lodge at Wabash, in which organization he is the banker. Distinctively a man of progress, it is hardly necessary to state that Mr. Jacobs is a stanch member of the Republican party, to which he lends a hearty support, and labors in the maintenance of its principles as he has opportunity. During his incumbency of the office of Assessor of Elmwood Precinct, he pursued a course which was eminently satisfactory to his constituents, and one reflecting great credit upon himself. Cass County recognizes no more worthy citizen within her limits than Mr. Jacobs, who is building for himself a monument that shall endure for decades to come.

IRAH STANFORD was an early settler of Stove Creek Precinct, where he is now prosperously engaged in business as a carpenter, besides superintending his farming and stock-raising interests on section 36. He is a native of Boardman, Ohio, March 12, 1823, being the date of his birth. His parents, Oliver and Olive (Mason) Stanford, were natives respectively of New York and Massachusetts. His father was a pioneer of Ohio. He was a carpenter and joiner by trade, and also carried on farming, having cleared a 160-acre tract of land from the primeval forests of Ohio. In 1854 he sold his property in that State and moved to Wisconsin, locating in Elkhorn, Walworth County. He subsequently removed to Waupon, where his death occurred in 1864, at the age of seventy-two years. His widow died in Howard County, Iowa, in 1876, at the age of seventy years. They were active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in their exemplary lives were illustrated the beauties of the Christian religion. He was a man of strong convictions, one of which was that the policy of the Democratic party of his day was the right one to be pursued in the conduct of National affairs. To him and his wife were born nine children, namely: Leroy and Orin (deceased), Orcemus, Chauncey, Squire, Hirah, Wesley, William and Mary (deceased).
   Hirah Stanford grew to manhood on the homestead of his father, amid pioneer surroundings, and gained an education in the common schools. At the age of twenty-one he left the parental home and began life for himself as a carpenter in Ohio, remaining there until he was twenty-nine, with the exception of three years spent in Wisconsin. After his marriage he removed to Elkhorn, Wis., and there established himself as a carpenter, also engaging in farming a part of the time. In 1860 he removed with his family to Nebraska City, traveling with a team and driving his cattle before him. They were five weeks on the journey, and forded every river between Wisconsin and Nebraska except the Mississippi, which they crossed at Savannah, and the Missouri at Nebraska City. Mr. Stanford immediately identified himself with the agricultural interests of Otoe County, beginning to farm on Summit Farm. He owned 120 acres of land, which he cultivated five years. He then sold it and moved to Nebraska City, built a residence, and his wife, determining to do her share toward increasing the family exchequer, kept a boardinghouse, while he was actively employed at carpentering. They continued their respective employments until the spring of 1866, when they came to Cass County, and in Stove Creek Precinct. Mr. Stanford took up his present farm under the provisions of the Homestead Act. This 80-acre tract then formed a part of the wild, treeless prairie, where but few settlers had preceded our subject. Notwithstanding the fact that the first few years were disastrous, and but little was accomplished in the way of cultivating the land on account of the grasshopper plague, drouth, etc., our subject has done well, and has made many valuable improvements. He has five acres of forest trees, an orchard containing eighty fruit trees; has hedges and wire fences around his land; has erected a good dwell-

ing, barns, and other needed buildings, and has everything in order, so that his place compares very favorably with others in the neighborhood. Besides obtaining a good income from the products of his land, he finds stock-raising very profitable, and has his farm well stocked with cattle, horses and hogs. He has had quite an extensive business as a carpenter, besides attending to his agricultural interests.
   Our subject was very fortunate in the selection of his wife, to whom he was married March 29, 1850, in Rootstown, Portage Co., Ohio. She has been to him a true helpmate, and to their children a wise mother. She is an excellent housekeeper, and rules her household with a firm hand, thus contributing to the comfort of its members, and making their home neat and attractive. She has seen much of life on the prairies, and in the trying times of pioneer days her cheerfulness and sympathy encouraged her husband., She is a devoted Christian and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Elmwood. Of her happy wedded life three children have been born -- Henry, Nettie and Fred. Henry is farming eighty acres of land on section 27, Stove Creek Precinct, which he purchased in 1882. He has it all broken, and has a good house, barn, windmill, etc. He is a stalwart Republican in politics. Fred married Miss Minnie Donelly, and they have one child, Herbert. They reside in Nebraska City, where he is engaged as bookkeeper in Lorton's wholesale grocery store.
   Mrs. Stanford was born in Rootstown, Ohio, March 14, 1826. She received a common education and taught school. Her maiden name was Sarah L. Showell, and she was a daughter of James and Mary (Chapman) Showell, natives respectively of New Jersey and Rootstown, Ohio. Her grandfather, Henry Showell, who was of English descent, was a pioneer of Ohio, where he carried on farming, and was also a preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church. The maternal grandfather of our subject, Nathan Chapman, was of English descent. He was born in Connecticut, where he learned the trade of chairmaker. He, too, was a pioneer of Ohio, and carried on a farm there.
   Mrs. Stanford's great-grandfather, Paine, was a Revolutionary soldier and pensioner. Her father and mother were married in Ohio, and there Mr. Showell engaged in the pioneer task of clearing a heavily timbered tract of ninety acres, which he improved into a good farm, whereon he and his family made their home until 1860. He then sold it and moved to Nebraska City, where he died in 1865, at the age of sixty-five years. His wife died on the old homestead in Ohio in 1858, at the age of fifty-one years. They were stanch members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Four children were born of their marriage, as follows: Sarah L.; Samantha L., who resides with our subject; Oscar, who owns and operates a sawmill in Ohio; Henry, a banker in Nebraska City.
   Mr. Stanford is well known and honored throughout this community. His high character and generous nature are so evident to all as to need no comment here. He is a man of good understanding, and his opinion both in public and private carries much weight. In his home life he is kind and devoted to his family; in public, he is faithful to his obligations to his neighbors and in his duties as a citizen; he has been Justice of the Peace. He takes great interest in politics, and is it prominent member of the Republican party of Cass County, and has served as delegate to conventions.

EORGE W. ADAMS senior member of the firm of Adams & Gilbert, is one of the leading grain and stock men of Cass County, having his headquarters in Weeping Water. His has been a remarkably interesting experience, the main points of which, as near as we can gather, are as follows: The fifth in a family of twelve children, he was born in Crawford County, Pa., Dec. 23, 1836, and lived there only until a little lad of three years, when the father, accompanied by his family, started for the West with teams. They lived afterward several years each in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. In the latter State the father died six months after his arrival, leaving a widow and eleven children.
   The mother of our subject after the death of her husband returned to Pennsylvania, where her death occurred in 1872, she being about sixty-four years

of age. David M. Adams, the father of our subject, was also a native of Crawford County, Pa., where he spent the days of his boyhood and youth, and when reaching man's estate was married to Miss Grazillia Hickernell, who became the mother of seven sons and five daughters. Seven of these are now living, being located in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kansas, California and Nebraska.
   The subject of this sketch is numbered among the earliest pioneers of this county, and one of the first men to settle upon the present site of Avoca Precinct. There are now very few remaining of the men who followed him within the course of a few years to this place. His nearest post-office and trading point for some time was at Plattsmouth, or Nebraska City, and for a number of years these places seemed, as it were, to stand still. while Indians roamed over the country frightening the white settlers, but really doing no serious injury. Wild game was plentiful, and many were the adventures of which our subject and his few companions at that time were heroes.
   Mr. Adams first set foot upon the soil of Nebraska in the summer of 1858, when he came to the southern part of this county and took up land on section 3, in Avoca Precinct, upon which not a furrow had been turned or a tree planted. He labored in true pioneer style in establishing a homestead, planting fruit and shade trees, making fences, erecting buildings, and bringing about the other improvements naturally suggested to the enterprising and progressive mind. In Mt. Pleasant Precinct he has now a beautiful form 520 acres in extent, and another tract of 160 acres in Avoca Precinct, this also being brought to a high state of cultivation. His stock operations yield him annually a handsome income. He deals largely in fine cattle and horses, being able to exhibit some of the handsomest and most valuable animals in this part of the State.
   Mr. Adams put up the present family residence on his farm in Avoca Precinct in the year 1876. It is a very handsome and commodious structure, and at the time of being built was considered one of the finest dwellings in this part of the county. It has stood the storms of twelve years in an admirable manner, with no perceptible change in its appearance since its completion. On this farm Mr. Adams has expended his best efforts, much of the land being enclosed with beautiful hedge fencing, while he has planted an abundance of fruit trees, and has five acres of forest trees, forming one of the grandest windbreaks in this section.
   The stock barn of Mr. Adams is a very noticeable feature of his farm, occupying an area of 40x6O feet, with a fine basement, and ample conveniences for the shelter of stock and the storing of grain. In his stables are some splendid specimens of the equine race, high-bred imported Norman horses, and in another department registered Shorthorn cattle, comprising one of the finest herds in the country. Among his horses are Ney, No. 2,950, French imported, of the foal of 1882, an imported two-year old; he is now a beautiful dark iron-gray, weighing about 2,000 pounds, with fine points in every particular, and valued at $2,000. In all, Mr. Adams keeps about thirty head of horses, a number of them registered, the others of high grade. Mr. Adams is a lover of this noble animal, a good judge of its value, and thoroughly acquainted with the best methods exercised in its proper care and treatment.
   Mr. Adams in 1884 transferred his farming interests mostly to the hands of his son Himenus, a very energetic and enterprising young business man, possessing many of the traits of his honored father. Moving into the city he associated himself with Mr. Gilbert in the grain business, of which the firm has the monopoly in Weeping Water and vicinity. They have a large elevator here as well as at Elmwood and Eagle, all of which are in constant use and prove a great convenience to the business men and farmers of the surrounding country. The present residence of Mr. Adams is a handsome dwelling, finely situated on Eldora avenue, and stands in the midst of seven acres of land, which furnishes ample grounds for the carriage barn and drive, and the various other conveniences and comforts which tend to make a charming suburban home. In Avoca Precinct Mr. Adams served as Assessor and School Director for a number of years and was otherwise identified with local affairs. He lays no claim to being a politician, in fact, is desirous of avoiding this channel of public life, except-

ing so far as to do his duty at the polls, when he uniformly gives his support to the Republican party.
   After the death of the father of our subject, in St. Clair County, Ill., George W. Adams passed the three years following engaged in boating; then he started for the West, his sole possessions the clothing which he wore, no money, in fact, nothing to depend upon but his own resources. It is hardly necessary to say that he traveled on foot, worked his way along the Ohio, Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, and finally landed in Peoria County, Ill., where he purchased a loaf of bread with five cents he had left. His equipments were not near fine enough to linger in the town, so he made his way into the agricultural districts, and secured employmeat with a farmer about three miles from LaSalle, for whom he engaged to work the following summer for the sum total of $16 and his board.
   Young Adams did not encroach upon his capital during the time of his sojourn there, but in the fall, taking his money, made his way across the Mississippi into Cedar County, Iowa. There he employed himself at whatever he could find to do, working on the farm in summer, and sawing wood in winter, for a period of four years. In the meantime he met and married Miss Sabra Girard, the wedding taking place in Iowa, Aug. 17, 1858. The young couple soon afterward, leaving the Hawkeye State, came to this county, then a bare prairie, and began their wedded life together in a small house on an open tract of land. The land now constitutes the farm of our subject in Avoca Precinct, but that first humble dwelling was long since abandoned for a more pretentious residence.
   After a few years of earnest labor and strict economy, our subject began to realize the reward of his toils. It is not necessary to state here what has been so often repeated in connection with the history of the Nebraska pioneer. Suffice it to say that Mr. Adams in his labors, in common with the men around him, worked early and late and endured many hardships and difficulties, and while many men abandoned their purpose after coming to the Territory, he persevered in his first resolve and has had no reason to regret it. The universal regard in which he is held by the people around him is sufficient evidence of his personal worth and integrity. He bears the reputation of a man honest and honorable in all his transactions, one whose word is considered as good as his bond.
   Mrs. Sabra (Girard) Adams, the wife of our subject, was born June 5, 1810, near LaFayette, Ind. She received a common-school education and was carefully trained in all housewifely duties -- those things which have so much to do with the happiness and comfort of a home. Of her union with our subject there were born five children, only two of whom are living. The eldest son, Himenus, of whom we have before spoken, married Miss Louisa Gruber, and as before stated, is operating the home farm. George G. makes his home with his parents in Weeping Water.
   James M. Girard, the father of Mrs. Adams, was born Aug. 25, 1814, in Ohio, whence he removed when a boy to LaFayette, Ind., when if was but a small town. He was there married to Miss Elizabeth Miller, and they became the parents of five children, four of whom are living. The family about 1852 moved across the Mississippi into Cedar County, Iowa, where the father, as before, followed farming for a number of years, then changed his residence to this county, making his home with his daughter, Mrs. Adams, where his death took place during the winter of 1888. The wife and mother passed away at the same place in 1886. Besides Mrs. Adams their surviving children are located in Nebraska.

OHN G. WUNDERLICH. The subject of this sketch is probably about the youngest established farmer in his community, being not quite twenty-four years old, and having already a snug farm of 160 acres, a wife and a little child. He owns his farm, and is of that quality of character which constitutes him a prudent manager and an industrious worker. His land is fertile and he has comfortable buildings.
   Mr. Wunderlich has been a resident of Avoca Precinct since the spring of 1880, and purchased his present property two years later. He was born on the other side of the Atlantic, in the little King-