August 9 of that year he enlisted in Company B, 19th Iowa Infantry. From that time until his services were no longer required he was a brave and efficient soldier, taking an active part in many of the principal engagements. He was in the battle of Prairie Grove, Ark., Dec. 7, 1862; was present at the siege of Vicksburg, and went through the fifty-five days of actual battle unscathed; he fought in the battle of Yazoo City, Miss., in July, 1863; thence his company was sent to Ft. Hudson to reinforce Gen. Banks, from there to Madisonville, where they had an engagement with the enemy; thence to Morganidy's Bend, where 300 of his regiment were taken prisoners; from there to Brownsville, Tex., where they had a slight encounter with the rebels. Our subject was then granted sixty days' furlough, and was once more reunited with his family. At the expiration of his leave of absence he hastened to rejoin his regiment in September, 1864, at New Orleans, and from there he was sent with his comrades to Florida. He there took part in the engagements that resulted in the capture of Fts. Morgan and Gaines, and of the Spanish Fort. This latter was the last battle fought by his regiment, Mr. Fry was honorably discharged Aug. 7, 1865, and retained home in sound health except from the effects of exposure.
   On March 15, 1873, Mr. Fry came to Hastings, Neb., and in October of the same year his family came to Plattsmouth, where he joined them, and where they have ever since made their home. Mr. Fry is a sturdy, honest, upright man, a good citizen, a kind neighbor, a faithful husband and tender father, in every way worthy of respect and confidence. He is an earliest Republican, and a valued member of McConnie Post No. 45, G. A. R.

ENRY J. DAVIS, actively engaged in the management of his fine, productive farm on section 36, Liberty Precinct, is a good representative of the stalwart men who came here less than a quarter of a century ago, and have in the meantime witnessed the wonderful transformation of this section of the State from a wild, unbroken prairie, sparsely inhabited, to a fruitful farming region, with thriving villages and prosperous towns.
   In the development of Cass County our subject has taken an intense interest and given material assistance. He is an intelligent, industrious man, of keen perceptive faculties, and has proved himself a most desirable citizen of his adopted town. His pleasant homestead, which consists of 240 acres of arable land, well watered and under good improvement, with its comfortable house and substantial farm buildings, compares favorably with any in the precinct, and is a credit to his executive ability, skill and good judgment. Mr. Davis gives much attention to the raising of stock, his cattle being principally Durhams. At the head of his large herd is the well-bred bull Jumbo, which comes of a high grade of that breed. Besides his homestead our subject also owns another good farm, principally grass land, lying on section 31 of the fractional township and precinct of Liberty.
   Mr. Davis was born in Monongalia County, W. Va., Dec. 21, 1828, being of Welsh origin. His parents, William and Sarah (Pride) Davis, were natives of Virginia, and settled on a farm there, where the death of Mrs. Davis occurred when her son Henry was only four years of age. She was an estimable woman, and a devoted wife and mother. To her and her husband were born nine children. The father of our subject married for his second wife Mrs. Betsy McGill, who died on their Virginia homestead. Of their union one child was born.
   Later in life Mr. Davis moved from Virginia to Ohio, and after a stay of two years in that State went to Ottumwa, Iowa, where he remained about a year. He then spent a few months in Boone County, that State, going thence to Des Moines, but did not establish himself in any part of the State, not being as pleased with that part of the country as with Ohio. Accordingly, accompanied by his son Henry J., Mr. Davis started for his old home in the Buckeye State, but was attacked by the cholera while on a steamboat on the Ohio River, and died near Cairo, Ill., in the spring of 1854, and was buried in Vanderburg County, Ind., being then sixty-three years of age. Our subject was at that time but a young man, and the sad scenes of that journey will never be forgotten by him. He was

the only member of the family privileged to care for his father in his last moments, and to perform the last sad rites at the grave.
   Subsequently the subject of our sketch returned to Iowa, whence he came in 1857 to Nebraska, crossing the Missouri River August 13 of that year, and locating in Nebraska City. The ensuing year Mr. Davis pre-empted 160 acres of land in what is now Wyoming Precinct, Otoe County, selling it a few months afterward, but slightly improved. In 1872 he purchased his homestead property, where he has since lived.
   Mr. Davis has been twice married. During His residence in Des Moines. Iowa, he was united to Miss Elizabeth Hughes, a native of Highland County, Ohio. She accompanied her husband to this State, her death occurring during their residence in Otoe County, July 4, 1859. She bore her husband two children, John and William, both of whom are deceased. The second marriage of our subject occurred in Nebraska City, May 28, 1861, when he was united to Miss Irena Barnhill, who was born in Wayne County, in the southern part of Illinois, April 4, 1837. She was reared in that State, and removed to Wyoming, Otoe County, with her parents in 1857, and remained under the parental roof until her marriage with our subject. Her parents, A. H. and Nancy (Walker) Barnhill, were natives respectively of North Carolina and Kentucky. After their marriage they lived several years in Illinois, and then coming to Nebraska, lived in Wyoming, Otoe County, for three years. They subsequently moved to Saunders County, where Mr. Barnhill died in the fall of 1885, having lived beyond the allotted threescore years and ten of man's life. Mrs. Barnhill survives her husband, and is now living in Saunders County, at the ripe old age of seventy-seven years. She is a member of the Baptist Church, and a good Christian woman.
   To our subject and his wife have been born seven children, of whom four are deceased, namely: Henry H., Admiral, Elizabeth and an unnamed infant. The three living ire Mary Docia, Emmer Elsie and Ina A. They are bright, intelligent children, and are receiving good educational advantages. Mr. Davis is a true gentleman, possessing all the polish and the warm, generous heart, and the high mind characteristic of the Southerner. He and his family move in the highest social circles of their community. In their religious views they have the courage of their opinions, and believe that following the teachings of the Golden Rule, and living a moral, upright life on this earth, will fit them for anything that may come beyond the grave. In politics our subject is a Republican. The portrait of this enterprising citizen is given on an accompanying page, and is that of one of Cass County's best farmer residents.

SRAEL WARD is a contented and happy farmer living on his original homestead of eighty acres on section 8, in Elmwood Precinct, where he arrived many years ago, after a tedious and wearisome overland journey in company with his wife and little son Albert, then a babe of four months. This gentleman was born in Eden Township, Licking Co., Ohio, Jan. 5, 1839. At the early age of seven years he lost his. mother by death. He lived with his parents, for his father remarried, until he was twelve years old, alternately attending school and working upon the farm, when his father removed with the entire family to Ogle County, Ill., in 1851, where they lived the ensuing five years, when his father bought another farm in Marshall County, near Lacon, Ill., to which he removed. From here he removed in 1859 to Muscatine County, Iowa, where they resided three years, and in 1862 they settled in Keokuk County, Iowa, our subject accompanying the family on their various migrations. While residing in Muscatine County, Iowa. He met the lady who is at present his wife, Miss Louisa Ellen Eveland, a half-sister of Peter Eveland, Esq., at present an esteemed citizen of Elmwood Precinct, and whose biography is presented on another page of his book.
   This lady is the youngest of a family of three children. Her sister Jeanette and brother Beal Dimmitt are older. She was born in Clermont County, Ohio, where she lived with her father, Joseph, and her stepmother until she was eight

years of age, when the entire family removed to Iowa, where, in the public schools of the neighborhood, she laid the foundation for the practical knowledge which distinguishes her. Her mother was Louisa Ellen Dimmitt, who died when her daughter was only two weeks old. Six years after the marriage of our subject and his wife, he found that he was afflicted with serious lung trouble and he determined to make his home in the West. His brother-in-law, Peter Eveland, having come to Nebraska and settled, and being so well pleased with the prospects about him, Mr. Ward decided that this was the place for him. So he started on his journey westward with a good wagon and team.
   During the trip he was so unfortunate as to lose one of his horses, which was a serious loss to him; but he repaired it and completed his journey, and he is to-day comfortably situated in his new home. Four children have been born to this couple: Albert was born in Iowa; Mary C., and Florence and an infant, deceased.
   The father of our subject, William Ward, and his mother, Abigail Huston, were married in Licking County, Ohio, where the father was a farmer and one of the early settlers. He was a leading member of the community, and was allied with the Abolitionist party, taking a strong and active interest in its purposes. The mother was a native of Ohio. She died in 1816, aged twenty-nine years. Grandfather Ward was born in Pennsylvania. The great-grandfather, William, was a silk weaver, and was born in England. A family consisting of four children were born to the parents of our subject -- Israel, Elizabeth, John and Howard. Elizabeth is the wife of John W. Torrey, and resides in Russell County, Kan.; John and Howard reside in Cass County, Neb.
   Mr. Ward is a wide-awake and progressive farmer, and believes in enjoying life as it passes, as is shown by the improvements which he has completed and projected on his farm, which at present embraces necessaries and many of the comforts, often only found on farms that have been cultivated much longer than that of Mr. Ward. He values a good education for his children as being paramount to all other advantages; he therefore provides every facility for them to obtain the highest place, and they certainly deserve it. He is notably one of the happiest dispositioned men of the precinct. He claims that by treating his fellowmen well and honestly, and living soberly and uprightly, to be the prime source of his extreme contentment. His wife is a sister of Peter Eveland, a farmer of Elmwood Precinct, is an educated and refined lady, and a model housekeeper. Mr. Ward, with his wife and eldest daughter, Mary, who is by common consent admitted to be one of the handsomest young ladies in Elmwood Precinct, form an important factor in the social circles of the neigbborhood. Our subject and his two brothers were among the earliest grain threshers in Elmwood Precinct, and none were considered to do their work any better. He was with Mr. Eveland on the buffalo hunt when the latter met with the misfortune referred to in his biography, which crippled him for life.
   Our subject has always taken a lively interest in the public affairs of the precinct, especially in educational matters. He assisted in the organization of School District No. 61, and has discharged the duties of a Justice of the Peace in a highly accept. able manner. Both himself and wife are consistent members of the Congregational Church. In politics he is a straight Republican.

APT. EDWARD DONOVAN has a distinguished military record as an able and gallant officer in the Civil War, and later in the regular army in its campaigns on the northwestern frontier and in Texas. He is now a resident of Plattsmouth, where he is engaged its accountant with the Burlington & Missouri River Railway Company. He has a lovely home in this city, beautifully located on high ground, commanding a fine view of the surrounding country. The house was built by him in Oreopolis, and moved to its present location. He has spent much time in beautifying the grounds, which are neatly and tastefully arranged, and he raises plenty of small fruit for himself and friends.
   Our subject comes of an old and respected Irish family, and was himself born in Ireland, the city of

Dublin his birthplace, and June 7, 1833, the date of his birth. His father, the Rev. George Donovan, who was a learned and polished gentleman, was born in Ballymore, County Wexford, Ireland, and was a son of Richard Donovan, a native and lifelong resident of the same county. The father of our subject was reared in his native county, and was given the advantages of a liberal education. He was graduated from that famous institution of learning, Trinity College, Dublin, and was soon afterward ordained to the ministry, taking orders in the Church of England. He first preached at Camolin, County Wexford, and was then given a pastorate at Castle Knock, County Dublin, and later had charge of a church at Leixlip, County Kildare, eight miles from Dublin. And there his useful and honored life was brought to a close, and he now lies peacefully sleeping his last sleep in the quaint old churchyard of the church to whose members he used to minister the consolations of religion. His good wife lies by his side. She was a native of County Dublin, and her maiden name was Catherine McKenna. Eleven children were born to this worthy couple.
   The son of whom we write was fourteen years old when his father died. Prior to that time he had always attended school, as his parents were anxious to give him a good education, but that sad event changed the course of his life, as the family were then scattered, and our subject was apprenticed to a druggist in the town of Carlow, County Carlow. He served five years. and then went to Dublin to attend lectures on pharmacy, and received a certificate as assistant apothecary. In the month of May, 1855. He left the shores of his native isle, and proceeding to Liverpool, secured a position as apothecary on board of an American-bound vessel, and five weeks later disembarked at New York City. The second day after his arrival he found employment in McKesson & Robin's wholesale drug-store, and remained with them six months. We next hear of him far away from there in a Southern city, he having gone to New Orleans, where he was engaged as a manufacturing chemist in G. N. Morrison's wholesale drug-store. Six months later he tried life in Chicago, and was with a firm of wholesale druggists for a time. He then entered into business on his own account, opening a drug store at Evanston, a few miles from Chicago. He there met Dr. Evans, who was then booming the town of Oreopolis, in this county, and that gentleman persuaded him to accompany him to Nebraska in the fall of 1857. Oreopolis was situated one and one-half miles from Plattsmouth, and at one time had a much better class of buildings, and much brighter prospects of a prosperous future than this city, but in the mutations of time the situation has been reversed, and Plattsmouth has shot ahead of its ancient rival. Our subject manfully took whatever work came to hand, and one winter chopped wood. He lived in that town until 1861, when the Rebellion broke out, and he was among the first to volunteer for the defense of the institutions of his adopted country, and in the trying years that followed none of his comrades displayed more unflinching courage in the face of danger, more patient endurance, heroic daring, or faithful service than he. He was a member of Company A, 1st Nebraska Infantry, enlisting in April, 1861, and was mustered into the ranks at Omaha as a private. His regiment was ordered to Missouri, and thence to other places, where he took part in several important battles and minor engagements. He was present at Ft. Donelson and Shiloh when they surrendered, and at the siege and capture of Corinth and Cape Girardeau, and for a long time followed and fought the bushwackers and guerrillas in Arkansas and Missouri. He veteranized in the winter of 1863-64, and served until July, 1866. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant Jan. 2. 1862, and at the battle of Shiloh he commanded his company, the First Lieutenant and Captain, not being present, and for gallant and meritorious conduct during that hotly contested battle he was promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant, his commission bearing the date of June 1, 1862. He received his commission as Captain Oct. 11, 1865. After the war closed his regiment was sent to the northwestern frontier; here he was for a time Assistant Inspector General. While holding that office he had to travel from Ft. Sedgwick to Omaha and return each month, and thus had a stage ride of some 400 miles, and each two months he had to go to Dakota City, Neb., where he received his