He is a young man who labors not for self alone, but may always be found aiding the enterprises calculated to advance the interests of his community.

RVILLE DUANE HOWE. One of the finest farms in Table Rock Precinct is that on section 5, embracing an area of 200 acres, upon which Mr. Howe settled on coining to Nebraska in the year 1871, and has since bent his efforts to the building up of a homestead, in which he has most admirably succeeded. He in the year 1879 purchased 160 acres in its uncultivated state, with the exception of ten acres, which had been broken. With the exception of a few started trees in the ravine there was nothing upon the land but prairie grass. Twenty years have effected a vast change in the aspect of the property, it being now at all points indicative of the results of industry, combining close attention to the cultivation of the soil with the improvement of the land. There are forest and fruit trees in abundance, Mr. Howe having the largest apple orchard in this vicinity, comprising about 2,500 trees planted over an area of thirty acres, and mostly in good bearing condition. During the season of 1888 he raised 1,300 bushels of apples, besides having a generous quantity for the household. This fruit sold from the farm at fifty cents per bushel, and in town from sixty to seventy-five cents.
   In his grain-raising operations Mr. Howe feeds largely of this product to his live stock, embracing numbers of cattle and swine of high grade. During his first few months' sojourn in this county he and his family boarded at Mr. T. W. Pepoon's, his brother-in-law, while Mr. Howe was constructing one of the best houses in the county at that time. it was completed during the latter part of 1871, and they moved into it in May, 1872. Mr. Howe was one of the first men to interest himself in the establishment of a school and has held various local offices. He was appointed County Surveyor in the spring of 1872, first to fill a vacancy; he was then regularly elected and held the position until the year 1879, the duties of which he discharged with credit to himself and satisfaction to his constituents. In the performance of his duties in connection with this he laid out most of the roads in the county. In the fall and winter of 1871-72 he was Principal of the schools at Falls City, and taught five winters in his own district, In 1879 he was elected County Superintendent of Schools, and by re-election held the office until 1885. In the spring of 1886 he was appointed County Surveyor, and by re-election his held the office ever since.
   In noting thus much of the career of Mr. Howe the reader will not be surprised to learn that he is an Ohio man, having been born in the city of Painesville, Sept. 1, 1831. After leaving the district schools he studied at both Oberlin and Hobart Colleges, completing his education in the latter. Upon leaving his native State he followed the profession of a teacher in Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin before coming to Nebraska. He taught a brief season at Mentor, the home of President Garfield, also at Jefferson, in Ashtabula County, Ohio, in Warren, Ill., Sherman, Tex., and Shellsburg, Wis. In the latter he conducted a private school three years. Mr. Howe was previously married in Battle Creek to Mary A. Fenton, who was a relative of Lieut. Gov. Fenton. She lived six years after their marriage and died without children. Subsequently he married Miss Mary F. Pepoon, of Warren, Ill., Dec. 21, 1861. Their only son, Edmund D., was given an excellent education and graduated from the State University at Lincoln, Neb., in 1887. He has inherited much of the talent of his father as an instructor, and is now occupied as a teacher in this county. He was graduated as civil engineer from the university. Myrta E., who also takes kindly to her books, has already been a student of the university, and the intention of her parents is to give her still further educational advantages. These children were prepared for their college course by their parents.
   Mrs. Mary E. Howe, the wife of our subject, is also a native of Painesville, Ohio, and born June 26, 1831. Her parents were Silas and Mary W. Pepoon, the former of whom was born at Hebron, Tolland Co., Conn., June 15, 1792, and lived there until a lad twelve years of age. Upon reaching man's estate he married Miss Mary W. Benedict, April 7, 1830, at Morgan, Ashtabula Co., Ohio.  

This lady was born July 24, 1810, in New Canaan, Fairfield Co., Conn., and removed to Ohio before her marriage. She became the mother of ten children, seven of whom lived to mature years. Two sons died in the army. The father upon leaving Ohio took up his abode in Jo Daviess County, Ill., in 1850, and died there Jan. 21, 1868, surviving his wife only a few months, her death taking place Aug. 8, 1867. Both were members of the Congregational Church, and "Deacon Pepoon," as he was familiarly called by virtue of his office, was widely and favorably known throughout that region. Capt. Joseph Pepoon, the paternal grandfather, was also a native of Connecticut, and born March 3, 1797. He emigrated to Painesville, Ohio, in 1804, when there was little indication of the present flourishing town. He married Miss Eunice Ayers and they had five children. Further notice of this family will be found in the biography of Hon. J. B. Pepoon elsewhere in this volume.
   Further facts in relation to Silas Pepoon are appended as follows: He was the son of Capt. Joseph and Mrs. Eunice Pepoon, who, upon their removal to Ohio, as already stated, located near the present site of Painesville, which was then an unbroken forest. Silas at an early age developed those traits of character which characterized his entire life, namely, a more than ordinary love of truth and a firmness in maintaining his views and opinions, no matter how high the authority by which they were assailed, and he hated oppression in all its forms. While a mere lad he became a member of the Congregational Church, and was also an earnest advocate of the temperance cause, being with his brothers among the first in that region to prosecute farm labor without the use of liquor in harvest time. It was the anti-slavery cause, however, that enlisted his warmest sympathies and which found in him one of the most active helpers from its first beginning to its glorious consummation. He gloried in being recognized as the friend and helper of the famous Theodore Weld, whose lectures in 1835 awoke so much interest and sympathy and also so much fierce opposition. The children of Mr. Pepoon remember many interesting incidents connected with the shelter of hunted fugitive slaves beneath his roof. Once a mother and her family of little children were hidden away in a chamber, and great were the fears of that poor mother lest some restless little dark head popping up at a window should betray their hiding-place to some slave-catching neighbor before they could be smuggled away at night to Fairport. Mr. Pepoon was never afraid of being in the minority when this seemed to him the honest and consistent course.
   Silas Pepoon was one of the few who in 1840 voted for James G. Birney for President and afterward sustained what was then known as the "Liberty party." After his removal to Jo Daviess County, Ill., he and his sons fought anew the anti-slavery battle in that region, given over at that time to pro-slavery Democracy, but which is now, like the Western Reserve, a stronghold of freedom. His five boys later were all in the Union Army, and the youngest, Oren, a noble youth, gave his life to his country.
   Suffering many years from diseased lungs, Mr. Pepoon nevertheless exerted himself to speak in public and to otherwise take an active part in the interests of religion and reform until two years before his death. His wife, Mary, was born in Connecticut, July 24, 1810, and they were married in Ohio, April 7, 1830. She, like her husband, was a zealous friend of the oppressed, a sympathetic and active helper of the afflicted, an energetic and useful member of society, and a consistent Christian. Her death was a severe affliction to her husband, who, as before stated, survived her but a few months. Four weeks before his decease he wrote to his daughter: "It is a happy thought that when we leave this world we do not leave all our dear friends; we only change the society of one company for another company equally dear." The family descended from the French Huguenots, and came to America from the Island of Corsica.
   Eber D. Howe, the father of our subject, was born June 9, 1798, in the little village of Clifton Park, Saratoga Co., N. Y., near the old battleground where Gen. John Burgoyne surrendered to Gen. Gates in 1777. His father was a native of Long Meadow, Mass., and his mother of Middletown, Conn. In the year 1811 he removed with his parents to Canada, settling eight miles west of the Falls of Niagara. After the battle of Lundy's

Lane, in the War of 1812, Grandfather Howe was detailed and assigned to the charge of the hospital for British prisoners established at Buffalo. Eber acted as his father's assistant. Before this he had officiated as cook for the regimental and staff officers.
   After the war Eber Howe entered the office of the Buffalo Gazette, then the only newspaper west of Canandaigua. N. Y.; subsequently the Daily Commercial Advertiser of the present day emanated from that establishment. In March, 1817, he was sent to assist in the printing of the Chautauqua Gazette, which had been established in the village of Fredonia, fifty miles farther west, but after seven months he returned to Buffalo.
   In September, 1817, Eber Howe was engaged for one month to assist in putting in operation the first newspaper printed in Erie, Pa., and set most of the type for the first number of the Erie Gazette, which is still flourishing. He spent the following winter in Fredonia, and in April started for the West. His possessions then consisted of a horse, saddle, bridle, a valise and $25 in cash. In four days he arrived at the then village of Cleveland, containing about 200 inhabitants. Here he discovered a paper called the Cleveland Register, which had been put in operation the year before, but the type used was so badly worn that the impression was almost illegible. The Register was discontinued a few months after the establishment of the Herald by Mr. Howe.
   In the first number of the Cleveland Herald was a very strong remonstrance against the raging evils of American slavery. The first vote of Mr. Howe was cast this year for James Munroe. Two years later he severed his connection with the Herald, his partner continuing its publication. In the spring of 1822 he went to Painesville with the view of starting a paper to be called the Painesville Telegraph. By this time business prospects began to appear a little more favorable. After many difficulties and trials had been encountered the first number of the Painesville Telegraph was sent out on the 16th of July, 1822. with five advertisements and about 150 subscribers.
   In June, 1822, Eber Howe was married, after a courtship of six years to Miss Sophia Hull, of Clarence, N. Y. Her father was from Berkshire County, Mass., a soldier of the Revolutionary War, and settled on the Holland Purchase in 1806. She was one of a family of twelve children, nine daughters and three sons. A woman of perseverance, industry and economy, she was likewise kind and benevolent toward all in her sphere. Her unusually excellent health remained almost entirely unimpaired until about six months before her decease, which was occasioned by a cancerous tumor in the stomach. Mrs. Howe was one of the first to join with her husband in the anti-slavery movement, working equally with him to assist the fugitives from bondage.
   In January, 1835, Mr. Howe severed his connection with the Painesville Telegraph, and the paper passed into the hands of a younger brother, Asahel, who published it from 1834 to 1841. Mr. Howe resided in Painesville and its immediate vicinity for fifty-six years, and during that period was engaged most of the time in printing and the manufacture of woolen goods. In 1834 he wrote and compiled a book of 290 pages, which was entitled, "Mormonism Unveiled," and which contained a true history of the rise and progress of the sect up to that time.
   In 1817 Mr. Howe witnessed the launching of the first steamer that entered the waters of Lake Erie. It was called "Walk-in-the-Water." He spent his eightieth birthday in Nebraska among his children. Religiously, he was a strong believer in Spiritualism. His decease took place Nov. 10, 1885.
   In politics Mr. Orville D. Howe was formerly a member of the Free-Soil party, and on the formation of the Republican party became identified with it and a strong supporter of its principles.

EORGE W. WELCH. There is no section of country in the world more favorable to the breeding of fine stock than the prairies of the West. Under careful cultivation these now yield a rich pasture, and a large proportion of the farming Community of this county some time since discovered that this industry was very profitable

and comparatively easy. Among the men who leave attained to notoriety in connection herewith, is the subject of this sketch, who holds a position in the front ranks as a breeder of fine horses and cattle. In connection with the first mentioned, he has one of the best Clyde stallions in Southern Nebraska, an imported animal, and also a very valuable imported Cleveland Bay. He is excelled by no man in this part of the country in this department of agriculture. The Short-horn is his favorite breed of cattle.
   Montgomery County, Ohio, was the early tramping around of our subject, and where he first opened his eyes to the light May 25, 1827, and where he was brought up on a firm. There were eight children in his father's family, and but four of whom are now living. The parents, Samuel and Mary (Taylor) Welch, were natives of Ohio, and the father traced his ancestry to the Principality of Wales. He was a farmer by occupation, and was reared to manhood in his native State, where also he was married. Shortly afterward he emigrated to Illinois, settling in Edgar County, where he and his estimable wife spent the remainder of their days. Samuel Welch, however, only lived to be middle aged, dying when our subject was a little lad of seven years. The mother survived her husband a long period, and passed away at her home in Illinois in 1882.
   Our subject remained with his mother until reaching man's estate, receiving a common-school education, and becoming familiar with the various employments of the farm. At the age of twenty he started out for himself, working a farm in Edgar County, Ill., but finally repaired to Piatt County, Ill., where he spent some years engaged in farming. In the spring of 1857 we find him on his journey to the farther West, and shortly afterward he established himself on a tract of Government land nine miles southwest of the present site of Pawnee City. It must be remembered that Nebraska was then in its Territorial days. He proved up his first claim of 160 acres, purchased an additional quarter-section, and later became owner of another tract of 120 acres. This latter he presented to his son.
   After carrying on general farming a number of years, Mr. Welch turned his attention more exclusively to stock-raising and the feeding of cattle. He removed from his farm to Pawnee City in 1884, since which time he has been quite extensively engaged in the breeding of draft and carriage horses. He is an excellent judge of the equine race, as the result of his transactions testifies.
   The 2d of November, 1841, proved to our subject one of the most important days in his life, he then being wedded to Miss Jennett Mallory, of Platt County, Ill. This lady was born at Harper's Ferry, Va., Oct. 7, 1827, and is the daughter of George and Elizabeth (Hendricks) Mallory, who were also natives of the Old Dominion. Six children in due time gathered around the family board of Mr. and Mrs. Welch. They were named respectively: Mary E., Emma, Silas N., Charles M., Frances and Harriet S. They are all married except Harriet, and are all living in this county.
   Notwithstanding his extensive agricultural interests, Mr. Welch during the early days of Pawnee County interested himself in those projects tending for the best welfare of the young community. He was one of the members of the first School Board organized in this precinct, and took the first census, covering a territory which now embraces four precincts. He identified himself with the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1862, and in political matters invariably gives his support to the principles of the Republican party. He was the first man to introduce blooded draft horses in Pawnee County.

DGAR WOOD. The farming community of Pawnee Precinct numbers among its most active and prominent men the subject of this sketch. He owns and occupies a fine estate on section 1, where he has effected first-class improvements, bringing the soil to a fine state of cultivation, and keeping himself well posted upon the matters appertaining to his calling. He is a man of decided views, prompt to meet his obligations, and one whose opinions are held in general respect.
   The fourth in a family of nine children, five daughters and four sons, our subject was born in Medina County, Ohio, March 16, 1845. His parents were Joseph and Julia (Case) Wood, the father

a native of Massachusetts, born in 1818, and the mother a native of New York State, born in 1819. Joseph Wood was a tanner by trade, and emigrated from his native State to New York at an early period in his life. Thence after their marriage the parents removed to Ohio, of which they were residents for a period of twenty-seven years, From there they moved to Marquette County, Wis.; the father died in 1884, while a resident of lowa, and the mother in 1887.
   Only five survive of the numerous family of the parents of our subject. He was the fourth in order of birth, and spent his childhood and youth mostly in his native State, mostly receiving his education in the common school. He attended school a short time after the removal of the family to Wisconsin, and remained with his parents until a youth of seventeen, when he left home to enter the army. He enlisted in Company 11, 16th Wisconsin Infantry, and was assigned to the Army of the Tennessee under command of Gen. Grant. He took part thereafter in two of the important battles of the war, namely: Shiloh, and the second fight at Corinth, and was wounded by a gunshot through the left cheek, the ball passing through the jaw, knocking out one tooth and resulting in the loss of two others. He was for two days on the battlefield confined in the hospital, and was then taken in charge by a family in Kentucky, who cared for him until he was able to join his regiment six months later.
   The plucky youth as soon as recovering from his wounds was ready for another fray, and fought with his comrades not long afterward at battle of Corinth. He was destined to disappointment, however, later; his wounds began troubling him and he was ill otherwise. He was accordingly obliged to accept his honorable discharge, being mustered out of service in the fall of 1862. He returned to his home in Wisconsin, and after recovering his health employed himself variously for a time, and finally engaged as cook on a river steamer for a term of three years.
   In the twenty-third year of his age our subject was married to Miss Elizabeth, eldest daughter of W. S. Lane, Esq., of Walworth County, Wis. Soon afterward the young couple set out for Nebraska, and settled on the land comprising the present homestead in Pawnee Precinct. The farm is now 320 acres in extent, and the land has been brought to a good state of cultivation. There is a neat and substantial dwelling, a good barn and the other necessary out-buildings, a fine apple orchard, and trees of the smaller fruit. In his stock operations, an industry to which he has given particular attention in late years, Mr. Wood has attained quite a reputation as a breeder of Hambletonian and Norman horses of high grade. His cattle are Short-horns and his swine Poland-Chinas.
   The children of Mr. and Mrs. Wood, six in number, were named respectively: William L., Addie, Nellie, Robert, Lilly and Leland. They form a bright and interesting family, and are all at home with their parents. Mr. Wood, socially, belongs to the G. A. R., and in political matters votes the straight Republican ticket. His paternal grandfather, John Wood, carried a musket in the War of 1812; his wife was Miss Mary Warren, a descendant of the noted family of that name. Our subject began his career in Nebraska on forty acres of land, and his present accumulations are the result of his own unaided industry and good judgment. He and his family occupy a high social position, being numbered among the leading residents of this part of the county.

OHN IZER, a gentleman of much influence and prominence in Mission Creek Precinct, is managing with good financial results a quarter-section of land, which, since it came into his possession, he has placed under excellent improvement, making it one of the most desirable farms in this part of Pawnee County. He devotes much attention to feeding cattle, and his stock consists of high-grade Short-horns.
   Our subject was born May 14, 1837, near the town of Unionville, Frederick Co., Md. His father, George Izer, was also born in that county, in August, 1805. His mother, whose maiden name was Rachel Foglesong, was likewise a native of that county, born in May, 1805. John Izer, the grandfather of our subject, was of German descent, but

was born, reared and died an Maryland, where he was for many years engaged in farming. Peter Foglesong, the maternal grandfather of our subject, who was of German descent and of American birth, was a Maryland farmer during the larger part of his life. He was a private in the Revolution. The father of our subject was reared in his native State, and after learning the butcher's trade, opened a shop in Unionville. and also farmed to some extent. In 1871 he removed to Seymour, Ill., engaged in farming there some two years, and then, returning to Maryland, lived retired, having laid up a comfortable competence. His death occurred in Carroll County, in February, 1883. His wife died in 1878. They were both devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and led upright and blameless lives, entitling them to the respect and esteem of those about them. They were the parents of four children, namely: Jeremiah (deceased), John, Barbara and Sarah. Jeremiah was a member of the 7th Maryland Infantry, and near Petersburg, in 1863, was wounded in the leg, and died from the effects of it.
   John Izer grew to manhood on his father's Maryland farm, obtaining his education in a school conducted on the pay system. In 1856, when twenty years of age, he left home and sought work on a farm in Monticello, Platt Co., Ill. He remained there for a few years, and a part of the time rented land. He was in that State when the war broke out, and was among the first to respond to the call for troops, enlisting in April, 1861, in Company C, 21st Illinois Infantry, was mustered into service at Camp Butler, and there spent his three-months term of enlistment; he having no musket could not go into action. He returned to his Illinois home, and Aug. 14, 1862, re-enlisted, in Company C, 107th Illinois Infantry, was mustered into the 2d Brigade, 2d Division, 23d Army Corps, Army of the Tennessee. He and his comrades were sent to Kentucky, and took part in the engagements at Elizabethtown, Salina, Lookout Mountain, siege of Knoxville; joined Sherman on his march through Georgia, and were present at the battles of Resaca, Snake Creek Gap, Dallas, Burnt Hickory, Buzzard's Roost, Cumberland Gap, and siege of Atlanta from the 22d to 29th. His regiment was then dispatched to Nashville with Gen. Thomas, engaged in the battle at that point, and then went to Goldsboro, N. C., and from there marched to Raleigh. After Lee's surrender our subject and the remaining members of the 107th Illinois were stationed on guard duty at Salisbury, N. C. They were mustered out in June, 1865, at that point, and went back to Illinois, where they were discharged and paid off at Springfield, July 6.
   Mr. Izer, during his long term of service in the army, took part in some of the most hotly contested battles of the war, and gained an honorable reputation for efficiency and courage in the face of danger that showed him to be a good soldier. He contracted rheumatism while in the South, and was disabled for awhile on that account. He then went to work on a farm, and in 1868 bought a tract of uncultivated land in Champaign County, improved it well, and then bought eighty acres adjacent, and in a few years, by assiduous labor, had a highly cultivated farm of 160 acres. He continued farming and stock-raising in the Prairie State until 1882, and in the spring of that year sold out. In the fall of the same year he purchased 160 acres of land in Mission Creek, this county, and in March, 1883, came here by rail and took possession of it. The land was partly improved, but he has since wrought many changes on it, building a substantial house, erecting a windmill, tanks, etc., and in connection with his homestead is operating three-quarters of a section of land in the same precinct. He buys and feeds cattle, as before stated, and ships two carloads of his own stock each year. He has some fine horses, and uses two teams to carry on his farming operations.
   To assist him in the upbuilding of this cozy, attractive home, our subject has been blessed by a good wife, to whom he was united in marriage in Seymour, Ill., Nov. 4, 1869. The household circle is completed by the four children born of their union, namely: Anna, Charles, Jannie and Arthur. Two are deceased, George M. and William Franklin, the former dying when ten years of age, and the latter in infancy. Mrs. Izer's maiden name was Sarah Winner, and she was born in Shelby County, Ohio, Feb. 11, 1851.
   Mr. Izer acts well his part as a useful citizen, a