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BIOGRAPHICAL SOUVENIR OF BUFFALO COUNTY Mr. Towers has been steadily engaged in farming since settling in the county, his place being one of the oldest, as it is one of the best improved, places in his township. He moved on to it when it was a raw prairie, and what it is he has made it by his own patient industry and thoughtful attention. He assisted in the organization of his township and school district and has held a number of local offices, having been school director, road supervisor and justice of the peace.
Mr. and Mrs. Towers are the parents of five children--Wilbur Henry, Ethel E., Lena M., Albert S. and Anna A. He and his excellent wife are devout adherents of the faith of the Seventh Day Adventists. Their home life is distinguished for its earnest devotion to religious duty, for its simplicity and many acts of christian charity. Mr. and Mrs. Towers are both people of a vast deal more than ordinary intelligence and refinement, and possess a marked appreciation of the social amenities of life. The neatness, quiet and order of their home, their kindness, generosity and hospitality, as well as the purity and uprightness of their lives, are the best commentary that could be made on their religious faith. "By their fruits ye shall know them."
ANDREW J. HERRICK, farmer of Platte township. Buffalo county, is a native of New York, having been born on Grand island in Niagara river in June, 1833. He comes of York State parentage, originally from New England. His father, Joshua Herrick, was born and reared in New York, served in the war of 1812, and died in the town of Alabama in Genesee county, his native state, in 1837. Mr. Herrick's grandfather Herrick was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, being colonel of a Vermont regiment and an associate of Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, and John Stark, of Revolutionary fame. Mr. Herrick's mother bore the maiden name of Margaret Shutter and lived and died in her native state, New York. There were four children born to Joshua and Margaret Herrick--Nathan, who died in thc Union army during the late war; Rufus, Abigail, and Andrew J., the subject of this sketch.
Andrew J. Herrick grew up in his native place, and starting west in pursuit of his fortunes, made his first stop in Lawrence county, Illinois. In 1852 he entered the United States army, enlisting in Company G, Fourth regulars, and serving on the frontier. He crossed the plains many times during the term of his service and rendezvoused about old Fort Kearney and Fort Laramie when all the country west of the Missouri was an endless stretch of prairie, covered with Buffalo and infested with Indians. He served till September, 1858, when he was mustered out at Jefferson barracks, St. Louis, Mo. Returning to Illinois he stopped at Springfield, but remained there only a short time, going thence to Michigan, where, in 1861, on the opening of the Civil war he again enlisted in the service of his country, entering as a volunteer in Company G, "Piper's Western sharp shooters." After several months' service in this command he was discharged on account of his defective hearing, but entered the service again in September, 1863, enlisting in Company G, Eleventh Michigan cavalry. He served through
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Kentucky, being in the engagements about Lexington, Paris, Mt. Sterling, Cynthiana, and intervening points. He was wounded in the fight at Saltville, October 2, 1864, and taken prisoner, being subsequently exchanged at Richmond, Va. He served till July, 1865, returning then to Calhoun county, Mich., where he settled down. August 7, 1865, he married Miss Caroline E. Bemis of that county, who was born in New York State, moving to Michigan when sixteen years of age with her parents. He resided in Michigan till August, 1881, when be moved to Nebraska, settling on Elm Island in Platte township, Buffalo county, where he took a soldier's homestead and where he has since continued to live. Mr. Herrick is getting well along in years now and has seen a vast amount of hardship, most of it while serving in his country's cause. He comes of the patriotic stock of which the best American soldiers are made, his family having furnished a volunteer soldier to the three great wars through which this country has passed--the Revolutionary war, the war of 1812 and the late Civil war. Mr. Herrick talks interestingly of his war days, and he has many thrilling episodes and experiences, which, if faithfully taken down and properly embellished, would make an interesting and valuable record. He still stands like the rugged oak which has withstood the winds and rains and lightning blasts of many storms, yielding only to the crumbling touch of time, its scarred and weather-beaten form contrasting strangely with the peaceful quiet of its surroundings. Mr. Herrick has but one child, a son now grown, William, around whom cluster the interest, care and solicitude of an affectionate father.
J. K. DAVIDSON is the son of Beverly and Sarah S. Davidson. The former, a native of McLean county, Ill., was born in 1832, and from there he moved to Missouri, thence to Iowa, and then returned to Illinois, where he remained till death, which occurred in 1872. He was a democrat in politics. Mr. Davidson was, for years, a member of the Christian church and married Miss Sarah Hood, in 1852. She was a native of Illinois, born in 1837, and also was a member of the Christian church, and, although quiet and unassuming, was zealous in advancing the interests of the church. Their family consisted of five boys and two girls, viz.--J. K., our subject; Alvin Wilson, (died 1881); Ida Theodosia (Mrs. McBride, lives in Illinois); Chas. Newton, Cora Francis, Beverly Earl. The father of Mrs. Sarah S. Davidson was W. T. Hood, a native of Virginia. Her mother, Theodosia Hood, was also a native of Virginia. J. K. Davidson, the subject of this memoir, is a native of Iowa, born in 1854. He, with his parents, moved to Woodford county, Ill., thence to Missouri, and there remained about five years and then returned to Illinois. Thence Mr. Davidson came to Nebraska, in 1884, settling in Logan township Buffalo county, on section 32, township 9, range 19; then on section 20, township 10, range 18 west. Mr. Davidson had launched his bark and began to paddle for himself in 1877. He began with nothing; and now has a quarter section of land, horses, hogs and all necessary farming implements. Politically he is a democrat. In 1877 he was married to Miss M. C. Roby, a native of Columbus, Ohio, born in 1860. She is the daughter of P. and Mary Roby, natives of Ohio;
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the former born in 1810 and the latter in 1820, and both members in good standing of the Methodist Episcopal church. To Mr. and Mrs. Davidson have been born four children, viz.--Bessie L., born July 5, 1880, died February 22, 1881; Leslie Honor, born 1882; Cash C., born 1884, and Beverly C., born 1887.
MILTON J. SPRY. This gentleman is one of the earliest settlers of Buffalo county, and although he has not accumulated as much of this world's goods as many others in this vicinity, he has, by his honest, upright christian life, established a reputation among his neighbors and acquaintances which is worth far more as a heritage to his posterity than the riches of this world. He was born July 27, 184l, in Muskingum county, Ohio, and is the son of William M. and Mary (Vernon) Spry both of whom are natives of Ohio, the former having been born in 1810; the latter in 1812. There were twelve children in the father's family, as follows--Elizabeth J., Lucinda. Emily, Martha A., Milton J., Joseph W., Samuel U., William E., John E., Mary, Chas. W., and Christina. Mr. Spry lived at home in Muskingum county, Ohio, until eleven years of age, when he emigrated with his father to Henry county, Iowa, where he followed farming until the spring of 1873 when, in March, he came to Buffalo county, Nebr., and took up as a homestead one hundred and sixty acres in section 24, township 10, range 16, on which he lived for eleven years. The first four years, up to 1877, the crops, on account of drought and grasshoppers, were almost a total failure, and Mr. Spry and family had to endure much suffering and privation. In the spring of 1873, there were few settlers in the vicinity of Mr. Spry's claim, and deer and antelope roamed at will. Elk, while not plentiful, were yet to be found, and an occasional buffalo was killed. The Pawnee Indians trapped along the Wood and Loup rivers, and frequently called upon Mr. Spry for something to eat. In 1877, a new era of prosperity dawned upon this section of country, and the drought and grasshoppers, which proved so ruinous to the crops for the three preceding years, were no longer to be contended with. He has had good average crops ever since.
Mr. Spry was a soldier in the war of the Rebellion, and participated in some of the hardest battles that were fought. He enlisted August 22, 1862, in Company B, Twenty-fifth Iowa infantry, and was in what was known as the Western department of the army, under General Grant. He took an active part in the battles of Mission ridge, Lookout mountain, Arkansas Post and Vicksburg. During the charge at Vicksburg, he was wounded in the hand, and lost two fingers in the battle of Mission ridge, for which he receives a pension of eight dollars per month. He was discharged July 17, 1865.
Mr. Spry was married, November 5, 1868, to Charlotte L. Morrison, who was born in Muskingum county, Ohio December 12, 1849, and is a daughter of John S. and Susana (Steenrod) Morrison, both natives of Ohio; the former was born in 1823; the latter in 1820.
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The union of Mr. and Mrs. Spry has been blessed with nine children, as follows--Minna A., born August 5, 1869; Frank N., born June 7, 1872; Louis J., born June 14, 1874; Emma F, born November 14, 1876; William H., born February 20, 1878; Dora M., born December 24, 1879; Leroy E., born August 8, 1883; John E, born October 3l, 1885, and Horton H., born September 22, 1887. Mr. and Mrs. Spry are both active members of the Methodist church, and take a great interest in church work. Politically, Mr. Spry is a republican.
Photo of George Meisner GEORGE MEISNER. If in this volume of recorded personal achievements space should be apportioned among its several subjects according to the degree of their success, George Meisner, of the town of Shelton, whose part in the settlement and development of his adopted county this article commemorates, would demand an amount of attention at our hands which we fear his usually modest nature would hardly approve of. As Mr. Meisner has reached the position he now occupies by starting, in all his undertakings, at the very beginning of them, and proceeding, step by step, in an even, steady and orderly way, we shall imitate ids example, at least to some extent, in the unfolding of his record by beginning with some facts which will be worth the recording concerning his earlier years and come down with the record to the present time.
He was born in the province of Bavaria, Germany, March 19, 1845. When three years of age, he came with his parents to this country, locating in Troy, N. Y. Here his father went into business and lived till 1853, when, on account of a disastrous fire, he lost all he had. Deciding, then, to come West, he moved to Iowa and settled in Tama county, going onto a farm and beginning life anew. There the earlier years of the subject of this sketch were spent, and it is no disparagement to the management of his father nor any discredit to Mr. Meisner himself to say that those years witnessed a series of long, hard struggles in the Meisner household. Those struggles did not consist alone in the difficult undertaking of making a start in a comparatively new country unsurrounded by the helps and conveniences found in the East; they were struggles, oftentimes, for bread and butter, with nothing with which to keep "the wolf from the door" save the willing hands and stout hearts of father, mother and children. Mr. Meisner told, in an amusing way, to the writer of this sketch, of the time when, as a lad, he was sent on the prairie with the only yoke of cattle to graze, and how, a storm coming up, they got away from him, drifted off and were lost, thus losing to the family the last hoof they had. A dozen yoke might be cut out of the fourteen or fifteen hundred head which he now owns and he would never miss them. Not so then, however. Those cattle were a sore loss. It was during those years that Mr. Meisner learned something of the value of money, and something also of the way to make it. It was then that he formed the habits of industry and economy which have been the chief sources of his success since. There was no idling around the
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Meisner homestead. There was no wasting either of energy or material. Everything was turned to account. Everything was made to pay. Such industry and management must of necessity win. The Meisners could not always remain in straightened circumstances. Each year brought an improvement in their worldly affairs, and as the children grew up and added their aid to that of their parents the progress became more rapid. Old neighbors of Mr. Meisner, who lived by him in Tama county, state that the sons were regarded as good farmers when they were boys. Mr. Meisner himself was one of the largest farmers in his county before he was twenty-one years old. An instance showing this is told by the old soldiers who went from Tama county and who are now residents of this, Buffalo county. When the call was made for volunteers Mr. Meisner's father, elder brother and brother-in law volunteered and were accepted. Mr. Meisner, then just turned into his sixteenth year, offered himself at the first call and at each succeeding call, making five efforts to get into the service; but the committee of ladies to whom was delegated the authority to select those who should go, struck Mr. Meisner's name from the list each time, and gave their reason that he was the best farmer in the county and he could be better spared from the army than he could from home--which opinion was concurred in by all who knew the facts.
Mr. Meisner has made money from the beginning of his career and he was in good circumstances when he came to Nebraska. In fact he owned over four hundred acres of good land in Tama, county, Iowa, which he had well improved and well stocked and which was yielding a handsome revenue. But he wished to do better and he believed Nebraska was the place to do it. He decided to try it at any rate. He came to the state first in the fall of 1870 and bought a section of land in Buffalo county about two miles north of the present town of Shelton. He returned to Iowa, sold out, and in company with his father (Casper Meisner), T. J. Taylor, William Wallace and Thomas Carson, moved out in the spring of 1871 and settled. The tract of land which he bought was section 25, township 10, range 13 west. He was entitled to a homestead of 80 acres and he filed on that amount in section 24, where he located and began his career as a Nebraska farmer. His first years here were much like those of the average settler, except that they were marked by greater activity and closer management. He made no very lasting improvements on his homestead. He had no urgent need for any at that time. He was still a single man and he could afford to live in the primitive dugout. After about six years spent in this way he built a combination barn and granary on a place which he had bought in the meantime, being the one where he now lives, got married and moved in, occupying his granary until he could erect a dwelling. He began his present residence in May, 1878, and soon after moved into it, and here he has continued to live since, excepting about three years of residence in the town of Shelton. Mr. Meisner has been farming and stock-raising since the day he came into the county, and no man has ever been in Buffalo county and discussed the conditions of agriculture there and the chances of success at farm-
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ing, who has not heard of George Meisner. He has been a signal success and is universally pointed to as such. The most of his accumulations have been made since settling in this county, although, as already stated, he had a reasonably good start, He now owns between twenty-six and twenty-seven hundred acres of land lying in the famous Wood River valley at its junction with the Platte valley, nearly every foot of which is bringing in a revenue in some shape. This land lies in Buffalo and Hall counties and most of it in the immediate vicinity of the town of Shelton. Mr. Meisner is a large stock dealer, handling from fourteen to fifteen hundred head of cattle all the time. He is constantly buying, feeding and shipping. In the town of Shelton, he owns eight business buildings, these comprising some of the handsomest brick blocks in the place. He built the Opera House and the First National Bank block, both of which are a credit to the town and a monument to his liberality and public spirit. Besides these he owns something like a dozen residences, large and small, in the town. Mr. Meisner began to handle bank stock some years ago, before Shelton was large enough to support a banking institution, He then did his banking at Kearney. Later, however, he decided to establish a bank for himself, and in 1884 he started a private bank at Shelton with a capital of $35,000. This answered the purpose for which it was organized and ran successfully until June, 1889, when it was reorganized as a national bank, with a paid-up capital of $50,000, the charter members being George Meisner, J. H. Robbins, H. J. Robbins, M. G. Lee, Henry Fieldgrove and George Smith. Mr. Meisner was elected president, H. J. Robbins vice president, and A. H. Sterrett cashier. These constitute the present working force of the bank, with the addition of F. H. More, assistant cashier. The First is the only national bank in Shelton. Although not the largest, it is, nevertheless, one of the most prosperous banks in the county. It owes much of its success to the wise counsel and judicious management of its efficient chief executive, and not a little also to the solidity of his reputation as a financier.
Let us turn again for a moment before closing this sketch to Mr. Meisner's domestic life and record some facts which, if they may not seem of the utmost importance to the general reader, will, nevertheless, be of absorbing interest to the little ones now around him who will in after years read this record.
When Mr. Meisner's father, Casper Meisner, enlisted in the army in the late war, he entered as a member of Company C, Tenth Iowa infantry. He was with his regiment through its entire service and took his part in every battle it fought and did a soldier's duty faithfully. When the war was over he returned to his home in Tama county, Iowa, and lived there till he came to Nebraska. He farmed for some years in Buffalo county, and then went into the mercantile business in Shelton, at which he continued successfully till his death, in March, 1879, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. He was a man of indomitable energy, and a hard worker all his life. Having met with some financial reverses he knew the value of a dollar, and thus learned to manage his affairs with care and discre-
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tion. He was devotedly attached to his family, and it may be said that the latter part of his life he lived chiefly for them. He gave his children the best of counsel, and he enforced all his teachings with a good personal example in himself.
George Meisner's mother died in 1864, while the family was yet all together in Iowa. She was a good type of her race and sex, being an industrious, frugal housewife and passionately fond of her children. Mr. Meisner is the youngest of three children, the eldest being a sister, Mary, now wife of Frederick Shaffer, living near Alburn, Iowa, and John, of Toledo, Tama county, Iowa. Both of these are in prosperous circumstances, having splendid homes and plenty around them, and themselves the heads of families.
In his own married life Mr. Meisner has passed through the sunshine and the shadows. He married October 3, 1877, his choice falling on a neighbor girl whom he had known for several years, Miss Rachel Fieldgrove, daughter of Hon. Henry Fieldgrove, an eminent and respectable citizen of Buffalo county. For more than twelve years Mr. Meisner's wife bore him the cherished companionship which every true man seeks in marriage, sharing with him his joys and lightening for him his burdens, not only by the kind and generous offices which every true wife is supposed to perform, but by extending her help and sympathies beyond a wife's usual sphere, entering actively into all his business matters and rendering him most practical and efficient aid. After a lingering illness of some weeks, during which her condition brought alternate hopes and fears, the shadow of the grim spectre finally crossed the threshold and her spirit passed away, her eyes closing for the last time upon the light of this world November 9, 1889. Besides her husband, four little girls survive her--Dora, Nora, Cora and Lulie. Around these now cluster the chief interest of Mr. Meisner's life. For these only does he live.
JASPER FISH. This much honored and esteemed gentleman is one of the early settlers of Buffalo county, having settled in the Wood River valley in the spring of 1872. He was born at Woodstock, Vt., March 23, 1826, and is the son of Nathan and Betsey (Hale) Fish. The former, a farmer by occupation, was a native of Vermont, born February 28, 1786; the latter, a native of New Hampshire, was born March 80, 1786. There were seven children in Nathan's family, two boys and five girls, as follows--Marcia, Lucia, Harriet, Linus (died 1877), Laura, Jasper and Isabel. The father died in 1843, aged fifty-seven years; the mother in 1868, aged eighty-two years.
The paternal grandparent, Nathan Fish, was a native of Massachusetts, born in the year 1758, and was a farmer by occupation, and a soldier in the Revolutionary war. The paternal grandmother, Abigail (Pierce) Fish, also a native of Massachusetts, was born in 1757. The maternal grandparents were John and Mary (Whitcomb) Hale, both natives of Massachusetts, and born respectively in 1754 and 1753.
Jasper Fish, the subject of this biographical memoir, resided at home on his
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father's farm in Vermont, until nineteen years of age, during which time he attended school in the winter and helped his father on the farm in summer. In the spring of 1845 he went to Lowell, Mass., and after working there one year, entered Newburg seminary, Vt. He continued his studies there, and at Springfield, in his native state, working and teaching to pay his expenses, until the spring of 1851, when he entered the sophomore class in Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn. He graduated with honors in the classical course, in 1853, receiving the degree of A. B. After leaving the university he taught in Virginia and in Massachusetts, and in 1856 came West and taught in Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin.
May 16, 1864, he responded to his country's call for more troops and enlisted in Company C, Forty-fourth Iowa volunteer infantry. He served on picket and guard duty in Tennessee under General C. C. Washburn and was mustered out September 15, 1864. He went East in 1885 and continued teaching until the spring of 1868, when he located at Syracuse, N. Y., residing there until 1872, during which time he worked on directories and gazetteers.
He came to Buffalo county, March 21, 1872, and entered a homestead, a quarter-section in the Wood river valley, four miles north of Kearney, and built an eight by twelve board shanty on his claim, in which he kept bachelor's hall. This was the third house built in the township, and the first one north of the Wood river. The Pawnee Indians were quite numerous in those days, and were engaged in trapping and hunting on the Wood river. They paid his cabin an occasional visit, for the purpose of begging flour and meal, but other than this they never molested him. Deer and antelope were plentiful, and elk were to be seen occasionally.
Mr. Fish boarded with a family, for a time, on the opposite bank of the river, and relates a rather humorous experience which occurred during a spring freshet. He arose one morning, and, proceeding in the direction of his boarding house, found the river had risen during the night beyond the capacity of its banks, and the bridge gone. He was in a sad plight, as there was no bridge for miles on which he could cross. His landlord contrived a plan for relief by tying a cord to each handle of a dish-pan and throwing one end across the stream. In this manner he received his breakfast; milked the cow, which was on his side of the river, retained enough for his dinner, then started the remainder on the return voyage, in the dish pan. But, alas! in midstream the vessel swamped, and the milk mingled with the turbid waters. After this, the liquid refreshments were transported in a jug, tightly corked, while chunks of bread and meat were thrown to him by his landlord, with all the accuracy of a professional baseball player. In this manner Mr. Fish received his meals for three days.
During the winter of 1878, Mr. Fish built himself a sixteen by twenty story-and-a-half frame house. He raised fair crops for the first two years, but in 1874 the grasshoppers destroyed everything, with the exception of a few bushels of wheat. The crops of 1875 were fair, and 1876 were a repetition of 1874, and Mr. Fish states that if he had sold his seed and turned his team to pasture, he would have had more money in the fall. By
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selling butter and eggs, eating wild game and practicing the most rigid economy, he was able to keep soul and body together.
In 1882 he sold his quarter-section for $2,500, and bought for $1,000 the quarter just east of it, where he now resides. One thing can be said of Mr. Fish which can be said of few Western farmers, that he has never mortgaged a single dollar's worth of real or personal property, and has never paid a dollar of interest on money at a higher rate than ten per cent.
He is a member of the Methodist church; was one of the first trustees of the church in Kearney, and in the early days he was prominent in the organization of a Sunday-school in his district school house. Mr. Fish has never been married. His sister, Lucia Fish, has been his housekeeper since 1873. She is a native of Vermont, born at Woodstock, May 12, 1817. A consistent member of the Methodist church, with her brother she helped to organize and conduct the first Sunday school in their vicinity.
Mr. Fish is a firm believer in the principles of the republicans, having voted that ticket ever since the organization of the party.
ROBERT G. PARKER, a frugal, industrious farmer of Riverdale township, Buffalo county, is the son of Henry and Henrietta (Gayetty) Parker, the former of whom was a native of London, England, and came to America in 1844, locating in Pittsburg, Pa., thence moving to Illinois. He was a cabinetmaker by trade and was considered a very skilled workman. Turning to farming he purchased his brother's farm in Carroll county, Ill., and resided there till death, which occurred in 1871, at the age of seventy-seven. He was united in marriage with Henrietta Gayetty, a native of Pennsylvania, in 1853, at Galena, Ill., by the mayor of that city. To Mr. and Mrs. Parker were born three children--Robert G, George (now living in Dakota and by occupation a farmer),and Elizabeth (Mrs. Reed), who lives in Brown county, Nebr.
Robert G., the subject of this biography, was born in Carroll county, Ills., in 1856. Being of an adventurous and independent turn of mind, he determined to seek a home for himself in the then "wild West," and first settled in Riverdale township, Nebr., in the spring of 1873. The first year his entire crops were destroyed by the grasshoppers and he was obliged to go to Adams county for necessary provisions. His perseverance and courage not being daunted by these calamities, he still evinced that characteristic peculiar to him, pertinacity of purpose. Being without money, his only resource was an enviable reputation for honorableness, and Mr. Green, knowing this, supplied him with the necessary seed grain, to be paid for after harvest. From this seed, when sown, eleven hundred bushels were harvested, which sold at 90 cents per bushel.
In 1881 he went to Colorado and there prospected for silver for some time, and from there went to New Mexico, and put in one year, on a sheep ranch. He then returned to Riverdale township, Nebr., in 1885, and engaged in farming, giving especial attention to raising recorded Chester white hogs. Mr. Parker, at present owns two hundred and forty acres of land
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beautifully located and well improved. His success is largely due to economy and hard work.
Politically, Mr. Parker is independent, but is friendly to tariff reform.
Mr. Parker was married June, 1886, to Miss Angeline Grammer, daughter of Charles M. and Martha Grammer, of Adams county Ill.
WILLIAM C. HUGGINS is a frugal, thrifty and enterprising farmer of Riverdale township, Buffalo county, and is the son of Edward and Elizabeth Wright Huggins. The former was a native of Kentucky, and from there moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, and thence to Iowa, and there died in 1871. Mr. Huggins was a quiet prosperous farmer and politically was a democrat, and was noted for kindheartedness and generosity to persons in need. Mrs. Huggins, the subject's mother, was a native of Indiana. She was identified for years with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and distinguished herself as a kind, devoted christian woman. Mr. and Mrs. Huggins were blessed with nine children, viz.--Martha Ann (deceased), Ellen Ora {deceased), Nancy (Mrs. Wynn), Maria (deceased), William C., Kate (Mrs. Sawyers), Susan (Mrs. Blankenship), Thomas and John.
William C. Huggins, the subject of this memoir, was born in Davis county, Iowa, in 1854, and there remained till 1875; he then came to Nebraska and bought one quarter of section 8, township 9, range 16 west. He returned the following year to Iowa and remained there till 1884, then came to Nebraska, settling on the farm which he had bought and which is now well improved and beautifully located. Mr. Huggins is in good financial condition, and possesses that which is more to be desired than wealth--a good name. Mr. Huggins was united in marriage to Miss L. Q. Ewing in 1876. She was born in Davis county, Iowa, in 1860, and has for some time been identified with the Presbyterian church. Their home has been blessed with three children, the eldest of which died in infancy; the living two are--Zana Beryl, born October 3, 1880, and Edna Pearl, born May 13, 1886. Mr. Huggins is a supporter of the democratic platform.
ISAAC K. WRIGHT is one of the first settlers in the South Loup valley. He was born in Bourbon county, Ky., July 4, 1821, and remained at home, working on the farm, until about twenty-two years old, and then went to Shelby county, Ky., where he remained one year. He then came West and traveled over a portion of Missouri in search of a suitable tract of land, and finally purchased six hundred and forty acres in Andrews county, near St. Joe. He remained there three years, and in 1846 went to the Mexican war; in 1848 he started across the plains for Caiifornia, as assistant wagon-master in a train of provisions, and remained in California twenty years. He began mining for gold, but, having no
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