BIOGRAPHICAL SOUVENIR OF BUFFALO COUNTY dispensary of Chicago for two summers. He then took a special course in otology and ophthalmotology (eye and ear), and afterwards these: Dental pathology, laryngology, dermatology, two courses in anatomy, one in gynecology, two in physical diagnoses and diseases of the chest, one under Prof. J. H. Etheridge in opynaiology; attended the clinical institute in the hospital, and subsequently also took a course in taxidermy. This training extended over a period of more than five years, and was abundantly interspersed with the usual hospital practice and actual bedside experience. Such a course of training not only represents valuable time and much money, but also a vast amount of hard study, patient effort and painstaking observation and experiment. But long, arduous and costly as it is, it is nevertheless necessary to the successful pursuit of the profession, and the one who has gone through with it goes to the discharge of his duties with a degree of preparation that is the surest guaranty of success. Dr. Smith is an enthusiast in his profession. He inherits the taste that brought him to it. He comes of a family where some branches of materia medica afforded a topic for daily discussion. His parents, grandparents and all his uncles and aunts read medicine as an accomplishment, but few of them, however, practicing it as a calling. He therefore received, with the hereditary bent for the profession, exceptionally good advantages in his earlier years, and these, supplemented by the training he has had, admirably fit him for all the varied and responsible duties of his calling. Dr. Smith has confined himself and his life entirely to the preparation for and the practice of his profession. His business has been such as falls to the lot of the general practitioner, and it could hardly be otherwise in a country practice. He attends to all calls promptly, responding with as much alacrity to the wants of the poor as of the rich. His services are at the command of the suffering. His first thought is to give help. For the benevolent impulse that prompts such conduct he is as largely indebted to heredity as for the taste and knowledge which suggest the means of relief. To do good, to alleviate the sufferings of humanity and prolong and sweeten the life with which it is blest, were the chief incentives that actuated his people in their zealous pursuit of medical knowledge. And it will be appropriate in this connection to make some more minute references to Dr. Smith's ancestrial history than we have done.
The doctor is a cross between New England and Pennsylvania stock. He combines in some degree the qualities of both--the religiously zealous, liberty-loving, knowledge-seeking Puritan and the sturdy, plodding, frugal, home-loving and peace-making people of Quaker training. His father, Israel Smith, was born and reared in Maine, and took up the line of travel to the West when a young man, settling in Cook county, Ill., 1827, being one of the pioneers of that locality. He passed his young manhood and maturer years there helping subdue the wildness of nature and opening the country to settlement, and there also spent his declining age, dying in the home of his adoption in 1878, well advanced in life. He was a farmer, devotedly attached to his calling and measurably successful at it. Dr Smith's mother bore the maiden name of
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Caroline Bake and she was born and reared to young womanhood in her native state, moving thence West with her parents and settling also in Cook county, Ill., in the vicinity of Chicago, but long before that place had attained anything like its present population or commercial importance. She is still living, having through her systematic habits and quiet peaceful life reached a good old age
Dr. Smith is the third of a family of three children and is the only professional one of the family and the only one who has taken up his permanent residence in the West.
He married June 16, 1869, in his native place, Palatine, Cook county, Ill., his choice falling on a girl whom he had known from childhood, Miss Carrie Kitson, a lady eminently fitted to bear him the companionship he sought in this alliance.
As a citizen Dr. Smith is progressive, enterprising, and public spirited. He seeks no prominence, political or otherwise, but for all that goes to build up his town and community he can be counted on to lend a helping hand. He has a host of friends who on occasion give heed to his counsel and advice. Personally he is pleasant and agreeable, being large of mould and generous of heart, warm of his sympathies and hearty in manner. He would attract attention by his personal presence in an assembly of a hundred men, and could hold their attention by his conversation if he chose to do so, and his friends say that this attention, so attracted and so held, will change to admiration, and that to friendship, which will remain steadfastly to the end.
GEORGE W. CARLETON, the efficient Union Pacific railway agent at Shelton, Nebr., in eminently a self-made man. Losing his father at an early age, the entire support of a large family devolved upon him, and to the fact that he bravely met and shouldered the responsibility may be largely attributed those habits of business push and industry which have since made him a most successful business man. Born on March 28, 1861, at Milford, Mass., he is still on the hither side of thirty. His father was a native of Derby Center, Vt., but while out subject was still a child, moved to Green Top, Mo., where, in 1877, at the age of forty-six years, he succumbed to the dread destroyer, his death being, perhaps, directly attributable to disease, the foundation of which was laid during his service to his country in the was of the Rebellion. Mr. Carleton, senior, was a member of Company F, Thirty-sixth Massachusetts infantry, entering the army at the age of twenty-five years. Up to that time he had followed the pursuit of farming, but subsequent to that time he engaged in the boot and shoe trade. The mother of our present subject bore the maiden name of Narcissa N. Doggett, was a native of South Carolina and was born in the year 1840, March 28. She is the daughter of Samuel and Harriet (Watton) Doggett, and is still living at Shelton.
Mr. Carleton is the third eldest of eight children, of whom Mrs. Eva Wells resides at Green Top, Mo.; Ella, now Mrs. Allister, and Anna, live in Chicago; Frank, at Shelton, Nebr.; Ida, in San Francisco, Cal., and Alfred, in Paxton, Nebr. The youngest of the family died
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in infancy. Our subject received his early education in the county schools at Mendon, in Worcester county, Mass., attending school during the winter season only, his summers being spent in working at the shoemaker's bench. At the age of fifteen, he removed, as before stated, with his parents to Green Top, Mo., where his father died shortly afterwards. Determining to find some more lucrative as well as less laborious occupation than that which he had heretofore followed, he turned his attention to the subject of telegraphy, which he studied for a short time at Green Top, finally completing his knowledge at Batavia, Ill., on the Chicago & North-Western line. Thence he went to Rochester, Minn., where he took charge of an office, working for the railway company there for six years, at the end of which time he resigned, returning for a short time to Batavia, and then in July, 1880, coming to Shelton, Nebr., where he began as night operator, subsequently being promoted to the position of station agent, which he has since held. By industry and careful habits, he acquired a little competency which, in 1889, he invested in a livery stable, which he still owns and which is superintended by his brother, F. A. Carleton. In addition to this property, he owns the residence which he occupies and some forty-eight lots of city property.
In 1885, he entered into life partnership with Miss Laura M. Hull, daughtter of John M. Hull, of Iowa, and to whom have been born two children--Ida S. and Allister G.
In politics, Mr. Carleton is a republican. He is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and is also a master mason. In church matters he has allied himself with the Methodist Episcopal denomination. Mr. Carleton is highly respected by his fellow-citizens, and is counted as one of the leading men of the city with whose interests he is identified.
JAMES STEVEN. In making up a list of the representative business men of Shelton mention must of necessity be made of James Steven, the harness and agricultural implement dealer. Mr. Steven is not a pioneer settler nor is he, strictly speaking, a newcomer. He located in the town in 1880, but had previously visited the county and made some investments, coming West first in 1873. He came from Ontario, Canada, his native place, being then young and unmarried. He believed that this country had a good future before it, but he thought that he could afford to wait about taking up his residence here, and in the meantime could spend a few years to good advantage further east. He returned home to Ontario, afterward crossed again into the States, and went to Monmouth, Ill., where he took a position with the Weir plow company of that place and was in their employ for a period of five years. His business was mainly gathering material for the factory and he spent most of his time in the timbers. He quit this position in 1880 and came West, locating as stated in the town of Shelton. His first and only business enterprise was his present one, namely--harness and agricultural implements. In this line he was a pioneer,
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opening the first establishment of any consequence in the town. His business has grown steadily from the beginning, and he now owns and runs a house which is a credit to his town and to himself. What he has, he has made by his own exertions, and it is the result of patient industry, economy and strict attention to business. He not only carries a full stock in his line, such as implements, carriages, harness, organs and sewing machines, but he owns the large two-story brick building where he does business--a building he erected in 1885, and which also represents part of his earnings since embarking in trade ten years ago. It is not the purpose of this article to elaborate on Mr. Steven's success as having been anything phenomenal, for it has not; but it has been exceptional and it is doing violence neither to truth nor good taste to say so. Success is what every one desires, and every rightly constituted man is glad to hear of others succeeding, even though he fail himself. Mr. Steven succeeds simply because he sticks to his business and manages his affairs in accordance with business principles.
"Stick to thy business, young man, and thy business will stick to thee," was the honest old Quaker's advice, and there are hundreds of men all over this country, besides the subject of this sketch, who are demonstrating the correctness of this maxim. Yet it is no more than right that he should be allotted credit for the point and practical force he has given it. As stated above, Mr. Steven is a native of Ontario, Canada, and was born January 17, 1851. He was reared in his native place and brought up to the plain life of a farmer. He is of Scotch extraction, his parents both being natives of Lanarkshire, Scotland. His father, James Steven, emigrated to Canada when a lad sixteen years of age and settled in the Province of Ontario, where he now resides, having led the quiet, uneventful life of a farmer all his years. He is a fair type of his race and his calling, being honest, frugal and industrious, and a man of serious views of life.
Mr. Steven's mother bore the maiden name of Jean McGibbon, carrying in her name satisfactory evidence of her nationality. She was brought by her parents when an infant to the Province of Ontario, Canada, where she was reared, married and yet lives. Like her husband she is now well advanced in years, having led a life of activity and usefulness, the chief incentives to which have been her family and her church. She and her husband are of the religious faith of their native country--Scotch Presbyterians.
James Steven, the subject hereof, is one of a family of eight children, six of whom reached maturity and are now living. These, in the order of their ages, are as follows--Jennette and Walter, in Shelton; James, Jean, Allen and Robert. Mr. Steven married, Oct. 1, 1879, Miss Jessie J. Nichols of Monmouth, Ill. To this union have been born four children--J. Ralph, Glenn A., Laureen A. and Effie L. While personally pleasant, Mr. Steven shows by his conduct and conversation that he is strictly a man of business, and his methods are the short, direct methods of the business man. He is plain and pointed in his address, sees quickly, acts promptly, and is matter of fact in all things. He is progressive and public spirited, entering with zeal and energy into all public enterprises which his judg-
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ment approves of. He is member of a number of benevolent associations and his charitable impulses take the practical turn inculcated by these.
OLIVER PERRY GUFFEY was born in Cladwell (sic) county, Mo., October 29, 1842. His father, William Guffey, was a native of Tennessee and died in Cladwell county, Mo, whither he had moved in 1836, his death taking place twenty years later. All his life he spent in farming. The mother of Mr. Guffey bore the maiden name of Margaret Pile. She, also, was a native of Tennessee--dying in Cladwell county, Mo, in 1886, at an advanced age.
The subject of this sketch is one of a family of fourteen children (seven sons and seven daughters), seven only of whom are living. Of this number William F. resides in Cladwell (sic) county, Mo., as also does Stokely S.; Ashley R. is in Indian Territory; Andrew J. resides in Stone county, Ark.; the subject of this sketch in Shelton; and Abner J. on the old homestead in Cladwell county, Mo.; Delilah, now Mrs. Pemberton, lives in Caldwell county, Mo. Mr. Guffey has seen in his time a good deal of Western life and has also experienced many of its common and some of its uncommon phases. Reared on a farm, at an early age he engaged in freighting goods overland from Atchison, Kans., to Denver, Colo. This was before the day of railroads. He drove across the plains with an ox team, making the trip in forty-five days. Spending a few months in the vicinity of Denver he then went to New Mexico, hauling supplies with mule teams to the military post at Ft. Union. Subsequent to this he engaged, with indifferent success, in mining, but abandoned it for the saw-mill business, and finally returned to Caldwell county, Mo., making the return trip this time with mules. For a time he settled down to farming, operating the old homestead; then, buying forty acres and renting some adjoining land, he continued to farm till 1882, when he removed to Hamilton, Mo., and engaged in live stock speculation. This business he followed for four years, buying, feeding and shipping, at the end of which time he removed to Shelton and engaged in the same business This was in 1886. In the following year he bought out the general store of F. H. Moore, which he has since operated in connection with his stock interests. The style of the firm is Guffey, Fine & Co.
Mr. Guffey was married in 1871 to Miss Mahala Hale, daughter of Richard Hale of Missouri. From this marriage came two children--Richard A. and Lulu M. Mrs. Guffey died in the spring of 1880, being at the time at her father's home in Daviess county, Mo. In 1883 Mr. Guffey contracted a marriage with Miss Ella Brooks, born in Ohio, daughter of James Brooks of Missouri. One child has come to bless this union--James P. by name.
Mr. Guffey is a democrat in politics and is a member of the order of A. O. U. W. In all his wanderings Mr. Guffey has found no section of the great West which pleases him more than central Nebraska, and he has wisely concluded that this is a good enough country in which to spend his remaining days.
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NELSON A. BAKER, mayor of the city of Kearney, Nebr., has been a resident since 1879. He is a native of Clinton county, N. Y., and was born December 2, 1851. His father, Zebulon Baker, was also a native of Clinton county and died there, at the old home where his life had been passed, in 1855. Mr. Baker's mother, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Albee, was a native of Vermont. She died in 1890 at Grand Island, Nebr.
The subject of this sketch is the youngest of a family of eight children. His education was obtained in common schools and at an early age he began to assume the trusts and responsibilities of mature life. His first business venture was the building and operating of a grist-mill at Oak Creek, Lancaster county, Nebr., to which place he had emigrated the year before. This business he continued for two years, relinquishing it then for a more lucrative situation as traveling salesman for an Iowa nursery concern. While working for this concern he was married, in the year 1875, to Miss Ximena M. Brooks, a native of northern Pennsylvania. In 1879, having previously become convinced that Kearney, with which be had become acquainted in his travels, was to be a city of future great importance, he decided to locate there, and severing his connection with the firm for which he had previously operated, he moved to Kearney and started in the nursery business for himself. This he successfully conducted till the year 1888, at which time he embarked in the real estate business, which he has since followed. H is one of the leading promoters of East Lawn, the beautiful suburb of Kearney, and is also largely interested in real estate in all parts of the city.
Mr. Baker has ever been active in all enterprises looking to the advancement of the public interest of the city with which he is identified. He was a prime mover in the organization of the Kearney Street Car Company, of which he was also secretary till the time of its sale to the G. W. Frank Improvement Company. He also organized the Midway Land Company, becoming its first vice-president and one of its business managers, which position he has continuously held since. In the spring of 1889 he was appointed to fill the vacancy caused by the death of one of the members of the city board, and at once took an active part in the affairs of the city, displaying always sound business judgment and broad public spirit. His favorable record as a public citizen led to his nomination and subsequent election to the office of mayor of the city at the ensuing municipal election in the spring of 1890. Among other enterprises in whose organization Mr. Baker has been active, may be mentioned the Canning Company, one of the leading industries of Kearney, and the inception and organization of the Chamber of Commerce, which has been a very potent factor in the development of the Midway City.
Three children grace the home of Mr. and Mrs. Baker--Earle R., M. Claire, and Nell Marie. Mr. Baker is a Knight Templar Mason, also a member of the Mystic Shrine. In politics he is a republican. He is counted one of the substantial, public-spirited citizens of Kearney and has before him, undoubtedly, being yet in the prime of life, a successful career of still wider usefulness.
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WILLIAM NUTTER, one of a family of nineteen children born to John and Elizabeth (Knowles) Nutter, is a native of England and was born January 3, 1829. He comes of English ancestry and is the only representative of his family in this state. He was reared in his native country and in his earlier years was apprenticed to the trade of cotton carder and spinner, which trade he mastered and followed for some time in some of the chief cotton factories in England. He married in April, 1853, taking for his wife a neighbor girl of his native place, Miss Dinah Hingam, a daughter of William and Olive (Hayworth) Hingam. In the latter part of March, 1855, with his wife and two children, Mr. Nutter set sail for the New World, on the ship Juventa. After a voyage of six weeks, he landed in Philadelphia, May 5, 1855, looked around the factories for work, but could not get the kind of work that he had been raised to and so went to Gloucester, N. J., and engaged in the print works, in the meantime keeping his eyes open for a chance in the cotton factories. He was there two years, and in the spring of 1857 engaged with Guy Taylor & Co., in Philadelphia, to superintend their carding and spinning departments. He held that position for a period of three years and then, in the spring of 1860, with his family, he started west to seek a home in the trackless prairies beyond the Mississippi. Making his way by rail and boat he reached the Missouri river about the middle of that year and joined the great caravan of overland immigrants then making their way to Utah. Locating in Session settlement, Utah Territory, he remained there for twenty months engaged in farming and laying the foundation for what he hoped would be a peaceful and happy home. But with the rapidly passing events of those times he soon found that he had mistaken his company, and breaking friendship with his former associates, he turned his back upon the treacherous Mormons and retraced his steps towards the East. He settled in Hall county, Nebr., in the spring of 1862, taking a homestead on the banks of Wood river near the western line of the county. That was an early date for central Nebraska--some years before the advent of the railroad with its civilizing influences. "Life on the plains!" What memories are awakened in the breast of many a resident of Nebraska at the sight and sound of these words: When the golden spike was driven which bound together the iron links in the great national highway, the knell in that Wild period in the history of the West was struck. The whistle of the first locomotive in its fierce rush across the hitherto trackless expanse ended forever that scene in the drama of progress, which was alike comedy and tragedy. "I crossed the plains," are words which, spoken by the bronzed and hardy pioneer, signify more than the men of a later generation can conceive of. The toiling caravan of immigrants to the E1 Dorado of the Pacific slope; the venturesome cavalcade of daring huntsmen; the solitary group of mountaineers have passed beyond the view, and all that now remains of them are scattered traces of forgotten graves, a few survivors of those scences (sic), busied with other tasks, and vague traditions of the times, which horrify or charm, as deeds of murder, robbery or love perchance give coloring to the tale. Among the very
386BIOGRAPHICAL SOUVENIR OF BUFFALO COUNTY
early trials were the dangers incident to crossing a country inhabited by fierce Indians. If the truth could be known, probably every mile from the Missouri to the Pacific would demand at least one headstone to mark a victim's grave. The stages of life, from birth to the closing of the drama, were here exemplified. Many a poor mother hushed her new-born babe amid the rough scenes of a camp while she herself was suffering from lack of those comforts so essential to maternity. Along the trackless plains many a maiden awoke to the revelation of love and many a troth was plighted. Even the marriage rite was sometimes celebrated; and death, in every form, paid frequent court to the lone wanderer and the straggling settler. Through these scenes and the many changes since, the subject of this sketch has passed and from them he has gained a world of observation and experience not met with in the lives of many men. When he settled on his present homestead there were but few settlers along the Platte river in central Nebraska; all the central and western part of the state was one unbroken prairie, threaded by a few streams and dominated by the aboriginal red man and roaming herds of buffalo; the county of Buffalo had not then been marked on the map. When Mr. Nutter settled on Wood river there was a stage station where the village of Shelton now stands, and a family or two settled along the river in that vicinity. To the west, north, south, and one might almost say to the east, the country was simply part of the unknown world so far as the abodes of white men were concerned. The Union Pacific railroad had not then been projected, this part of the great public domain had not then been surveyed, and the country at large was considered worthless, except as a hunting-ground for the Indians. These were present in great numbers, and included some of the most powerful and warlike tribes on the continent. The Cheyennes, Sioux and Pawnees roamed over this part of the country then, and they not unfrequently left the evidences of their savagery in murdered men and women and in desolated homes. To people of a later generation, not one in ten of whom ever saw a "painted red devil," it is hard to convey an adequate idea of the terror which these prowling bands of savages spread through the country, and the constant strain which the settlers labored under. The air was often full of rumors, and occasional outrages were committed in the settlement, but no organized forays were made against the whites as far east as Buffalo county, after Mr. Nutter settled there. Indian scares occurred frequently, and even if they were not prompted by any real danger, the danger, nevertheless, seemed imminent to the settlers, and they were for the time being exceedingly serious affairs. The greatest of these scares, which occurred after Mr. Nutter settled, was in August, 1864, during the Indian outbreak, which culminated in the Plum Creek massacre. That scare depopulated the country, and Mr. Nutter, abandoning for the time all hope of making for himself and family his long-wished-for home in the West, returned to his native country, England, leaving behind him to the ravages of the Indian and the freebooters of the plains his several years' earnings. Remaining in England only a short time, however,
387BIOGRAPHICAL SOUVENIR OF BUFFALO COUNTY
he came again to the United States in April, 1865, and was again, for a period of three years, engaged with the firm of Guy, Taylor & Co., of Philadelphia. Returning then to Nebraska in 1868, he settled again on Wood River, Buffalo county, buying a place where he has since resided.
Mr. Nutter has raised up around him a large and interesting family of children, some of whom are married, settled off in life, and are themselves heads of families. The christian names of his children in the order of their ages are as follows--Olive (deceased), Maroni (deceased), John, William, Hingam (deceased), Ellen, Iona, Liona, Elizabeth, Jennie, Frank, Mirabeau, Louise, Alice and Thomas (deceased).
REED BROTHERS. One of the oldest newspapers in Buffalo county, as it is one of the best, is the Clipper, published at Shelton, by Frank D. and William M. Reed, under the firm name of Reed Brothers. The Clipper office was opened and the first paper published December 1, 1879, by A. C. Edwards, under the name of the Shelton Clarion. It so continued to be published until October 10, 1880, when, having passed into the hands of H. C. McNew in the meantime, he changed the name at that date to the Shelton Clipper. He ran the paper till 1884, selling out then to the present proprietors. The Clipper was started as a seven-column folio, but was afterwards changed to a six-column quarto. It is published weekly, is republican in politics, and has a good local circulation. It has a splendid job department and turns out job work of a superior quality. Messrs. Reed Brothers are both practical workmen, and Frank D., junior member of the firm, is an old newspaper man. They are both natives of Ohio, having been born and reared in Middleport. William M. came to Shelton in 1883, where he has since been located. Frank D. served an apprenticeship in his native place in Ohio, and worked as a journeyman for several years before coming to Nebraska. He has traveled extensively over the West and has worked in a number of offices in this state. He at one time owned an interest with his uncle, Dr. F. B. Reed, in the Herald, published at Peru, this state, being associate editor, and bought his present interest in the Clipper in 1884. He is a good hustler for news, a strong and forcible writer, a man of intelligence, sound taste and discriminating judgment; wielding his pen with force, he yet uses it with discretion.
JACOB W. CLANCY was born in Canada July 9, 1854, and is the son of William and Hannah (Powley) Clancy. The senior Clancy was born in England, and came to America with his parents when quite small. He owns a large dairy farm near Nappenee, Canada, and is also largely interested in the raising of sheep.
Jacob W. Clancy left the paternal homestead when he was eighteen, and worked for a time in an oil refinery. He also became an expert engineer, and was stationed at Petrolia, Canada, for nine years. He came to St. Clair, Mich., in September,
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1877, and followed farming for a short time, and in the fall of 1877 came to Buffalo county, Nebr., and purchased a quarter section of good land in Thornton township. He built a sod house and prepared to receive his family, which followed the next year. But little of the surrounding country was settled then, and neighbors were few and far between. It was not an uncommon thing, even in those days, to see deer and antelope on a distant bluff or bounding down through a draw to escape possible danger. The winter of 1880-1 was an exceptionally severe one, and great suffering was experienced, generally among the new arrivals. Many were not prepared for the severe storms and deep snow, which began that season about the fifteenth of October, and continued until the next April. The scarcity of fuel was cause for a great deal of inconvenience and suffering, and some were even without the actual necessities to sustain life during so long and disagreeable a winter, and were in a measure dependent upon their more fortunate neighbors.
Mr. Clancy was married, September 27, 1875, to Miss Elva A. Ward. She was a Canadian by birth, but her parents were born in the United States. Six children have been born to this union, namely--Elmer A., born September 6, 1877; Pearl E., born April 30, 1879; Della A., born November 28, 1880; Vernia A., born March 27, 1882; Ethel M., born December 30, 1883; and Victor R., born March 25, 1886.
Mr. Clancy has held various local offices, but is independent in politics. He and his wife are both members of the United Brethren church.
FRANK W. MAGEE, one of the young and enterprising farmers of Thornton township, Buffalo county, was born at West Camden, N. Y., June 22, 1855, and is a son of Abram S. Magee and Mary (Dible) Magee. His father was a native of New York, in which state he continued to reside until his death in 1878. tie was a sawyer by occupation and a man of considerable influence in the community where he lived, was always quiet and peaceable and never was known to have any trouble with his fellow-men. He was a model man in every respect and his example is well worthy of imitation. He was the father of three children, of whom Frank W. was the second. James Magee, the paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a Pennsylvanian German, and his wife, Mary (Dible) Magee, was a native of New England. Her father, John Dible, was quite a prominent man during his time, being deacon in the Methodist church for many years. He also held various official positions of honor in his country. Frank W. Magee was reared under the parental roof until eighteen years of age, when he began working out by the month on a farm. He did not, however, confine himself strictly to farm labor, but varied his occupation by working at whatever he thought he could do the best and earn the most. He emigrated to Buffalo county, Nebr., June 13, 1879, and spent his first summer working on a farm. The following spring he took up a homestead in Thornton township, where he has since resided. The country in that part of the county was sparsely settled at that time and neighbors were few and far between. Young Maqee came West with limited means; in fact, it might almost
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