Mrs. Louie Alice Branch, 81, 1422 Central, died, after being seriously ill approximately one month. Mrs. Branch had been a resident of Kearney for approximately 20 years, coming to Kearney from Minden with her husband, Robert. She is survived by her two daughters, Mrs. Nellie Lynn, Norman, and Mrs. Adda Wells, Heartwell; one son, W. D. Branch of Kearney; 14 grandchildren and 15 greatgrandchildren.

Mrs. Elizabeth Caswell, wife of Warren Caswell, passed away at the family residence on C Avenue between Twenty-second and Twenty-third Streets late Tuesday evening. Mrs. Caswell's death was due to old age, she being over ninety years. She is survived by a son, Matt Waples, who is the only member of the immediate family, except her husband who is also of advanced age.

Mrs. Caswell came to this city in 1886 and has been a continuous resident since that time. Funeral arrangements have not as yet been made, owing to relatives who have not been heard from.

Maria was 73 when she died in a Kearney convalescent home. She had been ill for the past 5 years.

She was born in Shelton, and had been a Kearney resident for the past 38 years. Maria is survived by her five daughters, one brother, 33 grandchildren and 21 great grandchildren. A son, Leroy and her husband Ira proceeded her in death.

"I was born on the 11th day of February, 1831, in Warsaw, NY. My father's name was William Patterson and was a native of Londonderry, NH. He died while a member of congress in 1838. Two weeks afterwards my mother died and left me an orphan boy at seven years of age. My uncle, Gov. George W. Patterson of Chautauqua county, NY was appointed my guardian, and I lived with him a year. After that I went to live with another uncle, Major Patterson, of Perry, NY, and made my home with him until I went to the Wesley seminary at Layman, NY, one of the best seminaries in the United States at the time and then attended college at Genes, NY.

I left my native place and went to Minneapolis, MN, in the spring of 1856, and resided there until the war broke out. I then enlisted in the Twelfth regular United States Infantry. Before leaving New York, I helped organize the Twelfth Infantry at Ft. Hamilton, NY, and was also lieutenant colonel and colonel of the Sixty-first New York, so as soon as the commanding officer of the Twelfth United States Infantry ascertained that fact, I was promoted and drilled the regiment all winter in Hairdo's tactics and bayonet exercises.

After being promoted, I joined my regiment in the field and after the battle of Chancellorsville General Ayers, commanding one of the divisions of the fifth corps place me upon his staff and at the battle of Gettysburg General Sakes ordered me to report to him during the battles, and placed me on his staff for temporary duty. After the battle of Gettysburg, Gen. Sakes placed me in command of the fifth corps, and when the army was on its march, I marched at the head of the fifth corps, clearing up obstructions, building bridges, etc.

From injuries received at Gettysburg and from the injuries received on the 5th of May, 1864, in the battle of the Wilderness, I was sent to Washington by special order of the medical director of the fifth corps, placed in a hospital, and the board of surgeons declared that I was no longer able to keep the field.

I then tendered my resignation and returned to Minneapolis. I was two years recuperating before summing my business of selling real estate, and all old citizens of Minneapolis know how I issued circulars and advertised their city and their water power, and Minnesota in general and called the attention of the whole country to the grand water power that has made Minneapolis the city that she is now.

But in 1869 my health was so impaired that I was obliged to seek a warmer climate. I went to Creston, Iowa, which was then a bare prairie with only one house in sight, and started to sell the lots in the new town for the CB&Q railroad company.

In the winter of 1871 DN Smith, the town lot and land agent for CB&Q for the state of Nebraska, sent me to Ft. Kearney with a number of teams and men amply provided with instruments for topographical and geological surveys to determine for the CB&Q Railroad company if the country between Lincoln and Ft. Kearney could ever be made inhabitable and be developed into and agricultural country. Although laughed at by the people of the state and by the officers at Ft. Kearney, I analyzed the soil, studied out the geological formation, discovered the great underflow in this whole Platte valley by which the water rushes through the sand and gravel below the bed of the Platte river so that his whole valley of the Platte could be irrigated from Denver to Omaha, and that it would furnish at least 5,000 horse power in the center of every township or manufacturing purposes, for generating electricity to furnish power, light and heat, and to build up one of the finest sections of the Union.

I, in company with three others, started Lowell, and when the railroad reached there we sold out to the company, but in the meantime had selected a site for Kearney and laid it out and the company confirmed the selection.

I opened up the first farm here and have farmed it ever since to a greater or less extent. The people who first settled here went through the struggles accompanying all pioneers, but having the Union Pacific and the CB&Q Railroad they have profited in a large measure and have generally received good prices for the grain and stock that they have raised, while facilities for obtaining fuel and building material of all kinds have been ample and the people have prospered so that now farms are selling in this country for from $30 to $40 an acre.

But Kearney had no more than got a start before the locusts came in 1873. They remained with us until the fall of 1876 and spring of '77, but that was last of them. During the '70s we received but very little moisture, but from 1880 to the present time Buffalo County has raised the finest crops of any county in the state. The people who came here as pioneers, turned over the sod, built houses and raised grain can see that the rainfall has greatly increased and is increasing every year.

Having lived in Minneapolis and having studied hydraulics and hydrostatics under the United States officers in charge of the Mississippi river, and being conversant with every feature of the grand water power at Minneapolis, I at first readily saw what could be done to make this the grandest water power on earth, and I have talked and preached and begged of the people ever since to build a great canal from Denver to Omaha. If this was done, it would develop this magnificent country until it would surpass any other on earth. I have always worked for Nebraska and I believe that it only requires the completion of the grand canal to make this country blossom as none other in the United States.

I make no claims whatever upon the people for what I have done or said and am willing to let my acts live after me. I would rather leave behind me a good name and the records of having done what I could for Kearney and Nebraska than all the wealth of the world."