LEANDER BREWER,
Postmaster, was born in Tinmouth, Rutland County, Vt., February 15, 1820,
and was
reared on a farm, residing there until
1848, then moved to Allegan County, Mich., where he farmed until he
enlisted, September 30, 1861, in the
First Michigan Engineers and Mechanics, serving for eighteen months.
Returning to Allegan County, he farmed
for several years, then engaged in the milk and dairy business, and also
engaged in growing fruit. He came to
Nebraska April 25, 1872, homesteaded 160 acres in Lone Tree Precinct,
Clay County, and resided on it some
two years. He was appointed Postmaster of Fairfield in June, 1873, which
position he still occupies, and is also
engaged in farming.
JAMES H. CONRAD,
druggist, was born at Parkersburg, Va., September 29, 1849, removing to
Marengo,
Iowa, at the age of ten years; he resided
with Dr. J. W. Grant until twenty-one years of age; during five years of
that period he studied medicine, and
was for two years engaged in practicing. He came to Nebraska in March,
1873, located in Fairfield Precinct,
Clay County, and was for a year engaged in farming. Moving into town in
1874, he engaged in livery business,
in which he still continues. Shortly after his arrival here, he also engaged
in
the drug business in company with J.
E. Hopper; they dissolved partnership eighteen months later, since which
time Mr. Conrad has conducted the business
alone. He carries a nice stock of $2,500, and has the oldest
established business in this line in
town. He was married in Victor, Iowa, July 4, 1872, to Sarah J. Archer,
a
native of Lisbon, Iowa. They have two
children--Winnie and Francis.
JOHN H. EPLEY,
wagon work, contractor and builder, was born in Freeport, Ill., in 1842.
He learned the trade
of millwright and followed it for a
livelihood in Illinois and Iowa, and during his residence in the latter
State, took a
course at the Iowa University. He came
to Nebraska in March, 1870; built the Crete Flouring Mills, and was
employed in erecting other mills through
the State for three years. Mr. E. came to Fairfield in 1873, and was
engaged in the mercantile business until
July, 1879. He, in connection with this, built a grist-mill at Liberty
Farm
Ranch, this county, and conducted it
until March, 1882. He established his present business in the spring of
1881.
Mr. E. was married in the fall of 1875,
in Clay County, Neb., to Emma Toms. They have four children--Victor
F., Mattie, Claude and Blanche.
JOHN C. HEDGE,
manager for Frees & Montgomery, dealers in lumber, etc., was born in
Greene County,
Penn., in 1844, and reared on a farm
in Washington County, Penn. He enlisted March 9, 1865, in the Sixth
Pennsylvania Cavalry, serving four months;
then went to Illinois, where he was engaged in various employments.
Subsequently employed in Fairfield,
Iowa, by a coal and grain company. He came to Nebraska in April, 1878,
and was employed by his present employers
at Edgar, Neb., until he came to Fairfield, Neb., in February, 1880,
to take charge of their business at
this point. He was elected Town Clerk in April, 1881, and a member of the
Town Board in 1882.
DENNISON HOWE,
a retired merchant, was born in Montgomery County, N. Y., January 22, 1822,
and five
years later went to Orleans County in
that State, and was reared on a farm, which he afterward followed on his
own account. At eighteen years of age,
he was engaged as a clerk, which he followed for two years, and
subsequently was proprietor of a mercantile
establishment at Knowlesville in Orleans County. He came to
Nebraska June 10, 1877, engaging in
the mercantile business, which he followed for three years, when he turned
over the business to his sons, John
and George W. Mr. Howe is the owner of 160 acres of land adjoining the
town of Fairfield, and has twice been
elected on the Board of Trustees of that place.
JOHN E. HOPPER,
general merchant, was born in England February 27, 1840, and fourteen months
later his
parents emigrated to America. He learned
the trade of tinsmith in Cleveland, Ohio, working at it from 1856 until
he enlisted, July 30, 1861, in the Sixth
Michigan Infantry, serving for nineteen months, when he was discharged
on account of disability, and subsequently
followed his trade in Allegan County, Mich., until he came to Nebraska
in March, 1872, at which time he homesteaded
160 acres in Linn Precinct, Clay County, and farmed for about
two years, when he came to Fairfield,
in the fall of 1873, and took charge of the St. Joe & Western Railroad
section-house, which he conducted for
two years, then followed the grain business for a few months. In October,
1875, he established a general merchandise
business at that place, in company with J. W. Small, who retired in
the following April, since which time
Mr. Hopper has been alone. Mr. H. was married in Allegan County, Mich.,
August 4, 1861, to Nancy E. Smith. They
have three children--Cora A., Minnie A., and Archie B.
WILLIAM L. HOWE,
farmer and stock-raiser, was born in Monroe County, N. Y., April 22, 1859,
and reared
on a farm; at eighteen years of age,
he purchased land in that county, and, in company with his brother, Lewis
B.
Howe, conducted a large farm. He came
to Nebraska in March, 1880, and purchased eighty acres adjoining the
town of Fairfield, and, in connection
with his brother, Lewis B., farms some 350 acres. He is largely engaged
in
raising sheep, of which he has some
three hundred, and his brother 1,500. Is also engaged in breeding Poland
China hogs. Mr. Howe was married at
Fairport, Monroe County, N. Y., December 18, 1879, to Hattie E. Lusk,
a native of Newark, N. Y.
C. T. MILLS,
Sr., manufacturer and dealer in furniture, and undertaker, was born in
London, Eng., in 1820,
where he learned the trade of cabinet-maker,
serving as an apprentice some seven years, and worked at it as a
journeyman in that country until 1867,
when he emigrated to America and was for two years employed at his
trade in Chicago. Then employed on the
Chicago & Rock Island Railroad till 1870, at carpentering. Then went
to
Lincoln, Neb., worked at carpentering
till 1872; left there and took a pre-emption; lived on it two and a half
years; sold improvements and moved up
to Fairfield in 1875, and then was employed on the Burlington &
Missouri Railroad as a carpenter; built
his store at the commencement of 1881, for the sale of furniture.
WORTHY T.
NEWCOMB, of the Fairfield Bank, was born in Portage County, Ohio, in 1850,
and educated at
Hiram College, Portage County, Ohio,
graduating there in 1873, after which he was for two years engaged in
preaching in Jefferson County, N. Y.
He came to Nebraska in February, 1876, located in Edgar Precinct, Clay
County, and was for several years engaged
in farming. He then came to Fairfield and carried on a meat market
for a year, and in the fall of 1880,
joined S. J. Anthony in dealing in live stock, etc., and in May, 1881,
organized
the bank in company with S. J. Anthony
and O. C. Hubbell.
GEORGE W. NOBLE,
collection agent, was born in Philadelphia, Penn., March 20, 1844, and
there learned the
trade of book-binder with his father.
Entered the army May 26, 1861, with the Second Delaware Infantry, and
was discharged August 13, 1864, and
re-enlisted March 21, 1866, in the Second Battalion Eighteenth United
States Infantry, and was discharged
in 1869. Mr. Noble came to Nebraska in May, 1869, and took the first
homestead in Clay County, upon which
he remained four years, when he sold his place and purchased an eighty
acre tract in the same county. He took
up his residence at Fairfield, in 1879, and in the fall of that year was
elected Justice of the Peace, to which
office he was re-elected in 1881, carrying on also a collection business.
He
is a member of the G. A. R. and A.,
F. & A. M., and Vice President of the Old Settlers' Association. He
was
married in 1873, in this county, to
Annie E. Thompson, a native of Columbia City, Ind., and has a family of
two
boys--John H. and George W.
WILLIAM S.
RANDALL, dealer in agricultural implements, was born in Trumbull County,
Ohio, in 1840, and
reared on a farm in Washington County,
Iowa. He enlisted in August, 1861, in the Eighth Iowa Infantry, serving
until May, 1866, after which he farmed
in Washington County, Iowa. He came to Nebraska in the spring of
1873, and homesteaded in Marshall Precinct,
Clay County, residing on it four years, during which period he
farmed. He was elected Treasurer of
Clay County in the fall of 1876, and was re-elected in the fall of 1877.
During his term of office he resided
in Sutton. He came to Fairfield in the spring of 1880, and engaged in the
implement business in company with L.
F. Fryar and in May, 1881, in company with J. W. Small, organized the
Fairfield Exchange Bank.
BENJAMIN F.
RAWALT, agent for H. Gregg & Bros., dealers in grain, etc., was born
in Fulton County, Ill.,
and reared on a farm. He enlisted August
18, 1862, in the Eighth Minnesota Infantry, serving for three years,
after which he farmed in Wabasha County,
Minn. In 1869, he removed to De Kalb County, Mo., where he
farmed for two years; then in St. Joe,
Mo., employed for two years as clerk in a wholesale grocery, after which
he traveled in that business through
this State, and in April, 1874, engaged in mercantile business as a clerk
at
Fairbury, Jefferson County, Neb., continuing
there for four years, and in August, 1878, he came to Fairfield and
engaged in present capacity. In January,
1882, he also engaged in the implement business, and admitted as a
partner Eugene Brewer in the following
February, and is also a stockholder in the Herald Publishing Company,
of this place. Is at present assistant
editor and Secretary of the Association.
CHARLES F. SHEDD,
of the firm of C. F. Shedd & Co., dealers in grain, etc., was born
in Dayton, Ohio, in
1842, and reared on a farm in Lee County,
Iowa. He enlisted September 15, 1861, in Company I, Engineer
Regiment of the West, serving for thirteen
months. He then farmed in Iowa for some years, and was for a year in
business in Northern Wisconsin. He came
to Nebraska in August, 1873, homesteaded 160 acres in Lone Tree
Precinct, Clay County, on which he resided
for two years. He came to Fairfield in 1875, where he was engaged
in the grain, stock and lumber business
in company with Snively & Hedges, and in 1879, he also engaged in
business at Frisco, Colo., where he
is engaged in manufacturing lumber, etc., and also in negotiating in mines.
Was elected President of the Frisco
Discovery & Mining Company in December, 1879, and Treasurer of Royal
Mountains and Mining Company in 1880.
The firm of C. F. Shedd & Co. has branch houses at Edgar, Carleton
and Belvidere, and shipped the first
grain from Clay and Thayer Counties in 1873. Mr. S. was married in St.
Joe,
Mo., in 1874, to Mary L. Badger. They
have three children--Carrie E., James A. and Hattie May.
ALBERT S. WILLIS,
deceased, was born in Cayuga County, N. Y., December 25, 1819. He learned
the
carpenter's trade, which he followed
for some years, and removed to Marquette County, Wis., in 1850, where
he also followed his trade. Ten years
later, he went to Burr Oak, Mich., where he was engaged in the
commission and lumber business; after
this he came to Nebraska, and engaged in farming, at which he is still
engaged. His son-in-law, William H.
Frey, deceased, was born at Noblesville, Ind., March 1, 1840, and
followed farming in St. Joseph County,
Mich., and enlisted in the First Michigan Volunteers September 3, 1861,
serving until the close of the war,
at which time he held the rank of Captain of Company B. He came to
Nebraska in 1871, and homesteaded 160
acres of land in Clay County, and, in 1876, took up his residence at
Fairfield, following the business of
Justice of the Peace, collecting agent, etc. In 1868, he married Emma Willis,
at
Burr Oak, Mich. He died September 19,
1880, leaving a family of a wife and two children--William R. and
Lewis.