Living in Bath, Steuben County, New York, and working at my trade as stonecutter and mason, I always had a desire to go West. My father tried to dissuade me from going but finally consented, and in the year of 1884, having saved up a little money, I, with a schoolmate of mine, started out the first week of January, 1884.

We first stopped at Cleveland, Ohio, where my friend, Edwin White, had an uncle. We stayed there a few days and then went on to Chicago where he had another uncle who took us all over the city, wherever we wanted to go.

We stayed there a week and then boarded a train for Marysville, Marshall County, Kansas, where my uncle, a Baptist minister, lived. He had been wanting us all to come out to Kansas to live so I decided to go and see for myself what part of the West I wanted to locate in. We visited there about three weeks; my uncle having a fine driving horse took us over all that part of Kansas, which was a rich farming country and settled up largely by English and French Canadians, a fine class of people, many of them members of my uncle’s church.

The lay of the country and the amount of crops they raised there made a great impression on me and I had about decided to come back there, but first I wanted to go north and visit with some friends of ours in Aurora, Hamilton County, Nebraska, by the name of Rudd. Their youngest daughter, Birdie, who in after years married O. H. Darling, was a schoolmate and close neighbor of ours in New York. They came west about six years before we came in 1884. We kept in touch with them through correspondence and they were lawyers wanting us to come out here to reside, hence our coming to Aurora.

The Rudd family had purchased a farm seven miles southwest of Aurora, but were running a boarding house here which they owned. This house stood on the ground where the U. B. Church and the telephone office now stand and was moved later to the southwest part of town and is still there. The building across the street south was built by Frank Valentine, a former sheriff of Hamilton County, and afterward used by Mr. McDermond as a livery stable barn. Another large stable barn, located where the government post office now stands, was run by Moore & Broadbent. The latter bought the Moore interest after Mr. Moore’s death. Mr. Jim Broadbent is still living and made his home for many years with the Rudd family until his marriage.

In passing, let me say Mrs. Rudd was loved by all who knew her, and had it not been for her we never would have located in Hamilton County. She and her husband, with my father and mother, are buried on the same lot in the old cemetery, we having bought one-half of their lot, so they were together before and after death as far as the body was concerned and we hope, together in the better world.

We remained with the Rudd family a month and while there I wrote home and told my father I was going to stay in the West and for him to sell his property and come here, as I liked it better than Kansas and thought there would be better chances here for our business. My father was a contractor and builder and had four boys, all of whom could work at the mason trade, and at that time there was plenty of building going on.

I heard of the building of a large grist mill that was to be built by George Curry and William Glover. The contract for the mill and elevator included the laying of 32 carloads of stone and two cars of brick. At that time, there was no one here who knew anything about stonework and that was strictly in our line. I went to Mr. Glover and told him we would like to put in a bid on the contract, and that my father and one of my brothers would be here in time to put our bid in. My father had sold his place within a week after putting it up for sale and I wrote him that he had better come right out and I would go back and look after the sale of our goods, which I did; and he came and his bid got us our first contract in Aurora.

Before going back to New York, I had made a deal with Tom Glover for a house and a half block in Hamilton. This was the first home we established in Aurora and we lived there 10 years until I was married and went into the grocery business. The remainder of the family, with the exception of my brother, James, who went to Chicago and became an architect and has been employed by New York State for over 25 years and is still taking charge of their state buildings. Going back to the days we were working together at Hamilton, it might be well to tell of some of our contracts.

Not long after finishing the mill contract the county decided to build a county jail. They employed my brother James, who at the time was a draftsman at Champayne College, Ill., to furnish plans and specifications for the building which was let and we received the contract. Out next job was the Aurora Creamery, built by E. J. Hainer and J. H. Smith, both of them lawyers, well known in the early days. My brother furnished the plans for this building also.

The creamery was run by O. A. Hartquest as manager and did a big business for many years. They sent out their skimmers all over the county for cream and sold most of their products in Boston at top prices. This building has been remodeled and is now being used as a residence by J. F. Bremer.