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NEGenWeb Project
Resource Center
On-Line Library
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OFFICERS OF THE HOUSE.
HON. H. V. HARLAN, Speaker of the House, was born in Dark county, Ohio, Oct. 22, 1846. When he was but 5 years of age his mother settled in Iowa, his father being dead. The family located on a farm, and young Harlan had to block out his own career. He was educated at Mount Pleasant, and at the Oskaloosa College, and subsequently taught school for ten years. He read law in the office of Lea & Beaman, and in 1877 was admitted there in the district court. Since then he has followed the practice of his profession. He came to Nebraska and located in York in 1878. Speaker Harlan is an able lawyer, enjoys a fine practice, and is popular both as a citizen and in his profession. For three terms he has been mayor of York, and his fellow citizens are ready to honor him with any official position within their gift. He was a member of the House the session of 1885, and was elected Speaker of this body by acclamation. In the Republican caucus, when balloting for United States Senator, he was honored with thirty-five votes for that distinguished position. As the presiding officer of this honorable body, he is impartial, decisive, dignified, and popular. His Republicanism is indisputable, and he is looked upon as one of the rising politicians of the state.
BRAD D. SLAUGHTER, Chief Clerk, is a native of Wayne county, New York, born November 12, 1844. He attended the common schools of his native place and drifted west in his teens. In 1861 he was in Chicago, and there enlisted in the army and went south. In 1865 he came
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to Nebraska and has since resided in the state. For many years he was a newspaper correspondent, and he has held his present position the sessions of 1877-79-81-83-87 and was supervisor of the first district of Nebraska, tenth U. S. census. He is a resident of Fullerton, Nance county, and there practices law, deals in real estate, and does a general business in city and country property. He is an able chief clerk, well versed in the rules of the House and eminently qualified for this highly responsible position.THOS. M. COOKE, first assistant clerk, is a native of Jefferson, Ashtabula county, Ohio, born June 4, 1863. When he was very voting his parents settled in Pennsylvania, and there he graduated from Thiel College; then came to Nebraska and located in Lincoln. He studied law in the office of D. G. Courtnay, and was admitted to the bar before he was 23 years of age, in Lincoln, June 1, 1886. He has since followed the practice of his profession, and expects to grow up with the country. This is his first term in office, but he hopes it may not be his last. Mr. Cooke is topped out with a congress head and he may yet drift into a channel that runs that way.
HON. GEO. W. NEWMYER, second assistant clerk, was born in Fayette county, Pa., Nov. 4, 1822. He lived in the old Keystone State until he was 50 years old. His schooling was obtained at the common schools, the high schools, and Jefferson College. He followed farming, teaching, merchandising, soldiering, and various occupations. In June, 1861, he enlisted in the Twenty eighth Pa., and went to the Potomac. About half of the time he was in that branch of the service, and the other fraction in the western army under Sherman. He served three and one-half years in the war, and took part in many of the great battles
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- Gettysburg, Antietam, and others. Jan., 1865, he was mustered out a Captain. He then went into the oil regions, dabbled in the treacherous stuff, sunk his money, and in 1875 came to Nebraska, and settled in Central City, Merrick county, where he has farmed summers and taught school winters. He was a member of the House the session of 1885, and was voted his chair as a token of honor for having the largest family of children of any member of that body - ten, and sixteen grand-children. No danger of the Newmyer family becoming extinct for generations to come.WEBB WHEELER, third assistant chief clerk, was born in Marshall county, Iowa, May 22, 1859. He was raised in that state, attended the State Agricultural College at Ames, Iowa, and January, 1882, came to Nebraska, and located at Fullerton, Nance county. He held a clerical position of the House the session of 1883. His post-office address after the present session adjourns will be Box Butte, Box Butte county, Nebraska.
MISS ANTOINETTE WORTHAM, enrolling clerk, was born in Charleston, Ill., in 1865, and is therefore 22 years of age. She has resided in Nebraska six years, and her home is in Pawnee City, Pawnee county. Miss Wortham has taken a course at the Peru Normal School, and is an accomplished and popular young lady., She is very efficient in her official capacity.
MISS JANET McDONALD, engrossing clerk, was born in New Concord, Guernsey county, Ohio, and is 22 years of age. Her parents settled in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, when she was a child, and she graduated from the Mt. Pleasant High School in 1884. She is an artist, and teaches painting and drawing. Miss McDonald is highly competent for this responsible position, and is doing her work admirably. She resides in Fairmont, Nebraska.
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WM. L. WELLS, South Bend, clerk of the committee on engrossed and enrolled bills, was born in Belmont county, Ohio, August 13, 1841. In 1853 he settled in Iowa, and in 1857 came to Nebraska. Early in the war he enlisted in Co. A, First Neb. Infantry, and participated in the battles of Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Cape Girardeau, and many others. At the latter battle he received a wound in the right side while carrying the colors. He subsequently re-enlisted as a veteran in the same Co. and regiment, after it was changed into a regiment of cavalry. In this capacity he served until July, 1866, when he was mustered out. He subsequently studied law, and was admitted to the bar at Plattsmouth, Neb., in 1873. Since that time he has practiced his profession. He is a staunch Republican politically.ED. L. ELY, clerk of the railroad committee, is a native of the state of New York, born in 1857. In 1859 his parents settled in DeKalb county, Ill. He there attended school and remained until 1880, then came to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and was employed as bookkeeper until 1882, and that year settled in Nebraska in the hardware trade. He subsequently attended the Northwestern University and Hillsdale College. His business at the present time is merchandising and real estate. He resides at York, York county. He was married in 1878, and has two children. Mr. Ely is a good penman and a competent clerk.
A. L. BIXBY, clerk of the committee on miscellaneous subjects, was born in Potsdam, New York, April 21, 1856. He spent nine years of his early life in Minnesota, subsequently came west and was in Iowa twelve years. He studied medicine and attended Rush Medical College, Chicago. In 1879 he came to Nebraska and located at Fullerton, Nance county. He is editor of the Nance county
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Journal, a live Republican paper. Mr. Bixby is a staunch Republican and publishes a popular paper.MRS. KATE BOYLE, post-mistress, was born in Leavenworth, Kansas, Jan. 4, 1856. She came to Nebraska July, 1883, and settled in Omaha. She came to Lincoln in 1885, where she has since resided. Mrs. Boyle was assistant post-mistress of the House the session of 1885, and by occupation is a clerk She is a very popular and efficient post-mistress.
MISS ZORA MATTHEWS, assistant post-mistress, was born in Red Rock, Marion county, Iowa, April 14, 1855. Her parents settled in Brownville, Nebraska, about fourteen years ago, and there she resides. She is efficient and popular in her present capacity.
REV. P. VAN FLEET, chaplain, was born near Amsterdam, Holland, on the 23d day of July, 1850. His father brought him to the United States when he was but 6 years of age. For seven years he lived with a cousin in Michigan, and there attended the common schools and began to acquire a little English. About this time he came west and stopped near Portage City, Wisconsin, worked on a farm in summer and attended school in the winter. In 1867 he came to Nebraska and located near Schuyler. He was subsequently about eighteen months in the employ of the Union Pacific Railway Company. About that time he took a claim, broke forty acres, and began a home for himself. At 20 years of age he became a member of the Methodist church, and was soon after licensed to preach. He was then sent into the old L'eau-qui-Court county, a wild and new district of country, extending from the mouth of the Niobrara river to Pierce, the county seat of Pierce county, and from the west line of Cedar county to the limitless west. He spent six
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months in this field, a boy missionary, and received the handsome remuneration of $10 for his services. It was a sort of a widow's mite, and it made an impression on the young apostle. It was about a cent a piece for the number of sod houses he had visited. He then came out of the wilderness and attended school at Schuyler, Wahoo, the State University, and graduated from the Methodist College in York. Much of the intervening time he taught school, and did various work for means with which to pursue his studies. One year he preached at Wahoo, two at Arlington, one at Seward, one at Hebron, two at Fairbury, and two at Table Rock. It is evident he has not been idle in recent years. He was chaplain of the House the session of 1885. By sheer determination and hard work he has educated himself, and is an example of what the will may accomplish in a laudable work. Mr. Van Fleet was married August 15th, 1883, in Thayer county, to Miss Eva West, an estimable and accomplished lady. Her father, J. V. R. West, is a well-to-do farmer, and a representative citizen of Thayer county. Mr. Van Fleet owns about 400 acres of fine land and other valuable property. He is a faithful worker in the vineyard of the Lord, but at the same time he considers it his duty to provide a reasonable amount of the temporal blessings for himself and family.ISAAC N. THOMPSON, sergeant-at-arms, was born at Ridge Farm, Vermilion county, Ill., Feb. 25, 1838. His home was in Illinois until 1867. In July, 1862, he enlisted in the Seventy-ninth Ill., Third Brigade, Second Division, and Fourth Army Corps. The regiment went to Louisville, thence to Perryville; fought Bragg at the latter place on the 8th of October; again under Rosencranz at Stone River; again at Tullahoma, Tenn., in '63, where Mr. Thompson lost his right eye, caused by the concussion
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of a cannon ball. From there he proceeded with Rosencranz' command to Chickamauga; was with Sheridan's Division, Fourth Army Corps; at Mission Ridge under General Thomas; thence to Buzzards' Roost, in Georgia, 1864, against Joe Johnston's troops; Resaca, Dallas, Pine Top Mountain, where Bishop Polk was killed, and at Kenesaw Mountain. He was also in the fight at Peach Tree Creek, under Sherman, against Hood, and on the 22d of July he was in front of Atlanta, where McPherson was killed; took part in the thirty-four days' siege of Atlanta, Sherman's flank movement on Jonesboro, Sept. 2, '64, Lovejoy Sept. 6, '64; back to Atlanta Oct. 19, and with the Fourth Army Corps, under Schofield, fell back to the Tennessee river; fought Hood at Franklin, Tenn., Nov. 30, '64, and fell back on Nashville; fought Hood again Dec. 15th and 16th, and used him up. This was near the end of the great conflict. These troops, then under Pap Thomas, went to Saltville, West Va., and were there until Lee surrendered. The command then returned to Nashville, and were there mustered out, June 12, 1865. To Camp Butler, Ill., they then proceeded, and were discharged on the 24th of June, 1865. Mr. Thompson remained in Illinois two years after he left the army, and in November, 1867, came to Nebraska, and settled in Nebraska City. March, 1868, he located near Fairbury, Jefferson county, where he now resides. He was county clerk in 1869-70, and has since been farming and stock raising. Many of his relatives were on the other side during the war, and he was at the burial of some of them. His mother is a niece of Jefferson Davis, and yet he has been a Republican all his life, and cast his first vote in Illinois for Abraham Lincoln.R. E. DORAN, assistant sergeant at-arms, was born in Henry county, Iowa, Oct. 15, 1848. He was raised near
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Des Moines, Iowa, and early in the war went into the army, enlisting in Co. M, Eighth Iowa Cavalry. He was seven months with that regiment, and was subsequently eighteen months with the First Kansas Battery in the Army of the Tennessee and the Cumberland, until August, 1885. He was in many of the hard fights of those campaigns, and, although a boy, he endured his full share of the dangers and hardships of army life. After the war he returned to Iowa, and in July, 1868, was married to Miss Emma E. Hepburn, of Des Moines. In 1873 he removed to Burlington, Iowa, and engaged in the upholstering business. There he did business for eight years, and was then burned out. He soon after picked up and came to Nebraska in 1880 locating in Fremont, where he still resides. In 1882 he was elected Captain of the Nebraska Vet. Battery of Artillery, to which position he has since been re-elected annually. He was sergeant-at-arms of the House in 1885. His business in Fremont is upholstering.HENRY P. CUTTING, door-keeper, is a native of Upper Sandusky, Wyandotte county, Ohio, born March 12, 1841. He lived in his native place until 14 years old, then went to Kansas, and from there to Iowa; then into the war, enlisting in Co. C, Sixth Iowa. He was in the heat of many of the great battles of the early sixties. He was seven times wounded, three by ball and four by buckshot; was in the Army of the Tennessee, Sherman's Brigade, Division, Corps, and subsequently General Logan's command. It was at Jackson, Miss., that he received his last wound, on the 16th of July, 1863, where he had his left arm shot off. A year, to a day, he lay in hospital, and had been two years, to a day, in active service. That day he was also shot in the side and back, and was generally disfigured, but still in the fight. If he was then as herculean as now, he was certainly a conspicuous figure, and it is a wonder
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he did not stop more bullets. He stands six feet, three and one-half inches, and weighs 285 pounds. While in hospital he enjoyed the blessings of the measles, the mumps, the whooping cough, the small pox, the loss of an arm, several buckshot in his body, and other concomitants, and yet he pulled through, and here he is. Talk about an iron constitution and marvelous vitality - he was harder to kill than the cat with nine lives. In 1872 he came to Nebraska and homesteaded near Stromsburg, Polk county, where he still resides, a solid farmer.T. B. BEACH, assistant door-keeper, was born in Cumberland, Guernsey county, Ohio, August 28, 1838. When he was but 8 years of age his parents immigrated to Lee County, Iowa, and settled on a farm. While living there he attended the district school and the academy at Mount Pleasant. Oct. 14, 1861, he enlisted a private in Co. F, Fourteenth Iowa Inf. Nov., 1861, he was promoted to sergeant, and Jan. 1863, to 1st sergeant. March, 1863, he was promoted to 2d lieutenant Co. F, 14th Iowa. He was mustered out Nov. 9, 1864, on expiration of term of service; commissioned and mustered as 1st Lieut. in Co. B, Residuary Battalion, 14th Iowa Inf., Nov. 19, 1864. Final muster out, August, 1865. He participated in the battle of Fort Donelson, Tenn., Feb. 13, 14, and 15, 1862, his regiment being the second to gain a lodgment in the rebel works; was present at the battle of Shiloh, Tenn., April 6, 1862; received a gunshot wound in right wrist and was captured with his regiment the same day. Held as a prisoner of war until Oct. 17, 1862, and paroled at Richmond, Va.; was exchanged Dec., 1862; returned to active service at Cairo, Ill., and Columbus, Ky., until Jan., 1864; ordered to Vicksburg, Miss.; took part in Sherman's Meridian raid; ordered with right wing 16th A. C., and part of 17th A. C., under com-
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mand of Gen. A. J. Smith, up Red River to join the expedition under Gen. Banks. Participated in the battles of Fort De Russy, March 14, 1864; Pleasant Hill, April 9, 1864; Marksville Plains, April 16, 1864; Yellow Bayou, May 18, 1864; and Lake Chicot, Ark., June 6, 1864; and scores of skirmishes. The command returned to Vicksburg June, 1864, and was ordered to Memphis; arrived just as Sturgis returned from his disastrous defeat at Guntown. General Smith was ordered to proceed against Forrest, defeating him at Tupelo, Miss., July 13, 1864, and again at Oldtown Creek the next day. After the battle of Pleasant Hill, La., Lieut. Beach took command of Co. 1, 14th Iowa, and commanded it about seven months. While stationed at Camp Butler he was acting assistant adjutant general. August, 1865, he was sent home to be mustered out. He then settled in Missouri, and remained there sixteen years. The next change was to Dunlap, Iowa. In April, 1883, he came out to Nebraska and located in Lincoln, a carpenter and builder.D. T. COOK, janitor, was born in Lancaster, Fairfield county, Ohio, Sept. 1, 1845. When but 16 years of age he went into the army - April, 1861, Company A, First Ohio. Aug. 19th, he re-enlisted in Co. I, Seventeenth Ohio, and served four years. On the 18th of June, 1864, he was wounded, but not seriously. After the war his parents settled in Logansport, Ind., and there he attended school and learned the carpenter's trade. In 1879 he came to Nebraska and located in Lincoln, which city has since been his home. His occupation is that of carpenter and builder. He is of German lineage and traces back to the Koch family. Mr. Cook votes the Republican ticket.
GEO. A. TYSON, assistant janitor, was born in Adams, Co., Ill., Apr. 6, 1845. In 1852 his parents settled in
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Texas, and in 1854 came to Missouri. The next year, he located in what was then the territory of Nebraska, he then being 10 years of age. In 1862 he enlisted in the Fifth Mo. Cav., and did duty in the Northwest, until the regiment was mustered out. In 1864 he enlisted as a scout under Gen. Sully, and was mustered out the winter of 1865. He is a real frontiersman, and when his parents first came west of the Missouri they moved themselves and effects over in a canoe. The great river had not then been spanned by a bridge, and few white men had ventured beyond her western border. The plains stretched away to the setting sun, and three or four lazy rivers meandered across the trackless region.D. W. CROUSE, janitor committee room, was born at Maquan, Ill., July 12, 1845. He was in the army with Col. Bob Ingersoll as a servant until the Col. resigned in the spring of 1863. He served in the same capacity with Col. L. H. Kerr until Dec. 1, 1863, when he enlisted. He was in all the hot fights up to Dec. 28, 1864, when he was shot in the right arm below the elbow, both bones being shot off, and taken prisoner. He was in prison three months and eight days in Alabama; was then taken to Vicksburg, exchanged, and sent to Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis. He was there until July 16, 1865, when he was mustered out, and sent home. In 1870 he came to Nebraska, and settled in Seward county on a homestead. He there remained until 1882, when he moved to Staplehurst, where he now resides. In 1885 he was assistant doorkeeper of the House. He is a Bob Ingersoll Republican with free-thinking tendencies.
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