Neola, Iowa. He went to Cedar County, Nebraska, about 1876 and in 1900 came to Wayne County, his present home. He received a common school education and has been engaged in the drug business. His father was a harness maker. Mr. Kuhl served two years as Deputy Clerk of the District Court and two years as Deputy Sheriff of Cedar County. He is a Republican and in 1894 married Miss Stella Koch and they have one son.

      H. E. SIMAN was born September 20, 1869, at Winnebago City, Minnesota. He moved to Wicsonsin (sic) in 1884; to Sioux City, Iowa, in 1889 and came to Winside, Nebraska, in 1898, his present home, where he has a flourishing law practice in Wayne and neighboring counties. He was elected Attorney of Wayne County in the fall of 1902, belonging to the Republican party. In 1889 Mr. Siman was married to Miss May B. Sullivan and they have two sons. He was educated in the common and high schools of Minnesota and Wisconsin and attended the Business College at LaCrosse, Wisconsin. He took a law course at Morning Side College, Sioux City, Iowa, and was Street Commissioner of that city from 1895 to 1897.

      GRANT S. MEARS, now serving his second term as Sheriff of Wayne County, was born October 2, 1865, in Poweshick County, Iowa. Peter Mears, his father, was a farmer. Mr. Mears came to Wayne County, Nebraska, in 1879, where he has been engaged in the real estate and insurance business. His schooling was received in the public schools of Iowa and Nebraska. Mr. Mears is a Republican and has been an assessor. He married Miss Sadie E. Glazier in 1888 and has two sons, aged thirteen and ten.

      E. HUNTER, who is now serving his fourth term as County Judge of Wayne County, was born May 19, 1843, in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania. His parents moved to Lee County, Illinois, in 1854 and remained there until the spring of 1870, when they came to Wayne County, Nebraska, being among the first to settle there. Mr. Hunter was educated in the common schools of Pennsylvania and Illinois. During the Civil War he served in Company I of the Fourth Illinois Cavalry from May 28, 1862 to June 28, 1866. In 1867 he married Miss Rebecca Scott and they are the parents of ten children. Mr. Hunter is a Republican and served four years as County Clerk and two years as Deputy Treasurer.

      C. H. BRIGHT was born November 15, 1869 in Indiana. He came to Grand Island, Nebraska, in January, 1884, where he remained on a farm west of Grand Island until 1892, when he went to Wayne, Nebraska, to attend school. He took the Teacher's and Scientific courses at the Nebraska Normal College, 'Wayne, and holds a professional life state certificate. He was principal of the Winside schools five years and Superintendent of Wayne County two terms, which position he now holds. He is a Republican. In August, 1898, he married Miss Anna Byrne, an instructor in the Wayne Normal College.

      J. M. CHERRY was born August 16, 1861, at Iowa City, Iowa. 'He came to Wayne County, Nebraska, in 1883, but has lived in Platte County, Nebraska, two years of the time since. Mr. Cherry was educated in the common schools of Iowa and is a carpenter. He has been Sheriff and Deputy Clerk of Wayne County and is the present County Treasurer. He is a Democrat and was married to Miss Edith Mears in 1886.

      CHARLES W. REYNOLDS, one of the youngest men to hold a county office in the state, was elected Clerk of the District Court of Wayne County at the age of twenty-three. He was born at Elkader, Iowa, September 5, 1876, and came to Wayne County in 1888. He is associated with the Democratic party, is a graduate of the Wayne high school and attended the Wayne Normal College, also the University of Nebraska for two years. Mr. Reynolds is at present County Clerk.

      THOMAS H. HOLTZ was born January 29, 1880, at Parkhill, Ontario, Canada. John Holtz, his father, was a tailor. He came to Wayne County in 1889 where he has been a printer and clerk in a grocery house. He is a Democrat and was educated in the Wayne high school and is single. He is now serving as Deputy Clerk of Wayne County.

      E. W. CULLEN, the Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners of Wayne County, was born August 14, 1865 at Peoria, Illinois. He went to Western Illinois in 1868, to Colfax County, Nebraska, in 1886 and came to Wayne County in 1888, where he has resided ever since. He is an implement dealer at Winside and has been chairman of the town board of Winside for the last twelve years. Mr. Cullen is associated with the Democratic party. He was married to Miss Katie E.. Hayes in 1891 and they have four children.

      J. R. RUSSELL was born April 10, 1848, in Brook County, West Viriginia (sic). He moved to Cedar County, Iowa, in 1853 and came to Nebraska in 1869, taking a homestead in Wayne County where he has been engaged in farming. He was educated in the public schools of Scott County, Iowa. He was married to Margaret E. Brussler, August 29, 1874 and they have two sons married and living in Wayne County. His wife died February 7, 1899, and he was married a second time June 3, 1901, to Miss Matilda Laase

      JAMES BRITTON, a lawyer and the Mayor of Wayne, Nebraska, was born in Lee County, Illinois, January 9, 1853. Mr. Britton came to Wayne County, Nebraska, in April 1876. He was educated in a private school at Bunker Hill, Illinois, and studied law at Iowa City, being a member of the class of 1873. Mr. Britton was the first Postmaster of Wayne and a member of the State Legislature in 1882 and 1883 and is associated with the Independent party. He was married to Miss May Roberts in 1874.

 

      Webster County is situated in the Republican Valley and is composed of rolling prairie, tablelands, valleys and bluffs. Eighty per cent of the land is capable of producing crops and the remainder makes good hay land. The value of real estate has increased nearly one-third within late years. The soil is dark and sandy with an under strata of clay, 348,235 acres being used for farm land, and winter wheat occupies more of this acreage than any other crop. Cereals, alfalfa and prairie hay are the principal crops, and there are also profitable orchards. The people are also engaged in market gardening and in the raising of sugar beets. A great many cattle, horses and hogs are exported. The first settlement was made in 1870 by Donald McCallum and Emanual Peterson on the north bank of the Republican. Silas, Joseph and Abram Garber, Wm. McBride, Albert Lathrop, Thos. Comstock and A. M. Talbot followed soon after.

      The first marriage was that of Wm. J. Norris and Hulda J. Rennecker. They were united by Judge Silas Garber, who afterward became Governor of Nebraska. The first school was taught by Miss Mary Kinsley in 1871, who received a salary of $12 a month. There are now 79 districts and 83 schools, six being graded. Webster County was organized in 1871 and is 24 miles square. The population of the county is 11,619 and that of Red Cloud, the county seat, is 1,554. Immigration was heavy during the years of 1872-3 and 4, but the grasshoppers destroyed the crops the latter year. However, in 1876 Webster County products received a medal. The rush of immigration was renewed at the laying of the Burlington & Missouri Railway in 1878.

      ELIZABETH MARKER, daughter of John M. Marker, deceased, was born in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, in 1871. She came to Webster County, Nebraska, with her parents in 1879. Her father was a farmer, and she was educated in the common and normal schools of Nebraska. She is a member of the Populist party, and at present is Superintendent of Public Instruction of Webster County.

      JOE VOGEL, one of the Commissioners of Webster County, came to Nebraska in April, 1877, engaging in farming and stock raising until 1891, and is now in the harness business. He was born April 20, 1870, at Hallidaysburg, Pennsylvania. His father, Joseph Vogel, was a contractor. Mr. Vogel received a common school education.

      F. H. GARLASH was born February 9, 1851, in Germany. His father was a farmer, which vocation he has chosen for his own. He came to America June 1, 1877, and came to Nebraska in 1884. He was married to Henrietta Sellner in Bloomington, Illinois, March 2, 1881. Mr. Garlash is a Populist, and is chairman of the County Board of Commissioners of Webster County. He resides at Cowles, Nebraska.

      R. F. RAINES, born November 19, 1867, in Frankport, Illinois, is the son of Raleigh Raines, who was a farmer. Dr. Raines came to Nebraska in 1898 and was engaged in the practice of medicine at Beaver City for three years before going to Red Cloud, where he now resides. He was educated in the common and academic schools and graduated from the Medical College in St. Louis in 1897. He is the Coroner of Webster County and is a Republican. In 1897 he was married to Miss

Helen A. Aitken, and they have two children.

      WILLIAM R. ANDERSON, son of Herrit and Mary Anderson, was born in Sunman, Indiana, October 27, 1857. He came to Nebraska September 27, 1886. He received his education in the common schools, and is now a farmer at Bladen, Nebraska. Mr. Anderson is a Republican and one of the County Commissioners of Webster County.

      A. H. KEENEY was born April 13, 1877, at Cowles, Nebraska, His father, E. H. Keeney, is a stock-feeder and farmer. Mr. Keeney was a member of Company A of the First Nebraska during the Spanish-American war. He traveled for the Aetna Life Insurance Company one year. He is a graduate of the University of Nebraska, having received the titles A. B. and LL. B. Mr. Keeney was elected Judge of Webster County by the Republican party, in 1903, and was only twenty-six years of age when elected. In 1903 he was transportation agent for the B. & M. R. R.

      G. W. HUTCHISON was born in Louisa County, Iowa, July 21, 1867, where he received his education in the common schools. He came to Nebraska in 1878 and has lived in the state ever since. Mr. Hutchison, a Populist, is serving his first term as Clerk of the District Court. He was married to Miss Anna Fogle in 1889, and they have one son. His father was a merchant and he is a grain dealer. He is one of the early settlers of Webster County, having located there before the time of railroads in that section of the country.

     E. S. GARBER was born in Clayton County, Iowa, October 2, 1865, and came to Webster County, Nebraska, when a child, in 1870. He lives on the old. homestead taken by his father, who was among the first settlers of Webster County. He was educated in the public schools of Nebraska and has engaged in farming. He was married, March 3, 1886, to Miss Cora E. Armagast of Jewel County, Kansas, and they have two children. Mr. Gar-