stock. The farm land of Mr. Herdman's farm is very valuable, worth at least $600 per acre.
   The Methodist Episcopal Church has in our subject and his family, all of whom are members of the church, very strong supporters and warm friends. They are among its most earnest and consistent members, and are accorded its most entire confidence. As a family, and also as individuals, their place is in the front rank of our citizens. Politically their sentiments lead them to affiliate with the Democratic party, to the principles of which they are attached. The candidates of that party always find in this family warm friends and earnest advocates.

P. BENADOM. Our subject is a descendant of the Rev. John Benadom, the revered founder of the United Brethren Church. He was a native of Germany, was quite a learned man, and took pains to educate all of his children. He came to the United States and settled in Ohio, and there, it is supposed, his son George, the father of our subject, was born. He was reared and educated in that State. and became prominently identified with the educational interests of his native State, being one of the best mathematicians of his day, and at the time of his death was Professor of Mathematics in Mt. Vernon College, Lancaster, Ohio. He was also an active business man, and at the time of his death in 1834, was a contractor on the Ohio Canal. His partner made way with the funds and left his family in impoverished circumstances. His wife, whose maiden name was Hannah Myers, was a native of Ohio, and spent her last years in Fairfield, that State, dying in 1838. She was a woman who filled in every respect the perfect measure of wife, mother, friend. Of her marriage ten children were born, nine of whom grew to maturity.
   He of whom we write was born near Lancaster, Fairfield Co., Ohio, Nov. 13, 1826, and was only eight years old when his father died, and twelve years old when his mother's death made him an orphan, and from that time he has made his own way in the world. If his father had lived our subject would doubtless have received the education that he craved, but the bright, manly lad was forced instead to earn his own bread by working on a farm. He married in his eighteenth year, and in 1846, accompanied by his wife, he started for the west, taking all his effects in a wagon drawn by a blind horse, having in his pocket but $52, all the cash that he owned. He located in Jones County, Iowa, and was one of the pioneers there, from that time taking an active part in developing the resources of Iowa, and was prominently connected with the organization of the State. He states that at the time he crossed the Mississippi River he could count every building in Davenport. It was some years before a railway connected Olin, the town where he located, with the outside world, and Muscatine, forty miles distant, was the nearest market and depot for supplies. When he first located there the country was so sparsely settled that his patrons came from fifteen to twenty miles to his smithy. He continued prosperously engaged as a blacksmith, having entered into partnership with another man when he first located in Olin, for a number of years. In 1856 he took the contract to carry the mails from Olin to Davenport, and was appointed Postmaster by Buchanan, which office he resigned in 1862. He resided in Iowa until 1868, and during that time had witnessed the development of Jones County from a wild, uncultivated country to a well settled, wealthy county. In the year just mentioned Mr. Benadom sold out there and came to Lincoln, to begin life anew as a pioneer. He came as far as East Nebraska City, then the western terminus of the railway, and performed the rest of the journey to Lincoln on a stage. Lincoln was then but a small hamlet, consisting mostly of log buildings, and the greater part of the surrounding country was wild prairie land owned by the Government and State. Elk, antelopes and deer were plenty, and our subject being a good shot and fond of hunting, killed a great many wild animals. In three nights he killed twenty-one wolves inside of the incorporated limits of the city, a startling illustration of the wild and unsettled condition of the country that can scarcely be credited to-day, twenty years later, by one who passes through these broad avenues of commerce

and sees on every hand indications of wealth and prosperity in the busy traffic going, in the fine business buildings, and in the stately, beautiful dwellings on every side. When he first came here Mr. Benadom commenced dealing in furs, and for twelve years handled all the furs sold in Lincoln. In 1869 he entered into the business of building dams, and in six years time had constructed thirty-nine dams in different parts of Nebraska. Some years after coming to Lincoln he bought wild land, which he improved, and he is now the owner of 320 acres of well-improved land in Thayer County, and also owns other land there. He erected two blocks in the city of Carleton, one of which he still owns, and he has erected several houses in Lincoln.
   Mr. Benadom has been twice married. Fidelia Burroughs, his first wife, was born in Vermont, and died in Iowa in 1866, leaving eight children--Almina, Emma, Mary, George W., Alice, Wilfred, and two who died in infancy. The second marriage of our subject, which occurred in 1867, was to Miss Hannah Jones, and to them two children have been born, but they are now dead. Mr. Benadom is a man of sound principles, is trustworthy as a citizen, and his character in private life is unassailable. In politics he is a stanch Democrat, and at the same time a strong Prohibitionist.

ORNELIUS WISMER is a partner in the firm of Rowerdink & Wismer, dealers in general merchandise, at Hickman, Neb. His parents, John and Frona (Boelkens) Wismer, were natives. of Holland, in which country they were married. The husband was a farmer, and they emigrated to America in 1852, settling in Sheboygan County, Wis., where he bought a farm, and continued until his death, at the age of fifty-four years, in 1876. The mother still resides in Sheboygan County, aged sixty years, having been the mother of ten children, four boys and six girls.
   Our subject, the second child, was born on the 14th of September, 1848, in Holland. He has but a faint remembrance of his Fatherland, having been but four years old when he was brought to America, and the long voyage of seven weeks on the sailing vessel has left but little impression on his mind. He grew up at Sheboygan on the farm, and his parents being in moderate circumstances he began to work out at an early age, the acquiring of an education being limited to a few months in the winter time. Realizing the importance of all education, and denied many of the privileges of securing it, he spent his leisure time in general reading, and thus acquired a splendid stock of information on general topics.
   In 1869, in company with his cousin, N. Poort, Mr. Wismer came to Nebraska, stopping for a time in Lincoln, and thence going out in search of land, he took a homestead of 160 acres in South Pass Precinct, clearing it of all incumbrance by 1874. Previous to this time, in 1873, he was united in marriage to Miss Hannah Wissink, a daughter of Martin and Emma Wissink. Mrs. Wismer was the third of a family of seven children born in Sheboygan County, Wis., the date of her birth being in 1855. She enjoyed the advantages of the common schools, and came to Nebraska a miss of thirteen with her parents, who had come to Wisconsin from Holland, afterward moving to Nebraska, in 1869. The father took up a homestead, and is now very comfortably situated, residing with his son in South Pass, being sixty-two years old. The mother of Mrs. Wismer died in 1874, which loss was much mourned by her family.
   After marriage our subject continued on his farm until 1883, when he went into partnership with Mr. Rowerdink in general merchandise. He still owns his farm, which he has well cultivated, and improved with good buildings. There is an orchard of 200 trees, containing apple, plum, cherry and other fruit trees. He built the store in which the firm is now doing business, and his trade steadily increased until now it is second to none in Hickman, the public appreciating the fair manner in which it has been treated by the firm as a house of strict integrity. The firm of Rowerdink & Wismer will always be remembered by its appreciation and numerous customers.
   The subject of our sketch is the father of seven children, all living at home; their names are as follows: Martha, Jennie, Tilda, Frank, John, Daniel and Oscar. The father is a member of the Dutch