and now deceased. The father died when Mrs. Reitz was quite young, and her mother passed away soon after her marriage with Mr. Reitz. In March, 1878, Mr. Reitz came to Nebraska, and in the autumn of that year settled on section 27, Waverly Precinct, which has been his home ever since. He owns a well-improved farm of 120 acres of good land, and though only a young man is already prominent among the agriculturists of Lancaster County. He is in love with his vocation, preferring it to any other, and his farm, which is in many respects a model one, is a silent but forcible witness of the fact. When a young man he taught school for some time, while he has also followed railroading, and just previous to coming to Nebraska he operated a grocery store at Fisher's Ferry, and was also Postmaster at that place. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Reitz has been blessed by the birth of three children, two of whom, Clinton B. and Rollin E., still survive. In politics Mr. Reitz is a Republican, but does not confine himself strictly to party lines, but votes as his judgement dictates.
   David Reitz, the second son of our subject, was born in Northumberland County, Pa., June 11, 1848, and was reared to farm pursuits, at the same time receiving a common-school education. He was united in marriage, in 1872, with Lydia Bailey, who was born in Potter County, Pa. Mr. and Mrs. Reitz came to Nebraska in 1874, and finally settled on section 33, Waverly Precinct, where they purchased a tract of eighty acres of unimproved land. They have no children of their own, but are rearing an adopted daughter, Orlie Dicker. In polities, David Reitz affiliates with the Republican party, and supports it on all vital questions. Mr. Reitz, our subject, has always voted the straight Democratic ticket, and was Postmaster four years at Fisher's Ferry, Pa.

EWIS WILLMAN. The Queen City is situated in one of the prettiest and most productive counties of Ohio. Hamilton County may well be proud of the enterprise, commercial importance, wealth and distinguished citizenship of Cincinnati, and the city proud of the surpassingly beautiful county in which it is situated, containing as it does the greater part of the magnificent Miami Valley, being composed of some of the most fertile and highly productive soil in the country, and comprising that particularly happy variety of scenery, where hill and dale, hillock and glen, interspersed by velvety glade and shady park-land, are constantly blending.
   Upon one of the beautiful farms of the above county was born, Feb. 5, 1852, he whose biography is here presented in succinct form, and whose fine property upon section 17, Centerville Precinct, and his well-known prosperity, character, and public spirit, demand mention in these pages. Our subject is the son of Charles and Henrietta Willman. After his father's death his mother became the wife of Mr. Rudolph Fishwood, a resident of Indiana, now residing at Swanton, in this State.
   Until about fifteen years of age our subject continued at home with the rest of the family and his step-father, and then removed to Ripley County, Ind., and engaged with a farmer. Here he received some education in the district school. From Ripley he came to this county in the spring of 1874, and took up a tract of eighty acres, upon which he still resides, and has improved it from its original prairie state until it is to-day one of the best cultivated farms of the entire district.
   Four years after his settlement upon his farm, Mr. Willman was married to Catherine Freye, daughter of Henry and Eleanor Freye, of whom a sketch appears upon another page. The former is deceased. Their children numbered five, and are recorded as here appended: Agnes, Edwin, Irvin, Alma and Alice. The wife of our subject has proved in every relation and happening of wedded life, faithful, true and competent, and has nobly stood by the side of her husband during every time of trial, adversity or success, sharing them with him in every point, cheering, encouraging and inspiring him. She is one whose children will rise up in the day of their maturity of experience, and call blessed.
   Remembering the Latin proverb, Vincit qui patitur, "He conquers who endures," our subject is most praise worthy, because the success which marks his life is solely the result of his own effort and

ambition, excepting only the foundation work, which was provided by the schooling given him by his mother, and the constant assistance rendered by his faithful wife. Mr. and Mrs. Willman are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in good standing, and our subject has been School Treasurer for a period of two years, also Clerk of the Election Board. He is widely known in the county as worthy of the esteem and regard which are freely accorded to him, and also to his family. His political sympathies, loyalty, and study of governmental questions, have led him to give his support and influence to the Republican party.

EV. S. H. D. VAUGHAN. There is, perhaps, no profession that has more affected the world than that of the ministry, instilling as it does thoughts of the highest moral and spiritual import, and presenting as the object of life the most perfect human, yet Godlike character, linked with a hope that reaches beyond the confines of the terrestrial, and brings into the otherwise faulty, cheerless and incomplete life the hope of larger and better things in the life that is to be, without which hope the question of the moralist and sage, "Is life worth living?" would necessarily be answered in the negative.
   In presenting this sketch it is the endeavor to set before the reader in succinct form the leading incidents in the life of one who needs no introduction to the citizens of Lincoln, being well known by reason of his high Christian character and effectiveness is a worker in the profession he has chosen. Mr. Vaughan is a native of Cato, Cayuga Co., N. Y., born on the 12th of May, 1824. His father, Isaac Vaughan, was a farmer by occupation, and a native of Washington County, N. Y., where he was also reared to manhood, removing to Cayuga County in the days of its early settlement. There he took a tract of timberland, and clearing for himself a farm, erected his lot; cabin, and so on, after the order of the pioneer. Here he died in 1843.
   The maiden name of the wife of Isaac Vaughan, and the mother of our subject, was Betsey Ann Ferris, a native of the same State as her husband. She became the mother of six children, of whom two were daughters, both of whom died in early life. It was her privilege to bring to years of maturity her four sons, and to see them enter honorable positions in life. The death of this lady occurred in Michigan, at the home of her son, the subject of this biography, in the month of May, 1851.
   Our subject was the youngest of the family, and was reared upon the farm. His education was obtained in the usual institutions, where he developed an aptitude for study and a quickness of intellect above the average. The religious experience of our subject dates from his twelfth year. At that time he was brought under conviction regarding the truth of those things, and was received into the communion of the Baptist Church. When he had reached about twenty years of age he came west to Michigan, via the Erie Canal and the lakes to Monroe, thence by rail to Hillsdale, where he commenced teaching in Reading Township, continuing there for a period of three years. He then became a student of theology in the seminary at Kalamazoo.
   Mr. Vaught was ordained as preacher of the Baptist Church, at Dowagiac, Cass Co., Mich., upon his graduation in July, 1851. His pastorate in that place extended over a period of twelve years, when he resigned and took charge of the church at Lacon, Ill., for which he preached three years, and then returned to Michigan, and, after a like period, was in pastoral charge at Plymouth. From there he went to Minnesota, and became the pastor of a church at Hastings. In this place he built a residence and continued his ministrations for another three years. The next period of the same duration was spent with the church at DeWitt, Iowa, whence he removed to Prairie City, McDonough Co., Ill., where he remained the same length of time, removing in 1878 to Lincoln, where, on account of ill health, he has latterly lived a retired life.
   In February, 1853, Mr. Vaughan was united in marriage with Mary B. Dodsley, who departed this life on the 25th of May, 1869, leaving our subject with three children, viz: Carrie, who afterward married the Rev. J. H. Scott; Ceron and Mamie L., both of whom are single and reside at home.