of buildings, dwelling, barns, etc., has a fine grove and plenty of fruit trees, all of which he set out with his own hands. The farm is well watered, and exceedingly productive.
   In our subject this community finds a useful citizen, his neighbors a kind friend, and his family a good husband and father. In their religious views both Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery favor the Southern branch of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Politically, Mr. Montgomery is a true Democrat.

NGUS McEACHRAN, a worthy representative of the agricultural interests of Highland Precinct, came to this part of the county in February, 1877, and operates 160 acres of land pleasantly situated on section 13. Most of this is under a fine state of cultivation, and has been brought to its present condition by our subject. It was a wild and unbroken tract at the time of his taking possession, having been the property of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad.
   The subject of this notice was born on the other side of the Atlantic, in Argyleshire, Scotland, Dec. 4,1820, and traces his ancestry back to a long line of one of the best nationalities in the world. His father, John McEachran, was a farmer and carpenter combined, and spent his entire life in his native Argyleshire, dying there at the age of fifty-nine. The mother, Mrs. Catherine (McIsaac) McEachran, was a native of the same section of country as her husband and son, and spent her entire life in Argyleshire, dying at the advanced age of ninety-five years.
   The subject of this sketch was the third child of a large family born to his parents, the most of whom died in early childhood. He was reared near the place of his birth. He was united in marriage to Miss Margaret McEachran, who was born and reared near his own home, and was also of pure Scotch ancestry. After marriage the young couple began life together on a rented farm, where they continued until resolving to emigrate to the United States.
   Our subject with his family, in the spring of 1860, embarked at Liverpool on a sailing-vessel bound for America, and coming directly westward, located first in Winnebago County, Ill., where he rented land, but sixteen years later made his way to this county. His family includes seven children, a part of whom, however, have fled from the home nest. John, the eldest, married Miss Mary Conway, and carries on his trade of miller at Milford, in this State; Hugh is operating a farm in Highland Precinct; Flora is the wife of J. R. Sharp, a well-to-do farmer of Valley County; Catherine, Charles and Dan (twins), and Lizzie continue at home with their parents. Mr. McEachran gives his attention mainly to his farm and his family, having little to do with political affairs, but uniformly votes the Republican ticket.

L. FISCHER has been very prominent among the people of Lancaster County, and although on Nov. 15, 1884, he passed away to enjoy the recompense of his useful life, his memory still lives, and his honorable and successful career stands forth as a fitting example of what can be done by earnest and constant effort. He was one of the leading farmers of the vicinity of Olive Branch Precinct, his house being located on the county line between Saline and Lancaster Counties. The homestead consisted of 160 acres of good and well-improved land, and besides this he owned other large tracts of land, part in Big Blue Precinct and part in Olive Branch. He had become a large stock-raiser and was usually very successful in his undertakings, being well known as a good, honest, worthy citizen, and a man of standing.
   Our subject was born in Bavaria, Germany, in 1826, and had ample reason to be proud of the pure German ancestry from which he sprang. His father had been a successful farmer in Germany, but he died before his son, our subject, was very old. The gentleman of whom we write was reared in his native State, and in the year 1848 he came alone and single to the United States, preferring to locate at Oswego, Ill. For two years he farmed in Kendall County, and went thence to Grundy County, Ill., where he purchased 160 acres of land, on which he worked until he came to Nebraska. In 1854, while living in Grundy County, Ill., he

was united in marriage to Miss Barbara Krug, who was also a native of Bavaria, Germany, her birth having occurred on the 27th of January, 1836.
   The father of Mrs. Fischer, John C. Krug, was a farmer of Bavaria, in which place he married his wife, Barbary Dialine, and after the birth of all their children they came to the United States, in 1852. They located on a farm in Grundy County, Ill., and there the father and mother died, being aged about fifty-two and sixty years respectively. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Fischer began life is farmers, and improved their farm of 160 acres in Illinois, leaving it, however, in the year 1874, for Nebraska, where they resided until the death of the husband. Since her bereavement Mrs. Fischer has managed the farm successfully, being entitled to the praise and honor which rightly belong to any woman who has successfully labored to fill the position in life in which she is placed. She is the mother of nine children.
   With the exception of one child the family of Mrs. Fischer are all living, and recorded as follows: Mary was married to Mr. H. G. Walage, residing at Crete, and has two children; Maggie became the wife of C. Durring, and lives on a farm in Saline County, Neb.; William married Miss Barbary Fix; they live in Seward County, Neb., and are engaged in farming; George J. (see sketch); Minnie became the wife of William Elfeldt, and lives on a farm in Lancaster County; Louisa, the present wife of H. G. Walage, and Charles, Ellen L. and Augusta C., all at home with their mother. Our subject while living, and his wife and children, are members of the German Methodist Episcopal Church, of Olive Branch, and the former was a member of the Republican political party. As a man of upright, holiest character, who abhorred trickery and deceit, he had won a position of esteem and confidence among honest men. We present the portraits of Mr. Fischer and his wife in this connection.

HARLES WESSEL has been for several years a prominent factor in developing and sustaining the great agricultural interests of Lancaster County, and the fine farm that he has improved from the wild prairies, beautifully located on section 30, South Pass Precinct, comprising 230 acres of the richest and most arable land in this region shows him to he a skillful and competent farmer, and the income that he derives therefrom places him among the most substantial and well-to-do citizens of the place.
   Mr. Wessel is a Prussian by birth and breeding, as were also his parents, Charles and Mary (Cutmeyer) Wessel, they having been born near the village of Tangan, in Westphalia. His mother died in the Fatherland when he was thirteen years of age, in 1852, when she was forty years old. A true wife and a loving and devoted mother was thus taken away from her husband and the five children who were growing up around them, some of them at the age when they most needed a mother's tender care. The names of her offspring were Christian, Mary, Charles F., Fred (deceased) and Henry. All the family, with the exception of our subject, reside in Woodford County, Ill. His father belonged to the middle classes in his native country, and was there engaged in farming, which occupation he has carried on in Illinois since coming to the United States, and by his industrious, honest and upright life, he has won respect and esteem from all about him.
   The subject of this sketch began to attend the Prussian schools at an early age, and as a bright scholar made rapid progress in his studies in the scientific course that he pursued. He also received religious as well as secular instruction, and was confirmed at the age of fourteen. After leaving school he began to learn the tailor's trade, but, not liking it, he preferred to work out on a farm. When our subject was eighteen years old, in company with his brother Christian and sister Mary, he set sail from Bremen on the American-bound ship "Asclelius," and after a long voyage of nine weeks and two days, handed in New Orleans in the latter part of October, 1857. From that city they proceeded on a steamer up the Mississippi River to Burlington. Iowa. Our subject soon found work in that city as an employe of William Brickman, with whom he remained one year. He contin (sic) to work out, as did his brother and sister, and they faithfully saved their earnings to liquidate a small