parents in 1879, and has continued his residence here ever since. Upon his farm he is giving evidence of much intelligence and thorough knowledge of his chosen occupation, and it goes without saying that there is a future before him worthy of his enterprise.
   At present our subject is filling the position of appraiser of the Olive Branch Aid Society. He also holds office in the Methodist Episcopal Church Sunday-school, he being Superintendent of the same. He was united in marriage on the 26th of August, 1885, when he took as his wife Miss Louisa Elfeldt, daughter of Charles and Sophia Elfeldt, who were among the first settlers of the precinct. They are parents of one daughter, Cora, who was born Sept. 16, 1887.

DAM LAUTERBACH. The discussion concerning the naturalization laws, arising from their abuse, is always rife, and in some cases would seem to favor extreme measures being devised, but whenever one meets a citizen who has so thoroughly caught the spirit of the country and Government as has our subject, one cannot but be glad for the opportunity which enables the country to derive the advantage of such intelligence and earnest manhood. Mr. Lauterbach, whose home is on section 21, Buda Precinct, is worthy the name of representative as a man and citizen. He is a native of Germany, and was born on the 2d of April, 1838. He is the son of Henry and Catherine E. Lauterbach.
   In June of 1857 our subject took passage at Bremen on a sailing-vessel, and after a most interesting voyage of six weeks landed at Baltimore. He came to Franklin County, Ohio, and for six months following worked as a farm hand, and then removed to Jefferson County, Iowa, working in the same capacity for about three years. At the close of that period he bought a farm of forty acres, and farmed that until he removed to Lancaster County in the spring of 1879. Here he purchased 160 acres in this precinct from the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad Company for $7 per acre. At the time he took the farm there were no improvements made thereon, but fifty acres were broken; to-day it will stand favorable comparison with any of its neighbors. for by personal labor and perseverance he has brought it to a condition of development seldom surpassed. In Iowa our subject worked hard every day from morning until night to obtain what is now his, and has made his own way entirely from the start.
   The 3d of September, 1861, Mr. Lauterbach was united in marriage with Frederica Pfeiffer, whose parents were from Wurtemberg; she was born May 10, 1840, on the Atlantic Ocean, and their family circle included eight children, of whom five are living, whose names are here given: Edward; Julia, wife of William Miller; Eliza, wife of H. Oliver Hoffman; Mary, who is at home; Clara, wife of Christian Shafer. Three are deceased--Lydia, John H. and Martha E.
   Our subject and family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he has served the same in various official positions at different times. He is very active and earnest in Christian work, and as a leader of prayer and other meetings has few equals, and upon occasions he has filled the pulpit with much acceptance. He has upon two different occasions served upon the Grand Jury, and by his intelligent grasp of the situation has done good work. He is quite well educated in his native language, and by his acquirement of the English tongue is largely enabled to apply the same. Politically, his sympathies are with the Republican party, which claims him as one of its stanchest (sic) friends. In every department he is a success, whether upon the farm or other matters, and enjoys the entire confidence and esteem of his neighbors and fellow-citizens.

NDREW J. YOUNG, a prosperous farmer of South Pass, residing on section 28, may well be classed among the pioneers of Nebraska, although not among the first settlers of the State, as he had to endure all the hardships and privations that befell the early comers, before he could bring the 160-acre tract of wild prairie land, that he took up under the provisions of the

Homestead Act, into its present highly cultivated condition, where it ranks among the most fertile and productive farms in this locality.
   Mr. Young is a son of Jackson and Louisa (Van) Young, natives of South Carolina, the father of a sturdy Scotch ancestry, and the mother of thrifty Dutch descent. When his father was a young man he went to Tennessee, and taking up a tract of uncultivated land in a newly settled part of Monroe County, led the life of a pioneer farmer there for many years. He is still a citizen of that county, living in the comforts supplied by his own hard-won earnings, and enjoying the respect of his fellowmen for the honesty and uprightness of a life that has now reached the seventieth milestone that marks man's journey from the cradle to the grave. His good wife, whose sterling qualities made her an object of esteem by all about her, passed away from the scenes of earth in 1883, at the age of sixty-six years Eleven children were born of their union, eight boys and three girls.
   The subject of this sketch, the seventh child of his parents, was born Jan. 8, 1848, in Monroe County, Tenn., and there, amid the pleasant surroundings of the home of his birth, he grew to be a manly, strong, self-reliant lad. His educational advantages were limited, but he made the best of those offered, and supplemented them by his native intelligence and powers of observation, so that he became well informed. When the war broke out it found him a boy of twelve years, intensely interested in the struggle, and as soon as opportunity offered, when he was sixteen years of age, in 1864, he showed his patriotism and loyalty to the Union by joining the brave Tennesseans who had been true to the old flag, and a soldier of the Union army, under Capt. John C. Wright, of the 9th Tennessee Cavalry, he went forth to help fight his country's battles. Although so young, he showed the courage, and efficiency of a veteran, but his honorable-career was cut short for awhile by the capture of the battalion of which he was a member, and he and his comrades were taken prisoners and sent to Belle Isle, and thence to Libby, where they were finally paroled. In February, 1865, our subject joined his regiment again, and was mustered into service a second time at Knoxville, Tenn. After the close of the war he was discharged, having won a praiseworthy and honorable record for bravery on the battle-field, and for his devotion to the Union when it cost much in a Southern State to be true to the stars and stripes. When he left the army Mr. Young returned to his father's farm, and resumed the work that he had dropped to become a soldier. He remained at home with his parents until 1868, when he removed to Missouri, whence he came in the following year to Lancaster County. He took up the Government land that now forms his farm, and immediately commenced its improvement.
   In the years of toil and trial that followed Mr. Young was not wholly without encouragement and assistance, as he was married, in 1872, to Miss Sarah Jane Yeigh, daughter of Frederick and Jane (Fry) Yeigh, who came to Nebraska in 1870. Ten children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Young, six of whom are now living, namely: George, Frank, Martin, Louisa Van, James and Calvin.
   Our subject and his wife are open-hearted, hospitable people, whose undoubted integrity of character commends them to the confidence of the community, of which they are respected members. Mr. Young is independent in his views, and though he is a true Republican in politics, yet he reserves the right to vote for any man whom he deems worthy to uphold the principles of government sanctioned by the Constitution.

ILLIAM H. SNELLING, attorney-at-law, Justice of the Peace for the city of Lincoln and Lancaster County, generally is one of the most noted members of the legal profession in the State of Nebraska. He is a native of Kentucky, born in Mercer County, Nov. 21, 1835, but when he was a small child his parents removed to Morgan County, Ill., where he grew to manhood. His father, Aquilla Snelling, was a native of Woodford County, Ky., Elizabeth, his wife, a daughter of Bartlett McAlister, and she was born in Franklin County, Ky. Her father was born in the Shenandoah Valley, Va., being a descendant of an old Scotch family. The Snellings were of German

origin. After their removal to Morgan County, Ill., they settled on a farm, and Mr. Snelling was extensively engaged in agricultural pursuits there until his death, in 1852. His amiable wife survived him several years, dying in November, 1863. They were people of sterling integrity of character, which made them influential and respected in the community where they made their home. Their married life was blessed to them by the birth of four children, of whom William H. was the eldest.
   Our subject passed his school days in Morgan County, assisting on the farm, when not engaged in his studies, until he was eighteen years old. He then began his career as a teacher, a profession for which he was well equipped both by temperament and education. He diligently pursued his chosen calling until the breaking out of the Civil War, when he abandoned his peaceful vocation to aid his country in her exciting struggle on Southern battle-fields; he enlisted as a private in the 10th Illinois Cavalry, Company I, of which his brother George was Captain. He served in the ranks until 1862, when his efficiency as a soldier in camp and field was duly recognized by his promotion to the position of Commissary Sergeant of Davidson's cavalry, which operated in the Southwest, and combined all the cavalry in that region. On account of sickness, Mr. Snelling was placed on detached duty, and consequently was not with his regiment in all its engagements. He was mustered out with his regiment in February, 1865, having won an honorable record as a faithful and patriotic soldier. After leaving the army our subject returned to Jacksonville, Ill., where he was offered, and accepted, the position in the Provost Marshal's office. In 1866 he was appointed by Secretary McCullough, Assistant Assessor of the United States, an office which he held up to September, 1868, when, for personal reasons, he resigned his position, having discharged its onerous duties with marked ability, and to the entire satisfaction of those concerned. He removed to Macoupin County, Ill., six miles east of Carlinville, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits for some eighteen months. But his health was such that he had to abandon farming. He then resumed his early vocation, and while teaching school studied law, and was admitted to the bar at Carlinville, Ill.
   In the fall of 1872 he was a nominee on the Republican ticket for the office of Prosecuting Attorney for the county, but the county being strongly Democratic, he was defeated with the other candidates of the party. Mr. Snelling remained in politics, being actively engaged in the practice of his profession until 1878, when he removed to Lincoln, Neb. Soon after coming here he formed a co-partnership with a leading lawyer, and this partnership continued for about one year. Mr. Snelling has built up a large practice, and stands high in the profession in the State. In 1887 Mr. Snelling was elected Justice of the Peace for the city of Lincoln and for Lancaster County, a position for which his legal acquirements and other qualifications amply fit him. He is a gentleman of calm and dignified presence, in whose judgment and honor his clients justly repose the utmost confidence, feeling assured that their interests will not suffer in his hands.
   Mr. Snelling was married; May 19, 1868, to Miss Lizzie Lewis, whose acquaintance he made while attending college at Jacksonville, Ill., she being a daughter of John Lewis, a prominent citizen of Macoupin County, Ill. Her gracious presence makes their cozy home the center of true hospitality, whose bounties she dispenses with a free hand, as all know who have crossed its threshold. Three children complete the family circle--Grace, Katie and Warren L. Mr. Snelling is a leading member of the following organizations: The Masonic Lodge, the G. A. R., and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In politics he is a stanch Republican.

R. ALBERT R. TOU VELLE, the popular and able young physician and surgeon of Firth, occupies a distinguished position among the members of the medical profession of Lancaster County. He is descended, as his name indicates, from a renowned French ancestry, and the first representative of the family to leave the old ancestral home in France to become a citizen of this country was Robert Tou Velle, the great-great-grand father of our subject, who crossed the ocean in 1760 and settled at, Baltimore, Md.;

further than that we are told nothing more concerning his history. The paternal grandmother of our subject was, prior to her marriage, a Miss Mary Hall, who was of mingled Scotch and English blood, and was born in Virginia.
   T. G. Tou Velle, the father of our subject, is one of the leading citizens of Mercer County, Ohio, has been prominently identified with the political affairs of that county for many years, and has held public office longer than any other citizen in the county, having faithfully served the public in various official capacities for twenty-seven years. He has served as Recorder, Auditor, and Clerk of the Common Pleas Court, and is at present County Auditor of Mercer County. He has a clean and honorable record as a public man, and his genial, social qualities, combined with the dignity and reserve of a gentleman, render him popular as well as respected. He is a native of Bloomfield, Ohio, and at an early age he became identified with the educational profession as a teacher, in which vocation he engaged for several years. He next turned his attention to the mercantile business, which he carried on in Macedon, Ohio, for six years. He then entered upon his long career as a public official. Mr. Tou Velle has been twice married. His first wife, mother of our subject, was Paulina Langel, a native of Macedon, Ohio. She was a lady of lovely character and refined tastes, and her premature death in 1863, at the age of twenty-four, was a source of sorrow to many friends. She left two children--Albert Ross and William Ellsworth. To his present amiable wife, formerly Miss Mary L. Phelps, Mr. Tou Velle was united in marriage in 1865. One child has blessed their union, Louisa Belle.
   Dr. Tou Velle was born Aug. 10, 1857, at Macedon, Ohio, and he was four years old when his parents removed to Salina, at the time his father began his political life. He attended the public schools in that city, and at the age of thirteen became a messenger boy in the House of Representatives, at Columbus, holding that position during the sessions of legislature from 1870 to 1872, though not strictly in accordance with his father's wish's, as he desired that he should complete his education. At the age of fifteen he entered Mt. Union College, and continued a student there one year. He then began to work in the County Clerk's office, and in 1876 he was appointed Deputy Clerk. He retained that position until he began the study of medicine under Drs. Rush and Tou Velle, both physicians of Salina, and he studied under their direction for two years, thus receiving a fine equipment for entering college. In 1880 he became a student at the Ohio College of Medicine, at Cincinnati, and was graduated therefrom in the class of '82. Dr. Tou Velle then entered upon the practice of his profession in Salina, in connection with his former preceptors. But in the great and growing West he foresaw a broader field of usefulness and a better chance of rising in his beloved profession, and selecting Nebraska as a desirable location, he came here with his family in August, 1882, and established himself in Firth, and has since built up a good practice in this and surrounding towns. He is a skillful and conscientious physician, and his success is well deserved, as he is enthusiastically devoted to his profession.
   Dr. Tou Velle was married, in 1880, to Miss Margaret, daughter of J. E. Blizzard, editor of the Hickman Enterprise, of whom see sketch. Mrs. Tou Velle was born in 1862, in Bellefontain, Ohio. She attended school both in Ohio and Delaware, and finished her education by pursuing a general course at the seminary in Toledo, Ohio. She is well endowed mentally and physically, and is in full sympathy with her husband in his work, and takes pride in his advancement. This pleasant household is completed by the one son that has been born to the Doctor and his wife, Mortimer Leslie, a bright boy of seven years. The Doctor is a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, and is at present holding the office of Senior Deacon. He takes a deep interest in politics, and is a firm supporter of the policy pursued by the Democratic party; he is also a member of the Knights of Pythias.

ILLIAM H. AMES, in the spring of 1880, made his way from Venango County, Pa., to Nebraska, settling on his present farm in Yankee Hill Precinct, where he cultivated 160 acres in that thorough and systematic manner which

seldom fails to be productive of good results. With the assistance of an intelligent and efficient wife, he has accumulated a good property and attained to a desirable position among his neighbors. Upon turning to the view of the home and part of the farm of our subject, not only the general outline thereof, but some details of arrangement, construction, extent, etc., will be at once obtained, and it would be well if referred to in this connection as making plain what must otherwise be but imperfectly conceived in the mind of the reader. He is a man of decided ideas, being, with Mrs. Ames, a zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and a Prohibitionist in politics.
   Our subject was born in the northwestern part of New York State, in Orleans County, Feb. 14, 1849, and is the son of Thomas J. and Elizabeth (Watson) Ames, who were natives of England, and emigrated to America after their marriage, about 1831. The father was a carpenter and joiner by occupation, and the household circle numbered eleven children, nine of whom survive, namely: George, James and Robert, residents of Michigan; William H., our subject; Charles, who lives near Philadelphia, Pa.; Oscar, of Venango County, that State; Elizabeth, of Allegany County, N. Y.; Mary, of Jamestown, and Nellie, of Minda, N. Y.
   The parents of our subject, in 1859, when the latter was a lad ten years of age, removed from Orleans to Allegany County, N. Y., almost directly south and not far from the State line, where William H. resided with them upon a farm until a youth of nineteen years. Then, ambitious to start out for himself, he made his way to Kalamazoo, Mich., and from there, in 1869, turned his steps eastward to Venango County, Pa., where he lived until 1880, and which place was the residence of one of his brothers. There he formed the acquaintance of Miss Mary Babcock, which ripened into a mutual attachment, and they united their lives and fortunes on the 9th of April, 1872, the wedding taking place at the home of the bride in Delaware Township, Mercer Co., Pa.
   Mrs. Mary Ames was born in Mercer County on the western line of Pennsylvania, April 28, 1849, and is the daughter of Oran and Cornelia (Cheasman) Babcock, who were natives of New York State and took up their residence in Pennsylvania before their marriage. She was reared in her native county and was one of a family of eleven children, the offspring of three marriages of her father. Of these the following survive: Sylvanus R., of Mercer County, Pa.; Sarah E., Mrs. John Remley, of Delaware; Oran, of Salamanca, N. Y.; Marcy, the wife of Alexis Ewing, of Crawford County, Pa..; Hester, of Cattaraugus County, N. Y.; Gilbert B., of Mercer County, Pa., and Mrs. Ames, the wife of our subject.
   Our subject and his wife embarked in life together with little of this world's goods, but with strong hands and willing hearts, making their first home in Pennsylvania, where our subject was engaged as an engineer until 1880. Their union has been blessed by the birth of four children: Arthur T., born Aug. 3, 1873, and died March 14,1875, in Pennsylvania; Albert A. was born April 24, 1876; William H., Jr., Sept. 14, 1877, and Rial E., July 31, 1881, the latter only being a native of Nebraska.

OHN J. MEYER is a son of John H. and Eliza Meyer, now residing in Saltillo Precinct. His parents are natives of Germany, who emigrated to America many years ago, the father being now over seventy years and the mother more than sixty years old. Our subject was born on the 14th of April, 1847, in Clayton County, Iowa, where he lived until the years of manhood and received his education in the district schools. He came to Lancaster County when he was but a young man, and in 1869 he received from the Government eighty acres of land on section 28, Buda Precinct, on which he has since made his home. He has added to that amount by subsequent purchase, and is now the owner of 320 acres of land in Buda Precinct and one section in Cheyenne County, Kan.
   When our subject first came into possession of his land his financial condition was not such that he could make many improvements on it, and for the first and second years of his residence here he was in the employ of others, in the meantime making what improvements he could on his own land, and,

for a number of years engaged in running a threshing-machine during the harvesting season. He has had to pass through many struggles in working his way upward, and in common with all the early settlers he had to undergo many hardships and privations and be content with such things as he could get. With the perseverance that has characterized his whole life he still kept on his way, and after he secured a firm footing on the road to success, the remainder of the journey was made with more ease, and he accumulated his present wealth.
   Mr. Meyer was married, on the 13th of March, 1873, to Louisa Heidecker, who is also a native of Iowa, and a daughter of Christian and Barbara Heidecker. The parents of Mrs. Meyer came from Iowa to Buda Precinct in the year 1869, and are numbered among the early pioneers of this county. The experience of our subject has been similar to that of all who have taken possession of new land in this county at an early day, his labors consisting in breaking the before untilled soil, dividing the farm into fields of convenient size for planting and tending, building a house, barn and fences, and in various ways adding improvements to make a beautiful landscape from a tract of barren land.
   Our subject is not so deeply engrossed with his occupation that he does not have time to look to the welfare of the public, but on the other hand he takes an active interest in the educational, political and religious movements of the day. For a number of years he has been the School Moderator of his district, and for a time he has acted in the capacity of Road Supervisor. He is an advocate of the policy of the Republican party, and one of the leading German citizens of his precinct, well worthy an honorable mention in this collection of biographies. He is a member of the German Lutheran Church, of which he has served in official capacity, and is esteemed because of his own moral worth.

BURCK. Among the different institutions of this county, and one which is offered to every citizen, but for various reasons almost an impossibility to natives of the Old World, is that of a home of their own, erected upon ground to which they hold the title. This possibility attracts countless numbers of the best citizens of European countries, where, despite a lifetime of toil, comparatively few can own such a property. Buda Precinct has received a large number of such, and to-day they are the possessors of cozy, comfortable farm buildings and homes in the midst of their own broad acres. Among those who have established themselves in the above precinct, whose home is one of the pleasantest, and whose farm is one of the most flourishing, is the subject of the present sketch, who resides upon section 22.
   Mr. Burck was born in Semlow, Prussia, on the 4th of August, 1835, and is the son of John and Mary Burck, both natives of the same country. He was reared to the estate of manhood there, receiving a good education in his native tongue, and has since acquired quite a good understanding of English. From the time of leaving school he gave his attention to farming, in order that in later years he might have the means of supporting himself and those who might be dependent upon him.
   Our subject, in October, 1862, was united in marriage with Mary Knuck. To them have been born four children, whose names are recorded is follows: Reaca, born on the 20th of November, 1865; Lizzie, June 1, 1867; Bessie, Nov. 10, 1869; and Frank, Dec. 7, 1871. The two elder children of our subject were born in Germany, and accompanied their parents to America in the summer of 1868. The Atlantic passage was made in one of the Hamburg steamers, and occupied seventeen days, landing them in the city of New York.
   Life in the New World began in Cook County, Ill., whither the family proceeded immediately upon their arrival, and remained for two years, during which time our subject was occupied in day labor. At the end of the two years a removal was made to McHenry County, which was their home until the spring of 1883, when they removed to Lancaster County, and settled upon their present farm. The change from McHenry brought with it a change of occupation. At McHenry our subject had been employed by the Northwestern Railway Company, as switchman. and was placed in charge of the engine water tank. Now he is fully occupied with his farm, and has seen a very large measure of success