whom three are still living. We here append their names as they appear in the family record: Eliza, Harmon, Oscar and Orville (twins), Sarah, Jeremiah J. (our subject), Bezaleel H. and Susan.
   In 1807 the father of our subject, moved to Ohio and settled in Portage County. There he purchased a tract of land and set to work to improve it. He removed the timber from the whole of it, put it under the plow, erected his house, and in fact did everything to make it pleasant and profitable as a home and farm. He continued his residence there until his death, which occurred about 1861. His wife, the mother of Jeremiah J., died July 27, 1878.
   Our subject was born in a little pioneer log house in Atwater, Ohio. on the 24th of January, 1818. His life began to be a busy one while he was quite small, for pioneers were busy people, and there was work for all except the veritable occupant of the cradle. What education was obtainable was given to him by the teacher of the common school, after which he spent one year in Cuyahoga Institute. After completing his studies in the latter place he began teaching in a brick school-house in Randolph Township, Portage County, and was thus employed four months. The laudable ambition which was his as a young man refused to be satisfied with such a position, and he was careful to make himself ready for something better in this profession. He rose step by step, and when he retired from active duty was the Principal of the Jefferson Seminary at Wellsburg, W. Va., of which institution he had become owner. After about twenty-five years spent in instructing the men and women of the future Mr. Jones retired in 1849 from the profession of the pedagogue, and then became a daguerreotypist, being the third of this craft in the United States. He continued for three years, extending his business and making a good deal of money. At the end of that period he turned his attention to the more toothsome practice of dentistry, which he continued to follow for twenty-two years.
   From West Virginia Mr. Jones removed to Wisconsin in the spring of 1845. His residence in that State extended over a period of twenty-five years, during which he was engaged in professional and official life, being Clerk of the Court of Waupaca County, Deputy Sheriff, Marshal, Constable, and Town Superintendent of Schools, also Chairman of the Board of Supervisors. He also owned and conducted the Exchange Hotel. While connected with the latter he was called to Madison, where he instituted the proceedings that finally unseated Gov. Barstow and gave Gov. Bashford his rightful seat.
   In the fall of the year 1868 our subject sold out his business and personal property and came to the city of Lincoln. On the day of his arrival efforts were made to ascertain the exact population of Lincoln, and the total number, including visitors, prospectors and residents of all ages, numbered 720 persons, so that our subject must be reckoned among the early settlers of this city. He set to work to build a store, working at it largely himself, he putting up a frame building, and although the month was January the weather was so remarkably warm, that, in common with others likewise engaged, Mr. Jones was compelled to remove his coat. As soon as the store was finished he put in the first stock of clear groceries ever brought to Lincoln. In this business he continued with much prosperity for ten years, and occupied the ground where the southwest corner of the First National Bank now stands.
   Ashland was the next place of residence, and thither our subject removed in 1875, in order to take charge of the County Treasurer's office, with which he was connected thirteen months. He then returned to Lincoln, and engaged in the provision and feed business about twelve months, when he bought his present farm, but found after a residence of one year that the condition of the health of his wife rendered it absolutely necessary that they return to town. Accordingly he repaired to Lincoln, built a house, into which, is soon as it was completed, he removed, and from that time until her death devoted himself to his invalid partner and lived very quietly and retired.
   Mrs. Jones was the daughter of James J. Saxton, and a sister of Col. A. M. Saxton, of St. Joseph, Mo. She was born at Elyria, Ohio, Oct. 31, 1826. Her education was acquired in her native town and she afterward removed with her parents to Rochester, Wis., where she lived at the time she became acquainted with our subject. This lady was the true

and faithful companion of her husband in all the changes of his life, a thorough helpmate, and through the weariness of her last illness, which extended over a period of seven years, she bore with Christian fortitude her trials and suffering. She passed to her last rest Sept. 5, 1887, the cause being general disintegration of the nervous system, owing to excessive nervous prostration. Both Mr. and Mrs. Jones were for thirty years devoted members of the Episcopal Church, and largely instrumental in the establishment of the present church at Lincoln. By personal effort and using their influence with others for the advancement of the city in matters religious and Christian, they were marked in the community as among its most efficient members.
   The father of Mrs. Jones was by trade a brickmaker, and was prosperous in his business. He also worked his own farm most successfully. He was a prominent member and energetic worker with the Masonic fraternity. in which he held a high office. Mr. Jones makes his residence in Lincoln on the corner of B and Ninth streets, which valuable property he owns. In politics he is a stanch Republican.
   As a prominent and useful citizen of Lancaster County, it is eminently proper that the portrait of Mr: Jones should he added to the list of those the originals of which this region delights to honor, and we herewith present it to our readers.

OSEPH RAWSON WEBSTER, attorney-at-law, and a resident of Lancaster County since October, 1869, was born at Bombay. India, under American passport, May 5, 1839, and is a native of Victor, N. Y. His parents became residents of Indiana in 1848, settling in Lagrange County during its pioneer days and soon after it began to be the resort of the white element. The common schools of the backwoods afforded him all the advantages for education which he received until he was fifteen years old.
   A short time previously to this there had been established the Lagrange Collegiate Institute, of which young Webster now became a student, and in 1858 entered Wabash College, at Crawfordsville, Ind., from which he was graduated at the head of his class in June, 1862. Clearing the forest, general farm work and labor in the sawmill of his father, were the employments of his youth, relieved with the frontier sports of the rifle and fishing rod or rowing the canoe in the streams and lakes. Reading by the generous fireplace in the log cabin supplemented the education of the common school.
   On the evening of President Lincoln's first call for three-months volunteers by which it was hoped to quell the Rebellion, young Webster enlisted in Company I, 11th Indiana Infantry, under the command of Gen. Lew Wallace, and spent his time as a volunteer soldier in the valley of Virginia. At the expiration of that service he returned to college, and in July, 1862, re-enlisted, and was elected Captain of Company G, 88th Indiana Infantry, in which he subsequently was commissioned Major. In 1864 he was made a Lieutenant Colonel of the 44th United States Colored Infantry, which he had raised, and served with that regiment until January, 1866.
   Col. Webster now resigned his commission, and taking up his residence in Bolivar County, Miss., engaged in cotton planting until the spring of 1869. That year he returned to the North, intending to locate at Council Bluffs, Iowa, but in the fall took up his abode in Lincoln instead, where he embarked in the practice of law. A few months previously, as the result of close application to his law books between the campaigns of his army life, he had been admitted to the bar at Glenwood, Iowa, and now entered upon the professional course which brought him subsequently both reputation and gain.
   After becoming fully established in business with a fair prospect of a competency, Mr. Webster contracted a matrimonial alliance, June 12, 1873, with Miss Sarah Cooper Thompson, who was born in Lagrange County, Ind., Oct. 14. 1837, and was the daughter of Col. Aaron Thompson, of Lima at that time, but formerly of Newark, N. J. The only child of this union is Miss Joy Louisa, who was born March 14, 1874.
   In his military service,, besides many minor engagements, Col. Webster participated in the general actions of Chaplin Hill, Ky., Oct. 8. 1862; Stone River, Tenn., December 31 to Jan. 3, 1863; Chickamauga, Sept. 25, 1863; the siege of Chattanooga, advance on Atlanta, and the siege and battle of Nash-

ville. During the years 1873-74 Col. Webster was Attorney General of Nebraska, and County Judge in 1878-79, retiring from the latter office in January, 1880. Since that time he has been engaged in a general law practice with successful results, acquiring a fair competence. Although mixing very little with politics, he supports the Republican party. He identified himself with the G. A. R. during the early days of its organization, being now a member of the Farragut Post, at Lincoln.
   Elijah Ashley Webster, the father of our subject, was of the seventh generation in descent from John Webster, who emigrated from Warwickshire, England, in 1630, settling first near Boston, Mass. Subsequently he removed to Hartford, Conn., and was Governor of the colony during 1656 and until 1659. He was born at Whitesboro, N. Y., Feb. 20, 1813, and was the son of Uri and Mercy (Ashley) Webster, who removed to the vicinity of Honeoye, that State, and in early life began his apprenticeship at the printer's trade. He was married, April 12, 1835, to Mariette, daughter of Joseph Rawson and wife, the latter having been a Miss Arnold.
   Mrs. Mariette Webster was born in West Stockbridge, Mass., in 1811, and with her family subsequently removed to Victor, N. Y. Immediately after their marriage our subject and his bride sailed for Bombay, India, where Mr. Webster took charge of the publishing house of the American Board of Foreign Missions, and himself cut the matrices for casting the type for the Mahratta translation of the Bible. This he did so excellently that he produced a font of type more clear, neat and legible than that then in use at the Mission Press, and so reduced from the former clumsy character in use that the Scriptures were reduced in bulk to one-fourth the size of the former volume. He was a man of great personal courage, and at the peril of his life, being taken entirely exhausted from the water, assisted in the rescue of troops from two transports wrecked at the entrance of the harbor during the monsoon. He was highly mentioned for that service in the Bombay Gazette, the official organ of the East India Government.
   A man of prominence and influence wherever his lot was cast, the father of our subject was active mentally and physically, with remarkable powers of memory, a poetic imagination, decided literary tastes and progressive ideas. He was a close observer, a clear reasoner, fluent and versatile in language, an instructive companion, a welcome ally, and a respected opponent in debate. He was always active in educational, religious, Sunday-school and social work, both from inclination and as a matter of patriotic duty, believing this to be for the safety of the Republic of social order and of progress, in all of which he was ably seconded and aided by his estimable wife.
   From Bombay, in 1842, the parents of our subject returned to Victor, N. Y., and four years later emigrated to Indiana, where the father opened up a farm. He also instituted and operated a sawmill, served as County Surveyor., and was engaged in civil engineering upon roads to develop the northern portion of the State. In 1848 he was elected to the Indiana Legislature, being the first successful Whig candidate from his district. In 1850 he took the census for the county, and was proposed for nomination as a Member of Congress, but died suddenly of pneumonia, Feb. 19, 1855, at the age of forty-two years. His wife, Marietta R., survived until Feb. 8, 1879, when her death took place, at Galesburg, Ill., to which place the remains of her husband were afterward removed, and they repose together. Their children are Eunice M., who was born March 4, 1837, and is now the wife of George Fisberdick, of Palmer, Mass.; Joseph R., of Lincoln, this State, and Charles Arnold, President of the Frost Manufacturing Company, at Galesburg, Ill.

ACHARIAH WELLS. The gentleman whose history is herein sketched has the honor of being the oldest actual settler now living in Olive Branch Precinct, and has watched with pleasurable pride the vast waste of prairie land, transformed to a veritable garden. His residence is upon the homestead originally taken by him upon sections 11 and 12, and consists of 280 acres, less what was given to the Nebraska & Pacific Railroad, which has recently laid its bands of steel through that section of the country. At the time of settlement upon this farm the town of Beatrice

was hardly worthy the dignified name of a hamlet, and there he had quarters for marketing, and in order to reach the same must perform a journey of thirty miles or more. The chief trading point was Nebraska City, distant seventy miles. Omaha was in its early infancy, and Lincoln was not thought of. Upon taking his land he had everything to do; if he had a home, he must be the architect and builder; breaking, sowing, cultivating, harvesting and threshing, he must perform them all.
   Mr. Wells is a native of Tennessee, and was born near the city of Knoxville, in that State, on the 16th of March, 1808. When he was quite a small child his parents removed to Knox County, Ky., and there he was reared and received such education as was obtainable, and began to work upon the farm. The grandfather of our subject, after whom he was named, served as a private in the Revolutionary War, and obtained therein a very honorable record. His son William, the father of our subject, followed the occupation of farming, and in his chosen occupation was more than usually successful. He was married in the State of Georgia, in 1806, to Miss Juda Murray, a lady of Southern parentage. Upon his marriage Mr. William Wells purchased a farm in Tennessee, upon which he continued until he removed to Kentucky, and this was his home until his death, in the year 1881, at the advanced age of sixty years, having survived his wife about eight years. Their family comprised nine children.
   Mr. Wells was married in Mercer County, Mo., in 1848, to Miss Mary Wilson, a native of Kentucky, a lady whom it is only possible to remember with most perfect esteem and affection for her many virtues. She died in the year 1861, leaving two children, Mary and William, both of whom are living.
   Our subject was married a second time, in Mercer County, Mo., to Elva Hobbs, a native of Indiana, who came to Missouri when a young woman. Their family was increased by the birth of four children--James B., Jane, Mary and George. Mary, Mrs. Edward Parson, is deceased. Mrs. Wells died at the age of forty years, in July, 1863. Mr., Wells was married a third time, and again in Mercer Count Mo., to Miss Sarah Hobbs, a sister of his former wife, both daughters of Job and Amanda (Clue) Hobbs. Mr. and Mrs. Hobbs lived for many years in Missouri, afterward came to Nebraska, and died in this State at a very advanced age. Mr. and Mrs. Wells are the parents of eight children, whose names are here subjoined. The eldest child of our subject is Nancy, now the wife of John S. Burtwell, and their home is in Gage County; Matilda is the wife of H. P. Poland; they make their residence upon the homestead of Mr. Wells; Ann married Samuel Auguer, a prosperous farmer near Princeton, this county; Rachel is happily married to Mr. Stephen George, a carpenter and builder at Spriggs Station; Margaret is united to Andrew Polston, a successful farmer at the same place; General is the husband of Delia Rader, and is resident upon the home farm; John and Norman, the youngest, are still at home.
   Our subject and family, by reason of their long experience in Nebraska and many years of settlement, are accorded most heartily that peculiar veneration and respect which are universally voted due to those who have helped to bring the new country to its present state of development; who have assisted in the framing of its farms, the building of its houses, the improvement of its stock, and the establishment of its enterprises. Mr. Wells has for many years been a solid Republican, and is looked up to as one of the old veterans of the party. Everything that he is or has, is, humanly speaking, due to his own energies, thrift, ambition and labor.

ARL BERGMANN, who resides upon his beautiful farm on section 12, in Stockton Precinct, is another of those thrifty, diligent, hard-working natives of the Fatherland, who can be found in the fertile, valleys and on the broad prairies all over this continent. These have gathered of this world's goods slowly but surely, year by year, until they have at last arrived at that time when there is no longer need to fear either the proverbial "rainy day" or that other time, when the weight of years prevents the usual activities of younger days. Our subject was born in Germany, on the 11th of May, 1835, which was his home until he was about thirty-three years of age. His