Their family consisted of eleven children, namely: Jacob J., John J., William H., Annie E., Lilly M., Adeline I., Mary A., Martin L., Sarah E., Ona M. and Oliver A.
   Mrs. Vaughan was born in the city of Harrisburg, Pa., Oct. 24, 1854. She was reared to womanhood in Michigan, and remained with her parents until her marriage. Of her union with our subject there are four children: Thomas Henry, born Oct. 29, 1878; Sadie S., Aug. 6, 1882; Elsie M., Oct. 26, 1885, and Russell J., July. 17, 1888. Both Mr. and Mrs. V. are members in good standing of the Baptist Church at South Russell, our subject being instrumental in its organization and since that time officiating as Clerk. Politically, he is a straight Republican, has served as Assessor two years, and was a member of the School Board three years. Both he and his estimable wife take a warm interest in Sunday-school work, Mr. V. officiating as Superintendent. Their house is the frequent resort of the many friends whom they have gathered about them by their kindly courtesies and cordial hospitality.

ENRY P. FARNSWORTH. The subject of this sketch, whose portrait is given upon the opposite page, and who is one of the very first settlers of Russell Precinct, is further distinguished as being the oldest pioneer of this section, and also a veteran of the Republican party. He is an active politician, a strong and clear-headed thinker, and a man who exerts much influence among his fellow-citizens. During the Civil War he indicated his sentiments in the most practical manner by serving as a soldier in the Union Army, and his entire career has been that of an honest man, a good citizen and a useful member of the community.
   Our subject was born on the banks of the Mississippi River, in Muscatine County, Iowa, Oct. 22, 184.5, and spent many hours of his boyhood sporting along the Father of Waters. He remained a member of the parental household until a young man of twenty-two years, acquiring his education in the district school. He was but a youth of sixteen years at the time of the outbreak of the Rebellion, and was obliged to restrain his patriotic sentiments until later in the conflict. After he was eighteen, however, he enlisted, on the 4th of May, 1864, in the 44th Iowa Infantry, being mustered in at Davenport. He went South with his regiment under the command of A. J. Smith, doing guard duty mostly along the M. P. & C. R. R., and meeting the rebels in several skirmishes, during one of which he received a slight wound in the arm. Much as he desired he did not participate in any active battle, and received his honorable discharge on the 19th of September, 1864.
   After the war Mr. Farnsworth staid at home until the spring of 1869, and then, gathering together his personal effects, started overland with a team for the young State of Nebraska. He was accompanied by his wife, and they crossed the Missouri River on the 20th of March, making their way directly to Russell Precinct, in this county, where our subject had already secured 240 acres of uncultivated prairie land. Upon it there were no buildings, and the first business of Mr. Farnsworth was to put up a house. He then set himself industriously to the task of improving his property, and in due time began to realize the reward of his labors. He has now one of the most valuable farms in this part of the county, with running water, native timber, and the soil brought to a good state of cultivation. He has planted groves and an orchard of 100 apple trees, besides the smaller fruits. That he has worked industriously cannot be questioned when we note the various items which form most complete whole. For the construction of his buildings the timber had to be hauled from Nebraska City, and to enumerate the many other difficulties and hardships under which he labored would take more time and space than afforded within the limits of a brief biography.
   Our subject was married Feb. 20, 1868, at the home of the bride on the banks of the river near which he had played in his boyhood, to Miss Helen Burdett. This lady was born in the same county as her husband, Sept. 11, 1851, and is the daughter of Humphrey and Esther (Benefill) Burdett, the father a native of Kentucky and the mother of Indiana. They were married in Iowa, in 1838, to

which State the father had emigrated during its pioneer days. He became the owner of considerable land, but in 1873 left the Hawkeye State and came to this county, locating in Palmyra Precinct, where he lived until 1885. He then changed his residence to Cheyenne County, Kan., and now makes his home with his children. He has arrived at the advanced age of eighty years. The wife and mother died at her home in Palmyra Precinct, this county, in the spring of 1874, aged fifty years. Their five children were named respectively: Mary, William, Isabelle, Helen and Eliza. The latter is deceased. The others are residents mostly of Nebraska and Kansas.
   To our subject and his estimable wife there have been born eight children, namely: Humphrey M., who died when six years old; Alonzo T.; Della, deceased; Ruth A., Frank, William, Sumner G. and Algia. The survivors are all at home with their parents, and form an interesting group, of more than ordinary intelligence. Mr. Farnsworth cast his first Presidential vote for U. S. Grant, and is an ardent supporter of Republican principles. No man takes a warmer interest in the growth and development of his adopted country. He drew up the petition to the County Superintendent for the organization of the school district in which he now lives, and a similar document in connection with the organization of Russell Precinct. He is the only original settler living who was here at the time of the organization of the district. He taught school during his younger years in his native State, two years later in Unadilla, and also in Russell Precinct, District No. 6. He has served as Assessor and been a member of the School Board for a period of eight years. He is at present Moderator in his district. He was strongly urged by his fellow citizens, in the spring of 1875, to become a Republican candidate for Justice of the Peace, but declined. He has been frequently sent as a delegate to the various conventions of his party, and as an ex-soldier belongs to the G. A. R., being a member of the Chickamauga Post No. 119. In religions matters he has been a member in good standing of the Christian Church since 1874.
   Marshall Farnsworth, the father of our subject, was born in Williamstown, Vt., in 1815, and married Miss Rebecca Daniels, a native of North Carolina. The paternal grandfather of our subject, Thomas Farnsworth by name, emigrated from his native Highlands in Scotland during his early manhood to the United States, where he was married and became the father of a family of ten children. The youngest of these was Marshall. The latter left New England as early as 1837, emigrating across the Mississippi into Muscatine County, Iowa, where he purchased eighty acres of land and began farming in pioneer style. He was greatly prospered, and after the lapse of years became the owner of 500 broad acres, After a residence of forty years in the Hawkeye State, he sold out in 1881, and still pushing westward, took up his abode in Los Angeles, Cal., where he is now engaged in real-estate business. He is still active and in possession of his faculties, although having reached the advanced age of seventy-two years. The mother died at the homestead in Muscatine County, Iowa, in the fall of 1869, at the age of forty-five years. Henry P., our subject, was the eldest of their family of children. The others were named respectively; Eric D., Eliza E., John M.; George A., who died when an infant; Thomas E., when thirty years old, and Norah E., when five years old.

ILLIAM BALFOUR, of Wyoming Precinct, owns one of the prettiest farms within its limits, and which, with its tasteful modern buildings, forms one of the most attractive pictures of section 6, of which it embraces eighty acres. On either side of the dwelling are beautifully trimmed evergreens, while other choice shrubbery protects the homestead from the storms of winter and the heat of summer. There are fruit trees in abundance, an orchard of apples and the finer varieties, which yield abundantly in their season, providing the family with delicacies, and that which they do not use finds a ready market. Mr. Balfour has distinguished himself as a thorough and skillful farmer, and his stock-raising operations especially yield him a handsome income.
   Our subject took possession of the land which he now occupies in the fall of 1869, and the improve-