housework and needlework in the most approved manner, and now well knows how to make her happy home attractive and pleasant..

PENCER L. GANT, M. D., has for several years when the state of his health permitted, practiced medicine in Nebraska City, and his learning, ability and skill justly entitle him to a high place among his professional brethren in the West. He is a native of North Carolina, his birthplace being in Orange County, twelve miles south of Hillsboro, and three miles southeast of Chapel Hill, and the date of his birth was April 17, 1817. His father, James H. Gant, was born in the same county, but his grandfather, William Gant, was a native of Scotland. He came to America during the Revolution, with three brothers and the famous McDonald. After peace was declared he settled in Orange County, where he engaged in farming and made his residence until death.
   The father of our subject was reared on his father's homestead, and until 1838 engaged in farming in Orange County. He served in the War of 1812, and was Captain of his company under Gen. Jackson at the battle of New Orleans. He married in his native State Mary Stewart, likewise a native of North Carolina, born in Wake County, and of English ancestry. In 1838 Mr. Gant moved with his family to Missouri, going with teams across Tennessee and Kentucky, and cooking and camping by the way. They started in August, and arrived in Richmond, Ray Co., Mo., October 10. Mr Gant invested his money in a tract of 600 acres of unimproved land, ten miles north of Richmond, and was one of the early settlers of the county. He built a hewed log house to shelter his family, and then commenced to improve a farm. He became a prominent factor in promoting the educational and religious interests of the country. He built of hewed logs on his land the first school-house ever erected in that section, and he assisted in the organization of a church, the meetings being held in the school-house. The mother of our subject, who is a very capable housewife, had no stove, and did all her cooking by the open fireplace, and she used to spin, weave and make all the clothing of the family. The father of our subject improved a farm, upon which he resided some years, and he then sold it and bought a home in Liberty, where the remaining years of his life were passed, he dying in 1868, at the advanced age of eighty-six. The mother of our subject died in the same year, at the age of seventy-six. She and her husband mere well endowed mentally and physically, and their length of life was productive of much good to others, so that they leave left behind them a blessed memory that will be fondly cherished by those who knew and loved them. They were the parents of twelve children, eight sons and four daughters.
   The subject of this sketch was the second child born to his parents, and he was reared in his native State. He accompanied the family to Missouri, and having made the best of his opportunities to get an education, at the age of nineteen he commenced to teach school in Saline County, Mo. He was thus engaged for some years, and in 1843 commenced the study of medicine. In 1847 he was graduated from the St. Louis Medical College, and immediately entered upon the practice of his profession in Clay County, Mo. In 1852 he went from there to Savannah, in Andrew County, and was the leading physician there until 1863, when he crossed the plains to Denver, and resided there until the close of the war. He then come to Nebraska City, and at once opened an office here, and has been in active practice ever since, when his health would permit. He has well a fine reputation, and stands second to none in the city as regards a sound, practical knowledge of his profession, and as the possessor of all the requisites that go to make up a good physician.
   Dr. Gant was married, in April, 1848, to Frances A. Yancey. Her father, Col. John F. Yancey, was a native of Virginia, and a cousin of William L. Yancey, of Virginia. He was a Colonel in the War of 1812, and moved from Virginia to Missouri, where he bought a large tract of land in Saline County, and was a respected resident there until his death. The pleasant married life of our subject and his amiable wife has been blessed to them by the birth of three children, as follows: John Yancey, the eldest, is a prosperous farmer in LaFayette

County, Mo.; Eugenia K. is the wife of W. F. N. Houser, cashier of the Farmers' Bank, Nebraska City; Thomas S. is a successful physician of Auburn, Nemaha Co., Neb.
   Our subject is a man of true nobility of character, earnest, dignified, and simple in his bearing, and his professional and private life is irreproachable. His influence for good is strongly felt in the social and religious circles of this community, as tie is one of the leading members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and is prominently identified with the State Medical Society.

YRUS BASSETT. Nebraska remained a Territory for a period of nine years after the subject of this sketch settled upon the land which he now owns and occupies in South Branch Precinct. He was thus one of the earliest pioneers of this county, and, considering the record which he has made for himself, has proved one of its most enterprising and useful men. Upon crossing the Mississippi it had been his intention to visit Pike's Peak, which was then the object of great excitement, and to which hundreds were hastening in the hopes of accumulating a fortune without the necessity of labor.
   Our subject, in pursuance of this idea, started out from Lockport, Ill., overland with a team and accompanied by A. J. Reynolds. When one week's drive west of the Missouri River his brother-in-law was taken quite ill, and they were obliged to turn about in order to obtain medical aid from Nebraska City. In the meantime Mr. Bassett, becoming further discouraged over his expedition to Pike's Peak, decided to locate nearer the bounds of civilization, and accordingly laid claim to 160 acres of land in this county, upon a warrant which his father had received for services in the War of 1812. He considers that this was a most fortunate move for him, when he looks around upon his comfortable homestead, his well-tilled acres, the modern improvements and all the appliances of rural life, with plenty for the present and a prospect of a competency or his old age. He took up his residence here in the spring of 1859, and during his thirty years residence in Southern Nebraska has witnessed many more changes than can be mentioned in the course of a. brief biography.
   The important events in the life of our subject are mainly as follows: He was born in Allegany County, N. Y., Feb. 5, 1832, and is the son or David and Lucinda (Coggswell) Bassett, the former a native of Massachusetts and the latter of Connecticut. In early life they became residents of New York State, where their marriage took place. Of the paternal grandfather little is known beyond the fact that he was a native of England, and emigrated to the United States, settling in Massachusetts. He died when his son David was but a boy, and the latter was thrown among strangers. Probably about the time of reaching his majority he left New England for the Empire State, and located among the early pioneers of Livingston County. Here he engaged in farming very successfully, but finally lost his property. His death took place in Portage, on the Genesee River, when he was sixty-seven years of age.
   After the death of her husband the mother of our subject moved to Illinois with her children. and died in Will County in 1861, at the age of fifty-eight years. David Bassett had served as a private in the War of 1812. The parental household included the following children: Sabina, the wife of Lodelia Speer, of Michigan; Elvira R., Mrs. Reever; Joseph W.; Helena M., Mrs. Reynolds, and Cyrus of our sketch. All of these are yet living. Cyrus, in common with his brothers and sisters, received a common-school education, and was taught lose habits of industry which have been the basis of his success in life. He was fifteen years of age at the time of his father's death, and remained with his mother until twenty-four, working on the home farm. Then starting out for himself he farmed on rented land one year, and at the expiration of this time left the Empire State and took up his residence in Will County, Ill. Two and one-half years later we find him journeying toward Pike's Peak.
   When Mr. Bassett came to Nebraska, it is hardly necessary to say Nebraska City was a hamlet of but a few houses. He worked his land until the outbreak of the Civil War, and then in the summer of

1862 responded to a call for troops from the Governor of Nebraska, reporting for enrollment at Syracuse. Later, finding the need of men at home, the Governor's call was rescinded, and Mr. Bassett remained at home with others in case of being called upon to protect their own State against the ravages of the Indians. These in the fall of 1864 came with, threatening aspect, having on their war paint, as far as Little Blue, causing the people to leave their homes and hasten to a place of refuge. They finally went back across the Missouri River, but in the meantime the settlers in that region, one Sunday at church, appointed a committee to send out scouts and investigate as to the truth of the reports of danger which were coming to their ears day by day. Mr. Bassett was one of three men appointed to reconnoiter, and with the two others started out one Sunday night on horseback, reaching Beatrice the night following. They found the people of Little Blue suffering from the various outrages committed by the redskins, who had stolen their stock and committed various other depredations. They had, however, apparently done all they had dared to do and were now on the retreat, so the scouting party returned home.
   Mr. Bassett now began farming in earnest upon his land, tilling the soil, setting out fruit and shade trees, putting up buildings, and effecting the other improvements naturally suggested to the enterprising and progressive agriculturist. He has now a fine orchard of 200 bearing apple trees, a commodious farmhouse, with barns, sheds and machinery, live stock, and all the other appliances of the complete rural home. His land is finely watered by running streams, and he has plenty of timber. A stone quarry furnishes all this material desired for use on the farm, and many loads annually are supplied to the people generally of this locality.
   Mr. Bassett was married first in Danville, N. Y., in 1856, to Miss Elizabeth Phelps, who was born in Allegany County, that State, and is the daughter of Thomas Phelps. His present wife was Miss Margaretta L. Kerr, to whom he was married Dec. 31, 1872, in Johnson County, Neb. This lady was born in 1839, in Richland County, Ohio, and is the daughter of David and Elizabeth Snyder. Her parents were natives respectively of Beaver and Carlisle Counties, Pa., and the father a farmer by occupation. Miss Snyder was first married to Clark Howland, in Ohio. Mr. H. was born in New York State in 1837, and died in Sterling, Johnson Co., Neb., in the winter of 1870. Mrs. Bassett received a good education and taught school several terms when a young woman. Of her union with our subject there are two children, Lois and Cyrus Rolla, who continue at home with their parents. Mr. and Mrs. B. are members in good standing of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Rockford, in which our subject has officiated as Class-Leader and Superintendent of the Sunday-school. Politically, he is a Republican with prohibition tendencies. He was at one time a member of Rockford Grange, P. of H. He has served as Justice of the Peace in South Branch Precinct for a period of ten or twelve years, and has almost continuously been a member of the School Board.

OHN P. BROWN, contractor and builder, and doing a good business in Nebraska City and vicinity, is a man of much intelligence and general information, and one who has seen considerable of life in the Great West. An ardent lover of nature, he, during his younger years, traveled over a considerable portion of the Western country, meeting with many adventures among Indians and the pioneer white element, and learning largely of life and its various phases, being a keen observer, and keeping his eyes open to what was going on around him.
   Mr. Brown struck the eastern line of this county as early as 1857, coming to Nebraska City from Davenport, Iowa. A native of Pennsylvania, he was born in the town of Carlisle, Cumberland County, Feb. 14, 1829, and is the son of Thomas and Margaret (Phillips) Brown, who were natives of the same county as their son, where also the paternal grandfather, Thomas Brown, was born. The father was a shoemaker by trade, which he followed in his native State during the early part of his life, but migrated West in May, 1857, and spent his last days in Nebraska City, dying at the age of sixty-three years. The family first settled in Nemaha

County, where the father took up a tract of land, upon which he lived and labored until about 1866. The mother died there at the age of sixty years. The household circle included nine children, five of whom grew to mature years, and four of whom are still living. Of these, John P., our subject, is the eldest; Eliza J., Mrs. Cleveland, resides in the vicinity of Rock Island, Ill.; of George W. a sketch will be found elsewhere in this volume; Mary, Mrs. Smith, is a resident of Dorchester County, Md.
   Our subject was the eldest child of his parents, and at a very early age developed a peculiar disposition, being remarkably self-reliant and ambitious of acquiring information of all kinds, and at the early age of eight years started out for himself. As soon as old enough to think, he began to wonder if all the world was like the scenes and surroundings amid which he was born, and where he spent the first years of his life. He had an intense longing to look beyond the mountains which shut in his early home, and determined to go thither and see for himself. His grandfather, John Phillips, held a Government position in the city of Washington, and needing a messenger boy, John P. at once availed himself of this opportunity, and repairing to the capital, assumed the position, while at the same time he attended the common schools, and lost no opportunity to inform himself in regard to the various strange things he met with in and a round the seat of Government, and thus spent the years until a youth of seventeen. It was then necessary for him to take up something practicable, and he began an apprenticeship at the carpenter's trade, serving four years. At the same time his spirit of adventure never deserted him, and he started down along the Atlantic Coast, visiting Charleston, N. C., and Richmond, Va., and keeping himself supplied with pocket money by working at his trade. While on his journey he was stricken down with malarial fever, but was able to get to his old home in Pennsylvania, where he was disabled for weeks, and at the end of which time there seemed to be no abatement of the disease.
   Young Brown now determined upon a change of climate, and started for the West. He put up for a few months in Wellsville, Ohio, thence made his way to Chicago, Ill., and from there by the new Rock Island Railroad to the Mississippi River This he crossed, and landing in Davenport, Iowa took up his residence there, and remained two or three years, during which time his health became greatly improved.
   Our subject from the city of Washington had been accompanied by his young wife, to whom he had been married in the capital, in September, 1851. This lady, Miss Mary McVain, was then but seventeen years old, an orphan, and supporting herself by dressmaking. She was very intelligent, of a most lovable disposition, and her tastes were greatly similar to those of Mr. Brown. Under these circumstances it was very natural that there should spring up between them the attachment which resulted in their early marriage, Their first child was born in Washington City, and upon coming Nebraska Mr. Brown, in looking about for a home for his little family, decided to take up a tract of land in Nemaha County. The Indians we prevalent in that section of the country, but Mr. Brown, instead of sharing the popular prejudice against the red man, made friends of them, and was always well treated by them. He lived with his family seven years on the Nemaha during which time they endured hardships and privations in common with the pioneers around them. In August, 1868, our subject decided to abandon farming and resume carpentering, and for this purpose changed his residence from to Nebraska City. The move proved a fortunate one, and many of the older buildings in the city stand as monuments of his skill and industry. He put up many store buildings and residences during the early years of building up the city, and was ever found a man prompt and reliable, making friends among its best people.
   In the spring of 1877 Mr. Brown made an extensive tour around and among the Black Hills and among other sights came across an encampment of 7,000 Sioux Indians. Their tents, horses, wives and children, and all the appurtenances their wild, nomadic life, presented a picture which has often been described by the traveler to the West, and ever possesses an interest to the intelli-