neighborhood. She is a native of Hector, N. Y., and came to Iowa with her brother. Her parents, Aaron H. and Caroline (Smith) Hanley, lived and died in the Empire State, holding an honorable position among the farmers of their community. Our subject brought his bride to his homestead in Centre Precinct, which is just outside of the city limits, in precinct 3, and commenced the development of his farm in earnest. He has made all the improvements himself, turning the first furrow, setting out trees, planting an orchard, shrubbery, and many small fruits. In 1870 Mr. Treat built a substantial stone house which is a model of neatness and taste, and will be a monument of his industry and prosperity for years to come. In all of his labors he has had the cordial assistance of Mrs. Treat, who has been a devoted wife and faithful mother. To them have been born two children - Charles H. and Anna May. The former is a machinist in Syracuse, N. Y., and the latter is attending the academy at Weeping Water. Our subject has always taken an active interest in the advancement of the city, and helped forward all commendable enterprises for its benefit, having proved himself so true a benefactor that he is often spoken of as one of the real city fathers. He has steadily avoided all public office, though he has served acceptably to all as Supervisor of the precinct. In politics he is a Republican, and supports the principles of that party. Mr. Treat is an esteemed member of the Congregational Church, while Mrs. Treat communes at the Baptist Church, of which she became a member in early life.

ACOB RUSTERHOLZ, an honored citizen of Cass County, is connected with its stock raising and farming interests as one of the most intelligent and progressive agriculturists of Stove Creek Precinct, and his farm on section 20 is one of the most highly improved and best managed estates in this locality.
   Our subject was born Aug. 15, 1836, on the shores of Lake Zurich, Switzerland, which was also the birthplace of his parents, Jacob and Elizabeth (Gunthardt) Rusterholz. His father was a mason and also a small farmer, and was a lifelong resident of his native place, dying there in 1881, at the age of seventy-two. His wife died in 1849, at the age of thirty-nine years. They had five children, of whom our subject, the second child in order of birth, was the only one who ever came to the United States.
   Our subject was reared amid the beautiful scenes of his birthplace, and received a liberal education in the schools of that vicinity, gaining a good knowledge of both the French and German languages. After leaving school he went to work in a cloth mill to learn how to manufacture cloth, and in 1861, after he had become thoroughly conversant with every detail of cloth-making. He opened a manufacturing establishment of his own in his native land. He married, in 1862, Miss Saline Ryffel, a native of Switzerland, and established a pleasant home. For a few years everything went well, he was prosperous in his business and happy in his domestic relations, and had prospects of a brilliant future before him. Suddenly all was changed by the shallow of death falling over his peaceful home in 1865, when his beloved wife was taken from him. She left a son Jacob, who is still living in Switzerland, where he is engaged as a butcher. After that sad affliction his native land became distasteful to him, and on account of failing health he sold his business, wound up his affairs, and started to travel to seek distraction. He sailed from Antwerp in the steamer "Queen," and fourteen days later landed in New York. He journeyed extensively over the country, and finally coming to Nebraska in 1868, decided to invest his capital in the rich farming lands of this State and turn his attention to agricultural pursuits, hoping thus far from the scenes of his early days to soften the memories connected with them, and in this salubrious climate reestablish his health. He spent the first year in Nebraska City, and in the spring of 1869 he took up his present homestead, then comprising but eighty acres, and cast in his lot with the few settlers who had preceded him in Stove Creek Precinct. and thus became a pioneer of the place. He has proved to be both a practical and skillful farmer, and has met with unqualified success, having brought his land to a good state of cultivation, and provided it

with a neat and substantual set of buildings, and the appliances for carrying on agriculture successfully, so that it is as a whole one of the best equipped and most valuable farms in the precinct. He has fenced it and planted groves, and sit orchard of 100 trees, and it is well supplied with running water from Stove Creek. He has added forty acres of land, adjacent to his homestead, to his original purchase. and also has that improved. He does general farming, and has some fine stock of good grades, including fifteen horses of good blood.
   Our subject was married a second time in 1876, in Stove Creek Precinct, to Miss Sophia Seiker, a native of Germany. By her death in 1883 he was a second time bereaved of a good wife.
   Mr. Rusterholz is a man of fine mental capacity, and is well informed on all topics of general interest. His straightforward, manly character and unblemished reputation have won for him a high place it, the regard of his fellow-citizens. In religion he adheres to the German Reformed Church; in politics he is an earnest Republican.

ARON JENKINS, stock dealer, is one of the foremost citizens of Manley Village, Centre Township, where he owns some valuable property. He is erecting a commodious residence here for his own use. He is the proprietor of the only hotel here, which he has put in charge of another man, and devotes his time mainly to dealing in stock, in which he is quite extensively engaged.
   The subject of this sketch was born in Ohio, Feb. 6, 1844, coming of good New England stock, His father, Calvin Jenkins, was born in Massachusetts about 1810, and there made his home the first few years of his life. He then accompanied his parents to Ohio, who at that early date must have been pioneers of that State. He remained an inmate of the parental household until he attained manhood. He married Martha Barnes, and to them were born five children, of whom all lived to maturity, two afterward dying in the army - Charles and Chauncey. Those living are: Aaron, Edmund and Albert, now in Ohio. Mr. Jenkins has been a farmer all his life, and is now enjoying the fruit of his labors on his well-ordered farm in Ohio. His estimable wife, mother of our subject. died in 1853, and he married again. His first wife was a native of Connecticut, and with her parents went to the Western Reserve in Ohio, where she married.
   Our subject received an excellent education, and after leaving school engaged in various occupations, and finally began to deal in stock. Leaving his early home in Ohio he went to McHenry County, Ill., and was there three years prior to coming to Nebraska. Before leaving his birthplace he had, when a youth of eighteen, enlisted, Aug. 12, 1862, in Company K, 105th Ohio Infantry, and went forth to fight for the stars and stripes, serving in the Army of the Cumberland. He took part in many active engagements, and at the battle of Perryville he was wounded in the left thigh, and was laid up for six months in a hospital at Louisville, Ky. Returning to his regiment he was with it all through the march to the sea, and continued under Sherman until his honorable discharge at Washington, in June, 1865, he having won a good record for bravery on the battle-field. In 1870 our subject left Illinois and came to Nebraska to try farming on this rich soil. He first settled in Clay County, taking up a homestead on the wild prairie, and immediately set about its improvement, putting out a grove and orchard, and also building a house. He lived there twelve years, busily engaged in cultivating the land, and then sold his property at a good profit, and came to this place to take up his residence. This village had just been laid out, and Mr. H. W. Gleason kept the only store in town, and he and Mr. Williams, who kept a lumberyard, were the only business men. Mr. Jenkins soon erected a hotel, of which he is still the owner. It is a good-sized, conveniently arranged house, two stories in height, 26x28 feet in dimensions, and a one-story L, 24x26 feet, making it a good, roomy hotel, the first in the village, and the only one now. Mr. Jenkins managed his hotel himself for some time, until his duties as "mine host" conflicted with his increasing business as a stock dealer, and he now hires another man to look after the house.
   Our subject was married, Dec. 24, 1875, to Miss Alice Coon, and to them have been born two chil-

dren, Walter T. and Charles F., both of whom are receiving the benefit of good educations. His wife was born in Illinois, Aug. 8, 1858, and when a child came to Nebraska with her parents, Peter and Phoebe (Bennett) Coon, of whom see sketch on another page.
   Mr. Jenkins having been reared in Trumbull and Ashtabula Counties, the Western Reserve of Ohio, settled mostly by New England people, inherited those sturdy traits of character for which his ancestry are noted, and his success in life was therefore assured almost from the start, as they marked him as a man of practical ability, common sense, and good habits. His fellow-citizens have shown their confidence in his judgment and integrity by frequently soliciting him to hold office, and electing him to responsible positions, but he would never qualify. However, he does his duty at the polls, where he supports the Republican party.

HOMAS RANKIN. The Rankin family is favorably known throughout Rock Bluff Precinct, and represents a good farm property on section 16. It originated in Ireland, Thomas Rankin, Sr., the paternal grandfather of our subject, having been born in County Derry, where he was reared to manhood and married. Later, in company with his brothers, William and Samuel, and their families, he came to the United States. Thomas and Samuel located in Washington County, Pa., and William in Fayette County. They engaged in agricultural pursuits and spent the remainder of their lives in the counties where they first settled.
   James Rankin, the father of our subject, was born in County Derry, Ireland, and at about the age of twelve came to America with his parents, and married in Washington County, Pa. He served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War from the beginning, to the close, entering the ranks when a youth of eighteen years. In 1788, as he was crossing the Alleghany Mountains, en route to Philadelphia after a load of salt, he stopped at a hotel on the mountains to stay over night, and there met Samuel Stephens and his family, who were en route for Western Pennsylvania for the purpose of locating on a farm there. This chance acquaintanceship ripened into a mutual friendship, which was further cemented by the fact that Mr. Stephens became the neighbor of the grandfather Rankin, and James Rankin in 1790 married Miss Martha, the eldest daughter of Mr. Stephens.
   The parents of our subject after their marriage located on a tract of wild land in the woods, where the father carried on agriculture, and where there were born to them a family of nine children, Thomas of our sketch being the sixth child. He first opened his eyes to the light July 11, 1804, and lived upon the homestead until a man of thirty-five years. In the meantime the father died, about 1812, at the age of fifty years, after suffering greatly from impaired health brought on by the hardships which he endured in the army. The mother survived her husband a long period, dying about 1863, at the advanced age of ninety-three.
   Thomas Rankin was married, in Washington County, Oct. 27, 1840, to Miss Catherine, daughter of Joseph and Catherine (Hopkins) Wright. Enoch Wright, the paternal grandfather of Mrs. Rankin, served in the army during the Indian War in Pennsylvania, about 1814. He married Miss Rachel James, and Joseph Wright, the. father of Mrs. Rankin, was their only child. Joseph was subsequently educated at Jefferson College, and became a Methodist preacher. His death took place at his home in Washington County, Pa., about 1852.
   Mr. Rankin, our subject, left the Keystone State in the year 1871, and then determined to seek his fortunes on the other side of the Mississippi. Disposing of his property interests at the old home, he came to this county and purchased the land which he now owns and occupies; it comprises in this township 400 acres, and he also later became owner of 160 acres in Pottawatomie County, Iowa, and a ranch near Broken Bow, in Blaine County, this State. His homestead embraces 400 acres of valuable land under a high state of cultivation, and is situated on sections 21 and 15. He has comfortable buildings, a goodly assortment of live stock, and the farm machinery necessary for the carrying on of agriculture after modern methods.
   To Mr. and Mrs. Rankin there have been born

twelve children, all of whom lived to mature years. They were named respectively: Lucinda E. is the wife of Jesse Merrill; they live in Buchanan County, Iowa. Rachel C., wife of Rev. James Imbrie, of the United Presbyterian Church; they reside in Armstrong County, Pa. Martha B., wife of R. R. Yerson, of Broken Bow, Neb.; Mary L., wife of W. F. Rankin; they reside on the ranch in Blaine County, Neb. D. Millie, wife of Robert Montgomery; they reside in Butler County, Pa. James S., who died Nov. 13, 1878; Joseph A., single; Thomas S., who died in 1876; Sarah A., single; Enoch W., single; Anna F., single, and Charity J., who died in 1880. The eldest son, James S., during the late Civil War enlisted in Company G, 140th Pennsylvania Infantry, and served three years, during which time his health was greatly injured on account of privation and hardships. On his return from the army he was graduated from Westminister College, and after leaving the army devoted the remainder of his life to preaching the Gospel as a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He died at his brother's in Rock Bluff Precinct, Nov. 13, 1878. He was married, in September, 1867, to Miss Nancy J. Jones, of Washington County, Pa., and they became the parents of three children - Lilly, Jessie and Joseph. The mother of these died in August, 1873, five years before the decease of her husband. Since his death Lilly and Jessie have made their home with their grandparents, our subject and his wife. Little Joseph died soon after the death of his mother. James Rankin participated in many of the important battles of the war, and was captured by the rebels at Gettysburg. He was incarcerated in Belle Isle Prison a period of three months, during which time he lost fifty pounds of flesh. The history of that rebel bastile is too well known to need repetition here.
   Our subject and his estimable wife are members in good standing of the United Presbyterian Church, attending services at Murray. In the church Mr. Rankin has been a Ruling Elder a period of nearly forty years. He cast his first Presidential vote for Jackson, and afterward became a Whig, then, a Republican, and voted for Lincoln and Grant, for any years supporting the principles of that party.
   He has always had a warm interest in the temperance movement, which led him to identify himself with the Prohibitionists about 1872, with whom he now votes and labors. During the agitation of the slavery question he was a strong Abolitionist.

BERGER. The family history of this substantial and well-to-do resident of Rock Bluff Precinct is substantially as follows: He was born in 1815, and is the son of John Berger, whose parents, Jacob and Catherine Berger, were natives of Germany, where they were reared and married. They emigrated to the United States at an early date, about 1770 it is believed, and located in Pennsylvania, where their son John was born about 1775.
   The grandparents left the Keystone State a few years later, settling in Pittsylvania County, Va., where, engaged in agricultural pursuits, they spent the remainder of their days. John Berger was married in the Old Dominion to Miss Margaret, daughter of Jacob Hedrick, the latter of whom was also a native of Germany, and whose daughter Margaret was born on the ocean during the voyage of her parents to America. John Berger lived in Virginia until 1830, then removed with his family to Henry County, Ind., settling in the midst of a heavy timber tract. from which he proceeded to build up a farm. The first dwelling was a hewn log house, in the building of which our subject took an active part. They dressed the logs with their broadaxes, rived boards for the shingles, and split the lath out of the timber, all by hand of course, as there was nothing else, not even a plane or turning lathe. The dwelling, 18x36 feet in area, was one and one-half stories in height, and when completed made a very pretentious residence for those days.
   Under this primitive roof-tree the parents of our subject spent the remainder of their days, the father dying in 1855 and the mother the year following, at the ages of ninety-one and seventy-eight respectively. There had been born to them a family of eleven children, ten of whom lived to mature years, and all natives of Virginia. Enos was married, in Indiana, to Miss Elizabeth Wallace, May 18, 1839. This lady was the daughter of Joshua and

Sophia (Scott) Wallace, then residents of Fayette County. The young people began housekeeping in Wayne County, where our subject had contracted for the building of a part of the White River Canal, and they lived there until the contract was annulled by the State.
   In the year 1843 Mr. Berger crossed the Mississippi with his little family, and made his way to Andrew County, Mo., where they lived on a farm until 1848, Mr. Berger in the meantime occupying himself mostly at store cutting and masonry. He got out the stone work of the court-house at Savannah, and performed other important work in the construction of some of the best buildings of that region. Upon leaving Missouri the family took up their resilience in Warren County, Iowa, whence they removed in the fall of 1849 to the present site of Winterset, in Madison County. The following summer Mr. Berger put up the first house in that embryo town. That same summer this was selected as the county seat. Mr. Berger was appointed Postmaster about that time, serving two years, and was then elected Treasurer and Recorder of the county, which joint offices he held until leaving the Hawkeye State in 1856.
   In January, 1857, Mr. Burger erected a sawmill in the vicinity of the present town of Rock Bluff, and made preparations to remove his family to this county, in which they took up their residence in July following. Mr. B. and his eldest son, James W., worked in the mill, and put up their house at a time when the greater part of Rock Bluff Precinct was an uncultivated prairie. The first dwelling of the family was a small plank house, to which they removed about 1865. In 1868 they completed the commodious brick residence which the family now occupy, and which is noticeable among the other the buildings of that region. In due time there were added a frame barn, fences and orchard, forest trees and the smaller fruits, and all the other things which conduce to make country life pleasant and desirable. The Berger residence at the time of its completion was considered the best farm house in the county.
   To our subject and his estimable wife there were born seven children. namely: Josephine A., Mary E., James W., George T., M. Francenia, John P. and Luella M. Miss Josephine. the eldest daughter of our subject. is the wife of A. S. Alley, an attorney of Wilber, this State; Mary, Mrs. G. L. Seybolt, is a resident of Jan (sic) Jose, Cal.; her husband was special Postal agent and detective several years ago, until the incoming of the Democratic administration, when he was removed. He now operates a fruit farm. M. Francenia married A. R. Johnson. President of the Cable Railway Company of Omaha, and who also has a large fruit farm in California; James, who is still living at the home farm, was married, Nov. 26, 1874, to Miss Susan C., daughter of John and Jemima (Thornhill) Johnson, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. The family is favorably and widely known along the eastern line of this county, having been no unimportant factor in its growth and development.
   Mr. Berger and his son James were formerly members of Rock Bluff Lodge No. 6, I. O. O. F., which lodge surrendered its charter later and disbanded. George belongs to the Masonic fraternity at Wilber. The father and sons are solid Republicans, politically. Mr. Berger voted for William Henry Harrison in 1836 and 1840, and for his grandson in 1888.

URAY S. VOSBURGH. The subject of this sketch was born near the city of Scranton, Pa., over forty-six years ago, on the 5th of May, 1842. He came to Nebraska in 1878, and is the proprietor of one of the best farms of Center Precinct, comprising 160 acres of land on section 9. Soon after coming here he took up a tract of uncultivated prairie, and by years of unflagging toil and the outlay of hundreds of dollars has built up a homestead which is now one of the noticeable features in the landscape of this region. He has a grove of forest trees which comprises the finest windbreak in this county, and which, it is said, can not be beaten even in the State of Illinois, famous for these institutions. His hedge was planted by surveyed lines, and the farm is all enclosed by this system of fencing. The residence is a neat and substantial structure, and with its adjacent building and the abundance of fruit and shade trees.

fulfills the modern idea of the complete home. The land is remarkably fertile.
   In addition to the ordinary barns and stables, there is an exceptionally fine corn-crib 24x32 feet, with a foundation of solid masonry. Every acre of the farm can be utilized. there being no waste land. The past year (1888) Mr. Vosburgh harvested 4,200 bushels of corn from less than eighty acres, while his wheat and oat crops were in proportion. The ten years' labor of our subject on this farm in its results should be amply satisfactory, and is the best indication of the ability, energy and good judgment which have been exercised in connection therewith.
   Our subject spent his boyhood and youth in the Keystone State, remaining at home on the farm until eighteen years of age. He then conceived the idea that he would like to enter the legal profession, and accordingly repaired to Wilkesbarre, and entered upon the study of law under the instruction of Charles Denison. Not long afterward, however, he abandoned this, and became a traveling salesman for the firm of Spaulding & Place, of Gloversville, N. Y. Subsequently we find him at Scranton City, Pa., as clerk of the Wyoming House, where he continued a period of eight years, never being absent from his post a day. After the outbreak of the Rebellion, Mr. Vosburgh entered the Commissary Department with the sharpshooters of the 203d Pennsylvania Regiment, and was in the army a period of eighteen months, being mustered out at the close of the war.
   Our subject now returning home for a few days, visited briefly with his friends, then once more became the employe of the Wyoming House, remaining there until the spring of 1868. He then resolved to seek the West, and started for Chicago, Ill., arriving there on the 15th of April. Thence he went into Lee County, to which his father had in the meantime removed, and lived with him there on a farm one year. He was married in LaSalle County, Ill., Feb. 22, 1871, to Miss Emma Briggs, who was born in Luzerne County, Pa., May 10, 1850. This lady became the mother of two children, Clyde and Frank. who make their home with their father. Clyde is attending the High School at Plattsmouth. Mrs. Emma Vosburgh departed this life at the home of the family Feb. 5, 1879, after an illness of ten days, aged twenty-eight years, eight months and five days. Our subject, June 20, 1881, contracted a second matrimonial alliance, with Mrs. Mary A. (Short) Elster. This lady was born Aug. 17, 1842, in England and is the daughter of Edward and Mary (Booth) Short, who were born in England, and lived there until their daughter Mary was twelve years old. They then emigrated to America, settling in Ann Arbor, Mich., where the father followed his trade of tailor, and where Miss Mary completed her education. She made her home with her parents until her marriage, but in the meantime, while on a visit to an aunt in Whiteside County, Ill., formed the acquaintance of Mr. F. Elster, with whom she came to Nebraska in the winter of 1870, the year after their marriage, which occurred Jan. 5. 1869. Of their union there were born two children - Nellie May and William B. The daughter became the wife of Dr. O. Waters, of Gretna, this State. The son makes his home with our subject, and is attending Weeping Water Academy.
   Mrs. Elster during her widowhood made her home in Plattsmouth, where she was married the second time, June 20, 1881. Her father. Edward Short, and his estimable wife, are still living in Ann Arbor. Mich. The parental household included four children, who are now in Nebraska.
   Charles Vosburgh, the father of our subject, was born near the Hudson River, N. Y., whence he removed with his father to Pennsylvania when a boy. Grandfather Vosburgh took up land in the midst of a heavy timber tract which he cleared, and where he built up a comfortable homestead. Later he sold out, and purchased another farm. He retired from this later, although still retaining ownership of it, and is now the proprietor of a hotel at Abington, Pa. He married in early manhood Miss Millicent Van Lovelier, and they became the parents of thirteen children, all of whom are living, and located mostly in Pennsylvania.
   The wife and mother departed this life June 29, 1886, in Pennsylvania. The paternal grandfather, Cornelius Vosburgh, was also a native of the Empire State, and married a Miss Pulver. He also removed to Pennsylvania, where he lived a number of years, and from which he removed when an old