County, Neb., and they have labored side by side since that time to accumulate their snug property and rear their family. Of their children, five in number, the record is as follows: John Q. was born Jan. 12, 1881; Mary M., Aug. 1, 1882; Thomas J., in 1883; Maggie, Dec. 15, 1884, and Edward J., June 13, 1886. Mr. Tighe, politically, is an uncompromising Democrat. Both he and his estimable wife were reared in the doctrines of the Catholic Church, to which they still loyally adhere.

ILLIAM J. LAUGHLIN. Among the goodly land-holders of this county, and a gentleman respected for his sterling worth and integrity, is the subject of this sketch, who resides on and operates a valuable farm of 360 acres an section 22, Salt Creek Precinct. He was born in North Carolina, March 13, 1830. His earliest recollections are of his home in Randolph County, in that State, followed by the memories of early days in the heavy timber regions of Indiana. He was early in life harnessed to hard work, and for many long weary days he has driven four, five and six yoke of oxen, breaking new land and cultivating it in after years. The subscription schools of those days were his only source for acquiring an education, every opportunity for which he eagerly improved. At the age of twenty he was attacked with the gold fever, and in 1850 he formed a company of several of his neighbors, and they went across the plains to California, their journey ending at Placerville, that State, August 6, they having been a little over four months on the way. This trip was made by the way of Salt Lake, where Mr. Laughlin spent several days among the Mormons. On their arrival in California, our subject with his companions, Winthrop Cheney and James McCauley, took up a placer claim, and worked in the mines for a year, when the former went to Nevada and worked on Gold Run until Oct. 1, 1851, and then started for home. Having had enough of mining life, Mr, Laughlin took passage on the steamer "Oregon" for the Isthmus of Panama, which he crossed, took steamer again for New Orleans, from which city he came up the Mississippi River to Keokuk, Iowa, thence by stage to the home of his parents, which at that time was near Mt. Pleasant, Henry Co., Iowa.
   The subject of our sketch is a son of John and Mary (Tucker) Laughlin. The father was born at Randolph County, N. C., in 1808. Grandfather James Laughlin was born in Ireland. Grandfather Amos Tucker was a noted stockman in North Carolina, where he was born. Great-grandfather Tucker was a native of England. The parents of our subject were married in North Carolina, where the father was a prosperous farmer. Becoming dissatisfied with his native State, he sold his possessions and removed to Putnam County, Ind. There he resided for about eighteen months, when he removed to the prairies or Henry County, Iowa, settling near Mt. Pleasant before the land had been surveyed by the Government or put on the market. During his later years he removed to Washington County, Iowa, where he died in 1865, aged fifty-seven years. The mother died in December of the same year, aged fifty-five years. Our subject is the eldest of the family of eleven children, who were named as follows: William J., our subject; McKenzie G., Louisa, Nancy, Charity, John M., Benjamin F., Ephraim D., Jesse, Thomas and Mary, of which number the following only survive: William J., Louisa, Benjamin F. and Ephraim D.
   After his return from California, William J. Laughlin remained on the farm with his father until he was married to Miss Mary Coleman, Dec. 8, 1853. This lady was born in Knox County, Ohio, where she lived at home with her parents until she was a young lady of seventeen, when, in the fall of 1850, her parents removed with their entire family to Iowa, settling near the town of Mt. Pleasant. Her parents were Elie and Catherine (Beiler) Coleman. The father was born in Connecticut, and the mother in Maryland. Her mother was reared to womanhood in Knox County, Ohio, where she lived with her parents, who were married in Ohio, and had a family of two children when they removed to Knox County. From there in 1830 they removed to Henry County, Iowa, where they resided until 1861, when they joined our subject and his wife. Her father died in 1873, aged sixty-nine years, and

her mother died at Greenwood in 1881, seventy-eight years old.
   The wife of our subject is one of a family of eleven children, who are named as follows: Jane, Matilda, Ebenezer, Mary, Lucy, William, John H., Amy, Chalker, Amanda and Luther. The Coleman family originally came from England. The great-grandparents settled in Connecticut in the early Colonial days, and the great-grandfather, Ebenezer, was a soldier in the War for Independence, in which he took no insignificant part. An the maternal side, the Beilers were of German blood, and came to America in Colonial times, settling in Maryland. Grandfather Beiler died a comparatively young man, and the lineage cannot be traced any further. The wife of our subject received her education in the common schools of Ohio, and in the High School at Mt. Pleasant. Iowa. After being graduated from the High School, she was employed as a teacher in Henry County, Iowa, for three years, and she was the first teacher in charge of a public school in the western portion of Cass County, Neb.
   After his marriage our subject continued farming in Henry County until 1859, when he was again seized with the gold fever, this time his destination being Pike's Peak, Col. He, in company with several of the leading citizens of Mt. Pleasant, among whom was William Coleman, made preparations for and began their journey to the land of gold. When they had gone as far on their way as Salt Creek, they met large numbers of disheartened men, who were returning from the gold regions, and the reports which these men gave were so discouraging that the party westward bound determined to discontinue their journey. Mr. Laughlin became so infatuated with the location and appearance of the country in which they then were, that he laid claim to 160 acres of land through a "squatter's right." He dug a cellar and hewed his logs ready to be built into a house. He also plowed sixteen acres of the ground before he returned to his family in Iowa. In the fall of 1869 he came back to his claim with his family, with the avowed purpose of making it his future home, and he has since made it so.
   The following spring Mr. Laughlin began the improvements which have now reached such a perfect state, by setting out an extensive grove and plowing the balance of his land. The house that he built of logs has long since given way to a more convenient and roomy residence. To enter into all the details of the history pertaining to their first year in Nebraska would require a volume, and would be but a repetition of thousands of other histories, as contemporaneous with that of our subject. At that time their nearest post-office was Plattsmouth, thirty-four miles away, and the nearest railroad was at Ottumwa, lowa. He has hunted deer and antelope an the site occupied by the now flourishing city of Lincoln.
    Our subject, profiting by the experience of his life with his father in the new country, worked hard and with unbounded energy, having an abiding faith in the future possibilities of his adopted State. He devoted himself to the task of doing his share toward the development of the country of his choice. He is always found to be generous, and ready to lend substantial assistance to those who stand in need. He is large-hearted and public-spirited, and holds the welfare of the people in his locality near to his heart. Himself and wife are the parents of seven children; Oscar W., Mary Catherine and Ebenezer G. were born in Iowa; John C., Lucy Matilda, Benjamin F. and Nellie A. were born in Nebraska. Lucy M. is deceased. The entire family form an important factor in the social life of the precinct.
   Mr. Laughlin has filled many positions of trust received at the hands of his neighbors, devoting a good share of his public life to the educational interests of the community. He has been a member or the School Board for sixteen years, and assisted in the organization of the first public school in Salt Creek Precinct. The district embraced at that time all of the precinct, the northern half of Greenwood, and the western half of South Bend. He is a member of Mt. Moriah Commandery No. 4, K. T., of Lincoln, Neb., and holds a prominent position in Unity Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of Greenwood. In politics he is a Democrat, and was delegate to the State Democratic Convention in 1884. He has been a delegate to the various County Conventions of his party, and has served as a member of the