He was mustered in at Omaha as First Sergeant and the regiment was detailed to operate against the Indians on the frontier. They met the enemy in a pitched battle on the White Stone River, and in many other lively engagements and skirmishes. After a service of thirteen months Mr. Burdick received his honorable discharge at Brownville, Neb., in the fall of 1863.
   Returning now to Nemaha County, Neb., Mr. Burdick engaged in general merchandising at Peru, but a year later sold out and began freighting to Denver, which occupied him two years. Then returning to mercantile pursuits in Peru he busied himself at this for a time, and finally drifted into the grain trade, which he prosecuted six years and until the spring of 1875, in connection with merchandising. Thereafter he turned his whole attention to the buying and shipping of grain, until 1882. Then, having purchased land in Tipton Precinct, he moved upon it, and commenced the farming operations which have resulted so successfully. He began at first principles, turning the first furrow upon it, planting groves and an orchard of 400 trees, besides the smaller fruits, erecting a good house and barn and gradually adding the other structures necessary to the complete homestead.
   The farm of Mr. Burdick is finely located and receives the necessary moisture from a branch of the Nemaha River, from which a windmill conveys it to tanks, both around the farm and in the house. Eighty acres of land lies on section 28, and the remaining 160 on sections 33 and 34, the residence being on section 33. In his stock operations Mr. Burdick ships annually about eleven cars of cattle and swine, and keeps about thirty head of graded Percheron horses.
   Ten children came to bless the union of Mr. and Mrs. Burdick, the record of whom is as follows: James, the eldest son, is married, and farming in Dakota; Lucy W. married W. J. Mill of Garfield Precinct, in Lincoln Co they have two children -- Frank and George. Rebecca is the wife of M. D. Zinkon, and they reside in Callaway County, Mo.; Anson is married and farming in Lincoln County; Ida M. is the wife of George Tappen, editor of a paper in Broken Bow; Jerome is unmarried and following the profession of a teacher in Palmyra Precinct, Otoe County; Edward P. is farming in Lincoln County; William H., Sylvia L. and Iven are at home with their parents, They are a group of very interesting and intelligent children, comprising a family of which the parents have reason to be proud. They have been well educated and carefully trained, and are thus prepared to bear worthily in later years the mantle of their honored parents.
   Mr. and Mrs. Burdick are members in good standing of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which our subject officiates as a Trustee, and politically, he uniformly votes the Republican ticket. He has been quite prominent in local politics, and for a period of twenty-five years, with the exception of one or two instances, has represented his party in the various State and County Conventions. He has had considerable experience as a juror, and has uniformly signalized himself as a liberal and public-spirited citizen, encouraging all enterprises calculated for the best good of the people. He believes in education, and was instrumental in organizing Peru College, while he has been a member of the School Board since attaining manhood. In 1887 he was elected Justice of the Peace, and still holds the office. Mrs. Burdick, like her husband, is held in high esteem in her community, being a lady looking well to the ways of her household, kind, hospitable and generous, ever ready to do a favor to those about her, while her cultivated and intelligent mind has had its influence, not only in her own household, but in the circle in which she has moved for so many years. No family stands higher among the intelligent people of Cass County.

LIVER WARD occupies a prominent place among the pioneers and early settlers of the county and State, and now lives on a highly improved farm of eighty acres, on section 20, Eight Mile Grove Precinct. He took possession of his present home farm in the spring of 1863. He is a native of Union County, Ind., where he was born Dec. 25, 1825, He attained to years of manhood in Putnam County, Ind., amid the scenes of pioneer life, and he did much of the hard labor incident to

opening new farms in a heavily timbered country. His educational advantages were extremely limited, as his time was fully occupied in farming, however, by closely observing the actions of men, and noting events as they transpired he is now fully informed on all matters of general interest.
   Our subject is the son of Isaac and Beulah (Bradway) Ward. The mother was born in New Jersey. His father was born in the same State, and is the descendant of an old English family that emigrated to America previous to the War for Independence. Grandfather Ward was a soldier during the Revolutionary War, and the father of our subject was a boy at the time. The parents removed with their family, when Oliver was ten years old, to Putnam County, Ind., where they were also among the earliest settlers. Here there was no cessation to the labor of the farm they proceeding to clear a farm in the midst of the heavy timber, and our subject remembers when in Indiana he "rolled logs" for twenty-three days in succession. Log rolling in those days was made a neighborhood affair, when all the male members of the community gathered by appointment on the farm of someone of their number, and proceeded, with the aid of numerous ox-teams, much whisky, many dogs and loud shouting, to roll into immense heaps the trunks of the trees that had been felled by the owner of the land, after which they were burned. These gatherings served as opportunities for the widely scattered settlers to form the acquaintance of new-comers, for the dissemination of work, and devising plans for the better protection of their interests.
   This gentleman is one of a family of eight children, three of whom survive, namely: Jonathan, who now lives in Taylor County, Iowa; Josiah, who now resides in Indiana, and our subject. The five deceased were named: Jefferson, Thomas, Abigail, Joseph and William. Mr. Ward was married to Sarah A. Jenkins, Sept. 22, 1846. This lady was born Sept. 1, 1828, in Putnam County, Ind. She is a daughter of Benjamin and Catherine Jenkins. Her father was born in Montgomery County, Ky., Nov. 15, 1811, and was of German origin. Her Mother was born in Indiana and was of English descent.
   A large number of her ancestors took an active and honorable part in the War for Independence, Her parents settled in Putnam County at a very early day, and reared a family of seven children, five of whom are living. They were named: Sarah, the wife of our subject; Elizabeth, Emily, Elijah and Columbus. Elizabeth is the wife of William Jenkins, and resides in Charleston, Ill.; Emily is the wife of Marion Buis, and now resides in Andrew County, Mo.; Elijah lives in Greenwood, Neb., and Columbus lives in Logan County, Iowa. The two deceased were Jessie and Renia.
   Our subject and his wife have become the parents of eleven children, eight of whom are living: Benjamin, Marion, Emily E., Margaret, Henderson, David A., John O. and Charles. Benjamin resides in Washington County, Col.; Marion lives in Cass County, Neb.; Emily is the wife of John Sayles, and resides in Greenwood, Neb.; and Margaret is the wife of Jesse Livingston, and resides in Louisville Precinct; Henderson also lives in Louisville Precinct; David, John O. and Charles are at home with their parents.
   Mr. Ward and family removed to Andrew County, Mo., in the spring of 1850, where they lived until the spring of 1855, when they removed to Mills County, Iowa, where they lived until the family came to Nebraska in the spring of 1860 and located near Plattsmouth, where he lived until the spring of 1863, when he settled on his present farm. The improvements at that time consisted of an 18x24 feet square, rudely built board house, and thirty acres of land had been plowed. He has devoted all his time and energy to the improvement and cultivation of his farm, in which he has been very prosperous. He has added to his original purchase at different times until he is now the owner of 170 acres, and a house and two lots in Louisville.
   The residence of our subject occupies a very prominent location, and is surrounded by a large number of ornamental trees, a fine orchard is growing, and presents a very thrifty appearance. His barn is well arranged for the purposes for which it was intended, he has numerous cattle sheds, corn cribs and granaries. The farm is divided into fields of convenient size by substantial fences, and taken altogether, the entire property reflects great

credit on the owner and shows the result of intelligently directed labor, by a man thoroughly well informed in all the details of his business.
   During the late Civil War Mr. Ward was in military service for about fourteen months; he was stationed on the Upper Missouri River among the Sioux Indians. He was attacked by a very serious illness, and was confined in the hospital at at (sic) Ft. Pierre, Dak., for a long time. After his recovery he did not enter the active service again, but was honorably discharged with the remainder of his command, when he returned home. Both himself and wife are among the leading and representative families of the precinct, are members of the Christian Church, and take a leading part in all charitable and church matters. The wife has ably seconded her husband's efforts in accumulating the splendid property which they now own, and richly deserves the life of contentment and comparative ease which they are now enable to enjoy. They are important factors in the social life of the precinct. In politics he is a straight Republican. He has never sought or held any public office, preferring to devote his entire time to his own affairs, which has rendered him and his good wife so favorably and widely known throughout the locality in which they live.

HARLES M. HOLMES, a Cass County pioneer, is proprietor of a livery stable in Plattsmouth, and is numbered among the substantial and well-to-do citizens of that city. He is a man of wide and varied experience, keen, prompt and trusty in his dealings, and he is well known and well liked by an extensive acquaintance. He was born in Gilboa, Schoharie Co., N. Y., May 21, 1835. He comes of an old Scottish family of that name, and his father, John Holmes, was born in Paisley, Scotland, of which country his parents were life-long residents, as were his ancestry, for the most part, as far back as known. The father of our subject, with his brother Walter and sister Jane, were the only members of the family that ever crossed the water to this country. The father of our subject learned the trade of a weaver in his native town, and he served seven years as a soldier. He came to America about 1818, and locating in Delaware County, N. Y., worked there a few years at his trade. He subsequently moved from there to Scholiarie County, where he bought a farm, on which he lived until 1840, when he sold that and bought a farm five miles from Delhi. During the winter seasons he did weaving for the neighbors, and the rest of the year he farmed. He died on his homestead in Delhi in 1854. The maiden name of his wife, mother of our subject, was Jane Mayer, and she was also a native of Paisley, Scotland. She died at the home of a daughter in Pennsylvania some years after her husband's death. They were very worthy people, and from them our subject inherited the characteristic Scotch traits of thrift, energy and foresight. They were the parents of twelve children, eleven of whom grew up, namely: Ann, John, Rebecca, William, Jane, James, Elizabeth, Margaret, Lovisa, Charles and Walter. William served in the Mexican War, and died in the military hospital at Pueblo, Mex.
   The subject of this sketch was the next to the youngest child in that large family of children. He was a bright, quick little lad, more than ordinarily gifted with independence of spirit, and at the extremly (sic) youthful age of seven years was ambitious to earn his own living, and started out into the world for that purpose. His parents found him and took him home again, and he lived with them until he was fourteen years old. He then made another start, and from that time forth took care of himself. He first went to Pennsylvania, and there began to learn the trade of a blacksmith with his brother-in-law, working at it for a year and a half. After that he was employed at various kinds of work for a year, and at the end of that time, having prudently saved all the money that he could, he bought a small stock of groceries with his little capital, taking a part of them on credit, and opened a store at Clarksville, Mercer Co., Pa. In March, 1857, he sold out his business there, and started for the Territory of Nebraska on the 3d day of March, going by wagon to Newcastle, Pa., from there by rail to Pittsburg, and thence down the Ohio, and up the Mississippi and Missouri

rivers to St. Joseph, Mo. When he arrived there he found himself somewhat short of funds, and so took his grip in his hand and started on foot for Nebraska. He arrived at his destination, Rock Bluff, Cass County, with $2.60 in his pocket. He did not allow the low state of his finances to discourage him, however, but sought the means of replenishing his funds. There was a small village at Rock Bluff, with about 150 inhabitants, and with bright prospects of rapid growth. The surrounding country was sparsely settled, and nearly all the land was owned by the Government. Mr. Holmes soon found employment quarrying rock at $2 a day. He worked at that twelve days, and then turned his attention to the lumber business. He bought standing cottonwood trees, cut and drew them to the mill, and then used them in the construction of two houses at Rock Bluff. In April, 1859, our subject and two companions started for Pike's Peak, with two pair of oxen; one pair of cows, and six months' provisions. They arrived at Denver early in June, and after spending two days there passed on to Gregory's diggings in the mountains. They engaged in prospecting, and while doing so Mr. Holmes used, or generously gave way to needy companions, all of his outfit. After remaining in the Rockies two months he retraced his steps to Denver, and there engaged to work in a shingle mill for fifty cents a day. Five days later, with characteristic boldness, he conceived the idea of buying the machine, and did so on credit for $200. He ran the machine for four weeks, and with such success that he was able to pay for it, and he then traded it for five yoke of oxen and a wagon. With them he went to teaming lumber from a point on Cherry Creek to Denver, twenty miles distant, receiving $20 a thousand for drawing the lumber. He teamed three weeks only, and then bought fifty yoke of cattle and ten wagons from D. C. Oakes, for which he was to pay in lumber. In less than four months he had cancelled the whole amount of his indebtedness. He continued teaming for a year, at the expiration of which time he returned to Rock Bluff and invested some of his money in a gristmill, buying a third interest therein. He operated that six months, then sold it, and soon bought a farm in Rock Bluff Precinct. While actively engaged in farming there he dealt in cattle and horses, making his residence in Rock Bluff village and precinct until 1872. His next venture was to come to Plattsmouth and engage in shipping cattle and hogs for some years. In 1877 he opened a livery stable, and since that time has been conducting that business. He has a fine outfit of good driving horses, and neat and stylish vehicles of various descriptions, and he is well patronized.
   Mr. Holmes was married, in 1860, to Marietta Kauble, and of their pleasant wedded life five children have been born, namely: William H., who died at the age of twenty months; Walter, Pearl, Ivan and Bertie. Mrs. Holmes was born in Shelbyville, Shelby Co., Ind., March 15, 1843. Her father, David Kauble, was a native of Indiana, and his father, Jacob Kauble, was a pioneer of that State, and later of Page County, Iowa, where he passed his last years, dying at the remarkably old age of one hundred and three years. Mrs. Holmes' father was reared and married in Indiana, and from there moved to Missouri about 1843, and became a pioneer of Andrew County. He bought a tract of wild land on which he built a log house, and continued to reside there until his death. The maiden name of his wife was Mary Cratzier. She was a native of Indiana, and a daughter of John Cratzier. She spent her last days in Andrew County, dying three years after her husband's death. Mrs. Holmes was thus left an orphan at an early age. Mrs. Holmes has for twenty-four years been a member of the Presbyterian Church. Politically, Mr. Holmes is a stanch Republican.

C. HINNERS. The general merchandising interests of Avoca acknowledge the subject of this sketch as a leader of the trade, being senior member of the firm of Hinners & Lindemann. They carry a general stock of the articles required both in the village and country household, and from a business established by Mr. H. in the spring of 1883, have built up a good patronage. Mr. Lindemann was admitted as a partner in August, 1884. Mr. Hinners is a man

interested in every way in the prosperity of Avoca, being the owner of good property in the village and otherwise intimately associated with its concerns. He is recognized as a reliable business man and a valuable citizen.
   Our subject was born across the water in what was then the Kingdom of Hanover, Germany, near the city of Bremerhaven, Sept. 24, 1860. He is the offspring of an excellent family, his father being Nicholas Hinners, also a native of Hanover, and of pure German ancestry. Nicholas Hinners upon attaining manhood, carried on farming, to which he had been accustomed since his earliest youth, and was married to Miss Anna Eden. Both had been thoroughly educated in the manner common to the children of the Fatherland. They lived there and became the parents of seven children, and there also closed their eyes upon earthly scenes, each passing away when a little over fifty years of age. They were members in good standing of the German Lutheran Church, and people of more than ordinary intelligence.
   Our subject at an early age gave indications of more than ordinary activity and enterprise and soon began to lay his plans for the future. As soon as old enough to reflect he nourished a desire of coming to America, and when a lad of twelve there was presented the opportunity. He embarked with John Harms on a vessel at Bremerhaven, and fourteen days later set foot upon the soil of the United States, in the city of New York. Our subject completed his education in the Badger State, attending the High School at Plattville, and later the Normal School at the same place.
   The business career of our subject began as clerk in a store at Plattville, which he entered when a youth of fifteen years. He was thus engaged until coming to Nebraska, and in the meantime was married, April 4, 1883, to Miss Mary Loofborow. She received a good education and taught school sometime before her marriage. Of her union with our subject there are two children living -- Charles C. and Harry E., at home with their parents.
   Our subject, politically, is an uncompromising Democrat. He has ocoupied (sic) some of the local offices, having been a member of the Village Board, and is generally interested in the matters pertaining to the well-being and progress of the people around him. Socially, he belongs to Lodge No. 29, I. O. O. F., of Avoca; a man prompt to meet his obligations, and one whose opinions are generally held in respect, he worthily fills his niche in a very intelligent community.

ON. THEO. NEWTON BOBBITT. The object of this biography, a resident of Tipton Precinct, deserves more than a passing mention, as he has been for a period of twenty years closely identified with the growth and prosperity of Cass County.
   He first arrived upon the soil of Nebraska in the fall of 1869 in company with his family, they having made the journey overland with teams from Mahaska County, Iowa. They crossed the Missouri at Plattsmouth on a steam ferry, and our subject, making his way to Tipton Precinct, homesteaded eighty acres of land, of which he still retains possession. Later he journeyed into Seward County, where he remained over winter, in the meantime suffering two months from a disabled foot, but in the spring of 1870 moved with his young wife upon the present homestead. He had just completed a temporary shelter, hauling lumber for this purpose from Plattsmouth, and put up the structure with his own hands.
   The present surroundings of Mr. Bobbitt are widely different from those of twenty years ago. He now has a well developed farm, with fruit and forest trees of his own planting and his fields neatly enclosed by hedge and wire fencing. In due time he added to his first purchase and has now a well-regulated farm of 160 acres with good buildings, a fair assortment of livestock, the requisite farm machinery and the general appurtenances of the modern country estate. Of late years Mr. Bobbitt has made a specialty of cattle and swine, and also keeps a number of good horses.
   While the cultivation of the soil has absorbed much of his time and attention, Mr. Bobbitt has in nowise neglected the culture of his mental capacities, and is a gentleman of rare intelligence and

good education, refined and gentlemanly, one with whom it is pleasant and profitable to converse. He has for his life companion a lady his equal in every respect, intelligent and amiable in disposition, and one who has made home for her family the pleasantest spot on earth. Mrs. Bobbitt has been in delicate health for a number of years, but is no less dear to her family and friends. The domestic life of this household presents a picture rarely met with amid the vicissitudes and sorrows of a changeful world.
   A native of Morgan County, Ill., our subject was born near the town of Bethel, Feb. 23, 1843, and was reared amid the quiet pursuits of country life. He has an ancestry of which he may well be proud. His father, Everett H. Bobbitt, was born in Madison County, Mo., in 1816, and married Mary A. Newton, who was born in Hancock County, Ill. William Bobbitt, the paternal grandfather, was a native of South Carolina, born near Columbia, and traced his forefathers to Wales. He was farmer and miller combined, and spent his last years in Morgan County, Ill.
   The paternal great-grandfather of our subject carried a musket in the Revolutionary War, and did good service at the battle of Guilford Courthouse, and in a number of other engagements. At the close of the struggle he settled in South Carolina and engaged in farming and milling. Later he moved to Kentucky, and from there to Morgan County, Ill., where he died at a ripe old age. Grandfather Henry Newton was a native of Ireland, whence he emigrated to America early in life, and settling on a farm in the vicinity of Bloomington, Ill., there spent his last days.
   The father of our subject was reared to the age of fourteen years on a farm in Missouri, whence he removed to Morgan County, Ill., during its pioneer days. He assisted his father in the milling operations of the latter during his lifetime, then began farming on his own account and also occupied himself considerably as a teacher, mostly during the winter season. He remained a resident of Morgan County until the fall of 1848, then crossed the Mississippi into Mahaska County, Iowa, where he operated still as teacher and farmer combined. He is still living and a resident of the Hawkeye State, where he owns a good farm of 140 acres. The mother died at the homestead a year after their removal there, in the spring of 1849, when a young woman only twenty-six years old.
   To E. H. and Mary A. Bobbitt there were born four children, of whom our subject was the eldest. The next younger, David F., is operating a farm in Washington County, Kan.; Lizzie J., (Mrs. Hillery), resides in Washington Territory; one child died unnamed in infancy; Theo. N. was a little lad six years of age when his parents removed to Iowa and he lived there on the farm until a young man of twenty years. He launched out as a teacher when a youth of nineteen, and later entered a printing office, but soon found that office work had an unfavorable effect upon his health and abandoned it. In the spring of 1864 he journeyed to Montana and occupied himself in mining in the vicinity of Virginia City and Helena. During his sojourn in the farther West he also engaged in freighting for a period of six months, after which he returned to the Hawkeye State.
   In 1861, after the outbreak of the Civil War, Mr. Bobbitt proffered his services as a Union soldier at Fremont, Iowa, but being considered too young was rejected.
   Upon his return from the mountains, in 1866, Mr. Bobbitt located in Iowa and commenced farming on rented land, at which he continued until his marriage. This interesting event in his life was celebrated in Wapello County, Iowa, Nov. 5, 1868, the maiden of his choice being Miss Amelia Phillips, daughter of John S. and Sarah (Moss) Phillips, of Iowa. Shortly afterward the young people started for the young State of Nebraska, making their way overland with teams to this county, crossing the Missouri River at Plattsmouth on a steam ferry. Not long after his settlement here Mr. Bobbitt was invited to participate in the various enterprises calculated to advance the interests of Tipton Precinct, socially and financially. He was discovered to be a man worthy of the esteem and confidence of his fellow-citizens, and after creditably filling various positions of trust, was elected to represent Cass County in the State Legislature, serving from Jan. 1, 1877, to 1879. This was the first session after the adoption of the