Mr. Boomgaarn turned the first furrow and set out the first trees, and he now has 200 acres under plow, having added to his original purchase, and the remainder is in pasturage or cultivated timber, of which he has set out six acres, and he has a good orchard. All of his first quarter-section is neatly hedged, and the other is fenced with one-half hedge and one-half wire. He built a good dwelling, 12x 20, drawing the lumber from Brownville, that being his nearest market to which he carried his produce. He at first devoted his land to the culture of grain, and as his means allowed introduced stock-raising, and now has a fine herd of sixty graded Short-horns, and he has sixty hogs mixed Poland-China-Berkshire breed, all in fine condition and free from disease, and he also raises horses.
   Mr. Boomgaarn came herewith a capital of $1,000, which, by judicious investment, superior management, and a free expenditure of time and muscle, he has so increased that he is now classed among the wealthy farmers of Pawnee County, and his farm is one of the most productive, extensive and profitable estates for miles around. He has naturally taken great interest in the welfare of his adopted township, and has by no means been backward in encouraging any enterprise that tended to advance its material prosperity. He assisted in the organization of School District No. 40, and his father was first Moderator, and in that capacity helped to build the school-house. Our subject is no politician, but is always to be found at the polls supporting the party of his choice, which for the last five years has been the Democratic party, he having formerly affiliated with the Republicans. He is a thoughtful, straightforward, manly man, who is true in all the relations of life in which he has been placed. As a son, he is dutiful and affectionate; as a husband, thoughtful and devoted; as a father, tender and loving; is a neighbor, kind and considerate.
   The marriage of Mr. Boomgaarn with Miss Jennie Schilling took place April 30, 1879, and has been blessed to them by the birth of five children, namely: John, Fred, Maggie, Harmon and Jennie. Mrs. Boomgaarn is also a native of Germany, born in that far-away Empire Jan. 17, 1858, a daughter of Fred S. and Maggie (Myers) Schilling, natives of Germany. They came to America in 1871, settled first in Illinois, then moved to Iowa, from there to Southern Minnesota, whence they came to this State in January, 1879. The parents are now living in Minnesota, where the father is engaged in farming. They have had eight children, of whom six are living.

ENRY HUNZEKER, one of the most extensive, prosperous and influential agriculturists of Pawnee County, has a fine farm lying on sections 23, 26, 35 and 36, Sheridan Precinct where he has lived since coining to this State as a pioneer, in 1856. He is a native of that thrifty little Republic across the sea, Switzerland, where his birth occurred Oct. 8, 1835. He remained among the beautiful scenes of his native land until nineteen years of age, when, thinking to better his condition, he left kith and kin and emigrated to the United States, locating first in Stark County, Ohio. His small sum of money giving out he immediately sought employment, and the following seventeen weeks labored hard for the insignificant pittance of seventy-five cents a week.
   The next year we find our subject working in Andrew County, Mo., where he was paid $15 a month, and $1 a hundred besides for making rails. By steady toil and judicious economy he was enabled to save enough money in the few months that he remained there to buy a yoke of cattle, a cow, several needed implements, and some extra money which he wished to invest in land. Conceiving the Territory of Nebraska to possess many desirable advantages for the farmer, such as cheap land, good climate, etc., our subject decided to settle here. Starting on foot for the promised land, he arrived in this county in June, 1856, pre-empted 120 acres of wild prairie land, and became the first settler in Sheridan Precinct, and one of the first in Pawnee County. In 1857 he set out some trees, built a small house and began to improve his farm. Later he took up a homestead claim adjoining his first claim, and to his original acreage he has since added, as he could afford to, paying from $1.25 to $10 an acre, until he now has a magnificent farm of

760 acres, all under good cultivation. He has a fine orchard of six or seven acres which he set out in 1866, and also five or six miles of hedge around and across his farm. He has evinced rare skill, tact and sound judgment in the management and beautifying of his farm, which is a credit to him and an ornament to the county.
   Mr. Hunzeker has erected a fine, commodious stone house, quarrying all the material, excepting the corner stone, on his farm, and he has built an extensive barn, 44x60 feet, with in addition 32x38 feet. He makes a study of agriculture, and carries it on after the most approved methods, and has all the modern implements for doing so. Our subject is one of the must extensive corn raisers of the county, harvesting 150 acres or more each year. He also pays much attention to stock-raising, his principal grade of cattle being Holsteins, he having been the original introducer of that breed in this county. His first Holstein bull he bought of George A. Brown, the well-known stock dealer of Aurora, Ill., paying $250 and the freight for a calf ten months old. He has since continually added fine thoroughbreds to his stock, having this year purchased two animals at a cost of $225 each, his herd containing now about a hundred head of cattle. Mr. Hunzeker pays considerable attention to horse breeding, having quite a number of horses of good grades.
   As one of the original settlers of this part of the State our subject has been an eye-witness and an active participator in the many wondrous changes that have been effected in Pawnee County. Until 1865 St. Joseph, Mo., was the nearest trading place, it taking a week to make the round trip with an ox-team. The nearest post-office was in Salem, a town in Richardson County. Mr. Hunzeker has materially aided all schemes for the improvement of this precinct, in which he has an abiding interest. He helped to organize the school district and the road district, and in 1857 assisted in building the first bridge in the county, which is one mile southeast of Table Rock Precinct, he putting in the first stroke of work himself. For nine or ten years he has been Road Supervisor, and for the larger part of the time since coming here either Moderator, Director or Treasurer of the school district, always serving with fidelity in whatever office he is placed, He is a self-made man in every sense implied by the term, and his honest and useful career furnishes an example to the rising generation of what may be accomplished by courageous industry, integrity and moral rectitude. Socially, Mr. Hunzeker is a member of the Masonic fraternity. In politics he usually casts his vote with the Democratic party.
   The union of our subject with Miss Mary Stadler took place in St. Joseph, Mo., Oct. 23, 1863. She is also a native of Switzerland, born in September, 1834, and remained in her native country until twenty-nine years of age, when she emigrated to the United States. She came directly to the West, and was married in St. Joseph. Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Hunzeker eight children have been born, seven of whom are now living; their names are as follows: Louise, Rebecca, Henry, Emma, Samuel, William, Lewis and Mary E. Rebecca married Horace Chapman, of this precinct, and they have one child, James Henry. All the others are at home with their parents.

ENRY L. AIKINS has been identified with the mercantile interests of this county for a period of six years. He retired from active business in 1888, and is now spending his declining days amid the comforts of a pleasant and attractive home in Pawnee City. His native place was Morgansville, Morgan Co., Ohio, where his birth took place Jan. 30, 1834, and he numbered the third in a family of eleven children, two of whom died when one and twenty years old, respectively.
   William and Ann (Pennell) Aikins, the parents of our subject, are still living. Henry L. spent his younger years in Vinton County, Ohio, to which his parents had removed, and varied the monotony of rural life by attendance at the district school, after which he worked on the farm until reaching his majority. Soon afterward he was married, May 30, 1855, to Miss Mary Hitt, of Vinton County, whose home was near Mt. Pleasant. She was the daughter of Peter and Rebecca (Nye) Hitt, and was

born Feb. 28,1839. Her parents were natives respectively of Virginia and Pennsylvania. Their family included ten children, of whom Mrs. Aikins was the fourth in order of birth, and all of whom lived to have families except one, a son who died when four years old.
   Soon after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Aikins left the Buckeye State and took up their abode on a farm in Henry County, Ill. The outbreak of the Civil War shortly afterward turned the attention of our subject in another direction, and he decided to shoulder his musket and assist in the preservation of the Union. He enlisted in Company H, 11th Illinois Cavalry, under command of Col. Robert Ingersoll, and, with his comrades, participated in some of the most important battles which followed, namely: Pittsburg Lauding, the siege of Corinth, Park's Cross Roads, the second battle of Corinth, and in numerous minor engagements. After the surrender of Vicksburg they were stationed at that point for a time, and Mr. Aikins endured the common lot of the soldier, its privations, its hairbreadth escapes, but came out of the conflict unharmed, being mustered out at Memphis, Tenn., in December, 1865, after a faithful service of three years and one month. He served all through the war as a non-commissioned officer, and frequently commanded the company while in battle.
   In the meantime, while Mr. Aikins was in the army, his wife removed back to her parents in Ohio. In the spring of 1866 she accompanied him to this county, Mr. Aikins taking up a homestead claim in Pawnee Precinct, where he improved a good farm, and lived for a period of nineteen years. After bringing the soil to a thorough state of cultivation he turned his attention to stock-raising, breeding large numbers of cattle and swine. He prosecuted this industry until 1884, when he removed to Pawnee City, and purchased the stock of drugs and groceries belonging to J. B. Samuels. He engaged in this department of trade four years, then traded the stock for a farm in Osborne County, Kan., which is the property of himself and his son Amos R. He still retains possession of the old homestead of 160 acres.
   The children of Mr. and Mrs. Aikins are recorded as follows; Amos R. is the oldest; Arletta is the wife of William Miner, a resident of DuBois, this State; William A. occupies the old homestead, and has an adopted daughter, named Emma, at home. Mr. Aikins has served as Deputy Sheriff of Pawnee County, and held other positions of trust. He is conservative in politics, with leanings toward Republicanism. He began at the foot of the ladder in the accumulation of his property, and the result is a fine illustration of what may be accomplished by diligence and economy.

UGH GABBY. No man within the limits of Pawnee County stands higher, socially, than the subject of this record, who occupies a fine farm on section 29 in Sheridan Precinct. He has 120 acres of land highly cultivated and very productive, and has added by degrees the modern improvements suggested to the progressive agriculturist, erecting buildings, planting fruit and shade trees, and bringing about himself and family all of the comforts and many of the luxuries of life.
   The family residence of our subject invariably attracts the admiring eye of all who pass by it. It is a large, elegant frame structure, put up in modern style of architecture, covering an area of 28x32 feet, two stories in height and with an L. It is well finished and handsomely furnished, and, with its surroundings, forms a very attractive picture in the landscape of this region. Mr. Gabby has himself effected nearly all the improvements which have made his property so valuable. His specialty is stock-raising, including large numbers of horses, cattle and swine, high-grade and registered animals, his cattle being the Holstein breed, his horses Norman and Clydesdale, and his swine are the favorite Poland-Chinas. He has labored early and late in the improvement of his property, following the plow himself many a day, planting many of his trees with his own hands, thus adopting the surest means of getting on in the world. A man kindly and generous among his neighbors, he is held in universal esteem, while his upright business transactions have made for him a record of which his children will never be ashamed.

   Our subject received his first impressions of life in the Keystone State, having been born in Washington County, Sept. 8, 1850, and he continued a resident there until 1883. He acquired his education in the common schools, and worked on the farm in Pennsylvania until coming West. To his parents, William and Margaret (McClelland) Gabby, there were born thirteen children, of whom nine are still living, making their homes mostly in Pennsylvania. The father was born in Washington County, Pa., Sept. 14, 1803, and lived at the homestead where he was born a period of nearly eighty years, his death taking place May 20, 1883. There he began housekeeping with his bride, and they spent fifty years together. The mother is still living at the old homestead in Washington County. They were people highly respected in their community, and William Gabby was for over forty years a member in good standing of the Session of the United Presbyterian Church. The paternal grandfather, James Gabby, was, it is supposed, a native of Scotland, and settled in Washington County, Pa., at an early day, taking up land from the Government before the Indians had left the county. He also spent his last days at the same old farm.
   Our subject was the third youngest son of his parents, and he remained at the old farm until the death of the father. Upon reaching man's estate he was married to a maiden of his own county, Miss Mattie Brownlee, who was born June 30, 1856. She is the daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth Brownlee, who lived upon a farm in Washington County the greater part of their married life. The mother yet survives, and lives in Monmonth, Ill. Mrs. Gabby received a common-school education, and continued a member of the parental household until her marriage. Her union with our subject resulted in the birth of four children--Samuel Brownlee, Charles E., Mary and Margaret E. They are all at home with their parents, and are being given the training and education which will fit them for their proper position in life as the offspring of their excellent and worthy parents.
   Upon leaving Pennsylvania Mr. Gabby settled first near Plattsmouth, in Cass County, where he lived a year, but not being pleased with the outlook there changed his residence to this county, mostly on account of its better church and school advantages. Mr. Gabby has always entertained a warm interest in the temperance movement, and in 1887 allied himself with the Prohibition party. Both he and his excellent wife belong to the United Presbyterian Church, in the doctrines of which Mr. G. was reared from boyhood. He holds the office of Elder, and is interested in Sabbath-school work, giving liberally of his time and means to advance the cause of the Master.

ERDINAND BSTANDIG. It is to the men of active brain, liberal spirit, fertile expedients, progressive views, good business and financial tact, that the village of Burchard looks to give an impetus to her commerce, manufactures and other interests, and, as a representative of such, we present the subject of this sketch, who is engaged in the furniture and undertaking business. He opened a furniture store here in January, 1883, in connection with John P. Swallow, which partnership continued until 1886, when Mr. Bstandig bought Mr. Swallow's interest, and has since conducted the business alone. In 1887 he put up his present building, fitted it up in good style, and after moving into it increased his stock, and now has the largest establishment in town, and carries on an extensive and remunerative business in both departments. Although he devotes the most of his time to his store, he looks after his farming interests, and carries on agriculture on a small scale. He owns a good farm of 120 acres, finely located on section 18, Miles Precinct.
   Mr. Bstandig was born in Austria, in Bohemia, May 30, 1849, he being derived of an honorable and wealthy ancestry, who were among the leading citizens of his native town, taking a prominent part in the civic life thereof. His parents, Carl and Johanna (Bohm) Bstandig, were also natives of Bohemia. His paternal grandfather, Anton Bstandig was born in the same place, and was at one time Mayor of the city of Scheles. He was for many years actively engaged in the fur trade, and

manufactured fur clothes. He also engaged in agricultural pursuits to some extent, having a large farm, and he was a man of wealth. He died in 1876, at the age of eighty years. The maternal grandfather of our subject, Wenzl Bohm, was a Bohemian by birth, a native of that country, and for some time held the office of Town Clerk. He was a farmer, well-to-do in this world's goods, owning a large estate. He was a lifelong resident of his native Province, dying there in 1884, at the venerable age of eighty-four years. The father of our subject, besides looking after his small farm in his native Province, was engaged at his trade as a tanner, and also carried on the fur business. In 1867 he migrated to the United States, and settling in Chicago engaged in different kinds of work in that city until 1870, when he decided to locate in Nebraska, to try farming on her rich soil. Accordingly he came by rail to Pawnee County, and purchased a tract of 120 acres of wild land in Miles Precinct. He improved it into a fine, productive farm, and is still engaged in farming and stock-raising on his old homestead. He has accumulated a comfortable competence, and with his wife is enjoying it in a cozy home, he being now seventy years old, and she sixty-eight years. They are consistent and esteemed members of the Catholic Church, and are looked upon with respect and consideration by all who know them. Of their married life four children have been born, as follows: Ferdinand; Annie, in Chicago; Mary, dead; Joseph, in Nebraska.
   He of whom we write received the foundation of his education in a private or pay school, which he attended until he was twelve years of age. He was then a pupil in a High School for six months. When about fourteen years of age the stern realities of life began for him, as he was then apprenticed to learn the cabinet-maker's trade. He served about three years, and was a journeyman after that for awhile, mostly in Germany. He then returned to his old home and started with his parents for the United States, embarking at Bremen on the steamer "Baltic," and after a somewhat tempestuous voyage, being tossed about on the ocean for eighteen days, they landed in New York. Thence they proceeded to Chicago, where our subject found work at his trade, and during his residence in that city he was employed in different furniture factories. In 1870 he came with his parents to Nebraska, and besides assisting his father on the farm he worked at the carpenter's trade. In 1872 our subject went to Nebraska City, and there worked in a furniture store at the cabinet-maker's trade about a year. He then returned to Miles Precinct, and remained on his father's farm, assisting him in the management of it until 1874.
   September 15 of that year Mr. Bstandig was married, in Pawnee County, to Miss Mary Wanka. She is also a native of Austria, born in 1848, and came to America in 1874. Six children complete the household of our subject and his wife, as follows: Frederick, born Aug. 8, 1875; Annie, Jan. 18, 1877; Charles, Dec. 24, 1878; Fannie, Nov. 22, 1881; Frank, April 30, 1883; Mary, May 10, 1885. All are at home and will receive every advantage for a sound education that their parents can afford them.
   After marriage Mr. Bstandig bought 120 acres of land, with no improvements, on section 18, Miles Precinct. He immediately proceeded to break the soil for cultivation, set out groves of forest trees and an orchard, drew lumber from Table Rock, and erected a neat house, barns and other out-buildings, partly fenced his land with wire, and in a few years had as good and well-tilled a farm as there was anywhere in the precinct. It was situated at the head of Plum Creek, and was admirably adapted to stock-raising or the culture of the cereals, etc., in both of which our subject was interested. When he established himself in his present business in January, 1883, he rented his farm.
   Although of foreign birth our subject is thoroughly imbued with the Republican spirit of our institutions, and these United States have no more loyal citizen than he. His public spirit is too well known to need comment here, as he is active in promoting every good cause, and all plans for the advancement of the material welfare of the town, using his influence and money freely for any such purpose. He was partly instrumental in securing the passage of the Burlington & Missouri River Railway through here, which has proved of nice benefit in building up the town. A part of his

money is invested in the bonds of the company. His clear, cool head and sound judgment have been of real use in the adjustment of local affairs, especially in educational matters, as he is a member of the School Board. He has been Supervisor for nine years. Politically, he is identified with the Union Labor party, which finds in him one of its stanchest supporters, and he has been a delegate to State Conventions. He has served on the jury. He and his wife are members of the Catholic Church, and are among its active workers.

OHN W. EDGERTON. The beholder in casting his eyes over the well-regulated farm of which this gentleman has been the proprietor since 1857, recognizes at once that it has been under the supervision of a man of more than ordinary intelligence. The land is fertile and well cultivated, and the buildings are neat and substantial, and finely adapted to the purposes of general agriculture. The residence with its surroundings forms a pleasant picture of the ideal country home.
   Our subject is the youngest son of his parents, Thomas and Mary Edgerton, and was born June 22, 1837, in Indiana. Thomas Edgerton was a native of North Carolina, where he was reared to man's estate, and married Miss Mary Osborn, whose birthplace was not far from that of her husband. Soon after marriage they removed to Ohio, where they sojourned a few years, then pushed on further westward into Wayne County, Ind. Later they changed their residence to Grant County, in the same State, where the father died July 27, 1844. The mother survived her husband, her death taking place in Fremont County, Iowa, March 19, 1857.
   Five children completed the parental household of our subject. After the decease of his father the mother removed to Iowa, and in the spring of 1857 John W. decided to cast his lot among the people of Nebraska Territory. He entered a tract of land on section 30, in Clay Precinct, where he has since lived and labored to such good advantage. When first settling here his nearest neighbor was five miles away, and there was not a building to mark the present site of Pawnee City. Mr. Edgerton was unmarried when first coming here, and he put up a house of round logs in which he kept bachelor's hall until taking onto himself a wife and helpmate.
   This interesting event in the life of our subject occurred on the 27th of February, 1859, his bride being Miss Mary, daughter of P. M. Rogers. The young people settled down upon the new farm where they have since lived, and it is hardly necessary to say that it possesses for them a more than moneyed value. Here their eight children were born, named respectively: David, Sarah, George, Ellen, Lafayette, Emma, Eva and Clyde. They are all living. Sarah is the wife of Calvin Plummer, and they live in Southern Kansas. The others are at home with their parents.
   The Edgerton homestead comprises 240 acres of land, most of which is enclosed with neat and substantial fencing. Mr. E. makes a specialty of stock-raising, keeping excellent grades of horses and swine. He is no politician, but keeps himself posted upon events of general interest, and uniformly votes the Republican ticket, He signalized his patriotism during the late war by enlisting as a soldier in the 2d Nebraska Cavalry, serving nine months, and operating mostly on the frontier fighting the Indians. In religious matters he rather adheres to the Quaker faith in which he was reared.
   The parents of Mrs. Edgerton removed from their native State to Fremont County, Iowa. in the fall of 1854, and thence, in February, 1856, to Nebraska Territory. The journey being made during the winter season, they crossed the Missouri on the ice, and on the 1st of April removed to the tract of land which now comprises the farm of Robert T. Scott. The father had united with the Methodist Church when twenty-one years old, and from that time until his death remained an earnest worker in the cause which he espoused in his youth. He began preaching at an early age, being the pioneer of this county in this respect, and was the means of doing great good. His entire family was born in Tennessee, and the removal from that State to Iowa was made overland with horses and oxen,