his birth took place Sept. 2, 1846. Until nine years of age he remained at his father's farm, attending the district school, then repairing to town, entered the High School. His hopes and plans in that direction, however, were frustrated by the early death of his mother, and he was then placed among strangers and thrown largely upon his own resources. When a boy of ten he started out for himself, and was employed mostly working upon different farms in his native county until after the outbreak of the Rebellion. On the 22d of July, 1863, before reaching his seventeenth year, he enlisted as a Union soldier in Company M, 9th Ohio Cavalry, which was assigned to the command of Gen. Sherman. He was mustered in at Camp Dennison, and shortly afterward the regiment was ordered South, marching through Kentucky and Tennessee into Alabama, and at Decatur joined the army of Gen. Rosseau. There had been considerable skirmishing on the way, but our hero escaped unharmed, although he hurt his foot so seriously while getting over a fence that he was obliged to enter the hospital at Nashville, and was laid up for two months. He recovered, however, in time to participate in the battle which followed at that place, and later joined the army of Gen. Sherman, meeting the enemy at Fayetteville, Bentonville, Salisbury and Hillsboro, N. C. His battalion fired the last round at Johnson's army before the surrender.
   Later, our subject, with his comrades, was placed on guard duty around Lexington and other places, and at the close of the war received his honorable discharge. He had engaged in fifteen regular battles besides numerous skirmishes, making a miraculous escape. Upon leaving the service he returned to his home in Ohio, and employed himself upon a farm until his marriage. Leaving Ohio in 1868 he made his way to McLean County, Ill., locating on a farm near Pleasant Hill, and turned his attention largely to stock-raising. In 1870 he went back to Ohio, and changing his occupation somewhat, engaged in coal mining, remaining there until the spring of 1880.
   We next find Mr. Starkey on his way to Nebraska, and soon after his arrival in this county he purchased a tract of partially improved land in West Branch Precinct. He completed the improvements and engaged in farming and stock-raising until 1883, when he concluded to invest a portion of his capital in a stock of hardware, and associated himself with Messrs. Wing and Bell, they operating together under the firm name of Wing, Starkey & Bell. Mr. S. sold out six months later, and changing his occupation materially, purchased the outfit of the Pawnee Banner, and conducted this paper two years quite successfully. Upon selling, or taking for it in exchange a drug-store, he soon afterward sold the latter and purchased a farm of 120 acres in Miles Precinct. This was also partially improved, and he occupied it a year, then turned his attention to general merchandising at Violet, associating himself with Mr. Walch, under the firm name of Walch & Starkey. A year later our subject resumed farming, but in the meantime disposed of his mercantile interest to his partner and purchased a farm. He thus had 200 acres, upon which he farmed until the fall of 1887. He then purchased the News, which was under his editorial management until Jan. 1, 1888. In March following he became interested in the hardware trade, and established himself in his present business.
   The marriage of W. C. Starkey and Miss Frances Carter was celebrated at the bride's home near Roscoe, Ohio, May 5, 1867. Of this union there were seven children: Ida, deceased; Frances; Amelia, who died at the age of one year; Sophia, William, George and Louis. They occupy a pleasant home in Burchard, and Mr. Starkey, notwithstanding his numerous business interests, has always found time to interest himself in the prosperity of his adopted city, serving on the School Board, and occupying other positions of trust. In Ohio he was Assessor and Road Supervisor, and is a man who invariably makes his mark wherever he sojourns. Socially, he belongs to the A. O. U. W. and the G. A. R., both of Pawnee City.
   In religious matters Mr. Starkey is identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church at Violet, being one of the charter members and a Trustee. Politically, he is independent, and has often served as a delegate to the County and State Conventions. In Ohio in 1879 he was selected as a candidate of the Greenback party for the State Legislature, and

in Nebraska, in 1884, was made the candidate of the Fusion ticket. This party being in the minority he expected defeat, but he made a good record, and does not consider it anything to his discredit.
   The father of our subject was Timothy Starkey, also a native of the Buckeye State, and born near Adamsville, in Muskingum County, in 1820. He married Miss Rebecca Phillips, a native of the same county, who was born in 1823. The paternal grandfather, William Starkey, was a native of Pennsylvania, and learned the trade of tanner. He removed to Ohio at an early date, where he followed his trade in connection with farming for a time, then pushed on further westward into Indiana, where he died in 1856, at the age of sixty years. He was of German descent, while the Phillips family traced their forefathers to England.
   Timothy Starkey was reared to man's estate in Ohio, where he was married, and prosecuted farming in Muskingum County during the younger years of his life. Later he became interested in transportation on the Ohio Canal, and became owner of several boats. In 1850 he took up his residence in Roscoe, and operated as superintendent of a sawmill for a period of nine years. Upon abandoning this he engaged in farming in that vicinity, but upon the outbreak of the Civil War volunteered his services as a Union soldier, enlisted in Company D, 80th Ohio Infantry. The regiment was ordered to Tennessee, engaged in skirmishing mostly, and finally went to Georgia, where Mr. Starkey was taken ill, sent to Nashville, Tenn., and finally was obliged to accept his honorable discharge.
   The father of our subject, upon retiring from the service, resumed farming near his old place in Ohio, and spent his last days in the vicinity of Roscoe, dying in 1887 at an advanced age. The mother had preceded her husband to the silent land a period of thirty-two years, her death taking place in 1855. Timothy Starkey was a man of good abilities and quite prominent in local affairs, serving as Justice of the Peace and Township Supervisor. He was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, serving as Steward, and was for nine years Superintendent of the, Sunday-school. The parental family included five children, namely; William, who died when about twenty-two; Mary, who died at the age of six; Wilson Cooper, our subject; Elizabeth, making her home in Ohio; and Silas, deceased.

LIN W. GRIFFING, mason and contractor in brick and stone, is a worthy representative of the industrial element of Table Rock, and one of the substantial and honored citizens of Pawnee County. Coming here with his parents when an infant, ere the country was settled, he has with truth grown up with the town, and been an eye witness of the transformation which has changed it from an unbroken prairie, over which the untutored Indians roamed, to a thriving village, populated by an intelligent and industrious class of people.
   Our subject was born in Wayne County, Pa., Oct. 8, 1856, and is a son of the Hon. George L. Griffing, a very early settler of Pawnee County. Olin Griffing received a good common-school education in this precinct, remaining at home until twenty years of age, when he learned the plasterer's trade of his brother Arthur, with whom he is now connected in business. After acquiring a knowledge of his trade our subject bought a farm, and for some years was engaged in agricultural pursuits. He made all of the usual improvements, having fenced his farm, erecting a convenient house and out-buildings, and setting out a good orchard. In the year 1887 Mr. Griffing traded that property for an implement store, which he managed for a year, selling it out in October, 1888. Our subject and his brother Arthur are two of the twelve citizens now living in Table Rock who came here as early as 1857, and since attaining manhood they have done their share toward building up the town. Mr. Griffing is pleasantly located in a residence of his own on Pawnee street, the lot on which it is situated comprising half an acre of ground. Our subject is a public-spirited man, who has readily assumed all the responsibilities resting upon him as one of the practical, capable and energetic business men of the town. For five years he served faithfully as a member of the

School Board of Clear Creek Precinct, District No. 18, where he was Director, and by virtue of his office Chairman of the building committee which had charge of the erection of the school-house. In politics he is a firm Republican; socially, he is a member of the Knights of Pythias, and both he and his wife are valued members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
   The marriage of Mr. Griffing with Miss Matilda R. Conklin was solemnized in Table Rock, Sept. 10, 1879. Their union has been blessed by the birth of two children; Winford, born April 16, 1881, and Lawrence W., April 11, 1885. Mr. Conklin, the father of Mrs. Griffing, is a native of Pennsylvania. He married Mrs. Julia Billings, whose maiden name was Bidwell, and settled in his native State, living there until 1879, when he moved with his family to Nebraska and located in Table Rock, where he still lives, successfully engaged in his business as an engineer.

EORGE W. KELLY. Although a resident of this county only since February, 1882, Mr. Kelly has become thoroughly and favorably known as one of its most reliable men. He purchased the land which he now occupies in 1871. There was then upon it a small log house and thirty acres had been broken. It embraces 160 acres, and occupies the northwest quarter of section 4, in Clay Precinct.
   Seven years of plodding industry have effected a wonderful change in the condition of the property of Mr. Kelly, and no one would recognize it as the tract of land upon which stood the lonely looking cabin at the time of purchase by him, when the neighbors were few and far between. The whole is enclosed with neat and substantial fencing, and embellished with comfortable frame buildings. There is an apple orchard in good condition with about thirty cherry and other fruit trees. The farm is devoted to general agriculture, but Mr. Kelly rather makes a specialty of grain and stock.
   As far back as the records have been preserved we find this branch of the Kelly family established first in Maryland. Joseph, Sr. and Jr., were the father and paternal grandfather of our subject, and both were natives of Maryland. Grandfather Kelly emigrated with his family to Ohio, settling in Perry County, where Joseph, Jr., married Miss Rebecca, daughter of Ephraim Tipton. Of this union there were born eight children: William H.; Mary J., now Mrs. John Forbes, of Illinois; Elizabeth, who married J. R. Iliff, and is now deceased; George W., our subject; Margaret L., Mrs. Charles Spangler; Joseph E., and two who died in infancy. Grandfather Kelly spent his last years in Illinois.
   When our subject was a little lad of seven years his parents removed to Tazewell County, Ill., where he was reared to man's estate and acquired his education in the common school. His marriage took place in Logan County, that State, Feb. 18, 1875, with Miss Anna M., daughter of Aquilla and Adelia (Woland) Breech. The parents of Mrs. Kelly were both natives of Pennsylvania, where they were reared and married. They had a family of five children, all of whom lived to mature years, namely: Cecelia A., Anna M., Charles S., Flora L. (now deceased) and James O. Cecelia became the wife of William Minsker, and Flora married Harry Bryson, and is now deceased. The mother in November, 1868, went on a visit to her parents, in Illinois, and also with the view to an improvement in her health. She did not live to return to her family, her death taking place in February following, of consumption. In May, 1869, the father removed with his family to Illinois, and died in Logan County in 1874.
   Our subject engaged in farming in Illinois until February, 1882, and thence came to this county. He is a man who does not care to make himself very conspicuous in his community but has his own ideas about things in general, and meddles very little with those of the outside world. He keeps himself posted on current events, and watches with unalloyed satisfaction the triumph of the Republican party. His neighbors look upon him as a man to be trusted at all times, and as one contributing his full quota to the standing and respectability of the county.
   Joseph Kelly, Jr., the father of our subject, was twice married prior to his union with the mother of the latter. His first wife was Miss Mary Moore,

and she became the mother of two children: Rosa, who died in Clay Precinct, Feb. 20, 1885, and was buried in Pawnee County; and John, who is now in Nebraska. He then married Miss Mary Hitchcock, and of this union there was no issue.

UGUSTUS E. HASSLER. In this progressive age the weekly newspaper is one of the first institutions to plant itself in a young community of any enterprise, and its existence there indicates the general character of the people. The Pawnee Republican, of which A. E. and J. N. Hassler are editors and proprietors, was established in 1868 by Hon. Thomas R. Fisher, of Brownville, who at one time conducted the Brownville Advertiser, its name being then the Pawnee Tribune. The Republican was under his charge one year, during which time he made excellent headway. and then sold to Hon. J. L. Edwards, who conducted it successfully for one year, and then sold to Fred S. Hassler. At the end of fifteen months the remaining half-interest was disposed of to F. S. and J. N. Hassler, and in 1872 Augustus E. Hassler, our subject, purchased the entire outfit and changed the name. The paper from its first establishment has been Republican in politics. It is a seven-column quarto, and under its present management is rapidly assuming a position among the leading journals of Nebraska.
   The most decided qualities in the character of Mr. Hassler were developed in his native State of Pennsylvania, he having been born in Westmoreland County, May 25, 1838. He was given a practical education in the common schools, but later entered Mt. Union College in Stark County, Ohio, where he remained a student until the outbreak of the Civil War. Then, at the age of about twenty-three years, he enlisted in Company F, 12th Pennsylvania Reserves, which was assigned to the Army of the Potomac. After three years' faithful service he veteranized in Company C, 190th Pennsylvania Infantry, remaining in the army until the surrender of Gen. Lee. He saw the smoke of battle in some of the most important engagements of the war, taking part in the seven-days fight under Gen. McClellan in front of Richmond, and also in the battle of Antietam. At the latter place he was wounded by a gunshot through the thigh, and was confined in the hospital, principally at Harrisburg, four months. Then, rejoining his regiment, he took part in the battle of Gettysburg, the Wilderness and Appomattox. He received his final discharge July 3, 1865, after a service of four years.
   Upon laying down the weapons of warfare Mr. Hassler returned to his old haunts in Pennsylvania, engaged in teaching school two terms, and was then appointed Storekeeper and Gauger of the Twenty-first Congressional District of Pennsylvania, a position which he held two years. In the fall of 1871 he crossed the Mississippi, likewise the Missouri, and coming to this county, engaged in his present newspaper enterprise at Pawnee City. He was married at Rostraver, Pa., in 1867, to Miss Lorinda Davis, a native of his own county in Pennsylvania, and the daughter of Davis Davis, of that county. To the fireside of Mr. and Mrs. Hassler there came five children, three sons and two daughters, who are all living, forming an exceedingly bright and interesting group. The family residence is in the eastern part of the city, and our subject and his estimable lady number their friends among its best people.

LEXANDER K. GOUDY, Superintendent of the county schools, is a man possessing considerable force of character and native talent, and one of those who cast their lot with the people of Nebraska in the fall of 1874. His early training was given him among the hills of the Buckeye State, he having been born near the city of Springfield, Clarke County, May 13, 1847. He lived there until a little lad of seven years, and then removed with his parents to Warren County, Ill., where they settled near Monmouth, the county seat. The latter were Thomas H. and Nancy P. (Kirkpatrick) Goudy, natives of Ohio, and who spent their last years in Nebraska, the father passing away in February, 1886, and the mother March 10, 1888.
   The district school furnished to our subject his primary education, and among the peaceful pur-

suits of farm life he learned those habits of industry and economy which proved of use to him in after years. Later he became a student of the Normal University, where he gave close attention to his books for a period of two years, and then began teaching. Later he resumed farming, which he prosecuted one year in the Prairie State, and as we have stated sought the farther West in 1874. He now became fully identified with its educational interests, and began operations in Pawnee City as a teacher in the public schools, also as Principal, which position be held a number of years, and then changed the field of his operations to North Platte, where he spent two years.
   At the expiration of this time Mr. Goudy established the Pawnee City Academy, which was opened in October, 1877, and was conducted as a private school until January, 1883. On the 1st of that month he entered upon his duties as a teacher in the Nebraska State Normal School at Peru, remaining there until 1884, then returned to Pawnee City, and soon thereafter was elected County Superintendent of Schools. He was re-elected in the fall of 1886 for a second term of three years.
   Mr. Goudy was married, July 11, 1882, to Miss Alice Daily, daughter of William Daily, of Nemaha County. Mrs. Goudy was born in Madison, Ind., and they are the parents of one child, a daughter, Anna, who was born Aug. 20, 1886, Mr. Goudy, politically, votes the straight Republican ticket, and both he and his estimable wife are members in good standing of the United Presbyterian Church.

IRAM FRAZEE, deceased, had been connected with the farming interests of Pawnee County for nearly a decade, and had within that time developed from the wild prairie a productive and finely improved farm, that is justly classed among the most fertile and profitable estates in Mission Creek Precinct. It was a fine location on section 36, and here our subject built up a home that for comfort and coziness vied with any in the neighborhood. The other farm buildings were neat and well kept, everything about the place indicating the thrift, orderliness and industry of the owner.
   Mr. Frazee was born Nov. 3, 1811, in Lebanon, Warren Co., Ohio, to Isaac and Elizabeth (Harrison) Frazee, natives of New Jersey, the father born in Elizabethtown, in the eastern part of that State. The paternal grandfather of our subject, John Frazee, who was of Scotch descent, was born in the New Jersey town mentioned. He was a private in the Revolutionary War, served seven years in the ranks, and was at one time a prisoner in New York City some twelve months. After the war he began farming in New Jersey. He afterward bought 500 acres of land in Warren County, Ohio, purposing to settle there as a pioneer, but in 1806, while on his way to that State, was smitten with death, he then being scarcely past the meridian of life, he being forty-six years old. The maternal grandfather of our subject, Isaac Harrison, was a New Jersey farmer, and was a lifelong resident of that State. Isaac, the father of Hiram Frazee, went to Ohio in 1806, when he was eighteen years old, and becoming an early settler of Warren County, began to clear a farm. He enlisted to quell Indian disturbances, under the leadership of Gen. Harrison, of Tippecanoe fame, and was with him when that noted battle was fought in November, 1811. He afterward served for eighteen months in the American Army, under Col. Hopkins, in the War of 1812. He then returned to his pioneer home in Warren County, and reclaimed the remainder of sixty-five acres from the wilderness. In 1833 he became a Pioneer of Clinton County, bought eighty acres of land, engaged in farming and stock-raising, and there closed his life in 1840, at the age of fifty-two years. He was a man of strong character, and was a strict Presbyterian in his religious views. The mother of the subject of this memoir died in 1821, and the father was married a second time. Of the first marriage there were five children born, namely: John, Hiram, Esther, Harrison and Joseph, all now deceased. of the second union there were the six following children: Isaac (deceased,) Betsy, Polly, Ann (deceased), Harriet and Pamelia.
   He of whom we write grew to manhood in the forest wilds of Ohio, and by the experiences of

pioneer life was molded into a stalwart, self-reliant, active youth. His education was gleaned in a pay school, and after he was sixteen years of age he ceased to attend. He remained at home until he was twenty-four. He then went to work for himself, renting his aunt's place in Warren County for twelve years. He then rented other farms in his native State until 1853, when he decided to try life in another State, and in the month of December went by boat to Naples, and thence to Sangamon County, Ill., where he rented land for four years. He then took up his residence in Springfield, that State, where he remained a year. At the expiration of that time he resumed farming. In 1860 he bought forty acres of land near Springfield, and was actively engaged in its tillage and in raising stock until 1879, when he disposed of his property there, having decided to try farming under the sunny skies of Nebraska. Coming here by rail he rented land the first season, and thus gained time to look around for a place suited to his requirements. He found such in his present farm, which was originally a tract of 160 acres of school land, with no improvement, and not a tree on it. He broke the soil, set out groves of forest trees, and an orchard of three acres, partly fenced his land, besides erecting a good set of farm buildings. Besides raising corn and the various other grains, vegetables, etc., usually raised by a Nebraska farmer, Mr. Frazee raised horses of fine blood and well-graded hogs. In his farm labors he had the valuable assistance of his son, who was in partnership with him. On this place he lived until his death, which occurred Feb. 9, 1889.
   Hiram Frazee had been twice married. His first marriage, which took place in 1852, in Warren County, Ohio, was to Miss Nancy Casseday, who was born in Ohio in 1815, and died in 1858. His second marriage, June 17, 1862, in Sangamon County, Ill., was to Miss Sarah J. Morrison, daughter of James and Jane (Ewing) Morrison, natives respectively of Butler County, Ohio, and of a place near Lexington, Scott Co., Ky. Her paternal grandfather, David Morrison, a native. of New Jersey, became one of the pioneers of Butler County, Ohio, where he cleared a large farm. Mrs. Frazee's maternal grandfather, Robert Ewing, was born in Juniata County, Pa., and when a young man went to Kentucky, and engaged in the Indian wars, and afterward settled there and engaged in hunting and farming. In 1807 he moved to Montgomery County, Ohio, but remained there only a short time before removing to Butler County, where he bought 200 acres of forest covered land, cleared it, and continued to farm it until his retirement. He then went to Illinois with his grandchildren, and there died in 1856, at the venerable age of eighty-six years. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Brown. was of Scotch descent and of Kentucky birth. She died in Ohio in 1846. Mrs. Frazee's father grew to manhood in Ohio, and there learned the carpenter's and also the shoemaker's trade. He continued in his native county, engaging in farming the latter part of his life, until his death in 1831, while yet in life's prime, he being but thirty-three years of age. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and a man whose sterling worth was acknowledged by all who came in contact with him. Mrs. Frazee's mother died in Illinois, Dec. 31, 1887, at the advanced age of eighty-two years. She had three children: John, who is deceased; Robert, in Illinois, and Sarah, the wife of our subject. The latter was born on the banks of the Big Maumee River, in Butler County, Ohio, Dec. 16, 1828. Her father dying when she was a child of three years, she went to live with her grandparents, and was twenty-three years old when they moved to Sangamon County, Ill. Of her marriage with Mr. Frazee two children have been born--William M. and Mary E. William is a very enterprising, intelligent young man. He was born in Island Grove Township, Sangamon Co., Ill., Oct. 30, 1863, and since coming to Nebraska has identified himself with the young agriculturists who are fast winning an important place in the farming community of Pawnee County. He ably assisted his father in making the improvements on his farm. and on him has now devolved its management. He is an ardent Republican in politics. Mr. Frazee's daughter was born in Island Grove Township, Ill., Dec. 13, 1866, and also resides at home.
   Mr. Frazee was a man of high moral character, and possessed in a great degree the acumen, fore-