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BIOGRAPHICAL SOUVENIR OF BUFFALO COUNTY died in Indiana in 1883 and her mother had preceded him some time. Mr. Putnam has held various offices of trust in the township and is quite well known throughout the county.
JOHN WOLF was born near Iowa City, Johnson county, Iowa, November 13, 1855. His father, John D. Wolf was born in Germany in 1815. He came to America at the age of twenty-two, served in the United States army in the war with Mexico, and then made a tour of the Eastern, Western and Southern states before deciding to locate permanently at any place. He finally settled in Johnson county, Iowa, and engaged in agricultural pursuits. During his residence in Iowa, he took considerable interest in local affairs and filled various local offices with credit. He immigrated to Buffalo county, Nebr., in 1880, and settled in Thornton township. He married Catherine Brunner in 1853. She was a native of France, having been born near Strassburg, but came to America when a young woman. Seven children were born to them, of whom John, the subject of this sketch, was the second. John Wolf remained on his father's farm in Iowa until twenty-three years of age, when he emigrated to Buffalo county, Nebr., in company with four other young men, former neighbors. All except one settled in this county. Mr. Wolf purchased railroad land in Thornton township and began life's battle in earnest. At that time the country thereabouts was sparsely settled, there being only two houses in sight. He built a sod house, which served his purpose until 1886, when it was superseded by a modern frame building. He now has one hundred and twenty acres of well-improved land about eight miles north of Kearney.
Mr. Wolf was married, November 29, 1880, to Miss Maggie Henderson, who was born in Illinois October 2, 1865. Her parents were Abraham and Elenor (Rough) Henderson, natives of Illinois. They emigrated to Missouri, and in 1872 came to Nebraska, settling in Centre township, this county. Mr. Henderson was a farmer by occupation, and both he and his wife were devoted members of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Henderson died December 24, 1878.
Three children now bless the home of Mr. and Mrs. Wolf, namely - Ida M., born May 24, 1882; Lillie K., born November 11, 1885, and Nettie E., born October 22, 1887. Both Mr. and Mrs. Wolf are members of the German Lutheran church. Mr. Wolf has held various important township offices, and always affiliates with the democratic party.
NATHAN P. McDONALD. Although Mr. McDonald has been a resident of Buffalo county only since 1887, he has succeeded in making himself sufficiently prominent to deserve mention in the county's biographical souvenir. He is a son of Donald and Arcelia (Badgley) McDonald. The former, a native of Scotland, was born in 1830, and came to America when he was about twenty-five years of age. In 1860, he was married to Mrs. Badgley, a widow lady, having two sons, viz. - Levant, who is now
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clerk of the district court in Pattawatomie county, Kans., and John, now principal of the public schools of Kimball, Nebr. To Mr. and Mrs. McDonald were born two sons, Nathan P. and Lemont. The paternal grandfather was Duncan McDonald, a native of Scotland, and the maternal grandparents were Lyman and Amy (Alby) Calkins.
The subject of this memoir was born near Columbus, Warren county, Pa., in 1862. Living on a farm, he had the early training of industry and economy incident to thrifty farming with moderate means. His education during boyhood was acquired in the district school, where he was always among the best of his class. When sixteen years of age, he accepted a position as clerk in a store, which position he held for two and a half years, always enjoying the confidence and esteem of his employer. Mr. McDonald left the store to extend his education. Two years having been passed in the city school of Corry, Pa., and one year at Sugar Grove Seminary, Pa., he decided to go to college. This was a difficult task, as he was depending entirely upon his own resources to provide means. By dint of economy and strict frugality, he maintained himself two years in a classical course in Otterbein university at Westerville, Ohio. While in college, Mr. McDonald was a close student, and carried a high grade of scholarship. He took special interest in literary work, and was a prominent member of the Philophronean Literary Society of that institution. Circumstances over which he had no control compelled Mr. McDonald to abandon his hope of completing the two remaining years of his college course. He came West in December of 1886, and engaged in teaching near Louisville, in Kansas. From there he came to Elm Creek, Nebr., where he engaged as principal of the Elm Creek school. He has proven himself a successful teacher, and a popular gentleman, in every way worthy of the confidence of the people. Being a republican, he was the choice of that party for the office of county superintendent of public instruction, of Buffalo county, in the election of 1889. This position he now holds.
In 1858, Mr. McDonald was united in marriage to Miss Ella Upton, of Kearney, Rev. Leslie Stephens officiating. Mrs. McDonald is a native of Illinois, born in Olney, Richland county. In 1875, she, with her parents, moved to Roanoke, Woodford county, and in 1887 she moved to Kearney, Nebr. Mrs. McDonald is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. One child, Archie, born in 1889, makes music in their home.
JAMES M. SMITH, son of Andrew and Selenor (Mackley) Smith, was born in Jackson county, Ohio, October 9, 1839. His father was born in Kentucky in 1811, and emigrated to Jackson county, Ohio, early in life. In 1842 he moved to Indiana, and in 1845 emigrated to Iowa, where he engaged in farming. He came to Buffalo county, Nebr., in 1882, where he has since resided. He has been an active member of the United Brethren church for fifty years. His father was a native of South Carolina and was of Irish descent. He died in 1850. The maternal grandfather, John Mackley, was born in Virginia and was of Dutch descent.
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He also died in 1850. His wife was a Pennsylvanian by birth, and died in 1842. James M. Smith was a strong Union man during the dark days of the rebellion, and enlisted November 2, 1864, in the Thirteenth regiment, Iowa infantry, and went immediately to the front. He participated in the battle of Nashville, and also in the terrible struggle at Decatur, Ala. He served under Gen. Thomas during most of his service and was mustered out at Davenport, Iowa, June 20, 1865. After he returned from the service he continued to farm in Iowa for ten years, then emigrated to Buffalo county, Nebr., in 1874, and took a homestead in the southern part of Thornton township, built a sod house and began breaking sod preparatory to planting his first crop. The country was or seemed like, one vast barren waste, inhabited only by wild beasts; antelope and deer were plenty, and one only had to go a short distance north of where Mr. Smith now resides to see herds of elk. The first year he planted considerable corn and had splendid prospects for a crop, but the grasshoppers came along by and by and soon destroyed every hope of raising any corn that year. Mr. Smith, however was not discouraged and the year following planted and succeeded in raising a good crop. His experience the third year, however, was simply a repetition of he first his entire prospect of a crop being destroyed by the grasshoppers. Even this did not wholly discourage him, for he had great faith in the future of the country and was determined to stay and give it another trial. He did so and has never experienced a failure of crop since. He was formerly the owner of two hundred and forty acres of choice land, but has just presented each of his sons with a deed for eighty acres. Mr. Smith was elected supervisor of Thornton township in 1888 and filled the office with entire satisfaction to all his constituents. Mr. Smith was united in marriage, September 27, 1862, to Miss Nancy Hendrickson. There were born to this union five children, namely - Minnie May, born July 27, 1863 (deceased); John J., born May 20, 1866 ; Andrew, born December 16, 1869 (married Hattie Carter); Maud, born March 6, 1872 (wife of Presley Clark), and Bertha Viola, born Sept. 11, 1876. Both Mr. and Mrs. Smith are active and devoted members of the United Brethren church.
CHARLES H. DOW, SR., farmer of Schneider township, Buffalo county, Nebr., was born in Clark county, Ind., February 17, 1828. His father, Nathan Dow, was a native of Connecticut, who was born in 1807 and died in 1842, having passed a quiet and. industrious life as a weaver and farmer. He married Matilda Robertson, who was born in Virginia in 1812. In politics Nathan Dow was a whig and in religion a Carmelite. The grandfather of Chas. H. Dow, Sr., was named Henry; he was born in 1755, was a manufacturer of woolen goods, and also served as a captain in the war of 1812. His death took place in 1843.
Charles H. Dow, Sr. began attending school at the age of four years and at the age of eight was removed to Morgan county, Ind., where he lived for eighteen years, engaged in blacksmithing and farm-
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ing; he then moved to Owen county, Ind., where he continued to follow the vocation of blacksmith. August, 1862, he enlisted in Company D, Fifty-ninth Indiana volunteers, and served at Corinth, Ft. Gibson, Raymond, Jackson, Champlain hills, Edward's station and Vicksburg, and at the last named place was attacked with a protracted sickness. On his recovery he rejoined his command at Huntsville, Ala., thence he went to Atlanta, and at the fall of that city followed Sherman to the sea. His last action was at Bentonville, N. C., March 19 to 21, 1865, and his discharge took place at Washington, D. C., May 31, 1865.
August 14, 1851, Mr. Dow married Lecena Porter, and to this union have been born thirteen children viz. - Christiana J., Martha E., Thomas F., Charles H., Pressa M., Sarah M. (deceased), William S., Saletha A., Mary E., David B., Lorena A., Lily L., and Annie M. (deceased). Mr. Dow is a consistent member of the Methodist church ; he is a member of Owen Lodge, 263, A. F. and A. M., Owen county, Ind., and of the G. A. R.
JAMES THOMAS was born June 18, 1815, and is a son of Michard and Barbara (Shedron) Thomas, the former of whom, a wagon-maker by trade, was born and reared in Adams county, Pa., but emigrated to Stark county, Ohio, when a young man, where he lived until he died. There were nine children in the family, of whom James, the subject of this sketch, was the sixth. He was cast out among strangers, when a small boy, to make his way through the world. At the age of eighteen he began an apprenticeship as a carpenter, and afterwards followed mill-wrighting. Wages in those days, even for skilled mechanics, were small in comparison with what they are now. After he had learned his trade he worked a long time as a journeyman receiving but $10.00 per month, and never received to exceed $1.25 per day. In 1840 he moved to Williams county, Ohio, where he found employment as a mill-wright. He would work all day, then walk two miles to his home and work until a late hour at night clearing ground to raise his crop. He emigrated to Buffalo county, Nebr., in the spring of 1873 and settled on a homestead in Thornton township, where he built a small sod house and began to break prairie for his crop. He went to Gibbon on an errand one day soon after his arrival in the new country, and on his return home his team drowned while attempting to cross Wood river. The bridge gave way, the water being so high at the time. This was indeed a sad misfortune to him, for the loss of a team at that time meant a good deal. There was no settlement at all in the vicinity where he lived and wild game was plenty all about him. He has seen as many as five hundred elk in a drove along the Loup river and has killed many a one. He has hauled fuel for twentv miles and was a sufferer on account of the grasshopper raids in 1874 and 1876, and thinks the chintz bugs were brought to this country by the grasshoppers. He has always had great faith in the future development of this country and its bright future when he first settled here. His wife was a daughter of Daniel Strong a native of Connecticut. He emigrated to
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Ohio and later to De Kalb county, Ind., where he was struck by a falling tree several years afterwards and killed. Mrs. Thomas now resides with her son, Sheldon B., who is an honest hardworking young man.
Photo of J. S. Harrington J. S. HARRINGTON, merchant and real estate dealer of Kearney, Buffalo county, is an old settler and prominent business man of his locality. He settled in Buffalo county in 1872, and has resided in that county and the city of Kearney since, and during all those years has been actively identified with the best interests of his adopted home and community. Mr. Harrington is a native of Vermont, having been born at Hyde Park, in the "Green Mountain" State, March 26, 1842. He comes of New England parentage, his father and mother both being Vermonters also by birth. His father, Elisha Harrington, was born and reared in Middlesex, Vt., and passed all his years in his native place, being an industrious, useful and highly respected farmer. His mother, Hannah Wisnall, also lived and died there.
The subject of this sketch is the second of three children born to his parents. He was reared in his native place, and received a good common-school education in the schools of Hyde Park, finishing with a course of three terms at the Morrisville academy, at Morrisville, Vt. In May, 1861, at the age of nineteen, he entered the Union army, enlisting in Company E, Third Vermont infantry. He belonged to one of the "Three Hundred Fighting Regiments" of the Union army and saw much service in the field. His regiment left the state in the fall of 1861 and moved at once to the front. On April 16, 1862, occurred the remarkable action at Lee's Mills, on the Warwick river, one of the defenses of Yorktown. Four companies of the Third - D, E, F and K - forded the stream in the face of the enemy, with a view of making a reconnaissance in force. Through mismanagement and lack of support they were driven back, with a loss of eighty-nine killed and wounded out of the one hundred and ninety-two officers and men that crossed. The detachment was ably commanded by Capt. Samuel E. Pingree, who was wounded twice during the fight. The regiment crossed the Rapidan May 4, 1864, with about six hundred effectives, under command of Colonel Seaver. On the following day, in the battle of the Wilderness, it lost thirty-eight killed, one hundred and sixty-seven wounded, and six missing ; total, two hundred and eleven. At Spottsylvania it lost twenty-one killed and fifty-three wounded. At Cold Harbor the gallant Seaver, who commanded the regiment at Marye's Heights, and in most all its battles, again led them in a bloody assault, and, though there were less than three hundred in line there, the casualties were fourteen killed, fifty-three wounded and five missing. On July 16, 1864, the remnant of the regiment was mustered out, the recruits and re-enlisted men having been consolidated into a battalion of six companies, which remained in the field. The regiment participated in eighteen of the leading battles of the war, and was present also at ten other principal engagements. Out of an enlistment of seventeen hundred and forty-eight it lost
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six hundred and seventy-nine in killed and wounded.
At the battle of the Wilderness Mr. Harrington received a severe wound and being disabled from active service in the field was place on hospital duty at Montpelier, Vt., and continued there until peace was declared. At the close of the war he, purchasing a farm near Montpelier, settled down to the peaceful pursuit of agriculture. In 1869 he decided to immigrate West and at that date moved to Iowa and settled in the town of Red Oak, where he was alternately engaged in farming, butchering and merchandising. In 1872 he moved to Nebraska and settled in Buffalo county, taking a homestead of 160 acres seven miles northeast of Kearney. Remaining there one year he moved into Kearney and began to invest in real estate. Recently, in 1887, he opened a mercantile establishment in Kearney, since which time his interests have been real estate and merchandising combined. He is known to be one of the heaviest investors in real estate in the city of Kearney, and has probably erected more buildings than any other one man in the city. He has been actively identified with many of the leading enterprises that have sought favor in his community, and he has given liberally of his means towards their support and encouragement. He is a man who believes in growth and development and he has attested his faith by his acts. His career has been that of a business man strictly, and he is an indefatigable worker. He has never aspired to any public position; and with the exception of the position of city councilman, he has never held any public office.
Mr. Harrington married in 1866, the lady whom he selected to share fortunes being Miss Sarah A. Eastman; a native of New Hampshire, and like himself a descendant of old New England stock; Four children have been born to this union - Francis L., a leading hardware merchant of Kearney; Clarence Eugene, a merchant at Stanley, Buffalo county ; Wilbur J.; clerk in his father's store, and Elmer E.
In politics Mr. Harrington is independent, reserving the right to vote for men and measures according to their merits.
JAMES GASS first saw the light of day in New Brunswick, Canada, January 25, 1855, and is the son of Joseph and Isabella (Hannah) Gass, both of whom were born in Scotland, were married in Scotland, and came to America in 1850. They came to Nebraska in 1873 and were among the first settlers in Thornton township, Buffalo county. James Gass was twenty-three years old when he took up a claim in Thornton township. The country was very new and wild game was plenty, especially antelope, elk and deer, and he has seen a few wild horses and hundreds of Indians since his residence here. The settlers in those days were few and far between and the prairie was bare, except in the draws. As civilization advanced rain began to fall more evenly and the soil retained moisture better as it began to be cultivated. The climate has changed materially and grass grows much more profusely now than it did several years ago. During the grasshopper raid Mr. Gass did not leave,
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as many others did, but concluded to stay as long as he could succeed in getting enough to eat. He made up his mind that he could stay on the money it would require to get away on. The first election young Gass attended in this county was at Buda, in the fall of 1876. There were no township organizations then - only precincts. There were only a few voters, and a few came the day before and camped out over night. They had too far to come to make the trip in one day. He herded cattle a great deal in an early day in the summer, and hunted in the autumn and trapped beaver in the winter. His territory extended along the South Loup and Dismal for over one hundred miles northwest. He has been out all alone from August until November, and would only see two or three men in that time. He is the first son of a family of nine children, the others being Rachel, Jane, Mary, Nicholas, Thomas, Joseph, Hannah and Nettie. He has one hundred and sixty acres of land under a fair state of cultivation and he has always succeeded in raising good crops excepting two seasons.
OSCAR F. HAMILTON was born in Portage county, Ohio, June 8, 1845, and is the son of Andrew and Eliza (Mott) Hamilton, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania. His father was an iron worker and worked in the rolling mills at Youngstown, Ohio. When the rebellion threatened the life of the country he immediately enlisted and served through the war. His mother was a daughter of Elijah Mott, who was the first settler in Deerfield township, Portage county, Ohio. He died about 1842.
Oscar F. Hamilton was but a boy when he enlisted, October 15, 1801, in the Tenth Ohio cavalry. He participated in the battles of Stone river, Chickamauga and Resaca, and followed Sherman to the sea and back through the Carolinas to the surrender at Greensboro, N. C. He was mustered out July 4, 1865, but re-enlisted in the regular army in the spring of 1866 and walked from Leavenworth, Kans., via Ft. Kearney, to Montana. He helped establish Ft. Reno, Ft. Phil Kearney and Ft. C. F. Smith. During his service in the regular army he experienced several thrilling episodes while on the western frontier. He relates one incident especially worthy of note, which happened near Ft. Phil Kearney in Montana. It was on the ninth of September, 1866, when about four hundred regulars were encamped in Ft. Phil Kearney. Young Hamilton, with a party of soldiers, was sent to the timber about nine miles distant to cut logs to be used in completing the fort. The first thing they did was to erect a small log shanty in which they could lodge during the night. They knew, of course, that there were Indians in the country, but they did not suspect that they were in any immediate danger of being molested by them. However, they took the precaution of carefully stopping every hole about the walls of their cabin, in order that no light from the fire within might penetrate the darkness without and disclose their whereabouts to outside intruders. One evening just after they had retired for the night, they were suddenly startled by a
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shot from without. Although one of the boys had been severely wounded in the heel, he did not make the fact known to his comrades, but they at once suspected that their cabin was surrounded by the red skins. A kettle of water was dashed on the fire by one of the boys, while the others grabbed their guns and stationed themselves at the four port holes. Nothing could be seen until the Indians began to shoot lighted arrows of pine-pitch in order to set fire to the shanty. Whenever an Indian would shoot, thereby disclosing his location, the boys inside the shanty would shoot in that direction. The Indians were unsuccessful in their attempts to set fire to the shanty, but the firing was kept up between them for some time.
When morning came Mr. Hamilton and a comrade volunteered to go out for water, which they had been in the habit of getting from a small creek near by. When they emerged from the shanty no Indians were in sight, so they proceeded to procure their kettle of water, while the few soldiers engaged in hauling the logs to the fort arrived, and while the awful experience of the night before was being discussed by the small group standing about the cabin, about sixty Indians emerged from a thicket near by and killed and scalped two soldiers who had just commenced to cut down a tree within a few yards of the shanty. Before the soldiers could recover from their surprise, the wily Indians had disappeared in the woods. It was supposed that they concealed themselves in the bushes the previous night and were awaiting a favorable opportunity to commit their murderous acts.
Oscar F. Hamilton left the regular army, March 8, 1869, and was married July 17, 1870, at Three Oaks, Mich., to Charlotte Smith. She was born in Portage county, Ohio, June 9, 1841, and the daughter of Noah and Rebecca Smith, both of whom were natives of Ohio. This union was blessed by the birth of three children - Nettie (deceased), Frank (deceased), and Ella.
Mr. Hamilton came to Buffalo county, Nebr., October 8, 1873, and took up a homestead adjoining the present town of Armada. He was one of the first to settle in that locality and has been identified with every step of the wonderful progress made since. He laid out the present town of Armada and is doing as much as any other one man in furthering the growth and development of the town. He has been justice of the peace for several years and served as postmaster of Armada during Cleveland's administration.
JAMES K. SMITH was born in Coshocton county, Ohio, August 26, 1849, and is the son of Eli and Catherine (Hastings) Smith, both of whom were Pennsylvanians by birth.
Eli Smith came to Ohio with his parents when a lad, and remained with them until he was married. In 1856 he moved to McDonald county, Ill., where he died in 1878. He was a farmer and a highly respected and influential man in the community where he lived. He was a justice of the peace for several years, and he and his faithful wife were members of the Methodist church.
James K. Smith was only nineteen years of age when he joined a company of Illinois
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volunteers in August, 1861. He was a gallant young soldier, and faced the enemy at the battles at Fort Donelson, Fort Henry and Pittsburg Landing. He was wounded five times in the last named battle, and was taken to the hospital at Savannah, and from there to Marietta, Ohio, and thence to St. Louis, where he received his discharge November 1, 1863. After he had sufficiently recovered from the effects of his wounds he spent two years in school at Prairie City, Ill. He then engaged in the marble business for four years, during which he had remarkable success. In 1869 he located at West Liberty, Iowa, and engaged in raising Osage orange for hedges. He planted and cultivated the first nursery in the state. After successfully prosecuting this business for four years he retired, and engaged in farming for several years. He conducted a hotel at Tipton, Iowa, for three years, and in the spring of 1885 he came to Buffalo county, Nebr., and took a soldier's claim in the Wild Horse valley. He moved to Armada, Nebr., in the fall of 1888, and erected a hotel, which he is now conducting with splendid success.
He was married, March 18, 1869, to Sarah Dickerson, of West Liberty, Iowa. They had four children - Linie L., Annie, Willie and Clara. She was born in Ohio and died in 1878.
He was next married, May 7, 1882, to Mary A. Linn. She was born in Iowa May 7, 1853. Her father was born in Tennessee and her mother in South Carolina. Her grandparents on both sides were large slave owners, and had large plantations in the South.
Mr. Smith is a member of the Masons, Odd Fellows and of the G. A. R.
BRINTON F. HARBAUGH was born in Hamilton county, Ind., March 28, 1854, and is the son of Samuel and Amelia (Seaman) Harbaugh. His father was born in Kentucky in 1808, but was reared in Ohio. In 1833 he moved to Indiana and in 1875 came to Nebraska. He was a wagon-maker by trade and was a soldier in the Black Hawk war. He has several times been elected justice of the peace and is a respected member of the Christian church.
B. F. Harbaugh learned the wagon-maker's trade with his father, while a resident of Indiana. Being an industrious young man he concluded to accept the advice of that revered journalist, Horace Greeley, and go West. The spring of 1873 found him in Kearney, then a mere hamlet on the frontier. He followed the Wood river as far west as the present village of Armada, where he filed a soldier's declaratory claim to a quarter section for his brother and held it down for six months, when he purchased it for himself. He built a sod house and survived the grasshopper raid, but witnessed great suffering among settlers in those dark days. There were few ways of earning money then and many had to resort to hunting and trapping to gain a livelihood. In 1885 he moved to Armada and engaged in the implement business, which he continued for about three years. Mr. Harbaugh is now justice of the peace for Armada township, and has held various other local offices. He is a young man of excellent habits and of exceptional ability, and has a bright future before him. He manifests a deep interest in the rapid development of Armada and the surrounding country, and is confident that at no
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distant day the success of the town will be assured. He was married November 1, 1882, to Miss Judy Burt. They have two children - Georgie, born August 17, 1883, and Annie, born November 21, 1884. Mrs. Harbaugh was born June 15, 1861, and is the daughter of Arthur F. and Elizabeth (Campbell) Burt.
JAMES M. FRANTZ was born at New Lexington. Perry county, Ohio, February 21, 1835, and is the son of William and Nancy (Rush) Frantz. His father was born in Somerset county, Pa., April 8, 1808. At the age of twenty he moved to Perry county, Ohio, where he met and married Miss Nancy Rush three years later. William Frantz was a farmer by occupation and lived in Perry county until 1867, when he removed to Warren county, Ill., where he died in 1867. His wife died in 1875.
The paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch was John Frantz, who was a Pennsylvanian by birth, and Samuel Rush, the maternal grandparent, was a native of Pennsylvania, and a captain in the war of 1812.
James M. Frantz was the eldest of a family of nine children, and at twenty-one went to Warren county, Ill., where he followed agricultural pursuits for a few years. He also spent several years in various mercantile pursuits. In 1873, he emigrated to Kearney, Nebr., and engaged in the drug business. The present lively young city of Kearney was then a mere frontier hamlet with only two or three hundred inhabitants. During the terrible blizzard on April 8, 1873, Mr. Frantz was there keeping a drug store and living in the upper story. The storm raged so fiercely that he did not come down stairs to open his store for three days. There were several car loads of cattle and hogs snow bound on the side tracks that actually perished. After the storm had passed over, the cars were emptied, and the dead stock hauled some distance south of town, where a good portion was consumed by a band of Pawnee Indians. During Mr. Frantz's residence in Kearney, he purchased and shipped fifty car loads of buffalo bones. A great many settlers, for want of other employment, would gather buffalo bones from the prairie and market them to get money to supply themselves with the necessaries of life. He witnessed the trouble with the drunken cowboys in Kearney, in 1874, and saw two of them shot on their horses by village officials.
James M. Frantz was married, January 31, 1861, to Miss Mary A. Campbell. The five children born of this union are named Canzada, Mina, Areta, Harry and Charlie.
Mrs. Frantz was born in Fayette county, Pa., June 28, 1842, and is the daughter of James M. and Jane N. (Smiler) Campbell, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania. They emigrated to Illinois in 1853, and engaged in agricultural pursuits. Her mother died in 1875 and her father in 1889. Mr. Frantz is now in the drug business in the flourishing little town of Armada, Nebr., and is meeting with splendid success. He is a prominent member of the masonic fraternity, and both he and his estimable wife belong to the Christian church.
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