THOMAS MATTHEWS Progressive in all which the term implies and holding distinctive prestige as a business man and citizen Thomas Matthews is a splendid example of the alert, enterprising class of men who in recent years have done so much to develop the wonderful resources of the Great West and advertise its manifold advantages to the world. Although a, resident of another state he has large and important business interests in Wyoming and during the last twenty years has been very closely identified with the material development of the county of Weston. His parents, William and Nancy (King) Matthews, were among the very earliest pioneers of Southern Texas, settling in Gonzales county about 1835, where the father became one of the most extensive cattle raisers of that region, owning at one time nearly 5,000 acres of land, the greater part of which came into his possession by reason of his service as a soldier during the Mexican War. He was one of the successful and influential men of his county, accumulated valuable property and became widely known throughout Southern Texas as a farmer and stockman; he died in 1856, his widow surviving until 1892. Thomas N. Matthews was born in Gonzales county, Tex., on April 14, 1849. He was a lad of six years when his father died, and to his mother's faithful care and guidance is he indebted for his early training and for much of the success with which his riper years have been crowned. At the proper age he became a pupil of the public schools and until eighteen years old remained with his mother on the home farm, looking after her interests and assisting to run the place. On April 23, 1867, when but little past eighteen years of age he was united in marriage with Miss Fannie Walker, a native of Tennessee and a daughter of Allen Walker, the ceremony being solemnized in the city of Gonzales. Upon the division of his father's estate about 1,000 acres fell to his son Thomas, who, on this, set up his first domestic establishment and began his long and successful career as a cattle raiser, building up a large and lucrative business and for a number of years ranking with the leading stockmen and successful farmers of his native county, also earning the reputation of an intelligent and public spirited man of affairs. He continued in Texas until 1881 when he sold a part of his extensive interests there and brought a large number of cattle to Wyoming, purchasing the fine ranch near Gillette which he still owns. Since transferring his interests to this state Mr. Matthews has redoubled his diligence, gradually forging to the front until he became one of the most extensive stockmen in Weston county, beside holding large and valuable possessions elsewhere. His family joined him in 1889, when he disposed of the residue of his property in Texas, and in 1895 he moved to his present home in the town of Spearfish, South Dakota. Mr. Matthews owns a large amount of fine grazing land in South Dakota, which is well stocked with cattle and horses, his son Thomas being jointly interested with him and giving personal attention to the business in Wyoming. Mr. Matthews has steadily increased his realty and his business continues to grow in magnitude and importance with each recurring year. His various ranches are admirably situated and with the improvements which he has added from time to time are now among the most valuable properties of the kind in the west. He owns an elegant modern residence in Spearfish, abundantly supplied with the comforts and conveniences calculated to make life desirable, and in addition thereto has nearly 1, 000 acres of land in close proximity to the city. In many respects the subject of this sketch is more than an ordinary man, for his career has been attended with financial success, such as few achieve and he has made his presence felt as a forceful factor in business circles and in the public affairs of his city and state. His methods have always been honorable and in his relations with his fellow men no shade or suspicion of a questionable transaction has ever attached to his good name. His private character is above reproach and as a neighbor, friend and citizen his record will bear the closest and most exacting scrutiny. By deeds of generosity and kindness extending through a long period of years he has won and retained strong personal attachments, and it is doubtful if a more useful or popular individual can be found in the city of his residence, or in any part of the country where he is so well and favorably known. Mr. Matthews' first wife, to whom reference is made in a preceding paragraph, bore him five children and departed this life in August, 1894; her body was taken to Gonzales, Tex., where amid quiet scenes and peaceful shades, it will sleep until awakened by the angel of the resurrection. The following are the names of her children James, Thomas, Addie and Ida, twins, and Cora, all deceased except Thomas. His second marriage was solemnized on April 1, 1895, in Deadwood, S. D., with Carrie Minegh, a native of Illinois and a daughter of George Minegh, Esq. Mrs. Matthews is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Spearfish and has a large acquaintance among the best social circles of that city. While not personally identified with any religious organization, Mr. Matthews believes in the church as a great moral force and is a liberal contributor to its beneficences. All other enterprises having for their object the improvement of society or the elevation of the standard of citizenship also find in him a zealous friend and liberal patron.  Return to the Biographie Index WILLIAM H. MENDENHALL A soldier in the great Civil War and still bearing in his own person the marks of its burdens, William H. Mendenhall has a deep and abiding interest in the country he fought for and he has given the best efforts of his life toward its development and advancement wherever he has lived. Comfortably located now, far from war's dread alarms, on a fruitful farm in the fertile region of Wyoming, known as Canyon Springs Prairie, about twenty-five miles northeast of Newcastle, he gives himself to the triumphs of peace there won over obdurate nature through the application of skill and industry in the vocation of the husbandman. He was born on September 26, 1841, in Morgan county, Ohio, the son of Isaac and Jane (Kinsy) Mendenhall, the father being a native of Pennsylvania and the mother of New York. Early in their married life they settled in Ohio, then the home and pregnant hope of the hardy pioneer, and there were engaged in farming until death ended their labors, those of the mother \n 1848 and of the father in 1891. Their son, William H. Mendenhall, remained on the homestead until he reached his majority, attending the public schools and doing his share of the farm work, and in youth learned the trade of a stonemason, at which he worked in his native county until 1880, then came west to Nebraska and settled on a farm he bought in Webster county, where he was successfully engaged in farming for fifteen years, in 1895 removing to Wyoming, taking up his present ranch on Canyon Springs Prairie, which he has vastly improved both in the matter of its cultivation and its equipment for the purpose. It is a desirable property in location, in resources and in the improvements with which it is furnished and adorned. In 1861 Mr. Mendenhall promptly enlisted in Co. H, Twenty-fifth Ohio Infantry, as a soldier for the Union in the Civil War and remained in the service a year, until he was discharged on account of disability caused by a wound received at the battle of Cheat Mountain, W.Va., after a military career as gallant as it was short. On January 3, 1863, in Morgan county, Ohio, he was married to Miss Mary Fowler, a native of that state, of Maryland ancestry, her father, Joseph Fowler, having been born in Maryland, a scion of a family long and prominently known in its annals. Her mother was Avis (Rossell) Fowler, the daughter of a prosperous shoe merchant of Morgan county, Ohio, who conducted a leading business there until the death of his wife in 1851, when he removed to Virginia, and in that state passed the remainder of his days, dying in 1886. Mr. and Mrs. Mendenhall have had nine children, Leicester B., deceased; Emily Luella, Joseph J., deceased; Charles O., Rachel A., Clarence H. E. V., James F., Maggie M., Nina A. Two of the sons, Charles and Herbert, have farms adjoining that of their parents, while James works at home in a leading way. Mr. Mendenhall belongs to the Orientals in fraternal relations and he is an ardent Republican.  Return to the Biographie Index  WILLIAM H. MILLER In this great land of hope and promise, of multitudinous opportunity and bountiful reward, every citizen is a sovereign, therefore liable to be called at any time to the administration of public affairs: and for the proper discharge of official duties each is well prepared by a continual participation in the thought and activities on which the government is founded. William H. Miller of Newcastle, Weston county, Wyoming, one of the leading cattle and ranchmen of his section of the state, who has demonstrated his fitness for public business by close and careful attention to his own and the good results achieved thereby, is no exception to the rule; that he has made an ideal official is no surprise to those who have known him in private life. He was born in Noble county, Ohio, on January if), 1864, the son of William and Elizabeth (Rogers) Miller, of the same nativity as himself. The father owned a large sawmill in Lawrence county, that state, and for a number of years did a profitable business with it in that thriving and progressive section. In 1872 the family removed to Guthrie county, Iowa, and there engaged in farming until 1878, when they took a flight toward the setting sun, alighting in Colorado and settling at Villa Grove, at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, a range rich in mineral deposits of enormous value. There the father discovered the Bonanza mine, one of the largest and most prolific silver mines in the state, and gave himself zealously to the work of developing it. He has since sold part of his interest, but owns the greater portion of this fruitful holding and still makes his home at Villa Grove. William H. Miller received his education in Guthrie county, Iowa, remaining there until 1876 when he removed to Cheyenne, Wyo., but after a short stay in that city went to the Black Hills and engaged in freighting, going from that region to Sidney, Neb., and there riding the range in the cattle industry until 1882. In 1883 he came to Crook county, Wyo., with cattle and rode the range in care of them for three years. In 1886 he started a cattle raising industry of his own, taking up a ranch nine miles south of Sundance, to which he has since made additions until it now comprises 640 acres of the best grazing and range land in that portion of the state. He is a stockholder and the vice-president of the Cambria Live Stock Co., of Newcastle, one of the largest and most enterprising organizations for handling sheep in the Northwest, controlling immense bodies of land and carrying on a business of great scope and activity. He is also a half owner of the Meek & Miller Cattle Co. Mr. Miller also owns stock in and is vice-president of the Coffee Oil Co., of Newcastle, whose fields of unctuous wealth lie southwest of the town and freely yield up their treasures to the industrious seeker. He owns much desirable property in the residence section of the city and has interests of value elsewhere. In 1894 he removed his cattle from Crook to Weston county and there ran them until 1901 when he disposed of them, still having a large number of horses in Crook county. From 1892 to 1898 he was extensively engaged in the dairy business near Cambria and in the latter year was elected sheriff of Weston county on the Republican ticket. He so bore himself in this responsible station that he won the regard of all men officially as he had already done personally and in a business way and was reelected in November, 1902, demonstrating the popularity he has acquired among the voters. On March 30, 1887, in Crook county, Wyo., Mr. Miller was united in marriage with Miss Anna McMoran of that county, a native of New York and a daughter of Robert G. and Mary McMoran, the former of Scotch and the latter of English ancestry. Her father was a brave and faithful soldier for the Union in the Civil War, who removed his family to Wyoming in 1883 and added his forceful energy to the cattle raising industry until his death in 1899, his widow still making her home in Crook county. The Millers have five children, Mary E., Helen R., Sidney A., C. Raymond and A. Ruth. Mr. Miller is a member of the Knights of Pythias at Cambria and the order of Red Men at Newcastle and both himself and his wife are members of the Episcopal church.  Return to the Biographie Index HON. FRANK WHEELER MONDELL Our great mother Nature flings her bounties with lavish and seemingly capricious hand before her children, and then apparently abandons her benefactions, leaving them to any fate that may befall them. But in the eye of a true discernment she bears them ever in her faithful memory, and, when the proper moment comes, brings forth the powers to develop them and put them in circulation, and provides the required leaders for those productive forces. In what is now the new, but growing and progressive, state of Wyoming she laid away ages ago a might)' wealth of mineral resources and favored it with a surrounding empire of agricultural and commercial possibilities. And when the hour was ripe, she sent an industrial army here to occupy and subdue the untamed domain and develop, people and possess it. Among the great captains of this army, of later if not of the earliest date, is Hon. Frank Wheeler Mondell, a native of St. Louis, Missouri, where he was born on November 5. 1860, who has been since 1887 a useful citizen and a leader of thought and industrial activity in Wyoming, as well as of development. Mr. Mondell's father became one of the very early settlers at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, and removed from there to St. Louis with his family in 1858. During the Civil War he, was a captain in the First Missouri Volunteers and saw much active and arduous service in the Southwest. He was a man of great natural ability, and noted for his courage and unusual physical strength. The mother before her marriage was Miss Nancy Gould, of Cold Springs, Wisconsin. She was a woman of earnest Christian faith and great amiability and sweetness of character. In 1864 she died, and Mr. Mondell was doubly orphaned by the death of his father, a year and a half later. When the family was thus broken up, the other children, two girls and three boys, remained in St. Louis, while Frank was taken by his stepmother to her relatives near Monona, Iowa. With them he lived until her death, about two years later, and then went to make his home with the family of a Congregational minister named Upton, on his homestead in Dickinson county, Iowa, remaining there until 1878, and while Mr. Upton was engaged in preaching in the neighborhood the youth was developing the homestead and carrying on the farming operations. He attended school in St. Louis a short time before leaving that city, and while living with his stepmother's relatives near Monona had the advantage of two or three terms' schooling. There were no schools in the vicinity of the Upton homestead in Dickinson county, until several years after he went there, but by judicious reading and study, under the superintendence of Mr. Upton, he acquired a fund of useful information, and by his labors on the farm and the hunting and trapping incident to the life of the frontier, he developed firmness of fiber and flexibility of function, resourcefulness and self-reliance, and armed with these and an indomitable spirit, being moreover, discouraged with farm life by the continued ravages of grasshoppers and a series of droughts, he dared fate into the lists by going to Chicago in 1878 on a cattle train to make his own way in the world, beginning the battle of life for himself with less than two dollars as the sum of his worldly wealth. He remained in the great city nearly two years, employed in various capacities in mercantile establishments, but, dissatisfied with the outlook, he came west to Denver in 1880. There he accepted the first opportunity for employment that offered, engaging as teamster for a firm doing construction work and rapidly rising within a few active months to the position of manager. This firm early going out of business, he obtained employment with one engaged in railroad building in the mountains of Colorado, beginning as commissary clerk and "stable boss" in one of their camps and continuing in their employment as foreman, manager, etc., until the autumn of 1887, when he came to northeastern Wyoming, with a view of prospecting for and developing coal properties. Thus on September 12, 1887, Mr. Mondell's useful life in this state began. He built his cabin about four miles northwest of where Newcastle stands, and began the development work which resulted in the opening of the Cambria mines, the establishment of the town of Newcastle, the extension of the Burlington & Missouri Railroad to that point and through northeast Wyoming, and the quickening and expansion of every element of industrial, commercial, political and social progress in that section of the country. The winter of 1887-8 was spent in prospecting and late in 1888 the Cambria coal field was definitely located; then followed, under Mr. Mondell's inspiration and management, the developing of the mines, the location of the town and the opening of the oil resources of the region. At the first city election in Newcastle in 1889 he was elected mayor of the town and served four successive terms. In 1890 he was elected state senator to represent Crook county, which then included what is now Weston county, in the First State Legislature, and in the Second Legislative Assembly was elected president of the senate, being at the time the youngest member of the body save one. In 1894 he declined the nomination of his party for governor of the state, but accepted that for representative in the Federal Congress and was triumphantly elected. Two years later the silver wave lost him his seat, he being the only Republican member of the Fifty-fourth Congress from the Inter-Mountain states who ran as a straight Republican in the election of 1896 and supported McKinley for President. In the fall of 1897 he was appointed assistant commissioner of the general land office at Washington and served with credit until March 3, 1899, resigning on that date to resume his place as a member of the U. S. House of Representatives from his state, having been elected in the preceding fall by a large majority. He was reelected to the Fifty-seventh and Fifty-eighth Congresses, receiving in the last contest the distinctive majority of 6,916. Mr. Mondell's record in Congress has ever been highly creditable to himself and very serviceable to the people of his state and the whole Northwest. He received early recognition as a very well-posted man, particularly with reference to the public lands and other western matters, and as an earnest and efficient member and a logical and forceful speaker. His legislative zeal and acumen have been crystallized in a number of laws of great value to the West, his most notable work in this respect, perhaps, having been his championship and management of the national irrigation law which was approved by President Roosevelt on June 17, 1902, and is the most important legislation for the West that has been enacted since the homestead law. At every stage of this great legislative creation, from its inception to its final approval by the President. Mr. Mondell's close personal attention was unremitting and most potential for good. He reported the bill to the house from the committee on irrigation, had charge of it during the debate and its passage through the house, defended its provisions in a logical, forceful and convincing speech, in opening the debate, and with great energy and astuteness thereafter from time to time, watching over it with a sleepless vigilance until its approval was formally reported from the Executive Mansion. On May 13, 1899, Mr. Mondell was united in marriage with Miss Ida Harris, a daughter of Dr. William Harris, of Laramie, and has one child, his daughter, Dorothy, born March 27, 1900. Doctor Harris is one of the most substantial and influential citizens of the state. His professional labors have been arduous and serviceable beyond the common experience, his citizenship has been strong and stimulating, and his activity in behalf of every good enterprise for the advancement of the community has been helpful and wise to a marked degree. Mr. and Mrs. Mondell are social factors of prominence and influence both in Wyoming and in Washington. Their home at each place is a center of refined and gracious hospitality.  Return to the Biographie Index FRANK L. NIHART On a well-improved and highly cultivated farm of 320 acres in the midst of that Goshen of America, Canyon Springs Prairie, twenty two miles northeast of Newcastle in Weston county, Frank L. Nihart resides and carries on his farming operations on a large scale and mingles with them a profitable stock raising.  He was born in Owen county, Indiana, on May 4, 1867, a son of Amos and Malinda (Johnson) Nihart, prosperous farmers in the Hoosier state where most of their lives were passed. He remained at home until he was ten years old, attending school as he had opportunity and being employed at work on farms near his home and in the adjoining county of Clay until he was seventeen. At that time he went over into Mercer county, Ill., and there continued farm work for two years, in 1886 coming west to Colorado and being employed on the construction of the Rock Island Railroad through that state and afterwards working on the Union Pacific in Kansas. In the autumn of 1888 he removed to Nebraska and purchasing a threshing outfit was kept busy threshing grain for the farmers in that state, mostly in Buffalo county. He remained there until the fall of 1890, when he came to Cambria, Wyo., and after working in the mines until 1893 he took up his present ranch on Canyon Springs Prairie, and has since resided there engaged in farming and stock raising, conducting a much appreciated convenience to the neighborhood in the form of a sawmill, which turns out large quantities of lumber eight miles south of the ranch. Mr. Nihart's farming operations are conducted with skill and enterprise, and are rewarded by crops of unusual volume and high quality. At this writing (1902) he has the finest looking and most promising field of wheat on the prairie. His stock raising also, although only a secondary consideration with him, is governed by true business principles and no reasonable outlay is withheld that seems necessary to secure the best results, while the sawmill is an up-to date equipment, run with every consideration for the welfare of its patrons as well as the profits of its owner. On June 27, 1891, Mr. Nihart was united in marriage with Miss Minnie DeVall, a native of Nebraska and daughter of William DeVall. The marriage was solemnized at Newcastle. They have one child, Hallie Nihart. In politics Mr. Nihart affiliates with the Democratic party and while active in its service and firm in his faith in its principles he seeks neither its honors nor its emoluments, being content with his private estate in life and fully occupied with its duties.   Return to the Biographie Index PROF. ARTHUR L. PUTNAM In every section of our country the influence of New England has been felt, especially in the spread and growth of our educational institutions. Wherever her people have planted their family altars they have sent upward to greet the morning sun the curling column from the schoolhouse chimney which proclaimed that the schoolmaster was at hand and invited all comers to his ministrations. And this is well. Our immense educational facilities have been the strength and support of our civil institutions. The public school is the sheet anchor on which our ship of state relies with its confidence and hope. Among the educational forces of this western world, particularly of Wyoming, that are entitled to high regard and honorable mention everywhere, Prof. Arthur L. Putnam is conspicuous by reason of his scholastic attainments, his progressive spirit, his valuable services in school work and his creditable record in public life as an esteemed official in an important position. Professor Putnam was born on August 20, 1858, in Dane county. Wis., the son of George W. and Martha R. (Brewer) Putnam, natives of Vermont, and members of families resident and influential in New England from the earliest Colonial times, George W. Putnam being the first of the line to leave the land of his fathers and seek a home in the West, locating in Dane county. Wis., in 1854. He was a carpenter by trade, but in the West was engaged mostly in farming. He was a near relative of Gen. Israel Putnam of Revolutionary fame, and of other patriots of the name whose deeds adorn the civil and military annals of America in historic periods, showing gallantry in every war and wisdom in every civil crisis. The American progenitor of this line came to Plymouth, Mass., in 1634. He was Peter Putnam of sturdy old English ancestry, and exemplified in his services to the colony the qualities of. manliness, self-reliance, breadth of view and lofty courage which have ever distinguished his descendants. They have always been people of positive convictions and stern adherence to them. The professor's father was one of the charter members of the Republican party, being a delegate to its first state convention in Wisconsin in 1856, and following its doctrines through the Civil War as a soldier in the First Wisconsin Heavy Artillery. After the war he settled in Richland county, Wis., and was a farmer there until 1893, then he returned to Vermont to pass the rest of his days, and there died in March, 1899, aged seventy-three years. While living in Richland county, Wis., he held various public positions and in them all gave satisfactory service. He was twice a member of the State Legislature, was once county clerk, twice being the county superintendent of public instruction. His wife died in 1892 and reposes by his side in the soil of her adopted state. Professor Putnam grew to manhood in Richland county, Wis., and there received his scholastic training. He completed his education at the Richland Center high school, teaching in the neighborhood between times to get the necessary funds. In 1881 he went to Minnesota and remained until 1890, teaching in Olmstead and Ramsey counties. In the fall of 1890 he came to Wyoming as principal of the schools at Newcastle, a position which he filled continuously until January. 1895, when he resigned to qualify as county clerk, having been elected to that office in the fall of 1894. He has since filled it acceptably, winning in this responsible official station the same measure of public esteem that he had secured through his educational service. In 1896 he was elected as member from Wyoming on the board of directors of the National Educational Association, and still holds firmly to his interest in the cause of public education. He is also part owner and the editor of the Newcastle News-Journal, a weekly paper devoted to the advancement of Republican politics and the general welfare of the county. This publication was begun in 1889 when the town of Newcastle was started, and has ever since been the county organ of its party. Professor Putnam has been connected with it since 1893 and he also has an interest in the Garland Mercantile Co. of Garland, Neb., and in other commercial enterprises of value. Fraternally he belongs to the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the World at Newcastle and to the Red Men and the Modern Woodmen of America at Cambria, Wyo. On December 23, 1893, at Sundance, he was married to Miss Eva T. Ogden, a native of Nebraska and daughter of David and Mary Ogden, emigrants to that state from Illinois. They came to the Black Hills as pioneers in 1876. and Mrs. Putnam's father was a minister in the M. E. church and a merchant at Central City, S. D. They afterward moved to Crook county, Wyo., where he died in 1897, and his widow is now living at Sundance. The Putnams have one child, A. Lorraine, born at Newcastle on November 7, 1897. Mrs. Putnam is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church, earnest in its good works  Return to the Biographie Index ROBERT RAWHOUSER The great strength of America in her phenomenal growth and progress has been her rural population. From the teeming acres of her boundless domain have come forth the forces, which have given her distinction in every forum, and supremacy in every line of human thought and activity. As the older states were peopled, their restless, energetic men and women sought other worlds to conquer, and the tide of emigration has steadily flowed westward until it has overspread the entire country, redeeming it from barbarism, making it fruitful with the products of industry and skill, a fit footstool for the Most High, and also a happy home for his children. To none of the older states is the great West more indebted for supplies of sterling manhood and successful enterprise than to Pennsylvania, from whence came the prosperous, progressive and representative farmer, who is the subject of these paragraphs. Among the thrifty and substantial people of York county, in that great state, he was born on April 17, 1847, the son of David and Sarah (Duncan) Rawhouser, also natives of the Keystone state and well-to-do farmers of its fertile soil. When he was two years old, the parents removed to Henderson county, Ill., and there followed their accustomed industry until the death of the mother in 1861. The father continued his agricultural operations four years longer, and, in 1865, returned to York county, Pa., and there passed the rest of his days, dying in 1889. Their son, Robert, began his education in the schools of Illinois, finishing it, how-ever, in Pennsylvania. After leaving school he both farmed and worked at railroading until 1868, when he removed to Iowa and passed two years farming, near Red Oaks, in Montgomery county, and was then employed for a number of years on various kinds of public works, in the meantime making several visits to his old eastern home. In 1878 he located in Washington county, Neb., and, after working on a farm which he there bought until the spring of 1879, he went to the Black Hills and sought advantage in mining among the throng which then filled the new Eldorado, and continuing his operations in that section until 1884. He then began prospecting for himself, and, during the three years he followed this business, he was very successful.  From 1887 until 1892 he teamed in the Black Hills country, then returned to his farm in Nebraska, which he sold in 1894, and passed the next two years at Hot Springs, S. D., merchandising there with water as a commodity. In July, 1896, he came to Wyoming, and settled on his present ranch, on Canyon Springs Prairie, where he has since resided, prosecuted a profitable business in farming and raising stock, and occasionally making a mining venture in the Black Hills, with more or less success. He is a pioneer on this prairie as he was also at Deadwood, and he has here given close and careful attention to the development and improvement of his excellent farm of 200 acres. On March 27, 1883, in York county. Pa., Mr. Rawhouser was united in marriage with Miss Laura Campbell, a native of Pennsylvania and a daughter of George and Leah (Stokes) Campbell of that state. Her father was a teacher and farmer, one of the sturdy men who give character to a community and trend to its civic and educational forces. Mr. and Mrs. Rawhouser have six children, George, David, Charley, Katie, Harry and John. In fraternal relations Mr. Rawhouser belongs to the order of Freemasons, holding membership in a lodge at Central City, S. D., and in politics he affiliates with the Republican party.  Return to the Biographie Index PHILIP W. SHAFER The son of one of the royal gamekeepers in the forests of Bavaria, where he lived until he was sixteen years old and having passed almost all of his subsequent life in the wild West of America, Philip W. Shafer of Boyd, Weston county, one of the enterprising farmers who have transferred Canyon Springs Prairie from an un-trodden wilderness into a highly cultivated garden, has had ample opportunity for communion with nature in her various moods and manifestations and has well learned the lessons she is ever ready to pour into the receptive mind. He is a native of the Fatherland, born on December 18, 1865, the son of John and Mary (Dunn) Shafer, also natives of Germany, where their families had lived and prospered for generations. His father is now and has been for more than forty years a gamekeeper for the king of Bavaria, and Philip grew to the age of sixteen, living amid the scenes of his father’s duties and attending school, being early apprenticed to the trade of a railroad engineer in accordance with an excellent German custom, which entails some useful handicraft on every son of the empire, but instead of working at his trade in his native land, in 1881 he came to America, and after passing two years in New York City, came west to Tower, Minn., soon going from there to the northern shore of Lake Superior and doing contract work on the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railroad then building. He continued this occupation until the spring of 1885 and was then sent to the western part of the Dominion as a government scout on account of the hostility of the Indians. From 1886 to 1889 he was in North Dakota engaged in farming and raising stock, while the next year was passed at Superior, Minn., and the next in North Dakota as an agent of the Champion Reaper Co. in selling and placing machines. In 1891 he came to Wyoming and after working for the Cambria Mining Co.. railroading and mining at Deadwood for nearly three years in April, 1893. he settled on his present ranch, twenty-five miles northeast of Newcastle, and for seven years passed his summers in the improvement of his ranch and his winters in mining in the Black Hills. Since 1900, however, he has given his entire time and attention to his farming operations and has made substantial progress in developing and beautifying one of the best tracts of land on the famous prairie of Canyon Springs. His success with farm products and cattle has emboldened him to start a new enterprise, hog raising, which he expects to carry on extensively and energetically. On January 21. 1894, Mr. Shafter was married with Miss Bertha W. Spencer, a native of Kansas and daughter of George W. and Hattie (Allen) Spencer, whose life story is told at some length at another place in these pages. The Shafers have had four children, Ora C, Hattie M., deceased, P. Morley and Martha L. Fraternally Mr. Shafer is connected with the Knights of Pythias and the Western Federation of Miners, holding membership in lodges of these orders at Terry, S. D.. and in politics he gives allegiance to the Republican party, but is not an active partisan.  Return to the Biographie Index ERICK SIMONSON Transplanting the thrift, industry, frugality and enterprise of his native Denmark into the wilds of America, and there pursuing his wonted occupation as a tiller of the soil, Erick Simonson. one of the most progressive and successful farmers on Canyon Springs Prairie, in Weston county, Wyoming, has seen that favored region coaxed from its native wildness into the genial and responsive conditions of scientific husbandry, basking in the full sunlight of prosperity, fragrant with the odors and opulent with the fruits of civilization and enlightenment. He has the additional satisfaction of knowing that his personal counsels have assisted in guiding, and his hands in impelling, the forces that have brought about this beneficent change. He was born in Denmark, on August 14, 1834. the son of Simon Neilson and Caran (Rasmusson) Simonson, also of Danish nativity and descendants of long lines of frugal and industrious ancestors. Erick Simonson was educated in his native land, remaining at home until he was twenty-one years of age assisting on his father's farm while looking forward to a career in life to be wrought out by his own endeavors and according to his own plans. When he left home he engaged in farming on his own account, continuing work in this line in Denmark until 1881, when, hearkening to the voice of America calling for men of brain and brawn to accept the bounty of her mighty opportunities and aid in developing her limitless natural resources, he dared the heaving ocean for a home on her benignant bosom, coming first to Lead City, S. D., there working for three years on the railroads and in the woods. The next six years he passed on a homestead he had located six miles west of Lead City, and was moderately successful in his farming operations. In 1890 he sold his property, came to Wyoming, and, taking up the ranch on which he now resides, twenty miles south of Sundance, determined to make it his permanent home and the recipient of his best labors and most skillful attention. It has rewarded his efforts with a fertility and bounty most gratifying, being now one of the most desirable farms in a region of desirable farms. He was one of the first settlers in this section, and he is now one of the most prosperous and substantial, his property being highly improved and well supplied with all the conveniences of modern rural life. He carries on an extensive business in stock raising and agriculture, and, at the same time, he gives due attention to the proper advancement and development of the community in educational, mercantile and in civic channels. On October 7, 1856, Mr. Simonson was united in marriage with Miss Annie Yenson. of Denmark, who still abides with him after nearly fifty years of wedded life filled with varied and interesting experiences, as benignant and sustaining in age, as she was helpful and inspiring in youth. They have had five children. One, Maggie, is deceased, and Dem, Rasmus, Charlie and Alexander are living. They are followers of Luther in religious affiliation, and Mr. Simonson a consistent Republican in politics  Return to the Biographie Index FRANK SMITH The third of the daring pioneers who first invaded the primeval wilderness of what is now Weston county, Wyoming, by his labors and his influence aiding largely in reducing the solitude to civilization and systematic productiveness, holding in his own right 480 acres of its fruitful soil and having under lease a large additional acreage, on which he conducts a leading cattle industry, Frank Smith, of the Stockade Beaver Creek region, has well earned the honorable mention among the builders and makers of this state which it is our pleasure to here give him. He inherited from a long line of progressive ancestors a true pioneer spirit and enthusiasm, his parents, Anthony and Rachel (Freel) Smith, having been among the first settlers in Warren county, Iowa, where he was born on April 6. 1853, both his father and his mother having been brought there by their parents in early life, and having been reared in that county when it was a part of the very far West. There the father, although a mechanic, followed farming successfully until his death in 1861, and there the mother is passing the evening of her days, rich in recollections of what seems a remote past because measured by conditions rather than years, and realizing as none but actual observers with experience can, the all-conquering spirit of American colonization. Mr. Smith remained with his mother, attending school and assisting on the farm until he was twenty years old. He then rented a farm in his native county and farmed it for four years. In 1877 he sold out and removed to Nebraska, taking up a preemption in Buffalo county in that state. After three years of varying success as a farmer there, he again parted company with his land and came to his present location on Stockade Beaver Creek, making his home for a while with J. H. Freel on the ranch adjoining the one which he now occupies himself. He at once went to freighting and put his energies to work in the line of enterprise incident thereto, hauling supplies to various towns in the hills for two years. In the spring of 1882 he located on his present ranch, ten miles northeast of Newcastle, and since then has devoted his entire time to ranching, and improving his property, increasing its boundaries, developing its resources, making it comfortable and complete as a home, and placing its products, both animal and vegetable, on the market in a way that has brought them high appreciation and him gratifying returns. He saw, almost the beginning of civilized man's estate in the section, being the third to settle there and he is the only survivor of these who began its inspiring history. When he "stuck his stake" on the banks of the creek, Laramie county extended along the entire eastern boundary of the territory from Colorado to Montana. On March 3, 1874, Mr. Smith was united in marriage with Miss Josephine Freel, a native of Warren county, Iowa, where the nuptials were solemnized, and where her parents, J. B. and Margaret (Portez) Freel, were prosperous farmers and pioneers. Mrs. Smith did not hesitate to walk life's dangerous way with him into the wilderness and has contributed her share to the growth and improvement of the section in which they live. He is a Republican in politics, serving his people as county commissioner in 1892 and 1896. Fraternally he belongs to the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the World, holding membership in lodges of these orders at Newcastle. In addition to his ranching and cattle interests he has valuable holdings in oil properties with the Rattler and the Custer City oil companies.  Return to the Biographie Index IRVIN N. SMITH The prolific grain and hay region of Wyoming, known as Canyon Creek Prairie, yields abundant harvests to the toil and hopes of the husbandman. Nature there is generously provident, asking only that her reasonable requirements in the way of care in planting and judgment in cultivation be met, and she responds with the fullness of plenty to all proper efforts. The needs of the section in this respect are well supplied by the energetic, progressive and diligent population whom favoring fortune has led to its fertile acres; and among them, conspicuous for skillful farming and judicious activity in stock raising, is Irvin N. Smith, who has come to his present estate through efforts in many lines of work and several promising localities. He was born at Carlinville. Macoupin county, Ill., on January 30. 1865, the son of John and Louisa (Clark) Smith, also natives of Illinois. The father was a prosperous farmer in Macoupin county until 1882 when he removed with his family to Hamilton county, Neb., and there took up land on which he lived and farmed until his death in August, 1898, and the mother is still living there. Mr. Smith received his education in the public schools of his native county, and in 1882, when he was seventeen, he accompanied his parents to their new home in Nebraska, remaining with them until he was of age and working on the farm. In 1887 he began his advance toward his present home, passing two years in Colorado, working in different parts of the state, generally on ranches. He then came to Wyoming and after working one season in a hotel at Buffalo, located at Cambria, attracted by its coal mines in which he worked for eight years. In 1897 he homesteaded a part of his present ranch on Canyon Springs Prairie, nineteen miles northeast of Newcastle, and from that time he has devoted his energies to ranching and cattle raising, building up a profitable industry and adding to his estate until he now has 480 acres, a large portion being under cultivation and yielding excellent crops of grain, hay, potatoes and other farm products, the residue providing a desirable range for his cattle. Mr. Smith is looked upon as a leading man in his lines and his aid and advice in matters of public local interest are much sought and valued, while in politics he is an active Democrat and gives his party good service. On February 29, 1887, at Hampton, Neb., he was married with Miss Nannie Zook, a native of Illinois and daughter of David and Lydia (Shick) Zook. Her father was a farmer in Ohio and afterwards in Nebraska. For a number of years he was also engaged in business in Hampton as a dealer in agricultural implements. For some years now he has been living retired from active pursuits, enjoying the rest he has richly earned, surrounded by a large body of admiring friends and fellow citizens. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have two children, S. Elgin and L. Ariel. Their home is a center of generous hospitality and they have a host of friends throughout the surrounding country. Just in the prime of life, with all his faculties in full vigor and secure in the esteem of his fellowmen, Mr. Smith has a promising future of credit and usefulness before him.  Return to the Biographie Index GEORGE WHISTLER SPENCER Born in the city of Philadelphia, Pa., on March 8. 1854, the childhood and youth of George W. Spencer, one of the representative and progressive ranchmen of Canyon Springs Prairie in Weston county, Wyo., were darkened by the dense shadow of the Civil War, which deprived him of both parents and left him to the care of strangers when he was ten years old. His parents were George and Mary A. (Benedict) Whistler, also Pennsylvanians by nativity. The father was a bricklayer by trade and his -peaceful industry was broken up by the call for volunteers to defend the integrity of the Union and he enlisted in 1861 as a member of Co. K, Ninety-first Pa. Infantry, serving in the field until he was sent home on account of injuries received in the South, and on March 1, 1864, he died from those injuries in a military hospital in Philadelphia. Twelve days later, on March 13, 1864, his widow followed him to the spirit land, leaving her son George, then ten years old, to the care of his uncle, Stephen Spencer, of Indianapolis, Ind., who adopted him and gave him his name. There the sorrowing orphan found a comfortable home and attended school until 1868 when his uncle removed to Newark, N. J., and he continued his education in the schools of that city. At an early age he left school and went to work in a hat factory in New York City. In 1870 he came to Cheyenne, Wyo., and engaged in a commission business, hauling his goods, which consisted mainly of garden vegetables, from Colorado with his own teams. His business was extensive and profitable and in its exacting requirements he found pleasant occupation and the basis of his present financial independence. From 1878 to 1880 he was at Omaha, Neb., dealing in hogs for the packing houses of that busy emporium. In the autumn of 1880, after working a few months in New Mexico for the Rio Grande Railroad, he located on a homestead in Rooks county, Kan., and farmed it until June, 1891, when he came to Wyoming, intending to locate on Canyon Springs Prairie, but was unable to homestead there because of his preliminary proceedings of the same character in Kansas. But as soon as he was able to establish the fact that he had not proved up on his Kansas claim he took up his present ranch twenty-five miles north of Newcastle, which has since been his home and the recipient of his energetic labors. It consists of 200 acres of superior farming and grazing land and yields abundant harvests of cereals and hay and supports a fine herd of cattle, besides being a center of comfortable hospitality for all who come that way. Mr. Spencer was married in Cheyenne on December 20, 1876, with Miss Hattie Allen, a native of Iowa and a daughter of William and Charlotte (Sams) Allen, a sister of Mrs. Josiah E. Strong of this county, more extended mention of her parents being made in the sketch of Mr. Strong on another page of this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Spencer have three children, Bertha W., now Mrs. P. W. Shaffer, Martha W. and Lizzie W., now Mrs. H. G. Ackley. In politics Mr. Spencer is a Republican, but no partisan zeal narrows his vision in matters which affect the welfare of the community, for he is eminently broadminded, progressive and enterprising.  Return to the Biographie Index  JOSEPH C. SPENCER Orphaned in childhood by the cruel hand of death which removed his mother when he was three years old and his father when he was twelve, and reaching manhood thereafter with but little aid from fortune's favors or adventitious circumstances, Joseph C. Spencer, of Weston county, Wyoming, one of the most extensive stockbreeders of this section of the country, is essentially a self-made man, his career being the product of his own thrift and enterprise, business acumen and clearness of vision. He is a native of Syracuse, N. Y., where he was born on April 14, 1845. the son of Joseph C. and Lucy A. Spencer, both New Englanders by nativity, the former from Massachusetts and the latter from New Hampshire. In 1847 the mother died and nine years later, in 1856, the father, who had been a prosperous merchant in Syracuse, followed her to the other world. After his death Joseph C. Spencer went to live with a sister at Middleport, Ill., there attended the public schools for a short time in the winter months and later going to the college of Ypsilanti. Mich., as a student for two years, leaving college to take a course of special business training at the Bryan & Stratton Business College in Chicago, after completing that course accepting a position as messenger in the First National Bank of Chicago. He was employed in this bank seven years and rose to the post of paying teller. He longed however, for a freer life and larger individual opportunities, and turned his back upon the drudgery of financiering for others and began operations leading to business of magnitude for himself, in 1879 coming west to Deadwood, S. D.. where he engaged in mining and prospecting for two years, thence coming to Wyoming in 1881 and after spending a year in the oil industry in the vicinity in which he now lives he turned his attention to cattle raising, taking up a portion of his present ranch, six miles from Newcastle, on what is known to old-timers as Stockade Beaver Creek. In the twenty years which have elapsed since he settled here he has greatly improved his ranch until it has become one of the finest in the Northwest, has enlarged it to an extent of 4,000 acres, of which 700 are under skillful cultivation, has equipped it with desirable appliances for its proper utility and fruitfulness, made it comfortable with a substantial residence, excellent barns, sheds, etc., adorned it with trees, shrubbery and with verdant lawns, and devoted it to the production of superior herds of Hereford cattle. In addition to the interests here involved, Mr. Spencer has extensive oil holdings in the fields of the Eagle Oil Co., and valuable mining properties at Deadwood. He was married at Hot Springs, S. D., on December 12, 1900, with Miss Abbie Jennings, a native of that state and daughter of R. D. and Mattie Jennings. Her father makes his home at the Hot Springs, being one of the directors of the company that has control of that resort. He is a pioneer of that section of the country as Mr. Spencer is of his. The Spencer's have one child, their winsome daughter, Marjorie, and they are members of the Episcopal church. Mr. Spencer is a Republican in politics, a gentleman of breadth of view, progressive spirit and commanding influence in local affairs, earnestly devoted t o the welfare of the community and deeply interested in the good of his fellow men, among whom he is highly esteemed and generally respected. He is the largest individual stockman in this part of the state  Return to the Biographie Index JOSIAH E. STRONG Orphaned at the age of four years by the death of his mother, and reared thereafter until he was nineteen under the careful supervision of his father. Josiah E. Strong, of Boyd, Weston county, Wyoming, has displayed in his creditable career the sterling qualities of manliness and self-reliance for which his father and his family were distinguished. He was born on June 2, 1853. in Delaware county, N. Y., the son of L. and Rachel A. (Bradley) Strong, natives of New York, where the father prospered as a butcher in Otsego county until his death in September, 1874, the mother having passed away in 1857. He attended the schools of Otsego county, N. Y., and aided his father in his business until he was nineteen years old, then in the autumn of 1872 he joined the march of empire westward, coming to Nebraska and near Nebraska City engaged in farming for four years, from there going to Kansas and taking up land in Rooks county, where he remained nine years, struggling against adverse circumstances, dry seasons and other discouragements to make his venture successful, but sold his place in the fall of 1888 and the next April was led by a favoring fortune to Canyon Springs Prairie in what is now Weston county, Wyo., and in that fertile region, when as yet but few had knowledge of its possibilities and it was almost unoccupied, he took up his present ranch about twenty miles northeast of the site of the present town of Newcastle, for which at that time not a stake had been driven. Here bountiful harvests have rewarded his skillful labor and his farm of 320 acres is now one of the best on the prairie, well improved and equipped with the necessary appliances for its cultivation and the proper care of the superior stock which finds a home on its verdant expanse. Mr. Strong is one of the successful farmers of the state, his care, skill, industry and progressive ideas entitling him to the good results he achieves in his work, while his public spirit and enterprise in every element of improvement in the community secure for him a high regard in the estimation of his fellow citizens. On December 6, 1885, he was married with Miss Nancy Jane Allen, a native of Iowa, and a daughter of William and Charlotte (Sams) Allen, the marriage being consummated in Rooks county, Kan. Mrs. Strong's parents settled in Iowa when they were young and were married there, the father becoming a prosperous mill man and a citizen of influence. In 1871 they removed to Rooks county, Kan., and engaged in farming and now live at Montrose. Colo. The Strongs have six children. Sarah E., William E., Charlotte M., Russell F., R. Maria and Claud F. In politics Mr. Strong gives his allegiance to the Republican party.   Return to the Biographie Index THOMAS P. SWEET One of the first three settlers in the neighborhood where he lives, and the only one of the old-timers left, Thomas P. Sweet of the Beaver Creek region, is a connecting link between the peaceful present and the not distant but exciting fruitful past of Eastern Wyoming. He has been so closely identified with the growth and development of that portion of the state, and in so leading a way, that he is looked up to by all as a patriarch in its history, and his own record is largely written, in enduring and pleasing phase, in its fertility, productiveness, commercial activity and superior civil and educational features. He came from far away Rhode Island, where he was born on December 18, 1846, in Providence county. There also his parents, Thomas P. and Amey (Wade) Sweet, had their nativity, and there they were engaged in successful farming, as farming goes in New England, until their death. Thomas P. Sweet remained on the homestead, attending the public schools and assisting with the farm work until he passed the seventeenth anniversary of his birth, then, in February, 1864, he enlisted in the Union army as a member of the Third Rhode Island Artillery, and served until the close of the war, being mustered out in August, 1865. His army experience was almost wholly in the far Southern states, his command being nearly all the time in South Carolina. After his discharge he returned to his native county and there engaged in farming and lumbering until the autumn of 1868, when he made a trip to California by the way of the Isthmus of Panama. He passed six years in California mining, hunting, trapping and farming and in 1874 removed to Oregon, where during the next two years he followed the same pursuits. In the spring of 1876 he returned to Rhode Island and, after a visit of a year among his old friends and the scenes of his childhood and youth, again turned his face westward and came to South Dakota, locating at Battle Creek, where he passed a year prospecting and placer mining. He then removed to Custer county in that state and in the fall of 1878 was elected sheriff of the county. When he qualified and entered upon the duties of his office, he took up his residence in the town of Custer and soon after the end of his two-years' term came over into Wyoming and settled on a ranch near the one which he now occupies on Stockade Beaver Creek. He did not at first fancy cattle raising, but began to cultivate the soil for market gardening and was quite successful at the business, not only seeing his labors rewarded by abundant yields, but finding a ready and profitable market for all his products. There were but two ranches on the creek when he settled there, the great expanse of country being still virgin and untamed, and he is the only one now left of those who first laid it under tribute to civilized man's necessities. His was the breadth of view that saw its possibilities and the guiding spirit that called them into being. Whatever the region is as an agricultural domain, a herd man's comfort and a civic entity, it owes to him and kindred spirits, who built the foundations of its coming greatness and breathed its ethical and political form into sentient and responsive life. In 1882, one year after his location in the neighborhood, he took up his present ranch on the Stockade Beaver, seven miles east of Newcastle, and after devoting his energies for a number of years to market gardening, he began raising stock, at first horses and afterwards cattle, in both of which he has had good success. In 1884 he erected a sawmill near his ranch, harnessing a fine water-power to its uses, and since that time has conducted it in connection with ,his other industries. Mr Sweet is a Republican in politics, but not an active partisan. He is deeply interested in the welfare of the community but is principally occupied with his own affairs, giving attention to local matters in a general rather than a party way. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, but is not actively connected with any other fraternal organization. On March 8, 1892, at Newcastle. Wyo., he bowed beneath the flowery yoke of Eros and was united in marriage with Mrs. Viola (Johnson) Hannum, a native of Ohio and daughter of Levi and Frances (Roach) Johnson. Three children have blessed their union, Stella M., Fred T. and Della Naomi. Mrs. Sweet's parents were of old Ohio and Pennsylvania stock, sturdy and substantial, where they lived and were imbued with the spirit of enterprise that has sent the pioneers forward all over our land and replaced the wilds with the fruits, the flowers and the enduring blessings of enlightened and progressive civilization.  Return to the Biographie Index EDWARD THOMSON Among the enterprising and progressive men who have settled in the favored valley of the Stockade Beaver Creek, and there tickling the responsive land with the hoe, have seen it laugh with the harvest, none is better known or more generally esteemed than Edward Thomson, a native of the Dominion of Canada, in whose historic province of Quebec he was born on November 2, 1855, the son of Thomas and Mary A. (Murray) Thomson, the former born in Scotland and the latter born in Ireland. They were brought to the New World in childhood and in Quebec province were reared, educated, married and employed in successful farming until the close of their useful lives, the mother surrendering her trust at the behest of the Great Disposer in 1891, and the father in 1899. Both rest under the sod of a beautiful little cemetery at Magog in the land of their adoption and their serviceable labors. Edward Thomson remained with his parents attending school and working on the farm until he was eighteen, then learned the manufacturing of cheese, afterwards conducting a cheese factory for about, two years. He then passed two years more with his parents, and in 1878, accepting our government's generous offer of a farm to every enterprising worker, came to Fargo, N. D., and homesteaded a quarter section of good land in that vicinity, on which he lived for eight years, farming the land and raising some cattle. He and his brother also conducted a water route in Fargo from 1879 to 1885. In 1886 he sold out his interests in Dakota and in August arrived in Wyoming, soon after taking up the ranch on which he now lives on Stockade Beaver Creek, thirteen miles northeast of Newcastle. Here he has lived and flourished from that time, engaged in ranching and cattle raising, aiding in developing the country, directing its moral and commercial agencies along the lines of healthful progress and holding its political activities unto symmetrical and shapely growth. The winter of 1881-2 he passed in visiting his parents in his old Canadian home. The rest of the time has been devoted to his ranch, which consists of 480 acres of deeded land, containing a wide expanse of excellent hay meadow. On January 26, 1884, at Fargo, N. D., Mr. Thomson was united in marriage with Miss Joanna Cavanaugh, also a native of Canada and daughter of Edward and Margaret (Kirwin) Cavanaugh, emigrants from Ireland to the Dominion early in their married life. Seven children have joined the Thomson household, Mary A., Thomas E., Sarah A., Daniel R., James, William and Loretta. The family are Catholics in religious faith and Mr. Thomson is a Republican in politics  Return to the Biographie Index JOHN WALTERS Among the developing, producing, civilizing elements of the great American people none is entitled to more credit or has been of more substantial service than the thrifty and all-subduing German. He is one of those great toilers in any field of labor, whose energy never flags, whose patience never falters, whose courage never quails and whose industry never tires. With a hand, kind as well as skillful, he smooth’s the rugged surface of the wilderness and persuades it to comeliness and fertility. If a mine is to be developed, he digs and delves, with unwavering fidelity, until its treasures are laid open to the light of day and made ready for the use and benefit of man. If a state is to be built, he aids in laying its foundations, broad and deep, on the common sense of human needs, erecting its superstructure along the lines of civil and moral excellence. A scion of this sturdy race. John Walters, of the Canyon Creek Prairie, of Weston county, Wyoming, has well exemplified in his career in this favored region, the sterling traits of his ancestry and the most desirable characteristics of good citizenship. He is a native of the Fatherland, where he was born on August 21, 1852, and where his parents, John and Mary (Wurster) Walters, passed their childhood, youth and early maturity, and where their ancestors had lived from time immemorial. In 1854 the parents emigrated to America, and, locating m what is now Grant county, Wisconsin, in their day a wild western frontier, they entered into the spirit of conquest of the wilderness that was characteristic of the place and time, and gave their loyal efforts to the development of the country. The father followed sawmilling, farming and mill building, industries much needed in a new region as yet almost untouched by the ax of the woodsman, continuing these occupations until his death, in 1892, and, in the section hallowed to her by his labors, his widow still resides. Mr. Walters remained with his parents on the homestead until he reached his majority, attending the public schools of the neighborhood and assisting his father at the mills and on the farm. In 1873 he started his own life work, going to Nebraska, and, after remaining in Beatrice two years, he removed to Kansas and took employment with the surveying outfit of the Burlington & Missouri Railroad. Three and one-half years he spent in this service, then followed freighting from Buffalo Gap to Newcastle and Cody until 1885. In that year he took up land on Divide, near Newcastle, and remained on it one year, then, during the next five years time, he was in the employ of the Kilpatrick Brothers, teaming and freighting, in 1901 purchasing his present ranch on Canyon Creek Prairie, lying twenty one miles from Newcastle, where he has since been engaged in farming and raising stock, being recognized as one of the representative citizens and leading farmers. At Newcastle, Wyo.. on October 8, 1898, he was united in marriage with Miss Emma Bonte. a native of Illinois, of French ancestry. They have one child, a son, who bears his father's name, John. Mr. Walters is a Republican in politics and gives all matters of public local interest his careful and conscientious attention, rendering valued service in every enterprise for the improvement of the community and the development of its needs and resources.  Return to the Biographie Index