JOHN MARESH, a well-known farmer and highly respected citizen living on section 24, township 141, range 59 west, Barnes county, North Dakota, was born on the 23rd of March, 1851, in the village of Rodna, Bohemia, Austria, and is a son of Mathias Maresh, a farmer and lumber merchant, who was born in Bohemia in 1800 and died in 1885. Reared in his native land, our subject began his education in the schools of Pohnany and when between nine and ten years of age went to Tabor, where he attended school until about twelve years old. For one season he was a student in a school in the city of Eglan, Moravia, and while there acquired a knowledge of the German language.

After six months spent at home with his parents, Mr. Maresh returned to Tabor, where he served an apprenticeship to the miller's trade and when he had mastered that occupation worked at it in different cities throughout Austria. He also traveled in upper Moravia and lower Hungary for the purpose of gaining further knowledge concerning his trade. Subsequently he took charge of a mill at Tabor and remained at that place until he sailed for America in the fall of 1868. After stopping for a short time in New York he came west and located in Iowa City, Iowa, where he worked in a mill until the fall of 1869. On leaving there he traveled through that state and Nebraska for a time and then went to work on the Missouri river at Sioux City, Iowa, but not being pleased with his employment he abandoned it after three days' trial and enlisted, in 1869, in the regular army, being assigned to the Twenty-second Infantry. For a short time he was stationed at Sioux City and then was ordered to Fort Randall, South Dakota, which at that time was the most important post on the Missouri river. He did scout duty and saw much hard fighting against the Indians of the great Northwest and took part in some of the historic Indian battles, notably the one in which Lame Deer, the great Sioux chief, was killed at his lodge. General N. A. Miles was commander of the United States forces at that time and Mr. Maresh has served under many other famous Indian fighters, including Generals Stanley, Terry, Brooks and Otis. In 1877 he secured his discharge from the army after one full term of five years and three years of another. In the fall of 1877 he came to Valley City, North Dakota, where he remained until the following spring and then took up land where he now resides and has since devoted his energies to agricultural pursuits with marked success, becoming owner of seven hundred and twenty acres of valuable farm land.

In 1880 Mr. Maresh was married, in Valley City, to Miss Mary Paddon, who was born in Wisconsin! in 1860, and they have become the parents of ten children. Mr. Maresh's life has been one of vast and varied experiences, as he has met with more hardships than usually fall to the lot of one man, yet he has come out of it all with success emblazoned upon his banner and to-day Owns one of the best farms in the Sheyenne valley.

CAPTAIN CHARLES F. MUDGETT, an honored citizen of Valley City, North Dakota, and one of the heroes of our recent war with Spain, was born in Mercer County, Missouri, November 14, 1869, and is a son of G. C. Mudgett, a native of Ohio, who served through the Civil war as a member of Company L, Third Iowa Cavalry, under his father, who was a major in that regiment. In 1867 G. C. Mudgett married Matilda Cameron, and they now make their home on a farm in the southwestern part of Barnes County, North Dakota.

At an early age Captain Mudgett accompanied his parents on their removal to Burlington, Iowa, where he attended school until 1883, and then came with them to Barnes County. During his boyhood and youth he assisted his father in the labors of the farm, remaining under the parental roof until 1888, when he accepted a position with the Howell Lumber Company in Nebraska, acting as manager for the firm and looking after their yards at different points in that state. On his return to Valley City he took a position with the Gull River Lumber Company, of .Minneapolis, and remained in their employ until May 2, 1898, at which time he went into camp at Fargo preparatory to going to the war against Spain. He had previously served as captain of the Valley City Company, and with that rank he entered the United States service. On the 28th of June he sailed with his regiment from San Francisco for Manila. From October, 1898, until April, 1899, he served as collector of internal revenue at Manila. His health failing, he was then sent home and mustered out, for physical disability, June 1, 1899. He is now a member of the firm of McDonald & Mudgett, in the machinery business at Valley City, and is one of the most progressive and enterprising young men of the place.

Captain Mudgett married Miss Nellie McDonald, of Jackson, Michigan, by whom he has one child, Margaret. They are well known and highly respected and have a large circle of friends and acquaintances in Valley City.

STEPHEN A. NYE is the well-known editor and proprietor of the "Times-Record," of Valley City, North Dakota, the leading journal of Barnes County and the official organ of the Republican party. He was born in Mt. Sterling. Brown County, Illinois, July 20, 1862, and is the eldest in a family of five children. His father, Stephen Nye, a native of Montpelier, Vermont, made the journey overland to California during the gold excitement in that state, and on his return east settled in the vicinity of Muscatine, Iowa, where he engaged in farming for a short time, being one of the early settlers of that region. He wedded Miss Mary Pigman, who survives him, and is now living in Mt. Sterling, Illinois.

Our subject received a high school education in his native city and at the age of fifteen entered the "Brown County Democrat" office as an apprentice to the printer's trade, which he subsequently followed in various cities of the East until coming to Fargo, North Dakota, in 1882. Here he worked on the "Daily Argus" for two years and then went to Devil's Lake, where he took up land. At intervals he worked on the "Inter Ocean" at that place, and in October, 1886, established "Churchs Ferry Sun." He left there to take charge of the "Devils Lake Inter Ocean" in the fall of 1899, and was connected with that paper until January 1, 1899, when he purchased the "Times Record" at Valley City, which he is now so successfully conducting. He is an able journalist and good business man and has already succeeded in making his paper one of the best published in this section of the state.

In 1896 Mr. Nye was united in marriage with Miss Anna E. Gundlach. of Menominee. Wisconsin, and to them have been born two children, Stephen G. and Ruth.   Mr. Nye is a prominent member of the Masonic order, belonging to Valley City Lodge No. 7, F. & A. M.; Sheyenne Chapter, No. 5. R.A. M.; Cyrene Commandery. K. T., of Devil's Lake ; Elzayne Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Fargo. He is also a member of Crofton Lodge, No. 3, I. O.  O. F.; the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the St. Paul Typographical Union.

F. H. PIERCE, whose home is on section 18, Pierce township, is a worthy representative of the farming interests of Barnes county, and is one of its honored pioneers. He has watched the development of the resources of the state with the interest which every intelligent man feels in regard to the section of country where he has spent the best years of his life, and should feel a satisfaction in the thought that he has been no unimportant factor in bringing it to its present condition. He experienced all the trials and difficulties of frontier life, and erected the first claim shanty erected in Pierce, the township deriving its name from the first settler, but is now enjoying the reward of his laborers and struggles in the possession of a fine homestead of four hundred and eighty acres.

A native of Indiana, Mr. Pierce was born in LaGrange county, December 22, 1856, and is a son of E. C. and Christiana (Raber) Pierce, natives of New York and Pennsylvania, respectively. The mother died when our subject was about twelve years of age, but the father is still living and makes his home in Noble county, Indiana. He has always followed the vocation of farming and has been very successful in his life work.

During his boyhood our subject accompanied his parents on their removal to Noble county, Indiana, and in the district schools of that state he secured a good, practical education. He continued to assist his father in the labors of the home farm until March, 1881, at which he started for the great Northwest with the hope of making for himself a home on the boundless prairies of this state. He traveled the entire distance alone, and on reaching Barnes county took up a homestead where he now lives. He has since added to it a half-section of land, making a total of four hundred and eighty acres, which he has improved with good and substantial buildings.

Returning to his native state, Mr. Pierce was there married, in 1886, to Miss Florence Selby, the ceremony being performed at the home of the bride, on a farm in LaGrange county. She was born in Ohio, April 23, 1853, and is a daughter of Luke and Mary Selby, who are now living retired in La Grange county. For fourteen years the father was engaged in mercantile business in Ashland, Ohio, and as he met with excellent success he is now the possessor of a comfortable competence which enables him to lay aside all business cares. Mr. and Mrs. Pierce have one child, Bella, a very promising girl, who is the sunshine of their home. A family group portrait appears in connection with this biography.

In political sentiment our subject is a Republican, and he has been called upon to fill a number of minor offices, and is at present a member of the township board of supervisors.