PETER HAAS, who is successfully following the pursuit of agriculture in Durham township, has been a resident of Stutsman county since the early settlement of that region, and has been identified with the business interests of his locality. He has taken a prominent position among his fellows in consequence of his energetic spirit, and justly deserves his success and the high esteem in which he is held.

Our subject was born in Switzerland, March 30, 1854. He was raised in his native village in Graubunden county, and was a son of Lucy Haas, who was a farmer by occupation. His father came to America in 1866, and settled near Fountain City, Wisconsin, where our subject grew to manhood and received a common school education. He engaged in farming with his father in Wisconsin until he reached his twenty-seventh year, when in 1881, he went to Jamestown, North Dakota. He worked for others during the first summer, and in 1882 entered claim to government land near Spiritwood, on which farm he erected a claim shanty 6x8 feet. He worked in the town and on his farm and in 1883 he and Gaudene Gasal built the Wisconsin House in Jamestown, and conducted the same in partnership two and a half years, when our subject purchased the business. The partnership also included farming interests, and in the fall of 1885 they lost wheat, buildings and machinery to the amount of one thousand dollars by prairie fire. Mr. Haas conducted the hotel until the fall of 1893, and in 1891 suffered the loss of the barn belonging to the hotel by fire, and the following year he and his brother formed the firm of Haas Brothers & Company, and established a grocery, which at the end of six months was burned, causing a loss of one thousand dollars. Our subject rented the Wisconsin House and resided in Jamestown until 1897, and worked at the machine business. In the spring of that year he purchased six hundred and forty acres of land and began farming. He now has four hundred acres under cultivation, and is surrounded by the comforts of a country home. He engages in grain raising entirely, and has been successful.

Our subject was married, in 1886, to Miss Elizabeth Kasper, who was born and raised in Switzerland . Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Haas, as follows: Maggie, born in 1887, now deceased; John L., born in 1888; Ida, born in 1889; Eddy, born in 1892; Verena, deceased, and George. Mr. Haas is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. He takes an active part in local affairs of a public nature and ever labors for the welfare of his adopted land. He has served as school director and is the present county commissioner. In political sentiment he is a Democrat.

ELBRIDGE F. HORN. Courtenay township has no better representative citizen than the gentleman whose name introduces this review. He was among the earliest settlers of Stutsman county, and is widely known as an influential man and public-spirited citizen. He is proprietor of one of the most extensive and best equipped estates in that region, and has accumulated his fortune by earnest efforts and honest dealings.

Our subject was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, February 1, 1849. His father, Andrew Horn, was a farmer in Pennsylvania, as was also the grandfather of our subject, John Horn. The family came to America in 1740, and is of Dutch descent. The mother of our subject, who bore the maiden name of Sarah A. Swart, was of German descent. Her father, Philip Swart, lived to the advanced age of seventy-five years. The family have been in America many generations, and four uncles of our subject served in the Civil war.

Mr. Horn's parents were married in April, 1848, and he was the eldest in a family of four children, three of whom grew to maturity. He was raised on a farm and received a common-school education and also attended one term at a commercial college. At the age of twenty-one he engaged in teaching in Pike county, Illinois, and in 1875 returned to Washington county, Pennsylvania, where he embarked in the grocery business. This he followed three years, and in 1878 returned to the home farm and assisted his father four years. He went to North Dakota in 1882, reaching Jamestown April 13, and in June had entered claim to the southeast quarter of section 20, in township 143, range 62, as a preemption, and had erected a shanty, 12x16 feet, on the land. He worked his farm the first two years with oxen, and lived alone the first summer in his shanty, and his family joined him in the fall of 1882. He purchased in partnership eleven hundred head of sheep in the fall of 1882. and seven hundred of the number died during the winter. This, however, did not discourage him, and he continued the raising of sheep until 1896, and made a success of that line, his flock" numbering at one time twelve hundred head. He also engaged in cattle raising, and it was not until late years that he engaged extensively in grain raising. He now owns nine hundred and sixty acres of land, four hundred, acres of which is tillable, and one hundred and forty acres in pasture land. He has one of the largest barns in the county, measuring 62x180 feet, and a story-and-a-half residence, 36x46 feet, complete in every detail. A windmill operates the pump, feed-mill and grain elevator, and he has all necessary and modern pattern machinery for the lessening of labor. He was one of the first settlers in the northeastern part of the county, and for ten years after taking up his residence there his farm was the stopping place of travelers through that portion of the county. This was a source of four hundred dollars income in one year.

Our subject was married, in 1881, to Miss Fannie Clark, who was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania . Mrs. Horn's father, Cornelius Clark, is of Scotch-Irish descent and is a farmer by occupation. Mr. and Mrs. Horn are the parents of five children, as follows: Mabel, Lillian, Annabel, Forrest and Sarah. Mr. Horn was the first postmaster at Courtenay, and takes an active part in public affairs. He is the present chairman of the board of supervisors of Courtenay township, and was active in organizing the township, and was the first chairman of the board. He is popular with the people regardless of party affiliations, and has been nominated on the Democratic and Populist tickets for the state legislature and county treasurer. He was formerly identified with the Democratic party, but since the organization of the Populist party has become identified with the reform principles.

LORANC JOOS, one of Stutsman county's most successful citizens, lives on his farm in township 142, range 63, where he operates a valuable farm. He was born in Buffalo county, Wisconsin, March 13, 1858.

Mr. Joos is the youngest of a family of seven children born to John M. and Barbara Joos. both natives of Germany. The father came to .America and in 1870 operated a hotel in Owatonna. Minnesota. He is now living in Jamestown, North Dakota.

Loranc Joos was reared on the farm and received the benefits of a common school education.  At the age of twenty-one years he came to North Dakota and took a pre-emption claim to land in Stutsman county, near Jamestown, and also land in township 142, range 63, under a homestead claim. He erected a claim shanty 12x16 feet, with which he proved up on his pre-emption claim, and afterward moved it to his homestead claim and used it for the same purpose there. He moved to his homestead claim in 1880, having only a team of horses and an old wagon. He added other buildings and conveniences from time to time, and in 1886 his first barn was demolished by a storm. He continued to farm until 1889. and in the spring of that year rented his farm and moved to Jamestown where he engaged in handling horses and machinery. In 1896 he returned to his farm and engaged  in farming, being one thousand dollars in debt. He purchased new machinery, horses and an outfit for farming, and has been very successful since that time. He is now the owner of three hundred and twenty acres of very valuable land, and cultivates annually two hundred and forty acres. He has a complete set of farm buildings, the best of machinery, and his farm is thoroughly equipped for successful agriculture.

Mr. Joos was married, in February, 1881, to Miss Lucy Bouch, a native of Wisconsin, and daughter of Loranc Bouch, who came to North Dakota in 1879. Mrs. Joos was reared to womanhood in Wisconsin. To this union five children were born, all in North Dakota, but two of whom are now living, Philip and Edwin. Mrs. Joos has been a most efficient aid to her husband, and to her cheerful assistance is due a fair share of the success with which they have met since they began life together.

In political views Mr. Joos is a Democrat. He has been active in public matters of a local nature, and has held the offices of school director and school treasurer. He is one of the earliest settlers and best-known men of the county. When he took up his claim there were but three shanties between his place and Jamestown, and that village contained three saloons, two hotels, one restaurant and three stores, most of the buildings being shanties, covered with tar paper.

JOSEPH L. KERR, one of the pioneer settlers of Stutsman county, is among the few men who braved the dangers and discouragements of early settlement in North Dakota, and have remained to become prosperous and substantial citizens. Although he labored many years, crops were destroyed repeatedly, and it was not until after many others had given up the struggle that success came to Mr. Kerr. He is now the owner of a fine estate, and enjoys the comforts of rural life. He resides near the village of Corrinne, and his farm is well equipped and nicely located. He also possesses property in Illinois.

Our subject was born in Sharron township, Richland county, Ohio, July 20, 1844. His father, William Kerr, was born in Ohio, where his parents located in 1810, and where the grandfather of our subject built the first flouring mill, during the pioneer days of the state. The family originally were from the Highlands of Scotland. The mother of our subject, whose maiden name was Louisa Funk, was born in America and was of Holland-Dutch descent. Her grandfather was one of the first German Lutheran preachers in Pennsylvania.

Our subject was the second in a family of three children, and was raised on a farm near Shelby, Ohio. He enlisted in the Union army in September, 1861, and became a member of Company I, Fifteenth Ohio Infantry, and joined the Army of the Cumberland, and participated in all the battles with that army. He was at Shiloh, Stone River, where he was taken prisoner and confined in Libby prison three months, and then exchanged, after which came Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, Franklin and Nashville. He was also in Sherman's campaign around Atlanta, and after the surrender of Lee he was sent to Texas, and was mustered out of the service in November, 1865, after four years and four months of brave and active service. Returning from the war, he attended Oberlin College one year, and later went to Iroquois county, Illinois, where he engaged in farming hve years, and in 1871 moved to Milford and established a hardware store, in which business he was engaged two years. He spent four years at Watseka, Illinois, shipping corn and other produce, and in the spring of 1883 went to Stutsman county. North Dakota. He entered claim to the southeast quarter of section 32, in township 144, range 62. and erected a 10x12 shanty, and resided there eight or ten years. The first year he bought a team of ponies on time and broke land for others, and his first crop in 1884 was from but five acres of land. The following year hail destroyed his crops and the next four or five years drought caused a total failure of crops. He raised twenty-five hundred bushels of wheat in 1891, since which time he has prospered in grain raising. He now has four hundred and eighty acres of land, all of which is under cultivation, and he has a well-improved estate, including a complete set of substantial and commodious farm buildings, all necessary machinery, windmill and plenty of stock.

Our subject was married, November 27, 1866, to Candas Roberts, who was born and raised in Shelby, Ohio. Mrs. Kerr's parents came from Hartford, Connecticut, and she and our subject attended the same school in Ohio, and Airs. Kerr later taught school in that state. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Kerr, as follows: Frank, an electrician at Butte, Montana; and Etta, who is attending school at Oberlin, Ohio. Mr. Kerr is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Politically he is a Republican, and has cast his vote for the principles of that party since his majority.

OLIN L. LANGWORTHY, a prosperous merchant of Courtenay, Stutsman county, is an early settler of that locality, and has gained a comfortable competence and an excellent reputation as a business man and citizen. He went to Dakota while yet a boy, and has risen to his enviable position among his fellow men by the exercise of those traits which characterize the business man of ability and true worth. For many years Mr. Langworthy was engaged in farming, and is now the owner of a fine estate, and also conducts a lucrative business in lumber and fuel in Courtenay.

Our subject was born in Bay City, Michigan, in 1868. His father, D. A. Langworthy, was of English descent, and the family has been in America for several generations. He was a dry goods merchant in Bay City, Michigan, and moved to Dakota in 1884, where he took land in Stutsman county, five miles north of Courtenay. The mother of our subject, whose maiden name was Isabella Cook, was born and raised in New York, and was a daughter of George Cook, who was of English descent, and was a merchant.

Our subject was the younger of two children, and attended the city schools of his native place, and in 1884 went with his parents to North Dakota. They lived in a claim shanty for a few months, and our subject assisted his father on the farm until 1889, when he entered claim to government land and also acquired land by purchase and engaged in farming. He fully improved the farm, and added to his possessions from time to time, and is now the owner of eight hundred acres of land, five hundred acres of which he operates. He began buying grain for the Osburn McMillan Elevator Company in the fall of 1896, and in December of that year established a lumber yard, which he has enlarged, and now carries a complete stock in that line, and also fuel.

Our subject was married, in 1899, to Miss Maud Bronson, who was born and raised in Vermont. Mrs. Langworthy's parents went to North Dakota about 1881;, and her father, C. R. Bronson. is in the employ of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company. Mrs. Langworthy is a lady of rare accomplishments, and taught several years in the public schools of North Dakota. Mr. Langworthy is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Modern Woodmen of America. Politically he is a Republican, and is a man who is strong in his convictions for right.

LEWIS O. LARSON, one of the early settlers of North Dakota, has successfully conducted farming and mercantile pursuits and is now the leading merchant of Courtenay. He was for many years an agriculturist, and met with eminent success, but since taking up his business in Courtenay he has increased his patronage in the farm implement business, and has added furniture and also the undertaking business, and is one of the well-to-do men of Stutsman county.

Our subject was born in Columbia county, Wisconsin, in 1856, and was a son of Ole Larson, who came to America in 1853 and was a farmer by occupation. He was the fifth in a family of nine children, and was reared on a farm in his native state and received his first schooling at the age of fourteen years. He went to Washington at the age of twenty years, and worked three years at Seattle, that state, then returned home for one year, and in the spring of 1882 went to the southern part of Nelson county, North Dakota, and took land from the government under his three rights. He erected a claim shanty on his pre-emption, in which he lived alone about six months, and during the first year bought and shipped horses and stock. He filed on his homestead in 1883, and invested about one thousand five hundred dollars, and engaged in farming thereon for eight years, and cultivated three hundred and twenty acres of land, and erected a complete set of farm buildings, and raised grain successfully. He rented his farm in 1891, and moved to Cooperstown, North Dakota, where he purchased residence property and resided one year, and in 1892 went to Courtenay and built the first livery barn in that village, which he rented out. and later built a small building in which he conducted the implement business. His present building, 30x72 feet, which was erected in 1896, at which time our subject became a partner with Mr. J. H. Cooper, and in the spring of 1898 they added a stock of furniture, and also conduct the undertaking business. A branch store was established at Kensal, North Dakota, in the spring of 1899, and is in charge of J. S. Tufford. Mr. Larson owns one hundred and sixty acres of land near Courtenay, and one hundred and sixty acres twelve miles north of that town, and is one of the able business men of that region.

Our subject was married, in 1887. to Miss Caroline Pierson, a native of Iowa, who went to Dakota with her parents in 1882. Mrs. Larson's father, Joseph Pierson, was an early settler of North Dakota. Mr. Larson has served as township treasurer of Courtenay township, and is active in all matters of a public nature. He is widely and favorably known and well merits his success.

HON. GEORGE LUTZ, who is conducting an extensive business as a lumber dealer in Jamestown, is one of the leading business men of Stutsman county. He has steadily pushed forward and his present property interests are the direct result of careful management and persistent efforts.

Mr. Lutz was born in Wurtemburg, Germany, December 10, 1852. His father owned and operated a flour and sawmill. Our subject attended the public schools of his native place and at fourteen years of age engaged in the mercantile business, which he followed four years. and then was employed in the bank five years, and spent one year in the German army. For the following four years he was correspondent in Antwerp for a German.  French and English importing firm, a position which required a  knowledge of the languages of those countries. He came to America in the fall of 1870, and landed at New York, after which he went to Chicago, where he accepted a position in the Chicago office of an exporting firm, with whom he was employed until 1882. In August of that year he went to Jamestown, North Dakota, and was employed by Hartman, Durstine & Company, lumber dealers. There were but few dwellings in the town at that time, and in 1884 he became manager of the James River Lumber Company, and was connected with them until 1893. when he established a lumber yard for himself. He purchased the wood yard of Toplift & Company in 1895.  which business he operates in connection with the lumber yard, and enjoys an extensive patronage.

Our subject was married in 1887 to Miss Matilda Bower, who was born and raised at Burlington. Iowa. Mrs. Lutz is a lady of rare attainments, and was a teacher in the public schools of Burlington for five years, and also taught one year in North Dakota. Her father, Philip Bower, was of German descent, and her mother's people also came from Germany before the Civil war. Mr. and Mrs.  Lutz have been the parents of two children: Alma, born in 1890, and Paul, born in 1893.

Mr. Lutz was elected as a representative from Stutsman county to the first state legislature of North Dakota, in 1890, and his efficient work and popularity are best evidenced by the fact that he was elected in the same capacity in 1892. He takes an active part in local affairs and for the past ten years has been a member of the board of education, and was president of the board for two years, also a stockholder and director of the James River National Bank, of Jamestown.