'Lincoln, the capital city and Lancaster County, Nebraska' (Vol 2), Andrew Sawyer, pub. 1916. http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/andrew-j-sawyer/lincoln-the-capital-city-and-lancaster-county-nebraska-volume-2-ywa/page-20-lincoln-the-capital-city-and-lancaster-county-nebraska-volume-2-ywa.shtml HON. EDWIN JEARY. Hon. Edwin Jeary is a member of the state legislature from the thirtieth district of Nebraska and not only is his name associated with the political his- tory of the state but it is also prominently connected with the material develop- ment of Lincoln, where he has resided since 1888, being prominently recognized as one of its leading men of affairs. Mr. Jeary is a native of England, his birth having occurred at Stalham, in the county of Norfolk, March 6, 1850, his par- ents being John and Alice (Mack) Jeary, who were also natives of that county and there spent their entire lives. Four of their children, however, are now residents of the United States, namely: William, living at Greenwood, Ne- braska; Robert J., a resident of Seward, Nebraska; Edwin, of Lincoln; and Elizabeth, now the wife of John Stanton, of Waverly, Nebraska. Edwin Jeary acquired a common school education in England and in 1872, when twenty-one years of age, came to the United States, making his way at once to Lincoln, where he arrived on the 16th of May. He did not tarry at that period, however, for at the railroad station he hired out to a farmer who lived sixteen miles east of Lincoln, just over the line in Cass county. He had never had any experience in farm work, having spent his youthful days in an English village, and he did not know the difference between a neck yoke and a double- LINCOLN AND LANCASTER COUNTY 193 tree. He was willing, however, to learn and he soon became proficient in all the duties that devolved upon him. He says that a well drilled old horse which he was given to drive in cultivating the fields taught him how to plow corn. He spent the summer of 1872 on farms in Cass county and in the fall of that year began teaching school, which profession he followed for about three years. He taught his first term in Seward county and the remainder of the time was in Cass county. He began the work of instruction in a little sod schoolhouse twelve by fourteen feet, receiving the munificent sum of twenty dollars per month and boarding around among the parents of the pupils. There were but five children enrolled and the average attendance was only three during his first term. While teaching school in Cass county he read law and later was admitted to the bar at Plattsmouth, Nebraska. He afterward practiced at Greenwood, Cass county, for a few years and then, retiring from the field of law, embarked in the banking business at Greenwood, having organized the Salt Creek Valley Bank, of which he became the cashier. Later he sold his interest in that institution and went to Staplehurst, Nebraska, where he organized the Bank of Staplehurst, of which he became president. A year afterward he sold out there and founded the Bank of Elmwood at Elmwood, Cass county, continuing as its president for a quarter of a century. In the meantime, however, the name of the institution was changed to the State Bank of Elmwood and finally took the name of the First National Bank of Elmwood. It was the only banking institution of the town. It was not until 1911 that Mr. Jeary disposed of his interest there. In the meantime, however, he had changed his residence to Lincoln, where he has remained continuously since 1888. Since retiring from the banking busi- ness he has given his attention to the supervision of private interests. He has much valuable residence property in the city of Lincoln and also in Elmwood. At the corner of Sixteenth and L streets in Lincoln he has two splendid modern frame two story residences, fronting on L street, and a cement block apartment house, also modern in every particular, containing four apartments, fronting on Sixteenth street. This is some of the choice property for rental in Lincoln. Among his first property interests in Nebraska was a homestead which he entered as a claim in 1873. This place was in Seward county but he spent only one night upon it, as the wolves frightened him away. A little later he disposed of his holdings. On the 22 October, 1876, Mr. Jeary was married to Miss Keturah Samp- son, who had formerly been one of his pupils in Cass county, to which place she had removed from Henry county, Iowa, in 1865, when her parents with their family journeyed westward in a covered wagon drawn by two yoke of oxen. Mrs. Jeary was then six years of age, having been born in Keokuk county, Iowa, in 1859. By her marriage she has become the mother of three children who are yet living: May, now the wife of Dr. A. J. Coats, of Fairbury, Ne- braska; Lena, a teacher in the Lincoln public schools; and Clark, who is a graduate of the law department of the University of Nebraska and is now practicing. Mr. Jeary has made five trips back to England, his wife accompanying him on four of them. They were in that country on a visit when the present war broke out August 1, 1914. On one of his visits he brought home with him an old "grandfather's clock" which has been in the Jeary- family for more than 194 LINCOLN AND LANCASTER COUNTY two hundred years, having been purchased directly from the factory in Stalham, England, by his great-grandfather, William Jeary. It is hand made and is a wonderful piece of mechanism, keeping perfect time despite its two hundred years of constant use. Mr. and Mrs. Jeary are members of the First Christian church of Lincoln and he is serving on its board of elders. He belongs to the Lincoln Commercial Club and is interested in all of its plans and projects for the city's development and improvement. Fraternally he is a Mason and a Mod- ern Woodman. His political allegiance has always been given to the republican party and he is now serving for the third term as a representative in the general assembly. He was first elected in 1886 from Cass county and was again elected in 1912 and in 1914 from Lancaster county, receiving in 1912 the highest vote among the republican legislators of the state. He has given thoughtful and earnest consideration to all questions which have come up for settlement and is well versed on the vital and significant problems of the day. He has sought to further the interests of the state in every possible way, exercising his official prerogatives for the public good rather than for self benefit and placing the general welfare before partisanship.