J. M. BENTON, ----The subject of this sketch, is a native of the State of New York, being born in Tompkins County, July 19, 1837. His parents were driven from New York City by the Tories, during the Revolutionary War, and settled in Yates County, Benton Center, of this last-named county, derived its name from this family. They, however, afterwards removed to Tompkins County.

In 1856 Mr. Benton started out to seek his fortune, and for about six years traveled through the Western States. In 1862 he entered the United States Army, as a surgeon, a position he creditably filled for nineteen months. In the spring of 1864 he came across the plains to Nevada, and was engaged in mining and milling until 1867 when he entered his present line of business, that of livery and sale stable. A view of his stable buildings accompanies this sketch. They are situated on the northeast corner of Carson and Third Streets, the site of one of the first buildings in Carson City. He bought this property in 1867 and has built additions from time to time as his increasing business demanded, and has at present one of the finest and best arranged establishments in the State. For the past ten years he has been the proprietor of the stage line running between Carson City and Lake Tahoe, of which the celebrated " Hank Monk " has been the " whip." Mr. Benton was married August 28, 1868, to Miss Mattie E. Meder, daughter of Senator B. H. Meder, of Carson City.

HON. CHARLES F. BICKNELL -----Was born May 22, 1840, in Bath, Sagadahoe County, Maine. After receiving a high school education in his native State, he learned the trade of carriage making. Not contented with the quiet life ho was there leading, he sought new fields for his labors, and came to California, by way of the Isthmus of Panama, in I860. Reaching San Francisco in due time, he remained there until May 1863, at which time he came to Nevada, and worked in the mines fifteen months. When the excitement at White Pine broke out, he went with the throng to that locality, and was the first Deputy County Recorder of that county.

In 1871 he came to Ormsby County. He was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Nevada Senate in 1869, and elected Secretary during the sessions of 1871 and 1873. In 1874 he was elected Clerk of the Supreme Court; and was reelected to the same office in 1878. In the fall of 1874 Mr. Bicknell built his handsome residence on Elizabeth Street, Carson City, a view of which will be found in this history. Mr. Bicknell is well known throughout the county in which he resides, as well as the eastern portion of the State. He is a courteous gentleman, and universally respected by all.  He was married to Mrs. A. G. Roberts, daughter of A. H. Davis, of Carson City, on the tenth of April, 1872.

HON. WM. M. CARY ----Was born at Smithfield, Jefferson County, Ohio, January 3, 1814. In 1818 the family moved to Stillwater, Guernsey County, Ohio, to re-commence life on the frontier, their respectable fortune having been swept away amid the general depression that resulted from the war of 1812. After one year at that place the family moved to the banks of the Sandusky River, where the town of Bucyrus now stands. In 1822 the subject of this sketch was sent to his grandfather, in Middletown, Washington County, Pennsylvania, where he attended a school kept by the father and sister of the celebrated Alexander Campbell, the founder of the Campbellite Church. In 1823 his mother died, and he lived with his relations until 1827, when he was apprenticed to a hatter, in his native village.

In 1831 he removed to Lima, Indiana, where he commenced life for himself in 1834 he left the latter place and located in Peoria, Illinois, where he lived until the spring of 1836. In December, 1836, he was married to Miss Sarah A. Kirk, at Bucyrus, Ohio, and soon after moved to Angola, Indiana, where a commission awaited him as the first Sheriff of the now county of Steuben. He remained in Angola until the fifteenth of March, 1850, when he started for California, and arrived at what is now Placerville on the fourth day of August the same year.

He acquired some wealth and returned in January, 1851, to Indiana for his family. Three months and seventeen days were occupied in his trip home, he taking the Nicaragua route. In March, 1852, he left Angola with his family for a second trip across the plains to California, and arrived at Placerville by a singular coincidence, on the fourth of August, 1852, just two years from the date of his first arrival.  Soon after he commenced the hotel business, and in the fall of the same year built the Placer Hotel, which was burned in April, 1856. One year later he built the Cary House, and remained the owner and usually the proprietor of this well-known house until 1865, when he sold the place and came to Carson Valley, Nevada, and built a flouring mill. 

In 1866 he was elected to the Assembly of the Nevada Legislature from Douglas County. In May, 1867, his wife died, and he removed to Virginia City and was Superintendent of several quartz mills. In 1869 he removed to Washoe City and was married to Mrs. Estelle M. Clark. He remained in this place until 1874, when he returned to his farm in Douglas County. In 1877 he moved to Carson City, where he now resides. He has been twice elected Justice of the Peace and City Magistrate, and at present holds the office. Mr. Gary has two sons, Edwin R, and Wm. H. H. Cary, the result of his first marriage, and one son, a lad of nine years, Eugene D., by his second marriage. Mr. Cary has seen much of active life, and is a man of unusual vitality. He is of Quaker origin, and his family is noted for longevity, and he bids fair to live for many years.

HON. TRENMOR COFFIN -----was born in Hendricks County, Indiana, a. d. 1848. His father was a farmer, and the subject of this sketch was brought up on a farm, and accustomed to hard work, he working with his father in clearing away the native forest which covered the farm in early days. Up to the age of twenty years he acted as plow-boy during the summer, and attended a small country school during the winter, where he acquired the rudiments of a common-school education.  He entered the National Normal School, at Lebanon, Ohio, when twenty years of age, and by strict economy maintained himself for three years.  His pluck, in connection with the disadvantage under which he labored to gain his education has been a characteristic feature with him all through his life.  One of his modes for reducing the expense of his tuition, was acting as steward for a club of fifty students, receiving for his services his board and a very small sum of money from each student.

After graduating from this school, he came west, and reached Carson City, Nevada, in the month of August, 1871. Having no bank account at that time, and not finding a situation suitable to his position in the world, he went to work with a pick and shovel, helping to build a mountain road, and, for some four years thereafter, he was engaged in various employments, such as driving a team, and for a time worked under the Hon. Wm. Westerfield, running a truck in the freight depot, at Steamboat Springs, that being the terminus of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, at that time.

Mr. Coffin is a living example of what can be done with courage and a persistent self-will, intermingled with an ambitious nature. He finally succeeded in obtaining a situation as teacher in the grammar department of the public schools of Carson City, where he acquitted himself creditably, and was soon after placed in charge of the Nevada State Library, and for one year acted as Librarian. During the time of his teaching and acting in the capacity of librarian, he devoted his spare time to the study of law, and such progress as he made is seldom recorded, for in the month of October, 1874, he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Courts of Nevada.

In connection with Hon. C. N. Harris, he opened a law office for the practice of his profession in the State. In 1876, Mr. Coffin was elected District Attorney, of Ormsby County, and, in 1880, he was placed upon the Republican ticket as a candidate for the Assembly. This nomination was not sought by him but was tendered to him by his party from pure principle. It is needless to add that he was handsomely elected, and his constituents have had no cause for complaint in regard to his actions as their representative. He is ostensibly a self-made man, and, by diligence and energy, has built up a lucrative practice, and has also built a reputation among his fellowmen that will be remembered long after he ceases to exist in human form.

HON. LYMAN L. CROCKETT ------was born March 1, 1831, in Waldo County, Maine; came to the Pacific Coast by way of the Isthmus of Panama in 1851. During the succeeding nine years he was engaged in lumbering and mining in California.

In 1860 he came to the then Territory of Utah and worked at mining for one year, in Washoe County. In 1861 he moved to Dayton, Lyon County (then called Chinatown, Carson County, Utah), and built the first hay and feed stable ever opened in the town, which business he followed for about one and one-half years, when he engaged in the lumber business, in which he remained the greater part of his residence there. During that time he held several positions of trust and honor, some of them mentioned in this sketch. In 1865 he was appointed United States Deputy Revenue Assessor for Lyon County, and was also United States Commissioner and Notary Public. As County Commissioner and County Recorder and ex officio Auditor, as well as in his various other offices, he acquitted himself with credit and to the satisfaction of his constituency. In 1870 he was Deputy Census Enumerator of Lyon County. In 1876 he removed to Reno, Washoe County, and again engaged in the lumber business, also in the manufacture of gas. In 1878 he was elected to the position of State Treasurer, on the Republican ticket. 

Since 1863 he has been an active working member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is at present connected with the same lodge in which he was initiated over seventeen years ago.  He has been honored by his brother members to a high degree, having held many positions in the lodge; was Representative to the R. W. Grand Lodge for twelve successive years; was also R. W. Grand Treasurer and W. G. Chaplain. In 1866 he became a member of the Order of F. & A. M., joining Valley Lodge, No. 9, at Dayton, in which he has held several offices, often officiating at burials in the absence of clergymen. He has always rendered assistance to his distressed brethren, and many live to testify to his generosity. In 1861 he, in connection with Judge Calvin Hall, located the cemetery at Dayton, and December 9th, of the same year, Mr. Crockett dug the first grave therein. Several hundred have since found a resting-place there; among them are two children that once cheered the household of Mr.  Crockett.

He has a residence in Reno, Washoe County, but at present resides in Carson City, the duties of his present office making it incumbent on him to do so. Mr. Crockett was married in October, 1863, but has no children living.

MONROE A. DRIESBACH ----son of Peter and Hannah (Zerfars) Driesbach, is a native of New York State, born in the town of Sparta, Livingston County, April 18, 1843. His parents were of German descent, but the date of the arrival of his ancestors in America takes us back before the days of the American Revolution.

His grandfather, Henry Driesbach, emigrated from Pennsylvania in 1804, and settled in the wilds of New York, in what in now called Geneseo Valley, purchasing a large tract of land, some of which still remains in the possession of his descendants. Both the father and grandfather of the subject of this sketch fought in the defense of their country, one, in the Revolution, for American Independence, and the other, in the war of 1812 and was in the memorable battle of Lundy's Lane.

Monroe, our present subject, was brought up on a farm, as the "best man," his mother being a widow for many years.  After reaching his majority, he, to satisfy his ambition for learning entered Alliance College, afterward transferred to Mount Vernon College in Ohio, from which he graduated. He then entered the Albany Law School, and graduated with high honors.  He was married September 23, 1874, to Helen A.  McNair, at Danville, New York. Mr. Driesbach was in the employ of Messrs. A. W. Cootes & Co., Alliance, Ohio, manufacturers of farming implements, as book-keeper, until his departure for Nevada in the spring of 1877. He was elected District Attorney of Ormsby County, Nevada, in 1878. Mr. Driesbach is a resident of Carson City, and is a man much respected by his fellow-townsmen.

COL. A. C. ELLIS ----Son of Dr. R. B. and Elizabeth (Collier) Ellis, was born in Richmond, Ray County, Missouri, on the twelfth day of July, 1840. His father was a native of Sussex County, Virginia. His mother, a Kentuckian by birth, died when he was but two years old, and Mrs. M. P. Keas, an aunt upon his father's side, took upon herself the charge of his early training.  In 1850 the father removed from St. Louis, Missouri, to California, and the son went to reside with his aunt in Richmond, where the succeeding ten years her house was his home.

His early education was obtained in the last-named town, where he studied under a private tutor, and afterwards attended the academy of A. C. Redmon and R. W. Finley until 1853, at which time he entered the Masonic College at Lexington, becoming a member of the Freshman Class in the fall of that year. In 1855 he entered the Junior Class at the University of Missouri, at Columbia, and graduated therefrom July 4, 1857.  In the month of October of the same year he entered the Law School at Louisville, Kentucky, which was a department of the State University, and remained there during two full courses of law lectures under James Speed, later President Lincoln's Attorney General, Judge W. F. Bullock, John C.  Preston, and Wm. Pirtle. In 1859, February 27th, Mr. Ellis graduated from this school and was chosen to deliver the valedictory, and received his diploma from James Guthrie, President of the Board of Curators. By an Act of the Legislature of that State, a diploma from the Law School entitled the graduate to practice in all of its courts, and he soon after located at Richmond, and through the influence of old friends, combined with natural talent, acquired a good practice in his profession.

In 1860, on the twenty-eighth of March, he was married to Miss Lucie Rives Cobb, of Prince Edward County, Virginia. Mr. Ellis was named by the State Convention of Missouri as an alternate elector for Stephen A. Douglas in the campaign of 1860. He was a candidate the same year for Commonwealth Attorney in the Fourth Circuit, embracing seven counties, and was defeated by only three hundred votes by his Bell and Everett opponent. The estimate placed upon Mr. Ellis by those who best knew him may be judged from the fact of his receiving 2,300 out of 2,500 votes cast in his home county at that election. 

In 1861 he joined the Confederate regiment commanded by Colonel B. A. Rives, and was an Adjutant, first of General Little's brigade, and then of his own regiment, during the Pea Ridge battle and campaign.  Colonel Rives was killed at Pea Ridge, and sometime afterwards Adjutant Ellis was sent by General Price from Van Buren, Arkansas, to exhume the Colonel's body and convey it to his old home in Ray County for burial.

In 1863 Mr. Ellis came with his family to Carson City, Nevada, which has, since the fall of that year, been his home.  In 1869 he practiced law in partnership with the late Tod Robinson, in "White Pine County. In politics he has always been an earnest worker in the Democratic ranks, and has canvassed the State in the interests of his party many times. In 1870 he was a candidate for Governor before the Democratic State Convention, at Elko, and was defeated by only three votes, receiving, after a protracted and exciting contest, ninety-eight votes, while his opponent. Governor L. R. Bradley, had 101. The friends of the late Hill Beachy and Governor Bradley united, through the influence of General T. H. Williams, Thomas Sunderland, D. E. Buell, and others, to defeat him. Mr. Ellis was chosen Chairman of the Democratic State Central Committee, and made an active canvass of the State in the interests of Governor Bradley, who was elected. In 1872 he canvassed the State for Greeley, though he was not the man of his choice for President. In 1874 he received the Democratic nomination for Congress, but was defeated by Wm. Woodburn, though he ran ahead of his ticket largely. In 1876 he went as a delegate to the National Democratic Convention, at St. Louis, and presented the resolution of the Nevada State Convention against Chinese immigration, and by persistent efforts secured its insertion, with slight modification, in the National Platform.

On his return home he again received the Democratic nomination for Congress, but was defeated by Thomas Wren, although receiving in the neighborhood of two hundred more votes than the Tilden Electors.  In 1878 he took an active part in the support of Bradley for Governor and Mr. Deal for Congress, and the Democratic ticket, making another stirring canvass of the State, though not a candidate himself.  In 1880 he attended the National Democratic Convention at Cincinnati, Ohio, as a delegate, and was again a member of the Committee on Resolutions.  In connection with the members from California and Oregon he secured the adoption of the very emphatic resolution in the National Platform against Chinese immigration. During his political life Mr. Ellis has been one of the most zealous and untiring workers in his party.