20 CONARD : 



school or college at Troy, New York, after which he went by 

 the public stages to Chicago, then a mere village. This was 

 his only trip until he was sixty years of age. 



Minshall and Jacob Painter were strong and able men, 

 physically and mentally. Minshall was rather tall, heavily 

 built, broad shouldered, and of fine figure and carriage. 

 Jacob was shorter, and quite corpulent. They were active, 

 even in age, and seldom drove anywhere, preferring to go dis- 

 tances of a few miles on foot. A neighbor says that to see 

 Jacob on a slushy, winter day, with his pantaloons tucked in, 

 his boot tops, walking briskly to the post office (a mile or so) 

 was odd at least, his large body tapering off so sviddenly to 

 his comparatively slender boots. 



These quiet men in their secluded home were yet keen 

 observers of nature, and deeply interested in all human pro- 

 gress, both scientific and literary. The latter was Jacob's 

 especial fort, the former Minshall's. They kept abreast of 

 the times by taking the leading periodicals, and by the pur- 

 chase of the best books ; they had a library of one thousand 

 volumes, not one of which was fiction. Minshall Painter 

 very early in life began the study of nature, and was always 

 a student. While he tended the saw at his father's mill, his 

 book was his companion. 



Although actively engaged as farmer and miller, he devoted 

 at least one day^a week to long tramps over the surrounding 

 country. He took notes of everything he could see, and 

 collected plants, minerals and insects. His herbarium included 

 nearly all the flowers of this part of the country and many 

 from other places. He was for a number of years a careful 

 meteorological observer, and when the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion took interest in this subject, he forwarded reports to 

 them. He understood the movement of storms, and made 

 charts and maps showing the progression of storm areas from 

 the Gulf of Mexico along our eastern coast. The microscope 

 also was his companion. 



With all this he was an excellent farmer; he could weld 



