James Cutler and his wife spent roughly the first two years of their married life in Mitchell county, before moving to Nebraska.
He was born in Marshall County, Indiana, February 14, 1848, youngest child of the seven sons and three daughters of David and Lois (Hopkins) Cutler. He lived on the home farm until 1868 and on September 17, of that year, married Elmira Mosholder.
After marriage they moved to Osage, Mitchell county, Iowa, making the three weeks' trip with a wagon and team. They reached Mitchell County in October, and in the fall of 1869 returned to Indiana, but soon after came back to Iowa, where Mr. Cutler worked on a farm for his brother.
In the spring of 1870, Mr. Cutler's brother, William, went to Beatrice, Nebraska, and in September of that year James joined him, his wife coming later, reaching there on Christmas day. They lived on a farm about six miles from Beatrice until March, 1872, then James Cutler, with his wife and two children, removed to Nuckolls county, where they took up a homestead and lived on it for five or six years, then moved into the town of Edgar, three miles north of their farm, and lived there until the spring of 1882, during which time Mr. Cutler leaned the carpenter's trade.
In February, 1882, he came to his pre-emption claim five miles southeast of Anselmo, Custer County, where he lived until 1894, when he removed to Sheridan County, Wyoming, and after twelve years spent there, during which he worked in lumber and railroad tie camps, he returned to Custer County.
In 1904 he purchased the northeast quarter of section thirty-two, township 19, range 21, and the following year purchased more land in the same section, to which they moved in 1908.
He and his wife have a fine farm of three hundred and twenty acres, and a modern residence built in 1909. We give this as the subject of one of the illustrations on another page. Their first residence in Custer County was a dugout, which was later replaced by a "soddy." During the three-day blizzard of April, 1873, Mr. Cutler braved the storm once a day to feed and water his stock. He shot several deer in the pioneer days, but only wounded them; however, he brought down many antelope and has killed his buffalo, the latter event occurring on a fork of the Republican River in the edge of Colorado.
James H. Cutler, a carpenter, builder and contractor, has erected many of the best buildings in Anselmo, Callaway, Merna and Broken Bow, besides smaller towns in the region. He has helped put up many of the large grain elevators. Later on, he has paid considerable attention to farming and stock raising, in which he has been successful. He passed through the pioneer days of hardship and privation and he and his wife have reared a fine family in Custer County, Nebraska.
Ten children have been born to Mr. Cutler and his wife: Albert L., of Kansas City, has one child; Maggie, wife of L. W. Wilson, of Merna; Ernest, who is married and lives in Montana, has two children; John, married and living in Montana; Pearl, wife of J. W. Roberts, lives in Merna and has five children; Herbert, married and living in New Helena; Arab, wife of Oscar Wilson, of Edgar, Clay county, has one child; Frank, Dae and Laura, are at home. Dae is a successful teacher in the Custer county schools. The family have a wide circle of friends. Mrs. Cutler has two sisters in Clay County, Nebraska, Maggie, now Mrs. J. B. Johnson, and Mary, wife of Doctor F. D. Anderson. Although Mr. and Mrs. Cutler have been married over forty-three years, they retain their capacity for enjoying life, and seem to have the secret of remaining young and active. They have a keen interest in the progress of events, and have the gratification of knowing their children are well settled in life and doing well. In politics, Mr. Cutler is a republican, and affiliates with the Merna lodge Modern Woodmen of America.