Rev William Henry Buss was born in Hook Green, Samberhurst, England, the son of Rev Henry & Charlotte Miles Buss. He married Annie Rachel Woepking on Oct 29, 1885. They were the parents of Edith Emily, Ralph Harold & William Kenneth Buss. Besides being a pastor in the Congregational Church, William was a poet & essayist of some note. During a competition for Nebraska's Semi-Centennial celebration, Rev Buss' poem "Hymn to Nebraska" was selected.

Hymn to Nebraska
Reverend William H. Buss, Fremont

Now laud the proud tree planter state,
Nebraska,-free, enlightened, great;
Her royal place she has in song:
The noblest strains to her belong;
Her fame is sure.
Then sing Nebraska through the years;
Extol her stalwart pioneers;
The days when, staunch and unafraid,
The state's foundations, well they laid,
To long endure.

The land where Coronado trod,
And brave Marquette surveyed the sod;
Where red men long in council sat;
Where spreads the valley of the Platte
Far 'neath the sun.
The land, beside whose borders sweep
The big Missouri's waters, deep,
Whose course erratic, through its sands,
From northland on, through many olands,
Does seaward run.

The foot hills of the Rockies lie
Afar athwart her western sky;
Her rolling prairie, like the sea,
Held lon in virgin sanctity,
Her fertile loam.
Her wild-life roamed o'er treeless plains,
Till came the toiling wagon-trains,
And settlers bold, far westward bound,
In broad Nebraska's valley found,
Their chosen home.

Now o'er her realm and 'neath her sky,
Her golden harvests richly lie;
Her corn more vast than Egypt yields;
Her grain unmatched in other fields;
Her cattle rare;
Alfalfa fields, by winding streams;
And sunsets, thrilling poets' dreams;
These all we sing, and know that time,
Has ne'er revealed a fairer clime,
Or sweeter air.

O proud Nebraska, brave and free;
Thus sings thy populace to thee.
Thy virile strength, thy love of light;
Thy civic glory, joined with right,
Our heats elate.
Thy manly wisdom, firm to rule;
Thy womanhood in church and school;
Thy learning, culture, art and peace,
Do make thee strong, and ne'er shall cease
To keep thee great!

Her heaving bluffs uplift their heads
Along her winding reiver-beds,
And, pleasing far the traveler's view,-
Well guard her Elkhorn and her Blue,
Encrowned with wood.
And there, by landmarks, ne'er to fail,
Upon the ancient westward trail;
Or graven stone, securely placed,
By eye observant may be traced
Where wigwam stood.

Her honored cities grow in wealth;
In thriving commerce, public health;
Her first, the gateway of the west;
Her Omaha, that will not rest,
Nor take defeat.
Her capital of worthy fame,
That bears the mighty Lincoln's name,
And thousands of Nebraska youth
E'er summons to her fount of truth,
At learning's seat.