Omaha City (part 2 of 26)

In Masonic circles Mr Saunders has attained high rank, being a York and Scottish Rite Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine. He has been also for fifteen years treasurer of the Elks lodge No. 39 of Omaha and he is identified with the Country Club, the Carter Lake Club, the Happy PIoUow Club and the Omaha Club. His military record covers two years' service with the Montana militia. In political circles he is a most influential worker, having endorsed the republican party from the time age conferred upon him the right of franchise. He has been a member of the republican central committee of Douglas county, the congressional central committee and the state central committee and he was an alternate to the national republican convention of 191 2 held in Chicago. In 1 910 he was supervisor of the United States census for the second congressional district of Nebraska and for five terms he has represented his district in the state senate, giving faithful and earnest consideration to those questions which are of vital importance in determining the course and standing of the commonwealth. Carlyle said : "The history of a nation is best told in the lives of its people." It is therefore fitting that the records of such eminent and distinguished men as Charles Lockard Saunders should find a place in this volume, for he has borne an active part in shaping the material development and the political progress of city and state, wisely utilizing his time, talents and opportunities in the accomplishment of his purposes.

Harry P. Deuel

There was much in the life of Harry P. Deuel to connect his record most closely with the history of Omaha. He came to the city as one of its pioneer residents, arriving in 1859, when Nebraska's metropolis was a little struggling frontier town. From that date forward he was always deeply and helpfully interested in all that pertained to its growth and progress and the city came to esteem him as one of its representative and valued business men. He was born in Clarkson, Monroe county. New York, in December, 1836, and upon removal to the middle west resided for a time in Illinois. It was at Tiskilwa, that state, that he wedded Freelove Miller, who was born in Oneida county. New York. Their marriage was celebrated in 1858 and it was in the following year that Mr. Deuel removed to Omaha from Elmwobd, Illinois. He was at that time twenty-three years of age and -iTje.^.W^tkQcl. part oi the distance from St. Joseph, Missouri. He immediately ' odciime aksobiated with his uncle, John R. Porter, in the agency for the, Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Packet Line and they also conducted a warehouse on the levee. While thus connected with the transportation business he forwarded to -Salt Lake City the great organ which is in the temple there. Upon the completion of the Burlington Railroad he became city ticket agent for that company, which position he filled until 1888, when he resigned to accept a similar position with the Union Pacific Railroad Company, thus continuing until 1896. He sold the first coupon ticket in Omaha and there was no phase of transportation development in this section of the state with which he was not familiar.

In the spring of i860 ^Ir. Deuel brought his wife and baby daughter to Omaha. He had bought a house and lot on Farnam street, where the Bee building now stands, and was residing there in 1864, when it was sold after which their home occupied the site of the present courthouse until 1879, when he erected a residence on the corner of Nineteenth and Dodge streets, where he resided the remainder of his Hfe. Mr. and Mrs. Deuel lived to celebrate their golden wedding and ]^Irs. Deuel and their son Charles L. yet survive. Their daughter Blanche, who was a member of the first graduating class in the Omaha high school, died at the age of nineteen years.

In many ways Mr. Deuel was closely associated with interests which have left their impress upon the history of city and state. He gave his political allegiance to the democratic party and after devoting several years to railroading in Omaha he put aside his work in that connection and accepted the office of county auditor, while later he filled the position of register of deeds. He was long a member of the library board, from which he retired two years prior to his death, but he was ever most interested in the institution and its stafi^ and at his home entertained a number of the members of the library staff at a musical just a day before his demise. He ranked very high in Masonic circles and was a most active worker in the order, which conferred upon him high official honors. He was the first grand master of the state and also the first grand high priest and never ceased his activities in support of the craft until death called him on the 23d of November, 1914. Mr. Deuel was also well known in

"In the death of Harry Deuel the sportsmen, particularly the anglers, in this section of this fair world of ours sustain a lamentable loss. He was a beloved friend of the writer, as he was of many and many another man, and of the countless beau,tiful qualities with which he was endowed 1 might speak, but of them all therw was none more conspicuous than his ardent love of die line and rod and the rippling water sides. He was proficient in the art, and years ago, in company with Casper E. Yost, and similar congenial lads, spent a great deal of his time in long tishing trips up in the then almost primeval wilderness of Minnesota and Wisconsin. His outfits were elaborate and well chosen, as we have ample testimony in his oldest and favorite fishing box and his bag of rods, given just one year ago. His memory will ever hold a warm place in the hearts of the old guard still marching on. In Harry Deuel were combined the practical man and the poet in the abstract. In all his actions and all his words were ever to be found mingled the simple wisdom of the one with the sensitiveness of the other to the beauties and subtle influences of nature. These equalities never failed to start a sympathetic echo and endeared him to widely different personalities by which he is not likely to be soon forgotten.

"Silently our tears drop. One more whose friendship we more than valued has gone. Never again shall we clasp in a strong, firm grip the hand that in life knew so well how to lay out his line on Washington's silvery crests or the Chippewa's rapids, and who in the clubroom, the woodsy cabin, before the log fire, could and did interest even the children with his stories of what he gathered while idling among the golden hours in the depth of nature's beauties. IJut with Harry Deuel, as with legions of other grand men, the chief praise comes after his work has been finished but his best monument will b,e the tokens of affection - tears though they be - that come from all the old comrades yet lingering behind, who knew him best and loved him most."

Mrs. Deuel yet makes her home in Omaha and with her lives her cousin, Mrs. Inez A. Haney, who has been a resident of Omaha since 1856. She is the widow of Edwin Haney, who came from St.' Louis and for many years was connected with the Union Pacific at this point. He was a Civil war veteran and continued his residence here until his demise. Mrs. Haney is a daughter of John R. Porter, who was a very prominent and active citizen here in pioneer times, and both her husband and her father were widely and prominently known.

Hon. David H. Mercer

Among Omaha's best known citizens is Hon. David H. Mercer, a man whose efforts and endeavors have done much for the advancement and growth of Omaha and Nebraska and who for ten years ably represented this district in congress. Mr. Mercer is virtually a Nebraska product, for save the time he resided in Washington, D. C, as congressman, most of his life has been spent upon Nebraska soil, first in Nemaha county as a boy, then several months on a homestead in Brush Creek precinct, Saline county, where at the age of sixteen he taught his first school, and finally in Omaha, which has been his residence since 1886.

The Mercer family in the United States from which the subject of this sketch descended, first settled in Pennsylvania almost three hundred years ago. Three brothers migrated from the British Isles who were of Scotch-Irish ancestry. Amos Mercer, the great-grandfather of David H. Mercer, was a farmer residing in Armstrong county, Pennsylvania. He married Mary Mitchell. Their son, David, born in Armstrong county, married Eva Cribbs. From this union came Amos Mercer, born in the same county on February 20, 1804, who also followed the pursuit of farming. He served two terms as county commissioner and for some time was brigadier general of the Pennsylvania State Militia. He married Rachel Rymer, a German woman through and through, and they reared a very large family. One of their sons, John Jackson Mercer, the father of David H., was born on a farm near New Bethlehem, Clarion county, Pennsylvania, on New Year's day of 1833. While yet in his teens and ambitious to be a man among men, John J. Mercer settled in Pittsburgh and learned the blacksmith trade. In 1853 he heard the call of the west and, responding thereto, he, after a most tedious and tiresome journey, became a pioneer in Benton county, Iowa, a few miles from Vinton. He there met and wedded Elizabeth Lamar Flora, a native of Pennsylvania and a descendant of the Lamars, Huguenots who were driven out of France by religious persecution and into Holland, where they were induced to flee to America, the land of the free and the home of the brave. Some of the descendants settled in Pennsylvania and Maryland but a larger number went farther south and made their homes in Georgia, Mississippi and adjoining states. On July 9, 1859, the subject of this sketch, David Henry Mercer, was born and in later years two sisters, Clara and Minnie, came to the Mercer household, they being born in Adams county, Illinois, where the family was living when the Civil war began. When President Lincoln called for troops, John J. Mercer and three brothers enlisted, one being killed in battle. John J. enlisted as a private and was honorably discharged at the close of the rebellion as a captain, having served his country faithfully for over three years as a member of Company E, Seventy-eighth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry. His brother Philip was first lieutenant in the same company. Captain Mercer was in many prominent battles, marched with Sheru.iai'U.tQ, Atlanta and the sea, never missed a day or had a furlough and refused a commission in the regular army when peace was declared. On his return home he engaged in mercantile pursuits and made the race for county treasurer of Adams county. '

In 1866 he settled in Brownville, Nebraska, a promising town on the JNIissouri river, a rival of Omaha and Nebraska City for commercial supremacy and full of promise for the future. He engaged in the -s^le^of- farming implements and conducted a machine and blacksmith shop. Captain Mercer prospered in his new home and in 1867 he had his family join him. While in Brownville he served as a member of the Ijoard of education, was elected to the legislature and in a brief time was recognized as one of the leading citizens of Nemaha county. In 1S88 the Captain, wife and two daughters moved to Omaha, where the son David had been residing for some time. Captain Mercer became the leading Mason of Nebraska, serving in all positions and in every branch of Free Masonry, becoming grand master of the grand lodge of the state. He was an authority on Masonic law and tradition and left behind him an army of friends when he died on the 25th day of February, 1915, in Omaha, his wife, who was Ijorn May 30, 1833, having crossed the river of life April 26, 1906, and their daughter Minnie August 27, 1913.

David H. Mercer was educated in the public schools of Brownville, finishing the prescribed course in the high school, then one of the leading educational institutions in the state. W'hile in- the Brownville school, he and his fellows organized a debating society, The Lyceum, published an amateur newspaper by the same name and helped develop a city library. David for some time was correspondent from Nemaha county to the Omaha Herald, then owned by Dr. George L. Miller, and part of one year he edited the Nemaha County Granger of Brownville. He loved athletic exercise and took a leading part in all outdoor sports. After teaching school one winter in Bedford precinct he entered the spring term of the Nebraska State University in 1877, graduating in June, 1880. As a tmiversity student he took a leading part in all of its activities. He was elected president of the Palladium Society, captain of the baseball team, editor of the college paper and captain of the University Cadets. In fact he held almost every office within the gift of his fellow students. After graduation, young Mercer returned to Brownville and began the study of law in the office of Judge Stull. He was admitted to the bar in April, 1881, and in September of the same year he went to Ann Arbor, where he was admitted to the senior law class of Michigan State University upon examination by Hon. Thomas M. Cooley, the dean of the law school. Graduating in March, 1882, with the degree of LL. B., Mercer returned home and opened a law office. He served for a time as city clerk and police judge and refused the office of mayor. He was assistant secretary of the Nebraska state senate in 1885. In 1884-5 he served as secretary of the republican state central committee and materially assisted in managing two campaigns. In 1886 he came to Omaha and entered the employ of the Union Pacific Railroad but at the expiration of a few months he reengaged in private practice. During his first year in Omaha he was nominated for county judge over Judge McCulloch and became chairman of the republican city central committee. He was appointed special master in chancery of the United States district court by Judge E. S. Dundy and served until he was elected to congress. In 1891 he was elected chairman of the republican county committee of Douglas county and his management of the campaign reversed political conditions in that county. In 1898-9 he was chairman of the republican state central committee and during the famous gold and silver fight in 1896 he served as secretary of the national republican congressional committee with headquarters in New York and Washington, D. C. After the census of 1890 Nebraska doubled her representation in congress, increasing the membership from three to six, and the state had to be redistricted, Douglas, Sarpy and Washington counties comprising the new second congressional district. In 1890 Douglas county was in the first district, W. J. Bryan having carried the county as a candidate for congress in that year by a plurality of seven thousand. Evidently the republican legislature conceded to democracy one congressional district in the state when the new second district was created, for Douglas and Sarpy were strongly democratic, while the vote in Washington county was very close as between the republican and democratic parties. In 1892, the year of the Grover Cleveland landslide, the republicans of the second district after a lively convention nominated David H. Mercer for congress. His opponent was Judge George W. Doane, then on the district bench, to which he had been elected in 1891 by a large majority, carrying Douglas county by over four thousand majority. Judge Doane had often been a candidate for office and never defeated, was a popular judge and his election to congress seemed certain. Dave Mercer's campaign slogan was, "Give the boys a chance," an Abe Lincoln quotation, and with the young men behind him he made a memorable and successful canvass. For five consecutive times he was elected to congress, defeating, besides Judge Doane, Ex-Governor James E. Boyd, Judge E. R. Duffie, Gilbert M. Hitchcock and Judge Edgar Howard, and the belief is prevalent that Mercer would have been successful in his sixth campaign if the present election law had then been Upon the statute book. For a decade Mr. Mercer served in congress - the fifty-third, fifty-fourth, fifty-fifth, fifty-sixth and fifty-seventh congresses - and in that period he secured almost five million dollars in appropriations for Omaha and Nebraska. He served six years as chairman of the important committee on public buildings and grounds and was a member of other influential committees. When President McKinley sent for Mr. Mercer and suggested that the old Freedmen's Bank building on Pennsylvania avenue, which occupied land belonging to the government, was in a dangerous condition and should be taken down, Attorney General Griggs had been before Mr. Mercer's committee urging a new building for the department of justice upon the bank site. Mr. Griggs said that if he could be authorized to construct the building he would have the work done for one million dollars and in twelve months' time. Mr. Mercer introduced and passed through congress a bill in harmony with the attorney general's suggestion. The bank building was razed. After more than a year had elapsed, the attorney general came to Mr. Mercer, showed him his plans and requested another million. Mr. Mercer told him that a "skyscraper," contemplated by the plans and specifications, would dwarf the treasury building on the opposite side of Pennsylvania avenue, that the attorney general had failed to keep within the original limit of cost and that he intended to repeal the law and cover back into the treasury the one million dollars already appropriated. This he did.

His value to Nebraska as a legislator is evidenced by the federal buildings at Omaha, South Omaha, Blair, Hastings, Norfolk, Grand Island and York ; quartermaster's supply depot of the United States army at Omaha, one of the largest in the country ; city hall for Lincoln ; battleship named Nebraska ; enlargement of Fort Crook ; extensive improvements at Fort Omaha ; Indian supply depot and the division headquarters for rural free delivery at Omaha ; two hundred thousand dollars for Missouri river improvement at and near Omaha, Florence and Council Bluffs; animals from Yellowstone Park for Riverview Park; old Spanish cannon for Hanscom Park ; charter for First National Bank ; military training in Omaha high school ; free city delivery for York ; three branch postoffices in Omaha and rural free delivery in every county in the district ; the Trans-Mississippi Exposition and the Indian Congress. His bills for a bridge at South Omaha and a military school at Fort Omaha both passed congress but President Cleveland vetoed the school bill on the same day he signed the exposition bill, saying to Mr. Mercer, who was in the White House at the time : "I do not favor expositions but I cannot, on the same day, veto two bills in which you have shown so much interest, and for which you have made so strenuous a fight, so I will sign the exposition now." And he did. Mr. Mercer had the old Omaha postofifice building on Dodge street and Fifteenth renovated for army headquarters and secured for Paxton & Vierling the steel work in the new postoffice building in the face of a lower bid from a Milwaukee firm. In Washington, D. C, he left many monuments to his ability and activity, notably the handsome municipal building on Pennsylvania avenue, the agricultural, bureau of standards and engraving and printing structures and the monument to General U. S. Grant near the Capitol building. He excluded barbwire fences from the District of Columbia and introduced in congress the first bill to compel street railroads in Washington to vestibule their cars. His work for pensions, labor, irrigation and general legislation covered a wide field and was very effective. He forced the Trans-Mississippi bill through the house by holding up the Aldrich-Underwood election contest case, and although he refused to vote in favor of unseating Oscar W. Underwood, he discontinued his opposition to a consideration of the contest when Speaker Tom Reed assured him that he would be recognized to pass the Trans-Mississippi bill. Mr. Mercer has visited every county in Nebraska, every state in the Union, all our territorial possessions, including Alaska, and has been around the world twice.

When the cyclone did its destructive work in Omaha and a few thoughtless people wired east that no aid was needed or wanted, Mr. Mercer, who was in Washington, D. C, at the time, called upon Miss Mabel Boardman and General Davis, then representing the Red Cross, and succeeded in obtaining from that source fifty thousand dollars, which sum materially aided many unfortunates who had lost their all in that calamity. Mr. Mercer is a member of several clubs, societies and fraternal organizations, a Sigma Chi and thirty-second degree Mason.

In June, 1894, Mr. Mercer and Miss Sarah Abbott of Minneapolis were married in Washington, D. C, at St. John's Episcopal church. Laura Jeannette Mercer is the only child. Mr. Mercer resides in the old homestead near Hanscom Park and his law offices are in the Ware block.

James Forsyth

James Forsyth, one of the early merchants of Omaha, was for many years actively identified with the drug trade in this city. He was born in New York city, March 6, 1838, and in early life learned and followed the carpenter's trade. At length he determined to try his fortune in the middle west, hoping that in this growing section of the country he might have better business opportunities. He reached Omaha in i8()4, having made the journey westward hy way of the Ohio, and Missouri rivers. Here he learned the (haig trade, entering the employ of Thomas ^Jartin, a druggist, with whom he continued until 1865. He afterward formed a partnership with iM-ank Kennard, which association was continuetl from 1877 ""til 1880. The following year he bought the store of C. F. Goodman on Sixteenth street and Capitol avenue and there conducted business on his own account for twenty-one years, or until 1902, when he sold out to Samuel Howell and retired from active connection with commercial interests. The store which he conducted was a well appointed establishment, neat and tasteful in its arrangement, while its stock was large, including all lines of drugs and druggists' sundries, lie was always careful in selecting the personnel of the house and at all times conformed his business to the highest standards of commercial ethics. In addition to the drug trade he became one of the original l)romoters of the Forest Lawn Cemetery Association, of which he was at one time secretary, while from the beginning until his death he served as one of its trustees.

In Omaha, in 1867, Mr. Forsyth was united in marriage to Miss Jennie A. Brown, who arrived in this city in May, 1857. She .is a daughter of James Brown, who came from Michigan with his family, making the journey by wagon. He afterward engaged in freighting between Omaha, Denver and Salt Lake City and had many interesting experiences in that connection. Fie also traveled by team to California in 1853 when the gold seekers were yet making their way across the country in large numbers. Afterward, however, he returned to Omaha, purchased property and resided here until a few months before his death, when he removed to Papillion, Nebraska, and there died at the age of fifty-eight years. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Forsyth was blessed with one daughter, Fannie M.

The husband and father passed away October 16, 1913, when seventy-five years of age. liis political allegiance had long been given to the republican party and he lent the weight of his aid and intiuence to all projects and plans that recognized the needs of Omaha and attempted to meet them. He became a charter member of St. Mary's Avenue Congregational church and he did everything in his power to promote its growth and extend its intiuence. In a word his efforts proved effective forces in furthering the cause of public progress and improvement and he gave generously wherever his aid was needed to advance the public good. His life was upright and honorable and liis memory is revered and cherished by all who knew him.

Dr. Byron Bennett Davis, who has won distinction in the field of general surgery, has practiced in Omaha continuously since 1894, in which year he returned after studying in Berlin- and other European centers. He was born upon a farm near Fayette, Wisconsin, June 14, 1859, and traces his ancestry back to William Davis, his great-grandfather, who was born in Greenwich, Massachusetts, and served as a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He was a brother of Isaac Davis, who became a captain in the Continental army and was the first man to be killed in the conflict, falling on Lexington Green, where a monument has been erected to his memory. Silas Davis, grandfather of Dr. Davis, was born in Vermont in 1768 and died in Wisconsin in 1857. His son, William Bennett Davis, was born in Jericho, Vermont, in 1809 and at Underbill, that state, in 1837, wedded Martha E. Haywood. They removed to Wisconsin in 1853, settling on a farm in La P'ayette county, and after sixteen years, or in 1869, they became residents of Richardson county, Nebraska, where they lived for many years, the father passing away in 1889 and the mother in 1894.

Dr. Byron B. Davis

afterward continued his education in the schools of Richardson county, Nebraska, and in Nebraska State University, from which he was graduated on the completion of a classical course, winning the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1882. Two years afterward, or in 1884, he was graduated from the Minnesota Hospital College at Minneapolis, which institution later became the College of Medicine of the Minnesota State University. For one year he acted as interne in the hospital connected with that college, gaining thereby broad and valuable practical experience. He spent some time as a student in the New York Polyclinic, after which he practiced medicine in McCook, Nebraska, until 1893, when he went abroad and concentrated his attention upon surgery in Berlin, having the benefit of instruction from some of the most eminent surgeons of that country. In the fall of 1894 he returned to his native land and settled in Omaha, where he has since concentrated his efforts upon surgical practice, in which connection he has won high distinction and merited honors, for he displays marked skill in the performance of the multitudinous delicate duties that confront the surgeon in his efforts to restore health and prolong life.

On the 7th of June, 1887, in Beatrice, Nebraska, Dr. Davis was married to Miss Sophia Myers, a daughter of P. J. Myers, now deceased. They have one son, Herbert Haywood Davis, who was born in Berlin in 1894, and is a member of the class of 1917 at Cornell University.

Dr. and Mrs. Davis hold membership in the Congregational church and he is a Knight Templar Mason and a Mystic Shriner. He also has membership with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and is identified with the Omaha, University, Field, Country and Commercial Clubs. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and from 1887 until 1893 he was regent of the Nebraska State University but otherwise has held no public office, preferring to concentrate his energies upon his professional duties, which have been of constantly growing importance. He has been a close and discriminating student of everything connected with surgery and that he has kept thoroughly informed concerning advanced thought in the profession is indicated in the fact that he holdg-membership in the Western Surgical Association, the Omaha-Douglas County Medical Society, the Missouri Valley Medical Association, the Nebraska State Medical Association and the American Medical Association. In all professional relations his vision is broad and his duties are performed with a sense of conscientious obligation.

Colonel B. D. Crary

Colonel B. D. Crary, deceased, was for many years a valued resident of Omaha, in which city he took up his abode in 1866. A native of Albany, New York, he spent the period of his minority in the east and was graduated from Union College with highest honors on the completion of a thorough course in law. He then opened an office in New York city, where he engaged in practice until throat trouble forced him to abandon his profession, at which time he sought business opportunities in the west. For a time he was located at Rock Island. Illinois, and thence removed to Omaha in 1866. Immediately after his arrival in this city he became connected with Kountze Brothers, with whom he was actively and prominently associated for many years. He located all of the land for Kountze Brothers in Texas and was a man of very sound and discriminating business judgment, so that the investments were wisely and judiciously made and brought good . financial returns. Mr. Crary took a contract to furnish many ties for the Union Pacific Railway Company at the time the road was being constructed. He conducted an extensive business under the name of the Texas Tram Lumber Company in Texas, being one of the owners of the enterprise, and for about thirty years his time was divided between the personal management of his affairs in that state and his home in Omaha, but throughout the entire period he ahva}s made Omaha the place of his residence. He was thoroughly familiar with every branch of the lumber trade, studied closely the market conditions and by reason of his keen discernment so controlled and managed his interests that success in substantial measure came to him.

Jn New York Mr. Crary was united in marriage to Miss Anna A. Littlejohn and they became the parents of five children : Charles T., now residing in Beaumont, Texas; Mary Ella, who married Charles Chiverick and resides in Omaha; Anna Maria, who is living in C)maha; Nathan N., who lives in Beaumont, Texas; and William H., of Omaha.

Soon after his arrival here Mr. Crary purchased the John I. Redick home on St. Mary's avenue, the house being surrounded by more than two acres of ground. His daughter, Miss Anna M. Crary, owns jLhis property, a notable place by reason of the beauty of the spacious lawn and the fine old trees which are still standing upon it. Mrs. Crary 's death occurred in 1895 ^"^ Mr. Crary, surviving her for twelve years, passed away in April, 1907, at the age of eighty-nine years, lie had long been a valued and honored citizen of Omaha, maintaining his residence within its borders for more than four decades. Wherever known he was held in the highest respect, for his life was ever upright and honorable. He was always loyal to the high principles which he made the standard of his life and his entire career was the expression of most commendable ethical principles. As the day with its morning of hope and promise, its noontide of activity, its evening of successful and completed effort, ending in the grateful rest and quiet of the night, so was the life of this good man.

Harry Ginter Counsman

Harry Ginter Counsman, who since 191-2 has filled the office of county assessor of Douglas county, has been almost continuously a public official since 1887 and the record which he has made in office has at all times been creditable and commendable. Omaha claims him as a native son, his birth having here occurred on the 24th of August, 1861. His paternal grandfather, William Counsman, was a native of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, devoted his life to farming and passed away in his native state. The father, Jacob Miles Counsman, born in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, in 1838, was there reared and in 1858, at Altoona, Pennsylvania, wedded Arabella Redman, who was born in Hollidaysburg in 1839. He learned the trade of a carpenter and joiner in Pennsylvania and in 1861 removed to the west by way of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and thence up the Missouri river by boat to Omaha, where he arrived in the month of May. Here he took up his permanent abode and became one of the leading contractors and builders of the city, his operations also extending to other western cities, where many evidences of his skill and handiwork are still seen. He put aside the cares of active business life in 1900 and is now enjoying well earned retirement. For two years he was a member of the Omaha city council from the fifth ward.

Harry G. Counsman is indebted to the public school system of Omaha for the educational privileges which he enjoyed. At the age of eighteen years he became interested in the manufacture of brick and in 1883 he was appointed to the position of railway mail clerk on the Union Pacific Railroad between Omaha and Cheyenne. He served in that capacity until 1887, when he was made deputy city cleric, a position which he occupied until 1892, when he was appointed to the office of deputy city treasurer. For twelve years he continued in that position and then resigned in 1904 to enter the storage and brokerage business in Omaha, in which he continued until 1912, when he was elected county assessor of Douglas county and yet occupies that position. He has also made extensive and profitable investments in Omaha real estate and has won a creditable place in business and political circles. His support has ever been stanchly given to the republican

In Omaha, on the loth of July, 1884, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Counsman and Miss Yuba Kate Bailey, a daughter of Francis E. and Elizabeth Bailey. The father, who figured in public life as a member of the city council of Omaha from 1884 tnitil 1888, was owner and manager of a brick manufacturing industry and was also a building contractor, being awarded the contract for the construction of many of the largest of Omaha's first business blocks and residences. To Mr. and Mrs. Counsman have been born two children, Harry Ginter and Maude Irene. The former wedded Josephine Swanson and they have become the parents of a son, Harry Ginter, a representative of the third generation to bear that name.

Mr. Counsman was baptized in the English Lutheran church and he now holds membership with various fraternal and social organizations, being a life member of St. John's Lodge, Xo. 25, A. F. & A. M. ; a life member of Bellevue Chapter, R. A. M. ; a member of Mount Calvary Commandery, K. T. ; and a life member of Tangier Temple A. A. O. N. M. S. He likewise belongs to Seymour Camp, W. O. W., of Omaha, and something of the nature of his recreation is indicated in the fact that he is identified with the Omaha Field Club and the Elmwood Park Golf Club, organizations in which his attractive social qualities have gained him popularity.

John A. Doe

John A. Doe, who in the year 1908 was called to his final rest, liad been a resident of Omaha since 1882 and through all the intervening years had been a most prominent, active and helpful factor in promoting the business development and consequent growth and improvement of the city. He enjoyed the confidence and goodwill of his colleagues and contemporaries in the business world and his sterling traits of character won for him the v/arm regard of many friends. He was born in Washington, Maine, on the loth of February, 1846, and in early manhood went to Boston, where for a time he occupied the position of superintendent of the Washington Market. He became a prominent and influential citizen there and for a period was superintendent of municipal charities, a position of large responsibility, demanding keen insight, discriminating judgment, ready tact and broad sympathy.

The year 1882 witnessed Mr. Doe's removal to the west and he first made his way to Kansas City, but the same year removed to South Omaha and became associated with the Nelson Morris Packing Com.pany, taking charge of the rendering plant. From that time forward he was closely associated with the industrial and commercial development of the city and his efforts and activities were far-reaching and beneficial. He built and operated the first electric light plant in South Omaha and was closely connected with various local improvements of a public character as well as those which had their root in business. In 1889 he was associated with H. H. Meday, A. C. Foster and H. C. Bostwick in organizing the South Omaha Ice & Coal Company, which established the first ice business in the city. They extended their business to Omaha. Careful management and unfaltering enterprise led to th^ development of their trade and they still further broadened the scope of their activities by organizing in 1894 the Council Bluffs Ice & Coal Company, after which they did the major portion of the business in all three places. In 1898 E. A. Cudahy, T. W. Talliferro and H. C. Bostwick, who had acquired the interests of Messrs. Meday and Foster, sold their holdings to Messrs. Doe and Talbot in the enterprise and the David Talbot Ice Company, the South Omaha Ice & Coal Company and the Arctic Ice Company were consolidated. In 1904 Mr. Talbot disposed of his interests to Air. Doe and the business became the Omaha Ice & Cold Storage Company. In 1905 he added to his equipment a sixty ton artificial ice plant, the lirst ice manufacturing plant in Omaha, and later increased the facilities so that the plant had a capacity of one hundred and twenty tons production per day. After the death of Mr. Doe, Mrs. Doe became president oi the company and H. A. Colvin, general manager, and they have erected still another plant of sixty tons capaci'iy which has recently been completed. The plant is thoroughly modern in every way. J\lr. Doe owned large ice houses on Carter Lake with a capacity of thirty-five thousand tons. He had the contract for supplying the railroad companies with ice. It was through his efforts that the business was established and it has since been built up to its present extensive and gratifying proportions and his interests became among the most important of the manufacturing and commercial concerns of the city. He was a member of the Western Ice Manufacturers Association. The business which he established is still being profitably conducted and furnishes employment to about one hundred and seventy-five people.

It was in Peabody, Massachusetts, in 1877 that Mr. Doe wedded Miss Anna F. Mockler and they had one child, John F., now deceased. The husband and father passed away April 24, 1908, when in the prime of life, being then but sixty-two years of age. His many friends felt the deepest regret at his passing, for he had endeared himself to all with whom he had come in contact.' He was a man of. strong character and a very public spirited citizen. He belonged to the Ak-Sar-Ben and was interested in all of its projects for the exploitation and improvement of Omaha. His life record shows what may be accomplished when one possesses perseverance, determination and business initiative. Step by step as he advanced he broadened his interests and the community benefited by the conduct of his business affairs, while his enterprise and diligence were rewarded with substantial success.

George Appleton Hoagland

George Appleton Hoagland, head and founder of the firm of George A. Hoagland & Company, promoters of the pioneer wholesale lumber business of Omaha, was born in Boonville, Missouri, on the 20th of May, 1843, a son of George Tunis and Nancy (Gale) Hoagland, the father a native of Trenton, New Jersey, and the mother of Massachusetts. In 1852 they removed from Boonville to St. Joseph, Missouri, and in that 'state spent their remaining days.

George A. Hoagland attended the public schools of Weston, Missouri, and pursued a college course in Liberty, Missouri, for a year. In the spring of 1861 his father established the lumber business in Omaha in partnership with George Bebbington under the firm name of George T. Hoagland & Company. Their initial stock comprised a few car loads of lumber which was offered for sale upon the site of the Millard Hotel at the northeast corner of Thirteenth and Douglas streets. In the summer of 1861 George A. Hoagland arrived in Omaha, coming from St. Joseph, Missouri, and entered the employ of the firm in a clerical capacity. He soon displayed marked aptitude in the business and in 1865 he and his father acquired the interests of Mr. Bebbington and the firm then became George T. Hoagland & Son, the son assuming the position of manager and resident partner. At that time building was active in Omaha and the Union Pacific Railroad was also in process of construction. Mr. Hoagland was often called upon to supply large quantities of lumber used in railroad building. He brought his lumber to Omaha by river steamers and it was carried to the point where it was to be used by team. Purchasers came with their wagons for lumber for a distance of two hundred miles. About 1871 Mr. Hoagland determined to establish at Omaha a distributing center for lumber and each initiative step in his business brought enlarged and satisfactory results. In 1874, therefore, he was able to purchase the interests of his father in the business and continue the undertaking as sole proprietor. His prosperity continued uninterruptedly until the great flood of 1881 swept away or destroyed about twenty thousand dollars' worJi of his stock. As new communities sprang up, Mr. Hoagland established branch yards to supply their needs and now maintains yards in most of the important towns of the state and at the same time has large lumber interests in Iowa. His operations in the lumber field indeed cover a very wide territory and the firm of George A. Hoagland & Company is one of the foremost in that field in the state. He is also interested in banking as president of the Hoagland Loan & Investment Company, of St. Joseph, Missouri.

On the 22d of May, 1864, in Omaha, Mr. Hoagland was united in marriage to Miss lantha C. Wyman, who was born in Madison, Wisconsin, a daughter of William W. Wyman, at one time a prominent Omaha journalist. Mr. and Mrs. Hoagland have become parents of seven children, four of whom are yet living: William W., who is associated with his father in the lumber firm of George A. Hoagland & Company; Laura M., the wife of Dr. John E. Summers, one of the leading surgeons of the west, residing in Omaha ; Paul I., a member of the firm of Bullard, Hoagland & Benedict, dealers in lumber and building materials ; and Helen L., the wife of Captain D. L. Stone, of the United States army, now located in Honolulu.

He is a member of the Congregational church and is interested in matters relative to public welfare but preeminently is a business man, giving the major part of his time, thought and attention to the conduct of his growing interests, which have constituted an element in the stage's iliaterial.advancement and progress as well as the basis of his individual success''!' - si .=:--

George Forgan, well known in financial circles in Omaha, has advanced step by step in his business career until he now handles the interests of a large and important clientele under the name of the Forgan Investment Company. He was born in Bo'ness, Scotland, July i, 1871, and is a son of Peter L. and Grace (MacMillan) Forgan, who were also natives of the land of hills and heather. The father was born in 1834 and for twenty-three years was actively and successfully engaged in banking in Bo'ness before coming to the United States, after which he practically lived retired. It was in 1886 that he brought his family to the new world, settling at Norfolk, Nebraska, whence in 1887 he removed to Omaha. He died on the 7th of May, 1915, at his old home in Scotland, whither he had gone on a visit, and his widow now makes her home with their son George in Omaha.

In schools of his native land George Forgan pursued his education to the age of sixteen years and then accompanied his parents to the new world. On the establishment of the family home in this city in the year 1887 he entered the employ of Cummings & Neilson, wholesale dealers in paints, with whom he continued until the spring of 1888, when he made his initial step in financial circles as an employe of the American Loan & Trust Company and American Savings Bank with which he continued until the fall of the year 1897 when he became manager of the Anthony Loan & Trust Company of Omaha. After three years, or in 1900, he resigned to enter the farm loan business on his own account as the senior partner in the Forgan-Haskell Company, which connection was maintained until 1905, when Mr. Haskell retired and took up his residence in California. Since that time Mr. Forgan has conducted the business alone under the name of the Forgan Investment Company, which was later incorporated in 1913. He has handled extensive and important financial interests throughout this period and has a large chentage for which he has made most satisfactory and profitable investments. lie is thoroughly acquainted with every phase of the business and an excellent judge of property values. At the present time and for the past three years his company has been the financial correspondent of the lujuitable Life Assurance Society of New York city for the purpose of negotiating farm loans for that large life insurance company in the state of Nebraska.

On the 1 2th of June, 1894, in Omaha, Yir. Forgan was united in marriage to Miss .Mabel Cole, her father being David Cole, wdio is deceased. To them has been born a daughter, Marjorie Mae. Mr. Forgan votes with the republican party. His religious faith is that of the Presbyterian church, while fraternally he is a Scottish Rite Mason, a member of the Mystic Shrine and a member of the Henevolent Protective Order of Elks. His interest in the welfare and upbuilding of the city is indicated in his membership in the Commercial Club and his cooperation with its well defined plans for the city's benefit. He is also a meml)er of the Omaha Athletic Club and finds recreation through his membership in the Omaha Field Club, being an enthusiastic golfer, inheriting as it were the fondness for that ancient Scottish game from his relatives in St. Andrews. Scotland, celebrated golf club makers there. He has many friends both within and without those organizations, for throughout his entire life he has displayed sterling qualities of manhood and citizenship w^hich have won for him the high regard and goodwill of all w-ith whom he has been brought in contact.

Ralph E. Parrott

Ralph E. Parrott, of Omaha, manager of the Oliver Chilled Plow Company, proves in his business career the fact that success is not the result of genius or of fortunate circumstances, as some contend, but is rather the outcome of clear judgment, wisdom, experience and industry on the part of the individual, for starting out in life empty handed, he has worked his way steadily upward and each forward step has brought him a broader outlook and wider opportunities. He was born upon a farm near Danville, Iowa, March 21, 1874. The family name was originally spelled Parriott but several generations have adopted the present form. Descended from \"irginian ancestry, his grandfather and his great-grandfather, both of whom bore the name of William Parrott, were natives of the Old Dominion. The former became a farmer of that state, owning a large plantation and a large number of slaves, but long prior to the Civil war he liberated his negroes and removed to Iowa in 1833, settling on a farm in Des Moines county. At one time he owned a large portion of the land now within the corporation limits of the city of Burlington and was one of the pioneer residents there, contributing to its early development and assisting largely in promoting the interests of civilization in that region. His son, Christopher C. Parrott, was born on the old homestead farm near Danville, low'a, on the 17th of February, 1839, and in that state was married to Miss Lydia A. Clark, w^ho is now living with her son Ralph in Omaha. Mr. Parrott having passed away on the 15th of February, 1900.

The youthful experiences of Ralph E. Parrott were those of the farm bred boy who works in the fields through the summer months and in the winter seasons attends the district schools. He thus pursued his education in Des Moines county, Iowa, to the age of sixteen years, when he entered the Orchard City Business College at Burlington, where he studied for a time. His initial step in commercial circles was made as a clerk in a store in New London. Iowa, where he remained for two years, and later he became a clerk in a dry goods store in Burlington, where he also spent a similar period. He then returned to New

London and for a year engaged in teaching school. In 1902 he entered the employ of the Deering Harvester Company at Ottumwa, Iowa, where he continued for a year, and the succeeding two years were spent in charge of a retail implement business which he owned at New London, Iowa. He remained proprietor of the establishment for six years although he did not give personal supervision to it for four years of that period. In 1905 he went to Chicago and became purchasing agent for the large mail order house of the John M. Smyth Company, spending two years in that connection. He was afterward with the D. M. Sechler Implement & Carriage Company of Moline, Illinois, as traveling salesman in Iowa, representing that house upon the road for nine years, at the end of which time the factory was taken over by the Oliver Chilled Plow Company and Mr. Parrott opened a branch for that corporation at Des Moines, having charge there for a year. On the expiration of that period he was sent to Omaha to open a branch in this city and he is now manager of the business at this point. He is a man of marked enterprise, whose constantly expanding powers have brought him larger opportunities and greater responsibilities and today he figures prominently m the commercial circles of this city.

On the 26th of Xyvember. 1896. in New London, Iowa, 'Sir. Parrott was married to Miss Blanch Knickerbocker, a daughter of Emory S. and Amanda M. (Williams) Knickerbocker, the former a native of New York and the latter of Iowa. Her paternal grandparents were Philo and Abbie AI. (Flint) Knickerbocker, also natives of the Empire state.

Mr. and Mrs. Parrott are members of the Presbyterian church and in politics he is a democrat, but while interested in the success of the party he has never become an active worker in its ranks, preferring to concentrate his undivided attention upon commercial interests. Keenly alive to every new avenue opened in the natural ramifications of trade, he has passed through the pitfalls into which unrestrained progressiveness is so often led and has thus been able to focus his energies in directions where fruition is certain. His course, too, has been characterized by a native justice expressing itself in correct principle and practice.

James Roy Jamison

James Roy Jamison, manager of the Willys-Overland Company of Omaha and thus an active representative of the automobile trade in the city, was born in Frankfort, Ohio, July 6, 1878. The ancestral line is traced back to two brothers who came from the north of Ireland in 1760 and settled in Culpeper county, Virginia. A branch of the family was afterward established in Kentucky, where Samuel Jamison, the grandfather, was born. He removed to Ohio and it was at the old family homestead at Frankfort that Samuel Jamison, father of James Roy Jamison, was born in the year 1827. He devoted his life to the occupation of farming in that locality. In 1862 he married Eleanor Haynes Worthington, also a native of Frankfort, Ohio, and throughout their remaining days they continued their residence in that district, the mother passing away in 1903, w-hile the father survived until 1909.

A course in Central College at Danville. Kentucky, supplemented the public school training which James R. Jamison received in Frankfort, Ohio, and in 1902 he was graduated from Miami University at Oxford, Ohio, so that liberal educational advantages qualified him for an active business career. When his textbooks were put aside he went to Chicago and for a year was connected with the insurance business in that city. He later spent three years in the insurance business in Denver and in 1905 he returned to Ohio, entering the employ of the Pope Motor Car Company at Toledo, with which he was connected for a year and a half. Since that time he has been continuously identified with the automobile trade in one branch or another. In 1908 he entered the service of the Michehn Tire Company at New Brunswick, New Jersey, where he remained for three years, when he returned to Toledo and became a representative of the Willys- Overland Company. In July, 1914, he arrived in Omaha, where he organized the Overland-Omaha Company, of which he became president, and the firm built up a business of very large proportions. On July i, 1916, the business of the Overland-Omaha Company was purchased by the Willys-Overland Company of Toledo, Mr. Jamison becoming manager of the new concern.

On the 19th of October, 1910, in Frankfort, Ohio, Mr. Jamison was united in marriage to Miss Martha Hughey, a daughter of Bernard Hughey, and their children are Bernard Worthington and Jane Seymour. Mr. and Mrs. Jamison attend the Presbyterian church and already they have gained many warm friends in this city. Mr. Jamison is a republican and broad reading keeps him in close touch with the political situation of the country. He is a well known Scottish Rite Mason and Mystic Shriner and he belongs also to the Ak-Sar-Ben, an organization largely composed of members of the Mystic Shrine who have banded themselves together to promote the interests of Omaha, utilizing as one means of the city's exploitation a fiesta similar to the Mardi Gras at New Orleans. Mr. Jamison is also a member of the Commercial Club, giving active aid to various measures put forth by that organization for Omaha's benefit, and along more strictly social lines he has become identified with the Omaha Athletic Club and the Omaha Field Club.

George Ward Holdrege

A prominent figure in railway circles is George Ward Holdrege, general manager for the Chicago, Burlington & Ouincy Railroad Company west of the Missouri river. He was born in New York City, March 26, 1847, and his record is a verification of the statement of Roosevelt that the strongest men of the country are those who have been born and bred in the east and have sought the middle west as a field of labor, utilizing its opportunities in the development of the great business interests of this section of the country. He is a representative of a family of English origin that was established in New England at an early epoch in the development of the new world. His grandfather, Henry Holdrege, was a native of Connecticut and became captain of a ship sailing between the United States and England. His father, Henry Holdrege, who was also born in Connecticut, became a merchant of New York city. He was married in Massachusetts to Mary Russell Grinnell, a native of New Bedford, Massachusetts, and it was subsequent to their marriage that they became residents of the eastern metropolis, where the father passed away in 1874, while the mother died in Milton, Massachusetts, in 1886.

During the early boyhood of George Ward Holdrege the family home was established at Irvington-on-Hudson and there he attended school until he entered Harvard, within whose classic walls he pursued a course that brought him to graduation in 1869. at which time the Bachelor of Arts degree was conferred upon him. Immediately afterward he came to Nebraska and at Plattsmouth entered the employ of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad Company in a clerical capacity. He has since continued with that road and its successors, the Chicago, Burlington & Ouincy, advancing through intermediate positions to that of general manager of the division west of the Missouri. He has acted in that capacity since 1882, during which period the business of the road under his jurisdiction has developed to mammoth proportions, attributable in large measure to his initiative and executive force. He has studied every phase of the business, being familiar with every detail as well as the major principles of railroad development and control. Mr. Holdrege has made extensive investments in farm

George W. Holdrege

On the i2th of February, 1872, in Boston, Massachusetts, Mr. Holdrege was married to Miss Emily Cabot Atkinson, who died February 16, 1873, leaving a son, Henry Atkinson Holdrege, who is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and who was married in Belmont, Massachusetts, September 26, 1899, to Miss Anne Mumford Hunt, by whom he has three children - Emily, George Chandler and Charles Francis. On the 23d of April, 1878, in Omaha, George W. Holdrege was married to Frances Rogers Kimball and they became parents of three daughters: Mary, the wife of Edward Augustus Holyoke; Susan, the wife of Dr. Robert R. Hollister; and Leeta Arabel, at home.

Mr. Holdrege gives his political endorsement to the republican party. He is a member of the Denver Club of Denver, Colorado, while in Omaha he has membership with the Commercial, the Omaha, the University and the Country Clubs. Upon the broad foundation of liberal education he has builded his success, winning his advancement through the mastery of interests and duties entrusted to his care until in important official position he is now guiding the interests and destinies of transportation facilities upon which the development and welfare of a great section of the west largely depend.

Elijah Conklin

In the fall of 1873 Elijah Conklin became a resident of Omaha and throughout the intervening period to his death ranked with the "popular and valued citizens of not only this city but of the west, for his extensive travels brought him a wide acquaintance and his many sterling traits of character gained for him the warm regard and friendship of all. He came' to tMs city from Mississippi, his native state, his birth having occurred at Port Gibs'on on the loth of February, 1847. His brother, William B. Conklin, had arrived in 1871 and was employed as bookkeeper by the firm of Poland & Elliott. He married a niece of Judge James W. Savage and a few years ago removed to Chicago, where he passed away in 191 5. Another brother, Walter W. Conklin, resided for several years at North Platte, Nebraska, later in Omaha and St. Louis, and is now a resident of Chicago. During his residence in Nebraska and St. Louis he was connected with the Missouri Pacific Railway but is now with the Illinois Central Railway.

Elijah Conklin spent the days of his boyhood and youth in his native state and there he acquired his education. He was a youth of but sixteen years when he responded to the call of the Confederacy for troops and joined the army, serving during the last two years of the war. He enlisted as a member of Company A, in a Mississippi cavalry regiment commanded by Colonel Woods and attached to General Adams' Brigade. He was on duty under General Forrest when paroled at Gainesville, Alabama, at the close of the war in May, 1865. He served as a courier under General Gardner, whose widow sent Mr. Conklin from La Fayette, Louisiana, a picture of the General taken in his uniform in 1863. This picture is still a cherished possession of the Conklin family. In recognition of Mr. Conklin's notable bravery and loyalty the southern cross of honor was conferred upon him.

After coming to Omaha he was employed as a Pullman conductor on the run between this city and Ogden, Utah, over the Union Pacific for thirteen years. Later he became a traveling representative of the mercantile house of Maxmeyer Brothers, his territory covering Montana, the Black Hills and all of Nebraska. For over thirty years he remained upon the road and his social, genial nature and many admirable traits of character won for him wide popularity. He was one of the oldest traveling men of Omaha and none has been held in higher regard than he.

In 1871 Mr. Conklin was married at Rodney, Mississippi, to Miss Helena Lennon, of that state, and they became the parents of three children : Elijah B., now a resident of St. Paul, Minnesota; Walter P., a traveling man; and Grace Lennon, who is a teacher of elocution and a gifted public reader. She organized the Omaha Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and served as its first president, occupying the position for two terms, while upon her retirement from the presidency she was made honorary president. She organized the society in J900 with twenty-three members and today it has thirty-two members. She was the youngest president in the national convention of the Daughters of the Confederacy held at St. Louis a few years ago. Her work as a public reader all through the south has received the highest praise and she has been heard on many a Chautauqua platform. She was graduated in both music and elocution from the Marden School of Elocution and Music in Chicago.

Mr. Conklin was a member of J. J. Whitney Camp of the United Confederate X'eterans at Fayette, Mississippi, belonged to the United Commercial Travelers for many years and was also an active member of the Elks. He passed away July 18, 191 1, when sixty-four years of age, and at the time of his demise both the Confederate and the American flags were draped over his casket, while both Confederate and Union veterans were pall bearers at his funeral. He was said to be one of the most highly respected traveling salesmen traveling out of Omaha and in every walk of life he was honored and esteemed. He ever retained the qualities of a good soldier, prompt in the performance of duty and of unquestioned loyalty. His friends delighted in his companionship and regard as among their happiest moments the hours spent in his company.

James A. Sunderland

Prominent among the energetic, farsighted and successful business men of Omaha is James A. Sunderland, president of the Sunderland Brothers Company, extensive jobbers in fuel and building supplies and contractors in marble and tile work. Close application and indefatigable effort have been the basis of his progress in business circles and his growing success. He was born in Jamestown, New York, in i860, and comes of English ancestry. His paternal grandfather, Thomas Sunderland, was born in Yorkshire, England, but his last days were spent in the United States, where he passed away after a life devoted to farming. His son, the Rev. James Sunderland, was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1834, but was brought to America by his parents in 1843, when the family home was established near Jamestown, New York. In 1856 a removal was made to Iowa and in 1861 James Sunderland was admitted to the ministry of the Baptist church after which he filled successive pastorates at Strawberry Point, Vinton, Sioux City, Ottumwa and Fort Madison, Iowa. Later he accepted the position of superintendent of Baptist missionary work in Iowa and afterward in Minnesota, whence he went to the Pacific coast to enter upon similar duties. He retired about 1906 and now makes his home at Oakland, California. His wife passed away in 1879.

James A. Sunderland pursued his education in the public schools of the various cities to which the family removed by reason of the father's changing pastoral relations and in 1879 was graduated from the Ottumwa (Iowa) high school. Immediately afterward he made his initial step in the business world, becoming connected with the line of commercial activity in which he has engaged since, and one of the chief sources of his success is undoubtedly the fact that he has always continued in the same business, thereby becoming thoroughly familiar with every branch of the trade. Entering a coal office in Ottumwa, he three years later purchased the business but the following year, or in 1883, came to Omaha as secretary and manager of the Omaha Coal, Coke & Lime Company, of which he became a stockholder, his associates in the enterprise being Charles F. Goodman and George F. Labagh. In 1892 Mr. Sunderland and his two brothers bought out the interests of the other stockholders, continuing to operate under the same name for three or four years, after which they adopted the present firm style of the Sunderland Brothers Company. They do an extensive jobbing business in fuel and building supplies and have extended the scope of their undertaking to include a contracting business in marble and tile, having installed in Omaha a marble working mill. They thus control important commercial and industrial interests of the city, their trade having reached mammoth proportions. James A. Sunderland is the president of the Sunderland Brothers Company and he is also financially and officially connected with many other important business concerns which have to do with the commercial development and consequent prosperity of the city.

In September, 1885, in Brooklyn. New York, Mr. Sunderland was united in marriage to Miss Ada E. Youngs, who passed away in 1891, leaving two children Edwin M. and Albert E. but the latter died in infancy. In 1897 in Ottumwa, Iowa, Mr. Sunderland wedded Alice Edgerly and they have four children : John E., Helen, Ruth and Alice.

The parents are members of the First Baptist church, in which Mr. Sunderland is serving as a trustee. His political allegiance in given to the republican party and his social nature finds expression in his membership in the University and Happy Hollow Clubs. He is the president of the Commercial Club, to the success of which organization he has devoted much time and effort.

John C. Drexel

Business circles of Omaha knew John C: Drexel as an enterprising and successful shoe merchant, his interests intliaf connection being important and extensive, for he was the vice president and one of the~ directors of the Drexel Shoe Company. In his relations to the city, however, he was well known by reason of his activity in democratic circles and his loyal adherence to every pledge he made. He was one of the city commissioners of Omaha and to the discharge of his public duties he brought the same keen discernment and spirit of unfaltering enterprise which characterized his mercantile career. He was born on the i6th of February. 1855. in Doddridge county, now in West Virginia, a son of Frederick and Christina (Lingner) Drexel, both of whom were natives of Germany. The father was born in 1833 and came to the United States in 1850, at which time he settled in Reading. Pennsylvania. Following his marriage he lived for some time in Virginia, now West Virginia, but during the early boyhood of his son, John C, became a resident of Omaha, where for a quarter of a century he successfully conducted business as a stone contractor, furnishing the stone for the postoffice and also for the old First National Bank. He was a democrat in his political views and for two terms filled the office of county commissioner. He died in the year 1894 but is still survived by his widow, who yet makes her home in Omaha. They were parents of sixteen children, of whom six survive.

John C. Drexel was one year old when the family home was established at what is now the site of the stock yards at South Omaha and he received his education in the schools of Omaha, where the family moved in 1866. He was graduated from an Omaha business college. He afterward worked as a cow puncher in Nebraska and upon his return to Omaha spent two years as bookkeeper in the employ of his father. In 1883 he turned his attention to the undertaking business and was so engaged until 1890, when he became active in the retail boot and shoe trade and in the intervening years won a place among the leading shoe merchants of the city.

On the 2d of April, 1890, Mr. Drexel was married to Miss Minnie H. Brandt, a daughter of John JJrandt, who was a native of Holland and died in Omaha January 19, 1916. Mr. and Mrs. Drexel became parents of two sons, John Harte and Herbert William.

Mr. Drexel attended the Lutheran church, of which Mrs. Drexel is a member, and he was a member of the Hajjpy Hollow and Commercial Clubs. ' He was a Master Mason and an Elk and was loyal to the teachings and purposesof those organizations. In politics he was always a democrat and in 1884 was chosen coroner of Douglas county for one year to fill out a vacancy, after which he was twice elected to the office. In 1893 he was elected sheriit of Douglas county and served for one term. In 1905 he was appointed to the position of county clerk to fill out a vacancy and at the succeeding regular election was chosen to the position for a two years' term. In 191 5 he was elected city commissioner of Omaha and was filling that office when his death occurred Alay 20, 1916. He had never been defeated when a candidate save once, when he ran for the office of councilman against his better judgment and lost by a few votes. It is well known that he held a political promise sacred and was most faithful to the trusts reposed in him. He was always amenable to argument and reason but nothing could swerve him from a course which he believed to be right. He possessed an unusual memory for names and faces and when he made acquaintances he ne\er forgot them. Jovial and genial, his friends, and they were many, regarded him as a most entertaining and valued companion.

Frank T. Hamilton

Frank T. Hamilton, of Omaha, is closely associated with various interests which are integral factors in the city life and his entire record reflects credit and honor upon the city which claims him as a native son. He was bom in 1861, a son of Charles Edward and Mary F. (Murphy) Hamilton. He represents one of the oldest families of the city. Through the period of his boyhood and youth Frank T. Hamilton concentrated his efforts upon the mastery of those branches of learning which were taught in the Omaha schools and later entered Georgetown University at Washington, D. C, from which he was graduated with the class of 1885. Thus well qualified by education and training for heavy and manifold duties in the business world, he returned to Omaha. He entered the Merchants National Bank in a humble capacity, but diligence and determination shaped his course from the beginning. He recognized the fact that industry is the basis of all advancement and laudable ambition prompted him to so concentrate his eflr'orts that promotion naturally followed. Each advance step brought him a wider outlook and broader opportunities and in 1905 he was elected vice president of the bank, having in twenty years reached the second position of executive control. In the same year he was elected to the presidency of the Omaha Gas Company and the breadth, scope and importance of his business connections are further indicated in the fact that he is vice president of the Council Blufifs & Omaha Street Railway Company and is a director of the Independent Elevator Company. Thus he is actively connected with interests which have an important bearing upon the progress and stable prosperity of the community.

In California, on the 24th of October, 1907, Mr. Hamilton was united in marriage to Miss Luisa d'Cistne and they have two children : Exilona Luisa, and a son. Frank T., Jr., born September 9, 1916. The parents are adherents of the Catholic faith and Mr. Llamilton holds membership with the Elks lodge, the Omaha Club, the Country Club, the University Club and the Commercial Club. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and his opinions concerning vital public questions are of interest to' party leaders inasmuch as the extent and importance of his business interests have led him to give thoughtful consid- eration to the questions affecting the general welfare. His record may well serve to inspire and encourage others, showing what may be accomplished when there is the will to dare and to do.

Milton Rogers

No history of Omaha would be complete without extended mention of Milton Rogers, pioneer merchant, who established a hardware store which is still in existence and remains as a monument to the enterprise and business ability of its founder, whose death was the occasion of deep regret to his fellow citizens, who had long acknowledged his worth and held him in the highest respect and confidence.

Mr. Rogers was born on a farm in Harford county, Maryland, on the 22d of June, 1822, a son of Joseph and Mary (Cooper) Rogers, who were also natives of that state and were of the Quaker faith. The family removed to eastern Ohio, settling in Columbiana county when Milton Rogers was very young, and the only educational opportunities which were obtainable at that time in the district in which he lived were those aft'orded by the country schools of that primitive period. When not occupied with his text books he assisted in the labors of the field, but he did not desire to make agriculture his life work and at the age of seventeen years he left home and began learning the trade of a copper and tinsmith in New Lisbon, Ohio. After four years there spent he ventured forth to start an independent business and at dift'erent periods was located in Ohio, Lidiana and Missouri. He followed his trade in Muncie, Indiana, and in Cincinnati, Ohio, before coming to the west and in search of a new location he visited St. Louis, Weston, Lexington, Independence, Savannah and St. Joseph, Missouri. He would have established a store at the last named city but was unable to rent a building there, as the town was filled with gold seekers en route for California, St. Joseph being at the time the chief outfitting place for the western emigrants. Thus forced to seek a dift'erent location, Mr. Rogers made his way up the Missouri river to Council Bluffs, then known as Kanesville, where he arrived in August, 1850, and soon afterward he was actively engaged in business there.

The new enterprise prospered and in June, 1855, he established a branch store in Omaha, which was probably the first of the kind in Nebraska. His original location was a frame building twenty by forty feet on Lower Farnam street, between Ninth and Tenth streets. From time to time he made additions to the building until it had attained a depth of one hundred and thirty-two feet, but still his quarters were inadequate to the demands of his trade and he rented one of the stores of the Pioneer block on Farnam street, between Eleventh and Twelfth streets. In 1861 he erected a frame building twenty-two by sixty feet, on a lot twenty-two by one hundred and thirty-two feet, which he had purchased at the southeast corner of Farnam and Fourteenth streets, having it ready for occupancy in March, 1862. His business developed with the growth of the city and in 1867 he joined with other property holders in that block in the project of erecting a three-story brick building, into which he removed in June, 1868. A few years later he bought the twenty-two feet adjoining him and threw the two stores into one. His sons became associated with him in business under the firm style of Milton Rogers & Sons and from the beginning their establishment occupied a position of leadership in hardware circles. In a word, Mr. Rogers prospered as the years passed, his carefully managed business affairs bringing to him constantly growing success, so that his income became of a most substantial character. His cooperation was sought in other fields and he became financially and officially interested in various important corporations, being a director of the Union Stock Yards Company, of the South Omaha Land Company, the

Omaha Water Company ami the Omaha Street Railway Comj)any. The mere mention of these is indicative of the place which he occupied in business circles and of the sound judgment and discrimination which he displayed in his investments. Jie was actively concerned in the purchase of the tract of land which was platted as South Omaha, becoming one of the original stockholders of the South Omaha i-and Company and thus contributing in marked measure to the development and U})building of that section of the city.

On the 27th of November, 1856, at Council lUuffs, Mr. Rogers was married to Aliss Jennie S. Spoor, a sister of Captain N. T. Spoor, who had served as an officer in the Civil war. They became the parents of five children : Thomas J., who married Ella J. Spoor and has passed away, his widow still residing in Omaha ; W'arren M., deceased, who wedded Mary Grace Rogers, of Portland, Maine; Alice L., the deceased wife of Oscar B. Williams, of Omaha; Herbert Milton, successor of his father in business ; and William S., who married Elizabeth Fisk, of Trenton, New Jersey.

Milton Rogers, whose name introduces this review, was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. While he never sought to figure prominently in public afifairs as an office holder, he was ever a representative of that class of progressive business men who recognize the opportunities for public advancement and improvement and become cooperant factors in bringing about desired results. He had been prominently identified with the trade interests of the city for forty years when on the 12th of November, 1895, he passed away. Thus another name was added to the list of the pioneers who performed their work of laying broad and deep the foundation upon which has been built the present progress and prosperity of the city and then passed on. His record, however, deserves a prominent place on the pages of Omaha's history, for he builded along substantial lines and the business interests which he instittited have even yet not reached their full fruition as factors in the city's growth and development.

Herbert Milton Rogers

Herbert Milton Rogers succeeded to the business of the firm of Milton Rogers & Sons upon the death of his brothers and thus became the head of on^ of the oldest mercantile establishments of Omaha. He is a. worthy successor of his father, displaying a spirit of undaunted enterprise that reaches out along constantly broadening lines in the development of his individual interests and in his relation to the city's welfare as well. He married Anna C. Millard, a daughter of the late Ezra Millard, of Omaha, and they have three children, Milton, Millard H. and Helen. Appreciative of the social amenities of life, Mr. Rogers is identified with the University and the Happy Hollow Clubs. He belongs to the Commercial Club and to the Presbyterian church and thus the influence of the family remains a supporting factor in those elements which contribute to the city's material, social and moral progress.

George W. Clabaugh

George W. Clabaugh, vice president of the gas company of Omaha, belongs to that class of business men whose keen sagacity enables them to recognize the possibilities of a business situation and to so utilize it that substantial results are achieved. With every phase of the gas business he is familiar and his developing powers have brought him to a position of executive control. He was born in Cumberland, Maryland, March 30, 1859. The Clabaugh family is of German extraction but has been represented in America through several generations. His father, George W. Clabaugh, was born in Frederick county, Maryland, November 15, 1808. and married Ellen Kemp, a daughter of Henry and Amanda (Trail) Kemp. Th'e Kemp family was represented in the Revolutionary war.

George W. Clabaugh was a little lad of but four years when his parents removed in 1863 to Baltimore, Maryland, where he began his education in private schools. He afterward attended the Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg and in 1 88 1 made his way to the west, settling at Chugwater, Wyoming, where he engaged in the cattle business for a year. From 1883 until 1887 he was connected with the produce commission business in Denver and in the latter year returned to Philadelphia, where he spent three years in the brokerage business. In February, 1890, he came to Omaha as chief clerk of the Omaha Gas Manufacturing Company and through the intervening period, covering more than a quarter of a century, he has been continuously connected with the business, which in 1897 was reorganized under the name of the Omaha Gas Company. In that year Mr. Clabaugh was elected to the position of secretary and in 1905 he was made vice president, in which connection he still continues. He has closely studied every question which has bearing upon the production of gas, its use and the service that can be rendered to the public in this connection, and he has become identified with various organizations of gas manufacturers who in systematic manner are studying every phase of the business. He belongs to the American Gas Institute, the National Commercial Gas Association, the Illuminating Engineers Society and the Iowa District Gas Association, of which he has been president, while in 191 5 he was a delegate to the gas congress held in San Francisco and had previously been a director of the National Commercial Gas Association. He has concentrated his efforts upon this line alone and it is his close application, indefatigable energy and spirit of broad enterprise that has led to his success.

On the 24th of April, 1884, in Taneytown, Maryland, Mr. Clabaugh was vmited in marriage to Miss Anne Birnie, a daughter of Roger Birnie. Their daughter, Ellen, is the wife of Gilbert E. Carpenter, of Omaha, and has one son, Joseph Franklin Carpenter. The family are members of the Episcopal church and Air. Clabaugh is a republican in his political views. He is identified with the college fraternity. Phi Kappa Psi, and he belongs to the Elks, the Royal Arcanum and the Woodmen of the World. He enjoys the social life offered by the Omaha Field Club and the University Club, his name being on the membership rolls of both organizations, and he is in hearty sympathy with the purposes of the Commercial Club, his membership therein being proof of his support of all the well devised plans and measures to promote public interest. His position in the business circles of Omaha is one of prominence and throughout his business life he has been a persistent, resolute and energetic worker. Possessing strong executive power, he has kept his hand steadily upon the helm and has been strictly conscientious in his dealings with debtor and creditor alike.

Louis E. Adams

Louis E. Adams, of Omaha, now filling the position of county surveyor, was born at Elliott City, Maryland, January 9, 1874, a son of William Rutherford and Ellen M. (Mercer) Adams. The father was born in Waterford, Ireland, in 1840 and came to America in 1873, settling in Washington, D. C, but soon afterward removed to Elliott City, Maryland. In 1882 he brought his family to Omaha, where he and his wife still make their home, and for many years he has occupied the position of superintendent of parks in this city.

Lquis E. Adams was a little lad of but eight summers at the time he accompanied his parents to the west and in the acquirement of an education he attended the graded and high schools of Uniahu but put aside his textbooks in order to make his initial step in the business world as an employe in the Omaha National Bank, where he remained for three or four years. He then took up civil engineering and for a number of years has been in the public service, lie occupied the position of deputy surveyor of Douglas county for nine years, beginning in 1905, and in 1914 he was appointed county surveyor, which position he filled for a year, after which he was elected to the office for a two years' term and in 1916 was reelected practically without opposition, being the choice of both the democratic and republican parties.

On the 18th of February, 1904, in Omaha, Mr. Adams was married to Miss Emma M. Frost, a daughter of Erick Frost, and they have one child, Bernice Mercer. In his political views Mr. Adams has always been an earnest republican and works effectively to promote the growth and ensure the success of the party. Fraternally he is a Knights Templar Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine. He is also connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, while his religious faith is manifest in his membership in the Episcopal church. The greater part of his life has been passed in Omaha and that his record has been marked by many sterling traits is indicated in the fact that many of his stanchest friends are those who have known him from his boyhood to the present.

Benjamin Gallagher

Another name was added to the list of Omaha's honored dead when Benjamin Gallagher departed this life on the 23d of March, 1900, at the age of sixty years. He had for a long period been actively identified with commercial interests of the city as a wholesale grocer and at all times had manifested a public-spirited devotion to the general good. He was born upon a farm near Burlington, Iowa, in 1841. His father, George Gallagher, was the owner of a sugar plantation in southern Georgia before he w^ent to the Hawkeye state, where he became identified with general farming.

Benjamin Gallagher spent his boyhood and youth upon the Iowa farm and in the year 1863 he arrived in Nebraska, makmg his way to Fort McPherson to act as sutler, to which position he had been called by presidential appointment. He spent three years in the northwestern part of the state and in 1868 arrived in Omaha, where hfe became junior partner in the wholesale grocery firm of Morgan & Gallagher. Several years later he withdrew from that connection in order to embark in business with his friend, W. A. Paxton, who at that time was the owner of a wholesale grocery house, the new firm becoming Paxton & Gallagher. He applied himself mitiringly to the development and conduct of the business and at length his close application and strenuous efforts so undermined his health that he was forced to retire. He had, however, in the meantime done much to build up the trade and extend the commercial connections of the house and his sons, Paul C. and Benjamin K. Gallagher, are active in the business, which is still conducted under the name of the Paxton & Gallagher Company and is one of the best known wholesale houses of the middle west.

In 1877, in Salt Lake City, Utah, Mr. Gallagher was united in marriage to Miss Winifred Keogh, a native of Canada, and while they became the parents of four children only the two sons previously mentioned are now living. He was a charter member and an active worker in the Omaha Club and it was always well known that his support could be counted upon to further any plan or measure for the general good. He was indeed public spirited and his efforts in behalf of Omaha's welfare were far-reaching and beneficial. He commanded the respect and confidence of all with whom he had business relations, for his commercial integrity was above question and proved an able supplement to his marked busi- ness ability. He held friendship inviolable and was ever most loyal to those for whom he professed friendship. His good qualities were many and his sterling worth is indicated in the fact that he was best loved where best known, showing that his character was one which would bear the closest investigation and scrutiny.

George W. Lininger

George W. Lininger, merchant and art connoisseur, passed away in Omaha, June 8, 1907, and the city mourned the loss of one whose every relation to the public had endeared him to his associates and colleagues. He was born in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, December 14, 1834, and when in his teens accompanied his parents on their removal to Peru, Illinois, where he was reared to manhood. After attaining his majority he turned his attention to the hardware business in Illinois and in 1856 was married in that state to Miss Caroline M. Newman.

On the advice of his physician J\Ir. Lininger visited Kansas with the idea of settling there but the fear of malaria prevented him from locating there and he became a resident of Council Bluffs, allying his interests with the commercial enterprises of that city. It was in 1868 that he entered into partnership with E. L. Shugart and established the first agricultural implement business in the Alissouri river valley. After six years they removed to Omaha and established an implement business under the name of Shugart & Lininger, which later through a change in the partnership became the G. W. Lininger Company and in 1881 the Lininger & Metcalf Company. At the death of Mr. Metcalf the style of the Lininger Implement Company was adopted, under which name the business is still conducted. George W. Lininger always remained president of the company until his demise and was largely instrumental in promoting its growth and development from a small business to one of the largest enterprises of that character in the west. Something of the nature of 'thC' man- is indicated in his policy toward his employes, for in 1906, upon the reorganization of the company, he took into the firm all the men who had faithfully serv^ed him for a number of years, thus giving them a substantial start toward success. His business policy was ever such as would bear the closest investigation and scrutiny, measuring up always to the highest standards of commercial integrity and fair dealing. Into other fields he extended his efforts and at the time of his death was president of the Bee Building Company and a director of the Bee Publishing Company.

Mr. and Mrs. Lininger became the parents of two children, but their son, George Albert, died in childhood. The daughter, Florence, is the wife of F, L. Haller, who is now at the head of the Lininger Implement Company. The death of the husband and father occurred June 8, 1907, when he was in the seventythird year of his age. He had been devoted to his family, faithful in friendship and loyal and progressive in citizenship.

From the time of his arrival in Omaha Mr. Lininger never wavered for a moment in his allegiance to the city or lost faith in its future and in fact he contributed in substantial measure to its development and growth along many lines. He was a most active member of the Commercial Club and served on its executive committee for several years. He was also a member of the Board of Trade. In 1878 he was elected a member of the city council and he labored untiringly in order to induce the city to build and own a waterworks system. He became a member and the president of the first Omaha park commission and in his labors for the city he ever looked beyond the exigencies of the moment to the needs and opportunities of the future. In 1887 he was chosen to represent his district in the state senate and was identified with much constructive legislation. For over half a century he held membership in the Masonic fraternity

Templar Commandery. After twenty years' effort he realized a cherished dream in the founding of the Masonic Home at Plattsmouth, Nebraska, for aged Masons and their wives and at the time of his death left a five thousand dollar bequest to that home. There probably never was a man who took the tenets of the Masonic faith more literally into his life than did Mr. Lininger and the home which he established is a monument to his love for the order. Moreover, he could confer from memory every degree of Masonry and knew the ritual perfectly and was always in demand for burial services and the laying of cornerstones. Until his death he was easily the most prominent and beloved Mason in the state of Nebraska.

He was the founder and owner of the Lininger Art Gallery, the most notable in the west and among the most famous in the country. This gallery has always been thrown open free of charge to the public two days each week and thousands of visitors to Omaha as well as the citizens visit this rare and beautiful collection yearly. An Egyptian collection which he owned is housed in the museum on the upper floor of the Omaha Public Library building. Every room in the spacious Lininger home holds numerous art treasures which have been gathered from every part of the globe. Mr. Lininger traveled extensively and wherever he w-ent collected curios and relics of art. He was quiet and unaffected in manner. His thoughts were not concentrated upon himself but upon other things which he regarded as of value in the affairs of life. Death gives us perspective and the treasures that we hoard above gold and gems are the treasures of friendship and memory. As his friends look upon the completed life record of Mr. Lininger they recognize as they did during his lifetime that he had many traits admirable and worthy of all praise, w'hile notable among his excellent characteristics was his capacity for friendship. The universality of his friendships interpreted his intellectual hospitality and the breadth of his sympathy, for nothing was foreign to him that concerned his fellowmen.