USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > The biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of representative men of Chicago, Minnesota cities and the World's Columbian exposition : with illustrations on steel. V. 1 > Part 51
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associations, commercial congresses and exposi- tions and political conventions at many and various times. In 1884 he was one of the repre- sentatives of the State in the convention that nominated Mr. Cleveland for the presidency. This same year he was a delegate to the cattlemen's convention which met at St. Louis. He was appointed vice-president for Texas of the Cotton Centennial held at New Orleans in 1885, and this year was also appointed colonel and quarter- master-general of the Texas volunteer troops. In 1887 he was elected vice-president for Texas of the American Bankers' Association, held at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This year he assisted in the organization of the North Texas National Bank, of Dallas, of which he is vice-president. He was chairman of the State Democratic Exec- utive Committee during the stormy time that pro- hibition promised to split the Democratic party in twain. In 1889 he was president of the Texas State Fair and Dallas Exposition, one of the most successful institutions of its character in the coun- try. In all these places he has reflected credit on himself and on his State, and whether in a State or national convention his conspicuous superiority as a man of force, fearlessness and character has made him a figure of attraction and given him a place as the equal of the best of his fellows.
In the discharge of his duties as a representa- tive he displays the enthusiastic interest of a per- sonal champion of a personal friend, and always, whether acting for himself or for others, his task commands his best ability. He is a faithful be- liever in the future of his State. He has told the story of her undeveloped greatness to the mon- eyed men of the East and to the traveler from all sections, and has been the means of develop- ing this greatness above and beyond any other. In that development his personal accumulations have approximated a million dollars, a purse that
Henry &pall
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is touched with no sparing hand when the enter- prises of his State need encouragement. It may be said with truth, that every dollar of all that fortune that he has made for himself is repre- sented by ten dollars made for the people among whom he lives.
Mr. Exall has just finished the construction of one of the most majestic and costly buildings in the South. During its construction he might have been seen on any day in light conversation with the men who drove the nails and laid the brick, and attending to the details of the work. His mind is so comprehensive that even the smallest particulars do not escape its notice. This mental scope has made Mr. Exall a successful exponent of all the industrial enterprises that he has originated and promoted. In the city of Dallas, where he lives, everybody is his friend. Here, in 1887, he married his second wife, née Miss May Dickson, a most attractive and accom- plished lady, who makes their home a veritable haven of rest from the many cares of his busy life.
His public expressions are always the embodi- ment of earnest consideration for the betterment of all alike, and when they contain advice as to a line of action every word is tinged with a heart's sincerity.
Omission of the mention of the tenderness that characterizes the domestic relations of the subject of this sketch, and the filial regard shown his .
aged parents, would render it incomplete. Inci- dents in illustration, without number, might be given by the writer, but it is sufficient to say that it has been, and still is one of his chief pleasures to minister to the every want of the venerable couple who nurtured him in infancy and inspired his youthful heart with high principles and aspi- rations which have been realized by the force of his own efforts. He is not known as the donor of any conspicuous gift in charity, but he is the quiet distributor of more alms to worthy objects than the average man of twice his wealth. And while in his modesty he prefers to remain the sole repository of the secrets of his own benevo- lence, it is known to all that no man ever dis- closed to him a worthy cause with a request for help that he did not receive a prompt and liberal response.
He has been repeatedly urged by both press and people to allow himself to become a candi- date for governor, but he has always declined.
As a Democratic commissioner-at-large for the United States (appointed by President Harrison) to the World's Columbian Exposition, he will bring to bear upon its organization and develop- ment rare business abilities, and such as cannot fail to be of great value and assistance to his fellow-commissioners, the people of the United States at large and to the people of Texas in particular.
ROBERT WILKINSON FURNAS,
BROWNVILLE, NEB.
R OBERT WILKINSON FURNAS was born at Troy, in Miami county, Ohio, May 5, 1824. He is of English origin. His great- grandparents were natives of England, while his grandparents, and his father and mother, were born and raised in South Carolina. On both sides he is descended from old Puritan ancestry, being able to trace his descent as far back as 1637 very clearly.
At fourteen years of age, young Furnas was apprenticed to a tin-smith for two years. He then learned the printers' trade at Covington, Kentucky, serving a four years' apprenticeship, one year as " roller boy," one year at the " case," one
"at press," and one as "foreman." Having completed his time, he became the proprietor of a book and job printing concern at Cincinnati, Ohio; then editor and publisher of the Times, in his native town. He afterwards became a railroad conductor, and then a railroad express agent.
In 1855 he settled in his present home, and became editor and publisher of the Nebraska Advertiser, and from that time until the present has been a prominent figure in the affairs of his State. For four years he was a member of the Council branch of the Territorial legislature. Immediately preceding the war of the rebellion
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he was Brigadier General of the State Militia. At the opening of the war he was commissioned by President Lincoln as a Colonel. He ren- dered valuable services by recruiting and com- manding a body of friendly Indians from the Indian Territory. Resigning this command he was appointed by the Governor of Nebraska, Colonel of the Second Regiment Nebraska Cavalry, and served under General Alfred Sully in the Northern Indian campaign up the Mis- souri river.
At the expiration of this service he was appointed by President Lincoln agent for the Omaha and Winnebago Indians. In 1872 he was elected Governor of Nebraska.
While in the legislature, amongst his other works, he framed and secured the passage of the first educational law in Nebraska. Mr. Furnas has been a member (and has held the secretary- ship for over six years) of the State Board of Agriculture from its origin, and was once the president. He built the first school-house in Nebraska, and was President of the first Terri- torial Educational Convention. He has been secretary and president of the Nebraska Horti- cultural Society, and has been president of the State Soldiers' Union. He is the present president of the State Historical Society, and was one of the State University Regents, and is
a commissioner at large of the World's Columbian Exposition.
He is a member of the Masonic Order, and has been Grand Master, High Priest, Master of the Grand Council, R. and S. M., Commander of the .Grand Commandery, K. T., and Grand Patron of the Grand Chapter, O. E. S., and President of the Grand Council, Order of High Priesthood, all of the State of Nebraska, while he is also Hon. Sov. Gr. Ins. Gen., thirty-third degree, of the Supreme Council, A. and A. S. R., Southern Jurisdiction, Grand Intendant Gen. for Nebraska, Knights of the Red Cross of Constantine. In addition to being a member of six local lodges, one of which bears his name, he is also very prom- inent amongst the Odd Fellows of the State, and has held many offices in that Order.
In politics, originally a Whig, he is now a Republican ; while in religious faith he is a Pres- byterian.
Mr. Furnas married, in 1845, Miss Mary E. McCornas, of Cincinnati, Ohio. Of eight children born to them three sons and two daughters survive ..
Since 1868 Mr. Furnas has been engaged in farming and fruit-raising.
Nebraska has many public-spirited and honored citizens, but none are more widely known, more worthily esteemed, or more ready to serve her interests than he.
FRANCIS J. KENNETT,
CHICAGO, ILL.
F RANCIS J. KENNETT was born in St. Louis, Missouri, December 10, 1847. He is justly proud of his ancestry, being descended from an old and honorable English family. Sir John Kennett came to America in 1642, being obliged to leave England when Cromwell came into power for refusing to renounce allegiance to the King, and swear fealty to the new régime. He was made a prisoner, his estates confiscated and ultimately, being allowed to leave England, he sailed for the Colony of Virginia and settled near Norfolk, the family remaining for many years in the vicinity of Norfolk and on the eastern shore of Maryland, the great-grandfather of Mr. Kennett finally coming West and settling in Kentucky,
near Falmouth, where Luther M. Kennett, his father, was born in 1807. In 1818 his father was appointed a midshipman in the navy, but shortly afterward was thrown from a horse, breaking his arm and sustaining other injuries which made it impossible for him to pass the necessary physical examination, and obliged him to renounce a sea- faring life. He afterward studied law in the office of his cousin, General Taylor, and early in 1825 removed to St. Louis, where, in 1842, he married his cousin, Miss Agnes Kennett. His ability, energy and honesty soon won him recognition, and in addition to success in commercial enterprises, he became a member of Congress, was three times elected mayor of St. Louis, was president of the
Francis Jakenneth
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