USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > History of the city of Omaha, Nebraska > Part 81
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Mr. Dewey was married May 16, 1866, to Miss Sarah J. Bell, of Bellville, Ohio. They have one daughter, Belle. On the 27th of August, 1890, Mr. Dewey died at Battle Creek, Michigan, his health having gradually failed for a year or so preceding. The death of any man occupying a prominent place in public esteem always attracts atten- tion, but in this instance there was an ele- ment of warm personal regard on the part of the citizens of Omaha which rendered his taking off a matter of individual sorrow and sincere regret. ITis charity was unbounded, and in many of the humble homes of Omaha his name will be cherished with feelings of gratitude for kindness rendered in times of distress. Unobtrusive and thoughtful in his deeds of benevolence, it was not, until after his death, generally known how extended and far reaching had been his acts of benefi- cence. For many years to come the name of Charles H. Dewey will be cherished by the people of this city he so dearly loved, as an honorable, upright, enterprising. conscien- tious man.
GEORGE W. DOANE .- The subject of this sketch was born in Cireleville, Ohio, in December, 1824. He received a liberal education, and graduated from Marietta College, in 1845. He subsequently read law
with his father, and was admitted to the bar in court in banc, at Columbus, in January, 1848. He then commeneed the practice of his profession in his native place, but realiz- ing that, by the organization of the new Territories of Kansas and Nebraska, a broader and more promising field would be presented to the young practitioner, started, in the early spring of 1857, on a pros- pecting tour through the then new West. After visiting some of the embryo cities of Kansas and forming the acquaintance of some of the mild-mannered gentlemen, dubbed, politically, "border ruffians," as well as some of the opposite party, whose leaders were "Jim" Lane and John Brown, he pursued his journey to the more inviting, because more peaceable, shores of Nebraska, and landed at Omaha on the 18th day of April, of the year last mentioned.
After casting about for a location, Mr. Doane, joined a party of young men who were going into Burt County to locate and lay out a town site. and there he made his first settlement upon one of the most beauti- ful tracts of land on the Missouri slope, which he immediately improved and pre- empted. After he had been a resident of the territory for full three months, he was pre- vailed upon to submit his name as a candi- date for district attorney of the third judi- cial district of the territory, which extended from Douglas County to the British posses- sions,-the Territory of Dakota not having then been formed. At the election, which occurred in August, he was successful against four competitors, although it re- quired three months to ascertain the result, on account of the wide extent of the district and the imperfect means of communication.
Immediately after the election, and before the result was known, he returned to Ohio to close up his law business there, with a view to his permanent location in the Terri- tory of his adoption. It was while there, and about three months after the election, that he first learned of his election. In the spring of 1858, he returned to Nebraska and entered upon the duties of his office, which required his attendance upon all the courts in the organized counties of the Territory north of Douglas County, and over which Judge Wakeley was the presiding judge. At that early day there was not a court house in the whole district, and improvised temples of justice were established in hotel
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bar-rooms, store-rooms temporarily vacated for the purpose, or such other quarters as could be found of sufficient capacity to accommodate the crowd which is usually attracted to the county-seat of a pioneer community at a term of court. Itgoes with- ont saying that the accommodations pro- vided were, as a rule, entirely inadequate, and as a consequence, some ludicrous inci- dents occurred in the administration of jus- tice.
At the election in August 1858, Mr. Doane was elected to the territorial council from the district composed of Burt, Washington and Sarpy Counties, receiving a majority in each county and the unanimous vote of Burt County, where he then lived. During his service as a member of the council, and of the judiciary committee of that body, he prepared, and was mainly instrumental in having adopted, a code of civil procedure, which has remained in force substantially as originally framed, to this day, and which was based upon the code of Ohio, his native state.
After the expiration of his term as dis- trict attorney in 1859, he was re-elected to that office, and coutinued to perform its duties in the third judicial district, until the office was superseded by that of prosecuting attorney, for each county.
On the 25th day of October, 1859, Mr. Doane was married to Emily R. Greenhow in Keokuk, Iowa, by whom he had a family of seven children, of whom five are still liv- ing. In his family relations, he has been ex- ceptionally happy, his wife having proved not only a loving helpmeet, but an accom- plished and graceful mistress of his house- hold.
After completing his term of service in the council, he located with his wife in Fort Calhoun, Washington County, in June, 1860, -that being the nearest town to Omaha in the third judicial district, and the law re- quiring him to reside in the district. After the office of district attorney was abolished by the creation of that of prosecuting attor- ney in each county, in 1862, during the dis- turbance occasioned by the civil war in all classes of business, and in none more than in the legal profession, he returned tempora- rily to Ohio; but after the proclamation of President Lincoln in 1864, locating the ini- tial point of the Union Pacific Railroad on the section immediately opposite that upon
which Omaha was built, he returned to Neb- raska, locating permanently in Omaha, where he has since resided. In 1865, he was elected prosecuting attorney of Douglas County, the one in which Omaha is located; and during his term of office, he prosecuted and secured the conviction of Baker for murder, which, on account of the atrocious circumstances attending it, became a causa celebre; and the criminal's subsequent execu- tion is the more noteworthy, as being, with one exception, the only legal one which had up to that time, ever occurred in this county, if not in Nebraska.
In 1866, Mr. Doane was again elected a member of the territorial council, and served in that body at the last session before the State organization. He has also served as a member of the State senate from Douglas Connty during the sessions of 1881 and 1882.
At the election of judges of the third judi- cial district, embracing the counties of Doug- las, Sarpy, Washington and Burt, in the year 1887, Mr. Doane was placed in nomi- nation by a spontaneous call of the bar and citizens, as a non-partisan candidate for one of the positions on the bench of the district; and with the other three who were placed in nomination on the same ticket, he was elected by a large majority.
Upon the expiration of his first term as judge, in 1891, the number of judges having been in the meantime increased by the legis- lature to seven, Judge Doane was again placed in nomination, this time as one of the candidates of the Democratic party for the same position and was re-elected by the largest vote given to any candidate for the office, or for that matter, by the largest vote given to any candidate for any office voted for at that election in Douglas County.
While in the performance of his judicial duties, in September, 1892, he received the unanimous nomination by the convention of the Democratic party of the second con- gressional district, as the candidate of the party for congress, and, having accepted the nomination he resigned his position on the bench, in October, and entered actively in the canvass. The election resulted in his defeat, although he ran about a thousand ahead of his ticket-the partisan majority in the district being too great to overcome.
On the occasion of Judge Doane's retire- ment from the bench, a formal leave-taking was indulged in, and a number of compli-
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mentary speeches made by the bar of his judicial district. It took place on the twenty-second of October, 1892. Among other features of the occasion was the pre- sentation of a beautiful dish, to ornament his table, appropriately inscribed as the gift of the bar.
As a citizen, Judge Doane is one of the best which any community can furnish- honest, honorable, just, liberal according to his means, and of unblemished character,- always on the side of good morals and of public and private rectitude. His family and his home life are his chief pleasure.
ROBERT DOHERTY .- On the 9th day of March, 1844, Robert Doherty-now the Reverend Robert Doherty, Doctor of Sacred Theology, Rector of Brownell Hall, and Canon Residentiary of Trinity Cathedral, Omaha, Nebraska,-was born at Tiergormly, County Cavan, Ireland, one of the small estates his father then owned, the other being Dumbarlain, in the same county. Robert was a family name both on the paternal and maternal sides, and, he being the first- born, was baptized by that name.
Robert's forefathers were anciently lords of the great Barony of Inishowen, in the County Donegal, a huge peninsula, enclosed on one side by Lough Foyle, and on the other by Lough Swilley - both salt water lakes. Four miles from the city of London- derry, there is a hill 802 feet high, from the top of which can be seen a vast extent of country, strewed with ruined castles and strongholds of the O'Doherty. In 1608 the name was the watchword of Ireland. In that year, one of the lords of Inishowen, Sir Caher O'Doherty, the latest and among the greatest of the Irish chiefs, headed a move- ment to break the English yoke and drive out the hated invaders and heretics. Sir Caher is described as a man to be marked in a thousand, the loftiest and the proudest in bearing in the province of Ulster. His Spanish hat and heron's plume were the ter- ror of his enemies and the rallying point of his friends. He defeated and slew Sir George Pawlett, the vice provost of Derry, and laid the city in ashes. He was the Scotchman's scourge, and yet his uprising was mainly the cause of the settlement of Ulster by the Scotch in the reign of James the First of England and Sixth of Scotland. He was waylaid and murdered by a Scotchman
named Sandy Ramsay, who shot him through the head from behind a ledge of rocks. Sir Cahier was a devoted son of the Roman Catholic Church.
More than two centuries later, the father of Robert, whose name was John Doherty, an ardent member of the Church of Eng- land in religion, and a tory in politics, married Isabel Harman, a descendant of one of those hated Scotch heretics; but, for many generations, the ancestors of Robert had accepted the reform faith, and with that acceptance had become supporters of British connection.
Robert was the son of his father's old age, the latter being seventy at the date of his son's birth, and living to be eighty-four when he was " gathered to his fathers." The old man's means seemed, as age grew upon him, to melt away, so that when he died, the wife, the son Robert, and three sisters younger than he, were left with scarcely anything for their support; but the aged parent did leave a " pearl of great price" in an honorable name, and in the priceless ex- ample of a pious, pure and manly life, for which the son has always been thankful. His prayers, precepts and truthful, honest ways, made an indelible impression on the young son's mind, which, under Providence, has since had much to do, doubtless, in de- termining the latter's course of conduct and the choice of his calling.
At the age of sixteen, Robert emigrated to Canada, arriving at IIamilton, Septen:ber 18, 1860, with good health and great hopes, and with half a crown in his pocket. He worked on a farm three years, studying in all his leisure moments. At the end of that time, with the money he had saved, he paid his way to the high school, in the town of Brantford, for another three years. At this school he completed a course in Greek, Latin, mathematics, physical science, history and other branches, and carried off first prize as head boy of the institution in these studies. In Trinity University he matriculated, in 1866, at the examination, taking the Stra- han prize of 8130 for general proficiency. In the following year he won the Burnside prize of $180 for general proficiency in classics, mathematics, science and literature. In the middle of the next year he was at- tacked with nervous prostration, resulting from too close application, and was obliged to leave the university and abandon all study
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and reading for three years. Meanwhile he was examined before the education board of examiners and obtained a first-class ("A") certificate, permanently good, and anthoriz- ing him to teach anywhere in the Province.
The young man immediately obtained a school with a good salary. The occupation helped to chase away melancholy thoughts and to hasten his recovery, and the income gave him a living and something to lay by, with which to complete his course in the university as soon as a renewal of health would permit. Ilis work in the school was very successful. He established a reading club and a literary society among the young people, and founded a circulating library by subscription. He returned to college in 1869 and took a double course in arts and divinity, graduating in the former in 1871; in the latter, in 1872.
Mr. Doherty was ordained a deacon, June 29th, of the year last mentioned, in St. James' Cathedral, Toronto, by Rt. Rev. A. N. Bethane, and a priest, at the same place, and by the same prelate, on St. Luke's day, 1873. Hle was appointed to St. John's Church, Huston, and completed and fur- nished the building that year,-presenting in the first eleven months of his pastorate. eighty-four persons for confirmation-the largest that year in the diocese of Toronto.
In the summer of 1874, he came to Neb- raska and took charge of St. Stephen's Church, Grand Island, but at Christmas of the same year he was transferred by the late Bishop Clarkson, to Omaha as assistant at Trinity Cathedral and professor of science in Brownell Hall, with the title of "Bishop's Chaplain." He opened a mission service in the Cass Street school-bouse and worked as- siduously.
In 1875, on nomination of the bishop and the dean, the subject of this sketch was elected a Residentiary Canon of Trinity Cathedral. At Easter, 1876, on the resigna- tion of Dean Easter, the bishop nominated the Reverend Mr. Doherty as his successor in the cathedral. Ile was also elected rector of Brownell Hall the same year by its board of trustees. He accepted the place and at the same time agreed with the ves- try of Trinity Cathedral to take charge of the church until they could obtain a dean. Ile taught in the school, and conducted the services of the cathedral from April 1st to October 1st, of that year.
Ile was married August 1st, 1876, in Trinity Cathedral, by Bishop Clarkson, to Emma Windsor, a native of Maryland, daughter of the late Rev. John Henry Wind- sor, a descendant of the Windsors, barons of Huel Grange and earls of Plymouth. During the Rev. Doherty's rectorate at Brownell HIall, which thus dates from June 1876, all the property belonging to the in- stitution has been acquired. The hall had an old wooden building, one hundred feet of land, and a debt in excess of the value of both, at the time he became rector. The present school is the product of the work done; for the institution did not get money from the East to build with, except $2,500.
The reverend and worthy gentleman has been for seventeen years examining chaplain of the diocese, and has been thrice elected to represent the church in the general conven- tion which meets once in three years.
The Reverend Doherty is the oldest resi- dent Episcopal clergyman, except one, en- gaged in work in Omaha, and has, perhaps, the longest residence in the city of any other of the religions denominations. The influ- ence and confidence enjoyed by him among the people of Nebraska, both inside and out- side the church, must conspire, in a marked degree, to make him feel satisfied and happy.
HENRY D. ESTABROOK was born in Alden, New York, on the twenty-second of October. 1854. He is the son of Ilon. Ex- perience Estabrook* and Caroline Angusta Maxwell Estabrook. Through his grand- mother (whose maiden name was Hibbard) on the paternal side, his genealogy is traced to John Alden and Precilla Mullen Alden, from one of whose sons the town of Alden was named. With his parents and sister, Caroline Augusta, now Mrs. Robert Clowry, whose husband is vice-president and general superintendent of the Western Union Tele- graph Company, the subject of this sketch came to Omaha, in 1855, when of course, he was a mere child, and here he has lived ever since.
Henry's education was received in the public schools of this city, except a year or two in Washington University, St. Louis His first distinctive employment was on the Omaha Bee and Herald as reporter, distin-
*For a brief biographical sketch of Hon. Experience Esta- brook, see pages 231, 232, of this History.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHIES,
guishing himself the first week of his en- gagement on the paper first named, by get- ting its editor involved in a twenty thousand dollar law suit for libel, which, however, was subsequently dismissed. He afterwards studied law, graduating with distinction from the St. Louis Law School, in 1876.
But the young man came near being a professional musician. He studied both vocal and instrumental music all through his youth, continuing it while in St. Louis, in which city he took part as a soloist in the Oratorios of Messiah and Sampson. He paid his way through the law school by sing- ing in Dr. Goodall's church-Pilgrim Chapel (Congregationalist). He has taken part in numerous operettas and concerts, and at the age of eighteen wrote a libretto to " The Joust," music by his sister, which was pub- lished in Chicago. He has, ever since old enough to sing in publie, held choir engage- ments, and does so still.
During the same year of his graduation from the St. Louis Law School, Mr. Esta- brook was admitted to practice, in Omaha, in all the courts, State and Federal, having since established a reputation as a lawyer and orator of which he may well feel proud. His first partnership was with R. S. Hall, Esq .; his second, with Earl B. Coe, Esq., now of Denver, who is many times a million- aire; his third and last, with Hon. Frank Irvine, late one of the judges of the district court in Omaha, now a supreme court com- missioner. Mr. Estabrook is now alone in the practice. He was married on his twenty- fifth birth-day, to Miss Clara C. Campbell, a school-mate in the Omaha High School, and daughter of O. C. Campbell, formerly assistant postmaster. They have one child, a daughter, Blanche Denel Estabrook, born January 1, 1881
It is not too much to say that Mr. Esta- brook " bounded " into a national reputation as a lawyer by his connection with the cele- brated case in the Supreme Court of the United States, entitled ".James E. Boyd, plaintiff in error, vs. State of Nebraska, ex rel. Jolın M. Thayer, defendent in error." This is the well-known case of " Thayer vs. Boyd," a contest for the governorship of Nebraska .*
Before the hearing of this case by the Su- preme Court of the United States, every law- yer knew, of course, something about the Doc-
trine of Relation; but it was reserved to Mr. Estabrook to use it with great power in what may be set down as the most import- ant of all judicial cases hitherto tried, to which the doctrine is applicable. He con- fined himself briefly to a consideration of what the doctrine of relation really is, and then to its application to the case before the court. As presented, the arguments on that legal principle clearly overshadowed what he had to say upon all other points, notwith- standing his elucidations of the conscription laws were full, and his references many and of high authority; and it is not too much to say it helped materially in securing a favor- able decision for his client, although, evi- dently, it ran counter to opinions previously formed by some of the justices sitting in the case.
This is what the World-Herald's Washing- ton correspondent, of December 8, 1891, said: "Ilis [Estabrook's ] argument brought forth many inquiries from the bench, evine- ing a keen interest in the nnique line of thought. When Estabrook entered the ground where he held that the son brought up from boyhood in Nebraska, naturally believed, with his father, that his relationship to the country and its upbuilding gave him citi- zenship, Justice Field and others of the asso- ciates asked many questions, which showed the argument took root. The statement made a profound impression and lead to a new line of research, not exactly statutory or constitutional law."
But law is not the only field in which Mr. Estabrook has acquired a national reputa- tion; indeed, his fame as an orator has now quite eclipsed his prestige as a lawyer-not, however, to his disparagement, but rather to the aggrandizement of his professional call- ing. For a number of years he had been considered in his own city and State a pub- lie speaker of much ability-that was all; but suddenly, even more rapidly than his advancement in law, he stepped into the front rank of American orators. The secret was this: the occasion came; he was equal to it; and now the world (as it should) applauds him.
But a city-a State-reputation is one thing; quite another is one which has reached to the " utmost bounds" of a whole country. Now, this is what the World-Herald said February 19, 1891: "At the time our bril-' liant townsman, Henry D. Estabrook, came
*See Chapter XX of this History. 35
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forward to defend the citizenship of James E. Boyd, when it was assailed over a year ago, he little thought that he was laying the foundation for his own reputation as an ora- tor. ITis plea before the Supreme Court of the United States, however, attraeted the attention of many persons, and was the cause of his selection to respond to the toast ' The Mission of America,' at the Marquette Club banquet, in Chicago, a week ago, [Feb- ruary 12, 1892]." The occasion was the an- nual banquet of the Marquette Club, at the Auditorium Hotel, in Chicago, upon the an- niversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, Mr. Estabrook accepted the invitation-he was to make his debut outside of Nebraska, and he was to contend with such champions as Shelby M. Cullom and Benjamin Butter- worth.
Cullom spoke first, to the toast, "Abraham Lincoln." Ilis effort was a powerful one. Then followed Mr. Estabrook, speaking to the toast, " The Mission of America."
" Of course," said the speaker, " our destiny as a nation is in the hands of the Almighty, and we can only surmise what His intention is concerning us, and the mission we are to fulfill among the nations of the earth, by a careful persnal of His word."
Mr. Estabrook then spoke of ancient times, when the earth was first peopled, and of the confusion of tongues which followed, and of its effects upon the world in the course of ages; then of the promise of the Saviour that all nations should again be united; then of the discovery of a new continent, of the Mayflower, of Plymouth Rock, of the Declaration of Independence, of the Revolution, of Lincoln and the Rebellion, and of Grant, Sherman and Sheridan, And then, with wonderful effect, he gave utter- ance to these and other impassioned words:
"Citizens: America, the tower and bul- wark of human liberties, is still in process of erection. It was our fathers' task to die for it; he ours the harder task to live for it. We will not survive to see it finished; God forbid that we should survive to see it perish!
" We are responsible for the acts of our own generation and for the education of the next. Shall our institutions endure and for how long?
'How long, good angel, oh, how long? Sing me from heaven a man's own song? Long as thine art shall love true love,
Long as thy science truth shall know, Long as thine eagle harms no dove, Long as thy law by law shall grow, Long as thy God is God above, Thy brother every man below- So long, dear land of all my love,
Thy name shall shine, thy fame shall glow.'"
" Long before the audience arose at the end of his oration," said the Chicago Times, the next day, "to wave their napkins and give three cheers for the young orator from Nebraska, they were looking from one to another in admiring astonishment at his fervid eloquence and simple and impressive style of oratory." And thus the Inter-Ocean (after giving his words in full) : " Mr. Esta- brook finished amid applause, the audience rising to their feet, waving their handker- chiefs and giving three cheers. Ile was repeatedly interrupted by loud indications of his auditors' appreciation, sometimes almost tumultuous."
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