USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > History of the city of Omaha, Nebraska > Part 82
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On this " Mission of America," Mr. Esta- brook has received many congratulatory letters; among others, one from Lady Henry Somerset, another from Frances E. Willard. One of Minnesota's poets-a lady-has par- aphrased it in rhyme. In that masterly effort there can be no doubt he had ascended to a dizzy height. Would he in the future sustain himself ? We shall see.
At a reunion dinner of the High School Debating Club, in Omaha, March 12, 1892, Mr. Estabrook spoke on " Our Society." It was an eloquent effort.
And again, at the opening exercises of the Kellom School, in Omaha, May 6, 1892, upon the offering of a flag by Mrs. Kellom and her daughter, and which was accepted by Mr. Estabrook on behalf of the teachers and pupils of the public schools, he delivered a most patriotic apostrophe to the stars and stripes - to "the proud emblem of our national freedom."
On the 2d of May, 1892, Mr. Estabrook spoke words of welcome (along with the mayor of Omaha, and others) to the general conference of the M. E. Church, assembled in the city, during the delivery of which, he gave " voice " to a brief sermon (and that, too, to ministers and bishops, laymen and D. D.'s) that will long be remembered.
But, abroad, conld "Nebraska's young orator" sustain himself? Could he again " duplicate," as it were, his signal trinmph at the Marquette Club? It was not long before he was called upon to make the trial.
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The Union League Club, of Chicago, was to have a Washington Day banquet in the Feb- ruary just passed, and Mr. Estabrook was invited to speak. Ifis topic was, "The Vengeance of the Flag." Ile began by referring to February as the " holy month " -that gave birth to Washington and Lin- coln; then he related how he had clasped hands with a Kentuckian at the foot of Liberty's great martyr, in Lincoln Park; then he dwelt at length upon the assassin- ation of the president; then finally he reached the point where the assassin was caught, upon the stage, in the folds of the flag.
" It was no accident but a miracle of grat- itude - the vengeance of the flag! * * The flag was the captor-the flag was its country's Nemesis! All hail the flag! our proud and happy flag! radiant in its beauty, sparkling with its stars, conscious of itself, its God, and its America! Look up, my countrymen: look up, poor human race, look up to it in reverence and with a prayer of gratitude! Behold it unfurled above the nations of the earth, the splendor of its sheen as lambient as the sunlight that plays upon it; its undulations as billowy and vol- uminous as the clouds of heaven ; its gorgeous colors painted npon the air, as impalpable as the rainbow-Hope's phantom flag!"
Here is what, among other things, the Inter-Ocean, on the 24th of February, said: "Does any one who was present at the Washington Day banquet of the Union League Club know that an epic poem was there recited that memorable evening? Or, rather, let it be asked if every heart of that brilliant concourse of exceptional men did not thrill with the consciousness of a poem's melody, and beauty, and power, and inspi- ration when Henry D. Estabrook delivered his monograph on ' Lincoln and the Flag?' This speech was one of those rare orations not intended to be subjected to criticism through the medium of the eye, but which when uttered by the voice vibrant with emotion, passionate with enthusiasm, fire the souls of men, and quicken the dullest sensibilties into an ecstacy of profound emo- tion. It was as much a poem as if it had been written to the rules of scansion, in the very vein and spirit of poetry, free rein given to the fancy, and unchecked freedom to the fervor of the writer; an epic, not an oration; an apostrophe, not an address; and
as the vivid sentences poured eloquent from a passionate heart rather than escaped from the cunning of a elever brain, it was no won- der that the listeners sat spell-bound until feelings no longer to be repressed were vented in mighty enthusiasm. No such thing was ever heard at a banquet board before."
On " The Vengeance of the Flag," Mr. Estabrook has been the recipient of com- mendatory letters, some from as far south as Alabama; but, besides this (and what is a sure test of success), he has received sev- eral applications from school teachers for copies for purposes of recitation.
The very latest of Mr. Estabrook's orator- ical displays was in Lincoln, Nebraska, be- fore the Young Men's Republican Club, in an address on " Parties."
And this is what the Capital City Courier says: " When The Courier promised a rare treat in Mr. Estabrook's address on 'Par- ties,' it knew that the fulfillment would fill up and overflow the promise-and it did most effectually. Mr. Estabrook's speech was delivered to the young men surrounded by the four walls of the Windsor dining hall, but in reality he spoke to the entire city of Lincoln. The papers, notably the State Journal, gave admirable reports of his address, but the electric effect of his per- oration was communicated by the banquet- ers to those on the outside, and that's the way Henry Estabrook's magnificent effort has become the talk of the town. A re- porter with the celerity of chain lightning, the care of an old maid, and the amiability of an angel, couldn't reduce one of Esta- brook's speeches to paper and half do him justice. His subtlety of expression, grace of manner, splendid delivery, a voice that rises and falls in musical cadence in corres- pondence with the rhythm of his words, all these are lost in the printed report. Cold type congeals the fire of passionate eloquence, and deadens the finer qualities of speech, leaving but a bare outline of a form full of beanty-a colorless photograph of a brilliant bouquet.
"Estabrook is a scholarly man, and his mind is not muddy. Ile has a keen wit and is a master hand at sarcasm. His address on 'Parties' was an ideal banquet talk, a speech with real thought in it, polished off with a delicacy and wit that made it sparkle with brilliancy."
546
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF OMAHA.
N. B. FALCONER was born in the City of Glasgow, Scotland, in the year 1835. Ilis father was the principal dry goods merchant in the city. He died when the subject of this sketch was only eight years of age, leaving his affairs to his oldest son, with whom, at the age of fourteen, the boy went to learn the business. After four years, not being taken in partnership with his brother, he left him to learn the embroidery manu- facturing business with D. and J. Mac- Donald, the greatest manufacturers of em- broideries, at that time, in the world. Within three years they gave the young man the management of the principal de- partment of the house, where he sold for them in the first year over four hundred and fifty thousand dollars' worth of goods.
The next year, Mr. Falconer was offered the management of the Glasgow offices of a large New York house. He accepted it, but at the end of one year he left the firm and commenced for himself in Glasgow, as an American commission merchant; that is, buying goods for New York houses. In this business, he was quite successful until the fall of Sumpter and the commencement of the war of the Rebellion. All trade for the time ceased, as the banks had all sus- pended and nearly all the business people failed.
Mr. Falconer spent a year in New York collecting what he could of what was owing him; and in 1862, he commenced the im- porting business in that city, and by 1865 had become the largest importer of alpacas in the United States-his sales, in that year, amounting to over six hundred thousand dollars. But the government continued to increase the duties on that class of goods from thirty-four per cent, when he began importing, to one hundred and twenty per cent on all but the finest varieties, so that all the houses in that trade in the city were driven out of business and he at last also had to retire.
Some years before, he had bought out the business of Ross & Cruickshank, in Omaha, paid out Mr. Ross, and paid Mr. Cruick- shank a salary and a small part of the profits, to run the store.
Mr. Falconer now determined to push this business, and came out here and built the brick building on the corner of Fifteenth and Douglas Streets, which was the com- mencement of the boom for Omaha. At
that time, this city and Council Bluffs were about equal in population, but Council Bluffs had the best thus far. Upon the open- ing of the new store his trade grew rapidly, his patrons coming largely from Council Bluffs and the nearer towns in lowa, and from the west for hundreds of miles, till now he has over five thousand customers out of the city, and his retail sales alone are over five hundred thousand dollars a year, and are steadily increasing.
During his career as an importer, he crossed the Atlantic seventy- three times and visited nearly every country in Europe. llis knowledge of the markets, of course, has given him a great advantage in his present business, as he knows exactly where to get all his goods at first hands.
Mr. Falconer had the honor to represent the State of Nebraska as commissioner at the Exhibition at Paris. and was president of the Omaha Board of Trade for one term. But the exigencies of his large and rapidly growing business prevent him taking as much part in public affairs as he would like. At the last election he was strongly pressed to run for congress by the populist party, with whose principles he has much sym- pathy, but his business affairs would not permit.
FENNER FERGUSON .- The subject of this sketch was born in Renssalaer County. New York, in the year 1814. IIe was the youngest of nine children. His father, Stephen Ferguson, was born in 1772, in Dutchess County, New York, and moved with his parents, at the age of four years, to Renssalaer County, where he continued to reside until his death, in 1852, at the age of eighty. Ilis mother's maiden name was Dorothy Palmer.
The old homestead is still occupied by the Ferguson family. and has been without a break since the beginning of the war of the Revolution.
Fenner Ferguson obtained his early educa- tion in the district schools, and finished the same at the Nassau Academy. He completed his legal studies with the law firm of Coon & Bramhall, of Albany, and after his admis- sion to the bar became a member of that firm.
For a number of years he had an extensive practice in Albany, and in the eastern part of the State extending to practice in the
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
courts of New York City. One of the most important cases he had was that known as the " Patroon Grant," being extensive grant of land from the English crown prior to the Revolutionary war.
llis health failing, he removed to Michigan about the year 1845, and located at Albion, Calhoun County. While there, he held sev- eral important offices as well as being in full and successful practice. He was appointed master in chancery, was elected prosecuting attorney, and later on member of the legis- lature, the State capital being at Lansing.
Ile was appointed on October 12th, 1854, by the president of the United States, chief justice of Nebraska, under the provisions of the Act of Congress, approved May 30th, 1854, establishing the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. At this time there were uo railroads in the far West, and the journey was made by way of Chicago to St. Louis, and from thence up the Missouri River by steamboat. He arrived in Nebraska in the month of November, 1854. Council Bluffs was then known as Kanesville, and Judge Ferguson and his family remained there two weeks before finally moving to Bellevue, now in Sarpy County. This was the only inhabited part of the territory north of the l'latte River. At this point Peter A. Sarpy had a post of the American Fur Co., and the government agency buildings for the Otoes, Pawnees, Poncas, and Omahas, were also located here. Judge Ferguson and his family occupied one of the agency buildings as their home.
Upon the convening of the legislature, by Acting Governor Thomas B. Cuming, Judge Ferguson assisted in the recommendation of the laws to be adopted, and organized and opened the courts, thus starting and estab- lishing the rule of law and order, which has continued with increasing prosperity up to the present time.
In 1857, during President James Bu- chanan's administration, he was elected as delegate to the Thirty-fifth Congress, which position he occupied for two years. Ile re- turned from Washington in the summer of 1859, and after a short illness died in Novem- ber of that year, at the age of forty-five.
He was a man of fine physique, being slightly over six feet tall, and weighing full two hundred pounds. He was kind and con- siderate to all, a man of deep learning and a close student. Especially was he kind and
considerate to the younger members of the bar, who were then entering the territory.
Ile was married in 1841 in Albany to HIelena E. Upjolin; he had four sons, Arthur N., now of Omaha; A. G., of Vancouver, B. C .; S. W., of Idaho, and Charles Fenner. The latter died in infancy in Michigan. 1lis widow survived him many years, dying in 1888.
ARTIIUR NORTHCOTE FERGUSON was born October 4, 1842, in Albany, N.Y. His father was Fenner Ferguson, then a practicing lawyer of that city; his mother's maiden name was Helena E. Upjohn. Both are now deceased. The family moved to Calhoun County, Mich., when the subject of this sketch was a small boy, where they resided until the fall of 1854. when they came to Nebraska-the father having been appointed chief justice of the territory by President Pierce, he having continued the practice of law with marked success while living in Michigan.
On reaching Nebraska, Judge Ferguson located at Bellevue, where the Omala In- dian agency building-a log structure-was fitted up as a residence. Not only the Omahas, but the Pawnees, Poncas and Otoes had their agency buildings there. Adjoin- ing the residence first mentioned was one occupied by J. Sterling Morton and wife, who had just married and come West. Peter A. Sarpy (after whom Sarpy County was named) had, at this time, his post at Belle- vue, as agent of the American Fur Com- pany.
Mr. Ferguson's playmates for a consider- able time after the family settled in Belle- vue, were Omaha Indian boys. He remem- bers well when the first newspaper actually printed in Nebraska was first issued. It was called the Nebraska Palladium, and Ar- thur was present when, late in the fall of 1854, the first impression was taken off. A man by the name of Reed was editor.
In Michigan, the subject of this sketch attended the district school, but in Bellevue, as common schools had then no existence in the territory, the boy, then in his thirteenth year, was a scholar in a private school taught by Mrs. Nye.
Fenner Ferguson, the father, in 1857, was elected delegate to congress from Nebraska, having previously resigned his seat upon the bench. While at Washington, he sent his
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF OMAHA.
son to school at Alexandria, Va. This was a noted institution for the exclusive educa- tion of boys, under the leadership of Benja- min Ilalliwell. The school was attended by pupils from various parts of the country. Here he remained for a portion of two years, afterward attending Kinderhook Academy, in Columbia County, N. Y., leav- ing that school in the fall of 1859.
Three years subsequent to that date, Mr. Ferguson and his two brothers, A. G. and S. W. Ferguson, were engaged as civil en- gineers in the location and construction of the Union Pacific Railroad, continuing in that service from the commencement until the completion of the road, in 1869.
The subject of this sketch entered the University of Iowa, after finishing his work upon the Union Pacific Railroad, entering the law department of that institution, and graduating therefrom in June, 1870, with the degree of LL.B. His preceptors there were: Chancellor Wm. G. Hammond; John F. Dillon, United States circuit judge, and George G. Wright and C. C. Cole, judges of the Supreme Court of Iowa.
Mr. Ferguson commenced the practice of law in Bellevue, Neb., in July, 1870, cou- tinuing there until 1872, when (in April) he moved to Omaha, where he has ever since been in the practice of his profession. He first formed a partnership with Hon. Jolın I. Redick, and subsequently with Ilon. William Neville, now a district judge in Nebraska.
In 1877, Mr. Ferguson was elected a member of the State senate for the counties of Douglas and Sarpy. In 1879, at the ending of his term as senator, he was elected district attorney of the third judicial dis- trict, composed of the counties of Douglas, Sarpy, Washington and Burt, serving two years. Ile was then elected for two years a member of the board of education for the City of Omaha.
On the 30tlr of March, 1891, the subject of this sketch was appointed one of the judges of the fourth judicial district of Nebraska, by Governor Boyd, to hold the office until January, 1892; but in the fall of the year after his appointment, he was elected to the same office by the people, for a term of four years, which office he now holds.
He was married April 15. 1879, at Omaha, to Miss Delia L. Sears, of this city, sister of Mrs. A. J. Poppleton. Of this union two
children have been born-Alice S. and Eliz- abeth F. Ferguson.
As a lawyer, he was studions and ex- tremely careful, and his judgment always reliable; as a judge, he enjoys an excellent reputation as conscientious, industrious and exact in his conclusions. As a citizen, his example is excellent, with great integrity of character-always seeking to be riglit rather than great or brilliant.
JOSEPH WARREN GANNETT was born June 5, 1831, in Sharon, Norfolk County, Massachusetts. Ile eame of good Puritan stock, counting among his ancestors, Matthew Gannett, who came to Massachus- etts soon after the settling of the colony and settled at Hingham; also Governor Wm. Bradford, Miles Standish, and others known in the early history of the colony. His grandmother, Deborah Sampson Gannett, was notable as one of the few examples of a woman-soldier, having regularly served for a year and a half in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War with- out her sex having been discovered. She was honorably discharged by General Knox, and received a pension granted by congress. She married Benjamin Gannett, of Sharon, and their son, Captain Earl Bradford Gan- nett, was the father of Joseph W. Gannett.
The subject of this sketchi was educated in the schools of his native village, finishing at a neighboring academy. He went early in life to Boston and engaged in business. He became a member of the firm of Brett, Gannett & Co., doing a large general dry goods business. He was afterward connected for a number of years with the mercantile house of James M. Beebe & Co., and a mem- ber of the succeeding firm of J. C. Burrage & Co. until July, 1870, when he was appointed auditor of the Union Pacific Railway to take charge of the accounts and financial affairs of the operating department of the company, in which position he remained until 1883. After his retirement from that office, on account of ill-health, he did not again engage in active business but was viee- president of Omaha Savings Bank, and was interested in a number of enterprises in Omaha and the West, until the time of his death, July 29, 1889.
Mr. Gannett was secretary and treasurer of the Omaha & Republican Valley Railroad Company, also of the Utah & Northern
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHIES.
Railroad Company, of the Echo & Park City Railroad Company, of the Salt Lake & Western Railroad Company, of the Gree- ley, Salt Lake & Pacific Railroad Company, and several other railroad companies; also of the Pacific Express Company, and treas- urer of the St. Joseph Bridge Company. Ile was elected regent of the University of Nebraska in 1875, and was re-elected in 1879. He was also elected a member and State councilor of the American Institute of Civies, in 1886.
April 19, 1866, he married, in Boston, Miss Frances R. Josselyn, daughter of Nathan Josselyn, for many years a large ship-builder of Quincy Point, Massachusetts. There is one son, Earl W. Gannett.
W. A. L. GIBBON .- The father of the subject of this sketch was Myles Gibbon; his mother, Celia Lennon Gibbon. Their ancestors came from Ireland and settled in Delaware County, New York, in the early part of this century. The son was born at Griffin's Mills in the county just mentioned, June 6, 1839. He removed with his parents to Kenosha County, Wisconsin and subse- quently to the town of Kenosha. As his parents were poor, the family suffered the usual privations of early settlers, and the boy was compelled to assist his father in earning a livelihood. He attended the public schools in Kenosha and graduated at the high school there, at the age of seven- teen. He contemplated taking a university course and then to study law; but the death of his parents and lack of funds prevented the consummation of his plans.
Mr. Gibbon afterward removed to St. Louis. This was in 1856. There, he attended the law school for a short time and again endeavored to prepare himself for en- tering the legal profession, but was a second time obliged to abandon the undertaking for lack of means; so he resolved to follow some commercial pursuit.
He moved to Chicago in 1858, and shortly thereafter to Michigan where he was engaged in the capacity of clerk in the employ of the Detroit & Milwaukee Railroad Company. lle returned to Chicago in 1861, and ac- cepted an inferior clerkship in a wholesale hat, cap and millinery house, where he advanced, step by step, from clerk to proprietor. At the time of the great fire
he lost, through bankrupt insurance com- panies, $35,000.
Mr. Gibbon subsequently returned to St. Louis, where his life was, financially, a struggle, caused largely by his Chicago losses. In 1878, he came to Omaha without money and a stranger, to take charge of the finances and credits of one of the largest wholesale grocery houses in the city; enter- ing that service on a salary, and at the end of seven years withdrawing as a partner.
'After retiring from the grocery business, Mr. Gibbon organized and became one of the firm of Edney & Gibbon, in the whole- sale hardware business in Omaha. Ill health and final death of Mr. Edney terminated the partnership after a duration of about three years. Mr. Gibbon, soon after, organized the Nebraska Savings and Exchange Bank at South Omaha, and became its cashier and manager. A large and successful business was built up, and at the end of four years the bank was sold to the Packers National bank, Mr. Gibbon withdrawing. By econ- omy and wise investinents in Omaha real estate, he has accumulated considerable mon- ey and valuable property-making himself easy in a financial way. In October, 1891, he returned to his early love by embarking in the wholesale hat and cap business in Omaha, under the firm name of W. A. L. Gibbon & Co., which house is now one of the largest west of Chicago.
While Mr. Gibbon has given the best of his life to business pursuits, he takes a lively interest in all public matters touching Omaha's commercial needs as a distributing center. He is at present president of the Board of Trade and chairman of the ex- ecutive committee of the Omaha Commercial Club; was a member of the board of educa- tion for three years; is the owner of a large private library; and, as far as business will admit, is an extensive reader and close stu- dent, and has considerable ability as a pub- lic speaker.
The honesty as well as determination and perseverance of . Mr. Gibbon in business matters are the prime factors in his success, to which is properly added a clear insight of the laws of trade. Ile was married to Miss Nellie Mack on January 16, 1869, in Chicago. Their children are: Chas. B., Ella, William, May, Celia, Pauline, Clare, Walter, Gervaise.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF OMAHA.
JOHN ANDREW GILLESPIE is of Scotch-Irish descent. His ancestors were early settlers in Pennsylvania, in what is now known as the Cumberland Valley; and there many of the family still reside. The father of John-Samuel Laird Gillespie- was a fuller by trade; he was also a teacher. The mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Stewart. She was of an English family, who moved to this country about the begin- ning of the last century.
'The subject of this sketch was born 'at Newville, Cumberland County, Pennsyl- vania, June 5, 1845. 1Ie was reared accord- ing to the code of a Scotch Presbyterian. Ile is the sixth of a family of seven. Ile attended the common schools of his old mountain home in his boyhood. In 1860, the family moved to Cedar County, lowa. At the commencement of the Rebellion, his two eldest brothers enlisted to serve under the old flag, leaving him as the "man of affairs" at home for a time; then he followed their example, enlisting in Company G, of the Second Iowa Volunteer Cavalry. Ile served with the regiment until the close of the war, being in every battle and skirmish in which the company was engaged, from the time he enlisted until he was mustered out of the service. When the war was over, he returned to his home in Iowa, and entered the Iowa State University, graduating in 1870, with the degree of B. D. He after- wards taught school a year in Illinois and was then called to take a position as teacher in the Iowa school for the deaf and dumb at Council Bluffs, where he remained six years.
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