USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > History of the city of Omaha, Nebraska > Part 87
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A grandfather was one of the leading re- bel generals who fought the British forces at the memorable battles of Wexford, New Ross and Vinegar Ilill. His maternal grandfather, General Martin Code was also a general who, in conjunction with General O'Brien, fought the British forces under command of General Lake, at the place last named. In this engagement General Code was taken prisoner, hung, drawn, and quartered by the British authorities General O'Brien retreated with Ins forces and soon after fought the battle of Arkalow where he was killed; his body, being recognized, was hung upon a gibbet by authority of the British commander. The loss of the battle of Arka- low resulted in the suppression of the rebel- lion of 1798 and the subjugation and conse-
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quent slavery of the liberty-loving sons of the green Isle of Erin. The love of freedom was smothered for a time but not subdued, It was cherished in human souls, waiting only for an opportunity to renew the con- flict and thereby take another step in the pathway of empire, destined to end in na- tional independence. Whether among the hills of Shannon, on their way to Conaught, or enjoying the freedom of the New World, the central star of their hopes and the desire of their lives is, to witness the emancipation of their countrymen from British misrule.
For half a century, there was no oppor- tunity offered to renew the contest; but, in 1848, the O'Briens became the moving power in another ineffectual crusade against the unwelcome bondage forced upon them. William Smith O'Brien was the leading spirit in this attempt to liberate Ireland. The subject of this sketch was then a boy of nineteen years, but with all the enthusiasm of his race, he joined the forces of his kins- man and shared in the dangers of the field in a conflict with the well-disciplined forces of gouty old John Bull. Upon the failure of that movement and the arrest of Smith O'Brien, Mitchell Meagher and other leaders, young O'Brien eluded the vigilance of the British authorities and in the spring of 1849 sailed with his father for America and set- tled in Wisconsin. This revolution and con- sequent exit from his native country pre- vented the consummation of his plans for a classical education, nevertheless his famil- iarity with the preparatory branches en- abled him to take a position in this country among the leading men. For several years he was engaged as civil engineer in the Badger State, pursuing his legal studies dur- ing winter months, thus supplying the de- ficiency occasioned by his exile. Previous to his eighteenth year he had gained a thorough knowledge of Blackstone as the basis of future usefulness, and in after life he derived more benefit from that branch of study than from any other, and to that he attributed in a great degree his success at the bar. Ile thus divided his time between the law and engineering until the breaking out of the southern rebellion in 1861 .*
In the year last mentioned, Mr. O'Brien was appointed by President Lincoln consul to Cuba, and he was in Washington, D. C., preparing for his departure for Havana,
when the war broke out. He immediately resigned his commission and volunteered as a private in the ranks of the National Guard, a battalion organized by Major Cassius M. Clay, for the defense of the National capital, at a time when it was in imminent danger. He rendered valuable service in the battalion until mustered out. In after years, General ()'Brien prized his certificate of muster-out of service of this battalion more than all the other evidences of rank among the defenders of his adopted country, which the close of the war found him in possession of.
The subject of this sketch then received the appointment of chief clerk in the United States surveyor general's office for Wiscon - sin and Iowa, at Dubuque, lowa, and dis- charged the duties of that position faithfully and with credit to himself, when he received a telegram announcing the death of his brother, Captain Moses O'Brien, of the Wis- consin Volunteer Infantry, who was killed at the battle of Cedar Mountain, Virginia. IIe immediately resigned his position and has- tened to Washington for the remains of his brother, which he obtained, conveying them to Milwaukee, attending to their interment, when he returned to Dubuque, having re- solved to leave his family, consisting of a wife and six children, and fill the vacancy in the number of his adopted country's de- fenders, caused by the death of his brother.
He obtained permission of the governor of Iowa, ratified by the war department, to raise a regiment of Irishmen at his own expense. Ile received his commis- sion as colonel of the Forty-second Regi- ment of Iowa Infantry Volunteers on the 16th of September, 1862, and immediately entered with zeal and enthusiasm upon upon the work of raising the regiment. At that time, it was difficult to enlist men and with all his efforts and after the expendi- ture of a large sum of money, he failed to obtain the minimum number by the time the government required. llis regiment was consolidated with the Forty-third Iowa and formed the Seventh Iowa Cavalry. In his zeal to be in the field, he consented to the consolidation and to accept the position of lieutenant-colonel of the force just men- tioned, receiving the appointment hy order of the governor of Iowa, January 8, 1863. The Forty-second and Forty-third Infantry made but two battalions of cavalry, in con-
* Pen Sketches of Nebraskans, pp. 445, 446.
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sequence of one company of the Forty- second having been transferred to the Sixth Iowa Cavalry, and a portion of the re- mainder to the Fourteenth Iowa In- fantry. Governor Kirkwood proposed to complete the organization by the addi- tion of a battalion of the Forty-first Iowa Infantry. Major Pattee, who was then in command of that battalion, refused to consent to the consolidation unless lie could be made lieutenant-colonel. Believ- ing it to be for the good of the service, the subject of this sketch consented to the ar- rangement and fell back to the rank of second major, and was mustered into that grade on the thirteenth of July, 1863. After the next month his regiment was engaged in warfare with the Indians on the plains of Nebraska and Colorado.
Major O'Brien, being an excellent engi- neer, constructed Post Cottonwood, Ne- braska Territory, at a small expense to the government, and was for a time its comman- der. By his labor and ability that post afterwards became one of the best in Ne- braska. On the twenty-seventh of Septem- ber, 1864, the major was assigned to duty as district engineer of the district of Nebraska, and served as such until February 11, 1865, when he was relieved and given the com- mand of his regiment and of Post Cot- tonwood, which position he occupied until July following, after which time he was on duty as supervising officer of the troops doing escort duty on the Overland Stage Line from Post Cottonwood to Fort Sedg- wick. In frequent engagements with the Indians, he exhibited the highest qualities of a commander and proved himself an able, gallant and intrepid officer. Ile was afterwards brevetted brigadier-general.
In April, 1866, General O'Brien moved his family from Dubuque, Iowa, to Omaha, and after the close of the war engaged in the business of contractor, supplying ma- terials for construction of the Union Pacific Railroad; which business not netting him expected returns, he abandoned, and settled down to a professional life, being, in 1868, appointed United States commissioner for the district of Nebraska. His knowledge of Indians and the Indian languages made him a peculiarly valuable officer, at a time when savage depredations were still of daily occurrence.
In May, of the year last mentioned, Gen-
eralO'Brien was admitted to practice law in the federal and State courts of Nebraska, and in February, 1873, was upon motion of Hon. Richard M. Corwin, admitted to prac- tice in the supreme court of the United States. General O'Brien was so frequently successful in his cases that he soon became extensively known for his legal ability, his greatest successes being in the real estate and chancery branch of the practice, though the criminal dockets of this State show his connection with many of the most noted trials of that character. After his death, when the news of his illness and demise were made known to the judges of the supreme court, then holding session at Lincoln, Nebraska, they adopted resolu- tions commemorative of his past connection with that tribunal, and spread upon their records their regrets at the untimely death of "one of the ablest attorneys that had ever practiced in the supreme court of Ne- braska since the organization of that body."
In politics, General O'Brien was an ardent Republican, having aided in the organization of that party during his residence in Wis- consin. He being one of the first Irish Republicans in America, was as a "tower of strength" in the party in the Great West.
He was married September 23, 1851, at Cleveland, Ohio, to Catherine E. Carroll, to whom he had been engaged before his enforced departure from his native land, and they raised a family of eight children, five daughters and three sons-Mary M., Kate E., George M. Jr., Margaret A., Moses P., Nicholas J., Elizabeth C., and Francis R.
George M., Jr., after a career of marked ability in railroading life, was admitted to the bar, and after his father's death filled the vacancy caused thereby in the law firm of O'Brien & O'Brien, being associated with his brother, Moses P. O'Brien, both well known for their ability in all the chan- nels of the profession. The youngest son, Nicholas J. O'Brien, having chosen railroad- ing as a profession is occupying a high posi- tion in the service of the Union Pacific Railway and is superintendent over the lines of that company in the State of Wash- ington.
The record of General O'Brien and his sons is a fair reflection of their honorable ancestry. Personally, Mr. O'Brien, was quite unassuming in his manners; devoted to his profession; honest and earnest in the
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performance of his duty; strongly attached to friends; generally successful in his under- takings, and enthusiastically devoted to the cause of Irish freedom. His memory will ever be held dear to those who knew him.
SAMUEL A. ORCHARD, was born in Livonia, Washington County, Indiana, Sep- tember 20th, 1835. His father and grand- father moved from Kentucky to Indiana soon after the admission of the latter State into the Union. IIis mother was a native of Virginia. IIe was educated in the common schools until he was sixteen years of age, and then attended Wabash College, at Craw- fordsville, Indiana, for three years.
At the age of nineteen he left college, and, in company with a young man of about his own age, bouglit a wagon and team and trav- eled across the country from his home to Omaha, reaching this city in November, 1855. Realizing at once the future import- ance of Omaha, he immediately entered and settled on a quarter section of government land as near as possible to this place. This tract, which he cultivated and lived upon for the year following, he sold in the year 1885 for twenty thousand dollars, and it is now within the limits of South Omaha.
From 1856 to 1863 Mr. Orchard was in the produce and commission business, his store being situated on the south side of Ilar- ney Street, between Twelfth and Thirteenth Streets. During the Rebellion he was ap- pointed assistant provost marshal under Cap- tain O. F. Davis, which position he held until the end of the war.
Mr. Orchard and Miss Eliza A. Crawford, of Omaha, were married January 2d, 1865.
The have two children, Charles Colfax and Mabel Gray.
Mr. Orchard formed a copartnership with William Preston, under the firm name of Orchard & Preston, in 1865, and engaged in the grocery and produce business. He relin- quished this five years later, and accepted the appointment of surveyor of customs, opening the port here. He resigned this office in 1872, and accepted the position of assistant postmaster under C. E. Yost, which position he retained until 1877.
Immediately after retiring from this posi- tion Mr. Orchard entered into partnership with Samuel Bean, and the firm of Orchard & Bean, dealers in carpets, opened a store at 1113 Farnam Street.
In 1881 Mr. Bean died, and from that time the business has been conducted by Mr. Orchard. The demands of a constantly in- creasing trade caused the business to be removed first to the southeast corner of Far- nam and Fifteenth Streets in 1882, and to still larger and more commodious quarters at 1414-18 Douglas Street in 1890, when a stock of furniture was added. The building on Fifteenth Street, and also the one now occupied, were especially built for Mr. Or- chard, who has one of the most complete establishments in this line in the West.
Mr. Orchard has been a successful mer- chant and is now possessed of a comfortable fortune, and though still directing the man- agement of the furniture and carpet business, he delegates the supervision of the details of the trade to his son Charles, and passes a large portion of his time socially with the many friends which long residence in Omaha and a companionable disposition have made him.
WILLIAM A. PAXTON .- The ancestors of the subject of this sketch were Scotch, some of whom emigrated to this country at an early day. Matthew Paxton, father of William A., was a native Virginian, born at Lynchburg, moved to Washington County, Kentucky, about sixty years ago, he having previously married Miss Cathrine Hogue, in the place of his nativity. The father was a farmer, and there was born to him five child- ren-four sons and one daughter. Next to the eldest of the sons is the subject of this sketch, who was born January 26, 1837, in Springfield, the county and state mentioned.
William attended the schools of his native place, where the advantages of education were limited. The father, with his family, moved to Middletown, Montgomery County, Missouri, in October, 1849, and continued his occupation as a farmer.
In the fall of 1850, William Ieft home, working at eight dollars a month farm- ing for a year and a half, when he went to work on his "own hook," purchasing ox teams and breaking prairie. This he fol- lowed, with other jobs, until 1854, when he took charge of a farm, in Montgomery County, Mo., for the largest salary ever before paid in that region for work of that nature, getting two hundred dollars a year. This was for M. J. Ragan. He worked for him for four years.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF OMAHA.
Mr. Paxton came to Omaha, January 13, ' from Rock Creek, Wyoming, to Green River; 1857, still for one year working for his old employer, as foreman in building the first bridges ever built on the military road lead- ing from Omaha to Fort Kearney. This work he finished in December, 1857.
Mr. Paxton then returned to Montgomery County, Missouri, and married Miss Mary Jane Ware, daughter of James W. Ware, February 22, 1858. There has been born to them one son, William A., now living, and one daughter, who died in infancy.
After his marriage, Mr. Paxton employed his time for two years in farming, with poor success, coming back to Omalia in 1860, leaving his wife temporarily with her mother. IIe then engaged in freighting from Omaha to Denver during that year. In 1861, employed by Edward Creighton, he was engaged in building the Western Union telegraph line across the continent. In De- cember of that year, he returned to Missouri with some capital-the result of his hard earnings-and once again attempted farm- ing, which proved to be the wrong time- just the opening of the Rebellion-with the result of losing everything he had. He went again to Omaha, arriving there July 7, 1863, this time having with him his wife and $135, all told.
Mr. Paxton then "hired out" as foreman in a livery stable at fifty dollars a month and boarding himself, for the old firm of Wilbur & Coffinan, where he worked till June, 1864, when he took charge of John McCormick & Company's teams, a freight- train freighting between Omaha and Denver and Fort Laramie.
Mr. Paxton meanwhile had purchased of Edward Creighton (" as good a man as ever lived") a team for $1,050, on four months' time, and earned the money to pay for the same with the team and his own salary. This was really his beginning financially in life. It was in 1864, in the fall of the year-his entire capital being a four-mule team and $1,800 in money. To this he added occa- sionally as he could until 1867, when he went to railroading, his first contract being from Julesburg ten miles west, on the Union Pacific Railroad. From there he went to Sherman, same year, and engaged in the tie business for the same road, continuing that until June, 1868. He then moved the Union Pacific forces, 6,000 men and 1,500 teams,
worked there grading until September, 1868, when he was sent back to Tie Siding, Wyom- ing, to help the railroad company out in their ties, and there, in the winter of 1868-9, he closed out his train and returned to Omaha to his family.
In May, 1869, Mr. Paxton engaged for the first time in the cattle business. In December following, he took the job of building ten miles of the Omaha & Northwestern (now the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha) Railroad, and was one of the directors and a stockholder.
In 1870, he, in company with others, went into the cattle-contracting business with the United States Government, which he fol- lowed for six years, at the same time running a cattle ranch at Ogallala, Nebraska. The cattle business he carried on actively from 1877 to 1883, when, in December of the year last mentioned, he sold out for $675,000.
Mr. Paxton was one of the original and principal promoters of the South Omaha en- terprise-the organization of the Union Stock Yards Company and the Land Syndicate, now the South Omaha Land Company *- and has been foremost in every endeavor to up- liold, in the "Magic City," the livestock and packing industry, which ranks already sec- ond (or nearly so) to Chicago in magnitude.
In 1880, the wholesale grocery house of Paxton & Gallagher was established, where the Ware block now stands, on the corner of Fifteenth and Farnam Streets, Mr. Paxton being the senior member. They have since changed their location. Their trade is now about two and a half million yearly.
In 1886, the Paxton & Vierling iron works, in Omaha, were founded, of which Mr. Paxton is also the senior member, and here, ever since, they have carried on a very suc- cessful business-now working two hundred men.
Mr. Paxton is a large owner of improved real estate in Omaha, and has extensive in- terests in lands and other property in the West. As a member of the house of rep- resentatives of Nebraska, he served during the twenty-fourth session, which commenced January 4, 1881. Ile also served as state senator during the twenty-ninth session of the legislature, convening January 1, 1889.
* See the formation and successful operationa of these two companies in the History of South Omaha, following this Chapter.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
JAMES HENRY PEABODY .- The sub- ject of this sketch was born in Washington, District of Columbia, March 7, 1833; his old home was within a few blocks of the presi- dent's mansion. His ancestor, was Lieut. Francis Peabody, of St. Albans, IIertford- shire, England, who came to New England, in the ship Planter, April, 1635. He first resided at Ipswich, and in the summer of 1638 was one of the original settlers of Ilampton, old Norfolk County, where he went with Rev. Stephen Bachilor and twelve others, and where he resided for several years. In 1649 he was chosen by the town of Hampton, one of three men to "ende small causes," and was confirmed in that offiee by the justices of that court. When the State lines were run, Hampton was found to be in Rockingham County, New Hampshire. "Being minded" as he said "to live nearer Boston" he sold his estate, March 25, 1650, and moved to Topsfield, Massachusetts. We find him thus early residing in Topsfield, Essex County, Massachusetts. He was one of the most prominent men of that town, both for property and enterprise. Ile mar- ried Mary Foster a daughter of Reiginald Foster. The grandfather of James Henry was General John Peabody, who was for years the principal merchant of Newbury- port, Massachusetts, engaged largely in the East and West India trade. Ile was appoin- ted general of the Massachusetts militia by Govenor Elbridge Gerry, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence of the United States. In 1812 he offered his services to the United States for the war; they were, however, not accepted. Ile moved to Georgetown, District of Columbia, in 1812, and took with him his nephew, George Peabody, who commenced his busi- ness career with him in Newburyport, but afterwards became celebrated as the London banker and great philanthropist. General John Peabody was his guardian.
Captain John Peabody, the father of him of whom we write, was born in Newbury- port, Massachusetts, but grew up in George- town, District of Columbia, becoming com- mander of some of the finest merchant ships sailing out of Richmond, Virginia, Washing- ton and Georgetown, District of Columbia, when the commerce of the United States dotted the seas. He was for years in the Liverpool trade. He married Miss Amelia
HI. Cathcart, the daughter of James Leander Cathcart.
Mr. Cathcart's revolutionary war record reads like a romance. He was the son of an officer in the English army. At the out- break of the Revolution he gave up his right in the line of inheritance to an estate in Ireland, because of sympathy with the oppressed colonies, and entered the United States navy as a midshipman and served to the close of the war. He was twice captured by the English and escaped from the Jersey prison ship once by swimming ashore and at another time on the ice. After the close of the Revolution he was taken prisoner by the Algerian pirates, taken to Algiers, where he remained virtually a prisoner for eleven years.
The Dey of Algiers, taking a great fancy to him, seeing that he was a man of talents, made him chief clerk to the regency. In this capacity he corresponded with all the foreign powers with whom the Algerines had intereourse, and was thus enabled to gain and remit to our country much valuable information.
During Washington's administration the Dey appointed Mr. Cathcart as bearer of dispatches to Philadelphia, then the seat of the United States government. General Washington treated Mr. Cathcart with the utmost courtesy, and upon the declaration of peace appointed him consul-general to the Barbary powers. After several years in Algiers he continued as United States eonsul to various other countries for a number of years, the greater number of his children having been born on the coast of the Mediter- ranean. Amelia H., the mother of James IIenry, was born in Leghorn, Italy,
Captain John Peabody, father of the last mentioned, died in 1847, leaving a widow and five children dependent upon the exer- tions of his two eldest boys. The second son, the subject of the present article, soon obtained a position as page in the United States house of representatives, which he held for five years. This position and that of elerk in the United States pension and land offices for several years afterwards, only requiring a few hours work each day, af- forded him ample opportunity to study. He occupied his leisure upon the different branches of education, reading Latin with a view of adopting, eventually, one of the
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF OMAHA.
professions. After his mother's death, which occurred in 1852, he commenced the study of dentistry with Dr. R. B. Donaldson, of Washington, at the same time reading medi- cine with Dr. Thomas J. Cathcart of the same place.
In September, 1856, he matriculated at the medical department of the University of Georgetown, Washington, District of Colum- bia, and had for his preceptor, Professor James E. Morgan. Ile continued to attend lectures and clinics here until he graduated March 8, 1860.
Whilst in the house of representatives as page, from 1847 to 1852, he formed warm attachments for several members of that body and of the senate, among whom were Andrew Johnson, General Lewis Cass and Schuyler Colfax, all of whom continued his staunch friends until their deaths.
The doctor has many reminiscences and some amusing anecdotes of events occurring from the stirring times of the Mexican war -during the repeal of the Missouri Com- promise and the later sad scenes of our civil war, his fourteen years in civil service and three years in the army affording, as may be premised, many opportunities for observa- tion.
Ile knew, as a boy, Clay, Webster, Calhoun and their contemporaries.
IIe refused an appointment of cadetship at West Point on account of his widowed mother, whose greatest support would have been cut off if he gave up his clerkship to enter the army. He had a longing desire to come west, and in 1859 was one of a company formed in Washington, District of Columbia, to explore the Black Hills for gold, having received information of that region from a Mormon, Mr. George B. Simpson, who in fleeing from Salt Lake City came through the Sioux country and brought specimens of surface washings away with him. This company had Dr. J. C. R. Clark, of Missouri, appointed by the secretary of the interior as physician to vaccinate the Indians in Nebraska and Dakota, the appointment giving him free access to the Indian country. Clark and Simpson were fitted out with hydro-oxygen blow-pipe and other appa- ratus for testing for gold deposits, and started out in the summer of 1859, penetrating for several hundred miles north of old Fort Laramie and well up into the Black Hills. They returned in the spring of 1860, not
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