USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > History of the city of Omaha, Nebraska > Part 93
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Mr. Train, on the first of August, 1870, accompained by George P. Bemis, his pri- vate secretary, commenced his second voyage around the world by way of Japan, China. India, Ceylon, Arabia, Egypt, and the Medi- terranean. arriving at Marseilles, France, October 20, of that year. lle had a most re- markable experience in France, a complete record of which would fill a volume. He reached New York on the twenty-first of December, of the year last mentioned. Three times, since, he has traveled around the world.
Mr. Train has ontlined his life-career in this way:
" Born at No. 21 High Street, Boston, 1829; residence Continental Hotel, at pres- ent-generally in some jail; color, octoroon; sex, male; height, five feet eleven inches. My father was born in Boston, my mother at Waltham, Massachusetts. My room, bed. desk in our homestead, two hundred years old, is still shown to visitors. Married in 1851. My wife is dead. My education was had in three months at a winter school. I am strictly temperate; I never tasted liquor. I have three grown-up children."
In conclusion, it may be said that the world has never seen but one George Fran- cis Train; and, it may not be rash to say, it will never " look upon his like again." Ec- centricity is but a departure or deviation from that which is stated, regular, or usual; and Train is spoken of as "an eccentric genius;" but he is far more-he is the great- est genius of eccentricity, it is believed, that has ever lived. It finds in him such an ex- emplification as it has never before fonnd in any living being, and such as it will never again find, it may be safe to predict, in any sentient creature. It is true that his mind frequently wanders into the "voids of space," bnt it has, nevertheless, an orbit
* Pen Sketches of Nebraskans, pp 15-17.
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(eccentric though it is). And that mind, on its return into the " full glare of the sun," sueh is its brightness, it fairly blinds the average intellect of men with its flashes.
ELEAZER WAKELEY .- The ancestors of Eleazer Wakeley, on his father's side, came from Wales to New England early in the period of its settlement. IJis paternal grandfather was living in Lichfield County, Connecticut, in the latter part of the eighteenth century, in which county his father, Solmns Wakeley was born, on March 17, 1794-being one of six sons, and having one sister. Ilis mother, by maiden name, was HIannah Thompson, daughter of Henry Thompson, of Bethlehem, in the same state and county. She was born Octo- ber 19, 1793.
The Wakeleys, for several generations, were mostly located in New England. They were men of rugged constitution; of mental vigor and force of character; possessing, in a marked degree, the intelligence and virtues of their times. In the maternal ancestry of Judge Wakeley's mother was some excellent New England blood-she being collaterally related, among others, to the Jonathan Ed- wards family of Connecticut. Her father was a volunteer in the revolutionary struggle. She had fine and strong intellectual gifts, with great fondness for reading and study, and an unusually retentive memory. What- ever inclination her son may have developed for intellectual pursuits, he attributes largely to her early training, and continual encour- agement.
His father had not the opportunities of education and culture which his strong men- tal endowments would have justified; but he became, by reading and observation, an nnusually well-informed man in current af- fairs, and his country's history. IIe held various places of public trust; was a mem- ber of the first constitutional convention of Wisconsin; and twice a representative in its legislature. Ile possessed strong powers of logic, and native judgment; and was a formidable antagonist in debate. As a citi- zen and a man, he was always high in the general esteem and confidence.
In both father and mother, the subject of this sketch had a just and warrantable pride, and an incentive to worthy effort, and an honorable life. .
Born in Homer, Cortland County, New
York, in 1822, he was the eldest of three sons, and had two sisters-all characterized by mental strength, studious habits, and good scholarship. His surviving brother has long been a lawyer in Madison, Wiscon- sin. Ilis parents removed, soon after his birth, to Erie County, New York, where his education was begun, in a district school, at the age of four years, and continued until he was thirteen. Ile was considered a for- ward seholar at that time, when progress in public schools, although with rude surround- ings, compared most favorable with that in modern institutions much more elaborate. In 1836 the family removed to Elyria, Lo- rain Connty, Ohio. Ilere he attended, in a desultory way, such schools as the village furnished-concluding. in the high school there, under Prof. John P. Cowles, a most learned man, then of Ohio, and afterwards prominent, for a long time, in educational work in Massachusetts. ITis schooling, therefore, was not very systematic, nor rounded out by a collegiate course; but lie had innate love of study, and application to the duty in hand, while a student in school, and afterwards in the law. Ilis early spec- ialty was mathematics, for which he had a strong liking and aptitude, but which he laid aside, in after years, under the stress of a profession, which tolerates no rival in allegiance. It may be fairly said that he has kept up, to the end, the habits of close application, and of searching for the reason of things, which characterized his student life.
Hlaving finished his education in the schools, he entered upon a thorough course of reading in the law, under .Joel Tiffany, a forcible and able lawyer, and a man of marked and versatile talent. He was ad- mitted to the bar in Lorain County, in 1844. In the fall of the following year he was nominated on the Democratic ticket for prosecuting attorney of the county, but failed of an election-the Western Reserve not being then, nor since, at all partial to Democrats.
Soon after, following hisinclination for the farther West, he located at White Water, in Southern Wisconsin, in the fall of 1845, where he began the real practice of his pro- fession. In 1847 he was elected a repre- sentative from Walworth County to the last territorial legislature of Wisconsin; and was state senator from that county from 1851
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to 1855, taking an active and earnest part in legislative work and debate; and being as- signed to important committees. These political digressions did not interrupt an active and increasing practice from 1845 to 1857; but served, with his professional life, to make him well known throughout the State, and secure to him many valuable and life-long friendships there. But a prac- tice in the uncommercial counties of South- eastern Wisconsin was not wholly satisfying.
In January, 1857, without solicitation on his part, he was appointed by President Pierce an associate justice of the supreme court of Nebraska Territory. He was as- signed to the third district, which included Washington, Burt, Dakota, Dixon and Cedar counties, with all the unorganized territory west and north of them to the Rocky Moun- tains and the British possessions. It com- prised an area of about 350,000 square miles; being the largest judicial district, territor- ially, in the United States. IIe resided in Washington County, and in Omaha during his official servicc.
Prior to this time, the terms of court in tliat district had been held irregularly, and infrequently. It was a pioneer country, so far as facilities and conveniences for court were concerned; but, thereafter, the increas- ing ligitation was dispatched promptly, and methodically; and with such general satis- faction that the judge, at the end of his four years term, was reappointed, without opposition, by President Buchanan. Soon afterwards, upon an entire change of terri- torial appointments, under the Lincoln administration, he returned to Wisconsin, pursuant to a previous purpose, and resumed the work of his profession, locating at Madi- son, the state capital. Here he built up a large and successful practice in the central counties, and in the supreme court. His brother, C. T. Wakeley, was associated with him; and also, for a time, William F. Vilas, then a young lawyer of great promise, and since distinguished in his profession, a mem- ber of the cabinet, and a United States Senator. In 1883, he ran for attorney general on the Democratic State ticket of Wisconsin. In 1886-7, the last year of his residence in that state, he represented the Madison district in the legislature, having in charge its large local interests. He was influential in securing the enactment of a law increas- ing the salaries of the judges of the supreme 376
court. In consequence of its passage while he was a member,-the Wisconsin constitu- tion making this a disability to hold the office-he was compelled to decline the nomination for supreme judge, tendered him by a joint convention of the Democratic members of the legislature, at that session.
The purpose of returning eventually to Nebraska-the animus revertendi, in legal phrase-had all the time a strong hold upon Judge Wakeley; and, in the fall of 1867, he returned to this State with his family; and has ever since made Omaha his home. He soon secured a legal business which demanded all his time and energies, to the exclusion of other activities. His practice was varied, running through all departments of the law except the criminal, for which he had an aversion. In the trial courts, and the supreme court of the State, and in the federal courts he was engaged in many causes of importance, among which were several known to the pro- fession as " leading cases" in Nebraska. He had numerous corporation cases, and was for seven years assistant attorney of the Union Pacific Railroad Company. In another place in this volume reference is made to his career and characteristics as a lawyer, which need not be enlarged upon here.
In Nebraska, he was a member of the con- stitutional convention of 1871, chosen with- out opposition. With this exception, he has declined to be a candidate for political office, being devoted to his legal work and preferring an endeavor to " pay the debt which every man owes to his profession." He has had a busy, active and successful professional life-cultivating his love of reading and study, so far as opportunity has afforded.
In 1879, he was a candidate for judge of the supreme court of Nebraska; but the political majority against his party could not be overcome. It has been his usual for- tune to be in the political minority. This alone, probably, has prevented his realizing any aspirations he may have had for such judicial preferment.
In 1883, after thirty-seven years at the bar, Judge Wakeley accepted the appoint- ment of district judge from Governor Dawes, whose action was based upon the general recommendation of the bar, and the citizens, without regard to party. In the fall of the same year he was unanimously elected to the judgeship for four years, together with
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" It is with but slight faith in the proba- bility of the selection of a lawyer so far removed from Washington as Jolin L. Web- ster of Omaha, for the vacancy on the supreme bench created by the death of Stanley Matthews, that The Herald ventures its opinion of the worth and capabilities of Mr. Webster. Feeling thus and further believing that even the remotest possibility of such a selection should be encouraged, The Herald unhesitatingly speaks its mind to the effect that it believes the appointment of Mr. Webster to the supreme bench would be a wise act on the part of President Har- rison.
" Mr. Webster is confessedly an able lawyer, especially upon questions of con- stitutional law. His mental poise is excellent and the natural bent of his mind deliberative. He is from the West and uncontaminated with the influences of the eastern money-devil. Ile is comparatively young, in the vigorous prime of manhood and of an active blood, of such as the supreme bench needs an infusion. Though his politics should not be an element of consideration, they are in harmony with the administration. If chosen he would be an honor to the state and an acquisition to tlie beneh."
The president recognized the demands of the west by the appointment of Justice Brewer of Kansas, whose claims to the posi- tion were unquestionably superior to those of any other candidate; but Mr. Webster had reason to feel proud and grateful for the public expression of good will which his candidaey evoked. At a meeting of the Republican league in Nashville, in 1890, he was chairman of the Nebraska delegation, and of the committee on platform. IIe addressed the convention on March 4th, and responded for the league to an address of welcome at Chattanooga. His speech was altogether the event of the occasion, and was received with unbounded enthusiasm.
His latest, and, perhaps, most conspicious political honor, was achieved in the state convention in April of this year (1892), where he was almost unanimously chosen as a delegate-at-large to the National Republican Convention, in the face of an opposition at once formidable and malignant.
So that to a limited extent, and somewhat in spite of himself, Mr. Webster has been prominent in Western politics. His most
signal service to the State of Nebraska, however, was his contribution to the defeat of prohibition in 1890. To him, more than to any other one factor, may be attributed the result of that issue. The Beatrice Chautauqua, at this time, was the strong- hold of the prohibitionists. Celebrated speakers from all parts of the country were present, and if eloquence, vociferation, and oratory, could accomplish a measure, the Beatrice Chautauqua was resolved to accom- plish prohibition in Nebraska. Mr. Webster challenged their champion debaters, and in the presence of an audience of thousands vanquished and routed them.
John L. Webster was born March 18th, 1847, in lIarrison County, Ohio. IIe served in the Union army from May to October, 1864. In the spring of 1867 he graduated from Mount Union College, at Alliance, Ohio. Shortly afterward he moved to Pittsburgh where, for the two years preced- ing his advent in Omaha, he studied law with the famous Tom Marshall.
What has been the secret of Mr. Webster's success ? Some one has said that genius is only a capacity for hard work. Mr. Web- ster has worked hard, but that fact alone does not account for his steady advance- ment. Ile has so systematized and method- ized his professional labors that unless one were familiar with his habits he would hardly suspect him of arduous study and unremitting toil. To see him in his office would give no indication of the multitude and importance of his affairs. He sits at a small library table, highly polished and elab- orately carved. Before him, in a handsome frame, is the portrait of a young lady, whose poise of head and eye-glasses give her a Bostonese air; it is a portrait of his daughter. On the same table, in an equally attractive frame, is the portrait of his wife. His writing implements seem designed as much for ornament as for use. On one cor- ner of the table is usually placed a vase of flowers. And these dainty articles, generally considered incongruons among the cobwebs of the law, leave no room for the accumula- tion of red-tape or formal documents. But there are apparently no cobwebs, red-tape, or formal documents in Mr. Webster's office. When a paper has been inspected, it is car- ried to some secret archive, and hidden out of sight. The room in which this lawyer works would answer to the word boudoir-
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lambrequins and lace curtains at the win- dows, a Chinese screen with a golden what- is-it blazoned on its panels. a potted plant growing upon the mantel hearth, Oriental rngs, frescoed ceiling, and tinted walls-in short, a thousand and one femininities which only Webster himself would call a law office, and which only Webster's abilities could pal- liate. To see him sauntering down the street, a light overcoat flung over his arm, and a slender cane twirling in his fingers, you would envy him his means for leisure. Ile seems never in a hurry, but this is the consequence of his undeviating system of doing what he has to do. He occupies himself with one thing at a time, and does that thoroughly and well. But not even to his habit of industry, nor to his clock-work method, does he owe altogether his success. To summarize these elements in a sentence, it might be said that Mr. Webster has achieved his position at the bar, his reputa- tion as a speaker, his recognition as one of the foremost Western men, first, by hard work systematically performed; then by a mental equipoise and an imperturbable good nature; and then-that smile! To answer an insult with a smile, instead of an oath, is sometimes heroic and always politic. Now, when you add to these elements of success, a persistent effort as un-let-upable as the force of gravity, the problem is taken out of metaphysics, and becomes a matter of arith- metic.
Mr. Webster exults in an up-hill fight. It is then that his resources, expedients, and indomitable energies have full scope. He never comes nearer being wholly and essen- tially great than when his opponent fancies he has him cornered.
Mr. Webster has been accused of vanity. There is a dynamic force in vanity which, however disguised, is the motive force of life. Admitting the impeachment, Mr. Web- ster might justify the fact.
SOLON L. WILEY was born May 31, 1840, at Cambridgeport, Vermont, where he lived until five years of age, and then moved to Greenfield, Massachusetts, where he re- ceived a common school education, and graduated at the high school there at the age of eighteen, after which he studied civil engineering and took up the branch of
hydraulic engineering and made it a profes- sion.
At the age of twenty-one, the young man enlisted in the war of the Rebellion, on call of the president, serving nearly two years, in the Fifty-second. Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, in the southwest, under General Banks. Ile held a corporal's commis- sion. Subsequently he held the position of purser in the merchant marine service off the eastern coast, and was at the taking of Fort McAllister. He was on the boat that made the first connection with Sherman's army on the Ogechee River.
After being mustered out of service, Mr. Wiley staid three years at Savannah, Geor- gia, to recuperate his health. While there, he engaged in the cultivation and manu- facture of rice for the New York market.
In 1865, he married Anna C. Newton, of Greenfield, Massachusetts. Ile went there to reside and took up the profession of engineer and contractor of hydraulic works. He continued in the business at that place for over twenty years, building twenty hydraulic works during that period. In 1875, his wife died, leaving two children- Edith A. Wiley, who married William II. Sherwin, of Ottumwa, lowa, where he holds the position of treasurer of the Iowa Water Company; and Walter S. Wiley, who is, at present, superintendent of the electric light company, of South Omaha.
In 1878, Mr. Wiley was married again, to Kate M. Newton, sister of the former wife, by whom he has two children-Ruth and Katharine; both living at home and attend- ing school at Walnut Hill.
In the year 1876, Mr. Wiley purchased an interest in the City Water Works (now American Water Works Company), of Omaha, and moved to the city, where he now resides. He rebuilt the water works at Florence, and was for a number of years its manager. At present, he is the president and manager of the New Omaha Thomson- Houston Electric Light Company, and built the present works at the foot of Jones Street and throughout the city.
In religion, Mr. Wiley is a Congrega- tionalist; in his political affiliation, a Repub- lican. He is recognized as one of the repre- sentative men of the city-wide-awake and active, in all his business undertakings.
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ORLANDO SCOTT WOOD .- It is a wise remark that " men who have achieved any worthy aim by reason of the very abil- ity which has enabled its achievement, not only are conscious of their superiority, to those they have surpassed, but they feel the inspiration of allowing their careers to be handed down in permanent form as encour- agements and incentives to others. This is true in all professions and callings." While the subject of this sketch would shrink from anything like obtruding himself upon the public, nevertheless, he does not feel him- self justified, when called upon, to withhold anything that is thought conducive to the advancement of his profession or calculated to stimulate others to hold firmly to their faith and persevere in well-doing.
The father of Orlando was a shoemaker. His name was Orin Wood. The maiden name of the mother was Sally Baldwin. In the spring of 1836, the family moved from Binghamton, New York (where Orlando was born on the 27th of January, 1832), to Berrien Springs, Michigan. There the father died in October, 1838, leaving, be- sides the boy whose name stands at the head of this article. another and younger son. The mother and her two children had noth- ing left them in the way of an estate- neither money nor lands.
Until the mother could get sufficient means to take her little family East (her old home being in Pennsylvania), Orlando was sent to live among strangers, but he found kind protectors.
In the spring of 1840, Mrs. Wood, with her two children, left Michigan, journeying first to Binghamton, where she spent two weeks with her husband's relatives, and thence to her old home, in Montrose, Penn- sylvania. In November, after her arrival, the subject of this sketch went to live with an uncle in South Auburn, Susquehanna County, that State; he was a farmer, and lived eighteen miles from Montrose. Or- lando was a "farmer's boy " with his uncle, for seven years, working for his board and clothes. In March, 1848, he apprenticed himself for three years, to learn the carpen- ter's trade, at twenty-five dollars for the first year, thirty-five for the second, and fifty for the third; this included his board, of course. Up to the time of the ending of his term, he had forty dollars due him, and the follow- ing day he engaged with his employer for
twenty dollars a month and board. Thus far the young man had received no educa- tion, except during three months each win- ter in country schools; but he thirsted for knowledge, and resolved to enter some edu- cational institution as soon as he could save a little money.
Mr. Wood worked steadily until Decem- ber, 1851, when he fitted himself out with a small amount of extra clothing, a kit of tools, and, with seventy-five dollars in his pocket, started for the Bucknell Univer- sity, of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, then pre- sided over by Howard Malcom, D. D. Hle entered the academical department, and keeping his means up as well as he could, by working at his trade on Saturdays and during vacations, continued on until the close of his junior collegiate year. Then, for want of money, he undertook to work during the summer term, keep up with his class, and enter again at the commencement. of the fall term, but this, as might be ex- pected, was too much of an undertaking. Ile was taken with a fever, and his expenses increased so much that he was obliged to abandon, for a time, his college scheme.
In October, 1856, Mr. Wood removed to West Chester, Pennsylvania, where a friend (Reverend Robert Lowry) procured him a situation as clerk in a book store. Ilere he hoped to save money to finish his Lewisburg course, but was disappointed and gave up the project. He was engaged as collector and soliciting agent in Chester County during the summer of 1857, for the Chester County Times. In the spring of the next year he began the study of homeopathy with Dr. Joseph E. Jones, in West Chester. In 1858 and 1859, he attended his first course of medical lectures at the Homeopathic Medi- cal College, in Philadelphia, graduating on the first day of March, 1860. At this time he was in debt sixteen hundred dollars for his education and professional outfit, which. amount, he had previously arranged, was to be paid after graduation and when he had earned the money in the practice of his profession.
Dr. Wood settled in Phoenixville, Pennsyl- vania, on the first day of April, 1860. At that place he remained one year, when he re- moved to Canandaigua, New York, where he purchased the practice of R. R. Gregg, M.D. At the close of 1866, he left there, going to Philadelphia, where, for a while, he
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located, and in addition to practicing his profession, attended, in the winter of 1867- 68, the first course of lectures in the Hahne- mann Medical College, where he again grad- nated, in March, 1868. In the following June he started for Omaha. He opened his office in this city, where he now resides, on the 10th of July. The doctor is a senior member of the American Institute of Homœ- opathy and of the Northwestern Homœop- athic Medical Association and Northwestern Academy of Medicine. He was one of the charter members of the Nebraska State Med- ical Society, and is the only active practi- tioner in his State that helped to organize that institution. He has, as specialties, gynæcology, diseases of children, and rectal diseases.
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