History of western Nebraska and its people, Vol. III, Part 71

Author: Shumway, Grant Lee, 1865-
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., The Western publishing & engraving co.
Number of Pages: 1056

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J. B. WADE AND FAMILY

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

the agency here for the Sherman Nursery Company of Charles City, which has a terri- tory covering northwestern Nebraska. He is a progressive and up-to-date business man and is making a gratifying success of this line which is financially most profitable. Mr. Wade is a member of the Masonic order.

In April, 1872, Mr. Wade married Miss Charity Lynch in Boone county, Iowa, a na- tive of Delphi, Indiana, the daughter of Park- er and Maria (Hughes) Lynch, both Hoosiers. Six children have been born to this union: Carrie, deceased; Jennie the wife of Edward Callahan a farmer near Woodward, Iowa; Ar- thur A., a coal miner ; Ralph P., a merchant at LaJunta, Colorado; was head of the guard squad at Fort Logan, serving in the army eighteen months during the World War; Roy L. a coal miner of Boone, Iowa, and also a talented musician ; Mabel, the wife of Andrew Erickson, a station agent at Moingona, Iowa ; and John S., on the ranch with his father, enlisted in the army in 1917, being located at Fort Logan before he was transferred to the Heavy Artillery and sent to France where he served three months. After the war was over he returned home and went to farming.

ROBERT O. REDDISH, one of the young- er members of the Box Butte county bar who is making an enviable reputation for himself in his profession and also in business circles of Alliance and the Panhandle, is a native son not only of Nebraska, but of this county, born April 26, 1889, the son of Frank E. and Mary E. (Fisher) Reddish, the former a Hoosier while the mother is a native of Nebraska, born in Nemaha county. Robert was the oldest of the three children born to his parents. Frank Reddish is a pioneer of the Panhandle as he came here in 1887, locating on a homestead fourteen miles west of the present city of Alliance on land that today is known by the name of Barrell Spring. The boy grew up on his father's farm but was sent into Alliance to school. After graduating from the high school in the spring of 1907, in the fall he matriculated at the State University. While in college, Mr. Reddish took a preliminary letters and science course and then entered the law school, from which he graduated in 1911. Having spent his boyhood in the country the young attorney realized the value of land of his own and soon after being admitted to prac- tice started out to secure a farm. He took a Kinkaid homestead adjoining the town site of Angora, in Morrill county and to prove up on it had to actually live there seven months of

the year for three years. This he did, the other five months of each year he devoted to his real estate, loans and insurance business in Alliance, in addition to engaging in the prac- tice of his profession.

On October 21, 1914, Mr. Reddish was married at Hastings, Nebraska, to Miss Ruth Tibbits who was born in Angelica, New York, the daugther of Lemuel and Aurelia (Burr) Tibbits, the former a native of New York, as was the mother. Mrs. Reddish is a graduate of the Nebraska State University and after receiving her degree she taught for one year, filling the office of principal of schools at Pauline, Nebraska. Mr. Tibbits has taken an active part in public life in Nebraska and at the present time is clerk of the district court at Hastings. Mr. and Mrs. Reddish have two children : Mary Ruth, aged four and Rob- ert O., Jr., just past two. In 1914, Mr. Red- dish and Engene Burton entered into a part- nership for the practice of law, opening an of- fice over the First National Bank. Both are full of energy and push in business that is the marked characteristic of the successful Ne- braskan of the present day. They have ex- cellent executive ability, are students of human nature as well as the law and are handling many interesting as well as complicated cases which shows the high esteem in which they are held by the citizens. Mr. Reddish has made money on his farm and in his real estate business; he owns his fine modern home in Alliance and from the present outlook he and his partner have a bright future before them. Mr. Reddish is a Republican while his frater- nal affiliations are with the Masonic order and he is a Thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, Night Templar and Shriner and is a member of the Elks.

JAMES M. KENNEDY, D.D.S., is one of the younger members of the medical fraternity of Box Butte county and Alliance where he has become well known to the people of the ·community as a skilled member of his pro- fession since 1907, when he located in the Panhandle. He was born at Caledonia, On- tario, Canada, November 2, 1881, the son of Donald and Ellen (Madigan) Kennedy, the former born and reared at Glengary, Canada. James was the fifth in a family of seven chil- dren and spent his boyhood days in the locality where he was born. He started his education in the public school near his home, then entered the Caledonia high school, graduating in 1897. Though young in years he had already deter- mined upon a professional career, passed the

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HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

entrance examination to Northwestern Uni- versity, Evanston, Illinois and matriculated in the dental college where he spent four years in the special studies leading up to the degree of D.D.S., which was granted him by the university in June, 1901. For six years he was engaged in dental practice in Chicago, but desiring less confinement than he could secure in a large city and believing that there were good openings in the west Dr. Kennedy came to Nebraska in 1907, and after looking various locations over chose Alliance, where he has in less than a decade built up a practice that many an older dentist may well envy. He has a charming personality which counts so much in purely office practice. As in medicine and surgery, the science of dentistry is con- stantly developing new phases of usefulness, and in order to secure success today the dentist must keep fully abreast of the latest achieve- ments of his profession. This Dr. Kennedy has done to a marked degree, and it is one of the reason he has attained such a large pat- ronage in the thirteen years of his business life in the west and why he has retained uni- form confidence in the minds of his patients and the citizens of the city. Dr. Kennedy has been an advocate of organization among the dental practitioners of the state and done general construction work in the association. He is a Democrat. In medical matters he has shown the greatest interest as he is a member of the National Dental Association, the Ne- braska State Dental Association, while his fra- ternal affiliations are with the Elks and the Knights of Columbus

July 3, 1907, Dr. Kennedy married in Chi- cago, Miss Adelaide M. Forde, a native of that city, the daughter of James and Jane (Bodkin) Forde, both of whom were born and spent their childhood in Ireland and they have trans- mitted to their daughter that undefinable charm which is the happy heritage of the Irish woman, of the native land, or her de- scendents in America. Mrs. Kennedy is a grad- uate of the Sacred Heart Academy of Chicago and for several years after leaving college was engaged in teaching until about the time of her marriage. There are six children in the Ken- nedy family : Donald, Mary, Jean, James, Elen and Virginia. Dr. Kennedy has taken an active and interested part in the civic and communal life of Alliance since first settling here. He owns his modern home where he and his wife dispense a charming hospitality to their many friends. He is a "booster" for the county and town and aids in every move-

ment for the betterment of Box Butte county and his adopted city, whether it be good schools, good roads or social service.

FRANK E. REDDISH. - Closely identi- fied with many important interests of Box Butte county, Frank E. Reddish, who has con- ducted a real estate business at Alliance for more than a quarter of a century, may be numbered with the early settlers and awarded pioneer honors for he came in 1887, settling on a claim about fourteen miles west of the present site of the city, when settlers were few, as the country was practically an unbroken wilderness. Since that time he has born his full share of responsibility in developing the natural resources of the county, has been truly public spirited, and has done much for move- ments favoring progress in every way.

Mr. Reddish was born on the banks of the Tippecanoe river, in White county, Indiana, July 13, 1860, the son of Noah and Almira (Bartholomew) Reddish, the former born at Baltimore, Maryland, while the mother is a Buckeye, born at Ashtabula, Ohio. Frank was the second boy in a family of five children and as his father was a farmer he grew up in the country, learning early to assume many of the duties about the home place and at an early age became a practical farmer. Noah Reddish was one of the gallant sons of the Union who responded to the call for volun- teers at the outbreak of the Civil War and en- listed in Company E. Ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He participated in some of the hardest fought battles of the war, but was never severely wounded and when peace was established returned to the ways of peace and his farm. The school which the Reddish chil- dren attended was a log structure put up in the early days of Ohio, about a mile from home and they walked back and forth each day during the term. After finishing the grades in the country Frank Reddish attended the Monticello high school and after graduat- ing began to teach, a vocation he followed six years but he felt that the life of a pedagogue was not what he desired and as there were many opportunities for young, ambitious men in the west decided to migrate there. In the spring of 1886, he came to Nebraska, located at Hartwell where he taught school one term while he was looking the country over to find land in just the location he had in mind. He had been reared on a farm, was thoroughly ac- quainted with every branch of farm industry and coming to Box Butte county in 1887, se-

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lected a homestead fourteen miles west of the present city of Alliance, on the stream called Snake creek.

On April 26, 1886, Mr. Reddish married Miss Mary E. Fisher in Nemaha county, a native of that county and the daughter of Owen and Mary (Tufts) Fisher, the former born in New York, who came west and was a pioneer settler of Nemaha. Three children have been born to this union: Robert O., an account of whose life will be found on an- other page of this history, is a lawyer of Al- liance who married Mary R. Tibbits, and they have two children; Howard E., attended the Alliance high school, the Lincoln academy and then entered the state University, but at the close of the first semester returned to Alliance and entered the real estate business handling loans and insurance as well, being associated with his father with offices in the Reddish Block on Box Butte Avenue, married Miss Gail Ericson at Lead, South Dakota in 1916. She was born at Atchinson, Kansas, graduated from the Lead high school and then entered the school of music at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. Her husband is a member of the Elks and also a Scottish Rite Mason, and they have one child. The third child is Edith, who married Lyle Anderson, also in the real estate and loan business. They have one child. Mr. Anderson graduated from the Al- liance high school and then attended Milwakee- Downer College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for one year. She is a member of the Eastern Star After locating on his claim Mr. Reddish pro- ceeded to build the regulation "soddy" for a home, but it was warm and comfortable, and with his wife settled down there and began the improvements on their farm. There were no railroads here then and Mr. Reddish had to freight in his supplies in true pioneer style from Hay Springs, sixty-five miles away. Their neighbors were few and far apart as they were almost the first settlers of the sec- tion. James Leith, settled a half-mile south- west of the Reddish homestead and James L. Underwood lived a mile and a half to the east. Lewis M. Kennedy was next on a claim seven miles away, which shows how iso- lated the first settlers were, especially when one considers that there were no towns, no stores and no doctors in the entire district. For seven years Mr. Reddish remained on his homestead, made good and practical improve- ments and in 1894, moved into the town of Al- liance, opened a real estate office where he practiced as a land attorney, helping many men locate on homesteads and was one of

the early surveyors of the section as men of this profession were hard to get and correct boundaries of claims were most important. Mr. Reddish bought and sold land, was agent for insurance companies and practiced before the United State Land Office for twenty years. He had great faith in the future of the Pan- handle which caused him to locate here and that faith was never allowed to falter through- out the years of drought, grasshoppers and winter blizzards ; he held on when other set- tlers became discouraged and returned to their home in the east, many never to return. He bought more and more land until he accumu- lated a landed estate of three thousand, seven hundred and sixty acres of the finest farming land in Box Butte county, an achievement of which any man may well be proud, as this fortune has been accumulated by his own un- aided efforts. For many years Mr. Reddish has been a heavy and successful speculator in western lands. He bought the large brick building known as the Reddish block on Box Butte Avenue in 1907, which is a modern office building. In addition he owns a modern home and numerous other investments here and other places in the middle west. At the pres- ent time he is so well fixed financially that he can afford to spend the remainder of his life with no thought or care for financial affairs. He can look back and see that his life has been constructive, of benefit to his community and the many settlers who have come here since he and the other few pioneers blazed the path- way for the present progress, development and civilization of this favored section. Part of his time is spent in Alliance and part at his home at Long Beach, Califorina. Mr. Reddish is a sound Republican in his political faith, but of the most progressive type, while his fraternal association is with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

Mary E. Reddish is a descendent of Revo- lutionary ancestors on her mother's side of the family and a descendent of the well known Is- rael Putnam family. Frank E. Reddish also is a descendent of Revolutionary stock on his mother's side of the family. Mrs. Howard Reddish is a descendent of Revolutionary an- cestors on her mother's side of the family and belongs to the Daughters of the American Revolution.

W. J. MAHAFFY, one of the gallant sons of our country who enlisted in the arn.y to serve during the Spanish-American war and a man widely traveled over various portions of the globe, is a recent member of the dental

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HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

fraternity of Box Butte county to become es- tablished in Alliance but within a short time he has been a citizen of the Panhandle, the doctor has won the confidence of the public and is enjoying a practice that many an older man might well envy.

Dr. Mahaffy was born in Red Oak, Iowa. He attended the grade schools in his native town and then graduated from the high school, following which he matriculated in a college at Tarkio, Missouri, but his college course was cut short when he enlisted in the First Illi- nois Cavalry, in 1898, at the commencement of hostilities with Spain. The same year he received his honorable discharge from that organization and in the spring of 1899, enlisted in the Sixteenth Regiment United States regu- lars and was sent to the Philippines during the "Philippine Insurrection." Within six days of arriving in the islands he was promoted to corporal-sergeant and later made sergeant, then first sergeant, all before he had attained his majority, a rather good record for a mid- dle western boy just out of his first year in college ; but it is such men who have made the records for the army of the United States and enabled the volunteers to win the chevrons and citations for the regiments of which they are members. After being discharged from the army Dr. Mahaffy visited China, Japan, Ii- beria, Corea, Australia, Judea, Persia, Egypt, Spain and England. He made two trips around the Horn, and visited practically every South American country. After this remark- able period of travel and adventure the young man returned to the United States and having had wide and varied experience had decided upon a professional career and entered the dental college of Northwesten University, in Chicago, in October, 1902. Three years later he received his degree from the college and en- tered into practice in Chicago, where he was continuously engaged in office work of his profession until he decided to come west. In August, 1914, Dr. Mahaffy came to Alliance, opened an office and became one of the well recognized members of the dental profession. He rapidly gained a gratifying practice for so young a man. As in medicine and surgery, the science of dentistry is constantly develop- ing new phases and in order to secure success the dentist of today must keep fully abreast of the latest discoveries and achievements of his profession. Dr. Mahaffy has done this for in 1916, he took a post graduate course in one of the finest dental schools in the west at Kan- sas City, Missouri. His office in Alliance is

located over the Alliance National Bank. That the doctor has "made good" and gained the confidence of the citizens needs not be told when we learn that he has earned two fine farms and owns a modern home in Alliance, and still has a continually increasing practice among the best class of the residents. Since first locating in the Panhandle the doctor has taken an active part in civic and communal life for he is modern in his professional meth- ods and advocates all modern improvements for the county and his home city. He is a director of the Alliance Commercial Club, is a member of the Masonic order, the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen, the Maca- bees and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

E. B. O'KEEFE, D.D.S., a native son of Nebraska, Box Butte county and Alliance is one of the younger generation of the dental fraternity to locate in this city where he has been known since childhood and already has built up a very substantial and satisfactory clientele for so young a professional man.

Dr. O'Keefe was born in Alliance, the son of John O'Keefe. The doctor was reared here, attended the public schools and after graduating from the high school in June, 1916, matriculated in the dental college of Creighton University, at Omaha, as he had decided upon a professional career. He spent three years of study in the dental department of the uni- versity, receiving his degree in 1919 and came back to his home town to practice dentistry. He is a young man of pleasing personality, which is so important in an office practice and is well acquainted with the latest discoveries in dental surgery which have come about by the special dental work done since the World War opened a new field for the dentist, he is progressive in his ideas and methods. Already he has inspired the residents of the city with the fact that he is one of the young energetic and painstaking men of his profession, able to cope with the many oral diseases as well as teeth. While in college Dr. O'Keefe was a member of the Xi Psi Phi National Dental fraternity and is one of its loyal alumni. He is also a member of the Nebraska State Dental Society and fraternally belongs to the Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks, and Knights of Columbus. Everyone predicts a bright fu- ture for this young professional man, whose parents are among the well known and promi- nent members of the pioneer colony of Box Butte county.

THOMAS L. O'HARRA

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

THOMAS L. O'HARRA, who may well be called one of the progressive men of western Nebraska because of his continuous efforts to advance her interests, has been a resident of this state since his eighteenth year, and of Ger- ing since the spring of 1915, in which city his business is extensive and his political prestige important. He was first elected mayor of Ger- ing in 1917.

Thomas L. O'Harra was born in Decatur county, Iowa, August 19, 1870, a son of Elijah and Jane ( Peterson ) O'Harra. His father was born at Columbus, Ohio, in 1848, a son of Thomas O'Harra, who was born in Ireland and came to the United States from Dublin in young manhood. He was a farmer and stock- raiser in Ohio until his death at the age of sev- enty-nine, in the early eighties. Elijah O'Harra married Jane Peterson, who was born at Gales- burg, Illinois, in 1852, and died in Nebraska, February 27, 1909. Her father, Captain James Peterson, was born in Pennsylvania, moved to Missouri later in life, served in the Civil War as an officer, and on a visit to his old home in 1863, died at Chillicothe before reaching his destination. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. O'Harra, two of whom survive: Thomas L. and Morris G. The latter was born August 22, 1883, and was graduated from the high school at Lexington, Nebraska. He holds the very important office of district manager of the western division of the United States Rub- ber Company, with headquarters at Minneap- olis, Minnesota. In 1888 the father home- steaded in Gosper county, Nebraska, has been a farmer all his life and now lives retired at Grand Island.

Thomas L. O'Harra attended school in Iowa before the family came to this state, and in 1891 was graduated from the high school of Bertrand, Nebraska. For a few years after- ward he followed farming, then spent several years in a general mercantile business, after which he went into the meat and stock business in which he is yet engaged. In March, 1915, Mr. O'Harra came to Gering, opening up an extensive market, the first livestock market established at this place. For twenty years he has shipped to South Omaha, while his local trade is exceedingly heavy.

In March, 1892, Mr. O'Harra was united in marriage to Miss Lottie McDonald, who died in March, 1897, the mother of three children : Earl L., who is associated with his father in the meat business ; Milo P., also connected with his father in business, and Fleta L., a kinder- garten teacher. In 1902 Mr. O'Harra married Miss Maud M. Johnson, a highly accomplished, educated lady, who had been a teacher in the

public schools and for eight years had been county superintendent of Gosper county. Mr. and Mrs. O'Harra have two sons, Morris E. and Thomas, both of whom are in school. The family belongs to the Christian church.

Fraternally Mayor O'Harra is an Odd Fel- low and a Mason of the Royal Arch degree. In politics he has long been active in Demo- cratic circles and is in close accord with the best party elements. Since 1917 he has been vice president of the school board of Gering and in the above year was first elected mayor, subse- quent elections following. His administration of this office has been very beneficial to Gering. A citizen of positive patriotism, a true Amer- ican, he has helped to win success during the last few years of financial stress, for every war loan, assisting in putting the last one over the top by $10,000. He has given encouragement to many of Gering's worthy enterprises and is always ready to contribute and cooperate for the city's good, a very charitable man, portraits of whom, with one of his father and brother, appear on the opposite page.

S. B. WRIGHT, cashier of the Guardian State Bank and Trust Company, is also a lead- ing and prominent, loan, insurance and ab- stract man of Box Butte county. He has been identified with numerous financial enterprises here and established a high reputation for ability, judgment and general acumen. His introduction to Alliance was in the roll of district agent for a life insurance company but it was not long until he became associated with banking affairs and since that time his rise has been sure, rapid and satisfactory to him- self and his many friends. Mr. Wright is possessed of that push and dynamic energy that insures success for whatever undertak- ing he assumes and has caused him while yet a young man to become one of the prominent factors in the financial life of Alliance and the Panhandle.

He was born on a farm near Springfield, Missouri, and was reared on the home place, attending the district school during the term and helping on the farm as soon as his age and strength permitted, thus at an early age he became acquainted with the business side of farm industry. Later the family left Mis- souri and moved to Columbus, Ohio, where the boy entered the Bliss Business College and also to a special commercial law course in the Young Men's Chistian Association night school, which he finished in 1903. Mr. Wright well remembers the first money he earned by pulling weeds in a neighbor's corn field at twenty-five cents a day and used the money to

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History of western Nebraska and its people, Vol. III, Part 71

Author: Shumway, Grant Lee, 1865- Publication date: 1921 Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., The Western publishing & engraving co. Number of Pages: 1056

Author: Shumway, Grant Lee, 1865-
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., The Western publishing & engraving co.
Number of Pages: 1056