USA > Nebraska > Lancaster County > Lincoln > Lincoln, the capital city and Lancaster County, Nebraska, Volume II > Part 12
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On the Sth of July, 1883, Mr. Doyle was married in Greeneville, Tennessee, to Miss Eliza Ann, Remine, who, was born and, reared near that place and had been an acquaintance of his in boyhood. They have become the parents of six
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children, as follows: Jessica, now the wife of Raymond S. Murray, of Lincoln ; Kathleen R .: Thomas John, Jr. ; Raymond A. ; Elizabeth Aun ; and Dorothy. Mrs. Doyle is a namesake of her aunt, Mrs. Eliza Aun Brownlow, the wife of Parson Brownlow, who was Tennessee's first reconstruction governor following the close of the. Civil war. His name was William P. Brownlow but he was widely known as Parson Brownlow owing to the fact that he had previously been a Methodist minister. Mr. Doyle's eldest son, Thomas John, Jr., is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, where he completed the course in 1914, and he is now an ensign on the United States Battleship Kansas. He is an exceptionally bright young man, being especially proficient in mathe- matics, and upon his graduation he stood seventh in a class of one hundred and fifty-four.
In politics a democrat throughout his entire life, Mr. Doyle was the candidate of his party in 1895 for judge of the eleventh district, composed of twelve counties, and was only defeated by fifty-seven votes, although the counties had a large normal republican majority. He had also been the democratic nomince for the same judicial office in 1886, when he was not quite old enough to hold a position of public preferment. He accepted the nomination in the face of a large republican majority merely for the prestige it would give him and the large acquaintance it would gain him over the district. He was the democratic nominee for congress in the first Nebraska district in 1906 and was defeated by only twenty-seven hundred votes in a district the normat republican majority of which is from four to eight thousand. He has been a leading campaign worker, not only in Nebraska but in other states, since 1896. Aside from his political service he is active as a director of the Union Accident Insurance Company of Lincoln. He belongs also to the Lincoln Commercial Club, the Elks Club, the Country Club and the Automobile Club, and he is a member of the local and state bar associations and also of the American Bar Association. What he undertakes he accomplishes. He is a man of resolute spirit and does not hesitate to give that thorough preparation which must precede ascendancy in law practice. On the roth of January, 1916, he was appointed by Governor John II. Morehead a member of the national conference of commissioners on uniform state laws and is now serving as such. He belongs to the Candle Light Club and the Knights of Columbus and is a devout communicant of the Roman Catholic church.
EDWIN S. GUNN.
Edwin S. Gunn, who conducts a wholesale and retail mail order business in seeds at Lincoln, has developed a trade of gratifying proportions, making his one of the important commercial interests of the city. He was born in Illinois. August 3, 1867, a son of William and Mary H. ( Rousey) Gunn, who were also natives of that state. The father was a real estate dealer and in the fall of 1872 removed from Macoupin county, Illinois, where his birth occurred, to Edgar. Nebraska, where he spent his remaining days, passing away in 1870. He had served for three years during the Civil war as ed by Microart of Company I, Fourteenth Illinois Infantry, and: being captureif, was held for nine months in
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Andersonville prison, suffering all of the hardships incident to southern military prison life. His widow long survived him, passing away in 1906.
Edwin S. Gunn largely spent his youthful days at Edgar, Nebraska, to which place his parents removed when he was but five years of age. He supplemented his public school studies by a course in the State University, in which he spent two years, and later he took up the furniture business in connection with the Lincoln Furniture Company, having become a resident of this city in 1889. He was with that company for three and a half years, at the end of which time he entered the employ of the Griswold Seed Company, with which he continued for eighteen years, making steady advance in that connection until he occupied official positions, being vice president of the company when he severed his association therewith. He then went to lowa but after a year returned to Lincoln and in March, 1915, engaged in the seed business on his own account with store and office at Nos. 219-21 South Tenth street. Here he has since conducted business along wholesale and retail lines, having a large mail order trade and shipping to all parts of the world, his business extending into China and the Philippine islands. His interests are carried on under the name of the Gunn Seed Company and his patronage is steadily growing.
On the 13th of November, 1895, Mr. Gunn was united in marriage to Miss I. Eldora Zediker, a daughter of James F. and Julia ( Douglas) Zediker. They have become the parents of three children, Lemar E. N., Zellen W. A. and Ruth E. The last named was born March 1, 1913.
Mr. Gunn is a member of the Commercial Club and has membership with the Masonic fraternity, being affiliated with Lancaster Lodge, No. 54, F. & A. M., Lincoln Consistory, No. 2, A. & A. S. R., and with the Mystic Shrine. He is likewise identified with the Royal Arcanum. In politics he is a republican, while his religious faith is indicated by his membership in the East Lincoln Baptist church, of which he is serving as chairman of the board of trustees. He takes an active interest in every plan and project not only for the development of his business, which is steadily growing, but also for the development of the city along material, intellectual, social and moral lines.
PETER R. McCOY.
Peter R. McCoy, who devoted his active life to farming, was living retired at Bethany at the time of his demise and was one of the valued citizens of the town. He was born in Cambria county, Pennsylvania, on the 29th of March, 1838, and was a son of Hugh and Margaret ( Reeder) McCoy, both of whom were natives of the Keystone state. The father was a well known educator and passed his entire life in Pennsylvania, dying in 1886. He was survived for over two decades by his wife, whose demise occurred in 1908.
Peter R. McCoy attended the public schools in the acquirement of his educa- tion and during his boyhood and youth remained under the parental roof. On beginning his independent career he turned his attention to farming and followed agricultural pursuits until 1862, when he put aside personal interests and enlisted in Company I, Eighteenth Penn Ivania Cavalry, with which he served until the
MR. AND MRS. PETER R. MCCOY
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end of the Civil war. After being mustered out of the army he returned to Pennsylvania and farmed there until 1879, when he came west, locating in Saunders county, Nebraska. He took up a homestead there and also purchased land and devoted his time to the operation of his farm until 1900, when he retired and removed to Bethany, Lancaster county. Ile purchased a good resi- dence here and for thirteen years enjoyed a leisure made possible by his former well directed labors. On the 24th of June, 1913, he was called from this life, and his demise was the occasion of much sincere regret.
Mr. McCoy was united in marriage June 19, 1900, to Sarah E. Sunderland, a daughter of Jacob and Ilannah ( Maize) Sunderland, both of whom were born in Pennsylvania. Her father engaged in farming there and died in May, 1893, at the advanced age of ninety-two years. Her mother had long preceded him in death, passing away in March, 1872. By a former marriage Mr. McCoy had eleven children, nine of whom survive. In order of birth they are as follows: Ida Cora, born March 10, 1868; Maggie May, born May 18, 1860; llarriet, born July 17, 1870; Judson K., who was born October 12, 1871, and died No- vember 26, 1900; Anna M., born September 16, 1872; Ella V., born October 27, 1875; Milton E., born September 21, 1877; Ellis E., born November 9, 1878; Rosa May, who was born May 25, 1880, and is deceased ; Garfield, born October 9, 1881 ; and Walter A., born September 6, 1883.
The republican party had a stanch supporter in Mr. McCoy, and he served acceptably as a member of the town board of Bethany. He held membership in the Christian church and through his connection with the Grand Army of the Republic kept in touch with his comrades in blue. He was not only interested in the civic and moral advancement of his community but he was also identified with its business development as vice president of the First State Bank, being one of its founders. He was a stanch temperance man.
ROBERT FREELAND.
Robert Freeland, who was a railroad engineer, died as the result of an acci- dent in 1904, and his wife subsequently removed from Alliance, where they were living at the time, to Bethany and has since been a resident of that town. He was born in Freelandville, Indiana, on the 5th of December, 1862, and is a son of Dr. John Thomas and Lydia ( Ford) Freeland. The father was born in St. Michaels, Talbot county, Maryland, November 10, 1813, but in the spring of 1815, accompanied his father on his removal to Indiana, the family settling near Bloomington. He was graduated from the State University of Indiana in 1830. and the following year entered the Louisville Medical School. After his gradua- tion from that institution he began the practice of medicine at Edwardsport, Indiana, but shortly afterward removed to Widner township, Knox county, Indiana, where he practiced his profession for nearly fifty years. He was in every sense a country doctor of the old school, with an utter disregard for personal hardships. He responded to calls day and night that took him far from home, over rough country roadsbirougicromanft @1. to answer the demands of suffering humanity. He considered it a part of his work to serve,
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without cost, those patients who were not able to pay, and as he never refused a call he had all of that kind of work to do. At that time there was no provision made by the county for medical attention to the poor. In 1850 he was elected to the state senate of Indiana and served in all three terms. In 1862 he entered the Union army as captain of Company B, Thirty-third Indiana Volunteer Infantry. and remained in the service until the close of the war, when he resumed the practice of his profession. lle was a charter member of the Tri-State Medical Society, consisting of the states of Indiana. Illinois and Kentucky, organized in 1875, and he was called upon to serve as president of that organization for one term. He was a writer of considerable ability on both scientific 'and medical subjects, and his opinions are still given as authority on some medical subjects by the lecturers at Bellevue Hospital School of Medicine, in New York. His home in Freelandville was often spoken of as Dr. Freeland's orphan asylum on account of the many orphans whom he gave a father's care. Ile retired from the practice of medicine in 1885. At the time of his death, in 1896, it was said of him, that he had done more for the people of his community than any other man who had ever lived there.
Robert Freeland was reared in the Hoosier state and after completing his education engaged in teaching school for some time. His father wished him to study medicine and thus follow in his professional footsteps, but he desired to try his fortune in the west and in 1883 came to Lincoln, Nebraska, and entered the employ of the Burlington Railroad. After working for a time as engine wiper he became connected with the civil engineering department of the road, with which he remained for five years. He then worked in the roundhouse for a time and at length was made fireman and soon afterward was promoted to engineer, serving in that capacity until his death, which occurred on the 8th of June, 1904. as the result of a railroad accident. In 1900 he took up his residence in Alliance, where he was living at the time of his demisc.
Mr. Freeland was married on the 15th of November, 1891, to Mary A. Pierson, a daughter of Richard D. and Nancy E. ( Nash ) Pierson, natives re- spectively of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. They were among the pioneer settlers of Indiana, and the father operated a gristmill in Logansport until 1870, when he came to Lancaster county, Nebraska, which was then largely open prairie. Ile took up a homestead five miles south of Bennet, in Panama pre- cinct, and gave his time to the improvement of that place until 1886, when he rented the farm and removed to Lincoln. He erected a fine home there and remained a resident of that city until his death on the 13th of July, 1887. Ilis wife survives and lives with her daughter, Mrs. Freeland. The latter has become the mother of four children, as follows: Fern Lucile, born October 7, 1802, died October 2, 1911. Marie A., born November 10, 1804, is a graduate in music of Cotner University with the class of 1916 and is now teaching music. John Thomas, born April 20, 1899. is attending high school. Dorothy Ellen, born April 20, 1903, died March 10, 1907.
Mr. Freeland supported the republican party at the polls but was never a candidate for office, preferring to devote his time to his private interests. He was affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineerstil all the relations of lifeflie fulfilled the obligations resting upon him, and his many excellent qualities gained him a high place in
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the esteem of those who knew him. In the fall of 1906 Mrs. Freeland removed to Bethany in order to educate her children and purchased a nice home at the corner of Butler and Fairfield streets, where she still resides. She deserves credit for what she has done in rearing her children and affording them good educational opportunities, and since removing to Bethany has won many warm friends.
JEFFERSON 11. BROADY.
Jefferson HI. Broadly, attorney at law of Lincoln, was born in Brownsville, Nebraska, June 2, 1880, and is the youngest son and namesake of the late Judge Jefferson H. Broady of Lincoln, who served on the bench of the first Nebraska district for eight years before removing to Lincoln in 1891. During that period he was a resident of Beatrice, Nebraska, whither he had removed from Browns- ville. His birth occurred on a farm near Liberty, Illinois, April 21, 1844, and there he was reared. He completed his law course in the University of Michigan and received a large share of his legal instruction from the eminent legal writer and author, Thomas M. Cooley. He came to Nebraska in 1807, settling at Brownsville, and in 1875 he was a member of the state constitutional convention which met in Lincoln, representing Nemaha and Richardson counties. He after- ward became district attorney of the first Nebraska judicial district, in which office he served for two terms and then by popular suffrage was placed upon the bench, whereupon he served for two full terms or eight years. He declined a reelection to the district bench and also declined a nomination to the state supreme bench. In 1891 Judge Broady removed to Lincoln, where he repeatedly refused to accept nomination for office, preferring to continue in active law practice, which he did until his death in 1908, being regarded as one of the prominent and distinguished members of the bar of the capital. He was married in 1870 to Miss Nancy Jane MeDonald, a native of Pennsylvania and of pure Scotch descent. She still survives him, as do their children: Anna, who is now Mrs. David A. Haggard, of Brainerd, Minnesota ; Grace, a resident of Lincoln ; Bracton, who lives in the west and is engaged in mining pursuits ; John Calvin, of Auburn, Nebraska ; Jefferson H., of this review ; and Joyce, now the wife of John D. Clark, a lawyer of Cheyenne, Wyoming. Beatrice died in childhood.
Jefferson H. Broady has lived in Lincoln continuously from the age of eleven years or since 1801. His education was acquired in the public schools of Beatrice and Lincoln and in the State University, and in the latter he pursued a special course embracing both law and journalism. In 1904 he received the degree of LL. B. from the State University and for a year thereafter was in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he engaged in legal editorial work on the statutes of Ohio. For three years thereafter he was engaged in legal editorial work for the Lanning Publishing Company, law book publishers of Norwalk, Ohio, and during that period resided in Norwalk and New York city. In 1907 he returned to Lincoln and for three years was connected with the Nebraska State Journal Company as a law book/affezad writ Microsoft@. produced a four volume law work entitled the "Nebraska Synoptical Digest" for the ine of
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Nebraska lawyers, which has since become a standard work in practically every law library of the state. In 1911 he was appointed by the governor and the judges of the supreme court as a member of the code commission, the duty of which was to revise and codify all the general laws and statutes of Nebraska, his colleagues in this commission being A. M. Post of Columbus and E. L. King of Osceola. The report of this conmission to the legislature, dated 1913, is embraced in a volume of over twenty-one hundred pages and was adopted by the legislature without change. The entire Nebraska statutes were then revised and annotated by this commission in accordance with its report adopted by the legislature. It will be seen that Mr. Broady devoted ten years in all to legal editorial work and since 1914 he has given his attention to the private practice of law with offices in the Bankers Life building in Lincoln. Ile belongs to the Lincoln and Nebraska State Bar Associations and is a member of the American Judicature Society, organized to promote the efficient administration of justice.
On the 24th of November. 1909, Mr. Broady was united in marriage to Miss Margaretta Jenkins, of Mifflintown, Pennsylvania. They now have a son and two daughters, namely: John H., born September 26, 1910: Margaret, whose birth occurred September 30, 1912; and Elizabeth, whose natal day was Sep- tember 10, 1915.
Fraternally Mr. Broady is a Mason and is a most loyal adherent of the craft. He belongs also to the Commercial Club of Lincoln and his religious faith is evidenced in his membership in the Presbyterian church. There are few men of the west more thoroughly informed concerning the principles of jurisprudence and his contributions to law literature are most valuable. He believes in main- taining the highest professional standards and his ability has gained for him distinction among his colleagues and contemporaries.
CALVIN G. BEACH.
Calvin G. Beach passed away in Lincoln in November, 1913. He had lived retired during the period of his residence in this city but previously had long been connected with farming and stock raising interests and his life was one of activity and usefulness. Ile was born at Painted Post, New York, October 14, 1839, and was a son of Allen R. and Amy (Carpenter) Beach. The father devoted some years to educational work and later became a minister of the Baptist church, devoting a long period to pastoral work in New York. In his later years he retired from the ministry and engaged in farming in the Empire state, where both he and his wife spent their last days.
Reared under the parental roof, Calvin G. Beach completed his education in a college at Fairfield, New York, and afterward took up the profession of teaching, becoming a member of the faculty of Penfield Academy, near Rochester, New York. After devoting a few years to that work he went to the oil fields of Pennsylvania, where he operated in connection with his brother for a few years. In 1872 he removed westward to Blue Rapids, Kansas, purchased land and there engaged in raising cattletand other stock devoting about three decades to that business, his efforts being attended with gratifying success, so that he was known
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as one of the representative agriculturists and stockmen of the locality. In 1901 he retired and removed to Lincoln, purchasing three acres of land on Holdrege street, where he and his wife long resided. Later they removed to a nice residence at No. 645 North Twenty-sixth street, which Mr. Beach purchased and in which he spent his remaining days, passing away in November, 1913. after a long illness.
It was on the 14th of March, 1872, that Mr. Beach was married to Miss Charlotte M. Reed, a daughter of Rev. Edwin D. and Sophia ( Redfield ) Reed, who were natives of Massachusetts and New York respectively, the father re- moving to the Empire state with his parents when a lad of seven years. He was there educated for the ministry and devoted his entire life to preaching in the Baptist church, following his graduation from Madison University at Hamilton, New York. His labors wrought for great good in the moral development of the localities in which he lived. He passed away April 20, 1888, having for more than a decade and a half survived his wife, who died in August, 1871. Their daughter, Mrs. Beach, became the mother of the following children: Allen R., chief clerk in the Agricultural College at Lincoln: Frank W., a clerk in the Lincoln postoffice; Anna L., who resides with her mother and is engaged in teaching music; E. Carroll, a noted violinist, who taught music in Wahoo Academy, also in Denver, in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and the Nebraska Wesleyan University at University Place and passed away December 8, 1914. while a professor in Drury College at Springfield, Missouri ; Anna L., who was formerly a teacher of music in Drury College at Springfield, Missouri : and Calvin C., at home.
The family residence is at No. 2445 O street and Mrs. Beach owns eighty acres of land in Kansas and three hundred and twenty acres in Wright county, Missouri. In his political views Mr. Beach was an earnest republican and in religious faith a Baptist. He took a very active part in the work of the church, in which he held various offices, and his efforts were a potent element in pro- meting the growth and extending the influence of his denomination and he was also a strong temperance worker. His life ever measured up high standards and he left to his family not only a most comfortable competence but also the priceless heritage of an untarnished name.
EARL RAY BIRGE.
Earl Ray Birge, deputy collector of customs in the Omaha district. with headquarters at Lincoln, was born at Fargo, North Dakota, May 13. 1885. a son of Richard M. and Emma ( Smith ) Birge, who now reside in Kansas City. Ile began his education in the schools of Fargo and continued his studies in Omaha but when fourteen years of age put aside his textbooks and spent eight years thereafter in the service of the Burlington Railroad Company at South Omaha, his work being of a clerical character. He afterward spent three years in Arkansas and Missouri, engaged in railway work, and in rio he entered the customs service at Kansascityzushoby Microsoft ® in the office of the collector of customs. There he remained until September, 1913. after which
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he held a similar position in St. Louis until January, 1914. when he was ap- pointed deputy collector of customs in the office at Lincoln and is now occupying that position. His six years of connection with this line of work indicates his ability and fidelity.
On the 21st of March, 1900, Mr. Birge was united in marriage to Miss Alma Fuller, a daughter of llon. George W. Fuller, who is a member of the Nebraska legislature and resides at Seward, Nebraska. Our subject and his wife have three sons, namely : Richard F., born January 31, 1910; Edmund E., whose birth occurred on the Ist of November, 1911 ; and Ervin R., whose natal day was December 2, 1914. The parents are members of the Presbyterian church. During their residence in Lincoln they have gained many friends, warm regard being entertained for them by all who know them.
REV. ILDEPHONSE GAST.
Rev. Ildephonse Gast, pastor of St. Francis de Sales Catholic parish in Lincoln, was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on the 27th of August, 1881, and was educated at St. Francis College in Cincinnati, Ohio, with an additional course in homilectics at St. Bernard, Ohio, and a course in philosophy at Louisville. His theological course was pursued at Oldenburg, Indiana, and he was ordained to the priesthood on the 20th of June. 1907. Ilis first charge was as chaplain at the llome of the Good Shepherd, and at the Bartonville Insane Asylum at Peoria, Illinois. There he remained for a year and subsequently he was assistant pastor of St. Boniface church at La Fayette, Indiana, for three years. In August, 1911. he was appointed to his present charge, having since been resident priest in the parish of St. Francis de Sales in Lincoln. He is doing good work among his people, his efforts resulting in the marked upbuilding of the congregation and of the various departments of church work.
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