USA > Nebraska > Lancaster County > Lincoln > Lincoln, the capital city and Lancaster County, Nebraska, Volume II > Part 16
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BERNHARD HENRY SCHABERG.
Bernhard Henry Schaberg, president and manager of the First National Bank at University Place, manifests in his business career certain admirable traits- enterprise, fidelity to duty and the tendency at all times to employ constructive methods. His plans are always well defined and his course has ever been one which would bear the closest investigation and scrutiny. He was born in St. Charles county, Missouri, March 25, 1865, and in 1874, when nine years of age, was brought to Nebraska by his mother and stepfather, the family home being established upon a farm in Cuming county.
There Bernhard H. Schaberg was reared, with the usual experiences that fall to the lot of the farm lad. He obtained a public school education, pursuing his studies through the winter seasons, while in the summer months he worked in the fields. When seventeen years of age, through the influence of a friend, he secured the position of bookkeeper in the Elkhorn Valley Bank at West Point, Nebraska, spending two years in that position, at the end of which time the bank failed and he then entered the West Point National Bank, with which he was connected for four years. In 1888, when a private bank was established at Pilger, he was elected as cashier and manager-a position of large responsi- bility for one of his years, as he was then a young man of but twenty-three. This institution was afterward reorganized as the Pilger State Bank and in 1901 became the First National Bank of Pilger with a capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars. From the beginning his business grew and developed and Mr. Schaberg remained as cashier and manager until 1904, when he was elected president, which position he has filled continuously since. Under his guidance the business of the bank has grown continuously and the institution has become one of the strong financial concerns of that part of the state. In 1906 the capital stock was increased to fifty thousand dollars and Mr. Schaberg continued to concentrate his energies upon the management of that bank until September, 1912, when he came to University Place and purchased an interest
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in the First National Bank, of which he was elected president and manager, so continuing since that time. He is also vice president of the State Bank at Litchfield, Nebraska, which was organized in 1915 and is capitalized for fifteen thousand dollars. In addition to his banking interests he owns a nice residence at University Place, has farm lands in Knox and Staunton counties, Nebraska, and has a half interest in a lumber yard at Englewood, Colorado, his partner in that undertaking being his brother-in-law.
On the 27th of June, 1894, Mr. Schaberg was married to Miss Jessie May Abbott, a native of Iowa, who when twelve years of age was taken by her parents to Staunton county, Nebraska, where she was educated. By her mar- riage she has become the mother of a son, E. Ralph, who was born February 9, 1897, and is now a junior in the Wesleyan University.
In politics Mr. Schaberg has always been an earnest republican but not an office seeker. Fraternally he is connected with the Modern Woodmen of America, the Highlanders and the Royal Neighbors. He and his wife and son are all members of the Methodist Episcopal church. They were active in the work of the church at Pilger and soon after arriving in University Place, Mr. Schaberg was elected a trustee of the church here. While he concentrates much of his attention on business he never allows it to so monopolize his time that he has no opportunity for other interests and activities. He realizes that he has other duties and of these he is in no wise neglectful. His has ever been an honorable and upright career and in marked degree he enjoys the confidence and good will of all with whom he has been brought in contact.
SAMUEL BENTON HAMS.
Samuel Benton liams for thirty-one years a resident of Lincoln, is engaged in the practice of law and in a profession where advancement depends entirely upon individual merit and ability he has made substantial and gratifying progress. He was born upon a farm near New Rumley, Shelby county, Ohio, October 12, 1800. The village in which his birth occurred has ceased to exist, for with the building of the railroad through that locality, a new town called "Anna" was established and the former village passed out of existence. In that locality Richard liams, father of Samuel Benton liams, followed the occupation of farming. He too is a native of Ohio, but is now residing in Philomath, Oregon. Ilis wife bore the maiden name of Martha Ann Hardnock and was born at Hagerstown, Mary- land, February 6, 1844, being five years the junior of her husband, whose birth occurred August 23, 1839. In their family were seven sons and three daughters and Samuel B. is the second child and oldest son. Nine of the number are still living : Mrs. Alice Truell, of Lincoln ; Samuel B .; Mrs. Eliza Albright, resid- ing at Salem, Oregon ; William M., of Arlington, Nebraska ; Mrs. Kliza M. Prim- mond. the wife of Dr. C. C. Drummond, a physician of Harda, India : Luther R. of Arnold, Nebraska : Arthur C., also of Arnold; and Austin 11. and Oscar 1E., twins, living at Philomath, Oregon.
Samuel Benton liams was reared upon farms in Cass and-Lancaster counties by MIcrasQll When a child of of Nebraska, having been brought by his parents to this
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one and one-half years, at which time the father took up a homestead claim in Cass county. In 1876 the family removed to Missouri, but in 1877 returned to Cass county and in 1882 established their home on a farm north of Lincoln. There they remained until 1885 when the farm was sold and the family home was established in the capital city. Samuel B. liams pursued his law studies in the office of a Lincoln attorney and was admitted to the bar November 22, 1888. He then entered at once upon active practice in this city and through the intervening years has made a specialty of real estate and probate work, together with the pension business. He belongs to the Lincoln Bar Association. In his political views he is a democrat, but has never been an aspirant for public office. He holds membership with the Knights of Pythias and is a member of the Lincoln Commercial Club.
OLIVER P. MOULTON.
Oliver P. Moulton, who is living retired in College View, was born in Illinois in February, 1848, a son of Reuben B. and Susanna ( Ricketts) Moulton. They were both born in Indiana but in an early day removed to Illinois, whence in 1854 they went to Missouri and in 1855 to Iowa, where the father remained until his demise in 1910. He had survived his wife since 1901.
Oliver P. Moulton grew to manhood and received his education in Illinois and Iowa and remained with his parents until he was nineteen years of age. He then secured a position in the postoffice at Vandalia, Iowa, where he re- mained for four years, but at the end of that time he went to Ringgold county, Iowa, and purchased land which he cultivated, together with. a rented tract, until 1884. In that year he took up his residence in Loup county, Nebraska, and proved up on a homestead, which he operated for five years. He next went to Valley county, Nebraska, and bought a farm there and also property in the town of Ord. For ten years he devoted his time to farming his place in that county but subsequently removed to Seward, Nebraska, buying a small tract within the town limits. He turned his attention to the raising of fruit and met with success in that undertaking as in all of his other enterprises. Since November, 1912, however, he has resided in College View, where he owns a fine modern residence with spacious grounds and an acre tract as well, all within the town. In 1907 he bought an eighty-acre farm on section 6, Grant township, which he rents. He is living practically retired, enjoying a period of leisure made possible by his former labor.
Mr. Moulton was united in marriage, on the 20th of October, 1874, to Miss Sarah A. Lamb, a daughter of Joseph and Ellen (Sylvester) Lamb, natives of Kentucky and Indiana. The father, who was for many years engaged in farm- ing in Iowa, is still living but the mother died in 1902. Mr. and Mrs. Moulton have had two children. Walter C. is agent for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad at Anselmo, Nebraska. Vera E. is the widow of C. F. Cameron and has a son, Wendell, who is attending school in Lincoln. She resides with her father. Mrs. Moulton passed away on the 3d of June. 1912, after a long illness and her demise was deeply regretted by all who had come in contact with her.
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OLIVER P. MOULTON
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Mr. Moulton exercises his right of franchise in support of the candidates and measures of the republican party but has never been an aspirant for office. In religious faith he is a Presbyterian and his life has conformed to high stand- ards of morality. He has gained many warm friends in College View since removing here and his genuine worth is generally recognized.
HON. C. PETRUS PETERSON.
As lawyer and legislator, Hon. C. Petrus Peterson has won a distinguished position in public regard. He is now city attorney of Lincoln and his practice has long been of an important and distinctively representative character. Nebraska is proud to number him among her native sons. He was born on a farm in Polk county, March 10, 1880, the eldest son of William and Clara Matilda (Landstrom) Peterson, both of whom were natives of Sweden, born in the same parish, where the Peterson and Landstrom families were neighbors. The former was born September 18, 1849, and came to the United States in 1870. The mother was born January 28, 1847, and they were married in Henry, Illi- nois, in 1876. 'In the spring of 1878 they came to Nebraska and purchased railroad land in Polk county, the father developing a tract of wild prairie into rich and productive fields. The month of March, 1880, was very cold, and about the date of the birth of Petrus Peterson, a blizzard so lowered the tem- perature that the family had to live in the cellar of the house to keep warm, and there his birth occurred. The parents are now residents of Stromsburg, Nebraska.
Petrus Peterson was reared on his father's farm and when but four years of age began attending school, pursuing his studies to the age of fifteen, although after reaching the age of nine years he had the opportunity of attend- ing school for only about two months each year as through the remainder of the time his services were needed on the home farm. Between the ages of fifteen and twenty years he devoted all of his time to the farmwork, but ambitious to advance his education, he entered the Luther Academy at Wahoo, Nebraska, on attaining his majority, being graduated from that institution on completion of the two years' course. He then entered Augustana College at Rock Island, Illinois, where he completed four years' work in three years, and was graduated with the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1906. During the summer seasons he engaged in teaching and thus earned most of the money necessary for his college expenses. In the fall of 1906 he became a law student in the University of Nebraska, where he spent three years, being graduated in 1900. He earned his way through the law school as well as through college, and at once began practicing in Wahoo, where he remained from June, 1900, until August, 1911. At the latter date he became a resident of Lincoln and has since practiced at the bar of this city. He became associated with the late Charles O. Whedon. a prominent lawyer, who was much his senior and who admitted him to a full partnership in 1912, under the firm style of Whedon & Peterson. This associa- tion was continued until Mr. Whedon's death in January, 1043, since which time Mr. Peterson has practiced alone. Fie tookvoici/msOf The complete law
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library of Mr. Whedon, which is one of the best in Lincoln, but also the large law business of the firm. He has a suite of rooms on the third floor of the Bankers Life Building and his private office is one of the handsomest in Lincoln. Ile is a very thorough and earnest lawyer, most carefully preparing his cases, his reading covering a wide range. He prepares for defense as well as for attack and for the unexpected as well as for the expected; for the former happens in the courts quite as frequently as out of them.
On the 29th of June, 1910, Mr. Peterson was married to Miss Vera M. Mel- quist of Omaha, who was born in that city, but was of Swedish descent, her parents having been natives of Sweden. She was graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1908 at the age of twenty years, winning the Bachelor of Arts degree. She afterward taught in the high school at Benson, Nebraska, until 1910. She has become the mother of two daughters, Breta Barbara and Vera May.
In politics Mr. Peterson is a republican and was appointed city attorney by Mayor Charles W. Bryan, in May, 1915. He is also a member of the state legislature at the present time, having been elected to represent Lancaster county in the general assembly in the fall of 1914. He is there giving earnest con- sideration to the vital questions which come up for settlement and in the dis- charge of his legislative duties ever places the public welfare before personal aggrandizement. He belongs to the Lincoln and Nebraska State Bar Associa- tions and has been admitted to practice in the federal courts of the United States. Fraternally he is a Mason, having attained the eighteenth degree of the Scottish Rite, and his religious faith is evidenced by his membership in the First Congregational church. His has been a well spent life devoted to every public and private duty and his career has at all times measured up to the highest standards of manhood and citizenship.
BURTON H. SHOEMAKER.
During the years of his residence in Lincoln, where he passed away on the 15th of May, 1915. Burton II. Shoemaker was largely engaged in carpentering and in the line of his chosen occupation became well known to his fellow towns- men. In his later years he lived retired and he had reached the age of eighty- one ere he was called to his final rest. His birth occurred in Pennsylvania, March 29, 1834. his parents being David and Anna M. ( Taylor) Shoemaker. who were natives of the Keystone state. The father followed the occupation of farming and throughout his entire life cultivated a tract of land in Penn- sylvania. He was born April 16, 1801, and passed away February 8, 1881. at the age of seventy-nine years. His wife, whose birth occurred in October, 1807, died September 3, 1895, at the age of eighty-seven years.
Burton H. Shoemaker was reared and educated in Pennsylvania and from that state enlisted for service in the Civil war, although he had been living in Iowa for two years prior to the outbreak of hostilities between the north and the south. He had returned to PennsylvaniaCto help move his parents to fowa and with the call for volunteers he enlisted, joining the One Hundred and
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Thirty-second Pennsylvania Infantry, with which he served for nine months. During battle he jumped a fence and in so doing sustained injuries from the effects of which he suffered throughout his remaining days.
In 1864 Mr. Shoemaker came to Nebraska and secured a homestead claim in Lancaster county. Not a furrow had been turned nor an improvement made upon the place, and with characteristic energy he set to work to develop and cultivate the land, successfully continuing its operation until 1884, when he removed to Lincoln, where he resumed work at the carpenter's trade, which he had learned in early manhood. He was a very successful farmer, hiring most of the work done, but giving to the development of his farm his personal super- vision. His residence in Lincoln covered a period of thirty-one years, during which period he devoted considerable time to carpentering, and as he prospered he accumulated considerable capital, making judicious investments in real estate. His last illness covered but two weeks and on the 15th of May, 1915, he passed away.
In February, 1856, Mr. Shoemaker was united in marriage to Miss Martha J. Brownell, a daughter of Solomon and Susan ( Brinkerhoff ) Brownell, both of whom were natives of New York. The father was a blacksmith and learned his trade in New York City. In the '5os he came to Lancaster county, Nebraska, from Ohio and conducted a smithy here for a number of years. He afterward took up the study of medicine and became a very successful physician. Ilis remaining days were spent in Lancaster county, where both he and his wife passed away. To Mr. and Mrs. Shoemaker were born five children, as follows : Charles A., who is a physician and conducts a hospital at No. 1117 L strect in Lincoln: Allie, the wife of Jack Hatch, of Lincoln; Grant, living in Montana ; Sarah, who is deceased; and Alta May. the wife of Albert Spain, who is an undertaker at Belleville, Kansas.
In his fraternal relations Mr. Shoemaker was an Odd Fellow and he also belonged to the Grand Army of the Republic, thus maintaining pleasant rela- tions with his old comrades of the Civil war. In politics he was a republican. strongly indorsing the principles of the party. His religious faith was that of the Baptist church and it guided him in all of his relations with his fellowmen. No one ever questioned the integrity of his motives or his reliability in business transactions. He regarded his good name and his self-respect as something to be most sacredly cherished, and he never deviated from a course which he believed to be right between himself and his fellows.
PETER DONNELLY.
Peter Donnelly, deceased, was a well known factor in the business circles of Havelock, where for a long period he engaged in merchandising. He was born in Ireland and on attaining his majority came to the United States, after which he turned his attention to railroading, and for twenty-eight years was an engineer on the Michigan Central, during which period he resided at Michigan City, Indiana. At length hecnicy within inicyhis fe him to give up this work. In 1893 he came to Nebraska and settled at Havelock, where he
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built a store and established a dry goods business. Later he extended the scope of his activities by opening a grocery department, and he admitted his son-in- law, J. E. Langston, to a partnership in the business. They successfully con- ducted the trade, enjoying a liberal and well deserved patronage. Their business affairs were ever honorably conducted and their reasonable prices and fair deal- ings won for them success, so that Mr. Donnelly left an estate valued at fifty thousand dollars when, in September, 1915, he passed away at the age of seventy-four years.
Mr. Donnelly had been married in Indiana to Miss Mary Ann McCrory, a native of that state, and to them was born a daughter, Mary Angla, who is now the wife of J. E. Langston and who is associated with her mother in the conduct and ownership of the business left by Mr. Donnelly. In religious belief Mr. Donnelly was a Catholic, loyal to the church. He deserved much credit for what he accomplished, for he was empty handed when he crossed the Atlantic to the new world and it was through perseverence, diligence and determination that he worked his way upward and won success.
JOHN J. LEDWITH.
John J. Ledwith, practicing at the bar of Lincoln as the junior partner of the firm of Morning & Ledwith, was born in this city on the 20th of March, 1877, being one of a family of two sons and three daughters, whose father, the late James Ledwith, came to Lincoln in 1869 from Freeport, Illinois, here spend- ing his remaining days, his death occurring March 30, 1890. He was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, September 3, 1841, and following his removal to Lincoln engaged in business as a dealer in coal and wood and as a grocery merchant, conducting his business affairs at the northwest corner of Eleventh and P streets, where the Savoy Hotel now stands. Mr. Ledwith erected that hotel and was yet its owner at the time of his demise. In early manhood he wedded Anastasia Maher, who was born in Wisconsin and died in Lincoln, Nebraska, May 14, 1884. They became the parents of five children, of whom four are living : John J. ; Frank E., a resident farmer of Greenwood, Nebraska; Agatha, living in Omaha; and Maude, a resident of Lincoln.
John J. Ledwith completed his education in the University of Nebraska, where he won the Bachelor of Science degree in' 1900 and the LL. B. degree in 1903. Since that time he has practiced his profession in Lincoln and has been continuously associated with W. M. Morning under the firm style of Morning & Ledwith, being admitted to a full partnership in 1908. This is one of the. well known and able law firms of the city, accorded an extensive and important practice. His father, James Ledwith, had left an estate valued at seventy-five thousand dollars, but a financial panie which ensued during the following decade brought great losses to the family with the result that John J. Ledwith had to earn the money which enabled him to make his way through the State Uni- versity. He thus carly displayed the elemental strength of his character and the same spirit of courage and determination has characterized his later career. In addition to his law practice he has since his graduation been an instructor in the
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law department of the State University, now devoting an hour per day on three days of each week to his class in that institution. He is also a member of the Nebraska Bar Commission.
In politics Mr. Ledwith is a democrat and since reaching the age of seven- teen years has been an active worker in democratic circles. being much in demand as a campaign speaker in Lancaster county for twenty years or more. He served for some time as secretary of the democratic county central com- mittee and has done much to further the interests in which he so ardently believes. He is also active in business lines as a director of the Acme Amuse- ment Company of Lincoln, which controls the Orpheum, Lyric and Wonder- land Theaters.
On the 30th of June, 1909, Mr. Ledwith was married to Miss Alvina Iloppe, who was born in Lincoln, August 16, 1885, a daughter of August Hoppe, for- merly of this city. Her mother is still living and yet makes her home in Lincoln. Mr. and Mrs. Ledwith have two children: Lucile born April 18, 1910; and Charles Edward, born August 7. 1914.
The family are communicants of the Roman Catholic church and Mr. Led- with is identified with the Knights of Columbus and also with Lincoln Lodge No. 80, B. P. O. E., of which he is the present exalted ruler. lle also has membership with the Lincoln and Nebraska State Bar Associations and enjoys the confidence and goodwill of his colleagues and contemporaries in the pro- fession.
EDWIN S. DOWNES.
Death claimed Edwin S. Downes on the 24th of September, 1904, at which time he had been a resident of Lincoln for a number of years. He was born in New Jersey, September 16, 1860. a son of Edwin and Margaret (Timmons) Downes, who were also natives of the same state. In early life the father took up the business of bookkeeping, which he ever afterward followed. At an early day in the development of Lancaster county he removed to Nebraska and pur- chased land south of Lincoln, but this was during the period of the grasshopper scourge and he was unable to realize any profit from his farming interests. He therefore returned to New Jersey, where he continued to make his home until his demise, his wife also passing away in that locality.
Edwin S. Downes was reared and educated in New Jersey and in lowa. He removed west with his parents and after their return to the east he came to Lincoln, where he was employed by a cousin who was engaged in the coal trade. He afterward removed to Hickman, Lancaster county, where he worked in a store for three years and on the expiration of that period he went to Cort- land, Nebraska, where he embarked in the grocery business on his own account with a partner. On selling out his stock of groceries he established an imple- ment store at Princeton and later was engaged in the same line of business at Sprague for about four years. He afterward went upon the road for the Dempster Mill Manufacturing Company of Beatrice, which he repre- sented as a traveling salesman in Nebraska for five Years, and when they opened crosoft ®
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a branch house in Des Moines he went to that city and remained with the firm until his health failed. He afterward came to Lincoln and his remaining days were spent here, his death occurring on the 24th of September, 1904.
It was on the 29th of November, 1888, that Mr. Downes was married to Miss Julia Riley, a daughter of Patrick and Bridget ( O'Donnell) Riley, who were natives of Ireland and in early life came to America, settling near Alton,
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