USA > Nebraska > Lancaster County > Lincoln > Lincoln, the capital city and Lancaster County, Nebraska, Volume II > Part 17
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Illinois, where Mr. Riley purchased land and carried on farming for about a quarter of a century. He arrived in Lancaster county in 1879 and invested in land sixteen miles south of Lincoln, devoting his remaining days to its further cultivation. He died May 19, 1888, and his widow, still surviving, now makes her home with Mrs. Downes. To Mr. and Mrs. Downes were born two children : Mary Ione, who was born September 9, 1889; and Margaret Olive, born Janu- ary 31, 1897. Both have taken up the study of stenography and occupy positions of that character, the younger daughter being now connected with the firm of 11. P. Law & Company.
Politically Mr. Downes was a republican and his religious belief was that of the Catholic church, while fraternally he was connected with the Knights of Pythias. He had many admirable characteristics, including marked socia- bility, and his genial nature and affable disposition won him many friends.
NATHANIEL P. T. SMITH.
Nathaniel P. T. Smith, who engaged in farming for many years, gained financial independence and is now living retired in Bethany. His birth occurred in Ohio on the 15th of March, 1844, and he is a son of Madison and Mary J. (Whitney ) Smith, the former a native of New Jersey and the latter of Ohio. The father followed the millwright's trade in New York and in Ohio, but in 1849 removed with his family to Iowa and purchased land in Monroe county which he improved and operated until his death in 1858. Forty years later, in 1808, his wife passed away.
Nathaniel P. T. Smith was reared in Ohio and Iowa and is indebted for his education to the district schools. He resided with his mother and worked as a farm hand until 1862, when, feeling that his paramount duty was to his country, he enlisted in August in Company D, Twenty-second lowa Volunteer Infantry, and served at the front for eleven months, at the end of which time he was honorably discharged on account of sickness. In 1864 he drove across country to Plattsmouth, Nebraska, where he resided for some time. At that time many mining camps were being opened in Colorado and many new settle- ments started and there was a large trade between that section and points farther east, and as there were no railroads, goods were transported by team. Mr. Smith engaged in freighting to some extent, making two trips to Denver, but in March, 1866, he went to Johnson county, Nebraska, and took up a home- stead. He resided on that place until 1913 and concentrated his energies upon its improvement and operation. He seldom failed to harvest good crops and as the years passed his/resources grew steadily SuIn 1914 he retired from active life, rented the farm and removed to Bethany, where he purchased a good
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residence. He also owns one hundred and twenty acres in Montana, and is in excellent circumstances.
On the 12th of February. 1872, Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Martha M. Edwards, a daughter of William and Mary II. ( Keeney) Edwards, natives of Indiana. The father engaged in farming in that state until his demise, which occurred in 1874. Following the death of his first wife, in 1854 he remarried. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have become the parents of five children. Nora Belle was born March 13, 1874, and died February 10, 1899, leaving four children. Mary E., who was born April 25, 1876, married Hiram Robertson, who is operating our subject's farm, and by whom she has eight children. Nellie, born October 14, 1880. married R. G. Thompson, a farmer of Johnson county. Edwin E., who was born March 15, 1883, is a graduate of Cotner University, was formerly pastor of the Christian church in El Monte, Cali- fornia, and held several pastorates in Nebraska, but is now a professor in Cotner University. He is married and has one child, Amarilla C., who was born July 7, 1886, and is a graduate of Cotner University, married Fred Foote, and they reside on a farm in Montana.
Mr. Smith exercises his right of franchise in support of the candidates and measures of the republican party but has never otherwise been active in politics. He holds membership in the Christian church and is also identified with the Grand Army of the Republic. The success which he has gained is due entirely to his thorough knowledge of farming, his enterprise and his good business judgment and the period of leisure which he is now enjoying is well deserved. Since coming to Bethany he has gained a wide circle of friends and the respect of all who have come in contact with him.
JOHN J. CLOOS.
John J. Cloos is serving for the second term as mayor of Havelock and is also well known as an enterprising and progressive merchant of the town where for the past six years he has been engaged in the hardware trade, as senior partner of the firm of Cloos & Anderson, dealers in hardware and also conducting a plumbing and heating business. He was born in Southold. Long Island, New York. December 1, 1861, a son of Gothart and Mary (Nuessle) Cloos, both of whom were natives of Germany, the former born in Hesse-Darmstadt and the latter in Wurtemberg. They were married, however, in the United States and the father engaged in the tailoring business in Brooklyn, New York, where his last days were spent, his death there occurring when his son John was a youth of seventeen years. The mother and her three sous afterward came to the west and resided near Maquoketa, Jowa, for three years. Subsequently she spent three years on a rented farm in Butler county, Iowa. and afterward came to Fremont. John J. Cloos was later employed in a hardware store for five years and spent one year in the Black Hills. For a decade he was employed as salesman by different hardware firms of Omaha and St. Louis and subse- quently was engaged in the hardware trade in Fremont, Nebraska. Later he was for several years a salesman with CHECKholdge GaAttGrm of Seattle,
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Washington, and afterward was employed for a few years in the Hoppe Hard- ware store of Lincoln, but six years ago embarked in business on his own account in Havelock as a partner of E. E. Anderson of Lincoln. For thirty years he has been connected in one capacity or another with the hardware trade and is familiar with it in every branch of the business. The firm now carries a large and well selected line of shelf and heavy hardware and their success is the merited reward of earnest effort, close application and honorable dealing.
Mr. Cloos was united in marriage to Miss Amanda MI. Herre, a native of Fremont, Nebraska. Fraternally he is connected with the Odd Fellows of Have- lock and with the Masonic fraternity at Fremont. His political allegiance is given the democratic party which finds in him a stalwart advocate and he is now serving for the second terin as mayor of his city. He gave to Havelock a businesslike administration during his first term and received indorsement of his course in a reelection. He is now putting forth every possible effort to advance the welfare of his city and his efforts have been of distinct value to his fellow townsmen.
HENRY H. FREY.
Henry II. Frey, conducting business in Lincoln as a florist under the firm name of Frey & Frey, and the oldest florist in the city, was born in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, September 13, 1841, and he declares that there is nothing to the proverbial hoodoo supposed to surround the number 13. for he feels that fate has been kind to him in spite of the fact that he was born on the 13th of the month. His boyhood was spent in Pennsylvania, where he remained until after the Civil war. In 1868 he purchased two hundred and seventy-four acres of land in Winchester county, Virginia, where he resided for seven years and then re- turned to the Keystone state, where he continued until 1878. On the 8th of April of that year he arrived in Lincoln, making the journey by train across the country accompanied by his wife and six children. In the party were also two other families, there being twenty-five children among them. Mr. Frey immedi- ately purchased a home and his first work in the new city was that of assisting in building the iron fence around the postoffice. He next entered the employ of A. J. Sawyer at gardening and general work, remaining with him for three years. Later he spent ten months in Oregon and eighteen months in California, handling pig iron in a mill, but the hot iron injured his eyesight and he gave up the work. He then, in 1884, returned to Lincoln, purchased ten acres of land at what is now Twenty-second and G streets and began gardening. Gradually he converted his interests into a greenhouse business which has had a steady growth ever since. In connection with his eldest son, C. H. Frey, he carried on the business for several years, after which the partnership was dissolved and C. H. Frey estab- lished a greenhouse of his own. The father was then joined by his other sons and they have since conducted the greenhouse, their plant covering nine acres, with one hundred and twenty thousand square feet under glass. Their business has reached extensive proportions and they make shipments from the Pacific coast to points as far east as the Missouri river and from Canada to the Gulf.
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HENRY H. FREY AND FAMILY Taken in 1915
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Their trade has gradually developed and their enterprise is now one of very profitable character. Mr. Frey has also made other investments which have brought him good returns and is the owner of two hundred and forty acres of land at College View, together with city property in Lincoln.
In Pennsylvania Mr. Frey was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Jackson, a native of that state who passed away March 12, 1910. To them were born nine children, as follows: Clarence H., who is engaged in the florist business in Lincoln as a member of the firm of C. H. Frey & Company ; Minnie E., who died at the age of twenty years; Joseph B .; Milton, who died at the age of twenty- eight years; Clement E .; Raymond J .; Bertie, who died at the age of eight years ; Ida L., who is the wife of J. W. Spires of Clarks, Nebraska ; and Irwin F. Of the above mentioned, Messrs. Joseph B., Clement E., Raymond J. and Irwin F. Frey are associated in business with their father.
In his political views Mr. Frey has been an earnest republican since casting his first vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1864, but the honors and emoluments of office have had no attraction for him. He is interested, however, in everything pertaining to the welfare and progress of city and state and has been liberal in his donations to many civic projects. In four years he has paid twelve thousand dollars for paving alone. He has ever been recognized as a man of earnest pur- pose, determined and energetic and has carried forward to successful completion whatever he has undertaken. He has made a close study of his work and the intelligent direction of his efforts has added to his income year by year until he is now at the head of a profitable concern and is accounted one of the substantial citizens of Lincoln.
HON. WILLIAM TOWNSEND THOMPSON.
The Hon. William Townsend Thompson is a distinguished member of the Lincoln bar, who at one time was attorney general of the state, and who has also been a member of the Nebraska legislature. In various ways he has left the impress of his ability and individuality upon the history of the common- wealth, and his course has ever been counted as an asset for progress and improvement in connection with his profession and with public affairs. He has lived in Lincoln since 1904 and dates his arrival in Nebraska from 1885.
Mr. Thompson was born on a farm near Fennimore, Grant county, Wis- consin, May 23, 1860, his parents being James and Charlotte ( Hall) Thomp- son. The father, who was a farmer by occupation, was born in London, Eng- land, and in 1855 came to the United States. Making his way westward to Grant county, Wisconsin, he purchased a farm from the government at a dollar and a quarter per acre and upon that tract of wild land built a house. Soon afterward he persuaded his brother George, then in England, to come to the new world with his family and join him at his new home in Wisconsin. The brother acceded to the request, so that soon afterward George Thompson and his family were installed in the home of James Thompson. The former, how- ever. became ill of pneumonia and passed away . Some time afterward James Thompson married the widow of ARCHAtheMACHOS2Th Page the Hon. Vol. II-9
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William T. Thompson was the only child. By her first husband Mrs. Thomp- son had five children, two of whom are living : Mary A., now the wife of Hiram A. Bailey, of Boulder, Colorado: and George, a resident of Ogden, Iowa.
William T. Thompson was but five years of age at the time of his father's death and was left an orphan by the death of his mother when a little lad of eleven years. He then went to live in the home of a Scotchman of the name of William Mabin, and in 1873. when thirteen years of age, he made his way to the home of his married sister, Mrs. Mary A. Bailey, in Pottawattamie county, Iowa, remaining upon her farm there until 1879. Throughout his life up to that time he attended the country schools whenever the opportunity offered, and at nineteen years of age he became a student in Simpson College, a Methodist school at Indianola, lowa, where he spent the succeeding four years in study, pursuing the classical course. Ere completing his education, however, he taught school at intervals in order to secure the funds necessary to continue in college, and while teaching he devoted the hours which are usually termed leisure to the study of law. He was admitted to the bar at Des Moines, Iowa, in 1884, and for a year practiced at Indianola, that state, but in 1885 came to Nebraska and for nineteen years was engaged in law practice at Central City. While there he served for two terms as a member of the state legislature from Merrick county, being a representative in the house from 1899 until 1903. Ile gave careful consideration to all vital questions which came up for settlement, and his course in the legislature marked him as a public-spirited citizen who subordinated personal interests to the general good. Prior to that time he had served as prosecuting attorney of Merrick county for one term.
In 1904 Mr. Thompson removed to Lincoln and has since been numbered among the prominent members of the bar of this city. From 1901 until 1905 he was deputy attorney general of Nebraska under Norris Brown, and in 1906 was elected to the office of attorney general, entering upon the duties of that position in January, 1907. The following year he was reelected and served from January, 1907, until October 1, 1910, when he resigned to accept the office of solicitor for the United States treasury department at Washington, D. C., having been appointed to that position by President Taft. He thus served until January 1, 1914, when he resigned. The act of his official career of which he is the proudest had to do with his attitude toward the railroads and express companies when he was holding the office of attorney general of the state. It had long been the custom of the railroads and express companies whenever their passenger, freight and express rates had been lowered by legislative enact- ment to rush into the federal court and secure an injunction against the enforce- ment of the laws. They would thus get the matter into the courts and keep it tied up indefinitely, thereby defeating the purpose of legislation. The Nebraska state legislature during the session of 1907, while Mr. Thompson was attorney general, passed an act reducing the passenger, freight and express rates, the last being cut twenty-five per cent. Anticipating that the railroads and express companies would hasten to enjoin, in the federal court, the enforcement of the new law, as they had frequently done before, Attorney General Thompson took time by the forelock and adopted their own tactics by going into the state supreme court ahead of them and securing an injunction
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against the companies, enjoining them from charging any other rates than the statutory rates. He thus beat them at their own game and with their own weapons to the end that the reduced rates became effective according to the statute enacted. Since resigning the office of solicitor of the treasury depart- ment Mr. Thompson has devoted his attention solely to the practice of law and occupies a high place as a member of the Lincoln bar.
On the 20th of April, 1885. Mr. Thompson was married to Miss Florence B. Busselle, of Indianola, Iowa, who was born in Lucas county, that state, and is of French and German descent. They have three children: Vivian, now the wife of Donald D. Price; Charlotte, the wife of Wilbur M. Jeffreys, of Wash- ington, D. C .; and Norma, at home.
Mr. Thompson is an ardent temperance man and is doing all he can to further the movement to make Nebraska a dry state, being now chairman of the executive committee of the Nebraska Dry Federation of Lincoln, which organization, it is believed, will carry its dry campaign to victory in the fall of 1916. As a member of the state legislature, as attorney general of Nebraska, and as solicitor of the United States treasury department, he has ever rendered a good account of his stewardship, and over the record of his public career there falls no shadow of wrong or suspicion of evil. He has long been active in the public service and has ever been faultless in honor, fearless in conduct and stainless in reputation.
ALBERT A. CONE.
Albert A. Cone was for ten years connected with the Security Mutual Insur- ance Company of Lincoln and was recognized as one of the leaders in that line of business. His birth occurred in Geneva, Ohio, on the 29th of December. 1865. and he was a son of Oscar and Sally ( Citerly ) Cone, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of New York. The father was a minister of the United Brethren church and held charges in Ohio and Nebraska, having come to this state in 1879. lle passed away at Unadilla on the 14th of June. 1885. but is survived by his wife.
Albert A. Cone received his early education in the Buckeye state, as he was fourteen years of age at the time of the removal of the family to Nebraska, but supplemented the learning acquired in Ohio by attending the Western College, at Toledo, lowa, which is now known as the Leander Clark College. After leav- ing that institution he cultivated land belonging to his father in Otoe county, Nebraska, until 1891 but in that year took up his residence in York, Nebraska, and engaged in the grocery business there. Five years later he came to Lincoln and for a considerable period of time conducted a grocery and meat market here, bu in 1002 went to Auburn, Nebraska, where he managed a grocery store for two years. On returning to Lincoln he became connected with the Security Mutual Insurance Company with which he remained for ten years, or until his death which occurred on the 7th of June, 1914. He possessed sound business judg- ment and enterprise and the-interests under his charge were most ably managed.
On the 19th of November. 158910/ReGrasatt .Miss Anna 1 ..
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Hottel, a daughter of George W. and Mary C. (Swisher) Hottel, both of whom were born in Shenandoah county, Virginia. The father followed agricultural pursuits in Virginia, Ohio, Nebraska and Kansas. He came to Nebraska in 1881 and farmed in Otoe county until 1897, since which time he has lived retired and has made his home with Mrs. Cone. He is now nearly eighty-three years of age, as he was born October 2, 1833. but is still active. His wife died on the 19th of August, 1901. To Mr. and Mrs. Cone were born three children : Oscar R., a druggist at Liberty, Nebraska ; Owen W., who is employed in the Wilson Drug Company, at Lincoln ; and Edith M., who is teaching in York College, at York. All the children are graduates of the State University of Nebraska.
Mr. Cone supported the republican party by his ballot but was not otherwise active in politics. He was connected with the Modern Woodmen of America and was a leading member of the United Brethren church. He gained a gratify- ing measure of material prosperity and also won the unqualified respect of all who knew him. His wife owns an attractive residence in Lincoln and is well known here.
C. W. HOLMES.
C. W. Holmes, engaged in the real estate and insurance business in Havelock, was born in Rock Bluff, Cass county, Nebraska, February 24, 1865. a son of Charles M. and Marietta C. ( Kauble) Holmes, the former a native of New York and the latter of Indiana. The father was a farmer by occupation and in the early '50s removed westward to Nebraska, settling in Cass county. His remaining days were spent in this state and he passed away in 1889, at the age of fifty-five years, after several years' residence in Plattsmouth, Nebraska, where he was engaged in dealing in stock, buying, selling and shipping. His wife died at the home of their son, C. W. Holmes, in Havelock, at the age of sixty-nine years.
The youthful experiences of C. W. Holmes were those of the farm bred boy. He spent his youthful days on the old home farm in Cass county, where he remained to the age of nine years and then went to Plattsmouth. In 1892 he became identified with the business interests of that place as a liveryman and later he was engaged in business in Oklahoma City for one year. On the expiration of that period he came to Havelock and for sixteen years was employed by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company in its boiler shops. He was then chosen deputy register of deeds under W. M. Clinton, which position he occupied for four and one-half years, and upon the death of Mr. Clinton he was appointed to fill out the unexpired term of six months. On retiring from that position he engaged in the insurance and real estate business in Havelock and has since concentrated his efforts along that line, being now accorded a liberal clientage.
In early manhood Mr. Holmes was united in marriage to Miss Lelia Kirk, a native of Indiana and a daughter of Samuel W. and Carrie L. ( Mathena ) Kirk, the former borDir Indiana and the latter in Kentucky. The family has been represented in Lincoln since 1883, and Samuel W. Kirk still resides in that city
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but his wife passed away in August, 1915. Mrs. Holmes is a member of the Christian Science church. Mr. Hohes belongs to the Knights of Pythias, to the Modern Woodmen of America and to the Tribe of Ben Ilur and in politics is a stalwart republican, giving unswerving support to the principles of the party.
MILTON HARKNESS EVERETT, M. D.
Dr. Milton Harkness Everett, founder of the Lincoln Sanitarium, and one of the foremost surgeons of the state, was born in Plattsburg, New York, on the 2nd of July, 1847, the son of Oliver and Fanny ( Percy ) Everett, who were also natives of New York. The father followed the occupation of farming there until 1850, when he went with the throng of California Argonauts to the gold fields of the Pacific coast, making his way by the Isthmus route. His death there occurred in 1851 and he was laid to rest in a miners' graveyard near Auburn, California. Following the death of her husband Mrs. Everett, in 1855, went to La Salle county, Illinois, where she afterward became the wife of Wallace W. Wallworth, by whom she had two children, one of whom is now living, Eva, the wife of A. G. Blake of Terre Haute, Indiana. The mother passed away in 1914 at the remarkable age of ninety-one years.
Dr. Everett, the only living child of his mother's first marriage, was eight years of age when the family home was established in La Salle county, Illinois, where he pursued his education in the common schools, afterward attending Mendota College, which has now passed out of existence. With good literary training to serve as the foundation upon which to build professional advance- ment, he entered upon the study of medicine at Rush Medical College of Chi- cago, and there won his M. D. degree upon graduation with the class of 1870. In 1883 he became a student in the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons, but four weeks prior to the time when he would have completed his course, he was called home on business and did not take the examinations. Later he entered the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia. Pennsylvania, from which he received his M. D. degree in 1885. He has repeatedly done post graduate work in the different post graduate schools and polyclinics of New York city, and has put forth every possible effort to broaden his knowledge and promote his efficiency. He began the practice of his profession in La Salle county. Illinois, in 1870, and there during the succeeding seventeen years he gave his attention largely to internal medicine.
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