USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > Omaha: the Gate city, and Douglas County, Nebraska, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 13
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James E. Boyd, for years a prominent figure in Omaha business and political circles, was a native of County Tyrone, Ireland, where he was borne on September 9, 1834. When he was about ten years of age he came to the United States with his father, who located in Belmont County, Ohio. In 1847 he went to Zanesville, Ohio, where he worked in a provision store for about three years and then began working at the carpenter's trade. In August, 1856, he and his brother, John M. Boyd, landed in Omaha and started in business as carpenters and joiners. The next year he was elected county clerk of Douglas County. On August 22, 1858, he was united in marriage to Miss Anna H. Henry, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, resigned the clerk's office and went to Wood River, Neb .. where he conducted a stock farm for several years. He was also engaged in operating a store about two miles west of Fort Kearney and in freighting across
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the plains. While living at Wood River he was elected to represent Buffalo County in the first State Legislature. In 1866 he became one of the contractors for the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad and during the next two years graded about three miles of the road bed. In February, 1868, he returned to Omaha and soon afterward purchased a controlling interest in the Omaha Gas Works, of which he was manager in 1868-69. His next venture was to organize the Omaha & Northwestern Railroad Company, of which he was the first president, and in 1870 he assisted in organizing the Central National Bank.
Mr. Boyd was a delegate to the constitutional conventions of 1871 and 1875; was elected to the Omaha City Council in 1879; was elected mayor in 1881 ; and in 1883 received the votes of the democratic members of the Nebraska Legis- lature for United States senator ; was a delegate to the democratic national con- vention in 1884 and supported Grover Cleveland for President, and was again a delegate to the national convention of 1888. In 1890 he was nominated by the democratic state convention for governor and was elected. Governor Thayer, whom he succeeded, raised the question of citizenship, claiming that Governor Boyd's father had never been fully naturalized and that the governor was there- fore not a citizen of the United States. The Supreme Court of Nebraska sus- tained this view, and on May 6, 1891, he was ousted, Thayer being given the office. Boyd appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, which reversed the decision, and on February 8, 1892, he was reinstated as governor, serving out the remainder of the term for which he had been elected.
Governor Boyd was one of the pioneer pork packers of Omaha, engaging in that business in 1872. Year by year his plant was enlarged, until 1876, which was a year of great prosperity to Nebraska, when he handled 40,000 liogs. His packing house was destroyed by fire on January 18, 1880, but was rebuilt on a larger scale, which enabled him to pack over one hundred thousand hogs annually. He sold this business in 1887.
Boyd's Opera House, on the northeast corner of Fifteenth and Farnani streets, was built by Governor Boyd in 1881, but was afterward burned, and in 1890 he began the erection of the Boyd Theater on the southeast corner of Seventeenth and Harney streets. The cost of this building was nearly a quarter of a million dollars. It is still one of Omaha's popular amusement houses. Governor Boyd died at his home in Omaha on the last day of April, 1906.
William D. Brown, who established the Lone Tree Ferry across the Missouri in June, 1853, is entitled to recognition as a pioneer, though he left but little history. He was a member of the Council Bluffs & Nebraska Ferry Company, which was organized a few weeks after he began operating his ferry, and which established the first steam ferry on the upper waters of the Missouri. Some writers give Mr. Brown the credit of being the first man to locate a claim on the plateau where Omaha now stands, but he never claimed that distinction. Before coming to Council Bluffs, he had served a term as sheriff of Henry County, Iowa, and had been engaged in the manufacture of brick at Ottumwa, Towa. One of his daughters became the wife of Alfred Sorenson and another was Mrs. Alexander McKenzie.
William N. Byers, one of the representatives from Douglas County in the first Territorial Legislature, was born in Madison County, Ohio, February 22, 1831. He was educated in the public schools and at West Jefferson Academy
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in his native county, and in 1850 went with his parents to Iowa. Soon after the family located in that state, young Byers joined a surveying party working in the western part of Iowa and in this way gained his first knowledge of the country west of the Missouri River. In 1854 he came to Omaha and in Decem- ber of that year was elected as one of the representatives. Mr. Byers formed a partnership with Andrew J. Poppleton and their sign bore the legend: "Popple- ton & Byers, Surveyors & Attorneys." It is quite probable that Mr. Poppleton attended to the legal business of the firm, while Mr. Byers looked after the surveying. The latter was the first deputy surveyor appointed in Nebraska Territory. He made the first official plat and the first map of Omaha, and when the city was incorporated in 1857 he was elected a member of the first city council. In 1859 he became fired with journalistic ambitions, took a printing press to Denver with an ox team, and founded the newspaper that developed into the Rocky Mountain News. He was also connected with the Denver Street Railway Company and some of the leading banks of that city. He died at Denver on March 25, 1903.
William Clancy, also a member of the first Territorial Legislature, was a pioneer of 1854. He established the grocery, eating house and saloon known as the "Big Six," which he conducted for some time, in connection with a partner named Lewis. In the first session of the Legislature, when the question of removing the capital came up for consideration, he stood firmly by Omaha. But in the session which convened on December 8, 1857, as a member of the council, he changed his views. He was a member of the special committee that made a favorable report on the Safford resolution and presented a bill providing for the removal of the seat of government, and he was one of the signers of the "manifesto" issued by the members of the Legislature who adjourned to Florence on January 9, 1858. Clancy was a typical Irishman, and his "Big Six" was not always conducted as an orderly place of entertainment. Criticisms of his place, coupled with the fact that he had made himself unpopular with the people of Omaha by his change of attitude on the capital removal question, were no doubt the cause of his leaving Nebraska after a brief residence. He first went to the Cherry Creek gold mines in Colorado (now Denver), thence to Montana, where he passed the remaining years of his life.
Smith S. Caldwell, for more than a quarter of a century identified with the banking and railroad interests of Omaha, came to this city from Marion, N. Y., in 1859, when he was about twenty-five years of age. Soon after locating in Omaha he became associated with the banking house of Barrows, Millard & Co., which was subsequently changed to Millard, Caldwell & Co. Upon the organization of the Omaha National Bank, he organized the firm of Caldwell & Hamilton, which consisted of himself and Charles W. Hamilton. This firm was merged into the United States National Bank in 1883. In 1869 Mr. Caldwell was elected president of the Omaha and Southwestern Railroad Company, of which he was one of the incorporators. He was one of the promoters of the Grand Central Hotel, and in 1871 was elected mayor of the city. In connection with Ezra Millard he platted Millard & Caldwell's addition to the City of Omaha, and he was in other ways influential in advancing the material welfare of the city. His death occurred on June 26, 1884.
In the spring of 1856 two brothers, Edward and John A. Creighton, and
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a cousin, James Creighton, came to Omaha. Edward Creighton was born in Belmont County, Ohio, August 31, 1820, and came west in 1856 as one of the builders of the telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Coast. Later he built lines in Missouri and Arkansas, and in 1860 constructed the line from Omaha to St. Louis. He became a large stockholder in the Pacific & Western Union Telegraph companies, and by the appreciation of his stock accumulated a large fortune. For some years he was extensively engaged in the cattle business on the western plains; was interested in the building of the Omaha and Northwestern Railroad, and was the first president of the First National Bank. At the time of his death on November 5, 1874, he was reputed to be the wealthiest man in Omaha. His widow gave a large sum of money to found Creighton University, a history of which is given in the chapter on schools.
John A. Creighton was born in Licking County, Ohio, October 15, 1831, came to Omaha in June, 1856, and found employment as a clerk in the mercan- tile establishment of J. J. & R. A. Brown. In 1883, in connection with his cousin James, he took a cattle train loaded with supplies to Montana. The gold excitement was then at its height and John A. Creighton engaged in the mer- cantile business in Virginia, where he remained for about three years. He was interested in the building of the telegraph line from Helena, Mont., to Salt Lake City, Utah, and in 1868 engaged in the wholesale grocery business as the senior partner of the firm of Creighton & Morgan. Upon the death of his brother Edward in 1874 he was appointed administrator of the estate and came to Omaha. He was one of the incorporators of the nail works, a stockholder in the cable street railway, and was one of the projectors of the South Omaha Land Syndicate. Mr. Creighton took a lively interest in public affairs and was a delegate to the democratic national convention in 1884. He contributed liberally to Creighton University and other Catholic institutions. His death occurred on February 7, 1907.
James Creighton was born in Guernsey County, Ohio, March 1, 1822, and became a resident of Omaha in May, 1856. For some time he was engaged as a freighter between Omaha and the gold mines of the West, and in 1861 he had the contract to deliver the telegraph poles for the Pacific Telegraph Company from Fort Laramie to Fort Bridger. He also had grading contracts on the Union Pacific Railway while it was in course of construction. In 1857 he was appointed a member of the Omaha City Council, to fill out the unexpired term of Taylor G. Goodwill, and was afterward elected as one of Douglas County's representatives in the Legislature of 1877. He was also a member of the first board of education under the present system, and was the chairman of the board of public works upon its organization in July, 1882.
Thomas B. Cuming, the first secretary and acting governor of Nebraska Territory, was born in Genesee County, New York, December 25, 1828. His father, an Episcopal minister, afterward removed to Michigan and Thomas entered the first freshman class of the University of Michigan, graduating with honors when only a little over sixteen years of age. He then went with his father's family to Grand Rapids, where he engaged in teaching until the begin- ning of the Mexican war, when he enlisted and was promoted to lieutenant. Ill health compelled him to resign his commission in the army and not long after this he started for the California gold fields. Upon arriving at St. Louis he
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formed the acquaintance of a telegraph operator who persuaded him to learn telegraphy. In less than a month he mastered the Morse alphabet and was as- signed to the telegraph office at Keokuk, Iowa, where he became acquainted with and married Miss Marguerite C. Murphy, a descendant of an old Maryland Catholic family.
It was at Keokuk that Mr. Cuming made his debut into politics. He wrote an article for the Keokuk Dispatch, a newspaper on which Mark Twain was employed as compositor. It attracted considerable attention and he wrote another. The publishers of the paper then offered him the position of managing ยท editor, which he accepted. His work as editor led to his appointment as secre- tary of Nebraska Territory by President Pierce in June, 1854. Upon the death of Governor Burt Mr. Cuming became acting governor and on the day of Burt's death issued a proclamation calling on the people of Nebraska to observe Thanksgiving day. His next act was to order a census of the territory, after which he called an election for December 12, 1854, when Napoleon B. Giddings was elected delegate to Congress and members of the Territorial Legislature were chosen. He continued to discharge the duties of acting governor until February 20, 1855, when he was succeeded by Governor Mark W. Izard. When the latter resigned in November, 1857, Mr. Cuming again became acting governor and served until the arrival of Governor Richardson in January, 1858. A few weeks later the governor was called away from the territory and the secretary again assumed the duties of the gubernatorial office. He was not well at the time and the added responsibilities no doubt aggravated his illness. He died on March 23, 1858. In an address shortly afterward James M. Woolworth, one of the leading attorneys of Omaha, paid this tribute to Mr. Cuming :
"The executive energy which in stormy times organized this territory; the rich, full, nervous rhetoric which captivated the people on more than one occa- sion; the rare, curious, thorough learning on the 'philosophies,' which, a year ago, charmed and astonished this auditory; the hearty grasp of the hand; the generous warmth of the heart; the decision which even in sickness withstood the Florence recusants-all these qualities characterized the man, who seems to me a striking example of western character."
Mr. Cuming was only about three months past the age of twenty-nine years when he laid down the burden of life, and few men ever accomplished more in that brief period. As teacher, soldier and journalist he acquitted himself with credit, and was only twenty-five-and-a-half years old when he was appointed secretary of Nebraska Territory. The last three years of his life were eventful ones. Undaunted by lack of years and experience, he organized the government of the territory according to the dictates of his own judgment. At all times courteous to his opponents, he never allowed himself to be turned aside from what he considered the plain path of duty. None of the pioneers was a better friend of Omaha in the early days and his memory is still revered by the people of Nebraska. Cuming County and a street in the City of Omaha were named in his honor.
Fleming Davidson, who was one of Douglas County's representatives in the first Territorial Legislature, was born near Wheeling, in what is now West Virginia, July 27. 1827. When he was about three years old his parents removed to Vermilion County, Indiana, where he received his education in the common
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schools. In June, 1854, he married Miss Mary A. Brown at Havana, Ill., and on October 28, 1854, he landed in Omaha. Mr. Davidson was the first man to engage in the ice business in Omaha. In 1861 he went to California, where he became a farmer on an extensive scale. Becoming dissatisfied with Cali- fornia, he removed to Wichita, Kan., in the fall of 1876 and died there on July 6, 1891.
Thomas Davis, another Douglas County representative in the first Territorial Legislature, was born in Hawarden, Wales, February 2, 1822. In 1844 he was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Benion and the couple lived in Liverpool .for about four years. They then returned to Wales and in 1849 came to the United States. In 1853 Mr. Davis located in Council Bluffs and the next year crossed the Missouri as an Omaha pioneer. He built his cabin at the southeast corner of Eleventh and Farnam streets, purchased the sawmill of Bayliss & Davis and made cottonwood lumber for the early settlers. He was one of the builders of the first territorial capitol, on the northwest corner of Ninth and Farnam streets; was a member of the first board of county commissioners of Douglas County ; one of Omaha's first aldermen : was appointed a member of the first board of regents of the Omaha High School in April, 1869, and in other ways contributed his mite to the progress of the city and county. In 1870 he went to Indianapolis, Ind., where he was engaged in manufacturing until the spring of 1891, when he returned to Omaha. His death occurred on April 27, 1895.
Among the early settlers of Douglas County was a man calling himself Stephen Decatur, who claimed to be a nephew of the famous commodore of that name. He was born in Sussex County, New Jersey, about 1808, and married there, but left home in the early '40s. During the Mexican war he served in Donovan's regiment and not long after the war came to Bellevue, Neb., where he entered the employ of Peter A. Sarpy at the trading post. He learned several Indian dialects and when Mr. Sarpy established the ferry across the Loup Fork he placed Decatur in charge. Returning to Bellevue, he became a member of the company that laid out the town. In 1855 he organized the "Decatur Town and Ferry Company," which laid out the Town of Decatur, the patent for the site being obtained in 1862, after Decatur had left the territory. A spring there is still known as Decatur's spring.
It is not known whether Decatur's New Jersey wife obtained a divorce or died, but at any rate he married again after coming west. Although he "cut a wide swath at times," and was called "Commodore," he was not a good financier. In 1859 he told his wife he was going west to make his fortune, when he would return. Several years elapsed before anything was heard of him. It was then learned that he was connected with the Georgetown Miner, a news- paper published at Georgetown, Colo. Later he crossed the divide and in the heart of the mountains established another little town and mining camp called Decatur. Some years afterward a party of prominent men, including Horace Greeley, Schuyler Colfax and William Bross, editor of the Chicago Tribune and at one time lieutenant governor of Illinois, made a trip across the continent. Upon reaching Denver, Bross said: "I want to stop here for a day or two; I believe I have a brother near here, somewhere, living in the mountains
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as a kind of hermit. I have traced him once or twice and I now intend to find him and settle the question whether he is the man or not."
When he did find him he tried to induce the eccentric commodore to acknowledge the relationship, but in vain. It was pretty well understood after this time, however, that Decatur was really Stephen Decatur Bross, brother to the editor and a relative of the Bross family of Illinois. From Georgetown he went to a place called Silver Cliff, in Southern Colorado. He was well educated and could speak or write intelligently upon a multitude of subjects. In 1876 he was the Colorado commissioner at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, where it is said he had the most curious collection on the grounds and was proud of it. He died at Rosita, Colo., June 3, 1888. His second wife, whom he married at Council Bluffs, and who was a Mrs. Thompson before her mar- riage to Decatur, went to Los Angeles and died there.
Charles H. Downs, one of the earliest settlers in Omaha, was born near New Haven, Conn., February 14, 1819. He was educated in the common schools and in 1843, with four other young men, went to Ohio In 1850 he went to California, but in the spring of 1854 he returned east as far as Council Bluffs, where he became captain of the steam ferry boat, General Marion, and soon afterward took up his residence in a cabin the ferry company had erected on the west side of the river. After the loss of the Marion in the spring of 1855, Captain Downs bought for the ferry company another boat, called the Mary Cole, but she sank before reaching Plattsmouth. He then bought the "Nebraska No. I," from P. A. Sarpy and remained connected with the ferry until 1862. Subsequently he was one of the organizers of the Omaha & Grant Smelting Company, and took an active part in the organization of the Omaha & Northwestern Railroad Company. In 1857, when Omaha was incorporated, he was elected a member of the first city council, and he took an active interest in every measure calculated to advance the interests of the city.
Edric L. Eaton, who was the first man to establish a photographic studio in Omaha, was a native of Franklin County, Vermont, where he was born on May 31, 1836. In May, 1856, he came to Omaha and opened a studio. During the years 1858-59 he spent some time in Florence, taking photographs of the Mormons and their outfits on the way to Salt Lake. When the Civil war broke out in 1861 he closed his studio and for nearly five years followed the First Nebraska Infantry, making views of camp and army life. He reopened his place in 1866 and for years was one of the best known photographers in the Missouri Valley.
John Evans, who was prominent in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, came to Nebraska in the spring of 1855. He first located in Dodge County and represented that county in the lower branch of the second Territorial Legislature. Not long after that he removed to Omaha, where he became intimately identified with the city's business and official affairs. For years he was a member of the school board under the old system; was elected to the city council in 1867, and was secretary of the committee of fifteen which drafted the metropolitan charter of Omaha in 1886. Two years later he was chosen as one of the committee of twenty-one to draft certain amendments to the charter, and on various occa- sions he rendered important services to the municipality.
Shortly after coming to Omaha Mr. Evans joined Omaha Lodge, No. 2.
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Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and remained prominently identified with that order until his death. He served as grand secretary of the Nebraska Grand Lodge; was grand scribe of the Grand Encampment ; and for several years was one of the grand representatives to the Sovereign Grand Lodge of the United States.
In 1864 Mr. Evans embarked in the general grocery business, in which he continued for over twenty years, when he began dealing in seeds, garden tools, etc., in which he passed the remaining years of his active business life.
Taylor G. Goodwill, one of the four members from Douglas County in the upper house of the First Territorial Legislature, was born at Springfield, Mass., in 1800. Some time in the '3os he removed to the State of New York, where he followed farming for a number of years. In the spring of 1854 he decided to try his fortunes in the West, and later in that year he located in Omaha. Being a man of good judgment and excellent business training, he quickly became associated with the leaders of the new settlement. On December 12, 1854, he was elected a member of the Territorial Council and served through the first session of the Legislature. When Douglas County was organized in 1855, he was appointed the first county treasurer. He was commissioned adjutant-general of the territorial militia, where he won the title of "colonel," and when Omaha was incorporated in 1857 he was elected one of the first board of aldermen, but died in May, 1857, before the expiration of his term. Mr. Goodwill was one of the builders of the First Methodist Church, and his daughter, Julia A., afterward Mrs. Allen Root, taught the first school in Omaha.
Alfred D. Goyer, a member of the House in the first Territorial Legislature, was a native of Michigan, where he was born about 1822. He came to Nebraska soon after the territory was organized in 1854 and began farming near Omaha. In December of that year he was elected one of Douglas County's representatives, and during the first session of the Legislature he was chairman of the House committee on agriculture. Toward the close of the session he made a long report, which abounded in good suggestions for the promotion of the agricultural interests of Nebraska. Some of these suggestions were after- ward enacted into law. Mr. Goyer was not a man who sought notoriety, and at the expiration of his term as representative retired to his farm. But little is known of his subsequent history.
Charles W. Hamilton, one of Omaha's early bankers and financiers, was born in Chenango County, New York, January 1. 1831. He came to Omaha in May, 1856, and was one of the company that in that year built the Hamilton House, a brick hotel, on the south side of Douglas Street, between Fourteenth and Fifteenth. The first proprietor of this hotel was a man anmed Burnham. In the spring of 1862 he entered the employ of the banking firm of Barrows, Millard & Co., and three years later was made a member of the firm. Another change was made in 1868. when the firm name was changed to Caldwell, Hamilton & Co .. which continued until the business was organized as the United States National Bank in 1883. with Mr. Hamilton as president.
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