USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > Omaha: the Gate city, and Douglas County, Nebraska, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 11
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most woman of the city,' as she was called, was a true, faithful home-maker, and helper and comrade of her husband, Dr. Tilden. As she often said, she could accomplish so much because he was willing she should give her time. Not only was he willing, but in hearty accord, and proud of her achievements; constantly giving most valued counsel. One is tempted to extravagant expres- sion concerning a woman with so many fine qualities and rare abilities. But this would not be in harmony with her modest, unassuming nature. She was not without fault, else we could not call her sister. We will show best our appreciation of her life by emulating her example, taking up her uncompleted tasks and forwarding every good work. One has said, 'After a loved one's departure from earth, go forward to the greatest possible service in memory of that one.' To be intimately associated with Mrs. Tilden was to recognize the fact that the secret of her devoted service was 'she walked with God.' She was
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not her own, but bought with an infinite price. This dominated her whole life and accounted for her methodical, conscientious expenditure of her time, her faithful, unselfish service for others. 'She walked with God: she is not; for God took her.'"
With all of her wonderful executive ability and her varied activities in the cause of humanity, of temperance, of philanthropy and of the church, Mrs. Tilden always found time for those quiet friendships which mean so much in life. She was the true friend, gifted with the rare faculty of calling forth the best in every individual. This wonderful woman, who fell asleep so quietly through her triumphant faith in Jesus Christ, has made the world better because she "passed this way."
"For deeds like hers there is no death, They are of love, the living breath."
SAMUEL K. SPALDING, M. D.
In November, 1882, Dr. Samuel K. Spalding became a representative of the medical profession of Omaha, where he continued in active and successful prac- tice up to the time of his demise. He was born August 4, 1847, in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, and came of sturdy Scotch ancestry. John Spalding, grandfather of Dr. Spalding, was a silk weaver and resided in Paisley, Scotland. He came to the United States in 1817, bringing his wife and nine children. They located first at Philadelphia, but about one year later the family emigrated to Pittsburgh, walking the entire distance of about four hundred miles and resting on the Sabbath days. The family later located in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, where Thomas Spalding, the father of the subject of this review, was born in 1821. He was a blacksmith and resided in that county until 1855, when he brought his family to Morning Sun, Louisa county, Iowa, becoming a pioneer resident of that section, where he spent the remainder of his active life. Remov- ing to Omaha, he lived retired in that city until his death at the age of eighty- three years. He was married in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, to Miss Mary Kennedy and seven children were born to this union, of whom six reached adult age, as follows: Nancy, the wife of J. S. Williams, of Villisca, Iowa; Johanna, who is the widow of John T. Ochiltree and resides in Omaha ; Samuel K .; Rcv. William A., a United Presbyterian minister of Seattle, Washington; Harry W., a resident of Chicago; and Lawrence D., of the Omaha Safe Deposit Company of Omaha.
Samuel K. Spalding became a resident of Morning Sun, Iowa, in his youthful days and there attended the district school. When but a youth he responded to the country's call for troops, enlisting February 8, 1865, in Louisa county, Iowa, when but seventeen years of age for one year's service, as a member of Company K, Second Regiment Iowa Cavalry, with which he served until the close of the war, acting much of the time as orderly to officers. On the 19th of September, 1865, he was honorably discharged at Selma, Alabama, by reason of the close of the war. It was following the close of his military service that he entered Monmouth College and when his more specifically literary education was completed he became a student in the Keokuk Medical College and later pursued post-graduate work in the Bellevue Hospital Medical College of New York city. He first located for practice in Marshalltown, Iowa, in 1871 but after- ward opened an office at Elvaston, Illinois, and thence came to Omaha in 1882. Here he engaged in practice alone and such was his ability that it did not take him long to gain a good start here. He made a specialty of mental and nervous diseases and did much scientific research work in the field of mental disorders. He was a most capable physician and was constantly called into
Surfoalding
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consultation, while his advice was again and again sought by his fellow practi- tioners. He enjoyed the highest respect of his professionl brethren and he was always ready to aid any of them, being entirely free from professional jealousy. In addition to his practice he bought and sold real estate quite extensively and thus added materially to his income.
On November 15, 1876, in Elvaston, Hancock county, Illinois, Dr. Spalding was married to Miss Ida F. Rohrbough, who was born February 5, 1856, in that place, a daughter of Elmore J. and Belinda (Cook) Rohrbough, both of whom were natives of Virginia but became pioneer residents of Hancock county, Illi- nois. Mrs. Rohrbough died in Illinois, and Mr. Rohrbough later removed to Omaha, where he lived retired until his death, which occurred when he was seventy-eight years of age. Dr. and Mrs. Spalding became parents of a daugh- ter, Mabel B., now the wife of Dr. A. Sherman Pinto. They have two sons, Sherman Spalding and Harvey Elmore.
The death of Dr. Spalding occurred September 29, 1915, at Washington, D. C., where he was attending the national encampment of the Grand Army Re- public, and was the occasion of deep and widespread regret among a wide circle of friends. He was a charter member of George Crook Post, No. 262, G. A. R., of which he served as commander and in the work of which he took an active part in local, state and national affairs, and it was he who wrote the inscription found upon the soldiers' monument in Forest Lawn cemetery. He served as medical director of the department of Nebraska for several terms and as a member of the national council of administration of the Grand Army of the Republic. He assisted generously in building the University of Omaha, to which Mrs. Spalding has since contributed a memorial scholarship. His political allegiance was given to the republican party and for five years he served as a member of the Omaha school board, being president one term. He was a member of the North Presby- terian church and was chairman of its building committee and there was no activity for the benefit of the material, social and moral progress of the com- munity that he did not feel was a matter of deep personal concern, which resulted in his generous aid of the same. He was public-spirited in a marked degree and he did everything in his power to promote the general welfare. So valuable were his services along professional lines and in matters of citizenship that his death was the occasion of the deepest regret throughout Omaha, while to those who knew him intimately the news. of his demise brought a sense of the greatest personal bereavement.
NELSON CROOKS PRATT.
Nelson Crooks Pratt, while continuing in the general practice of law in Omaha, is specializing to a considerable extent in insurance law. For twenty- one years he has practiced in this city and is therefore numbered among the pioneers as well as among the progressive attorneys. West Virginia claims him as a native son, his birth having occurred in Belleville, that state, July 24, 1862. His father, George O. Pratt, was born in Ohio in 1829 and was a son of George Pratt, also a native of that state, born in 1801. He died at the comparatively early age of thirty-three years. The Pratt family is of English origin but has been represented in the United States about three hundred years. Having arrived at adult age George O. Pratt was married in Pennsylvania to Miss Sallie Nesmith, a native of Pittsburgh, that state, and of Scotch descent. In the year 1849 he removed to Virginia but his last days were spent in Walnut, Illinois, where he passed away in 1906, having for six years survived his wife, who died at Walnut in 1900. During the period of the Civil war the father was connected with the internal revenue service in West Virginia. Later he became postmaster at Belleville and during the last years of his life was engaged in farming.
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Nelson C. Pratt acquired his education in the schools of Walnut, Illinois, and in the Northern Illinois College at Fulton, from which he was graduated in 1886 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. After leaving college he came to Nebraska and for two years was principal of the high school at Genoa. In 1888 he was admitted to practice at the bar of this state and in 1889 he removed to Albion, Nebraska, where he remained in active law practice until August 1, 1895. He then came to Omaha, where he has since followed his profession, having for twenty-one years been active at the bar of this city. He is thoroughly informed concerning the various branches of the profession and continues in general practice although devoting considerable time to insurance law, in which field he has expert knowledge.
On the 26th of December, 1888, in Fullerton, Nebraska, Mr. Pratt was married to Miss Sadie M. Henderson, a daughter of the late Robert M. Hender- son, a native of New Jersey. They have one child, Minnie Grace. In the First Methodist Episcopal church they hold membership, and Mr. Pratt belongs also to the Happy Hollow Club, while his interest in community affairs is evidenced in his identification with the Commercial Club. His political endorsement is given to the republican party. He is a man of strong character, forceful and resourceful, whose plans of life are well defined and promptly executed and who at all times recognizes his duties and obligations to his fellowmen and in matters of citizenship, while in his law practice his devotion to the interests of his clients has become proverbial.
JOHN D. WEAR.
John D. Wear, an attorney at law practicing at the Omaha bar since 1900, was born in Fairfax, Iowa, August 21, 1879. His father, Francis Wear, was a native of County Westmeath, Ireland, born in 1833, and throughout his entire life he followed the occupation of farming. On the 21st of June, 1912, in Omaha, Mr. Wear was united in marriage to Miss Ann O'Connor, a daughter of John J. O'Connor.
CHARLES ELI BUTLER.
Charles Eli Butler was a representative and progressive citizen and business man of Omaha for more than a quarter of a century, taking up his residence here in April, 1887. He was born in Bloomingdale, Illinois, in 1857, and after spending his boyhood and youth in that state and in Jefferson, Iowa, where his education was acquired, he came to Omaha as a young man of twenty years. Here he embarked in the retail hay and grain business at Twenty-sixth and Cuming streets. After a brief period he removed to Twenty-fourth and Cuming streets and later to Fourteenth and Nicholas streets, where he conducted a whole- sale and retail business under the firm style of Butler Brothers, for his brother, George A. Butler, had become associated with him in the undertaking. From the beginning the business proved profitable and gradually his trade increased until he was at the head of an extensive enterprise, with which he remained in active connection up to the time of his death. His son, George D. Butler, then took over the business and has since been at its head, the interests being carried on under that name. He had been associated with his father for some years prior to the latter's death and had thus been thoroughly trained in the business in principle and detail.
In 1886, in Jefferson, Iowa, Mr. Butler was united in marriage to Miss Maude
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Simons and to them were born two sons and a daughter, George D., Maude May and Charles Wesley.
The husband and father departed this life March 13, 1916, when fifty-nine years of age. Fraternally he was for years connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, taking an active part in its work and filling all its local offices. He was also connected with the Knights of the Maccabees. He ever displayed great faith in the city and its future and lent his aid and cooperation to every plan and measure for the public good. Omaha came to esteem him as a man of sterling personal worth as well as of marked business ability and through the years of his residence here the circle of his friends was almost coextensive with the circle of his acquaintance. He had many sterling traits of character which endeared him to all who knew him and his worth stood as an unquestioned fact among his associates.
EDMOND BERNARD CARRIGAN.
Edmond Bernard Carrigan, president and treasurer of the E. B. Carrigan Company, wholesale shippers of coal, has throughout almost his entire business career been identified with trade of this character and gradually his expanding powers have laid the foundation for his present substantial and gratifying success. He was born on a farm in Niagara county, New York, September I, 1866, a son of Patrick and Mary (Nugent) Carrigan, both of whom were natives of County Ulster, Ireland, in which country they were reared and married. The father was born in 1831 and in 1856 brought his family to the United States, settling in Niagara county, New York, where he resided until called to his final rest in 1915, and throughout the entire period he was engaged in horticultural pursuits. His religious faith was that of the Catholic church. His widow still survives and has now reached the age of eighty-three years.
Edmond B. Carrigan attended the country schools of his native county and the graded schools of Lockport, New York, and upon leaving home in 1884, when a youth of eighteen years, he made his way to Kansas City, Missouri, and during the first year there spent was connected with a commission house, in which he rose from a humble position to that of shipping clerk. He afterward spent five years in the employ of the Santa Fe and Missouri Pacific Railroad Companies and in 1893 he entered the service of the Bolen Coal Company, with which he was continuously associated as sales manager until 1900. At that date he entered the employ of the Central Coal & Coke Company of Kansas City, with which he was connected at that point for two years, after which he was transferred to Dallas,. Texas, and became sales manager of the house for Mexico, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas. In 1904 he was transferred to Omaha in the same capacity with Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota and Colorado under his jurisdiction, and in 1907, desiring that his efforts should more directly benefit himself, he organized The E. B. Carrigan Company for the conduct of a wholesale coal business, of which he is the president and treasurer. The trade of the house is now extensive, its shipments covering a broad field, so that the annual income derived therefront is most gratifying.
On the 26th of April, 1900, in Sioux City, Iowa, Mr. Carrigan was married to Miss Jessie Belle Morse, a daughter of Major Morse, and they have one son, Eugene Bernard, who was born December 9, 1910. Mr. Carrigan belongs to the Christian Science church. His political endorsement is given to the republican party and he holds membership in the Commercial and Happy Hollow Clubs. He belongs to that type of men whose records are held in high regard, indicating the opportunities afforded young men in this country, where effort is unhampered by caste or class, and also showing what can be accomplished through individual purpose. He had no assistance at the outset of his career but he resolved to win
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success if it could be done through earnest, persistent effort. An old Greek philosopher centuries ago said: "Earn thy reward; the gods give naught to sloth." Recognizing the truth of this admonition, Edmond B. Carrigan has been untiring in effort and honorable in method and while in the employ of others won advancement from time to time in recognition of his capability and fidelity until at length he felt justified in starting out independently and is now one of the prosperous business men of Omaha.
JOHN ROBINSON WEBSTER.
John Robinson Webster was born in Detroit, Michigan, November 21, 1851. His father, Samuel Cheever Webster, was a lineal descendant of John Webster, of Ipswich, Connecticut, of Ezekiel Cheever, first head master of Boston Latin School, and of Michael Wigglesworth, author of The Day of Doom. His mother, Elizabeth Cutter Robinson, was a daughter of Martha Huntington, a descendant of the famous Huntington family of northern England.
In 1863 Mr. Webster's parents moved to Bay City, Michigan, and young Webster received his education in the public schools of that city. During his senior year in the high school he was appointed assistant teacher in the same school. He graduated from the high school in 1872, and entered the University of Michigan literary class of 1876. After an attendance of about five months he was obliged to leave college on account of the severe illness of his mother. He received a leave of absence from President Angell, returned to his home, and secured a position as teacher in one of the grade schools of Bay City, and after three months was appointed principal of one of the ward schools which position he held for two years. In 1875 Mr. Webster was elected principal of the high school in Romeo, Michigan, and in 1876 he was elected superintendent of schools at Big Rapids, Michigan. While teaching Mr. Webster devoted his leisure hours to the study of law, and in 1877 he entered the law office of Ashley Pond, a prominent attorney of Detroit, Michigan. He was admitted to the bar upon examination before the supreme court of Michigan in January, 1878, and opened an office in Detroit, where he practiced for three years.
On January 13, 1880, at Big Rapids, Michigan, he married Gertrude M. Pot- ter, daughter of Samuel Treat and Barbara (Keller) Potter. Mrs. Webster is a descendant of a number of officers of the Revolutionary army and of three colo- nial governors. She is a member of the Society Daughters of the American Revolution, Colonial Dames, Colonial Governors and Americans of Royal Descent.
In 1881 there were large tracts of unoccupied government land in western Iowa, and Mr. Webster joined a colony which located at Mapleton with the inten- tion of sheep ranching, but the country was so rapidly settled that ranching became impracticable, and in 1886 Mr. Webster moved to Omaha, where he became a partner in the fire insurance agency of Potter, Webster & Company. The firm, of which he is still a member, was afterwards changed to Webster, Howard & Company. In 1889 he became associated with other men of Omaha in the development of the district northeast of the city known as East Omaha, the construction of the East Omaha Street Railway, and the Omaha Bridge & Terminal Railway, of which latter company he was chosen vice president and general manager in 1898. After the company sold out to the Illinois Central Railroad Company he continued in this position until 1910, when the operation of the terminal company was removed to Chicago, but he is still a director and secretary of that company. In 1903 he was appointed general agent of the execu- ยท tive department of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, and still holds that position. Becoming impressed with the importance of the live stock interests of the state, he acquired a ranch of about twenty thousand acres in the western part of Nebraska, which he is seeking to develop along modern lines. In 1906 he
JOHN R. WEBSTER
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joined with J. A. Sunderland in the construction of the Webster-Sunderland Building at Sixteenth and Howard streets, Omaha. He is a director of the city National Bank Building Company of Omaha, and of the Ash Grove Lime & Port- land Cement Company of Kansas and Missouri.
John Potter Webster, his only child, was born May 18, 1889, graduated at the University of Michigan in 1911, on which occasion the university conferred on Mr. Webster the honorary degree of Bachelor of Arts. On June 9, 1914, his son married Katherine Beeson, daughter of A. G. and Mabel (Miller) Beeson, of Omaha.
Mr. Webster is the founder of the Webster scholarship to assist needy students in the Nebraska State University and Grand Island College; and, together with his son, founded a similar scholarship in the University of Michigan.
On April 29, 1866, Mr. Webster became a member of the First Baptist church of Bay City, Michigan, and for many years has been a member and officer of the First Baptist church of Omaha. For twenty-five years he has been the teacher of the Webster Bible Class, the largest and best organized class of its kind in the state. For two years, 1902-3, he was president of the Baptist State Convention of Nebraska. He is past master of Capitol Lodge, No. 3, A. F. & A. M., and a member of the Omaha, University, and Commercial Clubs, of Omaha, also of the Happy Hollow and Omaha Country Clubs. He belongs to the Nebraska Society Sons of the American Revolution, of which he has been president; he has also held the office of vice president of the National Society Sons of the Ameri- can Revolution. In politics Mr. Webster is a republican, and served his party as chairman of the republican county central committee of Monona county, Iowa, in 1884, president of the Fourth Ward Republican Club of Omaha, in 1887, and treasurer of the republican county central committee of Douglas county, Nebraska. He has always taken an active part in political campaigns, but never held nor sought public office.
ARTHUR H. BURNETT.
Arthur H. Burnett, of Omaha, attorney for the Woodmen of the World, was born on a farm in Saratoga county, New York, in 1857. His father, Caleb H. Burnett, a native of Edinburgh, New York, took up the occupation of farming as a life work. In his native state he wedded Caroline Wilkie and in 1862 they removed westward with their family to Illinois, where they resided for twenty- two years, and in 1884 came to Nebraska. Mrs. Burnett passed away in Holdrege, Nebraska, in 1893, while her husband, surviving for fifteen years, died in Den- ver, Colorado, in 1908.
Arthur H. Burnett was a little lad of but five summers when the family home was established near El Paso, Illinois, where he attended school, later studying for a time in the Illinois Wesleyan University at Bloomington, that state. He afterward took up the study of law in the same institution and was graduated with the class of 1882. The following year he located for practice in Minden, Nebraska, where he remained for nine and a half years actively connected with the profession, but seeking a broader field of labor, he removed to Omaha in 1893 and opened an office in this city. He continued in general practice for four- teen years but since 1907 has devoted his attention exclusively to the law busi- ness of the Woodmen of the World, which he has represented as attorney since 1894.
On the 19th of October, 1879, in El Paso, Illinois, Mr. Burnett was united in marriage to Miss Lydia P. Wilkinson, a daughter of the late John Wilkinson, and they have four children, Harry A., Hervey S., Elbert M. and Lydia M.
The parents are members of the Baptist church and Mr. Burnett is a Knights Templar Mason and member of the Mystic Shrine and also belongs to the Elks
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lodge, the Commercial Club and the Happy Hollow Club. His political allegiance is given to the republican party but he has neither the time nor inclination to seek office, for his professional activities make full demand upon his energies. He is well qualified for the important duties which devolve upon him in his present connection, being recognized as one of the able lawyers of his adopted city.
DAVID MARTIN MCGAHEY.
David Martin McGahey, engaged in the insurance business as general agent at Omaha for the Home Life Insurance Company of New York, was born in Belfast, Ireland, August 14, 1870. His father, David McGahey, also a native of Belfast, was born in 1826 and remained a lifelong resident of the Emerald isle, there passing away in 1882. His widow afterward came to America and died in Chicago in 1902.
David M. McGahey was educated in Belfast, being graduated from the Royal Academy of that city in 1890. He was a young man of twenty-six years when in 1896 he came to the new world, settling first in Chicago,' where he remained for two years. He then went to Aladdin, Wyoming, where he remained for four- teen years, and in 1914 he arrived in Omaha, where he became general agent for the Home Life Insurance Company of New York. He has long been active in the insurance field, in which connection he has gradually worked his way upward to his present position of responsibility and importance.
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