USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > Omaha: the Gate city, and Douglas County, Nebraska, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 17
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On November 6, 1895, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Mr. Wells was married to Miss Myrta Mulholland, a daughter of the late Irvin Mulholland, who served as a soldier throughout the Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. Wells attend the Episcopal church and he is identified with many of the social organizations of the city, including the University, Omaha Field, Commercial, Omaha Automobile and Carter Lake Clubs. In several of these organizations he has done splendid work. His efforts have been effective in promoting the growth of the Automobile Club, of which he is counsel, and he has been active in its efforts toward the establish- ment of good roads. He is chairman of the legislation committee of the Com- mercial Club of Omaha and he is the president of the 'George Washington National Highway, organized for the purpose of building and improving a national highway from Savannah, Georgia, to Seattle, Washington. In politics he has always been an active and earnest republican and to him is given the greater share of the credit for the adoption of the Omaha plan of commission form of government. In this connection one wrote of him:
"Of improved systems of municipal government, rather recently established in American cities, the 'Omaha plan,' by experts, is most approved. Profiting by the experience gained from the government of various progressive municipal- ities under the commission form, Omaha has inaugurated a system declared to be the best possessed by any American city. In influencing public sentiment, in making mandatory the establishment of a model municipal government in Omaha, P. A. Wells proved to be more than the 'man of the hour.' Energetic, resource- ful, gifted with convincing eloquence, public-spirited, farsighted, courageous, independent, progressive, strong willed, and intensely American in his ideas, Wells is a fighter who never acknowledges defeat. He simply can't be bluffed or intimidated. When pursuing any course he believes to be right, he couldn't be persuaded to stop or step aside. As an attorney, he stands very high; as a business man his ability has been most advantageously displayed; as a lawyer and financier he has achieved enviable success, gaining at the same time a notable reputation for straightforwardness and fairness. Because Wells was known, his efforts were made doubly effective in the campaign of education so success- fully carried on in Omaha. When he spoke in favor of the commission form of government, great audiences applauded what he said. Because they knew, in that fight, he was not seeking personal gain or political preferment, Wells could and did appeal to the people in a way that won thousands of adherents. His speeches inspired hope ; his arguments caused confidence to be reposcd in the plans suggested. The mass meetings that Wells addressed diffused enthusiasm for a new order of things throughout the city. Day after day, the truths that Wells enunciated were brought home. As voters discussed the proposed changes, the simplicity, the economy, the common sense associated with the new arrange-
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ments were made more apparent. Seeing that the movement meant their official destruction, the 'practical politicians' of Omaha attempted to roll back the rising tide of popular opinion. But on election day, they were overwhelmed; the reform wave swept the city. The spoils system was replaced by a plan of municipal government of which every good citizen of Omaha is justly proud. With good reason, Mr. Wells is highly honored in Omaha. But his fame is not confined to his home city. Throughout the state, he has gained recognition ; not alone as the champion of the commission form of government for cities, but as a legal adviser and as an advocate who wins the cases that he takes into court."
His work in Omaha for the commission form of government is but one phase of his public activity, however. He has become a Nebraska leader in the good roads movement and has delivered addresses at various points to awaken interest and promote activity in support of this cause. He has studied the question from every available standpoint-that of economics, convenience, time and comfort, and he is doing splendid work in behalf of obtaining support for that legislation which is necessary to secure for Nebraska its due proportion of the federal money set aside for road improvement. His prominence in behalf of the good roads movement led to his selection for the presidency of the George Washington National Highway on the 25th of April, 1916. He utilizes each opportunity that offers to further the cause and the results of his labors are direct and beneficial. He has the faculty of making plans that seem ideal but somewhat visionary at once practical when he takes hold of them, and his efforts are at all times based upon sound common sense and a thorough understanding of prevailing condi- tions. He is ever a man of action rather than of theory and he has that per- suasive power that enables him to secure the cooperation and assistance of others. His activities have all been directed into those channels through which flow the greatest good to the greatest number and he is, moreover, identified with many of those wholesome and purifying reforms which have been growing up in the municipal life of the city. Experts on road building and municipal govern- ment mark him as a master in those fields, while at the same time in the practice of his profession he has gained notable distinction.
HON. GEORGE W. DOANE.
Hon. George W. Doane, a distinguished attorney, jurist and statesman, who became a resident of Omaha in 1864, was born in Circleville, Ohio, December 16, 1824. His father, Guy W. Doane, a native of New Milford, Connecticut, was born in 1788 and about 1815 was admitted to the bar in New York state, follow- ing his graduation from Union College at Schenectady, New York, with the class of 1815. Removing to Circleville, Ohio, he followed his profession until 1849, when he lost his eyesight and was accordingly obliged to retire. He was a man whose wisdom, sound judgment and public spirit made his opinions of weight in the city and state in which he lived and in 1836 he was elected to represent his district in the Ohio legislature. On the 14th of February, 1821, in Ohio, he wedded Charlotte Thrall, who was born in Castleton, Vermont, in 1800. She was left a widow in 1862 and subsequently removed to Omaha, where she made her home with her son George until her demise in June, 1878. She was very active in church work and her charitable acts were many.
Reared in Ohio, George W. Doane completed his education by graduation from Marietta College with the class of 1845. Interested in the profession of law from early boyhood because of his father's connection with the bar, he began studying along that line when his more specifically literary education was com- pleted and in 1848 was admitted to pratice in the courts of Ohio. He then entered upon the active work of the profession in his native state, there residing for nine
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HON. GEORGE W. DOANE
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years, or until 1857, when he determined to establish his home in the growing west. He first made his way to Kansas but soon afterward concluded to come to Omaha and started for the territory of Nebraska. While en route he met a party of young men going to Burt county to lay out the town of Decatur and decided to unite his interests with those of the new municipality. He established himself on a tract of land beautifully located at Decatur, preempting this as a government claim, after which he at once began to improve it, but he did not find agricultural pursuits congenial and accepted the nomination for the office of district attorney of the third judicial district in the summer of that year. He was elected and occupied the position until the office was changed to that of prosecuting attorney in each county. At the time of his election Eleazer Wakeley was judge of the third judicial court and the district extended from the northern line of Douglas county to Canada and from the Missouri river to the Rocky mountains. There were no courthouses in all that territory, so court was held in private residences, stores, barrooms or any other convenient place. Mr. Doane continued to reside at Decatur until 1859 and in 1858 was elected a member of the territorial council, so that he early became a factor in shaping the legislative policy of Nebraska. He was also ex-officio probate judge in Dakota county for a short time. In 1860 he located at Fort Calhoun, where he continued in the practice of law until 1862, when he returned to the east to visit friends and was persuaded to remain in Cincinnati, where he opened a law office and fol- lowed his profession until 1864, but the lure of the west with its countless oppor- tunities drew him back to Nebraska and in that year he established his home in Omaha. The following year he was elected prosecuting attorney of Douglas county and filled that position for a term of two years. In 1867 he was again chosen to office, being elected a member of the first territorial legislature, and in 1868 popular suffrage called him to the office of city councilman in Omaha. He was once more elected to office in 1880, when he vas sent to represent his district in the state senate and again, as he had done in previous years, he gave most thoughtful consideration to proposed legislation and lent the aid of his influence and support to many measures which he believed of benefit to the common- wealth. In 1887 he was elected on a nonpartisan ticket as judge of the fourth judicial district, comprising the counties of Douglas, Burt, Washington and Sarpy. Upon the expiration of his first term in 1891 he was reelected on the democratic ticket and remained upon the bench until the following year, when he resigned to accept the democratic nomination for congress, but was defeated for the office by David H. Mercer. His mind was judicial in cast and his opinions were strictly fair and impartial, being based upon a comprehensive knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence, which he correctly applied to the points in litigation. While not an incumbent in office his attention was devoted to the private practice of law and he was regarded as a strong advocate and safe counselor.
On the 25th of October, 1859, Judge Doane was married in Keokuk, Iowa, to Miss Emily R. Greenhow, a native of Vincennes, Indiana, and a granddaughter of the celebrated Dr. Greenhow, of Richmond, Virginia. Her father was James W. Greenhow, who was born in Richmond, Virginia, and was one of the firm of Greenhow & Bohannan, druggists of Louisville, Kentucky. He married Augusta E. Russell and later went to Vincennes, Indiana, where he was appointed to an important position with the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad by his brother-in-law, Judge Ellis, president of that company, whose line was then being built between Cincinnati and St. Louis. Mr. Greenhow died in 1852 at the age of forty years. Judge and Mrs. Doane became the parents of five children, Cora A., Guy R., Wil- liam G., Daisy C. and George W.
The death of the husband and father occurred December 22, 1912, when he was eighty-eight years of age, and thus closed a life that had contributed much to progress and improvement in the state of his adoption. He labored earnestly for Omaha's welfare and cooperated in many plans and measures for the general good. He was appointed by Governor Silas A. Holcomb as one of the board of
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trustees of the Deaf & Dumb Institute at Omaha and of the Asylum for the Blind at Nebraska City, filling that position for a year, when he resigned. In 1868 he became one of the incorporators and a member of the board of trustees of Brownell Hall, an educational institution under the auspices of the Episcopal church. It is not difficult to speak of him for his life and character were as clear as the sunlight. No man came in contact with him but speedily appreciated hin at his true worth and recognized in him one who not only cherished a high ideal of duty but who lived up to it. He constantly labored for the right and from his earliest youth devoted a large portion of his time to the service of others. He was at the head of important professional interests which he managed suc- cessfully, yet it was his rule to set apart some time for the labors of love to which he was so devoted. His friends miss him but the memory of his sweet and beau- tiful life, of his sincerity and of his worth will not soon be forgotten. They do not mourn for him as they would for a young man cut off in the flower and promise of youth, but rejoice in his memory as that of a man who laid down his task in the twilight of the day, when all that he had to do had been nobly, faith- fully and fully completed.
WILLIS GRATZ SEARS.
Willis Gratz Sears, who since 1903 has occupied the bench of the district court at Omaha, is thus actively connected with a profession which has important bearing upon the progress and prosperity of any section or community and one which has long been considered as conserving the public welfare by furthering the ends of justice and maintaining individual rights. He was born at Willoughby, Ohio, August 16, 1860, and in the paternal line comes of English-Irish ancestry, the family, however, being established in New England at an early day. A removal was later made to New York and thence to Meadville, Pennsylvania. In the latter state his father, the Rev. Stephen Speed Sears, served as the first county superintendent of Crawford county. He was a graduate of Allegheny College of Pennsylvania and at one time occupied the position of principal of Willoughby College at Willoughby, Ohio. He wedded Mary W. Sears, who is the oldest living alumnus of Alfred University of New York, and his death oc- curred in November, 1861, when his son, Judge Sears, was but a year old. In the fall of 1879 the family removed from Meadville, Pennsylvania, to Decatur, Nebraska.
Judge Sears largely devoted his youthful days to the acquirement of a com- mon school education and was a young man of nineteen when the family home was established in Burt county, Nebraska. Not long afterward he began prep- aration for the bar, studying in the Kansas State Law School, while in 1884 he was admitted to practice before Judge Eleazer Wakeley at Tekamah. He prac- ticed for several years at Oakland, Nebraska, and for six years he filled the office of county attorney of Burt county. In the spring of 1895 he took up his abode in Tekamah. His fellow townsmen, appreciative of his ability and public spirit, elected him to the office of mayor and his administration, characterized by needed reform and progress, led to his reelection and for three terms he remained the chief executive of that city. Still higher political honors awaited him, for in 1901 he was chosen a member of the state legislature, in which he served for two terms, acting as speaker of the house in 1901, his parliamentary rulings being characterized by the utmost fairness of procedure. In 1903 he was elected judge of the district court and since that time has been thrice reelected, so that he is still serving upon the bench, being the incumbent in the office for the fourth term. His decisions indicate strong mentality, careful analysis, a thorough knowledge of the law and an unbiased judgment. The judge on the bench fails more fre- quently perhaps from a deficiency in that broad-mindedness which not only
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comprehends the details of a situation quickly but also insures a complete self- control under even the most exasperating conditions than from any other cause ; and the judge who succeeds in the discharge of his multitudinous delicate duties is a man of well rounded character, finely balanced mind and splendid intel- lectual attainments. That Judge Sears is regarded as such a jurist is a uniformly accepted fact. He has further held office as a member of the board of insanity for several years and as a member of the school board of Tekamah, and the same fidelity marks his discharge of every public duty.
On the 17th of May, 1887, at Turin, Iowa, Judge Sears was united in mar- riage to Miss Belle V. Hoadley, a daughter of S. S. Hoadley. The children of this marriage are: Mabelle; John, deceased; Edward; Flora; Sigsby; and Charles.
Judge Sears is a York Rite Mason, belonging to the lodge, chapter and com- mandery and also to the Mystic Shrine. He likewise has membership with the Odd Fellows and the Red Men and is a life member of the Elks. His family is connected with the Methodist Episcopal church and his political allegiance is given to the republican party. The wise use which he has made of his time, talents and opportunities has brought him to the position of distinction which he now occupies as an honored citizen and eminent judge whose career reflects credit and honor upon the district which has honored him.
JUDGE WILLIAM H. MUNGER.
Judge William H. Munger, whose broad scholarly attainments were turned to good account in developing the interests and upholding the civic standards of his state, served as a member of the constitutional convention of Nebraska and for a long period was a most prominent figure in legal circles, practicing successfully as an attorney at the Omaha bar. He was born October 12, 1845, at Bergen, Genesee county, New York, and at the age of twenty years went to Cleveland, Ohio, where he secured employment in a dry goods store owned by his uncle. He devoted the hours outside of business to the reading of law and after about a year become a law student and clerk in an attorney's office at Cleveland. Two years later he made a trip to Elyria, Ohio, and was there admitted to the bar in December, 1868. Believing that better opportunities were offered to the young lawyer in the west, he made his way in that year to Fremont, Nebraska, at which time his cash capital consisted of but two dollars and a half. The day after his arrival he secured work in a lumberyard and during the winter, being then associated with E. O. Crosby, had the opportunity to try an occasional small law suit, thus earning his first professional fees. In the spring of 1869 he was admitted to a partnership by Z. Shedd, a Fremont attorney, who had a good practice. That relationship was maintained for two years, at the end of which time he entered into partnership with W. C. Ghost, with whom he remained until 1874. In the meantime his ability was becoming more and more widely recognized and his fellow townsmen came to realize that he was not only an able attorney but also possessed the elements of strong American manhood and citizenship. Accordingly in 1875 he was chosen a member of the state constitu- tional convention and aided in forming the organic law of Nebraska. In 1878 he entered into partnership with J. M. Woolworth, of Omaha, with whom he remained for a year, and then returned to Fremont, Nebraska, thereafter devoting his entire attention to the practice of his profession. He won a liberal clientage that connected him with much of the most important litigation tried in the courts of his district and the court records bear testimony to his ability in the many favorable verdicts which he won. At length he was appointed federal judge of his district, taking oath of office March 3, 1897, and remained upon the bench until his death, which occurred August II, 1915. He was a most capable jurist,
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strictly fair and impartial in his rulings, his opinions being based upon a compre- hensive knowledge of legal principles as well as upon the evidence in the case. He was for a time lecturer on federal practice in the law school of Creighton University, for years delivered lectures at the University of Nebraska on different branches of the law and came to be recognized as a lawyer and jurist of profound learning and ability.
On the 30th of March, 1871, in Fremont, Nebraska, Judge Munger was married to Miss Jennie M. Fowler and to them were born four children, May, Adda, Carrie and William Horton. Judge Munger held membership in the Omaha and Field Clubs and was a most prominent Mason, taking the various degrees of the York and Scottish rites, and the honorary thirty-third degree was conferred upon him in recognition of signal service rendered to the organiza- tion. Throughout his entire life he was never content to choose the second best in anything. Ile held to high ideals and to lofty standards. He set his mark high and made every endeavor to raise himself to its level. Thus step by step he advanced until his continuous progress gave him rank with the eminent lawyers and jurists of the state.
TIMOTHY J. MAHONEY.
There is always something inspiring in the record of a man who rises unaided from amid humble circumstances to a place of prominence, and the world instinct- ively pays deference to the individual who thus triumphs over fate or adversity and wins success. Such has been the record of Timothy J. Mahoney, senior partner in the firm of Mahoney & Kennedy and recognized as one of the leading lawyers of Nebraska, his efforts along professional lines and otherwise contrib- uting in large part toward molding and developing the metropolis.
Wisconsin numbers him among her native sons, his birth having occurred upon a farmi in Crawford county on the 17th of April, 1857. His father, Patrick Mahoney, was born in County Cork, Ireland, in 1820 and in 1850 came to the United States. He was married in Boston to Miss Ellen Cummins, also a native of County Cork, and in 1855 they removed to Wisconsin, settling on a farm in Crawford county. In 1864 they established their home in Clayton county, Iowa, there residing until 1871, when they became residents of Guthrie county, Iowa, which continued to be their place of abode until 1887, when they located in Omaha. The father died August 27, 1901, having for about three years survived his wife, who passed away September 30, 1898.
Timothy J. Mahoney was a little lad of but seven years when the family went to Iowa and in the country and town schools of Clayton and Guthrie counties he pursued his preliminary education, while later he studied in St. Joseph's Col- lege at Dubuque, Iowa, and in Notre Dame University near South Bend, Indiana. He afterward pursued a law course in the Iowa State University, which con- ferred upon him the LL. B. degree upon his graduation, with the class of 1885. In the meantime, however, he had turned to the profession of teaching as a means of providing for his later educational training and from the 8th of January, 1882, until January, 1884, served as county superintendent of schools of Guthrie county, Iowa, being then but twenty-four years of age.
Following his graduation Mr. Mahoney located for practice in Omaha, where he has since remained, and although advancement at the bar is proverbially slow, no dreary novitiate awaited him. He soon demonstrated his ability to success- fully cope with intricate legal problems and won a liberal clientage which has since grown in volume and importance. In January, 1889, he became county attorney of Douglas county and by reelection continued in that office until January, 1893. A local paper, in writing of Mr. Mahoney, said: "Facilities through which to transact a city's legal business and secure representation in mat-
TIMOTHY J. MAHONEY
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ters calling for expert legal advice and financial guidance are essentially one of its greatest needs. Rapid civic growth carries with it the demand for those agencies equipped and prepared to meet every question of the day, safeguard the greater responsibilities of increased financial and commercial activity and guide the public along proper channels of legal procedure. Neither the resources of Greater Omaha nor the fertile country surrounding it would have come within reach of the great mass of the people but for the fact that it had unlimited recourse to this splendid legal machinery through well organized and well balanced firms such as are represented by men who compose the concern of Mahoney & Kennedy-one of the best known associations of legal leaders in the middle west." Mr. Mahoney is now practicing as senior partner in the law firm of Mahoney & Kennedy and included in this firm are J. A. C. Kennedy, Yale Holland, Philip E. Horan and Guy C. Kiddoo. Said the World-Herald of this firm: "As legal representatives of individuals, institutions and corporations they are daily demon- strating that confidence reposed in their ability is not misplaced. They are handling money, transacting business, advising clients and assisting business men every day in the business week. They are making Greater Omaha a larger com- mercial center and a better place in which to live." In 1904 Mr. Mahoney assisted in organizing the Creighton College of Law and for a number of years was dean of the faculty, while at the present time he is dean emeritus. In addition to his interests as a member of the bar Mr. Mahoney is identified with several business concerns of importance, being a director of the Union Stock Yards Com- pany, of the Sheridan Coal Company and of the Packers National Bank of Omaha.
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