USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > Omaha: the Gate city, and Douglas County, Nebraska, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 28
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On the 7th of October, 1882, in Schuyler, Nebraska, Mr. Brome was mar- ried to Miss Elizabeth Thompson, a daughter of the late Martin Thompson, who served in a New York regiment in the Civil war. Two sons have been born of this marriage : Clinton, who was born in 1884 and who was married in Omaha to Miss Alletta Stewart; and Charles, who was married in Omaha to Miss Margaret Kennedy. She died on November 14, 1916, at Worland, Wyoming.
The parents attend the Unitarian church and Mr. Brome exercises his right of franchise in support of the principles and candidates of the republican party. The strength of his character is a manifestation of genuine worth, a recognition of the obligations as well as the opportunities of life.
CYRUS DEAN GLOVER.
Cyrus Dean Glover, active in the field of real estate and insurance, has carried on business since 1912 as senior partner in the firm of Glover & Spain. His early training was along this line, for soon after leaving school he entered the real estate and insurance office of his father. He was born upon a farm near Long Pine, Nebraska, July 28, 1885, and is a son of Charles R. and Effie (Whittemore) Glover, who were married in Aurora, Nebraska. The father was born near Oberlin, Ohio, in 1849 and came to this state in early manhood. He served as register of the United States land office at Valentine, Nebraska, for four years and prior to that time organized the Brown County Bank at Long Pine, Nebraska, of which he remained the president for fourteen years. In 1898 he became a
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resident of Omaha and through the following decade was engaged in the real estate and insurance business in this city but in 1908 removed to the island of Cuba, where he resided until 1913, removing then to New York city, where he is now living retired. He lost his first wife in 1890 and was again married in 1804, his second union being with Mollie Hawes.
Cyrus D. Glover was a lad of nine years when the family left the home farm near Long Pine and removed to Valentine, where he lived for four years and then came with his father to Omaha. His educational opportunities were those afforded by the public school system of the state and when his textbooks were put aside he joined his father in the real estate and insurance business in Omaha, acting as his father's assistant from 1905 until 1908, when, at the age of twenty- three years, he succeeded to the business. He continued alone for four years and in 1912 organized the firm of Glover & Spain, in which connection he has since carried on his interests. He is accorded a good clientage in both departments of his business and conducts many important realty transfers, while at the same time he writes a large amount of insurance annually. He is a member of the Omaha Real Estate Board and of the Building Owners and Managers Association.
On the 22d of December, 1909, in Omaha, Mr. Glover was united in marriage to Miss Mary B. Fenn and to them has been born a son, Robert Dean, whose natal day was September 12, 191I.
Mr. Glover votes with the democratic party but has never been abitious to hold office. He belongs to the Carter Lake Club, which indicates something of the nature of his recreation, and his interest in community affairs and in the upbuilding and welfare of Omaha is indicated in his membership in the Com- mercial Club and the Ak-Sar-Ben.
PETER ELVAD.
In 1912 when Peter Elvad undertook as the leading spirit the organization of the new monster architectural and building construction corporation known as the Bankers Realty Investment Company, he became an important factor in Omaha's development and progress, for from that day to this, this business institu- tion, of which he is the president, has made its influence for the city's good one of constantly increasing importance.
The great number of business buildings, large and small, and the many com- fortable and beautiful homes all over the city of Omaha attest to this, but by far the most remarkable of this company's achievements up to the present time-one which is recognized all over the entire country as one of the finest buildings of its kind in existence today-is the Omaha Blackstone Hotel. Not only did the Bankers Realty Investment Company design and erect this building complete in every detail for the building owners, it is responsible for bringing the existing opportunity for such a building to their attention as well; so that in reality this company should be given full credit for the existence of an apartment hotel build- ing in Omaha which for architectural beauty and all around efficiency will com- pare favorably with the very best buildings of this type in the United States today.
Not only in Omaha is the influence of the Bankers Realty Investment Com- pany at work-its business is spread all over this and neighboring states as well. At the present time it has contracts for and has under way over a million and a half dollars worth of building business in the middle western states, inclusive of its business in Omaha proper.
Like many young men, America beckoned to Peter Elvad from across the seas, as a land of promise, and like many he came with but little else than faith and courage to this land of opportunity, to carve out by dint of hard work of hands and brain a fortune and a place of honor. In 1904 he landed in Omaha
PETER ELVAD
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and secured a position as a bookkeeper. He saw that America was everything it had promised. He studied conditions carefully and saw opportunities, many of them. He saw Omaha a city with a future and he determined to become a factor in evolving this future.
The long gray days behind a bookkeeper's desk gave him plenty of opportunity to observe, and he, like many other successful men, realized the meaning of the word "service" as applied to business success, with the result that the Bankers Realty Investment Company stands today as one of the finest examples of a highly organized service-rendering institution of its kind in this section of the country.
Mr. Elvad personally refuses to take as much of the credit for this organiza- tion as those who know him well say that he deserves. "He insists that those asso- ciated with him accomplished the biggest part-that the big corporation, of which he is the head, is successful only because he has been fortunate in his choice of captains, lieutenants and privates. But regardless of his modesty, there can be no doubt in the minds of those who know him well that his star is in its ascend- ancy and that with his progressive mentality, his indefatigable energy, the pow- erful influence which he in his position can bring to bear, caused him to be a factor to be counted on in a big way to do much toward bringing Omaha and the middle west into the position which the people have so long hoped to see them achieve.
HENRY BASSETTE RAMSEY.
Henry Bassette Ramsey, representing the Prudential Insurance Company at Omaha as state manager for Nebraska and South Dakota, was born in Rich- mond, Missouri, February 2, 1886. His great-grandfather, David Ramsey, came to America from Scotland and took part in the War of 1812. The grandfather, Joseph Ramsey, was born in Monroe, Virginia, now West Virginia, on the 27th of December, 1817, and served in the Confederate army during the Civil war. His son, James William Ramsey, the father of our subject, was likewise born in Monroe and his natal day was June 20, 1846. He was married to Miss Anna E. Brawley, a native of the Old Dominion. At the time of the Civil war he went to the front as a soldier of the Confederate army and was in the battles of Piedmont, Winchester, Fishers Hill, Cedar Creek and others, fourteen in all, and remained in the army until the surrender of General Lee in 1865. He was honorably discharged from the Confederate service but was never paroled by the Federals. Subsequently he entered the ministry of the Methodist church, in which he has since been active. In 1885 he removed with his family to Missouri and is now engaged in preaching at Jonesburg, that state.
After attending the public schools in his native state Henry B. Ramsey con- tinued his education in a college at St. Charles, Missouri, and in Westminster College at Fulton, Missouri, which he attended for three years. He left the latter institution in 1904 and removed to Barfield. Arkansas, where he accepted the position of bookkeeper in a mercantile house, being thus engaged for eightcen months. He then returned to Fulton, Missouri, where he was connected with a book store for a year, on the expiration of which period he embarked in busi- ness on his own account at Blytheville, Arkansas, as a dealer in books and con- fectionery. There he remained until 1912, when he went to Des Moines, lowa. as special agent for the Prudential Insurance Company of Newark, New Jersey. thus making his initial step in the line of business in which he has since so successfully engaged. In March, 1915, he came to Omaha as state manager for South Dakota and Nebraska for the Prudential and has since made his head- quarters in this city.
On the 12th of January, 1909, in Fulton, Missouri, Mr. Ramsey was united
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in marriage to Miss Blanche R. Farmer, a daughter of Lemuel D. Farmer, and they have become the parents of two children, Dorothy L. and James Dudley.
Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church and fraternally he is identified with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. llis political allegiance is given to the democratic party but he has neither the time nor inclination for public office, preferring to concentrate his efforts upon his business affairs. The fact that since 1912, when he entered the service of the Prudential in Des Moines as an ordinary agent he has worked his way steadily upward to the responsible position of manager for the company in two states speaks well for his business ability and his enterprise.
GEORGE HENRY MERTEN.
While one of the younger members of the legal profession in Omaha, George Henry Merten has already won a position which many an older practitioner might well envy. He is a native son of St. Louis but was reared in Fillmore county, Nebraska, with the usual experiences of the farm bred boy. He attended the graded and high schools of Grafton, Nebraska, from which he graduated in 1894. He decided to make the practice of law his life work and with that end in view entered Creighton University at Omaha, from which he was graduated with the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1904. Thus upon the foundation of broad literary learning he reared the superstructure of his professional knowledge, pursuing his law course at Creighton University, from which he was graduated in 1907 with the LL. D. degree. His alma mater conferred upon him the Master of Arts degree in 1906. Following his admission to the bar in 1907 he opened a law office in Omaha, where he has since remained. His ability was early rec- ognized and as a logical sequence he has been accorded a large and representative clientage.
On the 9th of June, 1908, in Omaha, Mr. Merten was united in marriage to Miss Alice M. McCauley, a daughter of the late James McCauley, and they have become the parents of a daughter, Mary Eileen.
Mr. Merten gives his political endorsement to the democratic party. He has many friends, the number being almost coextensive with the circle of his acquaint- ances, and he is recognized as a dynamic force in connection with those lines in which his activity has been most strongly manifest.
HARRY A. WOLF.
Actuated by a public-spirited devotion to his adopted city as well as by laudable personal ambition, Harry A. Wolf has in the course of his active business career in Omaha, covering a period of more than twelve years, done much for the city's development as well as for the upbuilding of his own fortunes through his real estate operations. He closely studies every question that has to do with activity in the real estate field and has been a keen observer of men and methods in other cities. Moreover, he is a striking example of what may be accomplished by a man of foreign birth. He was born in Vilna, Russia, October 1, 1884, a son of Joshua and Rebecca Wolf, both of whom passed away in Russia in 1886. They had a family of four children : Samuel, now living in Philadelphia ; Mrs. Esther Robinson, of Omaha; Balah, the wife of Jacob Kooper; and Harry A.
The last named was thirteen years of age when he bade adieu to friends and native country and sailed for the new world. He attended school in Russia, where he was reared by his sisters, being but two years of age at the time he was left an orphan. He came alone to America, attracted by the business opportuni-
GEORGE H. MERTEN
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ties which he believed might be enjoyed on this side the Atlantic. Landing at New York city, he there secured employment as an errand boy in a factory at two dollars and a half per week. Experience is a very thorough teacher and experience had already taught Harry A. Wolf something concerning the value of an education as a preparation for life's practical and responsible duties. Ac- cordingly while working in that humble capacity he attended night school and through study in that manner he secured a fair education. He remained in New York for two years and then went to Philadelphia. where he resided for five years, working in the daytime and studying through the evening hours. In the mean- time he had formed the purpose of becoming a lawyer although subsequent events changed his palns. While in Philadelphia he studied law under one who was both an attorney and real estate dealer and it was during that period that Mr. Wolf first came to a realization of the opportunities offered in the real estate field. On the Ist of August, 1904, he arrived in Omaha and turned his attention to the real estate business. He realized that the most lucrative property is the business property of a city. He studied conditions very thoroughly in other cities and from time to time as his financial resources permitted he made invest- ment in business property which had deteriorated in price because of the old buildings thereon. Securing such property, he at once erected new buildings. In this connection one of the local papers said of him:
"He made numerous trips to the eastern cities, watching the growth of other cities and always studying their business centers with a view of comparing them with the probable development of Omaha. Wolf a number of years ago came to the conclusion that the most lucrative and most stable property in Omaha is in the business center, which was sadly neglected. Realizing that the property is too expensive for any individual to handle, he hit upon the plan of acquiring down town property through syndicates, by interesting two or more people in only one deal. He has organized a number of these syndicates. Notable among the deals consummated by him is the taking over from the Woodmen of the World of their old office building at Fifteenth and Howard streets. He has remodeled it at an expense of over sixty thousand dollars, turned it into a hotel, which is now a very profitable investment. He built the Down Town Garage on Howard street near Fifteenth and a number of store buildings on Upper Sixteenth street. He recently took over the Curtis property and by spending on it fifty- five thousand dollars turned it into one of the most beautiful little hotels in the city. He has charge of the Ware block at Fifteenth and Farnam, and is now erecting a ten-story hotel building on one of the best corners in the city, on a lot he recently acquired from George A. Joslyn on a ninety-nine year lease, on the northwest corner of Sixteenth and Harney streets. Mr. Wolf is recognized as an authority on values of down town property and is often consulted by loan companies and private people with reference to values and development of down town property. He is known for his honest, fair and frank dealings and has succeeded in obtaining the confidence of many of the foremost financial men of the city, whom he has interested in the various syndicates and who have profited through his investments. Mr. Wolf is very enthusiastic about the future of Omaha and claims that the development of the city is now only in its infancy and capital conservatively invested will bring large returns to the investors as well as help the city in its forward movement to become one of the prominent central American cities. He has been a prominent factor in real estate circles and is always found among the enthusiasts who are working for a bigger and better city. His knowledge of the real estate business and his service is offered to the individual investor, whether his savings be listed in hundreds or thousands of dollars." Mr. Wolf is now a director in a number of real estate corporations, including the Commercial Realty, the Keystone Investment Company and the Carlton Realty Company.
On the 20th of January, 1907, Mr. Wolf was united in marriage to Miss Clara Bernstein, of Philadelphia, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bernstein,
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well known in that city. Mr. and Mrs. Wolf have one son, Justine Robert, who was born in Omaha in 1910 and is now attending Kindergarten.
Mr. Wolf is a thirty-second degree Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine. He also belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is an active member of the principal Jewish societies, of both local and national import- ance, being president of the Omaha Hebrew Club, which is one of the largest in the west. He is likewise a valued member of the Commercial Club and of the Athletic Club and belongs to the Omaha real estate board, of which he has been treasurer and director. He is likewise connected with the National Real Estate Exchange, is a member of the River and Harbor Association and is a member of the Building Owners and Managers Association. In a word he has studied conditions affecting the country in all its economic relations and he keeps abreast with the trend of modern thought and progress. His achievements are notable from the fact that he arrived in America when a youth of thirteen unacquainted with the language, customs and methods of the American people. His strength of character, however, proved the foundation for his advancement and success. Allowing no obstacles or difficulties to discourage him or to bar his path, he has steadily progressed and Omaha acknowledges her indebtedness to him as a factor in her business circles and a supporter of many of her progressive and helpful municipal projects.
CHARLES DE MARS BEATON.
Charles De Mars Beaton, an Omaha druggist whose collegiate training well qualified him to take up pharmaceutical work, is not only successfully conducting his store but is also president of the Beaton Realty Company and of the Beaton Photo Supply Company. A native of Nebraska, he was born in Schuyler in 1875. a son of Allen Daniel and Mary Anne ( Macdonald) Beaton. The father was born at East Point on Prince Edward Island in 1824 and in 1875 became a resident of Schuyler, Nebraska, but in the meantime engaged in business at Boston as a shipbuilder. In 1879 he removed to Omaha and became a well known general contractor of this city. He was married on Prince Edward Island and passed away in Omaha in 1881, while his widow, long surviving, departed this life in 1914.
Charles De Mars Beaton was but four years of age when brought to this city and therefore his public school education was here acquired. In 1892 he was graduated from Creighton College, after which he made his initial step in the business world by securing a clerkship in a small drug store in Omaha. Liking the work, he decided to further qualify for the business and to that end entered the St. Louis College of Pharmacy, from which he was graduated in 1894. In the latter year he returned to Omaha and again engaged in clerking until March, 1899, when he established a store of his own which he has since conducted. It is attractive in its arrangement and he carries an extensive line of drugs and druggists' sundries, while the business methods of the house commend it to the continued and growing public patronage. Not only is he successfully man- aging his store but is also active in shaping the policy and controlling the interests of other business concerns, being now president of the Beaton Realty Com- pany of Omaha and of the Beaton Photo Supply Company.
On the 6th of November, 1912, in Milwaukee, Mr. Beaton was united in marriage to Miss Hattie E. Wurster, a daughter of Emanuel A. Wurster. They have two children, Charles De Mars, Jr., and Harriet W. He belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and along strictly social lines is connected with the Omaha Club and the Country Club. He is also identified with various organizations which have to do with the business development of the city, includ- ing the Ad Club, the Business Men's Association, the Retailers' Association and
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the Commercial Club. Moreover, he is one of the most active and prominent workers in the Ak-Sar-Ben, of which he is now a governor, while in 1914-15 he was king. He is thoroughly in sympathy with its purposes and believes in such a method of advertising Omaha's advantages and opportunities. He feels that for individual business or community interests publicity is the basis of devel- opment and success, and advertising has been a potent force in the promotion of his mercantile interests.
JOSEPH HERMAN GREEN.
Joseph Herman Green, a successful clothing merchant of Omaha, was born in Roumania in 1866, a son of Lieb Green, who spent his entire life in Roumania, there passing away in 1887. Joseph H. Green attended the schools of his native country to the age of eighteen years, and then, attracted by the opportunities which he believed he might enjoy in the new world, crossed the Atlantic to the United States. Making his way to Cleveland, Ohio, he there remained for four years and was afterward a resident of St. Louis, Missouri, for a similar period. In 1891 he went to San Francisco, where he resided for a year, and in 1893 he was in Chicago. He went to Kansas City in 1894 and in 1896 embarked in the clothing business, there conducting a store until early in 1916, when he came to Omaha and opened an exclusive clothing establishment on Sixteenth and Howard streets, at the same time retaining the ownership of his Kansas City business. He is controlling extensive interests in the two cities and already has won a very large patronage in Omaha, carrying an excellent and well selected line of goods, while his business methods commend him to the patronage of the public and have secured for him a high position among the foremost merchants of the city.
On the 4th of June, 1896, in Kansas City, Mr. Green was joined in wedlock to Miss Mary Fiegel, by whom he has two sons, namely: Lawrence Elmer, who is a Harvard student, class of 1918, and Howard Jay. Mr. Green is a republi- can in his political views. He holds to the Hebrew faith in his religious opinion and is a member of B'nai B'rith. Mr. Green deserves all the credit implied in the term a self-made man, for he started out empty handed and has worked his way upward through persistent, earnest effort, utilizing industry and economy to gain for him the capital that at length enabled him to embark in business for himself.
JOHN THOMAS YATES.
John Thomas Yates, a man of marked individuality and force of character, who was one of the organizers of the Woodmen of the World and has served continuously as sovereign clerk since January 1, 1892, with headquarters at Omaha, was born at Mount Savage, Maryland, June 2, 1866, a son of Thomas and Mary (Evans) Yates. The father was a native of England but was married in Wales and in the early '40s came to the United States, settling in Maryland, where both spent their remaining days. Mr. Yates passing away in 1880, while his wife died in 1882. He served throughout the entire period of the Civil war as a private of the Second Maryland Volunteer Infantry.
To the public schools of his native city John T. Yates is indebted for his educational opportunities, and with the lure of the west upon him he came to Nebraska in 1882, settling in Nemaha City, where he spent a year. Since 1886 he has been a resident of Omaha, in which year he entered the employ of Milton Rogers, a pioneer hardware merchant, with whom he continued for six years. In January, 1892, he became associated with Joseph Cullen Root in organizing the
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Woodmen of the World, a fraternal insurance order which has grown steadily and which now numbers many thousand members. He accepted the position of sovereign clerk of the order and has given practically his entire time and atten- tion to furthering the interests of the organization since January 1, 1892. In connection with the Woodmen of the World he organized the branch known as the Uniform Rank, which now has a membership of between thirty and forty thousand well trained and picked men. He himself had previously had military experience and was an honorary member of the Thurston Rifles of Omaha, an organization which still exists although under another name. Aside from his work as sovereign clerk Mr. Yates is editing the Woodman News, a monthly paper published at Omaha and devoted to the interests of the Woodmen. In this connection he has become well known as a short story writer and his articles frequently appear in that publication. They are characterized by a simplicity and beauty of style that touches the hearts of his readers and carries home the message which he wishes to convey.
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