USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > Omaha: the Gate city, and Douglas County, Nebraska, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 35
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Vol. II-15
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haps no one in Omaha better informed concerning farm properties and values and he has thus been able to make judicious investments for his clients.
On the oth of June, 1887, in Monticello, Illinois, occurred the marriage of Mr. Peters and Miss Margaret 1 .. Reed and their children are: Reed C., who is a graduate of Amherst College and is now assistant secretary of the Peters Trust Company ; Jane Burnham, the wife of William H. Belcher, of Memphis, Tennessee; Richard Bruce ; and Katherine Margaret.
Mr. Peters exercises his right of franchise in support of the principles and candidates of the republican party and fraternally he is a Mason. He belongs to the Happy Hollow Club and to the University Club, of which he was the first president, and that he does not neglect the higher, holier duties of life is indicated in his membership in the Presbyterian church, of which he is a trustee, and he is also a trustee of the Omaha Theological Seminary. He gives active aid and generous support to all movements that tend toward the better- ment of the individual and the community and his own life has been character- ized by high and honorable principles which have won him unqualified confi- dence and regard.
ISAAC W. MINER.
There are few residents of Omaha who have as wide an acquaintance or are as popular in the city as Isaac W. Miner, the secretary of the Elks lodge, occupy- gin the position continuously since 1908. His early identification with Omaha began on the 8th of April. 1871, when he removed to the middle west from Mystic, Connecticut, where his birth occurred on the 15th of December, 1847. Through a considerable period he was connected with newspaper interests, becoming immediately on his arrival in Omaha, city editor on the Omaha Tribune. On the Ioth of June, 1871, the Tribune was consolidated with the Republican and Mr. Miner was connected with that paper until 1886, it first being issued as the Tribune and Republican and later as the Republican. He occupied the position of city editor until 1877 and was then elected secretary of the com- pany, having charge of the business office under Casper E. Yost. The paper was then sold and for a year thereafter Mr. Miner was chief clerk under J. W. Morse, general passenger agent for the Union Pacific Railway Company. Move- ments which have resulted beneficially to Omaha have been instituted or promoted by Mr. Miner. He was the organizer of the Exposition Building Company and was a most influential factor in bringing about the upbuilding of that under- taking. He afterward returned to the newspaper field in connection with the Republican and spent two more years on that paper. Following the arrival of L. M. Crawford in Omaha, at which time he leased the Exposition building and Grand Opera House, Mr. Miner became his local manager and so continued for four years, when he was succeeded by W. J. Burgess. His identification with the theatrical interests of the city, however. continued until 1908, when he was elected secretary of Lodge No. 39, B. P. O. E., of Omaha, and has since been continued in that position. All through the period of his connection with news- paper, railroad and theatrical interests he has been keenly alive to the oppor- tunities of the city and the trend of modern progress and improvement and has done much to further the work of upbuilding and advancement. He has studied the questions of public moment from every possible standpoint, realizing the difficulties as well as the advantages and weighing up each so as to gain a correct knowledge of the possibilities of any undertaking.
On the 16th of June, 1870, in Mystic, Connecticut, Mr. Miner was united in marriage to Miss Alice Dunham, of that state. She was born in England, but went to Mystic, when a small child, and by her marriage became the mother of two sons: Walter B., who was assistant cashier of a bank at Lewistown,
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Montana, and died in 1904; and George D., who is now engaged in the hotel business in San Francisco, California. Both were born in Connecticut.
Mr. Miner is not only a most prominent and poular representative of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks but is also a member of the Ak-Sar-Ben. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and in the early '7os he served as a member of the city council but otherwise has not held nor sought. public office. His work, however, has been of direct benefit to the city along many lines and Omaha's progress has been greatly promoted through his aid and cooperation.
TINLEY LIONEL COMBS.
Tinley Lionel Combs, prominently known in the commercial circles of Omaha by reason of his twenty-eight years' connection with the jewelry trade in that city, has since 1898 conducted a store of his own and today has one of the splendid jewelry establishments of the city. He was born in Fairfield, Iowa, September 8, 1870, and is a son of Andrew J. and Mary E. (Robinson) Combs. The father died in January, 1878, in Osceola, Nebraska, and the mother passed away in Brookville, Iowa, six months later, so that Tinley L. Combs was thus early left an orphan. He was then reared by his guardian, Dr. E. L. Robinson, at Silver Creek and at Clarks, Nebraska, and from the age of nine years has been dependent upon his own resources. At the time when most boys are attending the public schools he was waging a fight with the world for a living. His educa- tion was acquired in the public schools of Clarks, Nebraska, supplemented by a year and a half's study in the Nebraska Central College at Central City, Nebraska. He came to Omaha in 1889, when a youth of nineteen years, and sold jewelry from house to house, eventually winning a trade of considerable proportions, and from the money thus earned he saved a sufficient capital to enable him to embark in business on his own account. He took his initial step in that direction in 1898, in the store which he now occupies, being at that time one of four men who used the room for different lines of business. The three other men failed and left, but with true Scotch-Irish persistence, a trait inherited from his ancestors, Mr. Combs continued at his business and is today at the head of one of the finest jewelry establishments of Omaha. Aside from being president of the T. L. Combs Company, which was incorporated in 1898, he is a director of the Provident Loan Society. His prominence in business circles is indicated in the fact that he was honored by being elected by acclamation for three consecutive terms to the presidency of the American National Retail Jewelers Association and at its meeting in New York, in 1915, he and his wife were presented with handsome gold watches, suitably engraved, to express the unusual esteem in which they were held by the five thousand members of the association. His service and travels in association work gave him a nation wide acquaintance and popularity, and he is retained on the national executive committee. He has been a close student of every condition bearing upon the trade and its development and has taken the initiative step on many occasions whereby the interests of the trade in general have been promoted.
On the 8th of September, 1897, in Omaha, Mr. Combs was joined in wedlock to Miss Mary Florence, her father being Caleb Winter, a retired resident of Omaha. They have two children: Claubert Morlyn, born March 13, 1901; and Elton Trager, whose birth occurred on the 29th of August, 1904.
The parents hold membership in the First Methodist Episcopal church and take a very active and helpful interest in its work, Mr. Combs now serving on the official board. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and he is a very prominent Mason. He was raised in St. John's Lodge, No. 25, May 28, 1896. took the Scottish Rite degrees from 1904 to 1906, obtaining the thirty-second
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degree March 29, 1906. He is past master of his rose croix chapter and is pre- ceptor of his consistory now. In 1913 he was elected by the supreme council at Washington, D. C., to the Select Body of Knights Commanders of the Court of Honor and in November, 1915, he was crowned with the thirty-third degree. As a boy he was a worker in the Good Templars, and he belongs to the Inde- pendent Order of Foresters, the Maccabees, the Mystic Legion, the Woodmen of the World and the Tribe of Ben Hur. He is also an active worker in the Mystic Shrine and is now assistant rabban of Tangier Temple. His public spirit is shown in his membership in the Commercial Club, of which he is a director, and his social nature finds expression through his connection with the Elks, the Omaha Athletic Club, the Happy Hollow Club and the Seymour Lake Country Club. Of the last named he was president for two years and for five years has been a member of its board of governors. No man in business in Omaha today has fought a harder uphill fight to success than Mr. Combs and he has won his victory in the face of obstacles and difficulties that would have utterly discouraged a man of less resolute and determined spirit. What he has accomplished repre- sents the fit utilization of his innate powers and integrity, combined with a ready recognition of opportunity and a profound faith in Omaha and the west.
HON. LOUIS BERKA.
Hon. Louis Berka, ex-judge and a well known attorney of Omaha, was born in Bohemia, April 28, 1855, a son of Mathias and Maria (Vacek) Berka. The father, a native of Bohemia, came to America with his family in 1862, first settling in Wisconsin, but after a short time removed to Michigan, where he engaged in farming. Subsequently he became a resident of San Jose, Cali- fornia, and was there residing when death called him in 1908 at the age of eighty-one years. His wife passed away in San Jose in 1907, when eighty years of age. In the family were five children, two of whom have passed away, the others being: Frank, now residing in Santa Rosa, California ; Mrs. Kate Mikan, living in Durand, Michigan; and Louis, of this review.
The last named acquired his early education in Michigan, becoming a high school pupil in Flint, that state, after which he determined upon the practice of law as a life work, and with that end in view became a law student in the State University at Ann Arbor, from which he was graduated in 1883. He then located for practice in Omaha, where he has continuously remained in close connection with the bar for more than a third of a century. He was elected police magistrate of Omaha and so served for eleven years at different periods, first under the metropolitan system in 1887-8. He was a member of the city council for a term of three years and was president during the last year of that period, being acting mayor a portion of the time. He served as justice of the peace prior to becoming judge and he has made a most excellent record in the various offices which he has filled.
In August, 1878, Judge Berka was married to Miss Zela Remington, of New Haven, Michigan, and they have become the parents of seven children, of whom one is now deceased. The others are: Mrs. Grace Hill, who was born in Pontiac, Michigan, is now a resident of Kingsley, Iowa, and has one child, Doris; Mrs. Bertha Roben, who was born in Grayling, Michigan, now resides in Omaha and has one child ; Mrs. May Coleman, who was born in Omaha and there resides, and is the mother of three children; Mrs. Ethel Hachten, of Omaha, who has two children ; Mrs. Mabell Gross, now residing at Spalding, Nebraska; and Eloys, a pupil in the Omaha high school.
Judge Berka is a supporter of the Christian Science faith. Fraternally he is connected with the Woodmen of the World and the Knights of Pythias, while in Masonry he has attained the commandery degrees and become a mem-
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ber of the Mystic Shrine. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and upon that ticket he has been elected to the offices which he has filled. He has membership in the Douglas County, the Nebraska State and the American Bar Associations and he is regarded as an honored and representative member of his profession, holding to the highest ideals of professional service and at all times proving a capable and conscientious minister in the temple of justice. He gained his education through determined effort, providing the means necessary for his university training through his own labor. He has ever set his mark high and put forth every effort to raise himself to its level. His professional associates speak of him in terms of admiration and warm regard.
WILLIAM HENRY PRUNER, JR., M. D.
Dr. William H. Pruner, a prominent surgeon of Omaha, was born in Wash- ington county, Virginia, January 15, 1885, a son of Dr. W. H. Pruner, who was a well known physician of Kennard, Nebraska, where he passed away October 19, 1915, at the age of fifty-nine years. He had won much more than local dis- tinction in his profession. He was born in Virginia and studied in the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Baltimore, Maryland, from which he was grad- uated. He was selected from among several hundred students for the position of private secretary to president Miner of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute. During his college days he became a member of the Phi Kappa Alpha fraternity. In 1892 he came to Nebraska, settling at Kennard, and there through his remain- ing days continued in active and successful practice. He was a high Mason, hav- ing attained the thirty-second degree. He was one of the foremost citizens of Washington county, and not only a leader in his profession but a man who wielded a wholesome and important influence in public affairs. He was a prom- inent democrat and one of the advisors and counsellors of that party in his section. His acquaintance was wide and included the prominent public and professional men over the state. In early manhood he married Miss Ella Sue Hawley, who is a native of Christianburg, Virginia, and who is still living at Kennard, Nebraska, at the age of fifty-eight years.
In a family of seven children Dr. Pruner was the fourth in order of birth. In his youthful days he attended the public schools of Kennard and afterward became a student in the preparatory school of the University of Nebraska, while later he continued his education for a year in the State University. He next entered Creighton University as a medical student and won his professional degree in 1907. His initial professional experience was obtained as interne in the Omaha General Hospital, after which he was assistant to Dr. C. C. Allison for four and one-half years. In 1912 he entered upon the private practice of medicine and has since built up his business to extensive proportions, his ability and skill being widely recognized. While not yet of middle age, Dr. Pruner has attained a high position in his profession and as a surgeon his skill has won for him a reputation that calls him into consultation over the state. His powers are constantly expanding through the exercise of effort, resulting in increased knowl- edge and skill. He is also continually promoting his efficiency through wide reading and close investigation. He is a man of keen discrimination, most careful diagnosis, and his judgment is seldom at fault in determining the outcome of a case. He is now a member of the staff of the Wise Memorial Hospital and he belongs to the Douglas County, the Nebraska State, the American Medical, the Elkhorn Valley and the Missouri Valley Medical Associations.
In 1908 was celebrated the marriage of Dr. Pruner and Miss Elizabeth Myrtle Newkirk, the daughter of a well known farmer of Washington county, Nebraska, and one of the early pioneers of that county, where he became an extensive
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land owner. There are two children of this marriage, William Henry and Mary Elizabeth, both born in Omaha in 1909 and 1912 respectively.
Dr. Pruner votes with the democratic party and keeps well informed on the questions and issues of the day but has no time nor inclination for public office. Hle belongs to the Phi Rho Sigma, a Greek letter fraternity, and also has mem- bership with the Elks. His interest, however, centers in his professional duties, which have been of growing volume and importance until he stands today among the ablest and most successful of the physicians and surgeons of Omaha.
JOSEPH P. GRAY.
Joseph P. Gray was born on a farm near Logansport, Indiana, attended the public schools of his native state and graduated from the National Normal College of Lebanon, Ohio, in 1879. He taught in the graded schools in the state of Indiana and in the meantime studied law, was admitted to the bar in Logans- port, Indiana, in 1886, and afterward graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan and commenced the practice of law in Winamac, Indiana, in 1882.
In 1891 he moved to Frankfort, Indiana, and continued to practice law in that city until April, 1914, at which time he removed to Omaha and continued the practice. He has never held nor sought office of any kind but has given his entire life to the study and practice of his profession, believing at all times that the profession of law is the highest possible position of trust, and since moving to Omaha has established a law office in the Omaha National Bank Building, is now the senior partner of the law firm of Gray & Brumbaugh and is engaged in the general practice.
ORLA HOLMES MENOLD.
Orla Holmes Menold, agency director in Nebraska for the New York Life Insurance Company, with offices in Omaha, has become one of the best known insurance men in his part of the state, building up a business of gratifying pro- portions. He was born upon a farm near Viola, Mercer county, Illinois, August 20, 1866, of the marriage of William H. and Mary Grace (Robinson) Menold. The former was born in Pennsylvania in 1841 and in childhood was taken by his parents to Illinois, where he was reared upon a farm in Mercer county. It was there that he married and in 1876 he removed with his family to a farm in Sac county, Iowa, where he and his wife now reside. He is engaged in the furniture and undertaking business and is accounted one of the representative merchants in that line. Moreover, he is active and influential in political circles as a sup- porter of the democratic party.
Orla H. Menold began his education in the country schools of Mercer county, Illinois. Later he spent a year at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, and a year in the Western Normal College. He was next employed in a general store, where he worked for three and one-half years, and in 1891 he entered the employ of the New York Life Insurance Company, which he has now represented for a quarter of a century in the Central West, having been connected at various times with the company's offices at Sioux City, Des Moines, Chicago, Peoria, Illinois, and Burlington, Iowa. No higher testimonial of his fidelity and capability could be presented. He came to Omaha in 1907 as agency director for Nebraska and in this position of responsibility still continues, in which connection he has greatly extended the business of the corporation, making this state a profitable field. His great ambition is to live to see the life insurance business accorded the place in
JOSEPH P. GRAY
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public esteem that it is really entitled to. He believes that a high standard of ethics should be conformed to in dealing with the public and feels that the time has come when no one should be permitted to represent a life insurance company unless he possesses good character, is honest and conscientious to a high degree as well as thoroughly informed on all phases of the insurance business.
On the 6th of August, 1891, Mr. Menold was united in marriage to Miss Mae Williams, a daughter of Joseph Williams and a granddaughter of Nathan Williams, who fought in the Revolutionary war. Mr. and Mrs Menold have two children : Harry Williams, born June 11, 1894; and Marjorie Ione.
Mr. and Mrs. Menold hold membership in Methodist Episcopal church and fraternally he is connected with the Masons and the Odd Fellows. In the former he has taken the York Rite and a part of the Scottish Rite degrees and has become a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. He belongs to the Omaha Field Club, to the Com- inercial Club and to the Ak-Sar-Ben and at the polls he gives his allegiance to the democratic party but has never been an aspirant for office. Close application has led to a thorough mastery of the work to which he directs his energies and atten- tion, and his fidelity has been the stepping stone on which he has risen to the place of prominence that he now occupies in insurance circles in Nebraska.
GUY HARRIS COX.
Guy Harris Cox, an active member of the Omaha bar whose developing powers have already brought him to a creditable position among the capable lawyers of the city, comes to Nebraska from the neighboring state of Iowa. He was born in Harrison county, July 29, 1880, and was the eldest in a family of four children whose parents were John L. and Evelyn (Harris) Cox. The father, whose birth occurred in Harrison county, Iowa, represents one of the old pioneer families of that state of English lineage founded, however, on the soil of the new world prior to the Revolutionary war. In fact representatives of the family participated in the struggle for independence. They lived originally in West Virginia and the grandfather, Henry B. Cox, was a native of Ohio. In 1851 he emigrated westward to Iowa, becoming one of the pioneer agriculturists of that state. His son, John L. Cox, was reared in Iowa, supplementing his public school training there by study in the State Agricultural College, while later he entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, in which he was graduated in 1878. He did not take up a military life, however, but returned to the soil and spent the greater part of his days upon the Iowa farm on which he was born. At length, however, he retired from active agricultural life and is now living in San Jose, California. His wife was born in Indiana and is also living. Their children are Guy H., Gertrude, Grace and Ben, the last named an attorney at law and a graduate of Stanford University of California.
Guy H. Cox was educated in the public schools of Missouri Valley, Iowa, in Drake University at Des Moines, which he attended for two years, and in the State University of Iowa, in which he pursued his professional course, winning the LL. B. degree upon graduation with the class of 1905. He then removed to Tacoma, Washington, and became associated with the firm of Shackelford & Hayden, leading attorneys of that city, with whom he remained for four years. He then returned to Omaha and entered the firm of Mckenzie, Howell & Cox, this association being maintained until the death of Mr. Howell, Messrs. Mckenzie and Cox being later joined by A. L. Sutton, so that the firm is today Sutton, Mckenzie & Cox. They have a large and growing law practice that has con- nected them with much important litigation and Mr. Cox and his associates are regarded as strong and forceful representatives of the Omaha bar. He holds membership with the Omaha-Douglas County and Nebraska State Bar Associa- tions and he enjoys the goodwill and respect of his professional colleagues.
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On the 30th of January, 1909, Mr. Cox was married in Logan, Iowa, to Miss Lorinda McCoid, a native of that state and a daughter of George W. McCoid. They have one child, Lorinda, born September 30, 1916. Mr. Cox votes with the republican party. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons, having been initiated into the order in Lebanon Lodge of Tacoma. He is a member of the Commercial Club and the Omaha Athletic Club. During the period of his res- idence here he has gained many warm friends because of his fidelity to high standards of life in every relation as well as by his close conformity to the ethical principles of the legal profession.
ALFRED KIMBALL BARNES.
Alfred Kimball Barnes, an attorney practicing in Omaha since his admission to the bar in 1907, was born in Ponca, Nebraska, May 10, 1881, a son of John B. and Ida Frances (Hannant) Barnes. The father was born in Ashtabula, Ohio, August 26, 1846, and came to Nebraska in 1871 or 1872, his marriage occurring in this state. At the time of the Civil war he responded to the country's call for aid, joining the First Ohio Volunteer Light Artillery, with which he served dur- ing the last three years of the war. It was subsequent to his removal to Nebraska that he was admitted to the bar and he has since won distinction as a lawyer and jurist of eminent ability. He is now serving for the second term as a member of the supreme court of the state and in April, 1916, was renominated for the office, in which he has proven himself the peer of the ablest members who have represented the court of last resort. In fact his record reflects credit and honor upon the judicial history of the state, for he is most fair and impartial in the discharge of the multitudinous delicate duties which devolve upon him, while his application of legal principles to the points in litigation is most correct.
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