USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > Omaha: the Gate city, and Douglas County, Nebraska, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 4
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judge at Omaha. The other children died in infancy and the mother passed away October 30, 1864. On the 8th of October, 1866, Mr. Redick wedded Mary E. May and they became the parents of five children: John I., who died in 1908; Albert Clarkson, who died October 17, 1901 ; and Oak Chatham, George May and Elmer S., all of Omaha. The mother died in August, 1894, and in July, 1896, Judge Redick married Barbara Lyon, of Ingersoll, Ontario.
For many years the residence of Judge Redick was on the corner of what is now Twenty-fourth and Pratt streets. In the early 'zos he had acquired a quarter section of land stretching west of Twenty-fourth street and his home stood in the midst of this tract. It was a center of hospitality and gaiety and many and joyous were the parties that filled the house in Nebraska's early days. There for more than a quarter of a century the family kept "open house" each New Year's day and the beaux and belles of the town held many a revel there, for in the family were several sons, all popular among the youthful social set. The old home was razed in 1917 to make way for one of the new buildings of the University of Omaha ; but the delightful social functions there held will long live in the memory of those in attendance, just as the name of John Irvin Redick will be honored for years to come among those who were his associates and friends during the long period of his residence in Omaha.
GEORGE A. MAGNEY.
George A. Magney, county attorney of Douglas county since 1912, having been reelected in 1915, was born on a farm in Scioto county, Ohio, September 29, 1858, and comes of French ancestry, his paternal grandparents having. been natives of Paris, whence they came to the new world as young people and settled in Ohio. John Magney, the father of George A. Magney, was born in the Buckeye state in 1834 and followed the occupation of farming as a life work. He wedded Mary Searl, who was also born in Ohio, and in the year 1865 they came to Nebraska, settling in Cass county. The father died in May, 1895, and the mother survived him only until December of the same year.
The youthful days of George A. Magney were spent as a farm lad in Cass county, where his attention was divided between the work of the fields and attendance at the district schools. He did not desire to follow the plow as a life work, however, but was ambitious to enter professional circles and took up the study of law in the office of Judge Samuel M. Chapman at Plattsmouth, Nebraska, who directed his preliminary reading until his admission to the bar in June, 1881. He then located for practice in Papillion, Nebraska, where he remained for four years, and in 1887 he came to Omaha, where he has since followed his profession. His arguments are strong and forceful, being based upon a careful analysis of the facts with the correct application of legal principles thereto. In 1897, under a law providing for a municipal court in Omaha, Mr. Magney was appointed one of the three judges of that court, but after he had served upon the bench for eight months the supreme court rendered the decision that the municipal court should not stand. In 1903 he was appointed deputy county attorney and occupied that position for a year under George W. Shields. Reappointment made him chief deputy county attorney under the late Hon. J. P. English, in which position he continued for eight years, or until 1912, when he was elected county attorney. . Two years later and again in 1916 public endorsement came to him in his reelection, so that he has now entered upon a third term, continuing from 1916 until 1918.
On the 26th of April, 1885, in Papillion, Nebraska, Mr. Magney was married to Miss Dora L. Ayer and they have become the parents of three children : Lloyd Ayer, who was married in Omaha in 1914 to Miss Grace Cronin; Vernon Pernett; and Ethel Georgiana.
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The parents are members of the Christian Science church and fraternally Mr. Magney is connected with the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Woodmen of the World, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Moose and the Red Men. In the Knights of Pythias he served as grand chancellor of Nebraska for the years 1905 and 1906. He belongs also to the Carter Lake Club and is an active supporter of the Commercial Club. His political allegiance has always been given to the democratic party, for he is a firm believer in its principles as effective forces in good government. No one doubts his political integrity or undervalues his honesty, for he is known to be a man who accomplishes what he undertakes, while his methods in so doing will at all times bear the closest investigation and scrutiny.
JOHN LATENSER.
John Latenser is Omaha's most prominent architect, his skill and ability being manifest in many of the finest structures of the city. He was born in Liechten- stein, Germany, in 1859 and pursued his education at Stuttgart, being graduated from the Polytechnic College with the class of 1879. Attracted by the business conditions and opportunities of the new world, he crossed the Atlantic to America in 1881, settling in Chicago, where he was employed as a draftsman. Seven years later, or in 1888, he arrived in Omaha and, opening an office, has since followed his profession, his developing powers bringing him to a foremost position among the architects of the city and state. For three years he was superintending archi- tect of the Omaha postoffice and United States superintendent of public build- ings for four years, his territory covering several states. Some of the largest and most important contracts of Omaha have been awarded to him. He was the builder of the Omaha high school, the Douglas county courthouse, the Hoagland block, the hospital building of the College of Medicine of the University of Nebraska, the Wise Memorial Hospital, the Clarkson Memorial Hospital, Temple Israel, the Scottish Rite cathedral, the Brandeis office building, the Oscar Keeline office building, the Saunders-Kennedy office building and the Omaha Athletic Club building. He has also made the plans and supervised the construction of at least twenty of the public school buildings and there is no point of his pro- fession with which he is not thoroughly familiar.
Mr. Latenser has two sons: John Latenser, Jr., who, following his graduation from the Omaha high school, spent two years in Lincoln University at Lincoln, Nebraska, and four years in the pursuit of a course in architecture at Columbia University of New York city; and Frank Latenser, who was graduated from the Omaha high school and also studied architecture for four years in Columbia University. Both are now associated with their father under the firm style of John Latenser & Sons.
COLONEL LOUIS J. PIATTI.
Colonel Louis J. Piatti is now serving for the fifth term as deputy county attorney of Douglas county, his long connection with the office standing as incon- trovertible evidence of the superior ability and unfaltering fidelity which he has displayed in that connection. He is a native of the eastern metropolis, his birth having occurred in New York city, April 15, 1863. His father, Peter G. Piatti, was born in Milan, Italy, and in 1843 came to the United States. In New York city he married Julia Chapelle and in 1896 he passed away but is still survived by Mrs. Piatti, who resides on Long Island. His uncle, Antonio, was a
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well known sculptor and designed the equestrian statue of Washington in Union Square, New York. A cousin, Attillio Piatti is now vice consul at Nice.
Reared in New York city, Louis J. Piatti attended its public schools and taking up the study of law, was admitted to the bar at the May term of court in 1884, when twenty-one years of age. For several years he practiced in New York and for one year in Buffalo, but, believing that the west offered a better field, came to Omaha in February, 1890, and has since become a prominent representative of the bar of this city. After a time he began to take an active interest in politics and his loyalty to the democratic party led to his selection for the position of secretary of the democratic county committee, in which capacity he served for eight years. In 1900 he was chosen a delegate to the democratic national convention, which was held in Kansas City, and his opinions have car- ried considerable weight in the local and state councils of his party. In 1907 he was appointed deputy county attorney by James P. English and reappointment has continued him in the office for six terms, having been in 1916 again appointed to serve for two years. He most faithfully and capably defends the legal interests of the county and his services are highly satisfactory to the general public. He is also acting at the present time as a member of the governor's staff.
In September, 1905, in Omaha, Mr. Piatti was married to Minnie Hum- pert, a daughter of Frank Humpert, who was a private in a Pennsylvania regi- ment during the Civil war, and his family includes Frances R. Piatti.
In his religious faith Mr. Piatti is a Catholic and he belongs to the Dahlman Democracy Club. He is a member of the state and county bar associations, was vice chairman of the democratic central committee for 1916 and chairman of that committee for 1911. He is a man of fine personal appearance and has many substantial qualities which have rendered him popular with his fellow townsmen.
JOHN EDWARD SUMMERS, M. D.
Dr. John Edward Summers, a distinguished surgeon of Omaha and a well- known contributor to the medical press of the country, was born in Fort Kearney, Nebraska, January 2, 1858, a son of John E. and Caroline J. (Stuart) Summers. The family has long been a prominent one in Virginia, and Summers county of West Virginia was named in its honor. Dr. John Edward Summers, Sr., was for thirty-eight years actively connected with the medical department of the United States Army. His wife was born in New York and came of Scotch ancestry.
In his youthful days John E. Summers of Omaha attended public and private schools and afterward spent about three years as a cadet in the United States Military Academy at West Point. Having determined to make the practice of medicine his life work, he then entered Columbia University and was graduated from the medical department in the spring of 1881. He joined the United States Army as an assistant surgeon and for two years served in Wyoming, on the expi- ration of which period he resigned his position in order to further study medicine in Europe, where he remained for two years, most of the time in Vienna.
In the spring of 1885 Dr. Summers opened an office in Omaha, where he has since made his home, and throughout the intervening period he has occupied a most prominent position in professional ranks. For some years he has been professor of clinical surgery in Omaha Medical College, and his high standing among professional colleagues of the United States is indicated in the fact that he has been honored with a fellowship in the American Surgical Association, of which he is now vice president ; he is a membre de la Societe Internationale de Chirurgie, fellow of the American College of Surgeons and of the American Medical Association, a member and former president of the Western Surgical
DR. JOHN E. SUMMERS
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Association, the Nebraska State Medical Society, the Omaha-Douglas County Medical Society and the Medical Society of the Missouri Valley. He has a very large practice in surgery, extending far beyond the limits of his home city. For five years he served as surgeon in chief of Immanuel Hospital, and since the 5th of May, 1885, he has been surgeon in chief and attending surgeon, respectively. to the Clarkson Memorial Hospital, the Wise Memorial Hospital and the Douglas County Hospital, all of Omaha. He has likewise been surgeon of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, and during the administration of Governor Boyd he was surgeon general of the National Guard of Nebraska. He has been a most liberal contributor to the leading medical journals of the country and is fre- quently quoted in standard surgical works.
On the 24th of April, 1895, Dr. Summers was married to Miss Laura M. Hoagland, a daughter of George A. Hoagland, one of Omaha's oldest and leading citizens; they have two living children, John H. and Stuart Wyman. Dr. Suni- mers has membership with the Loyal Legion and with the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States, and along more strictly social lines his connection extends to the Omaha Club, University Club, Commercial Club of Omaha, and the Omaha Country Club; he belongs to such educational clubs as the Palimpsest Club and Friends of Art Society, and is an active member of the Omaha Public Library Board. Those who know Dr. Summers as a clubman find him of a most social nature, genial and companionable, and those who meet him professionally always feel assured of his kindly and sympathetic interest. When engaged in pro- fessional service he is the alert, wide-awake surgeon, ready to meet any emergency or respond to any call of duty, and his developing powers have resulted in ability that places him in the front rank among the ablest representatives of his calling in the west.
HARLEY GREEN MOORHEAD.
Harley Green Moorhead, who for fourteen years has been actively engaged in the practice of law in Omaha and since 1913 has occupied the position of elec- tion commissioner of Douglas county, was born in Dunlap, Iowa, September 3. 1876, and comes of a family of English origin, his paternal grandfather being John Moorhead, a native of Lancashire, England, born in 1804. Coming to the United States in early manhood, he settled in Ohio and there followed the occupation of farming. His son, George Park Moorhead, was born in Steuben- ville, Ohio, in 1837 and having arrived at adult age, was married in Iowa to Annis Bowerman, who was born in Canada. They now spend the summer months in Omaha, while the winter seasons are passed in San Diego, California. The father was formerly a cattleman and successful banker but is now living retired.
At the usual age Harley G. Moorhead became a public school pupil at Dunlap, Iowa, and continued his studies for a time in Woodbine, Iowa. He next entered Oberlin College at Oberlin, Ohio, where he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy in the class of 1899. He afterward won his law degree at Columbia University in New York city in 1902 and immediately afterward came to Omaha, where he has since continued in active practice, early becoming recognized as one of the most capable members of the bar of this city. His knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence is comprehensive and exact and in the control of his cases he has ever manifested marked ability in handling and presenting the evidence and in applying legal principles. He is now a director of the Dunlap State Bank in his native city.
On the 24th of April, 1907, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Mr. Moorhead was married to Miss Bertha Salina Wallin and their children are Harley G. and George Chadbourne Moorhead. Mr. and Mrs. Moorhead belong to the First
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Congregational church of Omaha, and he is an active and valued member of various fraternal organizations and chibs, being identified with the Elks, the Phi Gamma Delta, the Phi Delta Phi, the Commercial Club, the Omaha Country Club, and the Rotary Chtb of Omaha, having been president of the last named club during 1915. His political endorsement has always been given' to the democratic party, and in 1906 he was elected its candidate for the state legislature but was defeated. In 1911 he was a candidate for judge of the district court and was high man on the ticket. In May, 1913, he was appointed by the governor to the position of election commissioner of Douglas county and has full supervision of registration and elections in Omaha and South Omaha. He also holds the office of jury commissioner by appointment of the judges of the district court. These positions both carry great responsibility and his selection therefor is a very high testimonial to his worth and his character.
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HON. CHARLES LOCKARD SAUNDERS.
Hon. Charles Lockard Saunders, a prominent real estate dealer, a distinguished republican leader and for five terms a member of the Nebraska state senate, was born in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, in 1857, a son of Hon. Alvin Saunders, who was born in Kentucky in 1815 and in early manhood removed to Iowa. He was married in Washington, D. C., to Marthena Barlow, a native of Greencastle, Indiana, who was at that time visiting in the national capital. A more extended mention of Hon. Alvin Saunders occurs elsewhere in this work. They retained their residence in lowa until 1861, when they came to Omaha, and in the public schools of this city their son, Charles L. Saunders, began his education. He pursued his more specifically literary course in Cornell University at Ithaca, New York, and his professional course in Columbia University of New York city, which conferred upon him the LL. B. degree upon his graduation with the class of 1882. He afterward became private secretary to his father, who was then United States senator in Washington, and a year later he went to Helena. Montana, where he spent about four years in the government assay office. He was also interested in a cattle ranch in that state but left Montana in 1886 to return to Omaha, where he entered the real estate business, in which he has since been actively engaged. He is now president of the Saunders Investment Company, which was incorporated in 1908, is president of the Omaha Real Estate Company, which was incorporated in 1886 but which is closing out its business as fast as possible, and president of the Saunders-Kennedy Building Company. He is likewise a director of the Merchants National Bank and is a member of the board of the Forest Lawn Cemetery. His deep interest in the welfare of his state is indicated in the fact that he is on the board of governors of Ak-Sar-Ben, while his active support of progressive measures for the upbuilding of Omaha is indicated in his membership in the Commercial Club.
In Masonic circles Mr Saunders has attained high rank, being a York and Scottish Rite Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine. He has been also for fifteen years treasurer of the Elks lodge No. 39 of Omaha and he is identified with the Country Club, the Carter Lake Club, the Happy Hollow Club and the Omaha Club. His military record covers two years' service with the Montana militia. In political circles he is a most influential worker, having endorsed the republican party from the time age conferred upon him the right of franchise. He has been a member of the republican central committee of Douglas county, the congressional central committee and the state central committee and he was an alternate to the national republican convention of 1912 held in Chicago. In 1910 he was supervisor of the United States census for the second congressional district of Nebraska and for five terms he has represented his district in the state senate, giving faithful and earnest consideration to those questions which are of
HON. CHARLES L. SAUNDERS
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vital importance in determining the course and standing of the commonwealth. Carlyle said : "The history of a nation is best told in the lives of its people." It is therefore fitting that the records of such eminent and distinguished men as Charles Lockard Saunders should find a place in this volume, for he has borne an active part in shaping the material development and the political progress of city and state, wisely utilizing his time, talents and opportunities in the accomplish- ment of his purposes.
HARRY P. DEUEL.
There was much in the life of Harry P. Deuel to connect his record most closely with the history of Omaha. He came to the city as one of its pioneer residents, arriving in 1859, when Nebraska's metropolis was a little struggling frontier town. From that date forward he was always deeply and helpfully interested in all that pertained to its growth and progress and the city came to esteem him as one of its representative and valued business men. He was born in Clarkson, Monroe county, New York, in December, 1836, and upon removal to the middle west resided for a time in Illinois. It was at Tiskilwa, that state, that he wedded Freelove Miller, who was born in Oneida county, New York. Their marriage was celebrated in 1858 and it was in the following year that Mr. Deuel removed to Omaha from Elmwood, Illinois. He was at that time twenty-three years of age and he walked part of the distance from St. Joseph, Missouri. He immediately became associated with his uncle, John R. Porter, in the agency for the, Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Packet Line and they also conducted a warehouse on the levee. While thus connected with the transportation business he forwarded to Salt Lake City the great organ which is in the temple there. Upon the completion of the Burlington Railroad he became city ticket agent for that company, which position he filled until 1888, when he resigned to accept a similar position with the Union Pacific Rail- road Company, thus continuing until 1896. He sold the first coupon ticket in Omaha and there was no phase of transportation development in this section of the state with which he was not familiar.
In the spring of 1860 Mr. Deuel brought his wife and baby daughter to Omaha. He had bought a house and lot on Farnam street, where the Bee building now stands, and was residing there in 1864, when it was sold after which their home occupied the site of the present courthouse until 1879, when he erected a residence on the corner of Nineteenth and Dodge streets, where he resided the remainder of his life. Mr. and Mrs. Deuel lived to celebrate their golden wedding and Mrs. Deuel and their son Charles L. yet survive. Their daughter Blanche, who was a member of the first graduating class in the Omaha high school, died at the age of nineteen years.
In many ways Mr. Deuel was closely associated with interests which have left their impress upon the history of city and state. He gave his political alle- giance to the democratic party and after devoting several years to railroading in Omaha he put aside his work in that connection and accepted the office of county auditor, while later he filled the position of register of deeds. He was long a member of the library board, from which he retired two years prior to his death, but he was ever most interested in the institution and its staff and at his home entertained a number of the members of the library staff at a musical just a day before his demise. He ranked very high in Masonic circles and was a most active worker in the order, which conferred upon him high official honors. He was the first grand master of the state and also the first grand high priest and never ceased his activities in support of the craft until death called him on the 23d of November, 1914. Mr. Deuel was also well known in
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sporting circles and was a most enthusiastic angler. One of his companions on many fishing expeditions said of him:
"In the death of Harry Deuel the sportsmen, particularly the anglers, in this section of this fair world of ours sustain a lamentable loss. He was a beloved friend of the writer, as he was of many and many another man, and of the count- less beautiful qualities with which he was endowed I might speak, but of them all there was none more conspicuous than his ardent love of the line and rod and the rippling water sides. He was proficient in the art, and years ago, in company with Casper E. Yost, and similar congenial lads, spent a great deal of his time in long fishing trips up in the then almost primeval wilderness of Minnesota and Wisconsin. His outfits were elaborate and well chosen, as we have ample testimony in his oldest and favorite fishing box and his bag of rods, given just one year ago. His memory will ever hoid a warm place in the hearts of the old guard still marching on. In Harry Deuel were combined the practical man and the poet in the abstract. In all his actions and all his words were ever to be found mingled the simple wisdom of the one with the sensitiveness of the other to the beauties and subtle influences of nature. These qualities never failed to start a sympathetic echo and endeared him to widely different personali- ties by which he is not likely to be soon forgotten.
"Silently our tears drop. One more whose friendship we more than valued has gone. Never again shall we clasp in a strong, firm grip the hand that in life knew so well how to lay out his line on Washington's silvery crests or the Chippewa's rapids, and who in the clubroom, the woodsy cabin, before the log fire, could and did interest even the children with his stories of what he gathered while idling among the golden hours in the depth of nature's beauties. But with Harry Deuel, as with legions of other grand men, the chief praise comes after his work has been finished but his best monument will be the tokens of affection- tears though they be-that come from all the old comrades yet lingering behind, who knew him best and loved him most."
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