USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > Omaha: the Gate city, and Douglas County, Nebraska, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 48
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Subsequently cars of four and six wheel trucks, all steel cars of fifty-five and seventy foot length and cars of two hundred and three hundred horse power engines were built for the Union Pacific and other railroads. The latest cars are hauling a standard passenger coach as trailer, giving the same capacity and supplanting the usual locomotive three car steam train.
There are some points in connection with the adoption of the McKeen motor car that are most interesting. A railroad running out of Ithaca, New York, con- necting with the street car system (the electric light plant) and six miles out of Ithaca operating as a steam railroad to Auburn, until recently was in a receiver- ship. The students of Cornell University had organized to debate the subject (with a given amount of money to expend for improvements) "What could be done with the Ithaca Short Line?" One party studied and advocated the use of steam power and equipment; another, electric equipment; another gasoline- electric ; and still another the gasoline mechanical transmission motor cars, such as the McKeen motor car type. The gas-electric people, realizing the impor- tance of the educational feature of this debate, sent special representatives to Cornell University with blueprints, lantern slides and sections of the gas-elec- tric car to furnish all the argumentative and favorable data possible. A pro- fessor in mechanical engineering, a second in electrical engineering and a third in oratory constituted a board of judges, who passed on the relative merits of the debating factions : unanimous reward was given to that faction advocating the adoption of the McKeen motor car. Cornell University enrolls something like six thousand students and this debate attracted a great deal of attention in and outside of the University. These judges of high authority passing favor- ably on McKeen equipment, two days later, the Ithaca Short Line ordered McKeen Motor Car Company equipment for their railroad.
Court proceedings, too, have passed favorable judgement upon the McKeen motor car. From the State Journal of February 20, 1914, is taken the following : "The state railway commision in refusing to permit the Union Pacific Railroad Company to take off its motor car on the Kearney-Stapleton branch finds that while the running of the motor decreases the earnings of a steam train on the same line, it also increases the total revenues of the passenger traffic. Traveling men and the public in general have become used to the motor service and its running stimulates travel. The motor car has carned from forty-nine cents per car mile in December to seventy cents in September and the total earnings
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of the motor and the steam train have been increased thirty-three per cent, or an increase of fifty-two dollars and two cents each day. The decrease in the revenue of the steam train was fourteen cents per car mile. It is held by the railway commission that the saving to be made in operating expenses by taking off the motor will not justify the reduction in service on the line. The railway commission made a thorough study of the cost of operating trains on the Rock Island railroad in the rate cases recently dismissed in the federal court, but this is the first study the commission has made of the cost of operating motor cars on railroad lines."
A decision of the Hon. George W. Allen, judge of the second judicial dis- trict of Colorado, was in part : "That the said motor cars are an important part of the rolling stock and equipment of said railroad, and necessary and essential to the convenient and economical management and operation of said railroad, and necessary and essential to be used by said Receivers in carrying out and complying with the orders of this Court appointing said Receivers in perform- ing the duties and obligations of said railroad to the public as a common carrier of passengers and freight, and that the best interests of said estate in the hands of said Receivers require that said motor cars be retained as a part of the equip- . ment of said railroad and be used by said Receivers in the operation and main- tenance thereof."
In its annual report of 1911 the Ann Arbor Railroad Company said: "The passenger traffic of the company is about ninety-eight per cent local, that is, it is either purely local between stations-or originates or terminates at a local sta- tion, and any growth in its earnings from passenger traffic must come from a development and increase in its local travel. This local traffic was threatened by the growth and extension of interurban electric lines into its territory, the roadbed for one trolley line between Toledo and Ann Arbor being already graded. After careful consideration of the whole question, the management concluded that the use of auto motor cars on the Ann Arbor, running like electric lines and making stops at principal road crossings, would not only increase the earnings of the com- pany, but would prevent encroachments on its territory by trolley lines. The board authorized the purchase of five McKeen motor cars, all steel, seventy feet long, seating eighty-three passengers. The first of these cars commenced running in May, 1911, all are now in service, and the results are more than satisfactory. They have added largely to the passenger earnings, and have developed a new class of travel which our regular trains, stopping at stations from four to eight miles apart, could not care for, namely the 'Cross Roads Travel.' From June Ist to September Ist, 1911, the passenger earnings had increased twenty-two thousand eight hundred dollars, or fourteen per cent, up to August 31st, 1911 ; the cars had been in operation three months, had run sixty thousand and ninety-nine miles, earned gross thirty thousand seven hundred and twenty-five dollars and three cents, an average of 44.5 cents per mile, at a cost of nine thousand three hundred and twenty dollars and eighty-six cents, or 13.5 cents per mile (including 2.1 cents per mile for repairs and superintendence ), with a net earning of twenty-one thousand four hundred and four dollars and nineteen cents equal to thirty-one cents per mile fully equal to the net earnings per mile of our best passenger trains, with four cars per train, with an equipment costing three times as much as the motor car. These cars are very popular with the people along the line and the putting on of this local service has done more to place the company and its patrons on good, friendly terms than anything else the company could have done. Incidentally, the graded roadbed of the proposed trolley line to Ann Arbor was offered for sale as soon as it was known the motor cars were ordered."
All this demonstrates the value and adaptability of the car which has been given to the public through the inventive genius and business ability of W. R. McKeen, who already holds one hundred and twenty-nine letters patent from the United States and foreign countries, covering inventions varying froni a loco- motive piston rod to a complete railroad train. It naturally follows that Mr.
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McKeen is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the New York Railroad Club, the Western Railroad Club, the Railway Master Mechanics Association and the Master Car Builders Association.
In 1911, in Los Angeles, California, Mr. McKeen was married to Mrs. Mary L. Hull, nee Ludington. Omaha finds him not only one of the most notable and distinguished of its citizens but also a most social, genial gentleman, popular in the Omaha, Country and Athletic Clubs, in all of which he holds membership. Hle likewise belongs to the Commercial Club and he is a Scottish Rite Mason and an Elk. In politics he is a republican. He is an associate member of the Naval Consulting Board and is much interested in its work. He is also officiating as state director of the Mechanical Engineers of Nebraska on industrial prepared- ness. A volume might be written concerning Mr. McKeen's work. Suffice it to say that the world has profited by his labors and all who have studied into the situation recognize the value of his contribution to transportation. He is solving questions brought about by modern-day conditions and his answer is practical and resultant.
JOHN J. HANIGHEN.
Apprenticing in early life to the plumbing and steamfitting business, John J. Hanighen has in that connection steadily worked his way upward until he now controls an extensive and profitable business as the head of the John J. Hanighen Company, Incorporated, in which connection he is accorded many large and in- portant contracts in that line. Omaha justly numbers him among its prominent and representative business men. He was born in County Mayo, Ireland, Nov- ember 7, 1858, his parents being John J. and Jane (Connelly) Hanighen, both of whom were natives of the Emerald isle, in which country they were farming peo- ple. There they spent their entire lives, the father passing away in 1910, when he had reached the age of seventy-eight years, while his wife died in 1915, at the age of eighty-three years. In their family were ten children, of whom John J. Hanighen was the third in order of birth.
He attended the schools of Ireland and afterward took up farm work on his father's place, being thus engaged until he came to America in November, 1879, when a young man of about twenty-one years. He was ambitious to make the most of his life and believed that better oportunities might be enjoyed on this side of the Atlantic. Proceeding direct to St. Louis, Missouri, he there secured employment with the firm of Kelly & Condon, then located on Fourteenth street and Washington avenue. In that connection he learned the plumber's and steam- fitter's trade, continuing with that house until 1885, when he came to Omaha and embarked in business on his own account. The efficiency and value of his work were soon recognized and his patronage grew to such an extent that it was im- possible for him to attend to all of the business, so that he associated others with him. In fact he has developed his interests until he is at the head of the leading firm of the kind in the city. He afterward purchased the property on which his large warehouses and offices now stand, the corner of South 14th and Jones streets, and he erected a modern building of pretentious dimensions and with railroad switch facilities. He is now recognized as the leading contractor in the building and installing of heating systems, being awarded the contracts for prob- ably ninety-eight per cent of all the large buildings erected in Omaha. The business was incorporated under the name of the J. J. Hanighen Company in 1911, with John J. Hanighen as the president and moving spirit. He has every reason to be proud of his successful achievement. He worked his way steadily upward from a humble position and as the years have passed he has broadened his activities until he has no close competitor in the volume of trade given him in Omaha.
JOHN J. HANIGHEN
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In October, 1893, in this city, Mr. Hanighen was united in marriage to Miss Agnes Cleary, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Cleary, who were early and valued citizens of Omaha. Mr. and Mrs. Hanighen have become parents of three sons. John J., born in Omaha, June 19, 1895, is now attending Cornell Univer- sity at Ithaca, New York, where he is pursuing a special four years' course in mechanical engineering. Francis Cleary, born in 1899, will graduate from the Omaha high school with the class of 1917. Bernard, born in 1908, is attending school.
The family are communicants of the Roman Catholic church and Mr. Han- ighen belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Commercial Club, the Omaha and the Country Clubs-associations which indicate something of the nature of his interests and the rules that govern his conduct. He ranks with Omaha's leading citizens and representative business men and his life displays much that is worthy of emulation. One in reading his history may well pause to reflect and consider, for it indicates the force and value of efficiency, thorough- ness, close application and persistency of purpose. In his business life he has been a resolute and energetic worker, possessing strong executive powers, keeping his hand steadily upon the helm and being strictly conscientious in his dealings with debtor and creditor alike.
FREDERICK O. BECK, M. D.
One of the well known physicians and surgeons of South Omaha who by reason of his skill enjoys a large practice and who has the respect of his brethren of the medical fraternity is Dr. Frederick O. Beck, who was born at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, November 12, 1879, a son of the Rev. E. O. and Emma (Angle) Beck. The father, a native of Germany, was born in Dresden, Saxony, and in young manhood came to the United States, settling first in New York, whenice he afterward re- moved to Nebraska. He later went to Iowa as a missionary of the German Evan- gelical church and he still makes his home in that state, residing at the present time near Marshalltown at the age of sixty-three years." His wife, who was born in Iowa, is now fifty-four years of age. In their family were four children: Fred- erick O .; Arthur, who is connected with the Union Bank of Union, Iowa ; Eugene, living at Trenton, New Jersey ; and Clara, who died when two years old.
In his youthful days Dr. Beck attended the common schools of Iowa, continu- ing his education in the high school of Waverly, Iowa, in the Northwestern Col- lege at Naperville and the Northwestern University College of Pharmacy. He was graduated from the last named institution in 1897. He had determined to take up the practice of medicine and surgery as a life work and accordingly he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Chicago, the medical depart- ment of the University of Illinois, and was graduated in medicine in 1905. He then located at Cary, Illinois, where he purchased the practice of Dr. H. M. Johnson, also the drug store of H. F. Buge, and he entered upon active practice, in which he successfully engaged at that point for five years. He next removed to South Omaha, where he bought out the practice of the late Dr. C. M. Schindel. He has fully sustained the reputation of his predecessor and is well known in professional connections, having one of the largest practices of the physicians of South Omaha. He is popular with his patients as well as his professional associ- ates, for he is always genial, courteous and obliging. He has served as county physician and as surgeon for the Swift Packing Company and the Morris Packing Company at the Union Stock Yards. He belongs to the Illinois Medical Society, the Omaha-Douglas County Medical Society, the Nebraska State Medical Society and the American Medical Association.
On the 2d of April, 1912, Dr. Beck was united in marriage in San Francisco, California, to Mrs. Amy Lucelle Kenmore. He belongs to the Benevolent Pro-
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tective Order of Elks, the Moose and the Fraternal Order of Eagles and he is also a member of the Seymour Lake Club and the Commercial Club. He holds to high professional standards. His interest in his chosen calling and his marked ability have gained for him a well earned and enviable reputation.
EVERETT BUCKINGHAM.
Everett Buckingham, vice president and general manager of the Union Stock Yards Company at Omaha, has remained in his present business connection since 1907 and has made his home in Omaha since 1880, with the exception of four years spent in Salt Lake, Utah. He was born in Lebanon, Indiana, June 7, 1858, a son of George W. and Elizabeth (Evans) Buckingham. The father was a native of Newark, Ohio, and throughout his active life was connected with newspaper publication. At the time of the Civil war he was a stanch supporter of the Union cause. In 1860 he removed with his family to Mercer, Missouri, where he lived for two years and then went to Kingston, that state, where he remained for several years. At length he established his home at St. Joseph, Missouri, later went to Albany, that state, and eventually came to Omaha, where he passed away. His widow survives and is now living in Clarion, Pennsylvania.
Everett Buckingham largely acquired his education in the schools of St. Joseph, Missouri, and in 1870, when a lad of but twelve years, started out in the business world, entering the employ of the St. Joseph & Grand Island Railroad. He remained in that connection for a decade, or until 1880, when the road was taken over by the Union Pacific, with which he continued, advancing step by step in positions of responsibility and importance until 1907. In that year he became general manager of the Union Stock Yards Company at Omaha, which position he has since occupied, controlling the vast business interests of the company, with which he has made himself familiar both in principle and detail. He is now a director in the Stock Yards National Bank as well as vice president, director and general manager of the Union Stock Yards Company.
On the 26th of January, 1881, in St. Joseph, Missouri, Mr. Buckingham was married to Miss Ella May Dunster and they have five children: Darlene M., the wife of O. L. Kemper, of Omaha, and the mother of three children, Everett, Susan and Lane; Helen, the wife of W. G. Hemphill, of Worland, Wyoming ; Jay E., who married Norma Marshall, of Omaha, and lives in Portland, Oregon ; May. (Timmie) who died at the age of fifteen years; and Robert L., now seventeen years of age.
Mr. Buckingham's military experience has come to him as a member of Com- pany A, Fourth Regiment Missouri National Guard, and he served with the rank of colonel on the staff of Governor Morehead of Nebraska. His political alle- giance is given to the democratic party and his religious faith is that of the Episco- pal church. He is an exemplary representative of the Masonic fraternity, in which he has taken the degrees of the York and the Scottish Rites, and is also a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. He is likewise identified with the Elks and he be- longs to nearly every social organization of Omaha, including the Omaha, Field, Country, Seymour Lake and Commercial Clubs, while for four years he was president of the Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben-Temple. He is undoubtedly one of the most popular of Omaha's citizens, having a host of friends, and, moreover, is one of its most forceful and resourceful business men. Under the caption, "The Master Mind," one of the local papers said of him: "Much has been written about the man who is at the head of this great commercial institution. Everett Bucking- ham, vice president and general manager of the Union Stock Yards, is the genial business man who guides the destinies of this vast commercial realm. His is the mind that directs the great forces that make the Nebraska market. His is the master genius that in a few years led this market from a struggling institution to
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the place it now occupies near the top of the markets of the country. Mr. Buck- ingham is an organizer and he applies his extensive organization to the service of the shipper. His daily task is to see that the live stock men of his territory are served in the best possible manner in return for the money they pay for this service. Manager Buckingham is recognized among commercial leaders in the west and his advice is sought in many business matters of importance. His judgment is always sound and is relied upon to the utmost, his associates say. His one ambition is to place the Omaha live stock market at the head of the stock centers of the country. There are plenty to say that the goal is far from impos- sible, that in a few more years this farm of thirty years ago will be looked to as the leader of the live stock world."
REV. ALBERT BRAINERD MARSHALL, D. D., LL. D.
Rev. Albert Brainerd Marshall, one of the distinguished educators of the middle west, now president of the Presbyterian Theological Seminary at Omaha, was born at Bryan, Pennsylvania, July 10, 1849, a son of John and Matilda Cath- erine (Findley) Marshall, the former born in Clarksburg, Pennsylvania, in 1824, while the latter was a native of Glade Run, that state. Rev. Albert B. Marshall is a representative of the seventh generation of ancestors who founded the family in America, coming from the north of Ireland and of Scotch-Irish lineage. His grandfather, Samuel Marshall, who was born in Clarksburg, Pennsylvania, in 1792, devoted his life to the occupation of farming save for the period of his service in the War of 1812 and his death occurred in 1878. In early life John Marshall became a member of the Pennsylvania militia, serving with the rank of captain. In young manhood he took up the profession of teaching and later he became a country merchant, also interested to some extent in farming. His political allegiance was given to the whig party until its dissolution, when he joined the ranks of the new republican party, which he continued to support until his death in 1886. His widow survived for ten years, passing away in 1896.
Dr. Marshall availed himself of every opportunity that offered for the acquire- ment of an education and completed his classical course by graduation from Princeton College in 1871 with the degree Bachelor of Arts and from Princeton Seminary in 1874, at which time the Master of Arts degree was conferred upon him. Having prepared for the ministry, he at once entered upon his pastoral duties, being in charge of the Presbyterian church at Morris, Illinois, from May 12, 1875, until April 10, 1878, when he accepted a call from the church at Lisbon, Ohio, there continuing from the Sth of May, 1879, until September 20, 1887. On the 20th of September of the latter year he entered the pulpit of the Presbyterian church at East Liverpool, Ohio, and there continued until April 30, 1894. On the 26th of June of that year he took up pastoral duties in connection with the Central Presbyterian church at Des Moines, Iowa, where he remained until March 28, 1903. From the 21st of April, 1903, until 1910 he was pastor of the First Presbyterian church at Minneapolis, Minnesota, and then accepted a call to the presidency of the Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Omaha. His work in behalf of the institution has been far-reaching and resultant. He holds to lofty ideals and has succeeded in establishing high standards of scholarship. He has, too, the ability to infuse much of his zeal and earnestness into the faculty and students, a fact which has enabled him to call forth the co-operation of the students. Under Dr. Marshall's guidance the seminary has grown steadily and has established a standard of thoroughness which makes it one of the leading denominational schools of the middle west.
On the Ist of September, 1875, at Wellsburg, West Virginia, was celebrated the marriage of Dr. Marshall and Miss Jane Belle Hervey, who passed away in September, 1909, and on the 12th of June, 1915, in Rochester, New York, he
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wedded Mary Elizabeth Hallock. His political allegiance is given to the repub- lican party, but while thoroughly versed in the questions and issues of the day and thus able to support his position by intelligent argument, he has never been ambitious to hold office or take part in political activity, his entire time and atten- tion having been concentrated upon his duties as pastor and educator, and his influence has been widely and beneficially felt.
MELVILLE DELEAL CAMERON.
Melville DeLeal Cameron, occupying an enviable and creditable position in financial circles, is vice president and treasurer of the Peters Trust Company. His residence in Omaha covers fourteen years but he has practically spent his life in Nebraska although his birth occurred upon a farin in. Hancock county, Ohio, in 1858. He was a youth of fourteen years when in 1872 he accompanied his parents, Wallen and Sarah J. (Woods) Cameron, to this state. The father was born near Magnolia in Carroll county, Ohio, in 1833, a son of Alexander and Lydia (Miller) Cameron, and was married in Hancock county in 1857 to Sarah J. Woods. With their removal to the west they established their home in Colfax county, Nebraska, where Mr. Cameron passed away on the 18th of April, 1915, survived by his widow, who still makes her home in that county. He was a farmer throughout his entire life but at the time of the Civil war put aside all business and personal considerations, responding to the country's call for troops November 18, 1861, at which date he enlisted at Arlington, Ohio, as a private in Company H, Fourteenth Missouri Cavalry. He served one year and then was assigned to the Sixty-sixth Illinois Infantry. He served throughout the war and upon his re-enlistment after eighteen months spent at the front was placed with the company of Sharp Shooters.
He took part in the battles of Ft. Donelson, Shiloh. Vicksburg and Corinth, and in the march to the sea under Sherman.
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