USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > Omaha: the Gate city, and Douglas County, Nebraska, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 51
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Mr. Shary's thorough knowledge of agriculture, enabled him to grasp the wonderful opportunity offered citrus fruit growers in the Rio Grande valley, and he has set aside several hundred acres on Sharyland which he has had sub- divided into small tracts, of one, two, three and five acres each. This subdivi- sion is known as "Sharyland Orchards." Each tract is planted with trees, grapefruit, oranges, lemons and other varieties of citrus fruit. No dwelling can be built thereon at a cost less than one thousand dollars and already many homes have been built costing much more. Palm boulevards and ornamental shrubs of all kinds add to the beauty of this subdivision.
The remainder of Sharyland is laid out in forty acre tracts. Spacious boule- vards intersect the entire tract at every mile. Thousands of acres have already been sold to investors who have been quick to grasp the Shary spirit of progres- siveness and the many beautiful farms on Sharyland are a source of pride and satisfaction to all interested. The semi-tropical climate and excellent irrigation facilities give the farmer assurance of an endless variety of good crops. Many crops mature much quicker than in any other place in the United States and thus reach the market weeks and often months ahead of similar crops from other sections and consequently Sharyland truck farmers and fruit growers receive tip-top prices. Another important advantage over competing districts is its geographical location, as it is closer to the great northern markets than either California or Florida and also closer to the Panama Canal. This of course means a marked saving in freight rates and additional profits. Cheap labor is provided by the Mexicans and their work has been found very satisfactory.
There are two wide-awake and thriving towns, Mission and McAllen, within two miles of Sharyland, and the country is well provided with banks, stores, churches and schools. There are none of the hardships to be endured that the pioneers of another day had to face, rather the settler finds himself surrounded by all the conveniences of modern life.
Taking all of these facts into consideration and bearing in mind the rela- tively small amount of undeveloped land left in the United States, it is evident
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that the International Land and Investment Company offers a business proposi- tion well worthy the consideration of the most careful investor. The high standing and the known reliability of the company are indicated by the fact that in Kansas and Ohio, where there are government bodies charged with the investigation of investment companies, the International Land and Investment Company has received favorable ratings.
Mr. Shary is democratic in politics, but his large business interests have left him no time to hold public office. Fraternally he is well known, being a thirty- second degree Mason, a member of the Mystic Shrine and an Elk and also belonging to a number of other lodges. He holds membership in the Field Club, which indicates the nature of his recreation. His remarkable force of character and his enthusiasm for carrying to successful completion large projects, have been manifested not only in the direction of his individual business interests, important as they are, but have also been evidenced in work for the advance- ment of Omaha. Mr. Shary's home office is located in Omaha, all of his extensive land note collections being handled through Omaha banks. His pri- vate cars leave Omaha regularly on the first and third Tuesdays of each month, well filled with homeseekers who have spent the day visiting our city. Each day large quantities of his advertising matter are sent out all over the United States and foreign countries, and he has given Omaha promience at all times. He has done much to advertise and further its growth and is justly recognized as one of its foremost citizens.
CHARLES H. DOUGHERTY.
Charles H. Dougherty, now living retired, is numbered among the pioneer settlers of Omaha, having for many years been identified with the city and its development. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, June 30, 1853, and while he is still in the prime of life, he has achieved a measure of success that now per- mits him to put aside further business cares. His parents, John and Margaret (Call) Dougherty, were both natives of Ireland and in 1852 they came to the new world following their marriage, which was celebrated on the Emerald isle. They settled first in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but on the 15th of April, 1855, ar- rived in Omaha, a tiny village which had been established only the year before. With various lines of business Mr. Dougherty was associated as the years passed on and he remained in Omaha up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1909, when he had reached the age of eighty years. He had long survived his wife, who died in Omaha in 1866.
In a family of six children Charles H. Dougherty was the fourth. His memory compasses the period of Omaha's early development as well as of its later prog- ress. In early life he attended the school which was then conducted in the State House at Tenth and Douglas streets and later he engaged in farming until his twenty-second year, when he returned to Omaha in 1875 and conducted a hotel at Tenth and Douglas, carrying on business there for two years. He then sold out and bought a place at Sixteenth and Marcy streets. Purchasing several teams of horses, he engaged in teaming for a number of years, at the end of which time he disposed of his horses but retained his property, which in the meantime had become valuable owing to the rapid development of the city. He then entered the service of the Union Pacific Railroad Company in the freight department and there remained for seven years. He afterward went west for a time, making his way to Cheyenne, Wyoming, where he took up contracting, in which he engaged for six months. On his return to Omaha he became a member of the police force and was a patrolman for two years, when he resigned to accept a position with the Omaha Street Railway Company. He remained in that service without the loss of any time for twenty-three years and in 1914 he decided to
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give up active life and live on his income, which he found to be sufficient to keep him in comfort. Since then he has enjoyed a life of ease and quiet, although he is still a comparatively young man. In appearance he seems scarcely to have passed the fiftieth milestone on life's journey. He has always enjoyed good health and possesses marked energy and vigor.
On the 9th of May, 1875, Mr. Dougherty was married to Miss Mary Duffy, of Omaha, who died February 12, 1912. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. James Duffy, were also pioneers of this city. By that marriage there are four children who are yet living: John F .; Veronica, born in Omaha in 1881, and now the wife of Leo A. Hoffmann, by whom she has four children; Leonard A., who was born in Omaha in 1886 and now resides in Stockton, California, with his wife and three children; and Josephine, who was born in 1891 and is a high school graduate.
The family adhere to the faith of the Roman Catholic church and Mr. Dougherty gives his political allegiance to the democratic party but has never sought nor desired office. As he has prospered in his undertakings he has made judicious investments in real estate and is now the owner of much valuable property in Omaha, from which he derives a very substantial annual income.
JOHN F. DOUGHERTY.
John F. Dougherty, son of Charles H. Dougherty, mentioned above, is the president of the Missouri Valley Marble & Tile Company, one of Omaha's im- portant business concerns. He has been a lifelong resident of this city and has made for himself a most creditable position in business circles. He spent his boyhood days as a pupil in the schools of Omaha and after making his initial step in the business world he rose steadily as his business powers increased and expanded until at lengthi he organized the Missouri Valley Marble & Tile Com- pany, of which he became the president and active manager. He has since controlled the affairs of that undertaking, which is today one of the important business interests of the city. The company handles marble goods and tiling of all descriptions, mantels, flooring, vestibules, etc., and the patronage is now exten- sive. They deal in first-class products of this character and their reliable business methods constitute a potent element in the growth of their trade.
John F. Dougherty was united in marriage to Miss Frances Schwertly, of Missouri Valley, Iowa, and they are widely and favorably known socially in the city in which he has always lived.
MICHAEL L. CLARK.
Michael L. Clark, sheriff of Douglas county and a resident of Omaha, was born at Tarrytown, New York, July 4, 1868. His father, the late Thomas Clark, was born in Dublin, Ireland, and in 1865 crossed the Atlantic, settling first at Tarrytown but afterward removing to Flushing, Long Island. In 1882 he came to Omaha where he continued in business as a stone mason to within four years of his death. Through that period he lived retired and passed away at the age of seventy-six years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Julia Caldwell, was also a native of Dublin, and they were married there ere their emigration to the new world. Mrs. Clark passed away in New York in the fall of 1902 when fifty-eight years of age. In their family were ten children of whom Michael L. is the fourth.
Michael L. Clark attended the public schools of New York to the eighth grade, and since reaching the age of twelve years has been dependent upon his own resources. He was first employed by his father at wall building and in 1882
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came to Omaha, three months after the removal of his parents to this city. Here he worked at various lines and for twenty-four years he was employed by the Omaha & Council Bluffs Street Railway Company being advanced in that con- nection to various important positions. On the 7th of November, 1916, he was elected sheriff of Douglas county on the republican ticket, taking the office on the 4th of January following. He has made an excellent record in the brief time in which he has occupied the office and his friends have no doubt as to his capability or the manner in which he will defend the interests of law and order. He has long been known as an active worker in republican ranks, doing every- thing in his power to promote the success of his party.
In April, 1899, Mr. Clark was married in Omaha to Miss Anna Shinker, a native of Omaha and a daughter of Matt and Margaret Shinker. The mother passed away in Omaha in 1915. Mrs. Clark was born in Omaha in 1874 and has never left the state. By her marriage she has become the mother of nine children, of whom six are living, Harold, Margaret, Caldwell, Julia, Michael and John. Those deceased are, Annie, Celia and Julia.
Mr. Clark is well known in Masonic circles belonging to Covert Lodge, F. & A. M. of Nebraska, Consistory No. I, and to Tangier Temple of the Mystic Shrine. His educational opportunities were limited and from the age of twelve he has been dependent upon his own resources. He has done all manner of hard labor including work of the streets, but by energy and ability has advanced step by step and is now one of the most highly respected officials of Douglas county. He has ever made it his purpose to follow the golden rule, and upon that founda- tion he has builded not only success but character.
WALTER TAYLOR PAGE.
Walter Taylor Page, manager of the American Smelting & Refining Company, has advanced through successive promotions to his present position of responsi- bility since arriving in Omaha in 1885 to become assayer and chemist for the corporation. He was born in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1861. His father, General Richard L. Page, a native of Clarke county, Virginia, was married there to Alexina Taylor and passed away in 1906, while the death of his wife occurred in 1907. The Pages were one of the oldest and most prominent families of Virginia and General Page served with distinction in the Confederate army during the Civil war.
Walter T. Page after attending the schools of Norfolk, Virginia, to the age of sixteen years, entered the College of Agriculture & Mechanic Arts, now the Virginia Institute of Technology, from which he was graduated in 1879. He was graduated from the University of Virginia at Charlottesville in 1882, after which he spent a year and a half in professional work at Leadville, Colorado, and a similar period in Denver, coming to Omaha, as previously stated, in 1885 to enter upon the position of assayer and chemist with the American Smelting & Refining Company. His ability won recognition in successive promotions. He was made superintendent of the blast furnace department in 1887; superintendent of all departments in 1891 and manager in 1899 and through the intervening period of eighteen years has occupied the latter position, controlling the extensive and im- portant interests connected with the operation of the plant.
On the 17th of March, 1885, in Charlottesville, Virginia, Mr. Page was united in marriage to Miss Anne Page, a daughter of the late Dr. John R. Page. They have become the parents of two children : Anne, now the wife of Captain John R. Trinder of the medical corps of the United States Army; and Richard L., now attending Lawrenceville School, at Lawrenceville, New Jersey.
Mr. and Mrs. Page are Episcopalians in religious faith, their membership being in Trinity Cathedral. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and
WALTER T. PAGE
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in Masonry he has attained the Knight Templar degree. He belongs also to the Omaha Club, the Omaha Country Club and the Commercial Club, associations which indicate something of the nature of his interests, the method of his recrea- tion and the rules which govern his conduct. His ideals of life are high and in his business career he has been guided by an enterprising spirit that taking tangible form in close application, thoroughnness and capability, has brought him to his present prominent position in the business circles of the city.
HON. FREEMAN SYDNEY TUCKER.
On the whole Florence has been fortunate in the class of men who have occupied her public offices and at the present time she has a public-spirited and patriotic mayor in Freeman Sydney Tucker, who is now carefully directing municipal affairs. He was born in Jersey county, Illinois, February 1, 1857, a son of David M. and Hannah (Grammar) Tucker, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Ohio. The father was a river captain who made trips out of St. Louis for a number of years. During the high water of 1844 his property was all swept away and that was his last year of active connection with navigation inter- ests. He had been captain of the Bonnycord and also of a number of other boats. He had also been an overseer on a plantation in his early days. After leaving the river work he went to Jerseyville, Illinois, where he engaged in wagon making, and there he made his home until death called him when he was sixty-nine years of age.
Freeman S. Tucker belongs to a family of five children, of whom he is the youngest. He spent his boyhood in Jerseyville and after starting out in life on his own account first engaged in contracting for ties, staves and heading. He took his ties and other manufactured products on his own flatboat and made trips to St. Louis, continuing in that work until he was of age. He also engaged in threshing, and the first steam thresher in Jersey county was purchased and taken to the county by him. He then operated it in connection with his other business interests. In 1877 he went to Nebraska, settling at Blair, Washington county, where he was actively engaged in farming and in dealing in stock for about eleven years. He was also regarded as a representative citizen as well as a progressive business man. He had been elected assessor and collector for Washington county and in those positions served for several years while engaged in farming. In 1888 he removed to Florence, Douglas county, where he opened a meat market and later added a stock of groceries, continuing in the business there for a num- ber of years. He was afterward elected city clerk and a member of the school board and continued in local office until 1905, when he was elected to the state legislature, in which he made a most creditable record, serving by reelection in 1907 for four years. While a member of the house he gave the most thoughtful and earnest consideration to all questions which came up for settlement and sought ever to promote the public welfare by securing wise constructive legisla- tion. He was a strong supporter of the bill which established the two cent railroad rate and also the bill which established the terminal tax and the anti-pass and child labor bills. He supported with equal zeal the pure food law and other pro- gressive measures which were introduced for the benefit of the commonwealth at large. By Governor Aldrich he was appointed state inspector of dairies for the state and filled that position for two years. During these two sessions, from 1905 until 1909, more progressive legislation was passed than in any other two sessions of the general assembly since the organization of the state, and in furthering such Mr. Tucker took a most helpful and active part, being one of the earnest working members of the house.
About 1900 he was elected mayor, was afterward reelected, and with the exception of one term while in the legislature, he has served continuously as the
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chief executive of Florence since 1900. As soon as he became mayor he began advocating the building of cement sidewalks, until the old board sidewalks have been replaced by about ten miles of cement walk. He was also instrumental in developing the present sewer system, the main sewer extending from the high school to the river. He it was who brought the telephone and electric light systems to Florence and he also was instrumental in having about a mile of Main street paved with Buffalo brick. This is regarded as the best mile of pavement in Nebraska. After nearly ten years' wear it has the record of having nothing expended upon it for necessary upkeep. It is laid on a five-inch concrete founda- tion, then sanded and the work carried on in excellent manner. Mr. Tucker was also the prime mover in the erection of the sixty thousand dollar high school building, and owing to a special order of the mayor, trees have been planted along Main and Fifth streets in Florence.
Aside from his extensive business operations already mentioned, Mr. Tucker has engaged in the real estate business and has erected a large number of houses in Florence, buying and selling much property. While in the contracting business he got out from fifteen to twenty thousand cords of matting willows yearly, which he shipped on barges to various points.
On the Ist of August, 1877, Mr. Tucker was joined in wedlock to Miss Mary Lorraine, of Washington county, Ohio, her father being C. J. Lorraine of Pitts- burgh, Pennsylvania, who came of French stock. Mr. and Mrs. Tucker are the parents of five children, as follows: Scott, who is now superintendent for the southern division of the United States for the Shea Construction Company, en- gaged in draining river lands; Martha, the wife of Frederick Armstrong, who is a lieutenant in the Philippine Scouts; Mabel, the wife of John D. Mann, who is superintendent of the Electric Light & Power Company at Bryan, Texas ; Blanche, who is the wife of M. B. Thompson, superintendent of the Riverview Home at Ottawa ; and Jessie, the wife of Captain Ronan Case, a West Point graduate who is now with the regular army at Manila.
All the children have been graduated from the State Normal School or other educational institutions of equal worth. Mr. Tucker belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America. He is a man of marked force of character, of ability and progressive ideas. He has an extremely clean record but is modest about his achievements and takes no special credit to himself for what he has accomplished. But the specific and distinctive office of biography is not to give voice to a man's modest estimate of himself and his accomplishments but rather to leave the perpetual record establishing his position by the consensus of opinion on the part of his fellowmen, and judged by this standard, Mr. Tucker is a most progressive, valued and honored resident of Florence.
CHARLES HENRY MARLEY.
Charles Henry Marley, an attorney practicing in Omaha since 1907, was born November 14, 1879, in. the city which is still his place of residence. His father, Charles Marley, a native of Bristol, England, was born in 1841 and on coming to the United States in 1859, when a youth of eighteen years, settled in Beloit, Wisconsin. In 1861 he came to Omaha and afterward went to that part of Idaho territory that is now Montana. Subsequently he returned to Omaha and for many years was employed in the Union Pacific shops, retiring in 1913. He was married in this city to Mary J. Leech and they are still residents of Omaha.
Pursuing his education in the public schools, Charles H. Marley eventually completed the high school course and then took up the study of law, being ad- mitted to the bar in 1907. For seventeen years he was connected with the Bur- lington Railroad spending nearly all of that time as secretary to General Charles
CHARLES H. MARLEY
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F. Manderson, general solicitor for the road. He is now engaged in the private practice of law and is accorded a large and distinctively representative clientage.
On the 30th of January, 1901, Mr. Marley was united in marriage to Miss Blanche Alyda. Byrne, daughter of the late John Byrne. Mr. Marley was con- nected with the military interests of Omaha for four years as a member of Com- pany G, Second Regiment of Omaha Guards. His political endorsement is given to the republican party and his religious faith is that of the Episcopal church. He is active in Masonic circles, being a member of Nebraska Lodge No. I, A. F. & A. M., and Mount Calvary Commandery, No. I, in both of which bodies he is going through the chairs. He also belongs to the Happy Hollow Club. He is well known in the city in which his entire life has been passed and where he has so directed his labors and interests as to become one of the substantial members of the bar and highly respected residents of the city.
JOSEPH H. KOPIETZ.
Joseph H. Kopietz, a real estate and insurance broker of South Omaha, was born March 21, 1862, at Franstat in Moravia. His father, Karl Kopietz, also a native of this country, settled in Nemaha county, Kansas, on coming to America in 1867. becoming one of the pioneers of that section. He was a furrier by trade but followed farming during his residence in the new world. He took up a pre- emption in Nemaha county, but afterward removed to Brown county, Kansas, where he resided until his death, which occurred when he had reached the ad- vanced age of ninety-two years. In early manhood he married Agnes Irsik, a native of Moravia who died in Kansas in 1885. In the family were nine children of whom four are living.
Joseph H. Kopietz spent his early life upon the home farm, being but five years of age when brought by his parents to the new world. The family experi- enced many hardships and privations during pioneer times. They lived in a sod house and when it rained his mother put him under the kitchen table, for it was the only dry spot in the room. They experienced the hardships incident to the grasshopper plague and the droughts, and when it was possible to raise crops corn sold for only eight cents per bushel, while the best hogs brought but one dollar and sixty cents per hundredweight. They used corn for fuel and ground wheat and corn in a coffee mill in order to make meal. It was amid such conditions that Joseph H. Kopietz was reared.
He attended the district schools, dividing his time between the work of the school room and the labors of the fields until he reached the age of eighteen years when he secured employment in a lumberyard. This was in 1880. His indefatigable energy and his faithfulness won him promotion to the position of manager after two years. He was in the employ of C. E. Miller and later of the firm of Cook & Miller with headquarters at Severance, Kansas. He conducted the business there and afterward was manager for the firm at Everest, Kansas, for some time, being transferred to the latter place when the Missouri Pacific was built through. There he remained until 1886, when he became manager for the Everest Grain Company and a partner in the business. This undertaking proved quite profitable and he continued his connection therewith until March, 1888, when he sold his interest and removed to South Omaha to become foreman of the South Omaha Lumber Company, with which he continued until 1891 when he resigned and entered the coal business on his own account as a retail dealer. He gained substantial profits in the handling of his trade and so continued until 1896 when he became general office man with the F. A. Broadwell & Brother Coal Company, with whom he remained until July, 1902, when he organized the Crosby Kopietz Casey Lumber Company of South Omaha. He sold his interest in that business in 1906 and in November of the same year entered the real estate field,
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