USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > Omaha: the Gate city, and Douglas County, Nebraska, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 53
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FRED L. NESBIT.
Fred L. Nesbit, president of the Standard Furnace & Supply Company of Omaha, was born in Herrick township, Bradford county, Pennsylvania, August 10, 1862, his parents being William and Mary Ann (Daugherty) Nesbit. The father, a native of Ireland, was taken to Pennsylvania by his father when but six months old and the mother became a resident of that state when a little maiden of twelve summers. They were married in the Keystone state and there Mr. Nesbit engaged in farming, remaining in the same locality throughout the entire period of his married life save for two years which he spent in Nebraska. He came to this state in 1886 and after living for two years near Fremont returned to Pennsyl- vania, where he died March 22, 1914, at the age of eighty-five years, his birth having occurred December 12, 1828. His widow, who was born June 19, 1830, is now in Omaha, living with her son who was the second of their three children, the other two being now deceased.
Fred L. Nesbit pursued his education in a little old red schoolhouse, com- mon in those days in Pennsylvania and afterward worked upon his father's farm until he decided to try his fortune in the west and made his way to Stan- wood, Iowa, where he was employed at farm labor for six months. In Septem- ber, 1884, he went to Fremont, Nebraska, and for three years was employed in the H. J. Lee hardware store, on the expiration of which period he came to Omaha in 1887. Here he secured a position with the Rector & Wilhelmy Com- pany and after spending two months in the house traveled upon the road for six months. He then returned to Fremont and purchased an interest in a hard- ware store, continuing active in its management and control from June, 1888, until 1894, when the firm lost everything. Mr. Nesbit then proceeded to Chicago and for three years was an employe of Horton, Gilmore, McWilliams & Com- pany. He was afterward upon the road for the Wells & Nellegar Company for a year and then worked for Giblin & Company of Utica, New York, selling warm air heaters over the territory west of the Mississippi river. On the Ist of January, 1900, he returned to Omaha, continuing with the same company until January I, 1906, when he removed to Minneapolis and became manager for the D. M. Gil- more Company. On the Ist of January, 1907, however, he once more came to Omaha and became sales manager for the company with which he had previously been connected, his territory covering the United States and Canada. He thus
FRED L. NESBIT
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continued until 1910, when he resigned in order to engage in business for him- self, handling a line of furnaces, his stock being stored in a warehouse.
On the Ist of June, 1911, he organized the Standard Furnace & Supply Com- pany, of which he became president and manager. The other officers of the company are W. E. Nesbit, vice president ; George Harms, of Peoria, Illinois, secretary ; and C. A. Owens, of Omaha, treasurer. This company handles the Nesbit and Weir furnaces, the Nesbit furnace being made in Cleveland, Ohio, and the Weir furnace in Peoria, Illinois. The company acts as western agent for the Weir all-steel furnaces, which are sold in the western territory from central Iowa to the Pacific coast, while the Nesbit furnaces are sold throughout the entire country. The Standard Furnace & Supply Company is a wholesale house that specializes in a complete heating system, complete in every detail both as regards equipment and quality. In addition to its furnaces the company distributes the most complete line of registers in the world. On account of the large variety of sidewall and floor registers carried in stock, it is necessary to have an immense assortment of fittings, and many of these are made by the com- pany in Omaha. Tests made by fire experts show these fittings to be the safest made and therefore there is a constant demand from all parts of the country. Although the company has been in business in Omaha for but five years, its trade has grown so rapidly that three moves have been made necessary. After two years spent in a small room on Farnam street, quarters almost twice as large were secured and later the company came to its present location at Nos. 411 and 413 South Tenth street. The five floors of the building are all devoted to the stock and salesrooms and manufacturing plant of the company, containing a floor space of twenty-seven thousand, seven hundred and twenty square feet. The office and factory force numbers ten, while three salesmen are kept con- stantly upon the road. The company has in contemplation the erection of an entire new plant on Jones street, which will increase their facilities at least three times.
On the 10th of October, 1888, Mr. Nesbit was married to Miss Katie Mead, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Mead, early settlers of Fremont. There Mrs. Nesbit passed away August 25, 1895, leaving a son, W. E. Nesbit, who was born in Fremont in August, 1889, and is a high school graduate of Omaha. He was married in June, 1914, to Bertha Maynard of Omaha. On the 4th of July, 1898, Fred L. Nesbit was married in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Miss Adelaide Case, of Chicago.
Mr. Nesbit served on the board of education while residing in Fremont and is interested in all those projects which work for the upbuilding and betterment of his community. He is a York Rite Mason and a Shriner, and also is a mem- ber of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, belonging to both the subordinate lodge and encampment. He likewise has membership in the Commercial Club, the Omaha Association of Credit Men, the Rotary Club and the Seymour Lake Club, and is a member of the Nebraska Manufacturers' Association. Alert and enterprising, he quickly recognizes and utilizes an opportunity and he has based his success upon the principles of common sense in serving his patrons. He has made an enviable record in commercial circles, both by reason of the line which he handles, giving full value received, and also by reason of the honorable and straightforward methods which he employs in all of his dealings.
L. ROSS NEWKIRK.
L. Ross Newkirk, senior member of the law firm of Newkirk & May, of Omaha, was born September 8, 1890, in Quincy, Illinois, a son of the Rev. George R. and Mary Elizabeth (Hall) Newkirk, who are also natives of that state. The mother represents a pioneer family of Illinois, of English lincage.
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The ancestors of the Rev. Newkirk were, pioneers of Illinois and of Ohio and were of Dutch descent, the ancestral line being traced back to 1650, when set- tlement was made by one of the name in the state of New York. Rev. George R. Newkirk has long been an active and prominent minister of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was graduated from the Illinois Wesleyan University in 1893 but for three years previous to that date had been engaged in preaching the gospel. In 1909 he became a citizen of Nebraska and is now residing at Sutherland. In the family were but two sons, the younger being De Forest Newkirk.
L. Ross Newkirk began his education in the public schools of Illinois and afterward entered the Nebraska Wesleyan University, in which he pursued a liberal arts course, winning the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1912. Mr. Newkirk was at one time a candidate for a Rhodes scholarship, having successfully passed the qualifying examination in 1910. For professional training he entered the Nebraska State University and won his LL. B. degree in 1915. He immediately afterward entered upon active practice in Omaha and in the fall of that year was joined by Albert E. May in formning the present firm of Newkirk & May. They engage in general practice and already the firm has been accorded a grati- fying and growing clientele. Mr. Newkirk to a great extent worked his own way through the university, performing various kinds of labor in order to replenish his exchequer. His father would have assisted him more but he felt that it would be more advantageous if he won his education with as little assistance as possible and the elemental strength of character which he thus displayed has constituted a force in his subsequent practice and is making for him a most creditable name and place. Mr. Newkirk is a member of Everett fraternity and of the Nebraska Wesleyan University and also of the Order of the Coif, an honorary legal fraternity of American law schools. He likewise belongs to Phi Delta Phi. to the Barristers Club and to the Omaha Bar Association and the Nebraska State Bar Association. Among fraternal orders he is connected with the Woodmen of the World and he holds to the religious faith in which he was reared-that of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is recognized as a young man of many substantial qualities and admirable traits of character which have gained for him high personal regard, while his ability is winning for him a substantial position in legal circles.
JOHN A. GENTLEMAN.
John A. Gentleman, an Omaha undertaker well known in his city and highly esteemed by those with whom he has been brought in contact in business or social relations, was born August 6, 1881, in the city where he still makes his home. His father, Thomas Gentleman, came to Omaha in 1869 and was in the employ of the Union Pacific Railroad for thirty-seven years. He was a machinist and molder and made the first machine to turn out castings in this section of the country. He is now living retired on Sherman avenue in Omaha, enjoying a rest which follows long years of active connection with business. He is recog- nized as a citizen of genuine worth and has ever commanded and enjoyed the respect and good will of all with whom he has come in contact in social or busi- ness relations. His family numbered seven children, but three of the number died in one week of whooping cough.
John A. Gentleman, the only son, pursued his education in the public schools of Omaha, passing through consecutive grades to the high school and later entering Creighton University. He started upon his business career as a clerk in the employ of the Union Pacific Railroad and the Missouri Pacific Railroad and retired from railroad activities to engage in the undertaking business, having pursued a course of study in the Philadelphia Training School for Embalmers,
JOHN A. GENTLEMAN
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from which he was graduated on the 9th of October, 1906. He had started in business in January of that year at Sixteenth and Webster streets and he removed to his present location at the corner of Leavenworth and Twenty-seventh streets in May, 1913. He has a well appointed chapel, fine show rooms, motor hearses, and in fact a fully and elegantly equipped establishment. He has just added a four thousand dollar automobile hearse to his equipment and is prepared to take care of funerals in the most approved manner.
On the 16th of June, 1909, Mr. Gentleman was united in marriage to Miss Anna Dietl, of Dubuque, Iowa. He belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Ancient Order of United Work- men and the Royal Arcanum. He is a young man of genuine personal worth who is making good. A lifelong resident of Omaha, he has many friends in this city, his stanchest friends being those who have known him from his boy- hood to the present, a fact indicative of a well spent life.
WILLIAM J. PULTE.
William J. Pulte, engineer in charge of the water works at Florence, was born in Westphalia, Germany, June 7, 1862, a son of Joseph Pulte, also of that place, who was engaged in farming there throughout his entire life. His family numbered four sons and three daughters of whom William J. Pulte is the second. He acquired his education in the public schools of his native country and early manifested skill and ingenuity along mechanical lines. He began working in connection with machinery and had developed much skill ere he came to America when nineteen years of age, arriving in this country in 1881. He first secured employment on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad in South Dakota and after four months came to Omaha, where he was employed in the smelting works. In 1885 he entered the employ of the city of Omaha in connection with the water works at Eighth and Burt streets. On the Ist of January, 1886, the previous manager was succeeded by Captain Frank Reynolds and Mr. Pulte con- tinued under him until the death of Mr. Reynolds in 1896. He was then retained by his successor, Henry Rusten, who died the following March. In 1886 the American Waterworks Company had bought out the Omaha Water Company and started in 1887 to build the present Minne 'Lusa water works at Florence. When the plant was ready to begin operation Captain Frank Reynolds was made chief engineer and Mr. Pulte became his first assistant. The plant was started with two engines and had a capacity of fourteen million gallons per day. Follow- ing the death of Mr. Rusten, Mr. Pulte became engineer in charge. During his incumbency in this office the plant has been materially developed and improved. There is an Allis-Chalmers triple expansion engine with a capacity of eighteen million gallons per twenty-four hours and one Allis-Chalmers triple expansion with a capacity of twenty million gallons per day. This is one of the largest, if not the largest pumping engine in the world. Three engines of large capacity pump the water from the settling basins to Greater Omaha and the pump has a capacity of twenty million gallons, which pumps from the Missouri to the settling basins, and two others of fourteen million gallons capacity each, which also pump from the river to the settling basins. In addition to all these there is a thirty million centrifugal steam turbine engine with a speed of six thousand revolutions per minute, also pumping from the river to the settling basins. The total capacity from the river to the settling basins is seventy-eight million gallons and from basin to city fifty-six million gallons per diem. All the pumping engines, machin- ery, etc., are under Mr. Pulte's care as engineer in charge. Mr. Pulte is a thor- oughly competent man and the plant is kept up to the highest degree of perfection. Absolute cleanliness in all parts of the plant seems to be his motto. The boilers, ten of them four hundred horse power each, are upright water tube boilers. Four
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of these are fired by hand and the other six by mechanical stokers. The coal is unloaded from the cars into the coal pit (six thousand tons capacity) by locomo- tive crane, and later this coal is carried to the coal bunkers over the boilers by the locomotive cranes and then is fed automatically to the six boilers. The plant also includes two dynamos directly connected, which furnish light for the plant and also power for the circulating pump which pumps the water from the condensers to the basin. There is no point in all this complex machinery with which Mr. Pulte is not thoroughly familiar from the most important feature to the minutest detail, and he is splendidly equipped for the duties which devolve upon him.
On the 18th of January, 1890, Mr. Pulte was united in marriage to Miss Bertha Arnoldi, of Westphalia, Germany, her father being John Arnoldi, an old resident of Omaha. They have two sons, namely : Fred, who is engineer at the Poppleton avenue pumping station in Omaha ; and Earl, a college student. During his resi- dence in Florence Mr. Pulte has become widely and favorably known and he is regarded as one most competent in the discharge of his duties.
HON. JOSEPH CROW.
Hon. Joseph Crow, attorney at law of Omaha, was born in Greencastle, Indiana, April 21, 1856, a son of Joseph H. and Mary (Farrow) Crow, who were both natives of Kentucky. The father represents an old southern family well known in Maryland, Virginia and Kentucky, of Scotch descent and founded in America prior to the Revolutionary war, in which representatives of the name participated. The mother was born in Mount Sterling, Kentucky, February 17, 1829, and is a daughter of Colonel Alexander S. Farrow, a pioneer of Kentucky and a contemporary of Schuyler Colfax in the Indiana constitutional convention. He was a member of the Kentucky senate at the age of twenty-one years and ranked with the distinguished law makers of the south. Joseph H. Crow became a prosperous merchant of Greencastle, Indiana, where he resided for many years, but eventually removed to Cheyenne county, Kansas, where he lived retired until about a year prior to his death, which occurred in 1890, when he was sixty-three years of age. He belonged to a local reserve cavalry regiment during the Civil war but was not called upon for active service. He belonged to the Methodist church but was very liberal in his religious views, and fraternally he was con- nected with the Masons. His widow survives at the age of eighty-eight years and is now living with her daughter, Mrs. M. E. Kilbourne, at No. 3868 Cali- fornia street in Omaha. She is enjoying excellent health notwithstanding her advanced years. In the family were three sons and two daughters: William H., an attorney at law now living at Hugo, Colorado; Mrs. Lafayette Council, of Springfield, Missouri; Joseph; Mrs. M. E. Kilbourne of Omaha ; and Dr. C. R. Crow, deceased, late of Indianapolis, Indiana.
After attending the public schools of Greencastle, Indiana, Joseph Crow there entered De Pauw University, from which he was graduated in 1876 with the Bachelor of Science degree. When twenty years of age he took up the profession of teaching, which he followed for two years in Indiana, and during that period devoted his leisure hours to the study of law. He was admitted to practice on the 23d of April, 1877, when twenty-one years of age, and opened a law office in Greencastle, where he successfully followed his profession until 1886. In 1881 he was elected city attorney, which position he acceptably filled for three terms, when he resigned and went west to Cheyenne, Kansas. There he assisted in the organization of Cheyenne county and served as its first county attorney, acting in that capacity for one term. He continued there until 1889, when he came to Omaha and has since been engaged in active practice in this city, covering a period of twenty-eight years. He has a comprehensive knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence and is correct in their application to the points in litigation. For a
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time he was a law partner of the late United States Senator John M. Thurston, this association continuing for two years, or until the death of Senator Thurston in August, 1916. Mr. Crow prepares his cases with thoroughness and care and the strength of his argument is based upon logical reasoning and a clear presenta- tion of the facts. While his father was at one time a very successful business man, through the misfortunes of others for whom he stood financially responsible he forfeited the greater part of his savings and at the time of his death while in fairly comfortable circumstances was no longer a man of wealth. Joseph Crow has consequently never received any aid beyond that of a good education and the training of a cultured home and moral instruction, which constitutes the basis of character.
At Newcastle, Indiana, October 27, 1886, Mr. Crow was married to Miss Helen Jennings, a native of Ohio and a daughter of Levi A. Jennings, who was a prominent and prosperous furniture manufacturer and lumberman of Newcastle, Indiana. He married Martha Coffin, a representative of a distinguished old fam- ily of Massachusetts. Her death occurred in 1913 and Mr. Jennings passed away April 15, 1914, leaving a large fortune. Mrs. Crow inherited one-half of this estate, constituting valuable realty holdings in Newcastle, and since the death of her father Mr. Crow has devoted much of his time and attention to the manage- ment of the property. Mr. and Mrs. Crow have become the parents of five children : Hazel, the wife of James C. Ewell, of Chicago; Arthur Jennings, a leading stockman of Lincoln county, Colorado; Chester J., who was graduated in art in Chicago and is a distinguished commercial artist of New York; Donald F., who is connected with the Goodyear Rubber Tire Company at Omaha ; and Charles Thurston, who was graduated from the Omaha high school in 1917. There are also three grandchildren: James Ewell; Helen, the daughter of Arthur Crow ; and Joseph Richard, son of Donald F. Crow.
Mr. Crow belongs to the Nebraska State Bar Association and fraternally is connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. His political alle- giance has always been given to the republican party, in the work of which he has taken a very active and helpful part. Recognition of his ability and public- spirited citizenship on the part of his fellow townsmen led to his election to the state legislature in 1894 and again in 1896, while in 1898 he was chosen to repre- sent his district in the state senate, in which he served until 1899, when he resigned and was appointed postmaster of Omaha by President Mckinley. He continued in that position until February, 1904, when he resumed the practice of law. Upon his retirement from the postmastership at Omaha the employees of the postoffice presented Mr. Crow with a chest of solid silver valued at five hun- dred dollars in appreciation of his consideration of them and his instrumentality in securing an increase in wages and a substantial increase in both the clerical and the carrier forces. As lawyer and law maker he has left the impress of his indi- viduality upon the history of city and state and in every relation of life he has borne himself with such signal dignity and honor as to win the highest respect and confidence of his fellowmen.
WALTER S. STILLMAN.
Walter S. Stillman, attorney, was born in Chicago, Illinois, on the 13th of August, 1868, his parents being Walter Deming and Sarah Ann ( Birch) Stillman, who were natives of Illinois and New York state respectively. In 1871 Walter D. Stillman removed to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where he remained in the successful practice of medicine and surgery until his death, which occurred in 1889, when he was fifty-one years of age. At the outbreak of the Civil war he was a student at Antioch College, which institution was then under the direction of Horace Mann. Enlisting for service in that struggle, Walter D. Stillman was first a member of
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the Second Ohio Regiment and later served as surgeon of the One Hundred and Fifty-first Illinois Regiment, receiving his appointment soon after his graduation from medical college. He attained to high professional rank, his ability constantly developing by reason of his broad reading and study. His widow survived him until 1908 and passed away at the age of seventy years. In their family were two sons, the elder being George H., a well known attorney of Carrington, North Dakota.
Walter S. Stillman spent his youthful days as a pupil of the public schools of Council Bluffs and afterward continued his education in the University of Mich- igan, being graduated from the arts department in 1890. He also spent a year as a law student there and at Harvard Law School and in 1891 was admitted to prac- tice at the Iowa bar, after which he opened an office in Council Bluffs. In 1898 he took charge of the commercial work of the Edson Rich law office in Omaha and a year later purchased the interest of Mr. Rich and has since carried on the busi- ness for himself. He belongs to the American Bar Association, to the Iowa and the Nebraska State Bar Associations and also to the Omaha and Council Bluffs Bar Associations. He has comprehensive knowledge of the principles of juris- prudence and is seldom wrong in his application thereof.
In Davenport, Iowa, on September 20, 1893, Mr. Stillman was married to Miss Nan Martin. She is a daughter of Nathan C. Martin, formerly clerk of the city of Davenport, Iowa. Four children have been born to them: Walter Mar- tin, born in Council Bluffs, November 13, 1894, pursued his preparatory course in Creighton Academy, and afterward entered Columbia University, from which he was graduated in 1915 after pursuing the arts course. He was also a law student there for a year and later at Creighton University and the University of Iowa. Mary Birch, born in Council Bluffs, January 30, 1896, is a graduate of the Council Bluffs high school and is now attending the University of Chicago. Hugh Deming, born in Council Bluffs on the 26th of January, 1902, is attending the high school. Anna Johnston, born in Council Bluffs on the 31st of March, 1904, is a student in the graded schools.
Mr. Stillman has been a member of the Omaha Club since 1896 and is a charter member of the University Club. He has also been a member of the Council Bluffs Rowing Association since its organization. He is a member of the Patriotic Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. Fraternally he is a Master Mason and an Elk. His religious faith is that of the Episcopal church and his political belief that of the republican party. He has had opportunities many times to enter politics but has never sought nor desired office, preferring to concentrate his energies upon his professional and business duties. He is well known and popular in both Iowa and Nebraska as a lawyer, a business man and a citizen, and his life record indicates what may be attained through individual effort and laudable ambition when wisely directed.
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