USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > Omaha: the Gate city, and Douglas County, Nebraska, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 55
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He is non-partisan in his political views, reserving to himself the privilege of supporting such men as in his judgment are best fitted for the office. How- ever, in national politics he has generally affiliated with the republican party.
A representative of the business interests of Omaha for twenty-eight years, and a resident of the city for nearly forty years, Mr. Foster is widely and favor- ably known, the high regard entertained for him being indicative of the fact that his has been a well spent life.
CHARLES H. GRATTON.
Charles H. Gratton, president and manager of the Pacific Storage & Ware- house Company, was born in Syracuse, New York, January 4, 1859, his parents being George and Mary Jane (Egar) Gratton, who were natives of Ireland but in early life became residents of the state of New York. They afterward removed to Baltimore and in 1868 became residents of Omaha. The father engaged in the manufacture of shirts for a time and afterward became colonization and immigration agent for the Union Pacific Railway, continuing his residence in this city until his death, which occurred in 1881, when he had reached the age of fifty-six years. His widow long survived him and died in Omaha in 1910, at the advanced age of eighty years. In their family were two sons, the elder being William E. Gratton, who is extensively engaged in fruit growing at Brandsville, Missouri.
Charles H. Gratton was a lad of but nine years when the family home was established in Omaha and here he attended the public schools, passing through consecutive grades to the high school, after which he secured a position with the Union Pacific in the ticket office under E. K. Long. He there remained for five years, after which he went to the west and secured the position of clerk with the Pacific Hotel Company. He spent nine years in that connection and in 1894 he established the Pacific Storage & Warehouse of Omaha, developing a business that has grown to large proportions. Since 1894 he has been the president and manager of this business, which affords exceptional facilities for storage, the company owning a huge warehouse at Nos. 1007 to 1011 Jones street, in the heart of the wholesale district of the city. The building is a six story structure, ideally located for the storage of merchandise awaiting shipment and distribu- tion. The company has good trackage facilities, enabling it to place the goods on cars at the time required, and delays and aggravating features that often enter into the moving of merchandise are eliminated through efficient systems evolved by Mr. Gratton and his associates. The erection of a new building by the com- pany gives them a floor space of more than sixty-five thousand square feet.
On the 3d of October, 1888, Mr. Gratton was married to Miss Carrie E. Brown, of Chicago, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George P. Brown. The father was a well known dry goods merchant at No. 1116 Farnam street, Omaha. In his death the community lost one of its valued business representatives. Mr. and Mrs. Gratton have a son, George E., born in Omaha in 1906 and now attending the Miller Park school.
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The parents are members of the First Presbyterian church and occupy an enviable social position. Mr. Gratton is very prominent as a Mason, having taken the Knight Templar and Consistory degrees, while with the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine he has crossed the sands of the desert. He belongs to the Commercial Club, the Rotary Club and the Prettiest Mile Club, and he gives his political allegiance to the republican party. His influence is always on the side of progress and improvement. For three years he has served as a member of the Omaha board of education, being called to the office in 1896. He, in connection with the superintendent of schools, was instrumental in bringing about the excellent show- ing made by the Omaha schools at the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. This school exhibit created widespread interest throughout the country and received much favorable notice from the press, while many magazine articles were written con- cerning it. Mr. Gratton has always been aligned with the progressive element in Omaha's citizenship and at the same time has been a potent factor in the business life. He belongs to that class of men who accomplish what they undertake, and their achievements are far-reaching and important, touching the general interests of society as well as promoting individual welfare.
JOSEPH T. VOTAVA.
Joseph T. Votava, attorney and bank president, was born on a farm near Edholm, Nebraska, in 1885, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Votava, who are natives of Bohemia and in 1876 crossed the Atlantic to the United States, making their way to Nebraska. They are still residents of Edholm.
To the public school system of Butler county, Nebraska, Joseph T. Votava is indebted for his early educational opportunities. He afterward entered the State University, from which he was graduated in 1911 on the completion of a classical course and also of the law course. He had thus prepared for the bar and at once entered upon active practice. In 1913 he was called to the office of deputy county attorney of Douglas county and at the present time he is concen- trating his attention upon the private practice of law, in which he has made steady progress. In this calling advancement depends entirely upon individual merit and realizing this fact, he is ever a close student of his profession, thoroughly prepar- ing his cases and displaying the most careful analysis in reasoning from cause to effect. He is identified with financial interests as president of the Nebraska State Bank at Loma.
On August 17, 1916, Mr. Votava was married in Omaha to Miss Anna Louise Dusatko, of Clarkson, Nebraska. She is a graduate of the University of Nebraska. He is a member of the Catholic church and the Knights of Columbus. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party and he spends many a pleasant hour in the University Club, in which he holds membership, while in the Commercial Club, of which he is a representative, he gives aid to all the move- ments which are seeking to promote Omaha's best interests.
WILLARD W. SLABAUGH.
Willard W. Slabaugh, practicing at the Omaha bar, has made a creditable record as lawyer and jurist. He was born in Locke township, Elkhart county. Indiana, February 29, 1856, and was a son of the late Amos Slabaugh, a represent- ative of an old Pennsylvania family of Swiss and German descent. The family was established in America about the time of the Revolutionary war, settlement being made in eastern Pennsylvania, whence later representatives of the name migrated to Indiana and afterward to Ohio. Amos Slabaugh was a thrifty farmer
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whose industry and perseverance won him a substantial measure of success. He resided in Randolph, Ohio, for many years and passed away in Akron, that state, in 1910, at the age of eighty-five. For only a few months had he survived his wife, who was seventy-five years of age at the time of her demise. She bore the maiden name of Julia France and was born in Stark, Ohio, representing an old Ohio family of French and German lineage, her ancestors coming from the Alsace- Lorraine district.
Willard W. Slabaugh was the second in a family of four sons and two daugh- ters and after acquiring his elementary education in the district schools of Ran- dolph, Ohio, he continued his studies in Valparaiso, Indiana, Mount Union (Ohio) College and in Hiram College of Ohio, from which he was graduated in 1883 with the degree of Bachelor of Science. That institution has since conferred upon him the Master of Arts degree. His educational course was not continuous, for at intervals he taught school. His early life was spent upon the home farm and he then took up the vocation of teaching, which he followed in district and select schools and afterward in the Hiram and Mount Union Colleges for a period of ten years. He studied law in Ravenna, Ohio, and in August, 1885, was admitted to practice at Omaha, having become a resident of this city in the previous month. He arrived in Nebraska, however, in October, 1884, and taught school in Sarpy county prior to removing to Omaha. After passing the required state examination he entered upon the active work of his profession in connection with C. A. Bald- win, an old practitioner of this city, and later he became a partner of E. C. Lane under the firm name of Slabaugh & Lane. They were afterward joined by Syl- vester Rush and in that connection the business of the firm was conducted. Mr. Rush has for years been assistant to the United States attorney general at Wash- ington, D. C. Mr. Slabaugh now engages in general practice in Omaha and has a practice of large and distinctively representative character. His is a natural discrimination as to legal ethics, and he is so thoroughly well read in the minutiae of the law that he is able to base his arguments upon thorough knowledge of and familiarity with precedents and to present a case upon its merits, never failing to recognize the main point at issue and never neglecting to give a thorough prepara- tion. His pleas are always characterized by a terse and decisive logic. The offices which he has filled have been in the direct path of his profession. He was deputy county attorney from 1892 until 1894 inclusive and in 1895 was chosen district judge, serving upon the bench for eight years, in which connection his rulings were strictly fair and impartial and his decisions were characterized by a master- full grasp of every problem presented for solution. In 1905 he was called to the office of county attorney, which he filled for two years. He belongs to the Douglas County Bar Association and the Nebraska State Bar Association and of the former is the vice president and chairman of the executive council.
On the 15th of October, 1890, in Omaha, Mr. Slabaugh was married to Miss Anna C. Clayton, a native of Hannibal, Missouri, and a daughter of Dr. Charles F. and Anna (Hayes) Clayton both now deceased. The father was a prominent physician of Marion county. Mr. and Mrs. Slabaugh have four children : Wil- lard Clayton, engaged in the real estate investment business in Omaha; Ruth; Grace ; and Eleanor.
When Mr. Slabaugh came to Omaha he had a cash capital of twenty dollars. His success is due to his own efforts. He entered a profession in which advance- ment is won only through merit and ability, and step by step he has worked his way upward until his record as a lawyer and jurist is most commendable. His political allegiance has always been given to the republican party, in the ranks of which he is an active worker. He belongs to the Royal Arch chapter in Masonry and has membership with the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Woodmen of the World, the Happy Hollow Club and the Com- mercial Club. He is also a member of the Christian church and for twenty years has served on its board of trustees. Both he and his wife take a most active and helpful interest in all those projects which work for the benefit of the individual
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and the community and are concerned in various social service projects. Mr. Sla- baugh is now president of the Child Saving Institute of Omaha and his wife is a member of the nursery committee of that institution, while in various church and charitable projects she takes an active and helpful part. Mr. Slabaugh was also one of the organizers of the Associated Charities and of the City Playgrounds and he is closely studying those questions which are to the statesman and the man of affairs of deepest import-the questions which affect the political, economic and sociological conditions of the country.
ALBERT F. TYLER, M. D.
The tendency of the age in all lines of endeavor is toward specialization and no field of labor is more highly specialized than that of medical practice and at the same time no field of labor is less commercialized. There early came to the medical profession a recognition of the fact that after having mastered the basic principles the physician can achieve the greatest good if he concentrates along a single line rather than trying to attain efficiency in the various departments of practice. In keeping with this tendency Dr. Tyler has largely specialized in X-ray work and has attained notable success and distinction therein.
A native of Illinois, he was born in Logan county, March 14, 1881. His father, George W. Tyler, a native of Indiana, came of English ancestry who settled in New England in 1648, three brothers coming to America at that early period in the colonization of the new world. The branch of the family of which Dr. Tyler is a representative was founded by William Tyler, whose son, the first American born Tyler, became a rector of the Episcopal church and was buried in the chapel at Cambridge. He was one of the first graduates of Yale Uni- versity. George W. Tyler, the father of Dr. Tyler, became a prosperous farmer of Illinois and in 1886 removed to Nebraska, his home being now in Lincoln, where he is living retired, enjoying the fruits of a well spent life. When the country became involved in civil war he joined the One Hundred and Sixth Illinois Infantry, with which he served for three years. While at the front he was taken prisoner and for six months was confined at Little Rock, Arkansas. He married Sarah Jane Tracey, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, and of English lineage. She removed to Illinois and in Logan county became the wife of George W. Tyler. They became the parents of nine children, seven of whom reached adult age.
Dr. Tyler, the seventh in order of birth, was educated in the country schools of Thayer county, Nebraska, and in the Wesleyan University at Lincoln, Ne- braska, being graduated with the B. S. degree in 1904. He prepared for a pro- fessional career in the Creighton Medical College of Omaha, winning his M. D. degree in 1907. For a year thereafter he was interne in the Omaha General Hospital, after which he entered upon private practice as first assistant to Dr. J. P. Lord, with whom he remained for six years. He then took up X-ray work, establishing a laboratory in the City National Bank building, where he specialized exclusively in this branch of the medical profession. After eighteen months he admitted Dr. Norman C. Prince to a partnership under the firm style of Tyler & Prince. Dr. Tyler is a member and the vice president of the Omaha-Douglas County Medical Society and belongs also to the Nebraska, Missouri Valley, Sioux Valley and Elkhorn Valley Medical Societies and the American Medical Association. He is likewise a member of the American Roentgen Ray Society and he has been president of the Omaha Roentgen Ray Society for three years.
On the 23d of September, 1908, in Omaha, Dr. Tyler was married to Miss Ellen Charlotte Roe, a native of this city and a daughter of the late Rev. John P. Roe, a pioneer Methodist minister of Nebraska, who was among the first to build a church in this state. He was born in England in 1825, came to the new
DR. ALBERT F. TYLER
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world in 1844 and passed away in Omaha in 1905. His daughter, Mrs. Tyler, won the A. B. degree from the Nebraska Wesleyan University in 1904 and the Master of Arts degree was conferred upon her by Goucher College of Baltimore, Maryland, in 1908. Dr. and Mrs. Tyler have two children : Albert Edward, who was born October 1, 1909, in the same room where his mother's birth occurred ; and Ellen Jean, born in Omaha, May 13, 191I.
Both Dr. and Mrs. Tyler are prominent in club and social circles of the city. He belongs to the University, Rotary and Omaha Athletic Clubs and he gives his political allegiance to the republican party. His wife is a member of the West Omaha Mothers Club and was an organizer of the Doctors' Wives Club. Both are active members in the Walnut Hill Methodist church, in which Dr. Tyler is serving as president of the Brotherhood, occupying that position for the past three years. They take a most helpful interest in the various church activities and charities and for a year prior to her marriage Mrs. Tyler was connected with settlement work in New York. They are deeply interested in all that tends to uplift humanity and make the world better and their labors and influence have been far-reaching and resultant along those lines.
ANSON HARDIN BIGELOW.
Anson Hardin Bigelow, an attorney practicing at the Omaha bar and law lecturer at Creighton University, was born in Buckley, Illinois, August 23, 1867, and is descended from the well known Bigelow family of Massachusetts, in which state his grandfather was born. His, father, Anson H. Bigelow, was a native of Rochester, New York, born in 1833, and in that city he wedded Mary Brazeil. In the year 1881 they removed to Nebraska, settling on a farm in Wheeler county, where they spent their remaining days, the mother passing away in 1886, while the father survived until 1914, his death occurring in Omaha.
Anson H. Bigelow pursued his education in the schools of Chicago, Lamoille, Illinois, and Omaha, becoming a high school pupil in this city. He com- pleted his course by graduation with the class of 1884 and then pursued his more specifically literary course in the University of Nebraska, being numbered among its alumni of 1887. He took up the profession of teaching and for twenty-two years was a well known educator of lowa, South Dakota and Nebraska, spend- ing seven years as a teacher in South Dakota, four years in lowa and eleven in this state. He was the author of a work on the "Elements of Business Arithmetic," published in 1911 by MacMillan & Company, of New York. His pronounced ability brought him prominence in that field but a desire to enter upon the active practice of law led him to matriculate in the law department of Creighton Univer- sity at Omaha, from which he was graduated with the class of 1912. He then opened an office and has since practiced in this city, where his clientage has steadily grown and developed. That he is recognized as an able attorney is indicated by the fact that he has been chosen as lecturer on real and personal prop .. erty and on parliamentary law in the Creighton Law School. In October, 1916, hc formed a law partnership with Charles F. Schrempp, formerly of Omaha and later a member of the bar at Seneca, Kansas, and they are now practicing in Omaha under the firm name of Bigelow & Schrempp. Mr. Bigelow also has some business connections outside of his profession, being secretary of the Nebraska Mausoleum Company and a director and attorney for the Western Construction Company.
On the Ist of January, 1891, in Omaha, Mr. Bigelow was married to Miss Margaret Hynes, a daughter of Patrick Hynes. She died in March, 1913, and in 1914 Mr. Bigelow wedded Harriet Pearl Le Master, a daughter of the late Henry Le Master. By his first marriage he has a daughter, Ellen Lucile.
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Mr. Bigelow holds membership in the Presbyterian church and is also identi- fied with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the republican party and in 1911 he was elected on that ticket to the house of representatives in the South Dakota legislature from Lawrence county and served for one term. He has delivered various lectures upon important themes, especially those relating to his profession and he wrote a most instructive article on The Relation of Directors of a Corpor- ation to Individual Stockholders for the Central Law Journal of October 8, 1915. It has been reissued in pamphlet form and indicates wide study of others' opinions upon the question, keen insight into the real situation and clear dis- cernment as to every phase of the question. It is an illuminating article upon a subject that has created many diverse opinions.
EVERETT S. DODDS.
Everett S. Dodds, an architect who has been the designer and builder of many of the fine residences and bungalows of Omaha as well as public buildings, school- houses and apartments, was born in Northfield, Minnesota, March 7, 1886. His father, Dr. Robert M. Dodds, of Mankato, Minnesota, was a prominent physician and surgeon and the author of various medical works of value. He was born in Kelso. Scotland, and was a graduate of the Edinburgh University. In 1850 he came to America, settling in Northfield, Minnesota, as one of its pioneers. He married Sophie Simpson, a native of Illinois and a descendant of Jonathan Edwards, William Cullen Bryant and Roger Williams, the founder of the colony of Rhode Island. One of her grandfathers was William Cullen Snell, a noted divine who for a period of sixty years was minister of a Congregational church . in Boston, Massachusetts. Mrs. Dodds is yet living, her home being now in Mankato, Minnesota. She had a family of eight children, of whom Everett S. was the sixth.
At the usual age Everett S. Dodds became a pupil in the schools of Northfield, Minnesota, and afterward continued his studies in the schools of Mankato until graduated from the high school with the class of 1908. He then took up the study of architecture and was employed in several offices of leading architects of Minnesota and of Nebraska, coming to this state in 1910. Entering into part- nership with Fred. Peterson, the firm of Peterson & Dodds was thus formed, but since the early part of 1913 Mr. Dodds has conducted the business alone. He has been in continuous and successful practice in Omaha and there stand as evidences of his skill and handiwork many of the finest structures of the city, including a large number of Omaha's beautiful homes and bungalows. Mr. Dodds has also drawn up the plans and superintended the erection of many of the pub- lic buildings, schools and apartment houses. He is the architect of the Prettiest Mile Club House, also of the Masonic Temple of Red Oak, Iowa, the Bosworth apartments of Omaha and numerous other buildings, and he is regarded as a valued member of the Nebraska Association of Architects.
On the 28th of July, 1913, Mr. Dodds was married in Mankato, Minnesota, to Miss Mabel Schoelkopf, a native of that state and of German descent, her parents being C. P. and Amelia (Lay) Schoelkopf, the latter a native of Wiscon- sin and of French descent. She was a descendant of the family of Jacob de Leye, a French nobleman who on coming to this country dropped the prefix de. while the family has since adopted the name of Lay. Mrs. Dodds' maternal grandmother was a descendant of the Von Engler family of Switzerland, also connected with the nobility of that country. Mr. and Mrs. Dodds have become parents of a son, Everett Loren, born July 2, 1914.
Mr. Dodds gives his political allegiance to the republican party. He holds membership in the First Presbyterian church of Mankato, Minnesota, of which
EVERETT S. DODDS
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at one time he was treasurer. He also belongs to the Royal Arcanum and to the Commercial Club of Omaha. He came to this city a comparative stranger but is well satisfied with the progress that he has made here, as a liberal patronage has been accorded him in recognition of his professional merit and worth.
JOSEPH ALOYSIUS HENSKE, M. D.
Dr. Joseph Aloysius Henske, successfully practicing in Omaha, was born in St. Louis, Missouri, April 2, 1886. His father, Dr. Andrew Adolphus Henske, is a prominent physician and surgeon of St. Louis. He was born January 2, 1852, in Paderborn, Prussia, and was graduated from a gymnasium in his native country. In 1871 he came to the United States and located in St. Louis, Mis- souri. He studied medicine at the St. Louis Medical College, which conferred upon him the degree of M. D. in 1875, and in the following year he took a post graduate course at the medical department of New York University, while in 1877 he took post graduate work in the medical department of Harvard Uni- versity. The degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon him by San Fran- ciscus Salarnus College of New York city and that of Doctor of Philosophy by the St. Louis University of St. Louis, Missouri. In 1877 he began the practice of medicine in St. Louis. He served as professor of gynecology in the old St. Louis College of Physicians and Surgeons and for twenty-six years, or from 1879 to 1905, he was in charge of St. Ann's Lying-In Hospital at St. Louis. He has made obstetrics and gynecology his specialties and is recognized as an authority in those fields. In 1881 he was married to Miss Theresa Klaran, 1 native of St. Louis and of German descent. She is still living and the ten chil- dren born to their union all yet survive.
Dr. Joseph A. Henske was the third of the family. In the pursuit of his education he attended successively parochial schools of St. Louis, the St. Louis University, the St. Francis Solanus College at Quincy, Illinois, and the Barnes Medical College of St. Louis, from which he was graduated in 1907 with the M. D. degree. He served both as junior and senior interne in the St. Louis City Female Hospital, and afterward became house surgeon in the Missouri Pacific Railroad Hospitals and in Kansas City and St. Louis, thus continuing for four years and six months. In November, 191.3, he was appointed division surgeon for the Missouri Pacific Railroad. L'eaving .St. Louis he removed to Omaha and took charge of professional work in northern Kansas and Nebraska for the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company. In addition he conducted a gen- erai practice with offices in the Brandeis building.
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