USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > Omaha: the Gate city, and Douglas County, Nebraska, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 58
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Mr. Crofoot has official connection with various corporations, being a director
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LODOWICK F. CROFOOT
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of the Omaha & Council Bluffs Street Railway Company, a director and vice presi- dent of the Hawkeye Portland Cement Company of Des Moines, and a director and treasurer of The C. B. Nash Company, Investments, of Omaha.
On the 26th of June, 1896, Mr. Crofoot was married to Miss Mary Nash, second daughter of the late Edward W. Nash. They have five children, namely, Edward B., Virginia, Lodowick F., Jr., David and Michael.
Mr. Crofoot gives his political allegiance to the republican party, and is well known in club circles of his adopted city, holding membership in the Omaha, Omaha Country and the Happy Hollow Clubs. He takes a keen interest in the sport of sailing, each summer cruising and racing in a sixty ton schooner, on the New England coast, and in that connection holds membership in the New York Yacht Club of New York, the Eastern Yacht Club of Marblehead, Massachusetts, and the Portland Yacht Club of Portland, Maine.
Nature endowed him with keen intellectual force, which he has used wisely and well in the attainment of professional success and prominence. Added thereto is an appreciation of the social amenities of life that renders him popular wherever he is known.
THOMAS FREDERICK STURGESS.
Thomas Frederick Sturgess, editor of the Twentieth Century Farmer, has through the avenue of his chosen business activity contributed much toward the development of agricultural interests and the utilization of the natural resources afforded in this direction in the west. He was born on a farm in Knox county, Nebraska, November 13, 1863, and throughout the entire period of his life has been closely associated with western interests. His father, Henry Sturgess, was born near Southampton, England, and when twenty years of age came to the United States. Soon after reaching this country he made his way to what is now Knox county, Nebraska, and took up a homestead whereon he passed away in 1887. It was on the 26th of October, 1862, that in Leauquicourt county, now Knox County. Nebraska, he wedded Maria M. Paxton, who is yet living. It was during the infancy of their son, Thomas F., that in 1864 the family were driven away from their homestead by the Sioux Indians. They experienced all of the hardships and privations of frontier life but lived to witness a remarkable change and transformation as the work of progress and improvement was carried on, and Mr. Sturgess took a helpful part in advancing the public welfare. At the time of his death he was serving as clerk of Knox county, Nebraska.
Thomas F. Sturgess began his education in the district schools of that county and continued his studies in the high school at Niobrara, Nebraska, but never had the benefit of college instruction. He was but eleven years of age when he entered the composing room of the Niobrara Pioneer, a small weekly paper, there learning to set type and do other work relative to newspaper publication. He remained on that paper until he attained his majority and rose to the position of editor and manager. When about twenty-one years of age he acquired an interest in the Creighton Courier, published at Creighton, Nebraska, and was editor of that weekly for several years. He afterward went to Hastings, Nebraska, and became connected with the job printing department of the Daily Tribune, with which paper he was associated for three years. He next came to Omaha and went to work as a printer on the Dispatch, an afternoon paper. Later he was connected with the Republican, a daily paper, until it suspended publication in 1889, and in 1890-I he was a compositor on the World-Herald. He afterward spent a year in Cedar Rapids, lowa, as a compositor in the office of the Daily Republican and after his return to Omaha was for five years engaged in editorial work for the American Press Association. In 1898 he was called to the editorial service of The Bee and a year later organized the Twentieth
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Century Farmer, which he has since edited and managed, making it a valuable paper in farming communities. Its circulation is now more than one hundred and ten thousand. He is thoroughly acquainted with problems that confront the agriculturist and is continually disseminating knowledge of the utmost value in connection with the scientific development of the fields and raising of stock. He was a member of the Omaha advisory committee and of the executive committee for the National Swine Show, held in Omaha from the 2d to the 7th of October, 1916. He was also secretary and manager of the National Corn Exposition, held in Omaha in 1908 and 1909, which were the first two national corn expositions ever held.
His activities have indeed covered a wide scope and have at all times been actuated by a spirit of helpfulness. He votes with the republican party and in 1898-9 was a member of the state legislature of Nebraska from Douglas county, during which time he gave earnest consideration to problems of vital interest to the commonwealth and supported much constructive legislation. In this connec- tion he is actively interested in the Commercial Club, doing all in his power to further the welfare of the city and uphold its civic standards.
On the 24th of July, 1907, in Omaha, Mr. Sturgess was united in marriage to Miss Leola G. Arnold, daughter of Rice Arnold, of this city. By a former marriage Mr. Sturgess has a daughter, Helen. Mr. and Mrs. Sturgess are mem- bers of the First Methodist Episcopal church, in the work of which they take a very active part. Mr. Sturgess is serving on the official board and for nine years was superintendent of the Sunday school, which position he resigned in September, 1916. During his superintendency the school made a splendid record, its average attendance being three hundred and six pupils each Sunday during that entire time-an attendance probably not equalled by that of any other Omaha Sunday school for the same period. It was with the deepest regret that the school received his resignation, for he was endeared to pupils and teachers of the school. He was a member of the board of directors of the Young Men's Chris- tian Association for fourteen years or until 1916, when he resigned. During this time the present building of the association was erected. Fraternally he is a Royal Arch Mason and also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. For two years he served as a trustee of the Nebraska Methodist Episcopal Hos- pital, at the end of which time he resigned, and he is now president of the public welfare board, consisting of five members. He has ever subordinated personal interests to public good and with a conscientious regard for his obligations of citizenship and his duties in relation to his fellowmen, he has put forth every possible effort to upbuild his community and his state and to inculcate higher standards of living for the individual.
WESTON A. EDDY.
Weston A. Eddy, who has made his mark in the business world, is now man- ager of the Atlantic & Pacific Oil Company and secretary of the United Oil & Supply Company of Omaha, his life record proving the forcefulness of close application and thorough attention to all details as well as to the major points in his business. Such a record of successful achievement is an indication of the fact that "Peace hath her victories no less renowned than war," and Mr. Eddy well deserves to be one of Omaha's "captains of industry." He was born at Parkman, Ohio, October 18, 1877, a son of Sanford and Ellen Matilda (Bell) Eddy, who were also natives of the Buckeye state, where they remained until long after their marriage. Sanford Eddy engaged in the oil business as general sales manager for the Globe Oil Company of Cleveland, Ohio. He passed away at Wichita, Kansas, in 1900 at the age of about fifty-two years, his birth having
WESTON A. EDDY
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occurred in 1848. His widow is now living in Los Angeles, California. In their family were three children, but Tira and Frank Henry are both deceased.
Weston A. Eddy, the youngest, spent his youthful days as a pupil in the public schools of his native city and afterward was graduated from the Euclid Avenue Business College of Cleveland, Ohio. He next secured a position with the Merchants Banking & Storage Company of that city, where he remained until his seventeeth year, when he became assistant sales manager with the Globe Oil Company and took a crew of eighteen salesmen to Texas, where he conducted a successful sales campaign for the corporation. A year later he became a sales- man for the Enterprise Oil Company and afterward spent a year with the A. G. Harbaugh Oil Company. When that connection was severed he organized and became president of the Eddy Oil Company with headquarters at Cleveland, Ohio, but after a year and a half he sold his interest in the business and organ- ized the Rex Chemical Company of Cleveland for the handling of oil specialties. He became manager as well as owner of the business but ultimately sold his inter- est to the Buckeye Oil Company and in 1902 came to Omaha as sales manager for the Atlas Oil Company, starting in this state with but two salesmen. He so organized and developed the business that he soon had forty-two salesmen in the field and conducted a very profitable business for the Atlas people but gave this up on the Ist of January, 1916, when he became general sales manager for the Manhattan Oil Company with headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa. In the mean- time he organized the Atlantic & Pacific Oil Company, of which he became man- ager. This was incorporated in January, 1917, with a capital stock of one hun- dred thousand dollars, and he is also the secretary of the United Oil & Supply Company, these two being his most important business enterprises at the present time. He is, however, interested in and has promoted other business concerns, including the Auto Power Company of Omaha, of which he is the vice presi- dent. This company has been organized for some time and has begun building power plants.
On the 29th of July, 1901, Mr. Eddy was married to Miss Florence Harriet Marsh, of Chicago, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs; John Marsh, of Cleveland, where they still make their home. Mr. and Mrs. Eddy have a daughter, Ellen Elizabeth, born in Omaha, October 22, 1913. The parents are attendants of the First Methodist Episcopal church and take an active and helpful part in its work, Mr. Eddy serving as secretary of its benevolent committee. His political sup- port is given to the republican party. In trade relations he has membership with the Independent Oil Men's Association. He belongs to the Commercial Club and he was one of the organizers of the Carter Lake Club, which he has very materially assisted in clearing of debt. In fact he has been an active worker for its interests and upbuilding and he is very popular and widely known among its membership. His life record has been characterized by continuous progress that makes him well worthy of the proud American title of a self-made man.
GEORGE A. WILCOX.
George A. Wilcox, secretary and treasurer of the Omaha Stove Repair Works, was born in Glenwood, Iowa, May 21, 1856, a son of Newell R. and Amanda M. (Bennett) Wilcox. His paternal grandfather was Roswell Wilcox. Newell R. Wilcox was born in Barrie, Orleans county, New York, May 15, 1833, and was married in Hastings, Barry county, Michigan at the age of twenty-two years. In 1855 they removed to Iowa and in June, 1856, became residents of Nebraska, taking up a claim in Sarpy county, near Springfield. Mr. Wilcox spent his last days in Omaha, where he passed away April 12, 1910, and his widow died in this city July 7, 1913. He was a first lieutenant of the First Regiment, First Brigade, Nebraska Militia, when he volunteered as a Union soldier during the Civil war,
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enlisting at Bellevue in 1862 as a member of Company D, Second Nebraska Vol- unteer Cavalry. He joined the army as a private and rose to the rank of sergeant. After the war he engaged in the hotel business as proprietor of the Wilcox House of Bellevue for many years, and from 1868 until 1871 he was sheriff of Sarpy county. In community affairs he was prominent and active and he always main- tained pleasant relations with his old army comrades as a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, his local connection being with Dalgren Post, No. 44, G. A. R., at Papillion, Nebraska.
After pursuing his education in the schools of Bellevue, George A. Wilcox in 1875 entered the employ of Clarke Brothers, general merchants of Bellevue, with whom he remained for two years. In December, 1877, he came to Omaha and for eighteen years was associated with the N. B. Falconer Dry Goods Com- pany as bookkeeper and confidential man. From 1895 until 1897 he was presi- dent of the German Mutual Fire Insurance Company, of Omaha, after which he became treasurer of the Omaha Stove Repair Works, a business organized in 1884. In 1914 he was elected to his present position of secretary and treasurer and is now active in the management of his department. The business is one of the important industrial enterprises of the city.
On the 8th of October, 1878, in Bellevue, Sarpy county, Nebraska, Mr. Wilcox was united in marriage to Miss Ellen Margaret Myers, her father being Henry Myers, who was born in Pennsylvania, August 9, 1826, and is a resident of Bellevue, Nebraska. Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox are the parents of three children, as follows: Ethel C., who is the wife of Dr. Luther M. Leisenring, of Placerville, California ; Glenn Albert, who was born March 1, 1890, is a graduate of the Mexico (Mo.) Military College and wedded Miss Lucille Kreymborg, of Omaha ; and Byron L., at home.
The parents are members of the First Baptist church of Omaha, of which Mr. Wilcox is a trustee. He is a Royal Arch Mason and he belongs also to the Omaha Athletic Club. He exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the republican party and he is regarded as, one of the prominent cit- izens of Omaha by reason of his business prominence, his attractive social qualities and his public-spirited citizenship.
HIRAM H. AVERY, M. D.
Dr. Hiran H. Avery, actively engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in Florence, was born about five miles west of Omaha, May 22, 1890, and is a son of Hiram R. and Minnie (Duve) Avery, the former a native of Canada, while the latter was born in Hamburg, Germany. She was a daughter of Herman Duve. Hiram R. Avery came to Nebraska about 1865. He was only fourteen years of age when his father died, after which the family continued on the original farm, which Hiram R. Avery still cultivates, having an excellent property, his fields being rich and well tilled. He has long been accounted one of the representative and valued agriculturists of Douglas county.
Dr. Avery is one of a family of five children. He began his education in the district schools and afterward attended high school at Kansas City, Missouri. Desirous of becoming a member of the medical profession, he entered the Hahne- mann Medical College of Kansas City, from which he graduated in May, 1914. Immediately afterward he returned to Douglas county and opened an office in Florence, where in the intervening period of three years he has built up a large and growing practice. In his professional work he has been very successful, closely studying his cases, while his judgment in complex matters is seldom, if ever, at fault.
Dr. Avery holds membership with the Missouri Institute of Homeopathy and he belongs to the Phi Alpha Gamma. Fraternally he is connected with the Inde-
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pendent Order of Odd Fellows and the Eagles and in the latter organization is examining physician. He is a young man of pleasing address, popular among all classes, cordial, genial and at the same time thoroughly alive to the interests, de- mands and responsibilities of his profession.
ROBERT B. WALLACE.
Robert B. Wallace, president of the Cooperative Reference Company, was born in southwestern Ohio, July 22, 1859, a son of John and Mary (Brown) Wallace, who were also natives of the Buckeye state. The father engaged in cabinet making but at the time of the Civil war put aside all business and personal interests and enlisted as a member of the Forty-Seventh Ohio Regiment, with which he went to the front. He became lieutenant colonel of his regiment, and on one occasion he was taken prisoner. His death resulted from the hardships of southern prison life in 1866, when he was but thirty-six years of age. His widow still survives and is living in Omaha at the age of eighty-two years. They had but two children, the eldet being George G., also a resident of Omaha.
In his youthful days Robert B. Wallace attended the schools of Omaha and afterward became a pupil in the college at Monmouth, Illinois, from which he was graduated in 1881. He then entered the newspaper field in Pawnee City, Nebraska, where he remained until 1884 when he removed to Omaha and became connected with the Omaha Dispatch. He was employed on that paper in various capacities for seventeen years or until 1901, after which he devoted two years to publicity work. He next spent three years in the office of the city tax commissioner and for five years was with the Payne Investment Company as advertising manager. Since 1913 he has been in business for himself.
On the 8th of April, 1885, Mr. Wallace was united in marriage to Miss Lottie Ridell of Omaha and they have two children, Therese I .. , now Mrs. W. J. Turn- bull, and a graduate of the Omaha high school; and Fred Brown, who also com- pleted the high school course.
Mr. Wallace belongs to the Omaha Ad Club of which he is serving as president for the second term. He belongs also to the Commercial Club and the University Club. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and his religious faith is indicated by his membership in Central United Presbyterian church. His life is actuated by high and honorable principles and has been characterized by manly conduct in every relation, winning him the high and enduring regard of all with whom he has been associated.
JOHN MACH, D. D. S.
Dr. John Mach, president of the firm of Mach & Mach, Inc., leading dentists of Omaha, is a man who has achieved distinction in his profession and his life record stands in contradistinction to the old adage that a prophet is not without honor save in his own country, for Dr. Mach is a native son of Omaha and yet he maintains a foremost position in the ranks of the dental profession here, a position which he has earned through merit and ability, based upon broad study and wide experience. He was born May 8, 1877. His father, John Mach, a native of Austria, was born in 1845 and, attracted by the opportunities of the new world, came to the United States in 1863, when a youth of eighteen years. He established his home in Omaha and for forty years was connected with the Union Pacific Railway shops. He was here married to Josephine Mizira, also a native of Austria, and in 1913 he was called to the home beyond, but his widow still survives.
Dr. Mach obtained a public school education in Omaha and after thoughtfully
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reviewing the broad field of labor in consideration of a choice of a life work he decided upon dentistry and with the view of preparing for professional activity entered the dental department of the University of Omaha, from which he was graduated with the class of 1898. He then opened an office and from the begin- ning success has attended his efforts. He soon demonstrated his ability to do excellent dental work and in the intervening years he has kept in close touch with the profession in all of its onward march. He today has the largest practice of any member of the dental profession in Omaha. His offices are fitted up in the most attractive style and are considered to be the best equipped in the country, the mechanical equipment including every modern device that will facilitate and render more efficient his work of preserving the teeth of his patients. Dr. Mach has become financially interested in several important business concerns of the city.
In October, 1909, in Omaha, Dr. Mach married Miss Dorothy M. Hansen, a daughter of A. William Hansen, of Chicago, who died in 1911. Dr. Mach belongs to the Omaha Field Club and to the Ak-Sar-Ben and he is widely known as a pro- gressive and public-spirited citizen and one ever loyal to the best interests of Omaha. A lifelong resident of the city, his many admirable traits of character have rendered him socially prominent and popular, while his ability has gained him professional distinction.
JAMES CHARLES DAHLMAN.
James Charles Dahlman, Omaha's efficient mayor whose administration has brought about many practical reforms and introduced many progressive meas- ures, has for a quarter of a century been an active and influential factor in democratic circles in Nebraska and is well fitted by nature and by acquired ability for the leadership which is his. A native of Texas, he was born in Dewitt county, December 15, 1856. His educational opportunities were limited but he has made his school training and subsequent experiences a source of individual activity that has been practical and substantially resultant. His early life was spent in a frontier country, many miles from a railroad or waterway, and during that period he attended a small neighborhood school where the methods of instruction were somewhat primitive. Much of his subsequent career has been devoted to the live stock business, with experiences from those of herder in early youth to manager of an important live stock company in later years. He came to Nebraska in 1878 as cowboy on the N ranch, then located twelve miles east of the present site of Gordon. Shortly after settling along the Niobrara river he joined the first cow outfit that explored the sandhill country, which has since been developed into one of the richest sections of the state. After working with the N outfit for three years he was advanced to foreman to trail large herds of cattle from Oregon and the Indian territory, to the Dakotas, Montana and western Nebraska. In 1883 and 1884 he was brand inspector for the Wyoming Stock Association and was stationed at Valentine, then the terminus of the North- western Railroad. Subsequent steps in his connection with the live stock industry brought him to the management of one of the important companies operating in Omaha and his business ability is recognized by his colleagues and contempo- raries, who find him watchful, alert, progressive and enterprising-in fact pos- sessed of all those qualities which make for legitimate success.
While carefully conducting business interests in the employ of others or for the direct benefit of himself, James Charles Dahlman has also been actively interested in politics, ever recognizing the duties and obligations as well as the privileges and opportunities of citizenship. He was elected three times as sheriff of Dawes county on the democratic ticket and in 1885 became mayor of Chadron, which position he filled for two terms, during which period he was instrumental
JAMES C. DAHLMAN
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in securing the establishment of a gravity water plant in that city. In 1892 he was elected a delegate to the democratic national convention and in 1896 was similarly honored and from 1900 to 1908 he was democratic national com- mitteeman. During the latter year he was a member of a subcommittee of the national committee having charge of the arrangements for the democratic national convention at Denver, where W. J. Bryan received his third nomination for president. In 1895 Governor Holcomb appointed Mr. Dahlman to the Trans- Mississippi Congress at Omaha and he was one of the committee of five appointed by the chairman to draft a resolution declaring that the exposition should be held. He arranged with W. J. Bryan to lead the fight which resulted favorably for Omaha. In 1896 Mr. Dahlman declined appointment to the position of chief of police of Omaha. The same year he became chairman of the democratic state central committee and so continued until 1900, carrying Nebraska for Bryan in 1896. Ten years later, or in 1906, he was elected mayor of Omaha and is now serving for his fourth successive term-an honor of which he has every reason to be proud, as it represents the endorsement of his administrative measures by his fellow citizens and is a record scarcely equalled by that of any other mayoralty incumbent in the country. In 1910 he was nominated for gov- ernor at the democratic primaries but was defeated at the general election.
In 1884, at Union, Iowa, Mr. Dahlman was united in marriage to Miss Har- riet Abbott, of Winterport, Maine, by whom he has two children: Ruth, who was born September 18, 1885, and is now the wife of Austin J. Collett a graduate of the University of Nebraska and a mechanical engineer by profession; and Dorothy, whose natal day was June 1, 1898.
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