USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > Omaha: the Gate city, and Douglas County, Nebraska, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 61
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Mr. Robertson's military record covers three years' service, from 1894 until 1896 inclusive, as a member of Company L of the First Regiment of the Nebraska National Guard. He exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the republican party and fraternally is a Mason, connected with both the York and Scottish Rites and the Mystic Shrine. He is very prominent in the order and is now vice president of the Nebraska Masonic Home and president of the Masonic Relief Association of Omaha. He likewise belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and he has membership in the Commercial Club, in the Carter Lake Club and the Happy Hollow Club and is a life member of the Athletic Club of Omaha. He and his wife are consistent members of the First Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is treasurer, and he takes a most active part in church work and is ever ready to do anything within his power for the betterment of his city and the assistance of his fellowmen toward higher modes of living and loftier planes of thought. With limited advantages in early life he has in his career demonstrated the worth of character and the opportunity for character building that lies before every individual.
LUDWIG KRATKY.
Ludwig Kratky, of the firm of Kratky Brothers, dealers in coal and feed and also conducting an insurance business, was born in Austria-Hungary, August 25, 1875, a son of Anton and Mary Kratky, who were also natives of that coun- trv. Coming to America in 1880, they made their way to North Bend, Nebraska, where the father engaged in various lines of business. In 1890 he became a resident of South Omaha, where he conducted a teaming and coal business, con- tinuing his activity along that line until May, 1908, when he was called to his final rest at the age of sixty-three years. His wife was reared, educated and married in Austria and is now living in Omaha at the age of seventy-one. In their family were nine children, three of whom have passed away. Those still living are: Mrs. Frank Kudrna, who was born in Austria and is living at Mead. Nebraska ; Anton, who was born in Austria and resides in Omaha; Mrs. Mary Eddy, who was born in Austria and is living in this city; John A., who was born in North Bend, Nebraska, and Mrs. Annie Koutsky, also a native of North Bend.
Of this family Ludwig Kratky was the third in order of birth. After com- ing to this state he attended the public schools of North Bend, but when only ten years of age began earning his living as a farm hand. After removing to South Omaha he secured employment with the Swift Packing Company, with which he remained for seven years, and when twenty-two years of age he be- came a student in the Omaha Commercial College, realizing that business train- ing would materially promote his interests in the commercial world. When he later put aside his textbooks he secured a position with the J. B. Watkins Luni- ber Company, with which he continued for two years. He next entered the employ of the Christy Brothers Coal Company, with which he continued for eight years, and on the Ist of May, 1910, he bought out the business, which has since grown under his direction to large proportions. The firm of which he is a repre- sentative is today a leader in its line in South Omaha, controlling a very exten- sive trade in coal and feed, while the insurance department is also an important one. Mr. Kratky is likewise a representative of the Conservative Savings & Loan Association of Omaha, which is one of the largest institutions of the kind in the United States.
On the 24th of July, 1901, in Omaha, Mr. Kratky was united in marriage to Miss Frances Kautsky, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Kautsky. The children
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of this marriage are three in number: Lucille, who was born in Omaha in 1902 and is now attending high school; Louis, who was born in 1907 and is in the graded schools, and Frances, who was born in 1910 and is also in school.
Mr. Kratky gives his political allegiance to the democratic party and he is a member of the Roman Catholic church. He has membership with the Z. C. B. J., the Modern Woodmen of America, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. He was but five years of age when his parents emigrated to the new world, and through the intervening period he has been identified with Nebraska's interests. He became thoroughly imbued with the spirit of western enterprise and progress and in his business career has ad- vanced continuously, achieving that success which is the direct reward of indi- vidual effort, intelligently directed, and of indefatigable energy.
WILLIAM J. BRENNAN.
William J. Brennan, president of the Crosby-Kopiltz-Casey Company, Inc., retail dealers in lumber, coal and builders' supplies, is in this connection the active head of one of the largest business establishments of the kind in South Omaha. He was born in County Roscommon, Ireland, October 8, 1866, a son of the late Michael Brennan, a native of Ireland, who spent his entire life there. conducting a successful business as a farmer. He was active in politics but never sought public honors and he passed away in May, 1914, at the age of eighty-two years. His wife, Ann Brennan, also a native of Ireland, died in June, 1914, one month after the death of her husband.
William J. Brennan, the third in their family of eight sons and a daughter, was educated in the national schools of Ireland to the age of sixteen years, when he entered upon the work of teaching, which he followed for three years. Prior to that time he lived upon his father's farm and assisted in its cultivation when not occupied with the duties of the schoolroom. After giving up his educational work in Ireland he crossed the Atlantic to the new world, arriving at Castle Garden in April, 1886, an entire stranger with little capital. For a brief period he was at Orange, New Jersey, and then removed to Champaign, Illinois, where he secured employment at farm work. After spending a year there he removed to Chicago, where he was in the employ of Swift & Company. In April, 1888, he came to Omaha as an employe of Swift & Company, with which corporation he continued in a clerical capacity for a year. He later be- came timekeeper for the Cudahy Company and was advanced to the position of paymaster, filling that office until 1902, when he became superintendent of the manufacturing department. From that point he was further advanced in March. 1903, to the superintendency of the Sioux City (Ia.) plant, where he remained for a short time, after which he was transferred to Chicago in a similar capacity, there remaining with the company until November, 1903. Soon afterward he returned to Omaha and became interested in his present business in a clerical capacity. In August, 1904, he became a director of the company and in 1906 was elected president and general manager, which position he has since success- fully filled, bending his energies to administrative direction and executive con- trol of interests which are now large and important. His advancement since starting out in business on this side the Atlantic has been continuous. Each for- ward step has brought him a broader outlook and wider opportunities, which he has capably utilized, and as the years have passed has attained that notable suc- cess which is the legitimate outcome and reward of earnest, persistent labor intelligently directed.
On the 10th of July, 1895, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Mr. Brennan was mar- ried to Miss Alice Dervin, a native of St. Louis, Missouri, and a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William E. Dervin, both deceased. Her father was a Civil war veteran
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and participated in the battle of Murfreesboro, the anniversary of which he cele- brated each year to the time of his death save during the last year, his death occurring on the day previous to the anniversary of that memorable event. Mr. and Mrs. Dervin were early settlers of Watertown, Wisconsin, where both now lie buried. Mr. and Mrs. Brennan have become the parents of a son and a daugh- ter : Eugenia M., who was born in June, 1896, and is now a student in the State University, and William Richard, who was born in April, 1897, and is a student in Creighton College.
Mr. Brennan gives his political allegiance to the republican party and from 1899 until 1901 inclusive he was secretary of the board of education. He has always taken a very active part in civic and political matters. He is a com- municant of the Catholic church and a member of the Knights of Columbus. He also has membership with the Woodmen of the World and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and is a member of the Prettiest Mile Club. His pres- ent position is in marked contrast to his condition at the time of his arrival in America with a cash capital of less than twenty dollars. A self-made man in the fullest sense of that term, he has worked along the lines of indefatigable effort, making each experience count as a stepping-stone toward further achievement, until he today occupies a creditable and enviable position as president of the Crosby-Kopiltz-Casey Company.
SAMUEL E. SCHWEITZER.
Samuel E. Schweitzer, secretary and treasurer of the Omaha Electric Light & Power Company, has been splendidly qualified by thorough college training and broad experience for the duties which now devolve upon him. Through the steps of an orderly progression he has advanced to his present place as a promi- nent representative of those business interests which figure as public utilities. He was born July 29, 1862, in Freemansburg, Pennsylvania, a son of Henry Schweitzer, who was also a native of that state and of German descent. The founder of the family in the new world was an agriculturist and came to America prior to the Revolutionary war. Henry Schweitzer engaged in various com- mercial pursuits and during the later years of his life followed farming. He spent his entire life in Pennsylvania, passing away in 1913, at the age of eighty- seven years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Aravesta Straub, was also born in the Keystone state and is of German lineage. She is yet enjoying excellent health at the age of seventy-nine years.
In a family of two sons and two daughters Samuel E. Schweitzer was the second in order of birth. The public schools of his native state afforded him his early educational opportunities and he afterward attended the College of Phar- macy in Philadelphia, from which he was graduated with the Ph. G. degree in 1882. He then took up pharmaceutical work and devoted a number of years to that profession in the employ of others. He came to Omaha on the 12th of February, 1888, and obtained a position in the D. W. Saxe pharmacy in the old Boyd Theatre building. On the 5th of December, 1889, he accepted the position of bookkeeper in the New Omaha Thomson-Houston Electric Light Company, the predecessors of the present Omaha Electric Light & Power Com- pany, continuing in the service of the former company until the consolidation. He was then elected secretary and treasurer and has thus continued to serve since 1898. He devotes all his time and attention to the business, which is carefully and wisely directed under his management and that of his associates in office. He studies closely every phase of public service connected with the furnishing of electric light and power and he has been active in making the company one of value in connection with the public utilities of the state.
On the 15th of November, 1914, Mr. Schweitzer was married in Kansas
SAMUEL E. SCHWEITZER
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City, Missouri, to Miss Pearl Gillette, a native of Arkansas. They are members of the Lutheran church and in political belief Mr. Schweitzer is a republican but not an office seeker. He is identified with the Commercial Club and along strictly social lines has connection with the Omaha, the Omaha Athletic and the Omaha Field Clubs, enjoying the comradeship of the members of those organiza- tions, while his own worth has wrought for personal popularity.
JOHN G. BRANDT.
John G. Brandt was prominently connected with the tobacco trade in Omaha and was also a well-known figure in musical circles. The city numbered him among her native sons, his birth having here occurred in 1872. His father, Reimers Brandt, was at one time owner of the old Brandt hall of Omaha.
Reared in his native city, John G. Brandt acquired a public school education and afterward turned his attention to the cigar and tobacco business, in which he engaged as a wholesale merchant under his own name for many years, build- ing up a business of large, profitable and gratifying proportions in that connec- tion. He thus became well known in commercial circles of the city and he was equally well known because of his musical skill and talent. He was a member of an orchestra for many years, playing the traps and drum, and he took great delight in his music.
In 1895 Mr. Brandt was united in marriage to Miss Augusta Paulsen, a daughter of Senator John T. Paulsen, one of the prominent and honored resi- dents of this part of the state. To Mr. and Mrs. Brandt were born three chil- dren, John George, Theodore and William.
The husband and father passed away in 1912 and his death was the occasion of deep regret to his many friends and associates as well as his immediate family. He belonged to the Modern Woodmen of America and he gave his support to the democratic party from the time when age conferred upon him the right of franchise.
RICHARD M. LAVERTY.
Among those actively identified with the live stock commission business in Omaha is Richard M. Laverty, and the spirit of western progress and improve- ment has found exemplification in his career. With a belief in the possibilities for individual achievement he has worked along lines leading to substantial re- sults. Nebraska numbers him among her native sons, his birth having occurred in Cass county, July 13, 1874, his parents being A. A. and Mary (McClintock) Laverty, who were natives of Michigan and Ohio respectively. In the early '6os they came to Nebraska, settling in Cass county, where the father engaged in farming and also in the raising and selling of cattle. He figured prominently in the public life of the community and served as county judge of Cass county. In 1884 he removed with his family to Valley county, where he continued his stock raising interests, and his fellow townsmen of that locality, appreciative of his worth and ability, again called upon him for judicial service, so that he remained in the position of county judge of Valley county for several terms. He continued his residence there until he came to Omaha to make his home with his son, and in this city he passed away in January, 1914, when eighty years of age. His wife was reared in Michigan and in carly life became a resident of Iowa, where she remained for several years and then removed to Nebraska. She is still living at the age of seventy-four.
Richard M. Laverty was the sixth in order of birth in a family of eight sons
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and two daughters. He began his education in the public schools of Cass county and afterward attended a high school in Valley county, being graduated there- from when sixteen years of age. There he engaged in teaching for two years and on the expiration of that period entered the office of county clerk, with which he was connected for four years. On the expiration of that period he removed to Omaha, where he engaged in the live stock business in connection with his brothers, Alexander, Jay and J. D. Laverty. Today Richard M. Laverty is the only one connected with the business who was associated therewith at the time of his entrance in 1896. The offices of the company are maintained in the Exchange building and his brother, J. D. Laverty, has charge of the Denver branch of the business, while the others of the firm have withdrawn. The South Omaha branch handles more than two hundred carloads of live stock per month and their extensive operations make them leading figures in connection with the live stock commission business at this point. Reared on a farm and familiar with live stock from early hoyhood, Richard M. Laverty brought broad experience to the conduct of the interests which he assumed when he became a partner in the firm, and in all that he has undertaken he has been actuated by a spirit of modern progress and improvement.
At Lexington, Nebraska, on the 4th of October, 1900, Mr. Laverty was united in marriage to Miss Minnie Horner, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Horner, pioneer settlers of this state. The marriage has been blessed with five children. Ruth, born in South Omaha in 1901, is attending high school at Bellevue, Ne- braska ; Mary Alice, born in South Omaha in 1905, is attending school in River- view; Jean and Cora, twins, born in 1908, are in school in Riverview also, and Richard Horner, born October 29, 1916, completes the family.
The parents hold membership in Grace Methodist Episcopal church of South Omaha and guide their lives by its teachings. Mr. Laverty is identified with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and in elub circles he is well known, having membership with the Commercial, the Happy Hollow and the Seymour Lake Clubs. He votes with the republican party but has never been an aspirant for office. From a humble position in the business world his advancement has been steady and consecutive. The extent and importance of his interests place him among the leading business men not only of the city but of the state. He has used his opportunities wisely and well and has so exercised his talents that he seems to have accomplished at any one point in his career the possibility for successful accomplishment at that point.
J. P. GUTH.
J. P. Guth, an architect of Omaha, was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, June 24, 1862, his parents being P. J. and Theresa (Baumeister) Guth, who were also natives of that country. The father was well known in architectural and engineering circles of Germany and was employed by the government for many years in railroad construction, building many of the famous tunnels and railroad bridges of southern Germany. To that work he devoted his energies until his death, which occurred in 1890, when he was seventy-six years of age. In 1892 his widow came to America, locating in Kankakee, Illinois, where she died at the age of seventy-six. In their family were four children, two daughters and two sons.
The youngest of the number was J. P. Guth, who in early life entered the public and technical schools of Wurtemberg and Bavaria and there continued his studies until his nineteenth year. He was graduated in 1879 and then served as a practitioner for nearly two years in a district architect's office in Wurtem- berg. In the latter part of 1881 he came to America, making his way first to
J. P. GUTH
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Cleveland, Ohio, where he became connected with the department of architecture of the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio Railroad. Later he was with the North- ern Pacific Railroad at Brainerd, Minnesota, in the construction department, and afterward became an employe of the Burlington at Lincoln, Nebraska. He came to Omaha as a trusted employe in the engineering department of the Union Pacific Railway Company, with which he continued until 1887, when he decided to start out upon an independent professional career, and through the intervening period, covering three decades, he has erected many of the most prominent buildings of this city and of the state.
On the Ioth of June, 1888, Mr. Guth was married in Omaha to Miss Bella D. Puls and they have become the parents of two daughters: Theresa, who was born in Omaha and since graduating from the high school has acted as assistant to her father in his office; and Julia, who was born in Omaha and is also a high school graduate.
Fraternally Mr. Guth is connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the democratic party but has never sought nor desired office. He has always preferred to concentrate his energies upon his business affairs and, studying every phase of building with regard to utility, convenience and beauty as well as construction, he has become in the course of his career one of the well known and leading architects of Omaha.
GEORGE W. MASSON.
George W. Masson, a wholesale commission merchant of South Omalia, claims Ohio as the state of his nativity, his birth having occurred in Dayton, December 8, 1848. His father, George Masson, a native of Scotland, came to America during the late '30s and settled in Dayton, when it was a village. Dur- ing the Mexican war he went to the front, protecting American interests through- out the entire period of hostilities. During the early '50s he removed to Indiana and afterward to Illinois. Later he became a resident of St. Marys, Canada, and thence went to Kalamazoo, Michigan. He afterward went to Plainwell, Michi- gan, where he entered the service of the United States government in the Civil war, enlisting in the Fifth Michigan Cavalry, serving until September 23, 1863, when he became ill and was sent home, his death occurring at his residence in Plainwell when he was fifty-six years of age. He was a blacksmith and expert horseshoer and won substantial success in business. His religious faith was that of the Scotch Presbyterian church. He married for his second wife Nancy Anway, a native of Ohio and a descendant of one of the old New England families. She died in 1902 at the age of seventy years. There were six children by the second marriage.
George W. Masson, the second in order of birth, was educated in the schools of Plainwell, Michigan, but when a youth of fifteen took up the task of provid- ing for his own support and upon the death of his father largely assumed the support of the family, his elder brother being then in the army. He was first employed as a laborer and afterward took up the work of contracting and build- ing, which he followed until twenty-one years of age. He then entered the wholesale and retail meat business in Plainwell and successfully operated along that line until the spring of 1885, when he sold his interests there and removed to Omaha, where he arrived on the 5th of August. Although an utter stranger he immediately entered the meat business, opening a shop at No. 1621 Howard street, where he remained for eighteen months. When he left Michigan it was with the intention of entering the packing business, and on coming to Omaha he had that thought in view. After selling his retail market he entered the wholesale meat business and had plans perfected for establishing a large slaugh-
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tering and packing plant where the Swift Company is now located, but some of the men who were to be financially interested in the project backed down and the plan fell through. About 1898 Mr. Masson entered the wholesale produce commission business at No. 2524 South Twenty-fourth street and in that field has since successfully engaged. During the spring of 1884 he had come from Chicago to Omaha, having read an article in the Chicago Tribune on the possi- bilities of the city and the packing business. On his arrival he commenced to carefully study the situation and became very much enthused over Omaha and its future. He at once bought several residence lots on Twenty-fourth and C streets, these being the first lots sold in South Omaha, his contract bearing the number one. The following year he purchased an entire block and erected thereon four cottages, which were the first in that vicinity. He has never had occasion to regret his determination to come to Omaha and with the life of the city he has been closely connected in many ways. He served as inspector, weighmaster and register of the Omaha board of trade and held that position during the existence of the board. When it was merged into the South Omaha Merchants Exchange he took charge of the same office, which he has since filled without opposition, having a clean record during all these years. He was appointed by Governor Mickey as one of the first members of the fire and police board, on which he served for four years. His entire course has been marked by the utmost fidelity to duty and loyalty to every trust reposed in him, public or private. In politics he is a republican, moderately active as a party worker but a strong believer in the party principles as effective forces in good government.
At Plainwell, Michigan, on the 19th of March, 1879, Mr. Masson was mar- ried to Miss Ella L. Millspaugh, who was born in Macomb county, Michigan, a daughter of Charles and Martha (Corbin) Millspaugh, the latter a daughter of Samuel and Delia Corbin.
Mr. Masson attributes not a little of his success to the assistance of his wife. While in Michigan he became a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows. He belongs to Trinity Baptist church at South Omaha, of which he was formerly trustee. His life has been well spent and in all of its relations has been honorable and upright, characterized by loyalty to the highest standards of manhood and citizenship.
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