USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > Omaha: the Gate city, and Douglas County, Nebraska, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95
Mr. Holdrege gives his political endorsement to the republican party. He is a member of the Denver Club of Denver, Colorado, while in Omaha he has membership with the Commercial, the Omaha, the University and the Country Clubs. Upon the broad foundation of liberal education he has builded his success, winning his advancement through the mastery of interests and duties entrusted to his care until in important official position he is now guiding the interests and destinies of transportation facilities upon which the development and welfare of a great section of the west largely depend.
ELIJAH CONKLIN.
In the fall of 1873 Elijah Conklin became a resident of Omaha and throughout the intervening period to his death ranked with the popular and valued citizens of not only this city but of the west, for his extensive travels brought him a wide acquaintance and his many sterling traits of character gained for him the warm regard and friendship of all. He came to this city from Mississippi, his native state, his birth having occurred at Port Gibson on the 10th of February, 1847. His brother, William B. Conklin, had arrived in 1871 and was employed as bookkeeper by the firm of Poland & Elliott. He married a niece of Judge James W. Savage and a few years ago removed to Chicago, where he passed away in 1915. Another brother, Walter W. Conklin, resided for several years at North Platte, Nebraska, later in Omaha and St. Louis, and is now a resident of Chicago. During his residence in Nebraska and St. Louis he was connected with the Missouri Pacific Railway but is now with the Illinois Central Railway.
Elijah Conklin spent the days of his boyhood and youth in his native state and there he acquired his education. He was a youth of but sixteen years when he responded to the call of the Confederacy for troops and joined the army, serving during the last two years of the war. He enlisted as a member of Company A, in a Mississippi cavalry regiment commanded by Colonel Woods and attached to General Adams' Brigade. He was on duty under General Forrest when paroled at Gainesville, Alabama, at the close of the war in May, 1865. He served as a courier under General Gardner, whose widow sent Mr. Conklin from La Fayette, Louisiana, a picture of the General taken in his uniform in 1863. This picture is still a cherished possession of the Conklin family. In recognition of Mr. Conklin's notable bravery and loyalty the southern cross of honor was conferred upon him.
After coming to Omaha he was employed as a Pullman conductor on the run between this city and Ogden, Utah, over the Union Pacific for thirteen years. Later he became a traveling representative of the mercantile house of Maxmeyer Brothers, his territory covering Montana, the Black Hills and all of Nebraska. For over thirty years he remained upon the road and his social, genial nature and many admirable traits of character won for him wide popularity. He was one of the oldest traveling men of Omaha and none has been held in higher regard than he.
66
OMAHA AND DOUGLAS COUNTY
In 1871 Mr. Conklin was married at Rodney, Mississippi, to Miss Helena Lennon, of that state, and they became the parents of three. children: Elijah B., now a resident of St. Paul, Minnesota; Walter P., a traveling man ; and Grace Lennon, who is a teacher of elocution and a gifted public reader. She organized the Omaha Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and served as its first president, occupying the position for two terms, while upon her retire- ment from the presidency she was made honorary president. She organized the society in 1900 with twenty-three members and today it has thirty-two members. She was the youngest president in the national convention of the Daughters of the Confederacy held at St. Louis a few years ago. Her work as a public reader all through the south has received the highest praise and she has been heard on many a Chautauqua platform. She was graduated in both music and elocution from the Marden School of Elocution and Music in Chicago.
Mr. Conklin was a member of J. J. Whitney Camp of the United Confederate Veterans at Fayette, Mississippi, belonged to the United Commercial Travelers for many years and was also an active member of the Elks. He passed away July 18, 1911, when sixty-four years of age, and at the time of his demise both the Confederate and the American flags were draped over his casket, while both Confederate and Union veterans were pall bearers at his funeral. He was said to be one of the most highly respected traveling salesmen traveling out of Omaha and in every walk of life he was honored and esteemed. He ever retained the qualities of a good soldier, prompt in the performance of duty and of unquestioned loyalty. His friends delighted in his companionship and regard as among their happiest moments the hours spent in his company.
JAMES A. SUNDERLAND.
Prominent among the energetic, farsighted and successful business men of Omaha is James A. Sunderland, president of the Sunderland Brothers Company, extensive jobbers in fuel and building supplies and contractors in marble and tile work. Close application and indefatigable effort have been the basis of his progress in business circles and his growing success. He was born in Jamestown, New York, in 1860, and comes of English ancestry. His paternal grandfather, Thomas Sunderland, was born in Yorkshire, England, but his last days were spent in the United States, where he passed away after a life devoted to farm- ing. His son, the Rev. James Sunderland, was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1834, but was brought to America by his parents in 1843, when the family home was established near Jamestown, New York. In 1856 a removal was made to Iowa and in 1861 James Sunderland was admitted to the ministry of the Baptist church after which he filled successive pastorates at Strawberry Point, Vinton, Sioux City, Ottumwa and Fort Madison, Iowa. Later he accepted the position of superintendent of Baptist missionary work in Iowa and afterward in Minnesota, whence he went to the Pacific coast to enter upon similar duties. He retired about 1906 and now makes his home at Oakland, California. His wife passed away in 1879.
James A. Sunderland pursued his education in the public schools of the vari- ous cities to which the family removed by reason of the father's changing pastoral relations and in 1879 was graduated from the Ottumwa (Iowa) high school. Immediately afterward he made his initial step in the business world, becoming connected with the line of commercial activity in which he has engaged since, and one of the chief sources of his success is undoubtedly the fact that he has always continued in the same business, thereby becoming thoroughly familiar with every branch of the trade. Entering a coal office in Ottumwa, he three years later purchased the business but the following year, or in 1883, came to Omaha as secretary and manager of the Omaha Coal, Coke & Lime Company,
JAMES A. SUNDERLAND
69
OMAHA AND DOUGLAS COUNTY
of which he became a stockholder, his associates in the enterprise being Charles F. Goodman and George F. Labagh. In 1892 Mr. Sunderland and his two brothers bought out the interests of the other stockholders, continuing to operate under the same name for three or four years, after which they adopted the pres- ent firm style of the Sunderland Brothers Company. They do an extensive jobbing business in fuel and building supplies and have extended the scope of their undertaking to include a contracting business in marble and tile, having installed in Omaha a marble working mill. They thus control important com- mercial and industrial interests of the city, their trade having reached mammoth proportions. James A. Sunderland is the president of the Sunderland Brothers Company and he is also financially and officially connected with many other im- portant business concerns which have to do with the commercial development and consequent prosperity of the city.
In September, 1885, in Brooklyn, New York, Mr. Sunderland was united in marriage to Miss Ada E. Youngs, who passed away in 1891, leaving two chil- dren Edwin M. and Albert E. but the latter died in infancy. In 1897 in Ottumwa, Iowa, Mr. Sunderland wedded Alice Edgerly and they have four children : John E., Helen, Ruth and Alice.
The parents are members of the First Baptist church, in which Mr. Sunder- land is serving as a trustee. His political allegiance in given to the republican party and his social nature finds expression in his membership in the University and Happy Hollow Clubs. He is the president of the Commercial Club, to the success of which organization he has devoted much time and effort.
JOHN C. DREXEL.
Business circles of Omaha knew John C: Drexel as an enterprising and successful shoe merchant, his interests in that connection being important and extensive, for he was the vice president and one of the directors of the Drexel Shoe Company. In his relations to the city, however, he was well known by reason of his activity in democratic circles and his loyal adherence to every pledge he made. He was one of the city commissioners of Omaha and to the discharge of his public duties he brought the same keen discernment and spirit of unfaltering enterprise which characterized his mercantile career. He was born on the 16th of February, 1855, in Doddridge county, now in West Vir- ginia, a son of Frederick and Christina (Lingner) Drexel, both of whom were natives of Germany. The father was born in 1833 and came to the United States in 1850, at which time he settled in Reading, Pennsylvania. Following his marriage he lived for some time in Virginia, now West Virginia, but during the early boyhood of his son, John C., became a resident of Omaha, where for a quarter of a century he successfully conducted business as a stone contractor, furnishing the stone for the postoffice and also for the old First National Bank. He was a democrat in his political views and for two terms filled the office of county commissioner. He died in the year 1894 but is still survived by his widow, who yet makes her home in Omaha. They were parents of sixteen chil- dren, of whom six survive.
John C. Drexel was one year old when the family home was estab- lished at what is now the site of the stock yards at South Omaha and he received his education in the schools of Omaha, where the family moved in 1866. He was graduated from an Omaha business college. He afterward worked as a cow puncher in Nebraska and upon his return to Omaha spent two years as book- keeper in the employ of his father. In 1883 he turned his attention to the under- taking business and was so engaged until 1890, when he became active in the retail boot and shoe trade and in the intervening years won a place among the leading shoe merchants of the city.
70
OMAHA AND DOUGLAS COUNTY
On the 2d of April, 1890, Mr. Drexel was married to Miss Minnie H. Brandt, a daughter of John Brandt, who was a native of Holland and died in Omaha January 19, 1916. Mr. and Mrs. Drexel became parents of two sons, John Harte and Herbert William.
Mr. Drexel attended the Lutheran church, of which Mrs. Drexel is a mem- ber, and he was a member of the Happy Hollow and Commercial Clubs. ' He was a Master Mason and an Elk and was loyal to the teachings and purposes- of those organizations. In politics he was always a democrat and in 1884 was chosen coroner of Douglas county for one year to fill out a vacancy, after which he was twice elected to the office. In 1893 he was elected sheriff of Douglas county and served for one term. In 1905 he was appointed to the position of county clerk to fill out a vacancy and at the succeeding regular election was chosen to the position for a two years' term. In 1915 he was elected city com- missioner of Omaha and was filling that office when his death occurred May 20, 1916. He had never been defeated when a candidate save once, when he ran for the office of councilman against his better judgment and lost by a few votes. It is well known that he held a political promise sacred and was most faithful to the trusts reposed in him. He was always amenable to argument and reason but nothing could swerve him from a course which he believed to be right. He pos- sessed an unusual memory for names and faces and when he made acquaintances he never forgot them. Jovial and genial, his friends, and they were many, regarded him as a most entertaining and valued companion.
FRANK T. HAMILTON.
Frank T. Hamilton, of Omaha, is closely associated with various interests which are integral factors in the city life and his entire record reflects credit and honor upon the city which claims him as a native son. He was born in 1861, a son of Charles Edward and Mary F. (Murphy) Hamilton. He represents one of the oldest families of the city. Through the period of his boyhood and youth Frank T. Hamilton concentrated his efforts upon the mastery of those branches of learning which were taught in the Omaha schools and later entered George- town University at Washington, D. C., from which he was graduated with the class of 1885. Thus well qualified by education and training for heavy and mani- fold duties in the business world, he returned to Omaha. He entered the Mer- chants National Bank in a humble capacity, but diligence and determination shaped his course from the beginning. He recognized the fact that industry is the basis of all advancement and laudable ambition prompted him to so concen- trate his efforts that promotion naturally followed. Each advance step brought him a wider outlook and broader opportunities and in 1905 he was elected vice president of the bank, having in twenty years reached the second position of exec- utive control. In the same year he was elected to the presidency of the Omaha Gas Company and the breadth, scope and importance of his business connections are further indicated in the fact that he is vice president of the Council Bluffs & Omaha Street Railway Company and is a director of the Independent Elevator Company. Thus he is actively connected with interests which have an important bearing upon the progress and stable prosperity of the community.
In California, on the 24th of October, 1907, Mr. Hamilton was united in mar- riage to Miss Luisa d'Cistne and they have two children : Exilona Luisa, and a son, Frank T., Jr., born September 9, 1916. The parents are adherents of the Catholic faith and Mr. Hamilton holds membership with the Elks lodge, the Omaha Club, the Country Club, the University Club and the Commercial Club. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and his opinions concern- ing vital public questions are of interest to' party leaders inasmuch as the extent and importance of his business interests have led him to give thoughtful consid-
FRANK T. HAMILTON
73
OMAHA AND DOUGLAS COUNTY
eration to the questions affecting the general welfare. His record may well serve to inspire and encourage others, showing what may be accomplished when there is the will to dare and to do.
MILTON ROGERS.
No history of Omaha would be complete without extended mention of Milton Rogers, pioneer merchant, who established a hardware store which is still in existence and remains as a monument to the enterprise and business ability of its founder, whose death was the occasion of deep regret to his fellow citizens, who had long acknowledged his worth and held him in the highest respect and confidence.
Mr. Rogers was born on a farm in Harford county, Maryland, on the 22d of June, 1822, a son of Joseph and Mary (Cooper) Rogers, who were also natives of that state and were of the Quaker faith. The family removed to eastern Ohio, settling in Columbiana county when Milton Rogers was very young, and the only educational opportunities which were obtainable at that time in the district in which he lived were those afforded by the country schools of that primitive period. When not occupied with his text books he assisted in the labors of the field, but he did not desire to make agriculture his life work and at the age of seventeen years he left home and began learning the trade of a copper and tinsmith in New Lisbon, Ohio. After four years there spent he ven- tured forth to start an independent business and at different periods was located in Ohio, Indiana and Missouri. He followed his trade in Muncie, Indiana, and in Cincinnati, Ohio, before coming to the west and in search of a new location he visited St. Louis, Weston, Lexington, Independence, Savannah and St. Joseph, Missouri. He would have established a store at the last named city but was unable to rent a building there, as the town was filled with gold seekers en route for California, St. Joseph being at the time the chief outfitting place for the western emigrants. Thus forced to seek a different location, Mr. Rogers made his way up the Missouri river to Council Bluffs, then known as Kanesville, where he arrived in August, 1850, and soon afterward he was actively engaged in business there.
The new enterprise prospered and in June, 1855, he established a branch store in Omaha, which was probably the first of the kind in Nebraska. His original location was a frame building twenty by forty feet on Lower Farnam street, between Ninth and Tenth streets. From time to time he made additions to the building until it had attained a depth of one hundred and thirty-two feet, but still his quarters were inadequate to the demands of his trade and he rented one of the stores of the Pioneer block on Farnam street, between Eleventh and Twelfth streets. In 1861 he erected a frame building twenty-two by sixty feet, on a lot twenty-two by one hundred and thirty-two feet, which he had purchased at the southeast corner of Farnam and Fourteenth streets, having it ready for occupancy in March, 1862. His business developed with the growth of the city and in 1867 he joined with other property holders in that block in the project of erecting a three-story brick building, into which he removed in June, 1868. A few years later he bought the twenty-two feet adjoining him and threw the two stores into one. His sons became associated with him in business under the firm style of Milton Rogers & Sons and from the beginning their establishment occupied a position of leadership in hardware circles. In a word, Mr. Rogers prospered as the years passed, his carefully managed business affairs bringing to him constantly growing success, so that his income became of a most substan- tial character. His cooperation was sought in other fields and he became finan- cially and officially interested in various important corporations, being a director of the Union Stock Yards Company, of the South Omaha Land Company, the
74
OMANIA AND DOUGLAS COUNTY
Omaha Water Company and the Omaha Street Railway Company. The mere mention of these is indicative of the place which he occupied in business circles and of the sound judgment and discrimination which he displayed in his invest- ments. He was actively concerned in the purchase of the tract of land which was platted as South Omaha, becoming one of the original stockholders of the South Omaha Land Company and thus contributing in marked measure to the development and upbuilding of that section of the city.
On the 27th of November, 1856, at Council Bluffs, Mr. Rogers was married to Miss Jennie S. Spoor, a sister of Captain N. T. Spoor, who had served as an officer in the Civil war. They became the parents of five children: Thomas J., who married Ella J. Spoor and has passed away, his widow still residing in Omaha; Warren MI., deceased, who wedded Mary Grace Rogers, of Portland, Maine; Alice L., the deceased wife of Oscar B. Williams, of Omaha; Herbert Milton, successor of his father in business : and William S., who married Eliza- beth Fisk, of Trenton, New Jersey.
Milton Rogers, whose name introduces this review, was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. While he never sought to figure promi- nently in public affairs as an office holder, he was ever a representative of that class of progressive business men who recognize the opportunities for public advancement and improvement and become cooperant factors in bringing about desired results. He had been prominently identified with the trade interests of the city for forty years when on the 12th of November, 1895, he passed away. Thus another name was added to the list of the pioneers who performed their work of laying broad and deep the foundation upon which has been built the present progress and prosperity of the city and then passed on. His record. however, deserves a prominent place on the pages of Omaha's history, for he builded along substantial lines and the business interests which he instituted have even yet not reached their full fruition as factors in the city's growth and development.
HERBERT MILTON ROGERS.
Herbert Milton Rogers succeeded to the business of the firm of Milton Rogers & Sons upon the death of his brothers and thus became the head of one of the oldest mercantile establishments of Omaha. He is a. worthy successor of his father, displaying a spirit of undaunted enterprise that reaches out along constantly broadening lines in the development of his individual interests and in his relation to the city's welfare as well. He married Anna C. Millard, a daugh- ter of the late Ezra Millard, of Omaha, and they have three children, Milton, Millard H. and Helen. Appreciative of the social amenities of life, Mr. Rogers is identified with the University and the Happy Hollow Clubs. He belongs to the Commercial Club and to the Presbyterian church and thus the influence of the family remains a supporting factor in those elements which contribute to the city's material, social and moral progress.
GEORGE W. CLABAUGH.
George W. Clabaugh, vice president of the gas company of Omaha, belongs to that class of business men whose keen sagacity enables them to recognize the possibilities of a business situation and to so utilize it that substantial results are achieved. With every phase of the gas business he is familiar and his developing powers have brought him to a position of executive control. He was born in Cumberland, Maryland, March 30, 1859. The Clabaugh family is of German
75
OMAHA AND DOUGLAS COUNTY
extraction but has been represented in America through several generations. His father, George W. Clabaugh, was born in Frederick county, Maryland, November 15, 1808, and married Ellen Kemp, a daughter of Henry and Amanda (Trail) Kemp. The Kemp family was represented in the Revolutionary war.
George W. Clabaugh was a little lad of but four years when his parents removed in 1863 to Baltimore, Maryland, where he began his education in private schools. He afterward attended the Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg and in 1881 made his way to the west, settling at Chugwater, Wyoming, where he engaged in the cattle business for a year. From 1883 until 1887 he was con- nected with the produce commission business in Denver and in the latter year returned to Philadelphia, where he spent three years in the brokerage business. In February, 1890, he came to Omaha as chief clerk of the Omaha Gas Manu- facturing Company and through the intervening period, covering more than a quarter of a century, he has been continuously connected with the business, which in 1897 was reorganized under the name of the Omaha Gas Company. In that year Mr. Clabaugh was elected to the position of secretary and in 1905 he was made vice president, in which connection he still continues. He has closely studied every question which has bearing upon the production of gas, its use and the service that can be rendered to the public in this connection, and he has become identified with various organizations of gas manufacturers who in systematic manner are studying every phase of the business. He belongs to the American Gas Institute, the National Commercial Gas Association, the Illumi- nating Engineers Society and the Iowa District Gas Association, of which he has been president, while in 1915 he was a delegate to the gas congress held in San Francisco and had previously been a director of the National Commercial Gas Association. He has concentrated his efforts upon this line alone and it is his close application, indefatigable energy and spirit of broad enterprise that has led to his success.
On the 24th of April, 1884, in Taneytown, Maryland, Mr. Clabaugh was united in marriage to Miss Anne Birnie, a daughter of Roger Birnie. Their daughter, Ellen, is the wife of Gilbert E. Carpenter, of Omaha, and has one son, Joseph Franklin Carpenter. The family are members of the Episcopal church and Mr. Clabaugh is a republican in his political views. He is identified with the college fraternity, Phi Kappa Psi, and he belongs to the Elks, the Royal Arcanum and the Woodmen of the World. He enjoys the social life offered by the Omaha Field Club and the University Club, his name being on the membership rolls of both organizations, and he is in hearty sympathy with the purposes of the Commercial Club, his membership therein being proof of his support of all the well devised plans and measures to promote public interest. His position in the business circles of Omaha is one of prominence and through- out his business life he has been a persistent, resolute and energetic worker. Pos- sessing strong executive power, he has kept his hand steadily upon the helm and has been strictly conscientious in his dealings with debtor and creditor alike.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.