USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > Omaha: the Gate city, and Douglas County, Nebraska, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 70
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CHARLES F. WINTER.
Charles F. Winter, a building contractor of South Omaha and one of the prominent and influential residents of the city, his efforts doing much to make of this a modern city in all of its architectural features, was born in Hermann, Gasconade county, Missouri, April 7, 1879, and is a son of Fred and Mary (Roth- shafer) Winter, both of whom were natives of Owensville, Missouri, where they were reared and educated. Their marriage was celebrated at Drake, Missouri, and afterward they removed to Hermann, that state, where the father engaged in the teaming and drayage business and also conducted a boarding house, there passing away in 1886, when but thirty-nine years of age. He had survived his wife, who died in Hermann in 1882, at the age of thirty-four. Following her demise he married again and Charles F. Winter was reared by his stepmother, who after his father's death married a second time, so that he grew up under the care of step- parents. He had every advantage as though he were their own child. He attended school in Hermann, Missouri, and when his textbooks were put aside he secured a clerkship in a general store in Hermann, where he remained for two years. His stepfather was a cooper by trade, and after giving up his position in the general store Charles F. Winter worked in the cooperage shop and mastered the business but only continued therein for a short time.
He then came to Omaha in 1898 to atend the exposition, visiting his uncle P. J. Bock, who was then a prominent building contractor and who induced Mr. Winter to remain in Omaha. He accepted the offer to work with Mr. Bock and started in the business at the very bottom, wheeling brick and mortar and doing various other odd jobs, but in the meantime he was making mental note concerning the building business and thoroughly acquainting himself with every phase of the work. He learned very rapidly, showing the utmost willingness to work, and thus he advanced step by step. Mr. Bock had accumulated a considerable fortune and decided to retire from active life, at which time he offered to turn over the business that he had established to his nephew, Mr. Winter. The offer was gladly accepted and he continued in the business on his own account. He has met splendid success through his operations as a contractor and builder and has done some important construction work in Omaha, in South Omaha and elsewhere. Most of the big contract work at the stock yards has been executed by him. He has built the horse barn and roundhouse, the Armour office at the exchange and other important work of that character at the stock yards. In fact he has been largely engaged by the packing companies in building operations in South Omaha. He has also done much outside work on public buildings and schoolhouses in Douglas county and other parts of the state.
On the 30th of March, 1905, in Hermann, Missouri, Mr. Winter was married to Miss Emily C. Baumgaertner, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Sam Baumgaertner, of a prominent and well known family of Hermann, Missouri. The four children of this marriage are : Bertha, who was born in South Omaha in April, 1906; Hugo
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Carl, March 4, 1908; Paul Henry, January 14, 1910; and Freda Edna, November 19, 1916.
Mr. Winter has always maintained an independent political course. He is well known in Masonic circles, having attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite, and he is also a member of the Mystic Shrine. He became a charter member of Schiller Camp, M. W. A., and has been a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen for the past seventeen years. He also belongs to the German Society and to the Commercial Club of Omaha and his connection with the latter organization indicates his deep interest in the welfare and progress of the city, the extension of its trade relations and the development of its municipal ideals. His life record shows much that is creditable, for through his own efforts he has worked his way upward, winning the success which is now his, while the sterling worth of his character and his public-spirited devotion to the general good have made him one of the leading citizens of Douglas county.
ERNEST C. HODDER.
Ernest C. Hodder, an Omaha lawyer of prominence, was born in Burin, Newfoundland, March 15, 1873. a son of Richard and Jemima B. (Butler) Hodder, the former a native of England and the mother a native of Newfound- land and of English descent. They were married in Burin, where they retained their residence until 1881, when they came to Omaha, where they spent their remaining days. The father became an employe of the Union Pacific Railroad Company and continued in that service for many years in the mechanical depart- ment. He passed away in 1894 at the age of sixty-nine years and was survived until 1910 by his wife, who had reached the advanced age of eighty-one years when called to her final rest.
Ernest C. Hodder was the youngest in their family of ten children, two of whom died young. He passed through consecutive grades to the high school but before his graduation put aside his textbooks in order to take a position in the headquarters of the Union Pacific Railroad Company and later was in the legal department, as docket clerk, there remaining for a year and a half. It was his work in that connection that awakened his interest in the law and he decided to pursue a course in preparation for practice. Accordingly he entered the Bellevue School of Law and was graduated therefrom in 1898, after which he was admitted to practice in all the courts, and opened an office in Omaha. No dreary novitiate awaited him. Almost from the beginning he was accorded a liberal clientage, which has grown in volume and importance as his powers have developed and expanded. He is today accounted one of the ablest lawyers in his section of the country. He further promoted his efficiency by attending Omaha University. For ten years he was president of the Omaha School of Law, during which time it was consolidated with the University of Omaha. He was a lecturer in the legal department of the University of Omaha for several years. He continued as president of that institution until 1913, when he resigned on account of the pressure of private practice. From 1908 until 1910 inclusive he was lecturer on medical jurisprudence in the Creighton Medical College and for ten years has been city attorney of Benson, a suburb of Omaha. He has likewise been a member of the Douglas County insanity board for four years and attorney for the board. His public offices have been largely of a character in close touch with his professional interests and in the discharge of his duties he has been prompt, capable and efficient.
Aside from his practice Mr. Hodder has become well known in business circles through extensive and important connections. He is now a director of the Benson Ice & Coal Company, a director of the Western Land & Cattle Company, of the State Savings & Loan Association of Omaha and of the Farmers
ERNEST C. HODDER
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& Merchants Bank of Omaha. His judgment in business affairs is sound, his discrimination keen and his opinions reliable.
On the 6th of June, 1900, in Council Bluffs, Mr. Hodder was married to Miss Bessie Huntington, whose parents, Ephraim and Elizabeth (Lamb) Huntington, were pioneer residents of Council Bluffs, where they have since made their home. Mr. Huntington came to Council Bluffs in 1850, by boat, coming from St. Louis, and Mrs. Huntington was a small child when her parents came overland to Council Bluffs in 1856. Mr. and Mrs. Hodder are the parents of the following children, all born in Omaha: Sherman H., born in 1901, died at the age of three years; Ernest C., in 1903; Florence A., in 1905; Charles H., in 1908; Donald R., in 1910; Esther, in 1913; Bessie C., in 1915.
Mr. Hodder belongs to the Masonic fraternity, in which he has passed through the York Rite to the Knight Templar degree and the Scottish Rite to the thirty- second degree, and he is a noble of the Mystic Shrine. He belongs also to the Odd Fellows, the Woodmen of the World, the Royal Arcanum and the Tribe of Ben Hur. That he is deeply interested in the welfare and progress of his city is indicated by his connection with the Commercial Club. Self effort, intelligently directed, has been the foundation upon which he has built his success. His present position as a distinguished lawyer of Omaha is in marked contrast to his condition in boyhood, when he was found delivering the daily papers in the city in order to save enough money to enable him to acquire the education toward which a laudable ambition prompted him. He. thereby displayed the elemental strength of his character, which has brought him eventually to the front in prominent relations as a lawyer, as a business man and as a citizen.
WILLIAM FRAZIER.
The great live stock interests centering in Omaha have drawn to this city many men of marked business ability and enterprise who have here operated successfully in their chosen field of labor. William Frazier is now well known in live stock circles in South Omaha, having come to this city from Ohio. He was born in Newtown of that state, May 2, 1855. His father, John R. Frazier, a native of Indiana, represented an old Maryland family coming of Scotch ancestry, the grandfather, William Frazier, being the founder of the American branch of the family. John R. Frazier was a saddle and harness maker by trade and became an early settler of Marion county, Iowa, where he located in 1870, after which he took up the occupation of farming. In 1872 he removed with his family to Mills county, Iowa, where he died at the age of seventy-one years. He was a stanch republican and an active worker in local party ranks. His wife, Julia (Mitchell) Frazier, is a native of West Chester, Ohio, and of Irish lineage, her parents having crossed the Atlantic from Ireland in a sail boat. Mrs. Frazier is still living at the advanced age of eighty-nine years and makes her home at Silver City, Iowa.
William Frazier was the fourth in a family of five sons and two daughters and to the district school system of Ohio is indebted for the educational opportunities which were afforded him. However, in the school of experience he has learned many of life's most valuable lessons. He spent his youth upon the farni and early became a factor in the live stock business. In the spring of 1881 he removed to Wayne county, Nebraska, casting in his lot with its first settlers. There he engaged in ranching and in the live stock business, which he there followed suc- cessfully until March, 1896, when he came to Omaha and entered the live stock commission business, forming a partnership with Gus Johnson, under the firm style of Frazier & Johnson. That association was maintained until the death of Mr. Johnson in August, 1907, since which time Mr. Frazier has conducted the business alone, although still retaining the old firm name. He is today operating very
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extensively, his business being surpassed by that of few commission men in the South Omaha yards.
On the 19th of April, 1882, at Cambridge, Henry county, Illinois, Mr. Frazier was united in marriage to Miss Hester McNay, a native of Illinois and a representa- tive of an old family of that state of Scotch descent. To Mr. and Mrs. Frazier have been born five children, as follows: Josephine Pearl, who is the wife of L. S. Overpeck, of Omaha ; Blanche, deceased; William R., who is a stockman identi- fied with the Burt Commission Company of Portland, Oregon; Ruby L .; and Beulah. There is also one grandchild, Meredith Overpeck.
Politically Mr. Frazier is a republican and fraternally is connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He also belongs to the Commercial Club. He is interested in all those activities and forces which have to do with the welfare and benefit of the community in which he makes his home, and while he has been an active business man, desirous of obtaining legitimate success, he has at the same time never been neglectful of his duties of citizenship nor his obligations to his fellowmen.
TIMOTHY J. DWYER, M. D.
Well earned distinction has crowned the efforts of Dr. Timothy J. Dwyer. who since 1878 has made his home in Nebraska, where for fourteen years he has been actively engaged in practice. now specializing in surgery. He was but a little lad of five years when brought to this state from Central City, Michigan, where his birth occurred January 10, 1873. The journey was made with the usual prairie schooner, the family constituting one of that great band of immi- grants who were claiming the broad prairies of Nebraska for the purposes of civilization. The family, with their animals and supplies, traveled eight hundred miles to their new home, the father securing a tract of land in Holt county, near the town of O'Neill.
There amid the conditions of pioneer farm life Timothy J. Dwyer was reared, early meeting the experiences and hardships incident to settlement on the frontier but always with a smile-a smile characteristic of the man as well as of the boy, for good nature and cheeriness are dominant factors in the life of Dr. Dwyer. He followed the plow and aided in caring for the harvests, but did not find that work giving him ample scope for his ambition and energy, his dominant qualities. He determined at length upon the practice of medicine as a life work and entered Creighton University to prepare for his chosen calling. He completed the regular four years' term and was graduated, thus terminating his life as a farm boy of Holt county and entering upon his initial step as a practitioner of Omaha. He became assistant to Dr. C. C. Allison, under whose direction he mastered the fine points of surgery. He had pre- viously been a student under Dr. Allison, who recognized the promise of his pupil and was willing to give him, therefore, the chance for advancement. From the beginning he has remained a close student of the profession, constantly reading and studying along lines that broaden his knowledge and promote his efficiency in general medical and surgical work. His practice came to be one of the largest in general medicine in the city and yet all through the years his preference was for surgery, and when his younger brother, Dr. John R. Dwyer, could relieve him to a large extent of the onerous cares of general practice, he concentrated his attention more and more largely upon surgical work. His practice in that direction has become extensive and of a most important character. He is now surgeon for St. Joseph's Hospital, for St. Catherine's Hospital and for the Presbyterian Hospital of Omaha. He is also professor of surgery at Creighton Medical College and he is special examiner for a number of fraternal societies and insurance companies. He belongs to the Omaha-Douglas County
DR. TIMOTHY J. DWYER
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Medical Society, the Nebraska State Medical Association, the American Medical Association, the Missouri Valley Medical Association and the Congress of Surgeons. He has a splendidly equipped office, his private consultation rooms being business workrooms equipped with all the apparatus and instruments needed for efficient surgical work.
On the 7th of January, 1914, in Omaha, Dr. Dwyer was united in marriage to Miss Susan M. Flanagan, by whom he has a daughter, Susan Mary. In religious faith Dr. Dwyer is a Catholic and belongs to the Knights of Columbus. He has membership with the Ak-Sar-Ben and is well known, prominent and popular in club circles, holding membership in the Omaha, Commercial, Rotary, Country, Seymour Lake, Field and Athletic Clubs of Omaha. He is also con- nected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. Of him it has been said : "He is a big man, big and powerful in mind as well as in body, and he is making good in a big way." He is keenly sympathetic, which enables him to understand his patients and bring to bear just that needed stimulus of thought so essential as the supplement to remedies administered professionally.
ANTON B. CHAPEK.
Anton B. Chapek, a real estate dealer of Omaha, was born in Moravia, June 13, 1869, and was the second in a family. of eleven children, whose parents were Frank A. and Eleonora (Cydlik) Chapek, who were also natives of Moravia. The father, a farmer by occupation, came to America in 1881 and settled near Weston, Nebraska, where for many years he successfully carried on general agricultural pursuits, but is now living retired in Weston. One of the daughters of the family, Frances, became a member of the order of the Sisters of Mercy of Omaha in their home at Fifteenth and Castellar streets and is known as Sister Mary Dominic. She has been a representative of that order for twenty seven years.
Anton B. Chapek was reared in the usual manner of the farm boy and his early life was spent in the country until 1887, when at the age of eighteen he secured a clerkship in a store in Weston owned by the firm of Thomas & Hakel. That he was faithful and capable is indicated in the fact that he was later admitted to a partnership and retained his interest in the business for several years. He afterward established a mercantile business in Touhy, Nebraska, erecting the first building in that town. There he remained for seven years, enjoying a substantial trade, after which he was elected county clerk and removed to Wahoo, the county seat, continuing in the office for four years. On the expiration of that period he removed to Oklahoma and engaged in general merchandising at Lahoma and at Goltry. He was also in business at Enid, Oklahoma, and for time was extensively engaged in coal mining in that part of the country, operating the mines in eastern Oklahoma. He conducted successful business enterprises in that state until the fall of 1914, when he sold his holdings and interests there and returned to Nebraska, establishing his home in Omaha, where he opened an office for the conduct of a real estate, business chances and insurance business, making a specialty of handling farm lands, with which business he became familiar in Oklahoma.
Mr. Chapek has been married twice. At Weston, Nebraska, on the 30th of April, 1889, he wedded Frances Kacirek, a native of Bohemia and a daughter of Frank and Katherine Kacirek. She died in Enid, Oklahoma, in 1909, at the age of thirty-eight years. There were four children by that marriage: Cyrillka, the wife of J. W. O'Connor, of Enid; Ladislav, who died a year and a half prior to his mother's demise; Henry, twenty-two years of age, who is assistant cashier of the Central State Bank of Enid, Oklahoma ; and Mary Agnes, eleven years of age. On the 12th of July, 1909, in Wahoo, Nebraska, Mr. Chapek was married by Father Mathew Bor, who also officiated at his first marriage, to Miss Mary T.
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Zejda, a native of Moravia and a daughter of John and Mary Zejda. They have two children: Lily, born in March, 1911; and Anthony, in 1915. The family home is at No. 1120 Park avenue and is the property of Mr. Chapek.
Politically he is a democrat where national issues are involved but casts an independent local ballot. He belongs to the local council of the Knights of Colum- bus and while at Enid was treasurer of the council there. He is also connected with the Catholic Workmen, "K. D." in which he has served as state secretary and national treasurer, and he also established a branch of that order at Touhy. His advancement along business lines has been the legitimate result of untiring energy, wisely directed, and of investments judiciously made.
AUGUSTUS FREDERICK JONAS.
Augustus Frederick Jonas, surgeon; born Arlington, Columbia Co., Wis., June 12, 1858; son of August Otto and Fredericka (Gundlach) Jonas; educated public schools, Madison, Wis .; M. D. Bennett Medical College, Chicago, 1877; Ludwig Maximillian University, Munich, 1884 ; post graduate work Vienna, Ber- lin, Paris. Engaged in practice of medicine since 1877 ; professor surgery, medical department, University of Nebraska, since 1892; surgeon to Nebraska (M. E.) Douglas Co., Wise Memorial hospitals ; chief surgeon U. P. R. R .; div. surgeon C. & N. W. Ry. ; asst. surgeon C. St. P., M. & O. R. R. Member A. M. A., Am. Surg. Assn., Western Surgeon & Gynecol. Assn., Mo. Valley Med. Assn., Omaha- Douglas Co. Med. Society, Nebraska State Med. Society, Am. Ry. Assn. Clubs : Omaha, Commercial, Omaha Country, Happy Hollow, Omaha Athletic and University. Home : 106 S. 31st Av. Office : Brandeis Bldg., Omaha, Neb.
NOAH E. CARTER.
Noah E. Carter, an architect and builder of South Omaha, was born March 13, 1863, in Guernsey county, Ohio, and is a son of Amos Scott and Melinda (Hart- ley) Carter, the former a native of Maryland and the latter of Ohio. In early manhood Amos S. Carter removed to the Buckeye state, where he engaged in farm- ing, and there he met and married Miss Hartley. They continued their residence in Ohio until 1872, when they removed with their family to Iowa, settling on farm land in Pottawattamie county. Later in life the parents became residents of Enid, Oklahoma, where Mr. Carter remained until his death, which occurred in 1911, when he was seventy-one years of age. His wife is still living there at the age of seventy-two years. In their family were ten children, seven sons and three daughters.
Noah E. Carter, who was the second in order of birth, attended the country schools and afterward worked for his father upon the home farm until he attained his majority, early becoming familiar with the best methods of tilling the soil and cultivating the crops. He then left home and learned the carpenter's trade in Holton, Kansas, completing a three years' apprenticeship. In 1886 he removed to South Omaha and secured employment in a planing mill, where he worked at his trade for seven years. In 1893 he began building operations on his own account and through his skill as an architect and builder has assisted materially in the improvement of South Omaha. Since starting out independently he has erected the Presbyterian church, one of the most attractive specimens of ecclesiastical architecture in South Omaha. He has also built the United Workmen Temple, the West Side School, the Live Stock National Bank building, the Carpenter and Plunkett buildings and many of the fine homes of the two cities, together with
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other prominent public structures. In a word a very liberal and important patron- age has been accorded him and his business is now one of large volume.
On the 6th of November, 1885, in Holton, Kansas, occurred the marriage of Mr. Carter and Miss Anna Akins, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. I. I. Akins, who were well known pioneers of Kansas but were natives of Ohio. The father died in Holton in 1916 at the very venerable age of ninety-two years but the mother is still living at the age of seventy-six years. Mr. and Mrs. Carter have become the parents of seven children. Harry E., who was born in South Omaha in 1888 and is a graduate of the South Omaha schools, married Miss Blanche Hendricks. Earl R., born in 1890, was also graduated from the South Omaha schools and a commercial college and is now in business with his father. Beulah A., born in 1891, is also a high school graduate and is in her father's office. Arlie A., born in 1892, married Miss Emma Lowry and is engaged in business as a bricklayer. Harold, born in 1894, is a graduate of the Omaha high school and is now in the Omaha National Bank. Cromby, born in 1900, is connected with the Burns- Hammond Company of Omaha. Dwight L., born in 1903, is attending school.
Mr. Carter is a stalwart champion of republican principles although not an office seeker. He served, however, for three years as a member of the school board of South Omaha and during two years of that time was its president. Fraternally he is connected with the Royal Arcanum and with the Fraternal Order of Eagles and he belongs to the Omaha Commercial Club, in the purposes of which he is deeply interested, giving active aid and cooperation to all its plans and projects which are deemed of worth to the community. His life record shows that he has also been the architect of his own fortunes and that he has builded wisely and well.
JAMES L. TOMANEK.
James L. Tomanek, an Omaha pharmacist, was born September 4, 1884, in Linwood, Nebraska, a son of the late Frank and Annie (Kominek) Tomanek, who were natives of Moravia. The former came to America about 1874 and first located in Chicago but after a short period removed to Omaha and took up a government claim there, successfully following farming until his death, which occurred in 1903, when he was sixty-three years of age. The lady whom he made his wife came to this country a little later than her husband and they were married in Nebraska.
James L. Tomanek was the fifth of their eleven children. After attending the public schools of Linwood he continued his education in the Fremont Normal School of Nebraska and in the Highland Park College of Des Moines, Iowa. His youthful training was that of the home farm, on which he early became familiar with the work of plowing, planting and harvesting. When twenty-two years of age he sought a position in the drug store of Dr. Ross, of Linwood, and there received his preliminary training along the line in which he is now engaged. He afterward entered the drug business on his own account in Linwood and estab- lished a growing and profitable trade. Later he sold out and entered other pursuits but also conducted a drug store at Wilsall, Montana. On the 20th of April, 1914, he established his present business at No. 4502 South Twenty-fourth street, in Omaha, and in the interim has enjoyed a large and satisfactory trade which is con- stantly growing, so that he now ranks with the leading pharmacists of South Omaha.
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