USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > Omaha: the Gate city, and Douglas County, Nebraska, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 73
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Politically Mr. Cummins is a democrat but has never occupied a public position that pays a salary. He served, however, for nine years without compensation as a member of the board of education and the schools have ever found in him a stalwart champion. He has always been deeply interested in politics and civic matters, in which relation he has ever maintained the attitude of a most public -. spirited and progressive citizen. He was made a Mason at Plattsmouth, Nebraska, in 1879 and he now holds membership with Chapter No. 3, R. A. M., and with Mount Zion Commandery, No. 5, K. T. His life has been further actuated by the teachings of the Episcopal church, of which he has been a communicant for thirty- five years.
W. B. TAGG.
W. B. Tagg is president and manager of Tagg Bros. & Moorhead, who are a live stock commission company having offices in the Exchange building at the Union Stock Yards in Omaha. He was born in York county, Nebraska, September 28, 1875, the son of Thomas C. and Mary Bodine Tagg, who were married at Lee Center, Illinois, on the 8th of February, 1866. Thomas C. Tagg was born in England and came to the United States when a very young man, settling in Wis- consin, and afterward removing to Illinois. In 1870 they came to Nebraska, settling on a homestead in York county, where he resided until 1877, when they took up their abode in Waco, Nebraska, in which place he was engaged in the live stock and grain business up to his retirement from active life. He removed to Omaha in 1908. His wife was born in Elizabethport, New Jersey, living there
W. B. TAGG
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many years and later moving with her family to Kentucky. On the 8th of Feb- ruary, 1916, they celebrated their golden wedding with a reception at the home of their son, W. B. Tagg, 3715 South Twenty-fifth street, Omaha. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas C. Tagg, three of whom are yet living: A. W. Tagg, who is in partnership with his brother, W. B. Tagg, and who is vice president of Tagg Bros. & Moorhead; and Mrs. D. D. Ashley, who is now living in New York city. The eldest son, Harry E. Tagg, passed away in 1910. At the time of the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas C. Tagg in Nebraska, the Burlington Railroad had been extended only as far as Seward, and from that point they travelled to their claim in York county in a covered wagon. In the early days Mr. Tagg bought grain which he hauled to Seward, and later when the railroad was com- pleted he removed his business to Waco, where he continued actively in the grain and live stock business for a number of years, afterward engaging in the conduct of a hardware and implement business and a general store.
W. B. Tagg attended school in Waco and when a very young man went to Grandin, Missouri, where for three years he was connected with the Missouri Lumber & Mining Company. He returned to Nebraska in 1894, securing a posi- tion with the Cudahy Packing Company, in whose employ he continued until 1899, when he went in business with his brother H. E. Tagg under the name (as it was then known) of the McCloud-Love Live Stock Commission Company, the firm name later being changed to Tagg Bros. Live Stock Commission Company, and still later to Tagg Bros. & Moorhead, who are now considered one of the most reliable firms in the Live Stock Exchange building. W. B. Tagg has been at the head of this firm for the last seven years.
In 1905 W. B. Tagg was elected a director in the Live Stock Exchange and con- tinued in that position for nine years. In 1914 he was elected vice president of the Exchange and held that position for two years, and, in January, 1917, he was elected president of the South Omaha Live Stock Exchange. He was also vice president of the National Live Stock Exchange from 1913. to 1915, and in his business connections has become widely known throughout the country. That Mr. Tagg is interested in community affairs is shown by the fact that he has been serving for three years as a director of the South Omaha Hospital Association. He votes the republican ticket and leans toward the Episcopalian church. He also belongs to the Omaha Commercial Club, and takes an active interest in Masonry, belonging to Bee Hive Lodge No. 184, A. F. & A. M., of which lodge he was master in 1914-15. He has taken the Scottish Rite degrees and is a member of the Mystic Shrine. Mr. Tagg is also connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and is a member of the Royal Arcanum.
On the 23rd of November, 1907, Mr. Tagg was married at Louisville, Ken- tucky, to Miss May Leonard. They have become the parents of three children : Richard Forrest, who was born in 1908; William Leonard, who was born in 1910; and Mary Elizabeth, who was born in 1912. Mr. and Mrs. Tagg have their own home on the South Side, adjoining Highland Park, better known as 3715 South Twenty-fifth street.
His substantial traits of character are many, and while he occupies an enviable position in business circles, he has also those personal qualities which render him popular and gain for him the high regard of all with whom he has been brought in contact.
RUDOLPH DIETZ.
Rudolph Dietz, engaged in the grocery business in South Omaha, was born in Snyder, Nebraska, February 14, 1884. His father, the late George Dietz, was a native of Germany and came to America in 1870, at which time he took up his abode in Dodge county, this state, where he homesteaded one hundred and sixty
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acres, residing thereon until 1895. He then entered the liquor business, in which he continued until his death in 1905 at the age of fifty-three. He married Charlotte Fisher, a native of Germany, and they became the parents of eight children, all of whom survive.
Rudolph Dietz was educated in the country schools of his native county and at the age of twenty-one years started out on his own account. His early life up to that time was spent on a farm with the usual experiences of the farm bred boy. He was first employed as clerk in a grocery and meat market in South Omaha conducted by his brother-in-law, George Gottschalk, under whom he learned the business in every detail. In 1909 he began business on his own account at No. 329 North Twenty-sixth street in a very humble way and though his start was small he has built up the largest retail grocery and meat market in South Omaha, his business being located at No. 4820 South Twenty-fourth street, where he employs seven men in the handling of a trade that extends to all parts of the city. He has remained at his present location for three years and his business has constantly and steadily developed until it has now reached most gratifying proportions.
On the 20th of May, 1908, in Omaha, Mr. Dietz was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Schworick, a native of this city and a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Schworick. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Dietz: Hazel, whose birth occurred in Omaha, May 2, 1909; and Irene, born June 2, 191I.
In the exercise of his right of franchise Mr. Dietz has not been bound by party ties but casts an independent ballot, supporting the men whom he believes best qualified for office. His religious belief is that of the Lutheran church and frater- nally he is connected with the Eagles of South Omaha. He also belongs to the Business Men's Association and does everything in his power to further the interests of his city. His own career proves what can be accomplished through persistent effort and carefully directed energy and, dominated by a laudable ambition, he has steadily worked his way upward until he has made for himself an enviable place in the commercial circles of South Omaha.
WILLIAM NANCE ANDERSON. B. Sc., M. D.
Among the younger representatives of the medical profession in Omaha is Dr. William Nance Anderson, whose position is already a creditable one, while the qualities which he has displayed promise well for future advancement. Nebraska claims him as a native son, his birth having occurred in Osceola, July 31. 1886. He is a grandson of John Anderson, who although a native of England died in the United States. His father, John Henry Anderson, was born in Rugby, England, in 1838 and came with his parents to the new world when a youth of fifteen years, the family home being established at Racine, Wisconsin. There he was united in marriage to Margaret Clough Higgie and in 1870 they removed to this state. The father had previously served as a member of Company F, Second Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and toward the close of his term of enlistment was made sergeant of his company. Later he reenlisted and was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant in a regiment of Wisconsin artillery which formed a part of the famous "Iron Brigade." He was captured at the battle of Bull Run during the period of his first enlistment and for sixteen months was incarcerated in Andersonville prison. He died in the year 1907 but his widow survives.
After mastering the branches of learning taught in the public schools of Osceola Dr. Anderson continued his education in the University of Nebraska, from which he was graduated in 1908. He then took up the study of medicine in the same school and completed his course in 1910. For twenty months he was interne in the Clarkson Hospital at Omaha, which gave him broad and valuable practical experience along professional lines. In June, 1911, he became associated with Dr. Le Roy Crummer, of Omaha, for the practice of internal medicine, to
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which he now devotes his attention, and already he has attained a creditable place in professional circles.
On January 3, 1917, Dr. Anderson was married to Kathryn Elaine Brooks of Rushville, Nebraska, daughter of J. G. Brooks, of that place. Dr. Anderson is a member of the Phi Rho Sigma fraternity at the University of Nebraska. He was for three years a member of the Second Regimental Band of the Nebraska Na- tional Guard. He gives his political endorsement to the republican party and is always interested in those forces which make for higher ideals in citizenship and for cleaner government. In Masonry he has taken the Royal Arch degree of the York Rite and attained the eighteenth degree in the Scottish Rite. His social nature finds expression in his membership in the University Club and his religious belief in his membership in the Presbyterian church. He is a young man of great mental caliber, a progressive physician, and is spoken of by the older representa- tives of the profession as one who may be counted upon for progress and efficient service in his chosen calling.
JOHN SPEEDIE.
John Speedie, superintendent of the schools at Benson, has indeed proven a most active factor in the development of the educational opportunities of the town and is recognized as one of the ablest workers in this field in eastern Nebraska. He is a native son of this state, his birth having occurred in western Sarpy county in 1868. His father, William Speedie, was born in Fifeshire, Scotland, in 1834, and his mother, who bore the maiden name of Matilda Howell, was born near London, England, in 1846. She was a daughter of Robert Howell, also a native of England, who came to America in 1848 and for several years resided at Potts- ville, Pennsylvania. In 1856 he came to Nebraska, settling at Bellevue, and a few years afterward went to Plattford precinct, where the family made their home. The grandfather engaged in farming in the southwestern part of Sarpy county and there resided until his death, which occurred in 1896. His wife had died in Pennsylvania. The paternal grandfather of John Speedie was James Speedie, who remained a lifelong resident of Scotland. The father, William Speedie, came to America in 1854, when nineteen years of age, and for a few years he was employed in Illinois. In the late '50s he engaged in freighting between Pike's Peak and Omaha and at the former place he traded his oxen for a farm which he had not seen in Sarpy county, Nebraska. A few years later he sold that property and home- steaded two miles west of his original place, residing thereon until 1913, devoting all the intervening years to the careful cultivation and improvement of his land, which he converted into a very valuable and productive farm. He then retired and removed to Springfield, where he and his wife still reside. They were married in 1865 and have therefore traveled life's journey together for almost fifty-two years.
Of a family of seven children John Speedie was the third in order of birth. He began his education in the district schools near his father's farm and afterward attended the Fremont Normal School, from which he was graduated in due course of time. He had taught school for several years in Benson and following his graduation from the Fremont Normal, he resumed the profession of teaching. He spent the years 1900 and 1901 in the University of Nebraska and in the latter year became a teacher in the Benson schools. At that time the town contained but one school building of four rooms. He was made principal of the schools and later superintendent, and during his connection with the educational interests of the town he has greatly improved the school system. Today there are three large and substantial school buildings and twenty-nine teachers are employed to care for the pupils in attendance. In 1905 a high school was established and during the first years it had from fifteen to thirty pupils in attendance. Now there are six teachers
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in the high school, with about one hundred and fifty pupils, and the total enroll- ment in the Benson schools is about eleven hundred-a great increase from the one hundred and eighty who were in attendance when Mr. Speedie took charge.
On the Ist of February, 1898, Mr. Speedic was united in marriage to Miss Nellie Virginia Patterson, of Papillion, Nebraska, her father being Joseph D. Patterson, an early settler of Cass county. They have two children, Charles Robert and Donald, who are attending school. The parents are active members of the Presbyterian church and do all in their power to promote its work and extend its influence. Mr. Speedie is also connected with the Ancient Order of United Workinen and his wife is the secretary of the Omaha chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, in the work of which she is active. She belongs also to the Woman's Club of Benson and to Vesta Chapter of the Eastern Star. Both Mr. and Mrs. Speedie occupy a very enviable position in social circles where true worth and intelligence are received as the passports into good society. In all of his life work he has been actuated by high ideals and has continually studied progressive methods leading to the further development of the schools and the promotion of efficiency in the system employed in Benson.
HALLECK F. ROSE.
Nebraska has always been distinguished for the high rank of her bench and bar. Perhaps none of the newer states can boast of abler jurists or attorneys. Many of them have been men of national fame, and among those whose lives have been passed on a quieter plane there is scarcely a town or city in the state but can boast of one or more lawyers capable of crossing swords in forensic combat with any of the distinguished legal lights of the United States. While the growth and development of the state in the last half century has been most marvelous viewed from any standpoint, yet of no one class of her citizenship . has she greater reason for just pride than her judges and attorneys. In Halleck F. Rose we find united many of the rare qualities which go to make up the able and successful lawyer. His mind is analytical, logical and inductive and he has in an eminent degree that rare ability of saying in a convincing way the right thing at the right time.
Mr. Rose has been a resident of Nebraska since 1884, although Pennsylvania claims him as a native son. He was born in Grove City, Mercer county, in 1863 and represents one of the old families of the Keystone state. His grandfather, James Rose, also a native of Pennsylvania, entered from the government a farm in Mercer county which is still in possession of the family. He was a relative of Andrew Rose, an iron molder who made cannon balls for use by the Ameri- can army in the Revolutionary war. The ancestors of the family came originally from England. James Rose was united in marriage to Martha Mckinley, who was an aunt of President William McKinley. James McKinley Rose, father of Halleck F. Rose, was born in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, in 1820, on the old home farm which his father had entered from the government. In an early day he was a member of the state militia of Pennsylvania. He died in the year 1889 but is still survived by his wife, who bore the maiden name of Maria C. Brandon and was born in Pennsylvania in 1830, being now eighty-six years of age. Their son, William Brandon Rose, is now (1917) a judge of the Nebraska supreme court.
Halleck F. Rose attended the public schools and a college in Grove City, Pennsylvania, and afterward took up the profession of teaching in Mercer county, Pennsylvania. He also became a teacher in the high school at Mount Jackson, Lawrence county, Pennsylvania, and after five years devoted to that profession removed to the west, settling at Wahoo, Nebraska, where he read law for a year. He then went to Lincoln, where he studied law and in 1887
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was admitted to the bar, after which he located for practice in the capital, remain- ing an active member of the profession in that city from 1887 until 1908. A. J. Sawyer, an eminent attorney of Lincoln, bears testimony of the character of Mr. Rose as follows :
"Nothing too good can be said in commendation of H. F. Rose as a neighbor, a citizen, a man and a lawyer. I have known him intimately and well for more than a quarter of a century, during most of which time he was a resident of Lincoln, and for some years a close and valued neighbor, until he moved to Omaha. It was here in Lincoln that his career as a struggling young lawyer began, and where, it may truly be said, he won his way to fortune and to fame; it was here that he formed a lifelong partnership with a most estimable and cultured young lady to adorn and make happy his beautiful home; it was here thai he won his first spurs in his first important litigation known as the Woolen Mills case.
"Some thirty years ago a promoter from the east landed in our midst and played to such an extent upon the credulity of many of our good citizens as to induce them to believe that what Lincoln most needed was woolen mills which would give employment to hundreds of employes, materially reduce the price of all woolen fabrics and richly reward all those who should become so fortunate as to get their names upon the stock books of the corporation then to be organized.
"The prospects for success, as put forth by the oily tongued promoter, were exceedingly alluring, and the stock was subscribed with alacrity and avidity. Business men, doctors, preachers, tinkers, tailors and lawyers became the owners of more or less of the much prized stocks. The end of the first scene in the Woolen Mills case closed with the closing of the stock subscription books.
"The beginning of the second scene opened with the purchasing of a site, building materials, machinery, etc., and the erection of the buildings to accommo- date the machinery and large number of employes soon to arrive. All seemed to be going merrily as a marriage bell when, accidentally, one dark night, the build- ings, then nearing completion, caught fire and all went up in smoke.
"The third scene disclosed numerous citizens early in the morning in dis- heveled apparel viewing the charred and smouldering ruins of the prospective woolen mills.
"The fourth scene shifts to the Lancaster county district court where each and all of the aforesaid stockholding business men, doctors, preachers, tinkers, tailors and lawyers were called to tell the court and jury why they and each of them should not respond in damages for neglecting to publish annually the amount of the indebtedness of their corporation as required by law, and as set forth with great lucidity by the attorney for the creditors, Halleck F. Rose. The defendants were represented by more than a score of able attorneys, among whom was the struggling but gifted young advocate, W. J. Bryan.
"Numerous answers were filed setting forth all sorts of defenses. As many obstacles as the fertile minds of ingenious lawyers could think of were placed in Mr. Rose's pathway to victory, and for days the courtroom walls resounded with more fervent eloquence than was ever before or since heard within their confines, but it was all to no effect; Halleck, single-handed and alone, had the brilliant array of advocates against him on the hip; his victory being complete.
"In this case of much importance he showed a remarkable degree of prepar- edness, a wonderful familiarity with the rules of evidence and a thorough under- standing of the law of the case. Thenceforward he lacked not for clients, and large retainers. Some years ago, lured by an attractive offer of a large railroad corporation in the metropolis, he left us, much to the regret of all who knew him, to make his home in Omaha, where his worth as a citizen, his integrity and honor as a man, and his fame as a lawyer are well and deservedly known and appreciated."
Mr. Rose came to Omaha to accept the position of assistant general solicitor with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company but resigned on the
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Ist of October, 1910, and entered into partnership with John F. Stout, while in March, 1913, they were joined by A. R. Wells, thus forming the present firm of Stout, Rose & Wells. In addition to his professional interests Mr. Rose is president of the Rose Realty Company of Omaha, conducting an extensive and profitable business.
On the 28th of July, 1902, in Omaha, Mr. Rose was united in marriage to Miss Catherine Cameron, a daughter of the late John Cameron and Ada (Love- joy) Cameron. To them have been born three children, Halleck Lovejoy, Homer Cameron and Hudson Mckinley.
Politically Mr. Rose is a republican, thoroughly versed on the questions and issues of the day but never a politician in the sense of office seeking. The only position which he has filled was in the strict path of his profession. In Decem- ber, 1885, he became assistant clerk of the supreme court and continued in that office until after his admission to the bar. He belongs to the Commercial Club, in which connection his interest in community upbuilding is expressed. He is also a member of the University Club and the Happy Hollow Club. Every phase of his life will bear close investigation and scrutiny and in a profession where advancement depends solely upon individual merit he has gained a place of notable distinction and honor.
EDMOND F. SHANAHAN, M. D.
Dr. Edmond F. Shanahan, who came from Ireland to America a poor boy, is now recognized as an able physician of Omaha. He was born in Kerry, Ireland, February 17, 1885. His father, Edmond Shanahan, still a resident of Kerry, has followed the occupation of farming and has also been active and prominent in com- «mercial lines there, being recognized as one of the successful and honored citizens of Kerry. He wedded Mary Mangan, who passed away January 22, 1910, when fifty-five years of age. She had become the mother of seven sons and five daugh- ters. She was a sister of the Rt. Rev. Lord Bishop John Mangan, of Kerry, Ire- land, a noted prelate known in Catholic circles throughout the world.
Dr. Shanahan was the seventh child and the fifth son in his father's family. He pursued his education in the national schools of Ireland, in St. Michael's Col- lege and in Dayplace College at Tralee, Ireland, being graduated from both insti- tutions on the completion of classical courses. He had lived upon a farm to the age of twelve years and from that experience gained valuable lessons which have proven of worth to him in later years. He first took up the work of an apothecary and was thus engaged in his native country for three years. On the 27th of September, 1905, he arrived in the United States practically a stranger. After five months' travel in the east he made his way westward, locating in Omaha with a view of continuing his studies. Two days afterward he entered Creighton College, from which he was graduated on the 30th of April, 1910, with the degree of M. D. While thus engaged he did hospital work in St. Joseph's Hospital at Sioux City, Iowa, and in June following his graduation he opened an office at 4839 South Twenty-fourth street in South Omaha, where he has since been in active and continuous practice as a physician and surgeon. He keeps in touch with the trend of modern scientific thought and investigation through his membership in the Omaha-Douglas County, the Nebraska State and the American Medical Asso- ciations.
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