USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > Omaha: the Gate city, and Douglas County, Nebraska, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 8
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LOUIS E. ADAMS.
Louis E. Adams, of Omaha, now filling the position of county surveyor, was born at Elliott City, Maryland, January 9, 1874, a son of William Rutherford and Ellen M. (Mercer) Adams. The father was born in Waterford, Ireland, in 1840 and came to America in 1873, settling in Washington, D. C., but soon afterward removed to Elliott City, Maryland. In 1882 he brought his family to Omaha, where he and his wife still make their home, and for many years he has occupied the position of superintendent of parks in this city.
Louis E. Adams was a little lad of but eight summers at the time he accom- panied his parents to the west and in the acquirement of an education he attended
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the graded and high schools of Omaha but put aside his textbooks in order to make his initial step in the business world as an employe in the Omaha National Bank, where he remained for three or four years. He then took up civil engi- neering and for a number of years has been in the public service. He occupied the position of deputy surveyor of Douglas county for nine years, beginning in 1905, and in 1914 he was appointed county surveyor, which position he filled for a year, after which he was elected to the office for a two years' term and in 1916 was reelected practically without opposition, being the choice of both the democratic and republican parties.
On the 18th of February, 1904, in Omaha, Mr. Adams was married to Miss Emma M. Frost, a daughter of Erick Frost, and they have one child, Bernice Mercer. In his political views Mr. Adams has always been an earnest republi- can and works effectively to promote the growth and ensure the success of the party. Fraternally he is a Knights Templar Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine. He is also connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, while his religious faith is manifest in his membership in the Episcopal church. The greater part of his life has been passed in Omaha and that his record has been marked by many sterling traits is indicated in the fact that many of his stanchest friends are those who have known him from his boyhood to the present.
BENJAMIN GALLAGHER.
Another name was added to the list of Omaha's honored dead when Benjamin Gallagher departed this life on the 23d of March, 1900, at the age of sixty years. He had for a long period been actively identified with commercial interests of the city as a wholesale grocer and at all times had manifested a public-spirited devotion to the general good. He was born upon å farm near Burlington, Iowa, in 1841. His father, George Gallagher, was the owner of a sugar plantation in southern Georgia before he went to the Hawkeye state, where he became iden- tified with general farming.
Benjamin Gallagher spent his boyhood and youth upon the Iowa farm and in the year 1863 he arrived in Nebraska, making his way to Fort McPherson to act as sutler, to which position he had been called by presidential appointment. He spent three years in the northwestern part of the state and in 1868 arrived in Omaha, where he became junior partner in the wholesale grocery firm of Morgan & Gallagher. Several years later he withdrew from that connection in order to embark in business with his friend, W. A. Paxton, who at that time was the owner of a wholesale grocery house, the new firm becoming Paxton & Gallagher. He applied himself untiringly to the development and conduct of the business and at length his close application and strenuous efforts so undermined his health that he was forced to retire. He had, however, in the meantime done much to build up the trade and extend the commercial connections of the house and his sons, Paul C. and Benjamin K. Gallagher, are active in the business, which is still conducted under the name of the Paxton & Gallagher Company and is one of the best known wholesale houses of the middle west.
In 1877, in Salt Lake City, Utah, Mr. Gallagher was united in marriage to Miss Winifred Keogh, a native of Canada, and while they became the parents of four children only the two sons previously mentioned are now living. He was a charter member and an active worker in the Omaha Club and it was always well known that his support could be counted upon to further any plan or measure for the general good. He was indeed public spirited and his efforts in behalf of Omaha's welfare were far-reaching and beneficial. He commanded the respect and confidence of all with whom he had business relations, for his commercial integrity was above question and proved an able supplement to his marked busi-
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ness ability. He held friendship inviolable and was ever most loyal to those for whom he professed friendship. His good qualities were many and his sterling worth is indicated in the fact that he was best loved where best known, showing that his character was one which would bear the closest investigation and scrutiny.
GEORGE W. LININGER.
George W. Lininger, merchant and art connoisseur, passed away in Omaha, June 8, 1907, and the city mourned the loss of one whose every relation to the public had endeared him to his associates and colleagues. He was born in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, December 14, 1834, and when in his teens accom- panied his parents on their removal to Peru, Illinois, where he was reared to manhood. After attaining his majority he turned his attention to the hardware business in Illinois and in 1856 was married in that state to Miss Caroline M. Newman.
On the advice of his physician Mr. Lininger visited Kansas with the idea of settling there but the fear of malaria prevented him from locating there and he became a resident of Council Bluffs, allying his interests with the commercial enter- prises of that city. It was in 1868 that he entered into partnership with E. L. Shu- gart and established the first agricultural implement business in the Missouri river valley. After six years they removed to Omaha and established an implement business under the name of Shugart & Lininger, which later through a change in the partnership became the G. W. Lininger Company and in 1881 the Lininger & Metcalf Company. At the death of Mr. Metcalf the style of the Lininger Implement Company was adopted, under which name the business is still con- ducted. George W. Lininger always remained president of the company until his demise and was largely instrumental in promoting its growth and develop- ment from a small business to one of the largest enterprise's of that character in the west. Something of the nature of the man is indicated in his policy toward his employes, for in 1906, upon the reorganization of the company, he took into the firm all the men who had faithfully served him for a number of years, thus giving them a substantial start toward success. His business policy was ever such as would bear the closest investigation and scrutiny, measuring up always to the highest standards of commercial integrity and fair dealing. Into other fields he extended his efforts and at the time of his death was presi- dent of the Bee Building Company and a director of the Bee Publishing Company.
Mr. and Mrs. Lininger became the parents of two children, but their son, George Albert, died in childhood. The daughter, Florence, is the wife of F. L. Haller, who is now at the head of the Lininger Implement Company. The death of the husband and father occurred June 8, 1907, when he was in the seventy- third year of his age. He had been devoted to his family, faithful in friendship and loyal and progressive in citizenship.
From the time of his arrival in Omaha Mr. Lininger never wavered for a moment in his allegiance to the city or lost faith in its future and in fact he contributed in substantial measure to its development and growth along inany lines. He was a most active member of the Commercial Club and served on its executive committee for several years. He was also a member of the Board of Trade. In 1878 he was elected a member of the city council and he labored untiringly in order to induce the city to build and own a waterworks system. He became a member and the president of the first Omaha park commission and in his labors for the city he ever looked beyond the exigencies of the moment to the needs and opportunities of the future. In 1887 he was chosen to represent his district in the state senate and was identified with much constructive legisla- tion. For over half a century he held membership in the Masonic fraternity and was past grand master of the lodge and past grand commander of the Knights Vol. II-4
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Templar Commandery. After twenty years' effort he realized a cherished dream in the founding of the Masonic Home at Plattsmouth, Nebraska, for aged Masons and their wives and at the time of his death left a five thousand dollar bequest to that home. There probably never was a man who took the tenets of the Masonic faith more literally into his life than did Mr. Lininger and the home which he established is a monument to his love for the order. More- over, he could confer from memory every degree of Masonry and knew the ritual perfectly and was always in demand for burial services and the laying of cornerstones. Until his death he was easily the most prominent and beloved Mason in the state of Nebraska.
He was the founder and owner of the Lininger Art Gallery, the most notable in the west and among the most famous in the country. This gallery has always been thrown open free of charge to the public two days each week and thou- sands of visitors to Omaha as well as the citizens visit this rare and beautiful collection yearly. An Egyptian collection which he owned is housed in the museum on the upper floor of the Omaha Public Library building. Every room in the spacious Lininger home holds numerous art treasures which have been gathered from every part of the globe. Mr. Lininger traveled extensively and wherever he went collected curios and relics of art. He was quiet and unaffected in manner. His thoughts were not concentrated upon himself but upon other things which he regarded as of value in the affairs of life. Death gives us perspective and the treasures that we hoard above gold and gems are the treasures of friendship and memory. As his friends look upon the completed life record of Mr. Lininger they recognize as they did during his lifetime that he had many traits admirable and worthy of all praise, while notable among his excellent character- istics was his capacity for friendship. The universality of his friendships inter- preted his intellectual hospitality and the breadth of his sympathy, for nothing was foreign to him that concerned his fellowmen.
CHARLES EDWARD BLACK.
Charles Edward Black, a well known representative of mercantile interests in Omaha, has been here engaged in business since 1900 and in the intervening period of sixteen years the term "Black, the Hatter," has become a familiar one to his fellow townsmen and, moreover, it is recognized as a synonym for business enterprise and commercial progressiveness. Mr. Black was born in Freeport, Illinois, in 1863 and is descended from Scotch-Irish ancestry although the family has been represented in America for several generations. The great- grandparents were residents of Pennsylvania and in that state John Black, the grandfather, was born. He became a resident of Canton, Ohio, in the early part of the nineteenth century and there in 1830 occurred the birth of Benjamin F. Black, who had four brothers, all of whom were soldiers of the Civil war, while one of the number, George A. Black, was appointed governor of Utah ter- ritory. Benjamin F. Black wedded Maria Louise Flanagan, a native of New Jersey, and for many years they resided in Freeport, Illinois, where he engaged for some time in merchandising but afterward became connected with the mail service. He passed away in 1893, while his widow, long surviving him, died in 1910.
The youthful memories of Charles E. Black cluster around Freeport, where as a boy and youth he attended the public schools until graduated from the high school at the age of eighteen years. He then started out in the business world as an employe in the office of the Freeport Weekly Journal, in which he learned the printer's trade. After two years he went to Chicago, where he fol- lowed his trade for three years and then became a resident of Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he resided for five years, working in a printing office in the
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winter months, while the summer seasons were spent with a surveying party in Wyoming. He dates his residence in Nebraska from 1888, in which year he set- tled in Pierce, where he was employed in the office of a milling company for six months. In October of the same year he came to Omaha and opened a wholesale distributing agency for the Pierce Milling Company of Pierce, Nebraska, which he thus represented until 1900, when, desirous of conducting business on his own account, he established a hat store and the name of Black, the Hatter, has since figured most prominently in the commercial circles of the city. He has developed his business along the lines which ever lead to commercial success-carefulness in the selection of the personnel of the house and of the goods carried, con- bined with courteous treatment of patrons and thoroughly reliable methods in trade. Gradually his success has grown and he is now one of the prosperous merchants of the city. He has also become a director of the Omaha Loan & Building Association.
On the 25th of February, 1892, in Creston, Iowa, Mr. Black was married to Miss Lilly L. Rex, a daughter of H. B. Rex, who was born in Ohio and went to the front at the time of the Civil war with a regiment from that state. Mr. and Mrs. Black became the parents of a son and a daughter but both died in infancy. They attend the Presbyterian church and Mr. Black gives his political endorsement to the republican party. He is a Knights Templar Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine and is also a representative of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He is a member of the board of governors of Ak- Sar-Ben and was the nineteenth king of that organization three years ago. By reason of his business connections he has become a member of the Associated Retailers Club and, appreciative of the social amenities of life, he has membership in the Omaha, Ad and Happy Hollow Clubs. He is also identified with the Commercial Club, realizing the opportunities of that organization for the upbuild- ing of the city and cooperating with all its well defined plans for civic improvement.
HON. JOHN MONTGOMERY MACFARLAND.
Hon. John Montgomery Macfarland, former member of the Nebraska senate and an active and successful practitioner at the bar since November, 1889, was born upon a farm in Jefferson county, Virginia, now West Virginia, January 14, 1856. He is a representative of an old Pennsylvania family, his grandfather being John Macfarland, who was born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, whence in early manhood he went to Virginia as superintendent of the armory at Harpers Ferry. His son, John M. Macfarland, was born in Jefferson county, that state, in 1826 and completed his education at the Gettysburg (Pa.) College, where he was a classmate of the Rt. Rev. Richard H. Clarkson, the pioneer Episcopal bishop of Nebraska. In Virginia he wedded Jane Douglas, also a native of Jefferson county, and his death occurred January 10, 1856, four days before the birth of his son and namesake. The mother survived for more than a half century, passing away at the old homestead in September, 1913. She was related to the Lee, Douglas and Washington families, three of the most distinguished families of Virginia.
Reared in Winchester, Virginia, John M. Macfarland was graduated in 1872 from the Shenandoah Valley Military Institute and in 1874 completed a course in the Glenwood Military Institute, near Baltimore, Maryland. He then entered Princeton University, at which time President Woodrow Wilson was connected with the institution. He completed his course to his junior year and in 1875 was a member of the Princeton crew. Leaving that school in 1876, he entered the University of Virginia, wherein he completed a law course with the class of 1877 but devoted the year 1878 to post graduate work. He was admitted to the bar
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at Wheeling, West Virginia, upon examination before the supreme court in December, 1878, and immediately afterward came to Omaha, where he was admitted to practice before the supreme court of Nebraska on the 10th of January, 1879. On the 10th of May of the same year he opened an office in Columbus, Nebraska, where he remained for a decade, or until November, 1889, when he returned to Omaha, where he has since followed his profession. His practice has been extensive and of an important character and his comprehensive knowledge of the law enables him to find a ready solution for intricate legal problems. He also quickly sees the relation of cause and effect and his deduc- tions are logical and his reasoning sound.
On the 10th of December, 1878, in Charles Town, West Virginia, Mr. Macfarland was married to Miss Agnes Lyle Forrest, a great-great-granddaughter of Commodore Thomas Truxton, the first commodore of the American navy. The children of this marriage are: Forrest, now of Portland, who married Alice Piggon and has a daughter, Anna; John M., who is married and also lives in Portland; Louise, at home; Thomas Truxton, who is with the Shawmut National Bank of Boston, Massachusetts; Charles Richardson; and Donald Douglas.
The parents attend the Episcopal church and Mr. Macfarland belongs to the Knights of Pythias, the Woodmen of the World and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. He has been very prominent in the first named organization, having in 1889 been elected grand chancellor of Nebraska, while later he was chosen supreme representative of the Knights of Pythias and served for four years. He is also identified with the Commercial Club of Omaha and he has been active in politics as a supporter of the principles and candidates of the republican party since age conferred upon him the right of franchise. In 1881 he was elected mayor of Columbus and for two terms was chief executive of the city, while for two terms he was city attorney. In 1894 he was nominated for district judge in Omaha but did not make the run. In 1912 he was elected state senator for a two years' term and in 1916 was again made the nominee of his party, which recognizes the value of his public service and his loyalty to the principles in which he believes. His opinions are based upon a thorough understanding of political questions and issues, and he supports his position by intelligent and comprehensive argument.
WILLIAM MARTIN JEFFERS.
William Martin Jeffers is general manager of the Union Pacific Railroad Company and his rise has been so rapid as to seem almost meteoric in character, yet a careful analysis of his career shows that he has based his advancement upon the qualities of close application and indefatigable industry, which constitute the indispensable elements for success in every walk of life, and although at a glance his career seems somewhat spectacular it is nevertheless proof of the fact that "Success is a cumulative process." He was born at North Platte, Nebraska, in 1876, a son of Mr. and Mrs. William Jeffers, both of whom have now passed away, the former in 1912 and the latter in 1910. The father was born in County Mayo, Ireland, in 1840 and following his marriage, which was celebrated in Wales, came in early manhood to the United States, arriving in 1866. He first settled in New Haven, Connecticut, and in 1873 became a resident of North Platte, Nebraska.
It was in the public schools of that city that William M. Jeffers pursued his education until he became a high school pupil. His textbooks, however, were put aside when he was fourteen years of age and he started out in the business world, making his initial step in railway circles as office boy in the office of the assistant superintendent of the Union Pacific at North Platte. While thus
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employed he used every available moment to learn telegraphy and after a year, or in November, 1892, he was given a position as an operator and in that capacity served at several stations. His father was an employe in the shops of the Union Pacific at North Platte, but there was no one on the staff of officials or heads of departments to use any influence to obtain promotion for him. He did not shirk any task assigned him, however menial, and it was not an unusual thing to see him in those early days running a lawn mower or watering the trees in the park around the office building. He regarded all work as honorable and he brought to it every ounce of energy that he could muster and from each experience learned the lesson therein contained. He had served as telegraph operator for but a brief period when he was made train dispatcher in the same office where he had first been employed as an office boy. From that time on his rise was most rapid. He rose to the position of chief dispatcher and was afterward made trainmaster on the Colorado and Wyoming divisions. The next step brought him to the superintendency of the Utah, Wyoming and Nebraska divisions, respectively, and he was then promoted to the position of general superintendent on the Ist of November, 1915, and continued in that capacity until June 4th following, when, following the resignation of Charles Ware, he was appointed general manager and thus at the age of forty years is in control of the operations of one of the most important railway systems of the country, and all of this has been accom- plished within the short space of a quarter of a century. Nineteen centuries ago it was said that "A man cannot hide his light under a bushel." Ability will come to the front anywhere and the life record of Mr. Jeffers proves what a modern philosopher contends, that "Ability is but hard work- intelligently directed."
On the 2d of June, 1900, in North Platte, Nebraska, Mr. Jeffers was married to Miss Lena Schatz, a daughter of the late Joseph Schatz, a pioneer of Omaha. They have become the parents of one child, Eileen. The religious faith of Mr. and Mrs. Jeffers is that of the Catholic church and in politics he maintains an independent course. He belongs to the, Commercial Club of Omaha and is interested in its various projects for promoting those things which are a matter of civic virtue and civic pride. He belongs to the Omaha Club and to the Happy Hollow Club and thus finds recreation from the arduous and strenuous cares of a position which establishes him as one of the eminent representatives of railway interests in the country.
FRANK H. GAINES.
Frank H. Gaines, for twenty-two years an active member of the Omaha bar, was born in Knox county, Illinois, on the 8th of April, 1863, a son of Homer and Martha (Boyer) Gaines. The father was born in Ashtabula county, Ohio, in 1838 and at the time of the Civil war became a second lieutenant of an Illinois regiment of volunteer infantry. In 1912 he removed with his wife, a native of Illinois, to Omaha, where they now reside.
Frank H. Gaines is indebted to the public school system of his native county for the early educational privileges which he enjoyed and he later entered Knox College at Galesburg, Illinois, from which he was graduated in 1884 with the degree of Bachelor of Science. He qualified for his professional career as a student in the Hastings College of Law in San Francisco, California, and then, returning to the middle west, was admitted to practice in the Iowa courts upon examination before the supreme court of Iowa in 1890. He at once entered upon the active work of his profession and soon afterward was elected county attorney of Adair county, Iowa, in which capacity he served from 1891 until 1894. Then seeking a broader field of labor he came to Omaha, where he has since remained and is now a partner in the firm of McGilton, Gaines & Smith, recognized as one of the strong and able law firms of the city. He never enters
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the courtroom till he has thoroughly studied his case from every standpoint and his thorough preparation enables him to meet not only every expected but also every unexpected attack of the adversary.
On the 2d of June, 1893, in Greenfield, Iowa, Mr. Gaines was married to Miss Theresa Schileiter and they have a son, Francis S., born May 18, 1894. Mr. Gaines belongs to the University Club, the Country Club and the Omaha Club and his personal qualities insure him a cordial reception in those organiza- tions. He votes with the republican party but is not an active worker in its ranks, although never remiss in the duties of citizenship. He prefers to concen- trate his efforts upon his professional interests.
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