USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > Omaha: the Gate city, and Douglas County, Nebraska, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 80
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In November, 1894. Dr. Koutsky was married to Miss Mary Vomacka, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Vomacka. Mrs. Koutsky died on March 27, 1898. She was the mother of one son, James, who was born in South Omaha in 1896 and was graduated from the high school, while at the present time he is attending the Bellevue College at Bellevue, Nebraska. Dr. Koutsky was married August 10, 1905, to Miss Julia Vomacka, a sister of his first wife. Their chil- dren are: Mary, who was born in June, 1906; Anna, in 1908; and Lucille, in 1910. All were born in South Omaha and the three younger children are attend- ing school there.
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Dr. Koutsky belongs to the Commercial Club and thus manifests his deep and abiding interest in the welfare and progress of his adopted city. His course has been marked by continuous progress and through persistent effort and laudable ambition he has worked his way upward, winning for himself a most creditable name and position in a profession where advancement depends entirely upon individual merit and ability.
EDWIN W. CAHOW.
Edwin W. Cahow is without question one of the best known and most popu- lar citizens and business men of South Omaha, his wide acquaintance being the result of his connection with the South Omaha Live Stock Exchange. He is a member and vice president of the largest firm in the exchange, operating under the name of the Great Western Commission Company, in which he is closely associated with John M. Cook, who is equally well known and popular. This constitutes a combination of knowledge and experience not to be excelled in live stock circles. They have a very wide acquaintance among cattlemen and those connected with, the live stock industry and in live stock circles they have come to be known as the "Great Western Twins."
Edwin W. Cahow was born in Cass county, Iowa, January 17, 1871, and is a son of James P. and Samantha (Clancy) Cahow, both of whom were natives of Ohio. On removing westward to Iowa in 1865 they settled in Cass county, where the father engaged in farming until 1879. He then removed to a point near Lexington, Nebraska, where he engaged in the live stock business very successfully. There he lived until 1892, when he retired from active business and removed to Portland, Oregon, where he continued to reside until 1910, when deatlı called him at the age of sixty-three years. Mrs. Cahow was reared, edu- cated and married in Ohio and she, too, passed away in Portland, Oregon, in IQII, at the age of sixty-three years.
Five children were born to them, of whom Edwin W. Cahow was the sec- ond. In his boyhood days he attended the public schools of Plum Creek, Ne- braska, and afterward became a student in the Western Normal College, at Shenandoah, Iowa, there pursuing a commercial and shorthand course. Later he entered the live stock business as a representative of his father, with whom he continued until his removal to South Omaha on the Ist of February, 1890. He then secured a position with a firm at the Union Stock Yards in South Omaha and was engaged in business in that way until he formed a partnership in the live stock commission business with James C. Dahlman, now mayor of Omaha. After the latter was elected to his present position in 1906 Mr. Cahow continued alone until 1914, when he became a member of the Great Western Commission Company, his chief associate being John M. Cook. This firm was merged with other well known live stock commission companies and is today the largest receiver of live stock on the Omaha market, their average receipts being upwards of twenty thousand head of cattle per month. These are handled in a notably short period of time. This firm employs a competent staff of expert stockmen and special buyers and has in its employ men who are fitted by years of training in every department of the live stock industry, men who are thor- oughly qualified to judge hogs, sheep and cattle.
On the 24th of December, 1891, Mr. Cahow was united in marriage to Miss Gertrude Irwin, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Irwin, well known and prominent people of Lexington, Nebraska, who settled in this state in pioneer times. Mr. and Mrs. Cahow have three children. Norman P., born in South Omaha in 1894, is now engaged in the live stock business. He married Miss Emma Rammer, of Omaha, and they have one child. Norman P., Jr., born May
EDWIN W. CAHOW
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21, 1916. Frederick Erwin, born in 1897, is attending high school. Edwin W., Jr., born in 1905, is a pupil in the graded schools.
Mr. Cahow gives his political allegiance to the republican party and fra- ternally he is connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He has worked his way upward on his own merit and is indeed a self-made man, now prominent in business circles and also highly respected as a citizen. His name is well known throughout Nebraska and in other sections of the country as a live stock dealer and he is most active in promoting what is perhaps the fore- most commercial interest of the city.
PETER G. HOFELDT.
Peter G. Hofeldt is living retired in Elkhorn, deriving a substantial income, however, from valuable farming interests in this state. He was born in Schles- wig. Germany, August 6. 1850, and is a son of Claus D. and Annie Margaret (Wommelsdorf) Hofeldt, who were also natives of Germany, where the father followed the occupation of farming. He died when his son Peter was but eight years of age and the wife and mother, surviving her husband for many years, passed away at the age of seventy.
Peter G. Hofeldt was reared and educated in his native country and when twenty-two years of age crossed the Atlantic, arriving in Omaha on the 20th of June, 1872. He was first employed as a farm hand and at railroad work and in 1875 he married and began farming on his own account on rented land near Elkhorn. He was thus engaged until 1879, when he purchased one hundred and sixty acres on section 2, Chicago precinct, where he made his home until 1910. In the intervening period he carefully and systematically tilled his fields and brought his land to a high state of cultivation, making it most productive. At length, having become the possessor of a comfortable competence, he removed to Elkhorn and purchased a fine residence which he now occupies. In addition to the old homestead he owns a half section of land near Lexington, in Dawson county, Nebraska, and from his property holdings derives a substantial annual income.
On the 16th of February, 1875. at Omaha, Mr. Hofeldt was joined in wed- lock to Miss Mary C. Backuus, a native of Holstein, Germany, and a daughter of Claus J. and Christina Backuus, whom she accompanied on their emigration to the United States in 1872. Three years later, when Mrs. Hofeldt was fifteen years of age, the family home was established in Omaha. Claus J. Backuus devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits throughout his active business career and both he and his wife have passed away, being at the time of their demise residents of Douglas county, Nebraska. Mr. and Mrs. Hofeldt became the parents of nine children, seven of whom still survive, as follows: Annie, the wife of Peter H. Fedde, who is an agriculturist of Gregory county, South Dakota; Mary, the wife of Morgan Jefferies, who is engaged in construction work in Omaha; Tina, at home; Peter C., engaged in construction work in Omaha : Dorothy, at home: Amanda, who gave her hand in marriage to Floyd Sebert, a farmer of Douglas county, Nebraska ; and Lydia, who is still under the parental roof.
Mr. Hofeldt has always given stanch support to the democratic party and he has been township tax assessor for a number of years. In 1896 he was elected county commissioner, taking the office on the Ist of January following. He con- tinued to serve in that position for nine years or for three terms. He was chair- man of the board for three years, although not consecutively, and when he retired from the board his fellow members thereof presented him with a fine engrossed set of resolutions, expressing their high regard for his faithful service to the county, and for the sterling character which had endeared him to the hearts of
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the citizens of the county. The employes of the courthouse in Omaha presented him with a fine gold-headed cane on his fiftieth birthday. Such acts easily indi- cate the very high respect entertained for him by all who have been associated with him and indicate, moreover, that his life has been honorable and upright in office as in other relations. Fraternally Mr. Hofeldt is connected with the Knights of Pythias of Elkhorn and the Modern Woodmen of America, and his religious faith is that of the German Lutheran church. He has never had occasion to regret his determination to come to the new world, for here he has found the opportunities which he sought and in their utilization has advanced to a position among the prosperous citizens of Douglas county. He is honored and respected wherever known and most of all where he is best known.
ISAAC WHITE CARPENTER.
Isaac White Carpenter is president of the Carpenter Paper Company, one of Omaha's foremost wholesale houses and the largest business of its kind west of the Mississippi, controlling many branch establishments in the leading cities of the west. He was born upon a farm in McHenry county, Illinois, October 10, 1856, and is descended from English ancestry although through several generations the family has been represented on this side of the Atlantic. The paternal grandfather, John Carpenter, was born in New York and became the father of Chester L. Carpenter, whose birth occurred in Delaware county, New York, in 1816 and who, after arriving at years of maturity, was married in the Empire state to Olive Bloom, who was there born and reared. In 1845 they became residents of Beloit, Wisconsin, where Mrs. Carpenter passed away. Subsequently Mr. Carpenter removed to McHenry county, Illinois, and there wedded Elizabeth White, who in 1856 became the mother of Isaac White Carpenter. In the year 1888 the family came to Omaha, where Mrs. Carpen- ter passed away in 1897, while the husband and father survived until 1905. Throughout the greater part of his life he had carried on agricultural pursuits.
Reared in the usual manner of farm lads, Isaac W. Carpenter divided his time between the work of the fields, the duties of the schoolroom and the pleasures of the playground. He supplemented his district school training by a course in the high school at Marengo, Illinois, and then in 1876 went to Chi- cago and learned the paper business with F. P. Elliott & Company at 210 Ran- dolph street. In 1887, when a young man of thirty-one years, he came to Omaha and with his brothers established a wholesale paper business, which in 1890 was incorporated under the name of the Carpenter Paper Company. Of this cor- poration Isaac W. Carpenter is now the president and something of the volume of the business under his control is indicated by the fact that the trade now o'ertops that of any similar house west of the Mississippi. Branches have been established in Kansas City, Denver, Salt Lake City, Des Moines, Iowa, and in Lincoln, Nebraska, thus interlacing a broad territory in a commercial network over which he has direct supervision. From the outset of his career he has been a persistent, resolute and energetic worker. His keen mentality has directed a progressive spirit and his good judgment has been supplemented by a deep earnestness, impelled and fostered by indomitable perseverance. His commer- cial career has been characterized at every point by correct principle and prac- tice and his executive force has been manifest in the way in which he has kept his hand steadily upon the helm of his business. He has also become a factor in financial circles as a director of the Omaha National Bank.
On the 13th of October, 1881, in Chicago, Mr. Carpenter was married to Miss Mary Caroline Batchelder, a daughter of James L. and Margaret P. Batchelder, the former now deceased. The children of this marriage are: Melinda M., the widow of Arthur S. Lockwood ; Olive Ruth, the wife of George
ISAAC W. CARPENTER
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Barker ; Nellie B., the wife of Ralph S. Kiewit, of Omaha ; and Isaac W., who is a graduate of Dartmouth College in the class of 1915.
Mr. Carpenter belongs to the University and Happy Hollow Clubs and also to the Commercial Club and has been a cooperant factor in many projects which have developed the city and promoted its upbuilding. He was one of the directors of the Trans-Mississippi International Exposition, held in Omaha in 1898, and he has been a member of the Omaha board of education for the past two years. He has never sought nor desired political office, however, and casts his ballot as an independent republican. One of his chief activities outside of business is the church and for a quarter of a century he has been a deacon in the Calvary Baptist church. He was also president of the Young Men's Christian Association of Omaha for fifteen years, located the site of the present building and was very active in raising the funds therefor. Important and extensive as are his business interests, he has never allowed them to so monopolize his time and attention as to exclude his active participation in those fields where duty and humanity call and he has labored just as effectively and just as earnestly to promote civic welfare and moral progress in his community as to develop his commercial interests.
JACOB FRED SMITH.
J. Fred Smith, a self-made man, whose constantly expanding powers and activities have in time made him the proprietorof the largest brick manufac- turing plant in the state of Nebraska, manages and controls his interests under the name of the Smith Brick Company. He was born in La Fayette, Indiana, October 10, 1860, and is a son of Mr. and Mrs. George Smith, who were natives of Germany and in early life came to the new world, both settling in Indiana. and there they were married. Engaging in business there, the father became well known as a brick molder and in 1877 came to Omaha, where he began working at his trade in the employ of Benjamin Ittner. He died in 1906 at the age of sixty-eight years, having long survived his wife, who passed away in 1870.
J. Fred Smith was the eldest of their five children. In early life he attended the schools of Omaha and of Elk City, Nebraska, after which he learned the brick making trade, which he has since followed. Desirous of engaging in business on his own account, he organized the Bailey & Smith Brick Manufac- turing Company with Frank E. Bailey as a partner in 1882. They established their plant at Thirty-fourth and Burt streets, remaining at that location for three years, when a removal was made to Twenty-fifth and Hickory streets. The business was there conducted for five years, at the end of which time Mr. Smith became associated with Richard M. Withnell, with whom he was connected for three years, and they then formed the Withnell Brothers & Smith Company. John Withnell being admitted as a partner. Mr. Smith's identification with that firm covered a decade, at the end of which time his partners died and Mr. Smith then bought out the interest of their families in the business. He removed to Twenty-fourth and Woolworth streets, where he purchased eight acres of land and established his present yards. He has developed the business until it is the largest in this section of the country. He also operates a plant at Thirty-first and Lake streets, having bought the brickyard there in which he worked as a boy for seventy-five cents a day. This he also conducts and the two plants cover twenty-eight acres, the one on Twenty-fourth street covering eight acres and the other twenty acres. He has two kilns at each plant which are being continuously operated. His equipment is thoroughly modern, his machinery is of the latest pattern known to brick manufacturing, and every facility for turn- ing out first class work has been secured. His trade has steadily grown until
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it has now assumed mammoth proportions and his industry has become one of the important productive enterprises of the city.
In October, 1886, at Blair, Nebraska, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Smith and Miss Ida Wilkinson, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Wilkinson, who were pioneer people of that locality. The father died in 1913 but the mother is still living. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have four children. Harry H., who was born and educated in Omaha, being graduated from the high school, is now married and has one child, Frederick Wayne. William L. is in business with his father. Ralph Wilkinson, also associated with his father, is married and has one child, William. Marvel, born in Omaha, is now a junior in the high school.
Mr. Smith exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and meas- ures of the republican party and is identified with several fraternal organiza- tions, including the Royal Arcanum, the Woodmen of the World and the Foresters. He is likewise interested in the Young Men's Christian Association as one of its directors and is an active and earnest worker in the Grace Lutheran church, in which he has served as Sunday school superintendent for the past twenty years. His life has ever been guided by high and honorable principles and there is no phase of his career which will not bear the closest investigation and scrutiny. In his business career he has always followed constructive methods and his path has never been strewn with the wreck of other men's fail- ures. What he has accomplished represents the fit utilization of his time, talents and opportunities and his achievements have brought him to a place of leader- ship in brick manufacturing circles.
WILLIAM PHILIP BYRNE.
The word Orpheum has become a synonym for high standards in enter- tainment circles and William Philip Byrne is well known as manager of the Orpheum at Omaha. He was born in this city August 26, 1869, a son of John E. Byrne. He attended the public schools until 1880, when his father's death obliged him to provide for his own support. When a lad of fifteen he entered the shops of the Union Pacific Railroad but after a year gave up his position there and became connected with the old Academy of Music on Douglas avenue. between Thirteenth and Fourteenth streets. He acted for a year or two as call boy there and then went to the Boyd theatre, at that time situated on Fifteenth and Farnam streets. Later he became connected with the Grand Opera House on Fifteenth and Capitol avenue and about 1892 he entered the law office of A. J. Poppleton, whom he served in a clerical capacity for two years. On the expiration of that period he became connected with the new Boyd theatre, where he remained for two years, after which he was engaged by the Trans- Mississippi Exposition Company, being so employed for a year prior to the opening of the Exposition and remaining with it until its close in the fall of 1898. About that time the Orpheum was opened in Omaha and Mr. Byrne became secretary and treasurer, so continuing until 1908, when he was made manager for Omaha. He has ever held to the high standards of the Orpheum circuit and has given to Omaha a series of most attractive and high-class enter- tainments. From 1903 until 1910 he was manager of Manawa Park at Council Bluffs. Much of his life has been devoted to the show business and, thoroughly understanding public wants in this connection, he has developed a business of gratifying and profitable proportions.
On the 4th of February, 1891, in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Mr. Byrne was united in marriage to Miss Lucy Lewis, her father being the late Frank Lewis, who was born in Russia. They have become the parents of three children, namely : Ruth Marian, the wife of William N. Chambers, who is an attorney of Omaha and by whom she has a daughter, Billy Byrne Chambers; Elizabeth, who gave
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her hand in marriage to Walter Houck, of Omaha ; and William Philip, Jr., who was born on the 4th of June, 1901.
In his political views Mr. Byrne is a democrat. He is also well known in club circles, belonging to the Happy Hollow Club, the Omaha Press Club and the Commercial Club. He likewise has membership with the Benevolent Pro- tective Order of Elks. Courteous, genial and obliging, his social qualities render him popular and as a self-made man he has the respect of all.
JOHN DOUGLAS.
John Douglas, president of the Douglas Printing Company of Omaha, was born in Lorton, Cumberland county, England, December 15, 1863, a son of Isaac Douglas, a successful contractor and builder. He was also active in civic and political affairs in Cumberland county and his religious faith was that of an Episcopalian. He wedded Mary Nicholson, of Crosby Ravensworth, West- moreland county, and they became the parents of nine children, of whom John Douglas was the seventh. Both parents have now passed away. The father died in 1901, at the age of eighty-seven years, and the mother's death occurred in 1906, at the age of seventy-one years.
John Douglas acquired his early education in the public schools of his native village and completed his studies in the Glasgow Academy. When seventeen years of age he started out to earn his own living, entering upon an apprentice- ship to the printer's trade in Workington, Cumberland county, England. Later he worked at his trade as a journeyman for two years and then crossed the Atlantic, making his way direct to Omaha, where he arrived on the 11th of May, 1884, joining his brother Isaac, who had preceded him to the new world about twelve years. John Douglas was first employed on the Omaha Bee. In 1902 the Douglas Printing Company was incorporated and was successor to a small printing business originally established by Mr. Douglas some years before. He started out in business for himself on a very small scale but the excellence of his work, his reasonable prices and his straightforward dealing have brought to him a constantly growing patronage, necessitating enlarged quarters and facilities, until he is now at the head of one of the most extensive enterprises of the kind in the city, ranking fourth today in size and volume of business. The company employs on an average thirty-five skilled workmen and has recently removed to more commodious quarters at Nos. 109 and III North Eighteenth street, occupying a building erected especially for the purpose. The plant of the Douglas Printing Company is equipped with the latest and most modern presses and machinery and is qualified to turn out any kind of work in its line.
On the 20th of February, 1889, Mr. Douglas and Miss Parthenia Poole Brenton were united in marriage in St. John's Episcopal church, Omaha, by the Rev. Osgood Pearson. Mrs. Douglas is a native of Falmouth, England, and a daughter of John and Parthenia Brenton. Mr. and Mrs. Douglas have had three children: John Brenton, who was born December 9, 1889, and passed away August 8, 1907, at the age of eighteen years; Howard Nicholson, who was born in Omaha, May 9, 1896, and is now in business with his father : and Donald Brenton, born October 5, 1907.
Mr. Douglas was a member of the Fifth Lanark Rifle Volunteers, Glasgow, Scotland, and took part in the Edinburgh review before Her Majesty Queen Victoria, in 1883. He belongs to Clan Gordon of the Order of Scottish Clans and is a member of Shakespeare Lodge of the Sons of St. George. He is also a Scottish Rite Mason of the thirty-second degree and a Noble of the Mystic Shrine, and he further has membership with the Modern Woodmen of America, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Fraternal Union, while along
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strictly social lines his connection is with the Seymour Lake Club. He is also prominent in many of the athletic games of the old country and for a number of years has been captain of the Omaha Cricket Club. His religious faith is evidenced in his membership in St. Andrew's Episcopal church, of which he is senior warden. Politically he is a democrat where national issues are involved but casts an independent local ballot. Starting out in life for himself at the age of seventeen, equipped with a fair education, Mr. Douglas has made good use of his time and his chances, making industry and close application count as the factors in his growing success. He has kept in touch with the continual progress and development that is being made in the printing business and in fact has maintained a position of leadership in this line in Omaha, so that he is today one of the most successful of the representatives of the printing business in the city.
WILLIAM EDWARD CALLAHAN.
William Edward Callahan, whose business ability and thorough understanding of the scientific problems and practical phases of the work which he has chosen as a life vocation have enabled him to secure and successfully execute large con- tracts in general railroad construction and irrigation work, is a prominent rep- resentative of industrial activity in Omaha. He was born in Winterset, Iowa, January 6, 1883, a son of William Francis Callahan and a grandson of Jerry Callahan. The latter was born in Ireland and spent his last days in Omaha, where he passed away in 1891, but in the meantime had resided for a considerable period in Iowa, and his son, William F. Callahan, was born in Ottumwa, that state, in 1856. He, too, became a resident of Omaha and in 1885 established the Callahan Brothers Construction Company, which was incorporated in April, 1908, under the name of the Callahan Construction Company. He was thus prominently identified with contract work in Omaha and this section of the country for a considerable period but at the present time is living in Arlington, California. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary O'Toole, was born in Des Moines, Iowa, and it was in 1881 that they arrived in Omaha, where they remained until their removal to the Pacific coast.
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