USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > Omaha: the Gate city, and Douglas County, Nebraska, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 87
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HBREWING DIMINGTON.D.C.
CHARLES H. PICKENS
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part in the long struggle between the north and the south. He died in 1872, his widow surviving him until 1901.
Charles H. Pickens was a lad of but ten summers when the family home was established in Omaha and to its public schools he is indebted for the educa- tional privileges which he enjoyed. He was twenty-three years of age when in 1879 he entered the employ of the firm of Paxton & Gallagher at Fifteenth and Farnam streets. He has since been identified with that establishment, passing through various stages until he became general manager in 1896. In 1907 he was elected to the presidency of the Paxton-Gallagher Company. For thirty-eight years, therefore, he has been continuously connected with this house and has contributed in a very substantial measure to the upbuilding of its inter- ests and the extension of its trade relations. The policy that he has ever pursued in business measures up to high standards and his course illustrates the value of enterprise and honesty in the attainment of success. His cooperation, too, has been sought along various other lines and he is now the president of the Nebraska-Iowa Grain Company, having its headquarters in Omaha, and is a director of the Corn Exchange National Bank.
Mr. Pickens was married in Omaha, October 3, 1888, to Margaret E., daugh- ter of the late A. J. Doyle, and to them has been born a daughter, Margaret Elizabeth, who is now the wife of Kenneth Hitchcock Paterson, by whom she has one child, Charles Pickens Paterson. Mr. and Mrs. Pickens are members of the Episcopal church and his political affiliation is that of the republican party. He is a member of Capitol Lodge, No. 3. A. F. & A. M., Mount Calvary Com- mandry, No. I, K. T., and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and his name is on the membership roll of the Commercial Club, the University Club, Omaha Club, Omaha Country Club, Omaha Athletic Club and Happy Hollow Club. He is one of the city's most substantial residents. His life has been one of continuous activity, in which has been accorded due recognition of labor, and the rewards of intelligently directed effort are today his. He stands as a rep- resentative of the best type of American manhood and chivalry. By perseverance, determination and honorable effort he has overcome the obstacles which have barred his path to success and has reached the goal of prosperity, while his gen- uine worth, broad mind and public spirit have made him a director of public thought and action.
FRANK C. BEST.
Frank C. Best, engaged in the real estate and insurance business in Omaha, is numbered among Iowa's native sons, his birth having occurred in Scott county, July 27, 1873, his parents being Mathias V. and Mary Ann (Mercer) Best, who were natives of Pennsylvania and Ohio respectively, their marriage being celebrated in Cadiz, Ohio. At an early period in the development of Iowa they removed to that state, where the father engaged in farming. He was also prominent and active in public life. He died at Shelby, Iowa, at the age of seventy-two years and his widow still makes her home in Shelby at the age of eighty-four. In the family were thirteen children, of whom Frank C. was the eleventh in order of birth. Three of the number are now deceased. Those still living are: Mrs. James Robertson, a resident of Shelby, Iowa; Mrs. Oscar Mowry, alsa living in Shelby, Iowa; Mrs. Nissa King, of Shelby, Iowa; Sher- man, who makes his home at Manning, Iowa; Archie M., of Shelby, Iowa; Alvin S., living at Greenland, Colorado; Ernest L., Arthur M. and Charles W., all of whom reside at Shelby, Iowa; and Frank C., of this review.
In early boyhood Frank C. Best attended the district schools and afterward became a student in the high school at Shelby, while later he pursued a course in the Omaha Commercial College, from which he was graduated in 1890. He afterward became connected with mercantile interests, continuing active in that Vol. II-36
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line for five years, when he entered the Union Stock Yards National Bank in the loan department, occupying a position there for five years. He next entered the real estate business and in the intervening period has conducted a real estate and insurance business at Omaha. He has thoroughly informed himself con- cerning property values, knows what is upon the market and is able to supply the wants of his customers or assist them in making profitable sales.
On the 28th of October, 1896, Mr. Best was married to Miss Bertha C. Laird, of Omaha. The two children of this marriage are: Russell R., who was born in Omaha, August 24, 1897, and is now a junior in the medical depart- ment of the University of Nebraska; and Warren, who was born October 18, 1898, and is now attending the Omaha high school as a senior.
Mr. Best and family hold membership in the Presbyterian church. He belongs to the Field and Carter Lake Clubs and in his fraternal relations is an Elk and also is connected with the Royal Arcanum and the Woodmen of the World. He is a recognized leader in the ranks of the republican party, active in its work, and in 1906 was secretary of the republican city central com- mittee. In 1907 he was elected to the state legislature and gave careful con- sideration to all the vital questions which came up for settlement before that body. In the fall of 1911 he was chosen county commissioner, which position he filled for five years. His life has been actuated by high ideals and honorable purposes. Progress has been his watchword and in his vocabulary there is no such word as fail. Mrs. Best is well known in social circles of Omaha and their home is the scene of many delightful social functions, its hospitality being one of its chief charms. Both Mr. and Mrs. Best have a wide acquaintance, the circle of their friends being almost coextensive therewith.
WATSON B. SMITH.
Only thirteen years had passed after the establishment of a home by the first white family of Omaha until Watson B. Smith became a resident of the city. He arrived in the spring of 1867 from Detroit, Michigan, and was there- after continuously connected with the courts. He was born in New York but in early life had removed westward to Michigan and became a law student in Detroit. He was living in that state at the time of the outbreak of the Civil war, and responding to the country's call for troops, he enlisted in the Eighth Michigan Cavalry, with which he served for three years. He entered the army as a private but five times was commissioned and received the commission of brevet colonel at the close of the war. He then returned to Michigan, where he devoted his attention to preparation for the bar and the practice of law, and with his removal to Omaha he opened a law office. The following year, however, he was made district clerk of the United States courts under Judge Dundee, and so efficient and capable did he prove in that office that he was continued in the position to the time of his death. Everyone connected in any way with the district courts knew Watson B. Smith and all spoke of him in terms of the highest regard.
It was in 1869 that Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Frances Coon, who in 1867 came from Pittsburgh. Her father, Archibald F. Coon, arrived in Nebraska in 1870, settling at David City. Her uncle, John R. Meredith, removed from Cincinnati to Omaha in 1857 and was a well known attorney here for many years, being the associate of Judge Doane in the general practice of law until illness forced his retirement. Up to that time he had been a very active and prominent representative of the profession. He was born in Pennsylvania and his last days were spent in Omaha, where he was most widely and favorably known.
To Mr. and Mrs. Smith were born six children, all of whom are yet living:
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Meredith, a resident of Pittsburgh, Pa .; Gertrude, at home; Rollin C., who is in California; Louise, the wife of W. D. Reed; Sherman, living in Canada ; and Watson B., also of Omaha. The family circle was broken by the hand of death when in November, 1881, Mr. Smith was called to his final rest. His life was fraught with good in many respects. Not only did he prove a capable official in office but his life was an extremely successful one when viewed from the standpoint of modern philosophy that "Not the good that comes to us, but the good that comes to the world through us, is the measure of our success." He was a most devoted member of the First Baptist church, active in its work along many lines. He served as superintendent of the Sunday school and was president of the Young Men's Christian Association and he did everything in his power to aid and encourage young men to develop the best in them physically, mentally and morally. At one time he was a member of the Masonic fraternity. He was very charitable both in thought and in deed and such was his nature that he shed around him much of the sunshine of life.
GEORGE LINDON CAMPEN.
George Lindon Campen, a contracting and consulting engineer residing in Omaha, has been identified with some of the most important engineering and construction projects undertaken in Omaha and the state and for a period served as superintendent of public works in the Canal Zone. He was born upon a farm in Hillsdale county, Michigan, July 27, 1867, and comes of Irish ancestry. His grandfather, George Campen, was born in County Wicklow, Ireland, and when but thirteen years of age ran away from home and made his way to the United States. Eventually he became a resident of Hillsdale county, Michigan, where he passed away in 1889, at the age of seventy-six years. The family is of the Protestant faith. John L. Campen, son of George Campen and father of George Lindon Campen, was born in Hillsdale county, Michigan, in 1844 and there wedded Anna Harford. He has devoted much of his life to farming, but he and his wife now make their home in the city of Pittsford, Hillsdale county. At the time of the Civil war he responded to the country's call in 1861, enlisting in the First Michigan Volunteer Cavalry, with which he served until the close of hostilities. During the latter period of the war he was held as a prisoner at Andersonville, Castle Thunder, Libby prison and Belle Isle. For a part of the time he was a scout under General George H. Custer, who later visited him at Hudson, Michigan, and offered to secure for him a lieutenancy in the United States army if he would accept it and go with the General on his Indian cam- paign, but because of asthmatic conditions from which he suffered Mr. Campen declined the offer and thus escaped the dreadful massacre which brought death to the General and all his force. Mr. Campen was once condemned to death while at Andersonville prison, but fate intervened and today he is pleasantly located at his home in Pittsford, Michigan.
George L. Campen attended the country schools of Hillsdale county to the age of thirteen years and later became a pupil in the public schools of Pittsford and of Hillsdale. He next entered the normal school at Ypsilanti, Michigan, and in 1885 accompanied his parents on their removal to Saunders county, Nebraska. The father purchased a farm near Wahoo and there resided for five years. G. L. Campen pursued a two years' special course in the University of Nebraska and in 1889 went to Cambria, Wyoming, as mining surveyor, there opening some mines for Kilpatrick Brothers. In 1890 his parents returned to Michigan. G. L. Campen, however, remained in Wyoming for about two years and then entered the employ of the city engineer of Lincoln, Nebraska, in which connection he continued from 1891 until 1898. He afterward spent three years in the employ of a Lincoln construction company and for three months he was acting city
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engineer of Lincoln, after which he was appointed to the office to fill out an unexpired term. Later he was twice elected to that position for a two years' term and rendered capable service in that connection until 1906, when he resigned and accepted the position of water commissioner of the Panama Canal Zone. He went to the scene of government activities in the Zone and in the fall of that year was made superintendent of public works, there remaining until July I, 1909, when on account of the ill health of his wife he resigned and returned to the States. Establishing his home in Omaha, he continued to occupy the posi- tion of assistant city engineer from August 1, 1909, until June 1, 1912, when he resigned to engage in business on his own account as a contracting and consult- ing engineer. On the 20th of March, 1914, he organized The Campen Company, contractors for foundation and bridge work, and was president of the company for some time, but is now practicing independently as a contracting and consulting engineer.
On the 27th of December, 1894, in Hillsdale, Michigan, Mr. Campen was united in marriage to Miss Pearl Herschey, who passed away at that place on the 5th of August, 1912. Mr. Campen has an adopted son, William H., born in 1897. The religious faith of the family is that of the Episcopal church and Mr. Campen is a blue lodge Mason and an Elk. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and his interest in community affairs is shown in his active cooperation in the work of the Commercial Club. Along more strictly professional lines he is connected with the Technical Club, of which he is a director, and with the American Society of Civil Engineers. His entire life since the completion of his university course has been directed along a single line and this concentration of purpose and close application have been the salient features of his growing success. He has won a well earned reputation for notable ability in his chosen field and his constantly expanding powers have brought him into important connections.
ZORO D. CLARK, D. D. S.
Dr. Zoro D. Clark comes of a family which through a number of generations has been distinctively American in both its lineal and collateral branches. His great-grandfather served as a soldier in the Revolutionary war from Vermont. His father. Dennis P. Clark, a representative of an old family of Virginia, was born in Olean, New York, in 1828, and was married in that state to Miss Almira P. Willard. During the period of the Civil war they removed to Wisconsin and in 1870 came to Nebraska, settling at Lincoln, where the father engaged suc- cessfully in merchandising for many years. His political allegiance was given to the democratic party and he was a well known and valued resident of the capital for a long period. He died in Arapahoe, Nebraska, in 1893, and was long survived by his widow, who passed away in Omaha in December, 1915.
Their son, Dr. Zoro D. Clark, was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, in 1867 and acquired his public school education in Lincoln. He determined upon the practice of dentistry as a life work and with that end in view entered the Omaha Dental College, from which he was graduated in 1899. He at once opened an office in Omaha and has practiced continuously in the same building since that date. He has a comprehensive knowledge of the scientific principles which underlie his profession and he also has the mechanical skill and ingenuity which are so indispensable in dental practice.
In Omaha, in 1906, Dr. Clark was united in marriage to Miss Jessye S. Lawrence, a daughter of George and Ida B. (Shull) Lawrence, the latter a member of one of Omaha's pioneer families. Dr. and Mrs. Clark are the par- ents of the following children, Lawrence Willard, Eugene E., R. Reynolds and Zoro D. Jr.
DR. ZORO D. CLARK
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The family attend the Christian Science church and Dr. Clark holds mnem- bership in both the York and Scottish Rites of Masonry and with the Mystic Shrine. In October, 1915, he was made Knight Commander of the Court of Honor by the Supreme Council of the Thirty-third Degree at Washington, D. C. Dr. Clark is one of the publishers of the Masonic Times, which had its first issue in January, 1917, it being the only paper of its kind published in the state. He is also connected with the Knights of Pythias. In politics he is a republican. He served for three years on the social service board of Omaha under appoint- ment of Mayor Dahlman and in 1915 was appointed a member of the city recreation board, serving until 1917, when he resigned because of the demands of his practice upon his time. His interest in the welfare of his city and the solution of its civic problems has ever been that of a zealous, public-spirited and progressive citizen. He studies closely the questions which affect the economic and sociological conditions of Omaha and his influence has always been given on the side of reform, progress and improvement.
ALFRED BLOOM.
Alfred Bloom, president of the Alfred Bloom Company, manufacturers of interior finish and fixtures and leaders in the industrial world of Omaha, is a representative of that fine class of citizens whom Sweden has given to America. His birth. occurred August 6, 1863, in the southern part of Sweden, and his parents were Nels and Marie (Pearson). Blomster, lifelong residents of that country. The father served in the army for a period and on resuming pursuits of civil life engaged in farming. He died in 1910 at the age of seventy-eight years, as his birth occured in 1832. His wife, who was born in 1836, passed away in 1915.
Alfred Bloom, who is the third in order of birth in a family of eleven chil- dren, received a good education and after completing the equivalent to a common school course attended a technical school in Stockholm, Sweden. When twenty- three years of age he came to the United States and, realizing that the west offered better opportunities to the poor young man than the more crowded east, he located in Omaha. He secured a position in a mill here and about seven years later, or on the Ist of March, 1893, he established a shop for the manufacture of sash and all kinds of millwork, located at Nineteenth and Charles streets. He started in a very small way but owing to the excellent work done and his wise management of his interests the business grew rapidly, and two years later he purchased a larger building at Twenty-Fourth and Grant streets, where the shop remained until 1901. In that year removal was made to the present site at Fifteenth and California streets, and the present large building of modern mill construction was erected. It is four stories in height and has a floor space of sixty thousand square feet. It is thoroughly equipped with machines of the most modern type and employment is given to from eighty to one hundred men. All kinds of special fixtures and high class interior finish work are manufactured and more than one million feet of lumber are used annually at the plant. About seventy-five per cent of the products of the factory are used in Omaha, the remainder being sold in neighboring states. The company has furnished fixtures for practically all the best business buildings in the city, including the Burgess- Nash store, Orkin's store, and the King-Swanson store. In 1901 the concern was incorporated under the name of the Alfred Bloom Company, and the offi- cers are: Alfred Bloom, president; Gunder Lindquist, vice president ; N. P. Swanson, secretary ; and A. W. Bloom, treasurer. A local paper has written of it as follows :
"Alfred Bloom succeeded because he would do nothing half way. Every- thing he produced was his best. And that all through his business career has
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been his policy. Today nothing but the higher grades of fixtures and mill work are turned out of the plant. There are no cheap grades. The material and work- manship of every product is the best that can be had. The remarkable success of the Alfred Bloom Company is not so remarkable if one knows Mr. Bloom, for he represents that type of successful manufacturer of Omaha who has had a big part in the building of the city. He is more than an ordinary head of an institution, for he can go into the great workshops of his company and operate as skillfully as any workman all of the intricate machines that turn out quality fixtures."
In August, 1887, Mr. Bloom was married to Miss Augusta Erickson, of Omaha, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Erick Anderson. Three children have been born to this union. Alvin W. was born in Omaha in June, 1888, and is a graduate of the Omaha high school and of Augustana College at Rock Island, Illinois, which conferred upon him the A. B. degree. He is now treasurer of the Alfred Bloom Company. Anna J. was born in Omaha in 1890 and is a graduate of Milwaukee-Downer College at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is now the wife of Bernard Johnston, of Omaha. Ellen M. was born in Omaha in 1892 and is a graduate of the Lindenwood College for Women at St. Charles, Missouri.
Mr. Bloom is independent in politics, casting his ballot for the candidates who, in his judgment, are best fitted for the office in question. He is a director of the Emanuel Hospital, is a member and one of the trustees of the Lutheran church and belongs to the Noon Day Club and the Commercial Club, associations which indicate the extent of his interests. When he arrived in Omaha as a young man he had only a dollar but he possessed assets of great value in his sound judgment, his strength of character, his willingness to work, and as the years have passed he has advanced steadily until he now takes high rank among the business men of Omaha.
ROBERT H. OLMSTED.
Robert H. Olmsted is one of the popular attorneys of Omaha, especially among the boys and young men of the city and of the suburban town of Flor- ence, for in them he takes a deep interest, doing everything in his power to assist them and enable them to choose wisely in marking out their course of life. In a word, he stands for every uplift movement for the benefit of the individual and the community and his keen sympathy and ready understanding of boy life enables him to keep in close touch with the youths of the district in which his labors are put forth. Mr. Olmsted is a native of Ohio, his birth having occurred in Clermont county, January 8, 1863, his parents being Thomas Bingham and Irvenia E. (Porter) Olmsted, the former a nephew of John A. Bingham, of Cadiz, Harrison county, Ohio, who was one of the leading lawyers of that state and for many years was ambassador to Japan. The parents were both natives of Ohio, the father's birth having occurred at Cadiz. When a young man he left his native county, spent a few years in Iowa, subsequently returned to Ohio and took up his residence in Franklin township, Clermont county, where he passed the remainder of his life on his farm, which he gave the name of Elm Farm. His death occurred in 1890 at the age of fifty-six years. His was an active and well spent life and he was recognized as a successful man. He left a valuable estate. for aside from his close connection with farming interests he had many invest- ments in property and in stocks. He owned much farm land in Iowa and he was one of the original stockholders of the Cincinnati Street Railway Company and the Cincinnati Gas Company. He was a great Bible student and was prominent in the Presbyterian church. He was married in Clermont county to Miss Irvenia E. Porter, who died on Elm Farm in 1910, when seventy-three years old. They
ROBERT H. OLMSTED
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became the parents of six children, as follows: T. D., who is engaged in business as a merchant of Dillon, Montana ; John S., who resides on the Elm Farm in Ohio but is planning to take up his abode in Omaha in the immediate future; Eloise ; Robert H., of this review; Mary, living in Florence, Nebraska, and Mrs. Harriet N. Kenyon, who is also a resident of Florence, this state.
In his youthful days Robert H. Olmsted became a pupil in Hanover College of Hanover, Indiana, which he entered in his sixteenth year. He was graduated from the literary department in 1885 and afterward became a student in the Col- lege of Law at Cincinnati, Ohio, from which he was graduated in 1888. He was admitted to practice in the supreme court of Ohio the same year but came to Omaha on the 21st of September, 1888, and entered upon law practice in this city, becoming a member of the firm of McCoy & Olmsted-a partnership that existed for twenty- five years, so that they were the oldest law firm in the city when the connection was discontinued. Since that time Mr. Olmsted has confined his attention to the private practice of law and is one of the most successful representatives of the bar of Florence and of Omaha. The excellent record which he has made is indi -. cated in the fact that his alma mater conferred upon him the Master of Arts degree in 1906. He has wide and comprehensive knowledge of legal principles and is seldom, if ever, at fault in his application to a point at issue. Aside from his law practice he has entered into some business connections, being now a director of the Omaha Macaroni Company and is treasurer and director of the Keirle Construction Company of Omaha.
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