USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > Omaha: the Gate city, and Douglas County, Nebraska, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 94
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SAMUEL MANCUSO.
Samuel Mancuso, who has allowed no opportunity to slip by him unutilized, has through the worth of his work and his ready adaptability made for himself an enviable and commanding position in the business circles of Omaha, where he is conducting a real estate, investment and insurance business, with offices in the Paxton block. He was born in Carlopoli, a country town in the province of Catanzaro, Italy, October 31, 1872, a son of Gaetano and Clementina (Pane) Mancuso, who are also natives of that sunny land and representatives of a well-to-do and prominent family. Coming to the United States in 1881, they established their home in Omaha, where they still reside and are now enjoying good health, although both have passed the seventieth milestone on life's journey.
Samuel Mancuso acquired a common school education in his native land but on coming to America at the age of seventeen years was ignorant of the English language and was without trade or profession. The first work he ever . did was that he performed as a water boy in connection with the excavation of the foundation at the northeast corner of Sixteenth and Jackson streets in Omaha for the Brunswick Hotel, now the Rome Hotel, receiving fifty cents per day. He was afterward associated with Italian laborers in the work of construction on the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railroad at Wayne, Nebraska. The construction gang slept in crowded bunk cars, and because of his youth and of the fact that he was unaccustomed to hard manual labor, he suffered intensely for the first weeks; and in order to harden his hands to the heavy work he applied to them vinegar and salt. He did everything possible to win the goodwill of his fellow laborers, and after working all day he would frequently carry water, sometimes for a mile, for all the inhabitants of the bunk car. At this period he was cooking his own meals and doing his own washing, and Sunday was a busier day than all the rest of the week, for being the only one in the gang who could read and write, he penned all the letters for his fellow workmen, ofttimes writing more than a score of letters in a day. He became convinced that handling iron rails and heavy ties and shoveling dirt was not the kind of work that he desired, and that in order to obtain a more desirable job he had to acquaint himself with the English language, so he got a soap box, from which he made a desk, and then secured an Italian-English dictionary and grammar, also an oil lamp, and every night he studied until a late hour, so that in a short time he could read and write fairly well; but as he was among
SAMUEL MANCUSO
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his countrymen, who talked nothing but Italian, he could not get the proper pronunciation. Therefore he eagerly availed himself of the opportunity of securing another position and his next work was that of clerk in the fruit depart- ment of the Boston Store. He was afterward manager of the fruit department of Hayden Brothers and for a brief period he worked in a commission house. At length he leased a fruit stand at the southwest corner of Sixteenth and Harney streets, where the Burgess & Nash department store now stands but then occupied by the home of General Lowe. He gave the old owner the stand and paid fifty dollars for the lease, had a box built on credit and started business with a capital of thirteen dollars. Times were hard, but he kept the stand clean and everything in good order and he soon acquired a fair trade, working from early morning until after midnight. When the Trans-Mississippi Expo- sition was held he enlarged his stand, having one of the best fruit displays in the city. He soon found himself at the head of a profitable and growing business but had to change his location in order to give place to W. R. Bennett, who purposed there building the store now occupied by Burgess & Nash. Accordingly Mr. Mancuso moved across the street, where the City National Bank now stands.
In 1902 he sold out his fruit business and has since devoted his entire atten- tion to his real estate business. For several years he has devoted his energies to real estate and investments and along those lines he has won a very pro- nounced success. All his wealth has been acquired and invested south of Harney street and in that district he has done much in the way of paving and promoting civic improvements. An analyzation of his life record shows that his prosperity has been won through close application, indefatigable energy and honorable dealing. He has good knowledge of law, which is not only of great benefit to him in his business but has been a valuable factor in his counsel to his friends and fellow countrymen.
Mr. Mancuso has also been very active in furthering the material, social and moral interests and welfare of his fellow countrymen. He has organized, estab- lished and financed many clubs and fraternal societies and also societies whereby the Italian laboring man can secure a home. Many have taken advantage of the opportunities who would perhaps otherwise never have owned property had not one of their own countrymen and a man in whom they had implicit faith made such a course possible to them. He has looked after the social and moral wel- fare of his people as well, becoming identified prominently with many clubs and fraternal societies, and throughout the years of a most active life he has constantly sought to uplift and assist liis fellowmen. Many a young man employed in inferior positions has been helped to better positions through Mr. Mancuso's kindly influence. He has given time and money for the benefit of others with no thought or expectation of compensation. To help a friend always appeals to him, as he well remembers his own condition in early life. He is the recognized counselor and adviser of many poor Italians of Omaha. He has been father and friend to them, giving them financial assistance and advice, and no needy one is ever turned from his door empty handed. He organized and established the Italian Mercantile Company, of which he became president and so continues, and also established and began the publication of an Italian paper, La Stampa, a paper conducted for the education and uplifting of his people, of which company he is still the president.
On the 25th of April, 1900, Mr. Mancuso was married in Kansas City. Mis- souri, to Miss Mary Ruffolo, a native of Italy, who in childhood was brought to America by her parents, Benjamin and Clara Ruffolo, her father becoming a pioneer of Kansas City. Mr. and Mrs. Mancuso have six living children : Freddie, a high school student, Helen, Irene, Virginia, Emilia and Marie. The family occupy a comfortable residence far different from their first home in Omaha, which was very humble and in an undesirable location. Their home is noted for its warm-hearted hospitality.
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Mr. Mancuso became a voter in the United States when he attained his majority through his father having acquired citizenship by naturalization but nevertheless he himself took out naturalization papers as well. He is proud to be one of America's citizens and he feels that he owes his allegiance first, last and all the time to his adopted country and he has been instrumental in securing papers for worthy members of his race. Politically he is a stanch republican. He is a man of splendid character and high ideals and the notable success that he has won has in no way changed his nature, save that it has broadened and expanded it, as it has given him the opportunity to do generous and noble things for his fellow countrymen and for others. He has acquired a favorable reputation not only among his own people but among all classes of business men and is regarded as one of the most valued residents of Omaha. His acquaintance extends to men of national reputation as he has been associated with many prominent men of affairs in the furtherance of projects for the development of the middle west. Wherever he is known he is spoken of in terms of high regard and Omaha has reason to be proud to claim him as a citizen.
MAHLON W. GRIEST.
Since becoming a resident of South Omaha in 1888, Mahlon W. Griest has been connected with the hardware, tinware and plumbing business. He is now engaged along that line on his own account, having begun operations indepen- dently in 1890. He was born in Warren county, Ohio, August 13, 1853. His father, Seneca Griest, a native of Pennsylvania, belonged to an old Quaker family of German lineage that was established in America prior to the Revolution- ary war. Seneca Griest followed agricultural pursuits in order to provide for his family. He married Rebecca Wards, a native of Ohio of Irish lineage, and they became the parents of three children, of whom one died in infancy. A daughter, Asenith, became the wife of Stephen Staley, an engineer on the Union Pacific Railroad, and they became early residents of Omaha, where they resided during the '70s. Mrs. Staley passed away, however, in Kellogg, Iowa, about 1877. The father died in Warren county, Ohio, in 1859, when only about twenty- six years of age, and his wife died in 1857 at the age of twenty-five years.
Mahlon W. Griest was thus early left an orphan and was reared by a Univer- salist Quaker family of his native county. He remained with his foster parents, the Taylors, from the age of nine to the age of sixteen and a half years and was then apprenticed to learn the tinner's trade with a Hicksite Quaker family at Waynesville, Ohio. After serving a three years' term of apprenticeship he removed to Kellogg, Iowa, where he worked as a journeyman, and he also spent ten years in Atlantic, Iowa, where he occupied the position of foreman in the hardware store of J. C. Yetzer. In 1888 he removed with his family to South Omaha and was for two years employed by the firm of Holmes & Smith, who had the first hardware store of the city, in connection with which they dealt in tinware and plumbers' supplies and did work along all those lines. In 1890 Mr. Griest entered business on his own account and through the intervening period of twenty-seven years has been numbered among the enterprising and prosperous merchants of South Omaha.
On the Ist of September, 1871, at Kellogg, Iowa, Mr. Griest was united in marriage to Miss Lizzie Cowes, whose mother is a half sister of Schuyler Colfax and is still living. Mr. and Mrs. Griest have become the parents of nine children, as follows: Nellie E., who is the wife of John Cowen and resides in Denver, Colorado; Mary Rebecca, who is principal in the public schools of Omaha ; Lizzie, who gave her hand in marriage to Edward Rothge of Omaha ; one who has passed away ; Leon, who is deceased; one who died unnamed in infancy; Cora,
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the wife of Roy O. Finch, of Omaha; Leo, who is the wife of Harry C. Clark and lives in Omaha ; and Seneca Ward, who passed away in Kellogg, Iowa, at the age of fourteen years. There are also the following grandchildren: Inez Cowen, Lizzie, Virginia B. and Dorothy Rothge and Cora and Jean Finch.
The parents are members of the Presbyterian church and Mr. Griest is a Mason, holding membership in the lodge at Atlantic, Iowa. He also has member- ship with the Royal Highlanders and the Knights and Ladies of Security. In politics he is a republican but has never sought nor filled public office, being strictly a home man, preferring to devote his time outside of business hours to the enjoyments to be had at his own fireside. His has been a busy life, for since he entered upon his apprenticeship he has worked persistently at his trade, dependent upon his own resources for a livelihood, and the success he has achieved has been the direct result of persistent effort intelligently directed.
WILLIAM STULL.
William Stull, of the firm of Stull Brothers, dealers in investment securities in Omaha, was born in Marengo, Illinois, April 21, 1850, a son of Leflar Stull, a native of Pennsylvania and of Dutch descent. The family was founded in Philadelphia in colonial days and representatives of the name participated in the Revolutionary war and the War of 1812. Leflar Stull became a farmer of Illinois, removing to that state in 1837, at which time he took up his abode in McHenry county, where he and his brother Andrew each took up government claims, spend- ing their remaining days in the further development of their farms. The father had reached the advanced age of ninety years when in 1895 he was called to his final rest. He was a Lincoln republican and was quite active in politics, doing all in his power to promote the success of his party. He married Ellen Cannon, a native of Dublin, Ireland, who came to America after the death of her father, who was a barrister of Dublin. She was a young lady in her teens when she crossed the Atlantic and became a resident of New York. Afterward she removed to Pennsylvania, where she met and married Mr. Stull. She became the mother of ten children, of whom three are living: Jane Stull, a resident of Newport, Oregon ; Mrs. R. M. Curtis, whose husband is a physician of Marengo, Illinois ; and William.
The last named was educated in the schools of Marengo, Illinois, and in the State University, in which he spent four years as a student, after which ill health forced him to put aside his textbooks. His youthful experiences and training were those of the farm, upon which he remained until he attained his majority. He then entered the investment business, handling farm mortgages, being first employed by the Equitable Loan Trust Company of New London, Connecticut. In that connection he obtained his initial training in financial matters and it con- stituted the foundation upon which he has since established and developed a very successful and profitable business. The succeeding five years were spent with the firm of Burnham & Tulleys, investment brokers of Council Bluffs, and in 1881 he became a resident member of the firm of Mckinley & Stull, his partner being ex-Congressman Mckinley of Lincoln, Nebraska. He continued in that connec- tion until 1886, when he established the firm of Stull Brothers at Lincoln, being joined by his younger brother, Louis Stull, since deceased. In 1897 they removed their office and business to Omaha, where the business has since been continued. with offices in the Omaha National Bank building. The business is still carried on under the old firm name but is now the sole property of William Stull, who ranks with the leading financiers of the city.
On the Ist of April, 1905, in Boston, Massachusetts, Mr. Stull was united in marriage to Miss Mabel Blanchard, a native of Illinois and a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Eastman Blanchard, who represented an old New England family Vol. II-39
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and are both deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Stull have a son, William Stull, Jr., who was born in Paris, France, January 24, 1906, for after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Stull went abroad on their honeymoon and remained in Europe for two years.
Mr. Stull is the owner of the old family homestead in Illinois, including the claim which his uncle as well as his father took up from the government, con- prising five hundred acres of very valuable farm land. In politics he maintains an independent course and has never sought nor desired office. He belongs to the University, Omaha and Commercial Clubs. His is the notable career of a man who has won his success entirely through individual effort guided by sound judg- ment. When he left home he had a cash capital of three dollars and a half. He made it his purpose to thoroughly master the business to which he turned his attention and his close application and persistency of purpose have been salient elements in his continued progress. Honored and respected by all, he now occcu- pies an enviable position in financial circles in Omaha, not alone by reason of the success he has achieved but also owing to the straightforward business policy he has ever followed.
JOHN LEE WEBSTER.
John Lee Webster's presidency of the Nebraska State Historical Society argues his deep interest in everything relating to the annals of the common- wealth-a commonwealth in which he has done much to mold public thought and action. Distinguished ability developed through hard study, close application and the wise utilization of his opportunities have brought him to the front rank among Omaha's leading lawyers, and he has also left the impress of his indi- viduality upon the legislative history of his state and to a considerable measure upon national politics.
A native of Ohio, he was born in Harrison county, March 18, 1847. Liberal educational advantages were his. He attended Washington College and also Mount . Union College of Ohio and was graduated from the latter with the Bachelor of Arts degree, while in 1893 Mount Union College, of Ohio, conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL. D. He was but seventeen years of age when in 1864 he responded to the country's call for aid in defense of the Union. He was wounded in battle and served in the Union Army until the close of hostilities. Soon afterward he entered upon preparation for the bar and was admitted to practice in 1868. For one year he followed his profession .in his native state and in 1869 arrived in Omaha, where he has since made his home. Through the inter- vening years he has left the impress of his individuality and ability upon the legal and legislative records of the state. In the fall of 1872 he was chosen to repre- sent his district in the Nebraska legislature, which convened January, 1873, and he won many honors in debate on the floor of the house and was connected with many important constructive measures. He was instrumental in securing the passage of the bill calling for a constitutional convention, which was vetoed, however, by the governor, and when the Nebraska Constitutional Convention met in 1875 he was elected its president over highly trained lawyers and experienced statesmen known throughout the district. At that time he was but twenty-eight years of age, but his ability was widely recognized by those who were desirous of giving to the state an organic law that should fully serve the high purposes of a great and growing commonwealth. In 1887 he was made city attorney of Omaha. He was highly endorsed and recommended for the Supreme bench of the United States to fill the seat left vacant through the death of Justice Mathews.
Throughout the period of his residence in Nebraska, Mr. Webster has been recognized as a republican leader. In 1892 he was almost unanimously elected a delegate at large to the republican national convention, and was made chairman of
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the Nebraska delegation. Ile again served as delegate at large in the convention of 1896. In 1904 he received the endorsement of the Nebraska republican state convention for the nomination for vice-president of the United States. He has declined various executive and diplomatic appointments, preferring to concentrate his energies upon the practice of law and its interpretation in the courts. For forty-six years he has been a leading representative of the Omaha bar, and is now generally recognized. He early sprang into prominence as the foremost lawyer of the state and maintained his position of leadership.
His name figures in connection with some of the most important litigation mentioned in the records of the state. He won national renown as the defender of Standing Bear and the Ponca Indians in the case of the United States versus General Crook. When the Government ordered the Ponca Indians from the Dakota reservation to a reservation in Indian Territory, Standing Bear and his followers made strong objections. They were imprisoned but escaped and returned to their former home in Dakota, after which they became the legal wards of Mr. Webster, who won the case upon which has hinged much Indian legisla- tion in later years. Other notable cases with which he has been connected are those which involved the state offices in 1891 and 1893; the maximum railroad rate cases ; the bank guaranty law cases of Kansas and Nebraska; and the Omaha Water Works litigation.
In his later years Mr. Webster has engaged in other important activites outside his profession. As president for seven years of the Nebraska State Historical Society, he raised that organization to an appreciation of the value, importance and significance of the principal and progressive events of the state. He proposed to the Historical Society that the Semi-centennial of the statehood of Nebraska be celebrated in a fitting manner all over the state. To that end he was instructed to appoint one hundred men of the state to act as Semi-centennial Committee, of which he was made chairman. Out of this movement developed in 1916 one of the most marvelous pageants, depicting the growth and progress of the State, that had ever been seen in Omaha or any other city in the country, and which the President of the United States, on invitation of the Committee, came to see and review.
Mr. Webster founded the Palimpsest Club, a body made up of the intelligent and cultured professional and business men of the city, who meet at intervals to entertain distinguished men who visit Omaha, and to listen to addresses by men of culture and high attainments.
Mr. Webster is a man of broad culture. He possesses a magnificent private library. He has traveled extensively in Europe, which gave him an opportunity to visit nearly all the principal museums and picture galleries of the old world. Out of these visits grew up a love of art and led him to organize in Omaha the Friends of Art Association for the purpose of spreading a knowledge and love of art among the people.
Mr. Webster is identified with many national public organizations and in Omaha is always found in those gatherings where the thinking men are met in discussion of important problems affecting civic welfare or public conditions. The habit of studious thought and logical deduction which was characterized his legal work has ever been manifest in his study of public problems, in relation to which his judicial turn of mind has enabled him to reach just and equitable conclusions.
FREDERICK HOYER MILLENER, M. D.
Dr. Frederick Hoyer Millener, experimental engineer of the Union Pacific Railroad, doing important work in the effort to establish efficiency and broaden the scope of railway service, has done notable things in his laboratory, especially in demonstrating the use of the wireless. He was born June 8, 1872, in Tona- wanda, New York, a son of Joel H. Millener, whose birth occurred at Rochester,
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New York, and who was a descendant of Alexander Millener, who was the fourth among the survivors of the last seven Revolutionary heroes. He was born at Quebec, Canada, March 14, 1760, and was of English descent. His father was an English goldsmith who came to the new world with Wolfe's army as an arti- ficer and on the trip he was accompanied by his wife. At the scaling of the heights of Abraham he was detailed for special service and after the close of the battle he lay down to drink from a spring on the plain and never rose again, for drink- ing the cold water in his heated condition caused instant death. His widow remained in Quebec and in the following spring their son Alexander was born. While he was yet young his mother removed to New York and later married a man by the name of Maroney. His stepfather opposed his enlistment, but he managed it by enlisting under his own name. Dr. Millener of this review says that the enlistment occurred in New York, though the records of the pension office give it at Lake George. Also the pension roll gives his age at death as ninety-four, but this is an error of ten years, since the battle of Quebec, the fall before his birth, occurred on the 13th of September, 1759, and on the 14th of March in the year in which he died, Alexander Millener was one hundred and four years of age. Being too young to enlist as a regular soldier in the ranks, he joined as a drummer boy and in that capacity served for four years with Washington's Life Guard. He was a great favorite of the commander-in-chief, who would frequently pass by, patting him on the head and calling him his "boy." He was at the battles of White Plains, Brandywine, Saratoga, Monmouth, York- town and others. He passed to his final rest at the notable old age of one hundred and four years and nine months.
Joel P. Millener, son of Alexander Millener, became very prominent in New York and represented Rochester as an assemblyman. He conducted a flour mill at Rochester for many years and was financially identified with the Barton Edged Tool Works of that city. He became a wealthy man and was a prominent factor in molding public thought and opinion in his state.
Joel H. Millener became a successful lumberman and railroad contractor. In fact his business in the former line exceeded that of any other of similar nature in western New York. He married Emma P. Hoyer, a native of Erie county, New York, and a daughter of Frederick F. Hoyer, also of Revolutionary stock. The founder of the family in America also bore the name of Frederick Hoyer, was a Hessian and came to the new world with Baron Steuben. Frederick Hoyer, the grandfather of F. H. Millener, was a physician of Erie county and lived to the advanced age of ninety-one years, so that on both sides the family is noted for longevity. Three children were born to Joel H. and Emma P. Millener : Frederick H. ; George H., a prominent and successful man engaged in the automo- bile business at Buffalo, New York; and Mrs. M. T. Day, whose husband is an attorney of Buffalo.
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