KANSAS COLLECTION BOOKS


Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska
Douglas County
Produced by Liz Lee.



Part 1      Part 3


City of Omaha

Note: Please refer back to the Omaha first page, or to the Chapter Table of Contents for the complete listing.

SECTION 1:  The Early DaysSECTION 2:  More Early Days
SECTION 3:  Omaha in 1870SECTION 4:  Present Day (1882)
SECTION 5:  CrimesSECTION 6:  Fires and Public Works
SECTION 7:  Health, Parks, MailSECTION 8:  The Press in Omaha
SECTION 9:  Press ContinuedSECTION 10:  Religious
SECTION 11:  Religious (cont.)SECTION 12:  Cemetery and Schools
SECTION 13:  Legal and MedicalSECTION 14:  Opera House-Hotels-Business
SECTION 15:  SocietiesSECTION 16:  Societies (Cont.)
SECTION 17:  BusinessSECTION 18:  Manufacturing
SECTION 19:  Manufacturing (cont.)

SECTIONS
20 - 46:














   ** Omaha Biographical Sketches **
| ABLE~BARRIGER | BARTLETT~BOYD | BOYER~BURNHAM |
| BURR~CONKLING | COFFMAN~CREIGHTON |
| CRITTENTON~DIETZ | DINSMOOR~FAWCETT |
| FEARON~GAYLORD | GELATTE~GROSSMANN |
| GROSS~HAVENS | HAWES~HOILE |
| HOLDREDGE~JORGENSEN | JOSLYN~LEISENRING |
| LEHMAN~LOWE | LUDINGTON~MARHOFF |
| MANNING~MILLER | MILLSPAUGH~NINDEL |
| O'CONNOR~PEABODY | PAUL~READ | REDICK~ROGERS |
| ROSENBERY~SCOTT | SEAMAN~SIMPSON | SINCERE~STONE |
| STORZ~UMPHRESON | URLAU~WILBUR | WILDE~WOOD |
| WOODARD~ZEHRUNG | West Omaha Precinct | Douglas Precinct |


List of Illustrations in Douglas County Chapter


City of Omaha 39


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
REDICK~ROGERS

CHARLES R. REDICK, attorney at law, was born in Omaha, April 13, 1857. He has lived here ever since, with the exception of two years spent in Denver, where he represented the U. P. Railroad Company, as attorney. He was also engaged in general practice during that time. He was educated at the Omaha schools and at Mt. Vernon, Iowa, and Cornell College. He was admitted to the bar in the spring of 1876. He ranks among the leading members of the Nebraska bar. His criminal practice being especially quite large. He was defeated for the Legislature in 1878. In the fall of 1878 received the entire vote of the Douglas County delegation in the judicial convention for district attorney of the Third Judicial District. In 1861 Mr. Redick received twenty-two votes, including the solid vote of Douglas County, for Chief Justice for the Supreme Court of the State, in the Democratic State Convention, and it is said could have received the nomination, but his name was withdrawn, as he laced six years of the age required in the constitution. He has been engaged in several of the most important criminal cases tried in the State, and while he is regarded as a sound and able lawyer, his strongest point is with the jury. His closing speeches to the jury in the defense of one Pickard, indicted for murder, and one Arndt, for threatening to kill the Untied States District Judge of Nebraska, are pronounced among the finest and most effective jury speeches ever made in the state. Mr. R. is as yet very young and has before him a professional life of the greatest promise.

Portrait
[Portrait of John I. Redick.]

View
[RESIDENCE OF JOHN I. REDICK.]

HON. JOHN I. REDICK, was born on the 29th day of July, 1828, in the town of Wooster, Ohio. At the time of his birth his father was a farmer by occupation, and was more than ordinarily well to do, but shortly thereafter, by an unfortunate speculation, lost all his property, and was never able to retrieve his fortune. Mr. Redick was thus left an at early age to learn the lesson, and overcome the disadvantages of poverty, and it was then, while combating the consequent adversities of his young life, that he first displayed the character, judgment and decision which, with an after-acquired knowledge of men, and of himself, have been the tools with which he has carved the position among men he now occupies. His first education was received from Prof. Parrott in his native town, under whose tutelage he remained about two years, at the end of which time, and about his twenty-first year, he entered Delaware College, at Delaware, Ohio; his course of two years there completed his school life, and was all the education he could provide for himself. He was enabled to secure his college instruction only through the kindness of friends in Wooster who, believing he had in him the making of a man, and admiring his unceasing and tireless efforts in his own behalf, loaned him the necessary money with directions to repay it when he could. Mr. Redick had, however, an ambition commensurate to his perseverance, and having decided upon the profession of the law, devoted a portion of his last year at college to reading law under the instruction of one Eugene Pardee, a Wooster, lawyer, and Hon. William Given, at that time one of the most able lawyers in Ohio. His progress was such that in 1852 he as admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Ohio, and he at once went to Lansing, the capital of Michigan, and opened an office, and entered upon the practice of his chosen profession. Lansing, at that time, however, was a young and not very prosperous town, and finding but little practice, Mr. Redick drifted into the real estate business. With a natural ability to dicker and exchange, he soon found himself making a living, and after a while more than that. He secured the agency of Gov. Crapo, who was the owner of a large amount of lands in Michigan, and sold on commission for him, and after four years of hard labor and ceaseless endeavor, often walking a dozen miles, and several times swimming the river to show land upon the opposite side, found he had made about $4,000. In the meantime he had married Mary E. Higby, of Pittsburgh, Pa., and becoming dissatisfied with the opportunities of Lansing, in the fall of 1856 removed to Omaha, Neb., where he has ever since resided. Omaha was then the capital of the Territory; was the very outpost of the western frontier; was increasing in importance very fast, and afforded just the opportunity for which he had been looking. The result was Mr. Redick at once obtained a lucrative practice, which in 1859 had grown to such formidable proportions that he arranged a partnership with Clinton Briggs, and for ten years thereafter, and until its dissolution, the firm of Redick & Briggs stood at the head of the bar, and represented one side of every important case. In the meantime Mr. Redick operated considerably in real estate and soon by means of practice and speculation became financially successful. Having, as we have said, a speculative turn of mind, he secured in 1861, 100 acres of land then adjoining Omaha for $16 per acre. It is now almost the heart of the city, and he finds ready sale for it at from $4,000 to $6,000 per acre. In 1864 he lost his wife, leaving two sons, Charles and William, now young men, the former being his present partner in business, and the latter holding an important position in the Revenue Department of the Government, both of whom, through his influence, care and training have made their mark. After the firm of Redick & Briggs dissolved, Mr. Redick carried on the business alone again, and maintained the same prominence at the bar. In his practice he was always outspoken against corporations and monopolies, and has been singularly fortunate in anti-railroad litigations. In the court room his strongest point is with the jury, and as an advocate in criminal and other jury cases few men in Nebraska are his equal, and none more successful. In the impeachment trial of Gov. Butler, for high crimes and misdemeanors, Mr. Redick was the Governor's leading counsel, and while his client was by a majority of one vote found guilty on one count, and not guilty on the other fourteen counts, Mr. Redick by his conduct of the defense added very much to his extended reputation as a lawyer and advocate. While no politician, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, his profession and public life brought him more or less into political prominence. Up to the time of the Rebellion he was a Democrat, having cast his first vote for Pierce, but he then, like many of his party, became what is known as a war Democrat, and at the close of the war was an avowed Republican. He was Chairman of the Nebraska Delegation to the Baltimore Convention that nominated Lincoln and Johnson, and was the subject of considerable abuse at the hands of the Democratic press of the country, for what they termed the blasphemous manner in which as Chairman he announced the vote of his delegation. Mr. Redick when the name of Nebraska was called, arose and said, "Nebraska casts her seven votes for Abraham Lincoln, the second Savior of the world," and who will say the martyred President deserved not the name. Mr. Redick was also Chairman of the Nebraska Delegation to the Philadelphia Convention which nominated Grant for the second term. At a convention held at Brownville in 1866 the leaders of his party telegraphed Mr. Redick that if he would come to Brownville, they could secure his nomination for Congress, but on account of his broken household, caused by the death of his wife, was unable to accept it. He received every vote north of the Platte River, but one, in the Plattsmouth Convention, held the year previous, for Delegate in Congress, and was offered the Chief Justiceship of the Supreme Court. His lucrative practice at the bar made it unwise, nor at that time did he have any inclination to exchange the battles of the forum for the unremunerative quietude of the bench. It might be here remarked that Mr. Redick represented his county in the Territorial Legislation, and received every Democratic Vote for Speaker of that body in 1860. He has figured conspicuously in the election of every U. S. Senator from his State since its admission, and upon one occasion was himself a prominent candidate for that office. In 1876 he was appointed by President Grant United States Judge for New Mexico, which position he accepted, relinquishing his practice in Omaha. He was upon the bench about one year, and his decisions were remarkable for the same clearness and breadth of thought that distinguished him at the bar, and became very popular among that people, but soon longing for the conflict of active practice to which for so many years he had been accustomed, Mr. Redick resigned his office and accepted a position as attorney for the Union Pacific R. R. Company, at Denver, Col. This he held for about a year, when for climatic reasons, he was obliged to relinquish the engagement, and returned to Omaha, and resumed his old practice in which he is at the present time actively engaged. In the spring of 1881 he went to the Chicago Convention in the interests of Grant, and was very indignant when that body failed to nominate him, and having witnessed the extraordinary strife and bitter contention of the three great powers of Republican politics, viz: Grant, Blaine and the Sherman family, became satisfied that the will and wish of the people were entirely ignored by political powers and tricksters. This so disgusted and alarmed him that he began to fear the perpetuity of the Union, under the control of that party, and in a few weeks afterwards declared, in public print, the withdrawal of his vote and support from that party, and voted for Hancock in the last campaign. The letter announcing the change in his political faith created, as may be imagined, great consternation in the ranks of the party, one of whose leaders in the State of Nebraska he had been for so many years, and wide comment generally. Mr. Redick took the stump and during the campaign fought ably, and spoke eloquent words for the cause he had espoused. In advancing the interests and material welfare of Omaha and Nebraska, he has always been foremost, and there is probably no one man who has done as much in every way to make Omaha the metropolis, the progressive, beautiful city she is today as John I. Redick. If an enterprise needed encouragement, needed money, he has always been ready and willing to give it substantial aid. Mr. Redick was one of the originators of the Grand Central Hotel scheme, by which Omaha obtained the finest hotel between Chicago and San Francisco, and when the company found itself short of funds and the hotel liable to be a failure, he was one of five to step out and finish and complete it ready for occupancy. He was one of the originators and stockholders in the Central National Bank; was one of seven who organized the Omaha & Northwestern R. R. Company, and constructed fifty miles of road that brought all Northern Nebraska's trade to Omaha's merchants and capital. He built Redick's Opera House a number of years ago, which is now used as the City Hall, and is a one-half owner of the present Academy of Music. He organized in 1874, and was president of the Omaha Merchant Club, composed of eighty of the best business men, and which was the first step toward an united effort upon matters affecting the business interests of the city and State. In 1875 was President of a delegation of Nebraska and Iowa men that visited Galveston, having in view a more perfect commercial relation between the Gulf and the Missouri Valley; and was one of five to go to Boston and Washington, representing Omaha in the matter of the location of the railroad bridge at Omaha. Mr. Redick has erected in the city of Omaha not less than thirty-four buildings during his residence of twenty-five years there, some costing thousands of dollars, and some of more modest pretensions. In 1866 he married his second wife, Mary E. May, by which marriage he has three bright little boys, ten, twelve and fourteen years old, and all bid fair to make men of promise. He lives at present on fifty acres of ground within the city limits, beautifully improved. Mr. Redick is one of the heaviest real estate owners and wealthiest men in Nebraska, and as our readers have seen all the fruits and results of his own abilities and exertions. From the farmer's boy in 1829, left to procure his own education, to develop his own character, to make his own way in the world, Mr. Redick is to-day, not only a man of great means, but standing among the first in a learned profession, having the respect of all who know him, and that self-respect which he must have when he can say, "I owe all this to myself."

JOSEPH REDMAN & SON, livery stable, commenced in 1881. They have twenty-five horses and mules and do also an express business. Joseph Redman, of the firm of Redman & Son, was born in Blair County, Pa., December 19, 1829. In 1856 he moved to Nebraska, located at Saratoga, Douglas Co., and engaged in blacksmithing and farming for about one year, then turned his entire attention to farming for some ten years. He then moved to Omaha and engaged in the grocery business, under the firm name of Ellingwood & Redman, and continued in this business until 1881. He was married in Blair County, Pa., September 15, 1851, to Miss Mary Jane Fair. They have eleven children living--George, David, Aruetta, Frank, William, Clara, James, Annetta, Joseph, Samuel, Sherman. Mr. Redman was followed to Nebraska by some thirty families from Blair County, Pa.

BYRON REED, real estate agent, came to Omaha about the 10th of November, 1855, and has been engaged in the real estate business ever since. He was City Clerk from 1860 to 1866 and County Clerk from 1863 to 1865. In 1871, 1872 and 1873 he represented the Fourth Ward in the City Council, being President thereof in 1872. He has been the most extensive dealer in real estate in Omaha. He was born in Darien, Genesee Co., N. Y. In 1842 his father settled in Walworth County, Wis., where the town of Darien was founded by him. Mr. Reed lived for five years in Trumbull County, Ohio, prior to coming to Omaha. He was married at Omaha in April, 1862, to Mary M. Perkins, daughter of V. G. Perkins, who settled in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, in 1852 and come to Omaha in 1854. Mr. Reed has two children--Maria and Abraham Lincoln. According to the records of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, Mr. Reed is a lineal descendant in the sixth generation from William Reade, of Woburn, "who was born in 1587 and was the oldest of any of the Puritan emigrants by the name of Reade. He sailed from London in the ship Defense in July, 1635, Capt. Edward Fostick, master, and arrived at Boston October 6 of the same year, with his wife, who was Mabel Kendall, born in 1605."

EDWARD REED, of the Merchants' Express Co., corner Eleventh and Howard streets, Omaha. Mr. Reed was born in Jefferson County, N. Y., but was reared in Chicago, having removed there with his people in 1846. In 1866 he came to Omaha and engaged with the Omaha Passenger Transfer Company, with whom he remained till 1870, when he started the present extensive business with but one team, but by dint of perseverance, he has enlarged upon it so that the business employs twenty teams. He also keeps a nice farm, where his old horses have a hospital and where he is rearing some fine bred Hambletonian trotters. He also rears fine Jersey cattle and has some of the best in the State upon his farm.

F. L. DE B. REID, teacher in Omaha Deaf and Dumb Institute. He was born in London, England, May 18, 1849, and came to the United States with his parents in 1855. They located in New York City and in 1859 removed to Wisconsin and from there to Minnesota. The subject of this sketch received about two years' education in Wisconsin and in 1865 went to Scotland, returned to the United States in 1867 and entered the Deaf and Dumb College at Washington, D. C. He came to Nebraska in September, 1873, and took his present position. He was married in Falls City, Neb., September 16, 1877, to Miss Nellie Collins, a former pupil at this institute. They have one child--Bessie C.

MICHAEL REILLY, molder in the employ of the U. P. R. R. Co. He was born in August, 1848, in Dublin, Ireland, and located here in July, 1877, from Chicago, where he was in the employ of some of the prominent foundries. Soon after locating here he was engaged by the U. P. R. R. Co., and went to work in their foundry as molder. He was married May 18, 1873, in Hyde Park, Cook Co., Ill., to Jane Murphy, who was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1854. They have two children alive--Peter Paul and Mary Isabella--both born here. He is a member of the Iron Molders Union and has been for the last fourteen years. He is also a member of the Irish Land League.

MAX REIS, foreman of the rolling mill of the Omaha Iron and Nail Company. He was born in Germany, May 28, 1841, and was employed in that country in saw and flour mills. He came to America in 1873 and was engaged for one month in a saw mill at Saginaw, Mich. He afterwards peddled dry goods for two months and then opened a "junk store," which he carried on until he came to Omaha, Neb., in 1876. He opened a junk store here shortly after his arrival and continued in that business until June, 1878, when he entered upon his present duties. Mr. Reis was married in Germany, February 28, 1866, to Mary Ann Cirepner, a native of that country. They have three children--Max Jr., Josephine and Emil.

L. M. RHEEM, manager of the Western Union Telegraph, was born in Clearfield, Pa., August 2, 1851. He left home in 1866 and settled in Logansport, Ind., where he learned telegraphing, and afterwards removed to Iowa where he followed the same business. From 1870 to 1872 he was ticket agent of the C., B. & Q. R. R. at Council Bluffs, then took charge of the Western Union Telegraph office in the same city, a position he retained until 1874, in which year he removed to Omaha, Neb. From 1875 to 1878 he was manager of the Atlantic & Pacific Telegraph office in Omaha. He then engaged in the hotel business with the firm of Canfield & Co., keeping the Canfield House about one year. In 1879 he was appointed manager of the American Union Telegraph, a position he retained until the consolidation with the Western Union Telegraph, in March, 1881, when he was appointed to his present position. He was married in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, April 21, 1880, to Miss Rachel H. Cooper, of Cedar Rapids. They have one child, Lydia, born February 18,1881. Mr. Rheem is a member of Capital Lodge No. 3, A., F. & A. M. and Chapter No. 1, R. A. M.

HENRY F. RHODES, Deputy County Treasurer, was born near Ithaca, N. Y., in 1856, where he spent his boyhood days, and was located at Ithaca, taking a classical course at the academy. In 1877 he emigrated to Nebraska and located at Omaha, where he was engaged in teaching until the spring of 1881, when he engaged in a grocery store as book-keeper, and was appointed Deputy Treasurer of Douglas County for the new term commencing in January, 1882, under John Resh.

BAZIL RHODES, river pilot, residence Burt, near Sixteenth street, He came to Nebraska in 1871, located at Florence and engaged at farming about four years. He was born in Morgantown, Monongalia Co., W. Va., in 1802 and lived in his native place for fifteen years, then located in Woodsfield, Monroe Co., Ohio. He has been identified with the order of Free Masons of Steubenville, Ohio, and is Master Mason. The maiden name of his wife was Martha Wilson. They were married in 1847 in Nashville, Tenn. She was born in Pittsburgh, Pa. Their children are Zachariah B., William Worth, James W., Thomas F., Alexander B. and Seth C.

View
[J. L. RICE & CO.'S BAKERY AND CONFECTIONERY.]

JORELION L. RICE, firm of J. L. Rice & Co., otherwise knows as Jo. and Sam, dealers in fine confectionery, bakery and restaurant, established September 18, 1878, on a capital of $50 and now have increased their business to the amount of $18,000 per annum. They employ five men whose wages average $30 per month. Mr. Rice was born in Stockbridge, Ingham Co., Mich., April 4, 1852. He engaged in the bakery and confectionery business in 1874, at St. Louis Mich., one year, then went to Gold Hill, Neb., where he engaged in the same business son year. He then traveled some time as salesman and finally located in Omaha, Neb. He has followed mining eight years of his life in the Black Hills, Nevada, Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico. He was married in Valparaiso, Ind., September 22, 1879, to Miss Rosealtha Maulsby, who was born in the latter city. They have one daughter, named Gertrude L. Mr. Rice is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Omaha Lodge, also a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His father's name was Lewis E. Rice, born in Gorham, Ontario Co., N. Y., June 5, 1820. His mother's maiden name was Elizabeth E. Lowe, born in Fallsburg, Sullivan Co., N. Y., April 22, 1821. They were married in Stockbridge, Mich., October 10, 1844.

J. M. RICE, foreman of cabinet work department of the U. P. R. R., is a native of Maine, and was born in Guilford, Piscataquis County, May 31, 1842. He served an apprenticeship with his father in house carpentering in Bangor, Maine. In 1863 he enlisted in the United States Navy as an ordinary seaman on the Dakota for seven months, and was transferred to the Gettysburg, one of the blockading fleet on the coast of North Carolina, and was engaged in the first attack on Fort Fisher. After his discharge he enlisted in the Fourteenth Regiment, Maine Volunteer Infantry, and served to the close of the war, returning home for one year, and in 1867 went to Texas and worked at his trade in Galveston. In 1868 he came to Omaha and worked as a journeyman for a year in the shops of the U. P. R. R., and was made foreman in 1870 of the cabinet department. He is a member of the Rising Virtue Lodge No. 10, A., F. & A. M., in Bangor, Maine. He was married to Miss Carrie A. Turner, of Fremont, Neb., December 10, 1872. They have three children, Stella V., born November 2, 1873; May R., born July 29, 1875, and John T., born, March 16, 1880. Mary R., died July 7, 1880.

T. W. T. RICHARDS, president of the Omaha Foundry and Machine Co., was born in Loudoun County, Va., in 1841. He was educated at Columbian College, Washington, D. C., graduating there in 1860. In April, 1861, he enlisted in the Eighth Virginia Infantry--General Longstreet's corps, as a private, served four years, and when mustered out, held the rank of Captain. In 1865, he entered the University of Virginia, graduating in the Law Department there in June, 1867, and was admitted to practice at the bar shortly afterward. He came to Nebraska in 1868, locating in Omaha and was engaged in the practice of law, until March, 1881. In 1875 Mr. Richards opened the Cass Street Iron Works at Omaha, the concern being managed by L. G. Heybrock. In April, 1879, the concern was organized into a joint stock company, called the Omaha Iron Works, Mr. Richards holding all the stock in the name of different members of his family. These works were burned down in 1879, and in April, 1880, the concern was re-organized and incorporated into the Omaha Foundry and Machine Company, with a capital of $25,000. The company built new works in 1880. They employ fifty men, manufacture steam engines, boilers, mining machinery, etc. T. W. T. Richards, president, and Chester B. Davis, secretary of the company. Mr. Richards took the active management of the company's work in March 1881. He was married in Omaha in 1870, to Ella Townes, a native of Kentucky. They have three children, Margaret, Jessie and Willie.

REV. R. RICKETS, Pastor of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, residence 1719 Webster street, Omaha, was born in Henry County, Ky., December 1, 1842. He was married in 1857, to Mary Johnson. They have two children, M. C., and Oscar. His oldest son is now attending the Nebraska Medical College at Omaha. Mr. Rickets was a slave and by his own labor he purchased his own freedom, and that of his oldest boy in 1860. He has been engaged in the ministry over a score of years and has been located at various places throughout the North since 1866. His family now reside at Boonville, Mo.

R. FRANK RILEY, traveling salesman, with Metcalf & Co., 1005 Farnam street, is a native of Pennsylvania, and came to Nebraska in 1877, and has been connected with the business industries of the State since.

THOMAS RILEY, traveling salesman for J. Walsh & Co., settled in Omaha in 1856. He was elected Marshal and Deputy Sheriff, beginning his duties in the above offices in 1857, and served as Marshal three years and Sheriff two years. He afterwards clerked in the office of the superintendent of the U. P. R. R., a few months, after which he engaged in the grocery business. Two years later he sold out and began the jobbing sale of liquors which he followed seven years. He then went to Colorado and operated in mines two years, then returned and began in his present place of business. He was born in Wayne County, Pa., May 13, 1837. He was married in Omaha, April 22, 1862, to Miss Annie T. Riley, a native of Ireland. They have eight children whose names are as follows, Helen T., Sara A., Minnie F., Lizzie A., Clara M., Stella G., Frances J. and Thomas E.

HENRY RITTER, meat market, 2001 Cuming street, Omaha. Mr. Ritter was born in Germany in 1841. In 1856 he came to Lancaster, Pa., where he engaged at his present business, which he followed there nine years. In the meantime he enlisted in the Home Guards, in defense of his own State in 1861, and remained in that service for two years. He afterwards removed to Springfield, Ill., in the Government employ, engaged in the meat business, and after a stay there of several years he came to Omaha and subsequently engaged at the present business, which he has very successfully carried on since. In 1861 he was married to Miss Elizabeth Senkel in Lancaster, Pa. She was born in Germany in 1840. They have one daughter, Nettie.

W. L. RITTER, traveling salesman with R. C. Steel & Johnson, Omaha, is a native of Virginia and came to Nebraska in 1872. In 1874 he accepted a position of the present firm and has been continuously with it since.

JOHN S. ROBB, practical painter, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, October 4, 1821. He served an apprenticeship of six years at the trade of house painter and was then employed as a journeyman painter until he came to America in 1857. Was then employed at his trade at Chicago, Ill., for three years. Came to Omaha, Neb., in the spring of 1860. Located in Omaha and opened a painting establishment which he has continued since. His principal business is house an sign painting. Employs three men. Was married in Scotland in 1842. Was twice married and has five children, all in this country.

E. L. ROBERTSON, firm of Nelson & Robertson, ice and coal dealers, is a native of Mason County, Ky., came to Kansas City, Mo., in 1869, and removed to Omaha in 1875. He became a member of this firm in 1881. Married in 1878 to Martha Leach, of Chicago. They have two sons, John and Charles.

JOSEPH ROBINS, dealer in boots and shoes, hats and caps, and gents' furnishing goods. Began business in May, 1880. He has gradually increased his stock from beginning, and now commands a fair trade. He was born in England in 1840 and emigrated to America in 1857 and located in Lynchburg, Va. Followed overseeing for a contractor one year, then went to New York City and worked one year, then went South and traveled for a mercantile house until the war broke out. He joined the army and served one year, then went to St. Louis, Mo., and clerked in a store until 1868, then went to Omaha and engaged in real estate business until he embarked in mercantile business in 1870, which he has since followed. He was married in England in 1874 to Emma Williams, who was born in the latter country. They have three children, Mary E., Joseph S., and Edward. Mr. R. is a member of the I. O. O. F. of Manchester Unity, England, and also a member of Masonic Lodge No. 967.

STEPHEN ROBINSON, bridge builder and contractor. He keeps on an average eleven men in his employ at $2.50 per day and does from $11,000 to $30,000 worth of work per annum. He located in Omaha in 1867 and engaged in house building about eight years, since which time he has been engaged as above. He was born in Kingston, Canada West, August 7, 1839. Was married in Bath, Canada West, April 25, 1866, to Miss Minerva J. Clapp, who was born near Kingston, Canada, October 23, 1843. They have five children, Judson M., Adda G., Cory D., Willie and Grace. Mr. R. is a member of the Masonic order of Canada. He lived in the latter country and made teaching his profession until he was twenty-six years of age when he went West to build up a home for himself and family.

FRANK E. ROMANKOFF, foreman of the Glencoe Flour and Feed Mills, was born in Germany, February 2, 1850. He served three years as an apprentice to trade of millwright and was afterwards employed in the capacity of miller for two years. Came to America in 1869. Was employed as millwright in Buffalo, N. Y., for three years. Was then in the employ of the Nodyke & Marmon Company, mill furnishings, etc., Indianapolis, Ind., for three years. Then at Wellsville, Mo., employed as foreman in a flour mill for two years. He came to Nebraska in 1878. Located at Grand Island. Was engaged millwrighting and selling machinery until he came to Omaha, May 17, 1881, and engaged in present capacity.

MILTON ROGERS, hardware, commenced his business here in 1855. He is also in the same business at Council Bluffs which he commenced July 2, 1850, having a man here to attend to the store. In 1880 the firm became Milton Rogers & Son. He commenced a jobbing trade about the time the U. P. R. R. was opened. The amount of business now done annually is about $500,000. It is principally in tinner's stock, stoves, etc. They employ about fifty men and have three traveling men. Thomas J. Rogers, Jr., member of the firm, was born in Council Bluffs. Milton Rogers is a native of Maryland and was raised at New Lisbon, Ohio. He located first at Omaha, on Farnam street, between Ninth and Tenth, and has occupied his present location since 1868. The firm sells in Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Montana, and western Iowa and the West generally.

Portrait
[Portrait of Sam E. Rogers]

SAMUEL E. ROGERS came to Nebraska, August, 28, 1854, and located at Omaha where he has since resided. He engaged in banking in the spring of 1856 and established the house of S. E. Rogers. Continued this business until 1859. He then embarked in the wholesale grocery trade at the corner of Fourteenth and Farnam streets. He continued at this until the spring of 1862 since which time he has attended to his real estate business. At the formation of the State bank he became interested therein and has since been associated with it. He was for four years a member of the Territorial Legislature. He was born in Flemingsburg, Fleming Co., Ky., February 11, 1822. His parents emigrated to Indiana where he was reared. Received his education at Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Ind., graduating in 1848. He taught school for two years and engaged in mercantile business four years before coming to Nebraska. He was married in Clinton County, Ind., October 14, 1844, to Martha Brown, a native of Oxford, Ohio. They have one son, Godlove S. A daughter, Dorcas, died in infancy in 1863. Mr. R. was one of the charter members of Capital Lodge, A., F. & A. M. He is president of the Rocky Mountain Oil, Mining and Transportation Company, incorporated in 1879. He has built and aided in building from 300 to 400 buildings in Omaha in the past four years. He was one of the original owners of Brownville town site and started a saw mill there in 1855.




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