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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (March 17, 1907)
The Omaha Sunday Bee PART III. Gcxt Into thet Homn THE OMAHA BEE Best c'h. West IIALF-TOIIE SECTION PACES 1 T 0. VOL. XXXVI-NO. 39. OMAHA, SUNDAY MORNING, MAKC1I 17, 1W7. S1NCJLK COPY F1YK CKNTS. DENNIS LONERGAN A STURDY PIONEER NEBRASKA FARMER Son of Tipperary Finds a Douglas County Farm a Most Inviting Haven and There Builds a Boas that Has Endured Half a Century of Rush and Bustle and Grows Brighter Every Day. FROM the sunny hills of Tipperary, Ireland, two peasants, man and wife, with their family, departed in the spring of 1841. They had spent many years there In the toll and un der tho oppression that has been the heritage of the warm hearted, sturdy sons of turbulent "Erin go Brash." Those 'storme of human passion which had drenched with blood and swept with flame the fertile fields of the Emerald Isle had not left them entirely unscathed. But they had maintained the reputation of their race; they had worked and saved and, like millions of their fellow countrymen they pushed bravely out toward the western land of promise to plant their sons and daughters In a soil where they might grow and flourish. It was a family which conformed liberally to the Rooseveltlaa doctrines, for there were thirteen children, tho youngest 5 years old. Today father and mother and all the children save one are dead. This one is Dennis Lonergan, a pioneer of tfniaha and Douglas county and today an active man, living on his farm, five miles north west of Florence. When his parents left Ireland he was 7 years old, having been born June 9, 1834, in Cashel, county Tipperary. It took courage to cross the ocean In those days. There were no steamships; the vessels were made of wood; there was danger of fire, and the time of the passage wad entirely uncertain, being very largely dependent on the winds and weather. The good ship "Scot land," on which the big family took passage, was tossed about by the waves for eight weeks before It sailed Into the harbor of Ne York, April 6, 1841, a day rendered memorable by the fact that the city was draped in mourning for the death of former President William Henry Harrison. The family went Immediately to t'tlca, N. V., where they re mained two years. They went from there by ship over the lakes to Milwaukee, then a small but thriving city. Thence they pushed twenty miles west through the almost primeval forest and over roads which Mr. Lonergan says are the worst he ever saw. A piece of land was selected and the family set to work to clear it, building a log house with the first trees felled. It was an Immense under taking in those days to raise enough money to buy 160 acres of land at 81.25 an acre, but the sturdy Irish father and his sons de termined to do it. Labor of the best kind was worth oiriy 50 cents a day. Their only capital was their strength and their axes. The trees were dragged into piles and burned up as fast as they became dry enough and thus by springtime a small area was cleared, though the stumps and stones still remained to be contended with. Mr. lonergan remembers plowing with crude castlron plows with wooden beam and reaping grain with the sickle. Early Days of Hard Work In this strenuous frontier battle with nature he grew to man hood. When he was 18 years of age he left the paternal roof and secured work in the lumber camps of northern Wisconsin, where he remained four years, working for wages and frugally husbanding every penny. For in his heart was an ambition to siezo hold of the opportunities presenting themsVlves in this new and thriving coun try and to make something of himself. This ambition was further Increased and augmented 'when in 1854 he married Miss Margaret Duffy. Horace Greeley's well known advice to young men, "Go west," had reached him and he resigned his position in the spring of 1856 and, first paying a visit to his parents, left, with his wife, for Omaha. "I had made the. acquaintance of a bricklayer who came aboard the boat at St. Joseph," says Mr. Lonergan. "He and I left the boat and came uptown together when we reached Omaha, and I remember asking him where the city was. There were only a few straggling shanties In sight and the reports back in Wisconsin said the 'city had 1,500 people. The old capitol building on the high Bchool hill was Just being erected, and I decided the city" must be back of that hill. When evening came, though, and-1 saw them gather into the City hotel, on Harney street, where I was fortunate enough to get lodging for myself and wife, I knew the people were there, though no large buildings were to be seen. I remember writing back home and telling the folks they were sleeping about three deep on the floor at the City hotel." The young man, being a lumberman, first tried to get work at his own trade, but horg was little to do in that line. Eventually he secured work In "rtftn" lumber down from the village of DeSoto to Omaha for the firm of Davis & Salsbury. Later he worked for a time In a sawmill. There was great rivalry at that time between Florence and Omaha. Many believed Florence was to be the city of the future. The moving spirits there were giving a building lot to anyone who would erect a house, and young Lonergan accepted the proposition and cast his lot with Florence. Flowery Days for Florence Those were flowery days for the present Omaha suburb. The great boom had passed somewhat. Lots had sold for $1,500, which even today are not worth one-fifth that sum. Houses had been built and abandoned. It was the day of the greatest Mormon activity. Florence was the gateway from the east into the west for the hordes of faithful followers of Brlgham Young. They arrived dally from the east during the summer months and there they rested and pre- pared for the long, perilous journey across the plains and mountains to Utah. Mr. Lonergan was a witness of all this activity and he took much part in the movement in the way of dealing with those in authority over the faithful. He sold hundreds of cattle to the Mormon leaders and had an intimate acquaintance with 6ome of the elders. ' Among these was George Q. Cannon, for a time chief Mormon agent at Florence, and an influential man in the church. Another was Mrs. Painter, wife of a wealthy manufacturer of wagons in Illinois. The Painter wagons were used by the Mormons to a large extent. Painter was not a Mormon. His wife left him with the purpose of making the trip to Utah. She got as far as Florence, but there her courage gave out and she returned eventually to her husband. He also knew Joseph Young, a nephew of Brlgham Young, and was slightly acquainted with a son of the great head of the church. He was well acquainted with "Dave" Kimball, a son of Heber C. Kimball, one of the twelve Mormon apostles. Young Kimball was on his way to Europe on a mission and. Mr. Lonergan says, was a "harum-scarum sort of fellow," always up to some "devilment." Of the Mormon emigrants, Mr. Lonergan has nothing but good to relate. Mormons Ordinary People "They were an ordinary people," he says. "They were liberal in their dealings and some of them had a great deal of money. They were of many nationalities. A considerable number of them had come direct from their native countries. They came from Den mark, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland. There were a great many from England, .Scotland and Wales and a few, a very few from Ireland. There were alto a number from South Africa and these seemed to me to be more like the people of western America than any of the others. I remember one man named Talbot from South Africa. He had a very expensive outfit, worth probably in those days and lu that country $100,000. He talked Just like we did and we had conriderable sport over our apparent likenesses. They were not all rich by any means. There were many poor who were brought out at the expense of the church, but were under a contract to pay this back when they arrived in Utah." The authorities in Florence gave the Mormons a tryct of land consisting of seven acres north of the preseut waterworks. There the Mormons built their warehouse and maintained their stock yards. They had agents all through Iowa aud Illinois and Missouri buying up cattle to supply this station. This stock la Florence v:is drawn upon to fit out the trains for the west. The order had gone forth from the head of the church to "kill no calf." It was strictly obeyed. . In the later df they began dciviag c&Ula from Utah, mak- 'U. ' . ',, ' "V ' . . '! 1 v ' ",. . r - 1 xl' 'ri ' i yr DENNIS LONERGAN. Ing one round trip to Florence in a season. It was a surprising fact that cattle driven from Utah were In better condition than those bought up cIobo to Florence. They had been toughened and accustomed to travel. The steam ferry across the Missouri river at Florence was kept busy during the migrating season from May to September. Some times 600 emigrants would arrive In a single day and the arrivals of cattle and wagons were proportionately large. The people camped In tents and made good use of some of the houses built dur ing the boom and abandoned later.' . Thoy were fitted out and seut on to the west as rapidly as posstble.by the agent and his assistants in Florence. But before the days of wagons and ox teams was the day of push carts. The world's history may be searched in vain for an Instance of a braver migratory movement of human beings than that of the Mormons who started from Florence in the early push-cart days. More than 1,000 miles of unexplored country lay before them In fested with savages, overrun with wild beasts. There were hun dreds of miles of sand, hundreds of miles of muddy clay, towering mountains, cliffs, crags, canyons, precipices. Through all this these wonderful people went almost unarmed and pushing their two "I used to see them start out every day," says Mr. Lonergan. "They always had some sort of service before a train would start. There were usually from thirty to forty carts In a train and three persons to a cart, two pulling on a rope in the front and one push ing and guiding with the handle behind. The burden of each cart when it left Florence was 300 pounds. I can see them now going up the hill zlg-zagglng to make It pull easier. They would tug and push and pull with the greatest enthusiasm, sometimes singing songs. When they reached the summit they went along the divide for sev eral miles toward the northwest and there were lost to view In the immense wilderness Into which they ventured.. I never saw them with any arms to speak of, certainly not enough to withstand an attack from the Indians. Yet very few were molested on the way. I believe they had emissaries among the Indians who established friendly feeling toward them." Polygamy wa3 not practiced among the Mormons in Florence, at least not openly. There .was one fellow, a Mormon named Joseph E. Johnson, who lived In Crescent City, la., a few miles from Flor ence, and who was reputed to bo a polyg.-unlst. His home was re ferred to as "the harem." There was also one exception to tho rule. In Florence In tho person of Henry Keller who had two wives and W'as afterward confined In tho Insane asylum at Lincoln. (Mr. Lonergan notes that these two facts are not to be regarded as cause and effect.) Keeler became so violent he had to be chained to tha floor. He was confined in this manner when the asylum burned and was the only Inmate who perished in that conflagration. Two Dead-Game Toughs Wild and wicked were some of the men in Douglas county In the early days. But they possessed a recklessness and bravado that made one almost admire them for tho 'nrtistic" Hnd picturesque manner in which they carried through their wickedness. With two of these desperadoes Mr. Lonergan was well acquainted and, though they came to a most dishonorable end, they met it with a "nerve" that was wonderful. The two men were Harvey Braytoif and Jack Daly. Brayton's father was a Mormon who hnd come to Floreucs in 184 6 and gone on to Utah. Daly was a laborer. They stole two horses from P. Connor, who lived southeast ot the present town ot Calhoun. They crossed tho river, but Connor pursued and captured them after a desperate fight In Shelby county. They were brought to Omaha, taken back to Culhoun and finally returned to Omaha to await trial. Connor, R. S. Bryant and some others decided to pee that the men were punished without any delay. They went in a wagon to Omaha and In some way secured the keys from Sheriff "Cam" Reeves. The men were placed on the wagon shackled. The two asked what was going to be done with them and when thoy were told they wore about to "stretch hemp" they said thoy would prefer that to lying In that "measly Jnll in Omaha." It Is said there was many a Joke told and many a lie "swapped" on the weird trip to Florence. Mr. Lonergan saw the men when they were brought In to the village. The wagon stopped at a Baloou and Drayton asked Connor If he didn't mean to' treat. ; "It'll be the last drink we're likely to get," ho said, laughing, And Connor treated. A man went to the 6toro and bought forty feet of rope and when the storekeeper asked what he was going to use it for, calmly replied: "Oh, just goln' to hang a couple o' fel lers." The wagon drove off into tho nlcht and the next morning the bodies were found hanglnc from a limb near the old Vander cook house, two miles north of Florence .Claim Club Operations The Claim club also furnished some excitement. The land in Douglas county was thrown on the market in 1857 and the club immediately claimed it all. If a man tried to pre-empt a tract ha was called a claim Juniper and dealt with summarily. One man, Steve Neal, was thus brpnded and the Claim club "tried" him and sentenced him to be flogged. He was beaten into unconsciousness and then thrown into the river to see whether he was shamming. He was taken out before he drowned and upon regaining conscious cess still refused to sign the papers. He never did sign them Rnd retained possession of his land. Most of the men preferred to forego the land rather than secure it at such a price. Mr. Lonergan has continued to live In Douglas county since tho early days. He believes there Is no place in the world to surpass it. He has a beautiful farm of eighty acres, where his daughter, Emma R. Lonergan, lives with him. He is still actively engaged In farming, for his 73 years sit lightly upon him. He is straight and strong. He took the temperance pledge from tho famous Father Mathey while still a boy. On adjoining farms, one on each side of him, live his two sons, Charles and William, and their children gladden the house of the pioueer. The two sons are general farmers and make a speclalty.of breeding fine hogs. Mr. Lonergan has two other children, Mrs. Mary L. McCarthy and Miss Margaret Lonergan, the latter a teacher in the Omaha public schools. Mrs. Lonergan died in 1873 and Mr. Lonergan has not remarried. He has been a member of tho Catholic church all his life. He has never sought political office, though there were tlmc3 when he might have had It. He has never missed an election. He consid ers the franchise a sacred responsibility. Living at ease in his latter days upon the broad and fertile acres of the home he has carved out of the wilderness, Dennis Lonergan is a fair example of what Nebraska, so long maligned as part of the "great American desert," does for her sons. The men who had faith in her and In her possibilities, scratched the wilderness and found a paradise. Their labors were richly rewarded. Dennis Lonergan in Ireland might have spent a laborious life In earning a precarious living. In Nebraska he has three farms to show for his efforts and has established a homo for his children and hit children's children. Weidensall on Work of the Y. A. C. A. in Holland IMMEDIATELY after leaving Belgium I en tered Holland and visited two of its noted cities, The Hague and .Amsterdam, which are very peculiar, remarkable and important cities. The Hague, though smaller than some of the Netherland cities, is none the less in its char acter aiid quality for that. In some respects it intensifies its real excellences. The Hague is very beautifully located naturally, which has been improved very much by skill and labor. It has fine and extensive parks, boulevards and very charming suburban places. It has large and at tractive public and private buildings. Its resi dence quarters are very homelike and clean and seem like very desirable places to live. There are two quite large Protestant cathedrals or churches. " The chief attraction of The Haue is its wonderful seaside resort, Schevenlngen, with its delightful beach and surf, its splendid pier that extends far out into the sea. The many institu tions, hotels, restaurants, stores and places of amusement, make It one of the most desirable re sorts for wholesome pleasure and recreation that can be found anywhere. Then it is so clone to the city that no time is lost in going to and from it, which also makes it easily accessible to the common people. The Hague, doubtless because of its central location and because of its many other excellencies, has bej'n chosen by the nations of the world as a most desirable place for the Peace Tribunal, or the court for the settlement of national questions In a manner that will avoid resort to war. If this should succeed, as it cer tainly ought to do. no place in the world would be more notable than The Hague. The exact place in The Hague chosen for the Peace pulace la a very durable one, with very peaceful and charm ing surroundings. Amsterdam, the capital of Holland, is a re markable place in many respects. In the lan guage of another: "Amsterdam is ps good as Venice, with a super added humour and grotesque ne&i whic h gives the sightseer the mo6t singular list and pleasure; a run through Peking one could hardly fancy to be more odd; strange, yet famil iar, the rush and crowd and prodigious vitality; the immense swarm of life; these busy waters, crowded with barges; piled ancient gables, spa clous markets teeming with people; that ever wonderful Jewish quarter, that dear (ld world of painting and the past yet alive and throbbing and palpable, actual and yet passing before you swiftly and strangely as a dream." Amsterdam orig inated at the beginning of the thirteenth century by the building of a dam across the Amstel river, and its life has been full of historical changes and events. "The older part of the city is in the form of a semicircle, the diameter being formed by the Y; canals, or gratchen, of various sizes Intersect the city in every direction and divide it into ninety islands, which are connected by means of 300 bridges." All the buildings are constructed on foundations of piles. The whole city is lower than sea level and is protected from the sea by extensive and well built dykes and great pumping stations. The cost of the works for the protection of the city is estimated at several thousand florins per day. Amsterdam has a population of 500,000 Inhabitants, 80,000 Roman Catholics and 3,500 Portuguese Jews. The city has many great buildings the Royal Pulace, churches, museums, picture galleries, etc., and no end of splendid pri vate buildings. The churches are mostly Dutch Reformed, but some very large Lutheran churches. The Rijks museum has a mammoth building and contains a special hall dedicated to Rembrandt, in which some of his best pictures (originals) are kept. Amsterdam has canals for streets like Venice, and canals and streets running side by side like Stockholm. It Includes many of tho ex cellencies of both Venice and Stockholm; while it is net as large a shipping point as Antwerp. It. is one of the chief commercial centers of Europe and has a very large trade, chiefly In the products of the Dutch colonies tobacco, Java coffee, sugar, rice, spices, etc. Holland Is a small country, but important in many respects. It occupies a very strategic out post of Europe and maintains peaceful relations with the neighboring nations. It has an exten sive colonial system, but conducts it so quietly and unostentatiously that tho world at larce is scarcely aware of it. It is none the less effective, however, on that account. The Dutch are natur ally a sturdy people, honest and reliable. When I was a small boy there was a statement in my little geography, "The Dutch are great smokers." They have more than maintained their early rep utation, for I believe, from what I saw and ex perienced, that they are now greater smokers and more of them. Soon after leaving Belgium I reached The Hague, Holland, Thursday, November 8, and put up at the tourist hotel near the station, a good place. I immediately called at the rooms of the association, Prlnsegracht No. 4, a very central part of the city. I met tho general secretary, Mr. F. W. Laarman, a fine man, and soon became ac quainted with him. He made an appointment for me by telephone to meet Baron A. S. Mackav. former president of the association. Secretary Laarmau accompanied me to the house of Baron Mackay, where I was heartily welcomed. Tho baron is comparatively a young man yet. I pre sented him and his wife-wlth some of the letters T had from various nations and told them some facts about my trip around the world. Afterward I spoke ot the association work in general, then of The Hugue and Holland work. Tho baron Is a strong association man and believes in it. He has an intelligent and practical knowledge of as sociation work. The whole presentation of ,the work seemed to be much appreciated by the baron andhis wife. I enjoyed the entire evening's visit at their home. They are experts in tho v.ay of entertainment. It Is done bo royally and yet so quietly that you are unconscious that you are being entertained. This is an art. The next day, Friday, November 9, I called at the association rooms. Had ft sood interview with General Secretary Laarman. I took dinner with Baron Mack ay at his club, after which I vis ited with him Beveral noted places, chiefly the great seaside resort of The Hague, Schevenlngen. He took me all about tho resort and far out on the great pier. On our return to his oflko he pointed out the place where the Peaco palace it to be built. All the while I had a splendid op portunity to speak of the association work in The Hague, Holland, and in tho world. I had other meetings with the general secretary and a short evening visit of Baron Mackay at my hotel. I was well satisfied with my trip to The Hague and would like to have had more of it that I might have helped them more. The Hague association is in a position to do a larger work than is being ' done I feel sure it will do so soon. Early Saturday morning, November 10, I went to Amsterdam and, by request, reported at tho house of Baron W. C. Quarles Van I'fford, a mem ber of the world's committee Baron Van Ufford is married to a cousin of Mr. R. Sarasin. chair man of the world's committee Young Men's Christian association. I was warmly welcomed; I soon realized that I was In the house of friends. After a very pleasant visit with tho baron and his fhmily I wenttto the Excelsior branch of the Amsterdam association and attended the anni versary meeting of 1U literary society. There was a full attendance of live younu men deeply interested in their special Literary society and ulso in the association. After thes business s'-sslon I attended, by request, and partook of a splendid banquet. Lively toasts were made and lespouded to. I was ai.ked t; address the members of the Literary society, which I was delighted to do, speaking well of the literary society i.nd of the association. Th1 whole soc iety m inif este l t lit ir appreciation of my visit aud addre ss In a manner I shall not soon forget. The next day, Sunday, November 11, I ut tended the Ent-iish Presbyterian church In the morning; heard a very eood sermon. It was a quaint service in a quaint church buildiu. Men Continued on Page Five.)
