wife lived on the farm summers and in the winter the family came to town to educate the boy. Mr. Vaughn still has general charge of the ranch though he now has a foreman there so that he can alternate between the county and his business in Alliance where he is extensively engaged in running a jobbing house, dealing in oil and gasoline and other allied products. Mr. Vaughn is a stockholder in the Reliance Refining Company of Eldorado, while his son, J. Claude, is secretary and treasurer and sales manager. For some years Mr. Vaughn and his son were engaged in a coal, feed, ice and oil business in Alliance but has disposed of this as their time is more profitably spent in carrying on larger concerns. September 12, 1881, Mr. Vaughn married Luttia Clemmons at Boulder, Colorado. She was the daughter of Jesse Clemmons of Kentucky, and Mrs. Vaughn was born at Frankfort, that state. One child was born to this union, J. Claude, who was graduated from the Alliance high school then took a special commercial course in a business college at Kansas City, Missouri, and is now located at Eldorado in charge of his father's interests in oil production, as has been stated. J. C. Vaughn was the youngest man ever to take the degree of Shriner in the Masonic order in Nebraska. The Vaughn family have a fine modern home in Alliance, where they are known for their generous hospitality to their friends, having made many warm and kindly associations since settling here at an early day and have been known throughout the valley for many years for their kind deeds and ready support for all worthy causes of the community. Mr. Vaughn owns a fine business block at 222 Box Butte Avenue, other residence properties in the city and has an annual income from six hundred tons of prairie hay he cuts each year that many might well envy, besides the general income from investments and the ranch so that his faith in the Panhandle has been fully justified. HERBERT A. COPSEY, M. D., president of the Alliance State Bank is well known among the progressive agriculturists of this section and for a number of years was a leading member of the medical fraternity of Box Butte county, thus he has been identified with numerous financial enterprises here and has established a high reputation for ability, judgment and general acumen. His introduction to Alliance was as a physician in which he served the community with great skill until he entered government service at the outbreak of the World War, Since leaving the army he has become connected with the large financial affairs of the Panhandle, his rise being rapid, sure and most substantial. Herbert Copsey was born in Crawford county, Wisconsin, January 21, 1880, the son of Alonzo H. and Anna (Wallen) Copsey, who had a family of nine children of whom Herbert is the third in order of birth. When the boy was only a year old his parents came to Nebraska, locating in Custer county near Westerville; the country was so little settled at the time that supplies had to be obtained at Grand Island, eighty miles away. The children were sent to the district school nearest their home, where they laid a good sound foundation for a practical education. Young Herbert early learned to work on the home farm as well as all boys in the country do but well recalls the first money he actually earned by driving calves for a half day for a neighbor, receiving fifteen cents for his work, but that number of cents in those early days looked as big to him as dollars did later. After finishing the elementary courses in the local schools, Dr. Copsey attended the high school at Ansley, followed by the teacher's course in the normal school at Broken Bow. For three years he taught in the Custer county schools, but the life of a pedagogue did not appeal to him as a permanent vocation so he entered the Lincoln Medical college, in 1902, graduating with the degree of M. D. in May, 1906. The following July he came to Alliance, opened an office and began his professional career. Dr. Copsey soon built up a good practice in Alliance as well as the surrounding country as he was a skillful physician, courteous and sympathetic to those afflicted, and for thirteen years held a high position among medical men of the Panhandle. When the president called for volunteers when war was declared against Germany, Dr. Copsey volunteered, was commissioned captain and placed in charged of the medical wards in the hospital at Camp Hancock, Sandy Hook, New Jersey, serving from September, 1918 to January 4, 1919, when he was mustered out at Camp Grant, Illinois. On his return to ways of peace Dr. Copsey entered the financial field, as business appealed to his tastes and temperament. Soon after reaching Alliance he bought a large block of stock in the Alliance State Bank, becoming its president. The bank had been organized in 1914, but its development was not decidedly marked until the |
present officers took charge of its affairs. The personnel of the bank at the present time is: H. A. Copsey, President; Charles E. Brittain, vice president and Jay 0. Walker, cashier. Dr. Copsey's resolute purpose, high integrity, won during his many years in Alliance, have begotten popular confidence and esteem that are so essential to the furtherance of success in financial circles and have materially aided in building up the clientele of the bank. As a banker Dr. Copsey is showing special constructive talent, and through his effective policies and efforts the Alliance State Bank is taking rank in the forefront of the financial institutions of western Nebraska, as it has a paid up capital stock of $35,000, surplus of $30,000, with an authorized capital of $50,000, while the amount that it has grown may be gained from the fact that the deposits are well over $700,000, making it the second largest bank in the city. At the present time the board of directors consists of Herbert A Copsey, Charles E. Brittain, Jay 0. Walker and M. C. Hubbell. On January 20, 1909, Dr. Copsey married Miss Mabel C. O'Brien, at Broken Bow, and one child has been born to them, Mary Loretta. Dr. Copsey has ever been a believer in a great future for the Panhandle which he has demonstrated by investing his capital here for he is the owner of five thousand acres of land lying forty-five miles south-east of Alliance in Garden county, where he is actively engaged in agricultural business, as he annually runs about eight hundred head of cattle on his pastures and cuts a thousand tons of hay, a large and well paying business aside from all his other interests. In Alliance the doctor and his wife own a fine modern home where they dispense a cordial hospitality as they have a host of warm friends and acquaintances. Being progressive in his ideas for his own affairs the doctor also advocated progress in civic and municipal affairs and is a "booster" for every movement that will develop the county or city, giving liberally toward all worthy causes. In politics he is a Republican while his fraternal affiliations are with the Elks. He and his wife are members of the Roman Catholic church, while the doctor is a Knight of Columbus. LYMAN A. BERRY, for more than a quarter of a century one of the leaders of the Box Butte county bar and for over thirteen years continuously on the bench, is the example of a life that has been worthily lived and as such bears its full measure of compensation. Now that he has passed life's meridian and the shadows begin to lengthen from the crimsoning west, he has stored up lessons of rich and varied experience, as one who has wrought wisely, justly and effectively. Each successive year to him must thereafter be radiant in personal contentment and gracious memories. Judge Berry, as he is best known in the Panhandle, is engaged in the practice of his profession in Alliance and his status as a citizen, a lawyer, and as a genial and popular man makes it specially pleasing to accord him recognition in this history. The Judge was born at Pompey, New York, May 15, 1854, the son of Matthias and Sylvia (Osborn) Berry, both natives of the Empire state, the former born at Morrisville, the latter at Fabius. Lyman was next to the youngest in a family of eight children and thus early learned to adjust himself to the welfare and comfort of others as is necessary among a number of growing children. Matthias Berry was a mill-wright by trade, a very skillful man in his vocation whose time was in great demand where a mill was to be constructed or repaired. During his boyhood the Judge attended the public schools of his home town with his brothers and sisters, then entered the Pompey Academy and later matriculated at the Whitestown Seminery, Whitesborough, New York. Following his course in this institution he became a student at Hamilton College, Hamilton, New York, where he spent three years in college work. Soon after graduating he began to teach but after some time spent in the school room winters and working on a farm summers he began to read law in the office of Judge Parker at Marshalltown, Iowa, and on February 18, 1879, was admitted to practice in the district courts of Iowa. Two years later he located at Ida Grove, Iowa, and formed a partnership with Mat. M. Gray. The two youthful members of the legal profession opened an office under the firm name of Gray and Berry, an association that continued four years when Judge Berry formed a new partnership with Charles W. Rollins. For eight years the Judge and Mr. Rollins enjoyed a fine practice but in 1893 the Judge's health gave out and he returned to his old home in New York for a vacation of a year. After sufficiently recuperating he came west but this time located in the Panhandle in Box Butte county, establishing himself again in a law practice until he was elected county judge in 1903, on |
the Democratic ticket; he was re-elected seveal (sic) times serving thirteen and a half years on the bench before retiring to a private practice on January 1, 1917. During his long service as a county official judge Berry established an enviable reputation as a jurist, few of his decisions being reversed by a higher court and since he has again opened an office for business in the Rumor Building at the corner of Third street and Box Butte Avenue, has had a continually expanding business that is most satisfactory from a financial view as well as showing the high place the judge holds in the esteem of the people of the community. On June 27, 1883, Judge Berry married Miss Minnie J. Sparks, at Gilman, Iowa, the daughter of Lyman B. Sparks, a native of Massachusetts. Two children have come to make happy this union: Leo M., who married Miss Florice Cook, is a ranchman near Lakeside, Nebraska, and they have one child, Grace, eight years old; and Llye S., who graduated from the high school in Alliance then entered college in Chicago, Illinois, where he took a special course in electricity, graduating with highest honors in just half the time that most men take for the course, in competition with twenty-five hundred students. This was in the spring of 1908, and within a short time Lyle Berry accepted a position as electrician at the Boyson Dam Project, Wyoming, as superintendent of the light and power plant, where he remined (sic) two years before he was induced to go to Lusk, Wyoming as superintendent and manager of the light and power company of that city, where he was in charge until July 18, 1918. When war was declared with Germany Lyle Berry entered the aviation division of the army, being sent to Elling Field, Texas, for general training. He remained in the service until mustered out in March, 1919, then returned to assume his duties as manager of the electric company at Lusk. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Judge Berry came to the Panhandle more than a quarter of a century ago and before that was an old resident of Iowa, so that pioneer honors must be accorded him. From first settling here he has taken in active and important part in the development of this section being ever ready with money, time and advice for every laudable enterprise that was of benefit to the town and communty (sic). His faith in the future of this section has been unfailing and he has lived to see it justified. He owns one of the finest and most hospitable homes in Alliance where, with his charming wife, open house is kept for their many friends. He can recall many experiences of the early days, some of which will be found in the old settler's stories written by Judge Tash, on the historical pages of this book. According to Judge Berry they were not all hardships, but he as usual shows us but the sunny side of frontier life on the high prairies. Politically the Judge is a staunch supporter of the tenets of the Democratic party while his fraternal affiliations are with the Masonic order, as he is a Scottish Rite Mason. HARRY P. COURSEY, the senior member of. one of the largest automobile houses in the Pandhandle (sic), is a business man of marked ability and for the past ten years has become known as one of the specially successful auctioneers of northwestern Nebraska. He is an adopted son of this great commonwealth but has the push, energy and financial acumen usually attributed to one of our native sons. Harry Coursey was born in Grundy county, Iowa, December 22, 1877, the son of Septimus M. and Sarah (Weatherby) Coursey, the former a native of Hagerstown, Maryland, while the mother was born in Indiana. There were seven children in the Coursey family of whom Harry was the fourth boy. His father was an contractor and builder by trade and followed this vocation in Iowa until 1879 when the family moved to Kansas, locating on a farm in Norton county, where they lived for some time. Septimus M. Coursey proved up on his homestead but during the years of the drought had such poor crops that he could not support the family from the returns of the farm and went to Topeka, to work as a builder and also undertook some contracting. Harry had already attended school in the country and after moving to the state capital continued his studies in the schools there for three years, at the close of which time he accompanied his parents when they returned to the old home in Norton county. They all remained on the farm until the spring of 1899, then removed to Lexington, where Mr. Coursey engaged in work as a builder, the boys worked at whatever they could out of school hours and during vacations in order to keep the family going, for money was very scarce at that period in the plains country and many people became so discouraged they returned to their old home farther east, but the Courseys were made of firmer fibre and determined that if they could "stick it out" would in the |
end be rewarded for their work, which has proved true. Harry Coursey well remembers the first money he earned while still a small boy, as he hired out to. H. C. Stockey of Lexington to drive a cow to pasture for which he received a check of fifty cents, a goodly sum for a small boy at that time. In the fall of 1895, the Coursey family returned to Topeka and Harry went to work there, remaining in Kansas until 1907, when he came to the Panhandle, locating on a farm in Box Butte county in the spring of the year. His father and the rest of the family came at the same time and took a Kinkaid homestead of four hundred and eighty acres on which he lived and proved up, at the same time engaging in business as a contractor. In 1909 Harry Coursey bought the livery business, in Alliance from C. C. Smith which he conducted two years then in 1912, purchased Forest Allen's livery business and merged the two, which was then known as the Keeler Livery, but receiving a good offer for this concern in 1913, sold at a very satisfactory figure. Just a month and nine days later on February 1, 1914, Mr. Coursey and J. R. Keeler formed a business partnership and took the agency for the Ford automobile for Alliance and the surrounding territory, established the Keeler-Coursey Company, which at once became a most prosperous concern with business covering a wide range of country. They were forced to move twice into larger buildings in order to have more room. June 7, 1918, True Miller bought Mr. Keeler's interest in the firm which became known as Coursey and Miller. They purchased the large brick building at the corner of Third and Laramie streets which has nineteen thousand square feet of floor space demanded by their rapidly expanding business, space to display their cars, tractors and trucks as well as their accessories and for tire space as they are the wholesale distributors of the Firestone Tires for northwestern Nebraska and southwestern South Dakota. Both members of the firm are men of initiative, executive ability and business foresight which is all contained in one word "hustlers" here in the Panhandle. They are aggressive in their business methods and development of Alliance and the local district and are a valuable adjunct to the citizenship of this progressive city. From the two years past we presage a great future for the firm which is so ably managed by its owners. For more than ten years Mr. Coursey has been an auctioneer in Western Nebraska, where he has built up a fine reputation for honest dealing, careful fulfillment of business engagements and personal integrity, while his courtesy and consideration are wining him a widening clientele in all his business ventures. Being a leading livestock auctioneer he is naturally thrown in association with the rural population where he has made many warm friends and business associates. Fraternally he is associated with the Elks, Modern Woodmen and Odd Fellows. December 23, 1901, Mr. Coursey married Miss Laura M. Titus, at Holton, Kansas, the daughter of James W. and Novelle (McCormic) Titus, the former a native of Iowa. Mrs. Coursey was born and reared in Ottawa county, Kansas, where she still lived at the time of her marriage. Two children have been born to this union: Harvey P., in the high school at Alliance, and Novella, also in the high school. M. S. HARGRAVES, is secretary of the Alliance Building and Loan Association, at 109 West Third street, Alliance Nebraska, and is engaged in a General real estate and insurance business. CHARLES E. CLOUGH is one of the later settlers of Box Butte county who is now spending the sunset years of life removed from active business care in Alliance. His story which is about to be related proves, however, that the late-comers, if possessed of the same traits and business characteristics, make good practically as well as did the pioneers of the early days when the very best land in the county was open for homestead entry. Mr. Clough is a son of the Empire state, born at Fabius, Onandaga county, April 30, 1844, the son of Ephraim and Emmaline (Fitch) Clough, the former, as his son, a native of New York state. Charles was next the youngest in a family of six children, one brother, Abel, being killed in action during the war of the Rebellion. Ephraim Clough was a farmer who kept a dairy herd, sold milk and also made cheese, an industry for which New York is famous the country over, Charles grew up in the country, attended the public schools and early began to earn money as his father paid him for milking. Later the family removed to Wyoming county, New York, and there the boy entered the Wyoming Academy, later he changed to an academy at Pike and after his elementary education was completed he matriculated at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he graduated |
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