 WILLIAM MAUPIN AND FAMILY. |
ed and changed the name to "Empress." He was the pioneer movie man to give a change of program every day regardless of the initial expense and that he was far-sighted needs not be told when we learn of the phenominal (sic) success with which the business has met. The first theatre was soon playing to over crowded houses and then Mr. Dubuque remodeled the old Charter Hotel, practically rebuilt it, and in 1919 opened the new fifty by one hundred and forty foot building as an up-to-date, fire proof structure with a seating capacity of nearly a thousand. He installed a ventilating system that delivers thirty-two thousand cubic feet of fresh air a minute so that it is absolutely sanitary. A fine seventeen thousand Robert Morton organ that plays twenty-three instruments is an added equipment for the pleasure of the patrons and they have responded generously in support of this most pleasurable project as this theatre is the most modern northwestern Nebraska. Mr. Dubuque is a progressive man in ideas and his business is a great addition to the business circles of he city. He is an Elk, a Modern Woodman and Knight of Columbus. H. A. Dubuque is now interested in the Osage and Kansas oil field and sheep business at Belle Fourche, South Dakota, was also the first picture show man in the state of South Dakota. WILL M. MAUPIN, editor and proprietor of the Midwest, which he founded at Gering, Nebraska, in October, 1918, and which has proved a profitable enterprise, is not only a practical printer, but is a widely experienced newspaper man and somewhat prominent in labor circles. He was born in Callaway county, Missouri, August 31, 1863, the eldest of a family of eight children born to William Taylor and Sarah (Miller) Maupin. Both grandfathers of Editor Maupin were born in Kentucky and from there moved to Missouri, the paternal grandfather, George Maupin, a farmer and slaveholder, settling in the state in 1804. William Taylor Maupin father of Will M. Maupin, was born in Callaway county, Missouri, and for sixty years was a minister in the Christian church. His death occurred in Hennesey, Oklahoma, in 1911. He was married in Audrain county, Missouri, to Sarah Miller, a native of Missouri who died at North Bend, Nebraska, in 1894. Of their three surviving children, Will M. is he eldest, the others being Kittie, who is the wife of George L. Burkhaltere, an employe of the United States government, at Galveston, Texas, and T. W., who is in business with his older brother. Will M. Maupin attended the public schools of Holt county until sixteen years old, when he entered a printing office at Oregon, Missouri, and, as old veterans of the case who understand the lure of the types would declare, "settled his fate." He has never since been able to escape from the atmosphere of the printing office, in which he has filled every position from the lowest to the highest. He learned his trade with old-time thoroughness and before he left Missouri owned his own newspaper at Craig. In 1886 he came to Nebraska, for a number of years afterward being connected with some of the leading journals of the state, working first at Fall City. He then went to Omaha and for nine years was with the World Herald, and for the next ten years worked on the Commoner at Lincoln. From the capital he went to York, and after three years of newspaper work there, came to Gering and in the same year founded the Midwest. It is a well conducted journal that has made its way into many homes and has become almost a necessity to the business men, who give it hearty support. Mr. Maupin has a circulation of 900 paying subscribers and the list is constantly increasing. In October, 1895, Mr. Maupin was united in marriage to Miss Lottie Armstead, at North Bend, Nebraska, who was born in Ohio. Their children are as follows: Louis, who is in the banking business at Baggs, in Carbon county, Wyoming; Lorena, who is the wife of L. B. Lewellen, of Lincoln; Dorothy K., who resides at home; and Richard Metcalfe, Margaret B., Charlotte May, Jack Robbins, all of whom attend school; and Dan Whitmer, who is an infant. Mr. and Mrs. Maupin are members of the Christian church. He is identified with the Knights of Pythias, as was his father, who was also an Odd Fellow and a Mason, and with the Elks. In politics he has always been in accord with the Democratic party. In 1909 he was appointed state labor commissioner and served in that office for two years, and during seventeen months of the World War he served as director of publicity, when he resigned. CHARLES E. HERSHMAN, M. D., deceased, was one of the younger members of the Box Butte medical fraternity. Dr. Hershman was a physician of wide experience as he had charge of the various branches of the medical service of the Burlington Railroad for a number of years and after coming to Alliance in 1911, succeeded in establishing himself firmly in a position of prominence in professional circles, as well as in the confidence of the public. He was a native of the Hoosier |
state, born in Jasper county, Indiana, January 12, 1885, the son of Frank M. and Mary A. (Hofferlin) Hershman, the former a Buckeye by birth, while the mother, like her son, is a Hoosier, born at Evansville. Charles was the oldest of the five children born to his parents. He attended the public schools during the winter and worked on his father's farm in the summer time, growing up sturdy and strong and able when it came to farm business to do his share of the work and enjoyed going back to the old farm to visit his father and to recall the old happy days of childhood. After graduating from the high school at Rensellar, the young man matriculated at Valpariso University, Valpariso, Indiana, spending three years in study, specializing in pharmacy. After receiving his degree in his home state Dr. Hershman decided that he preferred medicine to pharmacy for a life vocation and realized that his pharmaceutical training would help him in his profession. He entered the Chicago College of Physicians and Surgeons, took a four year medical course and was granted his M. D. degree June 18, 1908. He passed a brilliant examination for the internship of St. Joseph's Hospital, Joliet, Illinois, serving in that capacity for eighteen months. In 1919 the doctor opened an office for the practice of his profession at London Mills, Illinois, but within ten months had been appointed medical examiner for the Burlington railroad with headquarters in Chicago. A year later Dr. Hershman was transferred to Alliance but resigned January 1, 1912, as medical examiner and immediately was reappointed to the position of surgeon for this district of the Burlington with headquarters at Alliance. As soon as this change had been made the doctor opened an office for his private practice which grew with most gratifying rapidity. He was a young man fully equipped in every way to take charge of medical and surgical work and his great success in Alliance gained for him a wide clientele here and throughout the surrounding district. After locating in the Panhandle the doctor became a convert to the great possibilities of this section and took an active part in all movements that tended to the development of Alliance and the county. He was a member of the Box Butte County Medical Society, the Nebraska State Medical Association, and the American Medical Association. His office was located in the Guardian Trust Building on Box Butte Avenue. In addition to his medical duties and its many calls, Dr. Hershman became interested in the business of Alliance and demonstrated his faith in the future of the city by investing heavily in bank stock and became president of the Guardian State Bank and Trust Company and it was due largely to his progressive and constructive policies that this institution holds the high place it does in the financial circles of Nebraska and the Panhandle, for while he was progressive in his ideas and methods he was conservative in all business dealings and by these qualities furthered the interests of the bank and won for it the confidence of the citizens of this district. On October 18, 1913, Dr. Hershman was married at Alliance to Miss Dorothy Hoag, a native of Blue Springs, Nebraska. She was the youngest of six children born to her parents. Mrs. Hershman received her education in the Council Bluffs, Iowa, high school and after graduation took a course in a commercial college; then accepted a position in the office of the general superintendent of the Burlington Railroad at Alliance where she remain for five years previous to her marriage. Two sturdy, healthy boys became members of the Hershman family: Robert, aged four and Paul F., past three. Mrs. Hershman is a member of the Episcopal church, while the doctor belonged to the Christian church. In politics he was a Democrat, while his fraternal affiliations were with the Masonic order and he was a Shriner and a member of the Elks. December 20, 1920, Dr. Hershman was almost instantly killed by an electric shock while treating a patient in his office with an X-ray machine. Dr. Hershman's death is a loss to the entire community as he was the type of man and citizen no town can afford to lose. Though a young man his energy and enterprise had made itself felt in the commercial and professional life of Alliance. He contributed both his talents and money to the upbuilding of the city, and gained a prominent place in public affairs. As president of the Guardian State Bank, he stood at the door of commercial activity and as a physician and surgeon ranked high. LLOYD C. THOMAS, is one of the younger generation of business men of the Panhandle who are making history in Nebraska. Mr. Thomas is a native son and thus far in his business career has displayed the push and energy for which the citizens of this state have won a high and enviable reputation. He was born at Elwood, Gosper county, July 8, 1889, the son of John and Dora L. Thomas. Lloyd received his elementary education in the |
public schools of Maywood, Alma and Beaver City and a denominational school at Orleans. In 1892, the parents with their six boys moved to Omaha where Lloyd entered Boyles Business College for a special commercial course. When only nine years of age the boy had started in to learn the printers' trade so that by the time he finished school he had served his apprenticeship as a printer and was competent to handle any kind of work in that line. Upon leaving the commercial school he accepted a position with a piano house, remaining two years before going on the road as salesman for typewriter companies. In November, 1907, at the age of eighteen Mr. Thomas won third place in a sales contest conducted by the Oliver Typewriter Company among its three thousand salesmen, his territory covering western Nebraska and eastern Wyoming. In the spring of 1908, he accepted a position in Alliance with a real estate firm and in December of the same year purchased the Alliance Herald, of which he has been chief owner and editor most of the time. He has found that his practical education as a printer of inestimable value in carrying on the paper. On February 17, 1908, Mr. Thomas married Miss Belle M. Liveringhouse, of Wayne, Nebraska, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Liveringhouse, who were pioneer settlers of O'Neill, Nebraska. During a part of 1912 and and also the folowing (sic) year, Mr. Thomas was the manager of an irrigation company at Lingle, Wyoming, managed a large irrigated ranch for the same concern and published a country newspaper, any one of these lines being considered a busy job for a man. He still retained his newspaper interests and residence at Alliance, however, and afterwards returned here to make his permanent home. In November, 1916, Mr. Thomas, better known throughout the Panhandle and Box Butte county as "Lloyd," was elected representative to the Nebraska Legislature from the district comprising Box Butte and Sheridan counties. He served in the regular session of 1917 and the special session of 1918, being one of the introducers and sponsers (sic) for sixteen bills which became laws, including the Nebraska prohibition enforcement law, the eighteen-mile-per-hour railroad stock transportation law, the twice-a-month pay roll law for railroad employes, the worn-in suffrage law, the mineral leasing law, and other enactments that are considered progressive and desirable legislation. Of his work in the legislature the Nebraska State Journal said in part, "While many men are entitled to distinguished mention for their services in securing prohibition for the state of Nebraska, there are three whose staunchness at a trying time gave them strong claims for the honor of making the prohibition bill the tower of strength that it is. These men are representatives Norton of Polk county, Flansburg of Lancaster county and Thomas of Box Butte county. These three men composed the membership of the conference committee that fought it out with the three wet conferees sent by the senate and wrested from them by sheer bulldog tenacity all the vital things that the contest was over. They were able to do this in part because they knew the House was back of them, but it required three men who knew what they wanted and who refused time and again to give an inch from their position to stand up under the tremendous pressure brought to bear to get near beer through for the brewers, If near beer had been permitted, prohibition would have been impossible so far as beer selling is concerned Representative Thomas is one of the owners and editors of one of the liveliest papers in the state, the Alliance Herald. He was elected by a big majority as a representative for Box Butte and Sheridan counties, in a Republican district. He is a Democrat and was one of the leaders of the last session. Mr. Thomas has been given credit by many for securing more favorable advertising and publicity for western Nebraska than any other one individual through his work in the state legislature, by his editorials and newspaper articles and his speeches made telling of the resources of this section of the state. His activities at one time led to his nickname, "Live wire Louis." At the present time Mr. Thomas is devoting most of his time to his real estate and investment business in Alliance and to the development of western Nebraska potash fields and the oil fields of eastern Wyoming. Although given a deferred classification in the draft during the World War, he volunteered and took the examination for an officers' training camp and had the war continued until December, 1918, he would have been in training at Camp Fremont, California, the last of the "six Thomas boys" to enter the army. At the present time he is county chairman of War Savings for Box Butte county and takes an active part in all public affairs that tend to the development of this section. Mr. Thomas is secretary of the Potash Highway Association, is publicity chairman of the Nebraska State Volunteer Fireman's Association and a member of the Alliance Volunteer Fire Department, Travelers |
Protective Association, Royal Highlanders, Eagles, Odd Fellows, and other organizations and fraternal associations. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, takes an active part in the Commercial Club affairs and was at one time secretary of the Alliance Commercial Club. JASON B. WADE, pioneer, frontiersman and early settler, is probably the only man now alive in Box Butte county to locate in Nebraska as early as 1872. His career has been one in which he has had varied and interesting experiences, from hunting buffalo on the western plains, and passing through two Indian wars without, as he expresses it, "seeing an Indian," to the civilized existence of these modern days, and few men many years his junior bear so few of the scars of life. Mr. Wade was born in Michigan, March 15, 1848, the son of George W. and Lucy G. (Bass) Wade, the former a Buckeye by birth while the mother was a Pennsylvanian. He was the oldest in a family of ten children consisting of five boys and five girls. The family moved to Illinois by ox team in 1852, and in 1854, to Boone county, Iowa, in the same manner and Mr. Wade says that the first negro he ever saw ferried them across the Des Moines river. George Wade bought a farm of Captain Berry, of Civil War fame, located in Boone county and there Jasen (sic) earned his first money dropping corn for fifteen cents a day. He helped his father on the frontier farm in the summer and attended the district school winters. They had only two teams at the time they came to Iowa, one of horses and an ox team for breaking. They planted a hundred apple trees on the farm and people laughed at them for it, as they believed, they would not grow "in such a country" as they expressed it, but they were wrong. Two miles from the original farm George Wade bought swamp land for fifty cents an acre that today is worth two hundred and fifty dollars an acre. In 1855, the Sioux Indians rose and attacked Fort Dodge but the Wade family were not attacked though warned of the danger. The only Indians they saw were some peaceful ones of "Old Johnny Greene's tribe," Mr. Wade says. These hardy pioneers suffered untold hardships and privations in Iowa; one cold winter they lived practically on elk meat and made the shoes from the hides of the animals. During the Civil War the settlers were compelled to hunt for deserters in their district. In 1872, Mr. Wade and several companions came by ox team to the location where Orleans now stands on a buffalo hunt, using a prairie schooner to live in on the trip. They killed wild turkeys along the Republican river and the next spring, Mr. Wade, accompanied by his wife and one child, a neighbor, his wife and child made the trip overland from Boone county to the homestead near Orleans on which Mr. Wade had filed on his first trip. They settled on the claims farmed a little, but supplies were so scarce and hard to get that the men wore shirts made from flour sacks. The drought came that summer and all the crops that were not burned up were destroyed by the grasshoppers and Mr. Wade says that "if it hadn't been for the buffalo, elk, deer, antelope, and jack rabbits and cotton tails, wild geese and cranes as well as the grouse and fish, together with the flour and money sent by friends in the east, we surely would have starved to death." In the fall of 1873, accompanied by three friends Mr. Wade went to McCook, Nebraska, which consisted of but three log houses with one store also serving as postoffice and the merchandise was a poor scant stock but they bought what was absolutely necessary, then camped up on the Republican river to hunt buffalo. One night Mr. Wade lost his companions and spent the night alone wrapped in the skin of a buffalo he had killed and skinned, sung to sleep by the coyotes, after a supper of buffalo sirloin cooked on a spit over a "chip" fire, that tasted as good as a meal worth a hundred dollars. They secured a number of buffalo, put the meat in barrels and sent the bides to Fort Wallace for sale, getting but a dollar and a half for each as the pelts were not yet in prime condition. On the return trip at Red Willow, Mr. Wade learned of the death of his child from a mail carrier. In the fall of 1873 there was an Indian uprising and Mr. Wade was appointed a corporal in the company organized to fight them but they did not come that far and this was the second Indian war with no Indians. April 1, the following spring the Wade family consisting of father, mother and the second child, left Orleans in a wagon drawn by horses for Boone county. On his return to the old home, Mr. Wade bought a quarter section of land where he engaged in farming for twenty years, but the lure of the western country had ever held him and disposing of his farm at a handsome figure he returned to Nebraska. locating on a Kinkaid homestead in 1908. The new claim was in section twenty-one township twenty-one, range forty-six, Garden county, which he still calls "home" but has his land rented. Since becoming a resident of Alliance Mr. Wade has taken |
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