ALICE L. ERION, daughter of Jacob B. Erion and Mary Leonard Erion

The third child of Jacob Benjamin Erion and Mary Frances Leonard Erion was Alice L. Erion, born 31 Mar 1871. (Source: Linn County, Iowa, History to 1878 [Ancestry.com]) Alice lived until her 30^th year, passing away on 21 Mar 1901 (Source: [Omaha] Morning World-Herald, 22 Mar 1901) 

Apparently Alice had been ill for some time for an article headlined “Miss Erion Has Recovered” appeared in the June 13, 1894 edition of the (Omaha) Morning World-Herald, which stated,

“The many friends of Miss Alice Erion will be gratified to learn that she has so far recovered from her long illness as to go to Fairmont on a visit to her sister, Mrs. W. A. Terry. Miss Erion, who is a daughter of J. B. Erion, deputy labor commissioner, took sick last December, and had to resign her position as teacher. She has been confined to her room ever since, and many times her life was despaired of.”

According to Fern Terry, her aunt Alice L. Erion suffered from Bright’s Disease. Bright's disease is what was once used to classify a kidney disease that would now be called acute or chronic nephritis. The presence of albumen or blood plasma in the urine and the swelling of tissue are symptoms of the disease. It was called Bright’s Disease because these symptoms were first noted and described by Dr. Richard Bright, of England, in 1827.

Alice was in great pain for several years. She suffered from severe chronic back pain, along with vomiting and fever. Despite suffering from this disease, which apparently came and went, she continued to teach when she could, to-wit:

South Omaha World-Herald, August 31, 1896 

“Miss Alice Erion was elected as a teacher. A year ago Miss Erion was compelled, on account of bad health, to take a rest. She is considered one of the best teachers in the city for the department in which she is engaged.”

During the attacks, Alice’s body became distended due to the retention of fluid and it was difficult for her to breath.  Her daily activities were limited.  Bright’s disease was treated with warm baths which explains the following article published under the heading “South Omaha Brevities,” in the [Omaha] Morning World Herald, May 11, 1897:

“Miss Alice Erion is at home from an extended visit to Hot Springs, Ark.”

One can assume that Alice visited Hot Springs, Arkansas to seek relief from the pain caused by her disease, and one feels badly for Alice when that one line shown above is nestled between the following two news items from the same newspaper edition:

“New style waist sets at Godfrey’s.”

and

“Twin babies, a boy and a girl, have been born to Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Abbott.”

Alice never got a chance to live the “normal” life which most people would assume would include marriage and children.  Alice died 21 Mar 1901, ten days before her thirtieth birthday, in Pineville, Rapides Parish, Louisiana.  Alice had moved there with her mother and father when Jacob B. Erion was made Superintendent for the Cemeteries of the Union Army located in the Southern states.  

(Omaha) Morning World-Herald, March 22, 1901

  “FORMER OMAHA TEACHER

Miss Alice Erion Dies at Pineville, La.—Was Well Known Hero

Special Dispatch to the World-Herald.

Pineville, La., March 21. -- Miss Alice Erion, daughter of J. B. Erion, superintendent of the National cemetery at this place, died this morning.  Miss Erion was well known and very popular in Omaha, where she was formerly a teacher in the public schools."

Alice is buried in Plot (Section) A 1340 in the Alexandria National Cemetery in Pineville, Rapides Parish, Louisiana.  (Source: http://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/j2ee/servlet/NGL_v1)

Jacob Erion had Red Hair! Who Knew? Part V

Mary  Leonard Erion

Jacob B. Erion

 My grandfather once told me he would like to know more about his grandfather.  However, it was during a time when I was having my own children and the days were filled with raising the next generation.  There was no time to look back.  But now there is.  My Granddad passed away in 1983 but I have always remembered his words to me and this blog is a result of that remembering.   I have sourced my information.  These are my own words except where indicated. 

* * * * * * * * *  *

 Nevertheless, Jacob continued as the Deputy Labor Commissioner into 1895, producing mortgage receipt reports and livestock reports which were published in the local Omaha newspapers.  Jacob was still in office when Governor Holcomb, elected under a fusion ticket between Populists and Democrats, succeeded Governor Crounse in the State House.  Holcomb’s term as Governor of Nebraska was 1895-1899.  Jacob also kept track of supplies available for disasters and reported to Governor Holcomb that 95 train cars of relief supplies were ready at the train depot in Lincoln, Nebraska.  (Source: [Omaha] World-Herald, 9 Feb 1895)  

“IT’S A LIBEL.”   This headline greeted readers of the March 3, 1895 edition of the (Omaha) Sunday World-Herald.  “Erion’s Industrial Map Said to Be a Discredit.”  Deputy Labor Commissioner Jacob Erion had, under the direction of the bureau of labor and industrial statistics, issued an industrial map of Nebraska, broken down county by county, with the amount of surplus products that had been marketed during 1893.  Commissioner Utt, after looking at the map, said that “if the map was as incorrect regarding the state at large as it was in the figures given for Douglas county, it was not only worthless but a libel on the state and should be suppressed.”  

Commissioner Utt estimated that the output for 1893 was 29,575 cars of surplus, not the 8,456 that was stated in Erion’s report.  Also Utt believed packing house  products from South Omaha had increased to 30,240, which made South Omaha a stronger market than Kansas City.  (Whether any of this was true has not been determined.  When reading these articles, keep in mind that the commissioners were political appointees and South Omaha was in competition with Kansas City regarding livestock shipped, bought and sold, and slaughtered.  Whether Jacob would have deliberately published something that showed Omaha, particularly South Omaha in a poor light is questionable.  He was a citizen of South Omaha and it served him no purpose to print something that was not true.)

  Wherever politics were,  so was Jacob B. Erion.  The August 19, 1897 edition of the [Omaha] Morning World-Herald reported that the republican primary to elect delegates to the county convention would be held at Sage’s store, 28th and O Street.

  “The republican camp will be enlivened by the preliminary skirmishing of J. B. Erion, who has the old soldiers’ support.”

It was during the 1890s when Jacob Erion began seeking his pension from the US Army in earnest.  In his pension file from the National Archives are copies of several affidavits from persons who knew Jacob and his family while they were living in South Omaha, among them being D. F. Bayless, J. E Hart, and J. M. Glasgow, M.D. (who was also postmaster of South Omaha).  These affidavits, sworn under oath, attested to Jacob’s character and contributions to South Omaha.  They also swore, under oath, that Jacob suffered from chronic diarrhea and that he was frequently incapacitated.  

D. F. Bayless and J. E. Hart stated in a Neighbors’ Affidavit dated 26 May 1891:

  “We have lived in the same city with him [Jacob] for the respective lengths of time named above and have seen him frequently almost daily and know him intimately, know that he is suffering from chronic diarrhea and heart disease and is frequently laid up and under treatment from physicians.  Neither witness hereunto subscribed has ever worked for him neither has he worked for them, but J. E. Hart has worked with him [Jacob] in the publishing business.  Mr. Erion has managed as far as able for some years a newspaper business in South Omaha but as stated above is often unable to be at his office and certainly could not perform common labor.  We are acquainted with his disabilities from our intimate acquaintance with him and from conversation with him.  His disability is in no way due to his habits which are good.”

A Physician’s Affidavit attested to on that same date by J. M. Glasgow, M.D., stated:

  “I hereby certify that I have known Jacob B. Erion for the past five years and have treated him at various times during said period.  He sufferred [sic] from chronic diarrhea at times so as to render him unfit from performing manual labor of any kind [unreadable].  Also from heart lesion of a very severe character all of which I have no doubt were contracted in the volunteer service of the United States.  Do not consider that he is capable of performing manual labor of an exhaustive nature of any kind whatever.”

Apparently part of the problem was that in Jacob’s original application for a Civil War Pension, Jacob had stated that he suffered his sunstroke in 1864.  In an affidavit dated 28 May 1890, and filed by Jacob’s attorney, George E. Lemon, testified to the following:

“If in his original application it is alleged that he received sunstroke in 1864, it is an error as said disability was incurred in 1862, he respectfully asks that his application be amended accordingly.”

Additional documents found in the Pension File of Jacob B. Erion, obtained from the National Archives, showed that his pension was refused at least twice because a “Jacob B. Erion” could not be found.  A “Jacob Erion” was found, but no “Jacob B. Erion” could be located.  On 23 May 1892, Jacob B. Erion swore to the following affidavit in Douglas County, Nebraska:

  “In the matter of claim for Inv. Pension 761279, Jacob B. Erion, Company A 4 Ohio personally came before me, a notary public, in and for aforesaid County and State, Jacob B. Erion, South Omaha, Nebraska, a person of lawful age, who, being duly sworn, declared in relation to the aforesaid case as follows:  ‘In 1879 I began writing my name J. B. Erion for the reason that I had a brother, Joseph Erion, and most of our mail was addressed “J. Erion” which caused confusion.  I enlisted under the name Jacob Erion and adopted the “B” for business reasons.”

Amazingly, seven years later, in a document dated 2 Jun 1899, the Department of Interior-Bureau of Pensions was still using the same excuse for not granting Jacob a pension, to-wit:

  “Respectfully returned to the Commissioner of Pensions, with the information that in the case of Jacob Erion, Co. A, 4 Ohio Inf. Military records furnish the following additional to enclosed report:  Ate at enlistment 18 years; height 5 ft. 7 in.; complexion, light; eyes, blue; hair, red; born in Tuscarawas Co., Ohio; a farmer.  Name Jacob B. Erion not found.”

Jacob would spend the rest of his life filing documents to prove that he deserved this pension.  Another problem was that Congress would continually change the rules under which a Civil War veteran could obtain a pension.  When finally granted, Jacob then would have to file documents asking for increases in his pension.  His case was handled by a Medical Referee who invariably requested more medical documentation.  Jacob was a persistent man.

 On August 20, 1897, an article entitled “Erion’s Plum in Sight” appeared in the [Omaha] Morning World-Herald.  If Jacob could pass an examination, he would be appointed superintendent of a national cemetery.  Jacob was ordered to report to an examining board of army officers at Fort Crook.  (Source: [Omaha] Sunday World-Herald, 29 Aug 1897)   

Jacob passed the exam.   Barring his time spent as a child in Mt. Vernon, Knox County, Ohio, Jacob had lived the longest in South Omaha, moving there with Mary and their children in 1885.  The Erions were considered to be long time residents, and, to quote the [Omaha] Morning World-Herald (which now appeared to like him . . . possibly because he might be leaving? Bleu), “Colonel Erion has always been a prominent factor in the growth and development of south Omaha, being one of the pioneers.” 

 The following article appeared in the Omaha World Herald:

 Colonel Erion Soon Goes East, published 22 Feb 1898

“Colonel Jacob B. Erion soon leaves for Mound City, Ill., where he takes the superintendency of the national cemetery, having been appointed some time ago.  Colonel Erion has always been a prominent factor in the growth and development of South Omaha, being one of the pioneers.  He came here in 1885 and started the South Omaha Globe and as the stock market began to develop he, with Charles H. Rich of Omaha, established the Stockman, which was and is still devoted to livestock matters.  Mr. Erion continued with the Stockman until a few years ago, when the plant was sold to the present publishing company.  During Governor Crounse’s administration the colonel was state labor commissioner.  He has a very pleasant home in the northern part of this city and an interesting family.  It is probable that they will continue to reside here.”

Mound City, Illinois was founded at the abandoned settlement of Trinity in 1854 at the confluence of the Ohio and Cache Rivers.  The river front became extremely important to the Union navy during the Civil War and it had the only repair facility for the Mississippi Squadron, a fleet of 80 ships.  

Whether Mary went with her husband to Mound City, Illinois, has not been determined.  Their youngest child, Lloyd Dewitt Erion, was twenty years old when his father was appointed superintendent of the National Cemetery at Mound City.  The next year, 1899, Lloyd married Martha M. Smith in South Omaha, Nebraska so the family probably did stay in South Omaha. 

Now, in reference to Mound City, in the copies of Jacob B. Erion’s pension file from the National Archives, there was no reference made to the National Cemetery in Mound City, Illinois. I included the above information on Mound City based on the information in the newspaper article quoted above. On one of Jacob’s pension forms, he was asked to list his residences and he replied, “. . . and at various National Cemeteries as Superintendent.”  On this same form he had left out his time in Appleton City, MO so it is possible that Jacob did spend time at Mound City, Illinois. 

By 24 Jun 1899, Jacob, Mary, and daughter Alice were living in Pineville, Louisiana.  He was the Superintendent of the National Cemetery at Alexandria, Louisiana. In Jacob’s Pension File from the National Archives is the following letter:

Pineville, La., June 13, 1899

Hon. H. Clay Evans, Com. of Pensions, Washington, D.C.

Sir:

Replying to your circular letter of instruction regarding my claim for pension under “Old Law” I have concluded that it would be very difficult, if not impossible for me to furnish the necessary evidence as required by your letter and accompanying blanks.  Too many years have elapsed and I have changed about too much.  My present pension of $6 per month, recently granted under law of June 27, 1890, is hardly justice, but I now hold a position under the Government, the salary of which is sufficient for a living.  Therefore I neither intend to push the old law claim nor ask for an increase under the new at present.  I return herewith blanks sent, including notice to appear for examination.  Should it be necessary for me to appear before an examiner board, for any reason, please direct me to nearest one here as I am located here until further orders, and cannot appear at Omaha.

I wrote your office about a year ago, calling attention to the fact that my certificate, 943321, was not dated back to date of first application, as I believe the law specifies.  I wish that point could be examined and if a mistake has been made, have it rectified.

                                                                Very Respectfully,                                

                                                                Your Obt. Servant

Jacob B. Erion, 

Rapides Parish, Pineville, La.

Jacob Erion had Red Hair! Who knew? Part IV (and now his whiskers are on fire!)

Jacob B. Erion

Mary Leonard Erion

My grandfather once told me he would like to know more about his grandfather.  However, it was during a time when I was having my own children and the days were filled with raising the next generation.  There was no time to look back.  But now there is.  My Granddad passed away in 1983 but I have always remembered his words to me and this blog is a result of that remembering.   I have sourced my information.  These are my own words except where indicated. 

* * * * * * * * * *

Things did not always go smoothly during Jacob’s time as Deputy Labor Commissioner as revealed by the following newspaper articles, beginning with this article that appeared in the 1893 (Omaha) Morning World-Herald.  Jacob must have grown back his beard.

“ERION’S WHISKERS ON FIRE

Lincoln, Neb., July 25 – The publication in the World-Herald of the decided frigidity between the labor commissioner and his clerk is said to have crystallized a feeling that heretofore lay dormant about two inches below Mr. Erion’s wealth of whiskers.  At any rate, he is quoted as having told several intimates that as soon as Governor Crounse returns from his summer vacation, he proposes to lay the matter before the executive and give him an ultimatum, either that Mrs. Packard must go or his resignation will be forthcoming.  It is anticipated that this dire contingency will have the effect of indefinitely extending the governor’s absence.”

 Who was Mrs. Packard and how had she inflamed Jacob‘s whiskers? Apparently Mrs. Augusta L. Packard had also been appointed by Governor Crounse to be the clerk of the Nebraska Labor Bureau.  Augusta Lovilla Packard, nee Cady, was the older sister of the chairman of the Republican State Central Committee, A. E. Cady.  Five years younger than Jacob Benjamin Erion, Augustus L. Cady Packard was born on 23 Sep 1847 in Wisconsin.  She was the daughter of August Fling Cady, a relatively well-off merchant from Vermont, and his wife Lydia (or Lovilla). (Source: 1860 US Census)   The 1880 US Census shows that Augustus L. Cady married Kennedy Packard.  Living in Red Oak, Iowa, together they had four children and Mr. Packard had a livery stable.  By 1900, living in St. Paul, Howard County, Nebraska, Mr. Packard is not living with Mrs. Packard but the census does not indicate her as widowed; it states that she has been married 30 years and it indicates her as being the head of the household. By the 1910 US Census, Mr. and Mrs. Packard are living together again . . . in Idaho!

But back to Mrs. Packard and Jacob Erion.   Mrs. Packard’s appointment to be clerk of the Nebraska Labor Bureau was done at the request of her brother, A. E. Cady.  When the Republicans won the State House, Mr. Cady was asked what he wanted, in repayment for being the chairman of the Committee.  Mr. Cady declined anything for himself, but he did request the appointment of his sister as clerk of the Labor Bureau.  (Source: [Omaha] Morning World-Herald, 26 Aug 1893)

“Mrs. Packard is a woman of culture and has made for herself a reputation in a literary way by writing for some of the leading magazines and papers.  She is highly educated and has large experience in a clerical capacity, being for some time assistant bookkeeper in Mr. Cady’s bank at St. Paul.”  (Source: [Omaha] Morning World-Herald, 26 Aug 1893)

Why didn’t Jacob Erion like her?  Jacob Erion didn’t like Mrs. Packard because he had someone else in mind for the position, a young man from South Omaha.  Because of this, there was friction in the office.  Hearing of the friction and having read articles referring to the trouble in the newspaper, Mrs. Packard’s brother, Mr. Cady, while in Lincoln on other business, visited the State House hoping to see Jacob.  Jacob was out of the office at the time so he didn’t get a chance to visit with Mr. Cady.  However, Jacob did read about the attempted visit by Mr. Cady in the next day’s newspaper. When Jacob saw the newspaper, he wrote a note and left it on Mrs. Packard’s desk:

“Mrs. Augusta L. Packard – Madam: This is to notify you that your services as clerk are no longer required in the labor bureau.  Yours truly, J. B. Erion, Deputy Com. of Labor Statistics.’” 

Mrs. Packard read the note of dismissal and laying it to one side prepared to go on with her work.

“You can read, can’t you?” asked Mr. Erion.

“I can,” was the quiet reply.

“That note means exactly what it says,” said Mr. Erion.

“If it makes no difference to you,” said Mrs. Packard, “I prefer to take my directions from the one who appointed me.”

(Source: [Omaha] Morning World-Herald, 26 Aug 1893)

 Mrs. Packard’s response to Jacob’s request that she should leave the office upset him greatly.  The article reported that “Erion grew warm.”  Mrs. Packard did leave the office so she could consult with the attorney general.  Mrs. Packard’s acquaintances said that Jacob treated her with disrespect, telling her that she was incompetent and too ignorant to handle a clerk’s position.   Those who knew Mrs. Packard “know that she is thoroughly competent, not only to act as clerk but to act as deputy labor commissioner.  She alone tabulated the last mortgage statistical report, and that report was the best arranged, neatest and most prompt of all reports tabulated in that office.”  (Source: [Omaha] Morning World-Herald, 26 Aug 1893)

Jacob had, at one point, come out of his office and swooped all the mortgage returns off of Mrs. Packard’s desk and put them in his own desk, locking the drawer.  On another occasion, the mail carrier came in to pick up the mail and Mrs. Packard gave the carrier several of her private letters.  Jacob told Mrs. Packard that she should put them in the mail box provided for that purpose rather than giving them to the mail carrier.  The newspaper article did concede that there were two sides to every story and that Mr. Erion denied treating Mrs. Packard with disrespect.  So, like squabbling children, Mrs. Packard and Jacob had to wait for Governor Crounse to return from his trip to settle the conflict.

 The conflict was settled according to a September 1, 1893 article in the [Omaha] Morning World-Herald which said that Deputy Labor Commissioner Erion’s decision to dismiss Mrs. Packard had been reversed by Governor Crounse.  Jacob Erion did not seem any worse for the wear.  His response:  “Everything has been settled to the entire satisfaction of all concerned.”  Then the article (remember it is in the [Omaha] Morning World-Herald) editorialized by saying, “Mr. Erion is mistaken.  The people are somewhat concerned in this matter, and they would be more ‘entirely satisfied’ if the affair had been settled by his resignation.” 

(Remember that these newspaper reports came from the World-Herald.  There was no love lost between the editors and reporters of the World-Herald and the Omaha Bee with which Jacob was associated since the sale of the Daily Stockman in late 1888. Bleu)  [Source: Bristow, D. (1999) “Hard Hitting Journalism” A Dirty Wicked Town: Tales of 19th Century Omaha and South Omaha Biographical Sketch circa 1895])

Jacob Erion had Red Hair! Who knew? Part III

Jacob B. Erion

Mary Leonard Erion

 My grandfather once told me he would like to know more about his grandfather.  However, it was during a time when I was having my own children and the days were filled with raising the next generation.  There was no time to look back.  But now there is.  My Granddad passed away in 1983 but I have always remembered his words to me and this blog is a result of that remembering.   I have sourced my information.  These are my own words except where indicated. 

* * * * * * * *

In addition to publishing The Globe, there was a reference to a journal being published by Jacob Erion in the 29 Apr 1891 edition of the (Omaha) Morning World-Herald: “The Weekly Eagle, by Erion & Hart, has made its second bow.  It is quite a neat journal and is meeting with good success.”  (That is the only reference I have seen to that particular publication. Bleu)  However, 1891 was also the year that the (Omaha) Morning World-Herald declared South Omaha “dead” as a newspaper town.  Perhaps that’s why it was fortunate that Lorenzo Crounse was elected Governor of the State of Nebraska. (Source: [Omaha] Morning World-Herald, 11 Mar 1891)

 Jacob was very involved in the Republican Party in South Omaha and Omaha.  He was chosen Secretary of the South Omaha Republicans on 23 Jul 1892.  The primaries were to be held that next Saturday, “the voting to be by the Australian system.”  (Source: [Omaha] Sunday World-Herald, 24 Jul 1892)  (Note:  “The Australian system” is what we know and take for granted today as the secret ballot.  It began in Australia in 1855. Australia also gave women the vote in 1892, almost 30 years before the USA.  In the United States, the Australian method of voting was first used in Massachusetts.  Before 1884, all the presidents of the United States were elected by the oral vote.  In 1892, the Commonwealth of Kentucky finally eliminated the oral vote and Grover Cleveland was the first President of the United States to be elected by the secret ballot also known as “the Australian system.” Bleu [Sources: http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/sys_gov.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_ballot]) 

In 1893, Jacob Benjamin Erion was appointed Deputy Labor Commissioner by Nebraska Governor Crounse shortly after his inauguration. (Source: [Omaha] Morning-World Herald, 26 Aug 1893)  By law, the Governor of Nebraska is Labor Commissioner and his appointee is therefore the Deputy Labor Commissioner.  Jacob earned $1,500 annually while holding this position.   (Source: http://www.usgennet.org/usa/topic/preservation/gov/officers2.htm)   

In the August 26, 1893 article referenced in the previous paragraph, it also said that “Mr. Erion at one time conducted a little paper at South Omaha, and later acted as south Omaha correspondent for the Bee, a paper published in Omaha.  He has claimed that he owes his appointment to the recommendation of Mr. Rosewater.”  Said quotation is verified by the South Omaha Biographical Sketch circa 1895 written about Jacob B. Erion which stated, “This paper (Daily Stockman) he sold in 1888 and has since been connected with the Omaha Bee.”

Who was this Mr. Rosewater?  Edward Rosewater was born 28 Jan 1841 to a Jewish family in Bukovany, Bohemia.  He and his family came to the United States in 1854.  He was an Abolitionist, signing up for the Union Army during the Civil War.  As part of the United States Telegraph Corps, he served with General John C. Fremont throughout his West Virginia campaign.  (This could have been where Jacob Benjamin Erion met Edward Rosewater.  They both joined the Union Army in Ohio and they both were in West Virginia. Bleu)  Rosewater was also stationed at the White House telegraph office and it was he who sent out President Abraham Lincoln’s “Emancipation Proclamation” on 1 Jan 1863. (Source: Bristow, D. (1999) “Hard-Hitting Journalism.”  A Dirty Wicked Town: Tales of 19th Century Omaha)   

Edward Rosewater came to Omaha in 1863.  At that time, Omaha was the terminus of the Pacific Telegraph Company.  He was the Western Union manager and an Associated Press agent, becoming the Omaha correspondent for several eastern newspapers.   He went to Cleveland, Ohio, long enough to marry Leah Colman on 13 Nov 1864, and then they both returned to Omaha. (The 1880 US Census shows that Edward and Leah had four children: Stella, Nellie, Victor, and Charlie.  By 1900, they have an additional child, Blanche, who was listed as a college student.  Son Victor is still living in the home and he is listed as a newspaper editor.  One daughter – either Stella or Nellie must have passed away in the intervening years, because there is a seven year old granddaughter, Nellie R. Eglanter living with them also. [Source: 1900 US Census] Bleu)

 In 1870, Rosewater was in the Nebraska Territorial Legislature.  In 1871 he founded the Omaha Bee, often called a source for yellow journalism.   When the Bee was founded, there were already two other newspapers in Omaha – the Herald and the Republican – and there was no love lost between all three newspapers.  Mr. Rosewater was regarded as a “thirty-year-old smart-aleck.” (Source: Bristow, D. (1999) “Hard-Hitting Journalism.”  A Dirty Wicked Town: Tales of 19th Century Omaha) Using the Omaha Bee as his voice, Rosewater supported the creation of the first school board for Omaha Public Schools.  Even though his ideas were progressive in some respects, he did oppose the vote for women. 

  

According to “Hard Hitting-Journalism,” a chapter in A Dirty Wicked Town: Tales of 19th Century Omaha by Bristow (1999), Rosewater “constantly pursued his own version of the news” and once became involved in a violent confrontation in which he was almost killed by a local worker after reporting on that man’s secret love affair.  (Source: Bristow, D. (1999) “Hard-Hitting Journalism.”  A Dirty Wicked Town: Tales of 19th Century Omaha)   Rosewater was also instrumental in the founding of the American Jewish Committee.    

These examples of Mr. Rosewater are presented so that one can get a sense of the personality and background of the man for whom Jacob B. Erion worked at one point and who also recommended Jacob to Governor Crounse for the position of Deputy Labor Commissioner of Nebraska.

Jacob Erion had Red Hair! Who knew? Part II

 My grandfather once told me he would like to know more about his grandfather.  However, it was during a time when I was having my own children and the days were filled with raising the next generation.  There was no time to look back.  But now there is.  My Granddad passed away in 1983 but I have always remembered his words to me and this blog is a result of that remembering.   I have sourced my information.  These are my own words except where indicated. 

* * * * * * * * * *

Since Jacob began several newspapers during his lifetime, I am certain he knew about the telegraph which finally spanned the United States in the early 1860s. Perhaps he and his family knew how to send and read Morse code over the telegraph since they were involved in newspaper publishing. In reading over information gathered for this narrative, it appears that Jacob liked to involve his family in his ongoing projects.

By 1870 the transcontinental railroad was completed and the Erion family were frequent users, traveling back to Ohio for visits, in fact, to many places including Hot Springs, Arkansas; Beaufort, South Carolina; Kansas City, Missouri; Illinois; New Orleans and Pineville, Louisiana; Mobile, Alabama; Winslow, Arizona; and finally, for Jacob, San Diego, California. (This genealogy research has been an eye opener for me because when I used to think about the 1800s, I imagined people traveling in covered wagons, carriages, or on horseback – which they did – but, apparently, they were also zipping and zooming around the United States on the steam engines. Americans like to travel . . . always have, always will. Bleu)

Alexander Graham Bell gave the country the telephone, which I feel safe in assuming Jacob
and Mary had at some point in their lives. 

As a side note, I came across the following article which shows that human beings are always reluctant to accept new technology; 

an excerpt from "Time and Distance Overcome" by Eula Bliss which is on page 19 of February 2009 Harper's magazine:

"Of what use is such an invention?' the New York World asked in 1876 after Alexander Graham Bell first demonstrated his telephone. The nation was not waiting for his telephone. Bell's financial backers asked him not to work on his invention because it seemed too dubious an investment. The idea on which the telephone depended -- that every home in the country could be connected with a vast network of wires suspended from poles set an average of one hundred feet apart -- seemed far less likely than the idea that the human voice could be transmitted through a wire.”

Eula Bliss goes on to write about the War on Telephone Poles. Rutherford B. Hayes had one installed in the White House. (If you can find a Feb. 19, 2009 copy of Harper's, read the article. It's an eye opener and it shows that human beings are always the same, no matter the generation. Depending on how you look at that, this thought either gives you comfort or scares you to death! Bleu)

Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, the precursor to the IPOD, during the married life of Jacob and Mary; whether they had one or not, it is not noted. (I do know that the phonograph, later called the record player, was a feature in the household of Carl Andrew Erion, the grandson of Jacob Benjamin Erion. Carl loved listening to his records, especially classical music, and would sometimes whistle or sing along. Bleu) It was not until the 1930 census when census takers began asking, “Do you have a radio in your home,” then noting the answer on the census form. 

Both Jacob and Mary were alive for the Wright brothers’ first flight and the building of the Panama Canal. Mary had passed away before the first global influenza epidemic hit in 1917 and Jacob died just before the first television broadcast.

Fern Terry, daughter of Jennie Mabel Erion Terry, wrote the following words about her grandfather, Jacob Benjamin Erion, in the letter she sent to her cousin Carl Andrew Erion and Carl’s wife, Louise Marie Krumwied Erion:

“Grandfather Jacob Benjamin was quite talented, a poet of some repute, a flute, or perhaps it was a fife player, and a powerful speaker. He edited the first newspaper in south Omaha, "The Stockman's Journal" . . . I don't know whether the newspaper folded or what, but I know that Grandfather taught school, and during the summer, with a horse and buggy, drove through the country demonstrating and taking orders for Singer Sewing Machines.

Aunt Lu (Luella Matilda Erion) and Aunt Alice taught school in Omaha until Aunt Alice developed Bright’s Disease and the doctors advised her parents to take Aunt Alice south for her health. This is when Grandfather applied and got charge of National Cemeteries in the South. Aunt Alice died and was buried in the National Cemetery in Pineville, Louisiana. Mother (Jennie Mabel Erion Terry) and I visited my grandparents in Beaufort, S.C. at the same time as Grandfather's sister and her daughter were visiting them. We met them, (the sister and niece) on the train and traveled two days together.

I don't know when Grandfather resigned from the cemetery work. From Beaufort, S.C., he went to Hampton Roads, Virginia, and later he retired and he and Grandmother were living in Mobile, Alabama where Grandmother died of cancer.

P.S. There is one more fact about Grandfather Erion's ability as a speaker. He said that he considered it one of his greatest victories when he, who had fought for the North, was asked to speak at what we call Fourth of July celebrations. I don't know what they call their celebrations in the South.”

Sometime before October 30, 1885, Jacob and Mary Erion and their six children moved to South Omaha, Nebraska because it was there that Jacob had the distinction of starting the first newspaper in South Omaha, Nebraska, called The Globe. (Source: http://www.rootsweb.com/~nedougla/html/so1.html)

When Jacob and Mary moved to South Omaha, Nebraska, it was four miles from the post office in Omaha, located in a broad valley. Incorporated in 1886, South Omaha had a population of 1,500. There were no jails, although there was a deputy sheriff, or churches, but there was a justice of the peace. There were, however, a gambling house, two houses of ill repute, three general stores, a drug store, four meat markets, three blacksmith shops, five hotels, eight saloons, and two lumber yards, two coal yards, a feed and flour store and a number of boarding houses. (Source: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nedougla/html/SObeg1.html) The Union Stock Yards formed the nucleus of South Omaha in 1884. The stock yards were opened 1 Aug 1884. (Source: http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/topic/resources/OLLibrary/Omaha_book/omaha042.htm)

According to www.nebraskastudies.org, South Omaha is one of the oldest parts of Omaha. (Some of the nicknames for South Omaha were “Magic City,” “Porkopolis,” and “South O.” [Source: South Omaha 1886-1915, http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nedougla/html/SObeg1.html]) Many immigrants from European countries like Germany and Poland lived there.

When Englishman Rudyard Kipling, author of books like “The Jungle Book” stumbled upon Omaha, Nebraska in 1889, on his way back from a seven year stint in India, he declared that it “was but a halting-place on the road to Chicago. But it revealed to me horrors that I would not have willingly missed.” (Source: Kipling, Rudyard, “Omaha Between Trains,” in Roundup: A Nebraska Reader, Virginia Falkner (ed.), Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1957, (originally published in Rudyard Kipling, From Sea to Sea: Letters of Travel, New York: Doubleday & McClure, 1899), republished in Bristow, David L., A Dirty Wicked Town [1999])

When Jacob, Mary, and their children arrived in Omaha-South Omaha around 1885, packs of dogs still roamed the streets along with hordes of hogs that rooted in the garbage which was tossed out willy-nilly from even the nicest houses. Dead animals – hogs, dogs or otherwise – stayed where they dropped. It wasn’t until just before the Erion family moved to Omaha-South Omaha, that a position of City Scavenger was created to remove dead animals.

During the dry season, the dust was choking and during the wet seasons, the roads were big mud holes. Finding a substance to pave the roads was uppermost in citizens’ minds: crushed rock known as “macadam” and blocks made of cedar, granite or brick. Paving was completed sometime in the late 1880s.

Keep in mind that the Erion family lived in South Omaha, albeit in the upper part of South Omaha, which was also where the stockyards were. Imagine the pungent smells that must have wafted toward their home when the wind was just right; there was no central air to cool or warm the house so that one could shut the windows against the smell.

A fully developed sewer system was not in use until 1895 and outdoor privies and cesspools were not outlawed until 1945. Historian Michael Harkins wrote, “To avoid cleaning privies, Omahans usually provided openings in the rear of the outhouse and allowed waste to freely run out. The fecal matter found its way into alleys, streets, and eventually into the local water supply.”

The South Omaha stockyards were located along the Missouri River, the waste from the yards no doubt running into the river.

(Source for above five paragraphs: Bristow, D. (1999), “A Dirty Town.” A Dirty Wicked Town: Tales of 19th Century Omaha)

As Fern Terry has already related in her letter, quoted above, Jacob Benjamin Erion, was an extremely talented, powerful man, and that power only grew as he aged. Hot tempered, he was also opinionated and competitive. He got things done. Jacob was a resident of South Omaha for only two years when he made his way onto the South Omaha School Board; he was also Secretary of the South Omaha Board of Trade. (Source: Omaha Herald, 9 May 1888)

In the 18 Apr 1891 edition of the (Omaha) Morning World-Herald under “Affairs at South Omaha” there was an article written by a reporter claiming to be a sports reporter. He visited a spelling bee at the Presbyterian Church in South Omaha and reported on the spelling bee as if it were a boxing competition:

In part:

“Round two opened up with Prof. Zerby on one side and Miss Carpenter on the other, with a good reserve. Whether the supper had dampened the ardor of the spellers or not cannot be stated, but it is positive that they all fell below the scale. Mrs. Pinney and Mrs. Mayfield each attempted to spell “preexistimation” and failed. They could not spell a little bit and were sent to the rear of the room.

At last no one remained but Mr. Erion and Prof. Zerby. They were both pretty well winded when time was called at the end of the second round, but Mr. Erion succeeded in hitting the wily professor a terrible blow over the heart that sent him to his corner so badly used up that he could not respond when time was called again and he was consequently counted out. The winner will be given a leather medal and the loser half the gate receipts.”

One could make the argument that “Mr. Erion” was possibly Frank, Jacob’s son, who would have been seventeen at the time, but I believe the Mr. Erion referred to in the above referenced article was, in fact, Jacob Benjamin Erion given the fact that a “Prof. Zerby” was competing also. The man (Jacob B. Erion) shaved off his beard and it made the news: “J. B. Erion has severed connection with his whiskers. Comment is useless; he looks twenty years younger.” [Source: Omaha Morning World-Herald, 20 Jun 1891] So to believe that it was Jacob Benjamin Erion that “succeeded in hitting the wiley professor a terrible blow over the heart” is not so far- fetched. He clearly enjoyed being in the spotlight.

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