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Son of Alonzo Herbert Copsey of Dane County, Wisconsin and Anna M. Wallen of Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, New York.
Husband of Maybelle Celestine O'Brien of Iowa City, Johnson County, Iowa; married on 20 January 1909 in Broken Bow, Custer County, Nebraska.
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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...
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Son of Alonzo Herbert Copsey of Dane County, Wisconsin and Anna M. Wallen of Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, New York.
Husband of Maybelle Celestine O'Brien of Iowa City, Johnson County, Iowa; married on 20 January 1909 in Broken Bow, Custer County, Nebraska.
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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 charge 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 O. 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 O. 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 southeast 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.
Source: History of Western Nebraska and Its People; Banner, Box Butte, Cheyenne, Dawes, Deuel, Garden, Kimball, Morrill, Scotts Bluff, Sheridan, and Sioux Counties. A Group Often Called The Panhandle of Nebraska, 1921 |
