From the archives: Edward Creighton, remembered
Nebraska newspapers in 1874 reported the death of the man one called “the most wealthy man in the State.”
On the anniversary of a notable death, Omaha Commons revisits how newspapers of the time reported it.
Edward Creighton died in Omaha on Nov. 5, 1874. A week later, a Nebraska weekly called him “an old and respected citizen of Omaha, and the most wealthy man in the State.”
The Nebraska Advertiser of Brownville carried the news on Nov. 12 among its items from around the state. It said Creighton died “in the 54th year of his age” and that a paralytic stroke caused his death.
A dispatch from Omaha dated Nov. 5, printed the next day in the Chicago Daily Tribune, added a few details. It said Creighton died about 8 o’clock that evening, two days after the stroke.
Both notices were brief. Neither described his business, named his family or announced funeral plans.
Source: Nebraska Advertiser (Brownville, Neb.), Nov. 12, 1874, page 2, which gives the date of death (“on the 5th” of the month), and Chicago Daily Tribune, Nov. 6, 1874, page 2, whose Nov. 5 Omaha dispatch says he died that evening; both via Chronicling America, Library of Congress.
How we checked this: Reported from the Nebraska Advertiser of Nov. 12, 1874, and the Chicago Daily Tribune of Nov. 6, 1874, on Chronicling America, opened Nov. 4, 2026, at 6:31 a.m. CT, and checked against the record by our copy desk before publishing.