W.B. Tagg

W.B. Tagg is president and manager of Tagg Bros. & Moorhead, who are a live stock commission company having offices in the Exchange building at the Union Stock Yards in Omaha.  He was born in York county, Nebraska, September 28, 1875, the son of Thomas C. and Mary Bodine Tagg, who were married at Lee Center, Illinois, on the 8th of February, 1866.  Thomas C. Tagg was born in England and came to the United States when very young man, settling in Wisconsin, and afterward removing to Illinois.  In 1870 they came to Nebraska, settling on a homestead in York county, where he resided until 1877, when they took up their abode in Waco, Nebraska, in which place3 he was engaged in the live stock and grain business up to his retirement from active life.  He removed to Omaha in 1908.  His wife was born in Elizabethport, New Jersey, living there many years and later moving with her family to Kentucky.  On the 8th of February, 1916, they celebrated their golden wedding with a reception at the home of their son, W.B. Tagg, 3715 South Twenty-fifth street, Omaha.  Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas C. Tagg, three of whom are yet living:  A.W. Tagg, who is in partnership with his brother, W.B. Tagg, and who is vice president of Tagg Bros. & Moorhead; and Mrs. D.D. Ashley, who is now living in New York city.  The eldest son, Harry E. Tagg, passed away in 1910.  At the time of the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas C. Tagg in Nebraska, the Burlington Railroad had been extended only as far as Seward, and from that point they travelled to their claim in York county in a covered wagon.  In the early days Mr. Tagg bought grain which he hauled to Seward, and later when the railroad was completed he removed his business to Waco, where he continued actively in the grain and live stock business for a number of years, afterward engaging in the conduct of a hardware and implement business and a general store. 

In 1905 W.B. Tagg was elected a director in the Live Stock Exchange and continued in that position for nine years.  In 1914 he was elected vice president of the Exchange and held that position for two years, and in January, 1917, he was elected president of the South Omaha Live Stock Exchange.  He was also vice president of the National Live Stock Exchange from 1913 to 1915, and in his business connections has become widely known throughout the country.  That Mr. Tagg is interested in community affairs is shown by the fact that he has been servicing for three years as a director of the South Omaha Hospital Association.  He votes the republican ticket and leans toward the Episcopalian church.  He also belongs to the Omaha Commercial Club, and takes an active interest in Masonry, belonging to Bee Hive Lodge No. 184, A.F.& A.M., of which lodge he was master in 1914-1915.  He has taken the Scottish Rite decrees and is a member of the Mystic Shrine.  Mr. Tagg is also connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and is a member of the Royal Arcanum.

On the 23rd of November, 1907, Mr. Tagg was married at Louisville, Kentucky to Miss May Leonard.  They have become the parents of three children: Richard Forrest, who was born in 1908; William Leonard, who was born in 1910; and Mary Elizabeth, who was born in 1912.  Mr. and Mrs. Tagg have their own home on the South Side, adjoining Highland Park, better known as 3715 South Twenty-fifth street.

His substantial traits of character are many, and while he occupies an enviable position in business circles, he has also those personal qualities which render him the high regard of all with whom he has been brought in contact.

Omaha: The Gate City and Douglas County, Nebraska (Volume II), S.J. Clarke Publishing Company (Chicago : 1917)