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HISTORICAL REVIEW
OF
CHICAGO AND COOK
COUNTY
AND SELECTED BIOGRAPHY
A. N. WATERMAN, A. B., LL. D.
EDITOR AND AUTHOR OF HISTORICAL REVIEW
VOLUME III
ILLUSTRATED
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHICAGO NEW YORK
1908
.
206296B
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Commerce and Industry as Represented
by Individual Cbtcagoans
No man of such prominence in practical affairs ever lived in the
United States as Philip D. Armour, who persistently refused to par-
^ ^ ticipate in public matters ; the only digression he
Philip D. ,. . , . .
A ever made from his vast private interests was to
Armour. . t .
serve for a time as a director of the Chicago, Mil-
waukee & St. Paul Railway, and this only upon the continued solici-
tation of his lifelong friend, the late Alexander Mitchell. The re-
markable expansion of his business, its ramification into numerous
fields undreamed of during its initial years, was of such a nature
as to keep active and elastic one of the strongest minds of the coun-
try, without the necessity of going afield for other exercise of his
executive and organizing genius.
Philip Danforth Armour was born at Stockbridge, Madison coun-
ty, New York, on the 16th of May, 1832, being the son of Danforth
and Julianna (Brooks) Armour, whose former home was in Union.
Connecticut, whither they removed to his birthplace in September,
1825. The family consisted of six sons and two daughters, all of
whom were reared on the farm homestead and were educated in the
typical district school. Philip was fortunate enough to enjoy, in
addition, the benefits of the Stockbridge Academy, and even there
he was marked as a leader by his associates.
The excitement over the discovery of gold in California in 1849
seethed for three years in the little village of Stockbridge before a
company of its people was finally organized, and Philip D. Armour,
then twenty years of age, was among the first and most enthusiastic
to volunteer for the overland trip. In the spring of 1852 the party
left Oneida, New York, and six months later arrived on the coast,
Vol. Ill— 1.
„,S CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
but after four years o\ excitement and the usual experiences of those
days, most of its members were glad enough to return to the east.
Mr. Armour's experiences in California were interesting enough,
but his financial successes were so very moderate as to lead him to
tie in the nearer west, and a few weeks after his return from the
Pacific coast he settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Soon after his
arrival in the Cream City he formed a copartnership in the commis-
i business with Frederick B. Miles, which was carried on success-
tnllv until [863. hhe qualities of business and commercial leader-
ship which he displayed during this period brought him to the favor-
able notice of John Plankinton, his senior and one of the foremost of
Milwaukee's citizens, and the partnership then formed between the
two proved the laying of the cornerstones of two great fortunes, of
which Mr. Armour's proved the most magnificent. The tremendous
demand for meats and provisions caused by the Union armies in the
field occasioned a continuous rise in prices, and Plankinton & Ar-
mour, as the saying was, "made money hand over fist." During the
decade from 1865 to 1875 the brothers, Herman O. Armour and
Joseph F. Armour, engaged extensively in the meat and provision
trade at New York and Chicago, respectively — the New York busi-
ness being conducted under the firm name of Armour, Plankinton &
Co., and that of Chicago as H. O. Armour & Co. and Armour &
Co. The packing house at Kansas City, Missouri, conducted by
Plankinton & Armour, was placed in charge of Simon B. Armour,
still another of the brothers. On account of the delicate health of
Joseph F. Armour, manager of the Chicago house, the rugged Philip
D. was called to that point in 1875, an d he soon became the central
figure and guiding force of all the houses; and thus he remained un-
til his death, developing one of the most wonderful industries of the
century. At the last nothing in the shape of live stock which came
into an Armour plant ever went to waste — in fact, what were for-
merly called waste products were so utilized that they became as prof-
itable as the pure meats. In connection with the manufacturers, also
were developed refrigerating systems, including an immense system
of transportation by rail and boat, which was of world-wide scope
and one of the modern wonders.
Outside of the wonderful industries which Mr. Armour created,
the deceased had many high claims to fame. Personally, he was one
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 919
of the most faithful, warmest hearted and most generous men whom
the country ever produced. His family affection was one of his no-
blest traits, and the love which he bore his younger brother, Joseph
F. Armour, was especially strong and touching. Both were earnest*
members of the Plymouth Congregational church, and Joseph was
greatly interested in a small mission connected with it. In 1881,
at his death, he left $100,000 for the founding of a mission church
and school, and Philip not only carried out the provisions of his will
in this connection, but added generous bequests of his own during
his lifetime and at his decease. Thus was founded Armour Mission.
The name of Philip D. Armour is alone connected with the found-
ing of the great institute of technical education, which, through His
friend and pastor, Dr. Frank W. Gunsaulus, he gave to the high
cause of education.
In October, 1862, Mr. Armour was united in marriage with Miss
Belle Ogden, daughter of Jonathan Ogden, and their two sons, Jon-
athan Ogden and Philip Danforth, were identified with the great in-
terests of Armour & Co. The domestic life of Philip D. Armour
revealed one of the most lovable traits in his character, and his
death in 1901, had the effect upon the household of a keen heart
thrust as well as a crushing blow. In a word, there are few men
whose lives are recorded in the businses history of the country in
whose character unite so closely the best attributes of heart and head
as in the personality of Philip D. Armour.
The late George M. Pullman accomplished for the traveling public
what a dozen great inventors and business men have done to bring
comfort to those at home and develop their powers
-_ as working members of the community. One who
Pullman. ,. ° , . . J , ,
accomplishes great things 111 the world, despite
unpropitio/s and retarding surroundings, is a hero, but as few are
cast in this mold, that man is a great benefactor to society who
places new conveniences and comforts within the general reach and
makes it easier for the average citizen to give his undivided attention
and strength to whatever matter is in hand. Mr. Pullman made
travel a pleasure and a strength-restorer, instead of a drain upon a
man's vitality; he was thus a great power in bringing the leaders
of the business and industrial world together and in preserving their
best strength for the development of enterprises which stood ioi
9 2o CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
the material progi E the country. He also brought together
intellect and cult inc. In fact, the so-called Pullman Palace Car has
eat force in bringing the United States from its raw
pioneer period to an advanced stage of social and commercial de-
pment.
At the time of his death, October 19, 1897, George M. Pullman
was known in both hemispheres as the inventor of the palace car,
•it of the Pullman Palace Car Company, and founder
iwn of Pullman — the last an object lesson to the industrial
rid of how much more can be obtained from the skilled workman
by making his domestic life sanitary and pleasant than by simply
ng that phase of his existence and considering him as a machine
an average stated capacity. Mr. Pullman was born in the village
Brocton, Chautauqua county, New York, on the 3rd of March,
,1. son of James Lewis and Emily (Minton) Pullman. The
father was a native of Rhode Island, of a forceful, original and
devout character, while his mother, a New York lady, was all that
the two words imply — a motherly lady. There were ten children in
the family, of whom eight reached adult life — one of the sons being
a leading Universalist minister, three of them being eventually asso-
ciated with the Pullman Palace Car Company, and another a prom-
inent lawyer of Xew York, who died in 1879. George M. was a
persistent, self-reliant boy, and at the age of fourteen left the home
schools to get into business, his inducements being forty dollars per
year and a "chance to learn." After spending a year as a clerk in
the Brocton store, he joined his elder brother, R. H. Pullman, who
was in the cabinet making line at Albion, New York. He learned
the trade, became his brother's partner, and participated in a fair
business until his father's death, November, 1, 1853. As the younger
brother was unmarried, he returned to his home to be the mainstay
of his widowed mother and the four dependent members of the
family, and as the income from his trade as a cabinet maker proved
inadequate to meet the demands upon him, he took a contract for
raising buildings and doing other work along the line of the Erie
canal, which was then being enlarged by the state of New York.
His contract was so promptly and honestly executed that he was
soon one of the best known workers in that field. His talents and
success along this line made it natural that he should be attracted
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 921
to Chicago in 1859, which was then growing so rapidly that it had
embarked in the seemingly impossible task of raising itself from its
muddy site as a city to high, sanitary and attractive ground. With
the raising of the grades it became necessary to elevate many large
buildings, and this was the work in which Mr. Pullman had become
most proficient. In 1859 he therefore removed to Chicago, and, with
a capital of $6,000, commenced his career as an engineer
and contractor, and some of the largest buildings of the
Chicago of that day were raised through the energy and ingenuity
of George M. Pullman when a young man of about thirty.
Soon after locating in Chicago Mr. Pullman obtained permis-
sion form the Chicago and Alton Railroad to experiment in one of
its repair shops on two old cars, and see what could be done in the
way of sleeping accommodations. At this time, although traveling
was by no means uncommon, it was decidedly uncomfortable and
wearing. At a cost of $8,000 he succeeded in fitting the cars with
such taste and ingenuity that they were attached to a regular pas-
senger train and made several trips. In the midst of these initial
experiments he went to California, where his ability as a mechanic
and engineer assisted him to collect quite a capital with which to
push his sleeping car project. Returning to Chicago in the early
sixties, Mr. Pullman confidently resumed his enterprise, and with
the aid of skillful assistants and at a cost of eighteen thousand dol-
lars, produced a model car within about a year from the commence-
ment of his labors. It was beautifully frescoed, finely upholstered,
richly carpeted and the woodwork showed that the builder had no
superior in the country as a cabinet maker. It was an innovation to
the railroad world and rightly named the "Pioneer." Its size, how-
ever, made it impossible to be used until both railroad bridges and
station platforms were adjusted to accommodate it. At this stage
of the enterprise Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, and that his
precious remains might be duly honored, they were placed in the
magnificent "Pioneer," bridges were raised along the line, plaforms
were adjusted, and the body of the beloved president was conveyed
to its last resting place in Springfield. Not long afterward General
Grant, then heralded as the foremost living American, came to his
old Galena home, and to bear the war hero thither the palace car
was again called into requisition. Another railroad therefore ad-
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
If to its magnificence, and before the public were aware,
had been transferred from the class of luxuries to that of necessi-
Th< neer" was first placed on the Chicago and Alton road,
and sleeping ears modeled upon it were successively introduced on
the Michigan Central, Chicago, Burlington and' Ouincy, and the Great
Western systems. The Union Pacific first received the benefit of his
dining ear-. In [887 he designed the vestibule car and placed the
first vestibule trains on the Pennsylvania Company's trunk lines.
Mr. Pullman established his first car works at Atlanta, Georgia,
in [866, and in the following year organized the Pullman Palace
Company and founded the Chicago plant. In 1880 he com-
menced the erection of his great works at the town of that name,
which he also founded upon a 3,000-acre site, twelve miles
ith of Chicago on the line of the Illinois Central railroad. The
town is laid out with broad boulevards, lined with elms, lawns and
flower beds, and the car shops themselves are surrounded by beautiful
grounds, as well as architecturally graceful. South of the works and
iarated from them by a wide boulevard, lies the handsome residen-
tial quarter. A spacious and elegant building called the Arcade con-
tains all the stores of the town, postoffice, library, theater and bank.
In the center of the town is a huge tower which is the nucleus of a
fine water and sewerage system. The town of Pullman has always
xl as a model industrial center, and its founder took especial
pride in maintaining it at the highest standard, both as regards com-
fort and morals. In 1889 it was incorporated into the municipal
body of Chicago. Other industrial plants than the car works have
been founded at Pullman, and since the Pullman Palace cars have
become also a necessity of foreign countries, as well as of the United
States, the town is perhaps more widely known than any other indus-
trial center in the world. The works represent the largest single
lroad manufacturing interest in the universe, the employes aver-
aging some twenty thousand, and the product of the plant equals
;ix sleeping cars, fifteen passenger coaches and four hundred
freight cars per week. In 1899 the name was changed from the
Pullman Palace Car Company to the Pullman Company.
During his lifetime Mr. Pullman was also interested in the Egle-
n Iron Works, of New York, ranking with the largest of its kind
he country, and was one of the three founders of the Manhattan
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 923
Elevated Railroad of New York City. He held a third of the stock of
the original company, serving also as its president, and although
he and his associates were opposed by all the street railways in the
metropolis and Commodore Vanderbilt, the courts upheld the inno-
vators, and within one hundred days from the time all legal restric-
tions were removed from the enterprise the road was in operation.
In Chicago one of Mr. Pullman's monuments is the magnificent build-
ing which he erected at the corner of Adams street and Michigan
avenue, in 1884, and which still contains the administration and
executive offices of the Pullman Palace Car Company. His private
residence, on Prairie avenue, south side, is among the most massive
and beautiful in the city, and his summer residence was long known
as Castle Rest, being situated on one of the St. Lawrence isles and
built in honor of his aged mother, who was then alive.
In March, 1867, Mr. Pullman was married to Miss Hattie A.
Sanger, daughter of James A. Sanger, an early settler of Chicago,
who was largely interested in its- pioneer railroad enterprises. Four
children were born of their union — Florence Sanger Pullman, Harriet
Sanger Pullman, George M. Pullman, Jr., and Walter Sanger Pull-
man.
Mr. Pullman was far more than a king of industry, being a pro-
moter of countless charities and eduqational enterprises. He was
one of the founders and at one time president of the Chicago
Athseneum, long a director of the Relief and Aid Society,
and a member of the board of councilors of the Chicago College of
Dental Surgery. Among other illustrative features of his will were
those provisions which donated $10,000 to each of thirteen Chicago
charities and set aside $1,200,000 to found-and endow a free manual
training school at Pullman.
To accomplish what he did the deceased must necessarily have
been intensely practical ; but he was also of broad caliber and made
a useful and even a generous distribution of his means. Through
the vast business and industrial enterprise, which was the chief work
of his life, he had the honor of being the builder of American homes
to a degree which made him a benefactor to the country. A friend
of Mr. Pullman, and a leading railroad man, has this to say of the
broad-reaching results of his labors: "An experience of nearly forty
years has taught me that the quiet, safe, luxurious accommodations
,,_•] CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
of railway travel originated by Mr. Pullman have added fifty per cent
to the revenue of the passenger departments of the railroads; social
intimacies have been fostered, political and business ties formed,
great financial enterprises created by these comforts, while for labor
new industries have been made, and the sum of human happiness for
the rich and poor has been immeasurably increased."
For a period of more than forty years Philip F. W. Peck was
a leader of the advance guard of strong and enterprising men who
_ „ ,„„ won position for Chicago as the typical western
Philip F. W. . \, n ., . * '/••♦•*• •
p city. While possessing the power of initiative in
a remarkable degree, he saw his way clearly before
he moved out into the open, established his base of supplies with
admirable judgment and he was therefore never forced to beat an
ignominious retreat. He was the pioneer merchant of progressive
tendencies, displayed his stock of goods in the first frame store in
Chicago, erected its first brick structure, was one of the founders of
the town and the city, accumulated. a fortune, and what is still more
to his credit, was a stanch promoter of all good movements, from
the time he threw open his unfinished frame store to the first Sun-
day school ever organized in the city, until the day of his death,
October 23, 1871. He passed away amid the deep affection and pro-
found gratitude and sorrow of thousands of people of this city,
the only cloud upon his demise being the calamity of the Great Fire,
which still hung over Chicago, or over what seemed at the time to
be the ruins of a municipality to whose founding the strength of his
life had been devoted. But the future proved far otherwise. •
Mr. Peck was born in Providence, Rhode Island, in the year
1809, and was reared in New England, the home of several genera-
tions of his ancestors. He was trained to a mercantile and moral
life, and when he had attained his majority, like other young men of
New England of any spirit, he left his home to prove himself in the
outside world. But instead of going to some neighboring New Eng-
land town and securing a clerkship in a store, he cut his home con-
nections entirely, relying solely upon himself for the carving of a
career. In 1830 he loaded a stock of general merchandise aboard
a sailing vessel at Buffalo, and started for the frontier post of Illinois
known as Fort Dearborn. He already foresaw the advantages of
its geographical location, but questioned the expediency of throwing
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 925
himself into the development of such a raw settlement. But once
there, the atmosphere of friendliness and confidence which surrounded
the few settlers who had preceded him decided him to remain. Ac-
companying him on this expedition was Captain Joseph Napier, who
also brought out a stock of goods with him, and proceeded farther to
the interior and founded the town of Naperville. But Mr. Peck
soon saw that the larger town would concentrate at the foot of the
lake and at the mouth of the river, at a natural port for lake traffic
and a central point of overland travel. In 183 1 he therefore erected
a small log building near Fort Dearborn, in which for several months
he carried on his first mercantile operations in Chicago. In the fall
of that year he had sufficiently completed a frame building (the first
one in Chicago) at what is now the southeast corner of South Water
and La Salle streets, to allow the transfer of his stock to the more
pretentious structure. It was in the unfinished second story of this
structure that the first Sunday school was organized, the first religious
services of a permanent nature were held, and where Rev. Jeremiah
Porter, Chicago's first minister, found a study and a lodging place.
This building remained Mr. Peck's headquarters for merchandising
until it became necessary for him to withdraw from active business
and devote himself to the care of his realty interests and his increas-
ing fortune, and its site is still owned by members of the family.
As a leading citizen of the little, struggling settlement around
Fort Dearborn, Mr. Peck joined other plucky settlers in the expedi-
tion against Black Hawk, in 1832, and in the following year assisted
in the organization of the village of Chicago. He was a member
of the first fire company organized in Chicago; erected at the corner
of Washington and La Salle streets the first brick dwelling as his
own residence, in 1836, and was a voter at the first city election in
1837. Having supreme confidence in the substantial prosperity of
Chicago, he was never carried away by speculative fevers, but while
keeping his mercantile enterprises well in hand, invested judiciously
and generously in real estate and other properties. Thus, while his
interests were large and somewhat varied, he weathered the financial
crises of 1837 and 1857, which proved the ruin of many of his asso-
ciates. The periods of general depression following the panics failed
to weaken his confidence in the city's continued progress, but rather
stimulated him to make most advantageous investments, so that his
926 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
advancement to a large fortune and a substantial name for generosity,
public spirit and benevolence, was uninterrupted to the day of his
death.
In 1835 Philip F. W. Peck was married to Miss Mary K. Wythe,
a native of Philadelphia of English parentage, and a niece of Dr.
Stoughton, a celebrated Baptist clergyman. The wife and mother
died in 1899, having borne eight children in Chicago. Four of them
died in infancy, and one of the sons, Harold S., in 1884. Another,
'Walter L.. in 1908. The other sons, Clarence I. and Ferdinand W.
Peck, are identified with the large interests of the present Chicago,
the last named having an international reputation as the founder
of the world-famed Auditorium and the commissioner general from
the United States to the Paris Exposition in 1900.
The labors and personality of Ferdinand W. Peck have been to
modern Chicago what those of his fine and rugged father were to
the city before the great fire. As Philip F. W.
A p Peck passed away when even the future of Chicago
seemed to be in ruins, so the son has become a large
part of its later progress in business, the arts and the higher devel-
opment of the world. His great monument is the Auditorium, than
which there is perhaps no palatial pile in the United States which is
less in need of a description. The University of Chicago, the Athen-
aeum, the Illinois Humane Society, the Confederate monument in
Chicago, and two international expositions, with other institutions
of an educational, patriotic and benevolent nature, have all felt his
guiding hand and deferred to his sound judgment.
In the early days of the city, when the business and resident por-
tions both centered around Lake street and extended only a few
blocks away, Philip F. W. Peck came to Chicago and established a
home at the corner of Washington and LaSalle streets, erecting for
that purpose the first brick dwelling house in Chicago. Later, in
the family residence standing on the present site of the Grand Pa-
cific Hotel, Ferdinand W. Peck was born on the 15th of July, 1848,
being the youngest of four sons, two of whom still live as leading
citizens. The father, a Chicago merchant and pioneer whose splen-
did life work is previously detailed, died two weeks after the great
fire of 1 87 1. and the widow (nee Mary Kent Wythe) in 1899.
Mr. Peck, of this review, passed through the public and high
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 927
schools of Chicago, afterward pursuing a literary course in the old
Chicago University and a law course in the Union College. He was
graduated from the latter institution, admitted to the bar in 1869,
and entered practice. But upon the death of his father he was obliged,
with his brothers, to assume the management of the Peck estate, one
of the largest and best controlled in Chicago.
But the crowning work of Mr. Peck's life was to be undertaken
and accomplished, as an outgrowth of his artistic and cultured tem-
perament, although it involved business and managerial abilities of
the highest order, and a genius for inspiring that enthusiasm in oth-
ers which leads to practical results. From a youth he had been a
deep lover of music, and after that epoch in which the energies of the
people of Chicago had to be devoted mainly to the establishment of
homes and business enterprises, there came a time when attention
could be turned to the development of the higher nature. Naturally,
Mr. Peck gave a liberal support to all measures for the cultivation
of a love of music, and in April, 1885, an opera festival was cele-
brated in Chicago, largely through his efforts. This event, then un-
equaled in magnitude, clearly demonstrated the need of a large music
hall where entertainments of this order could be properly presented.
The idea was by no means new to Mr. Peck, but the time now seemed
opportune to present it to the public and to the public-spirited citi-
zens able to assist him in realizing his ambition.
In the spring of 1886 Mr. Peck delivered a comprehensive ad-
dress before the Commercial Club of Chicago, laying before that
influential body his project for a grand auditorium, to provide a
commodious hall wherein high-class musical entertainments could
be given and to furnish every convenience for patrons by the estab-
lishment of a hotel in connection. These observations had the effect
of stimulating those already interested to the carrying out of the en-
terprise. Through the efforts of Mr. Peck a site of one and a half
acres was secured between Michigan boulevard and Wabash avenue
and the building of the grand structure commenced. It was his plan
that the undertaking should not be an affair of the few but of the
many, and he desired that the stockholders should represent as many
classes as possible. One of the features added to the original plan
is the recital hall, capable of seating five hundred persons and de-
signed for lectures and musical performances. The question of profit
928 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
was made a secondary one, the main object being the promotion of
music. At length the gigantic undertaking was accomplished, and the
largest auditorium in America was open to the public. The organ
contained therein is one of the grandest musical instruments in the
world and cost $55,000. The stage alone cost $200,000, and the
entire cost of the building alone was $3,500,000. The formal dedi-
cation of the Auditorium was one of the greatest events in the his-
tory of Chicago, and occurred in the presence of the president and
vice president of the nation, the governors of many states, govern-
ment officials of Canada, and official representatives of the state of
Illinois and the city of Chicago. On the organization of the Chicago
Auditorium Association. Mr. Peck, as a matter of course, was elected
president. In the main foyer of the Auditorium hall is a bronze bust
of the founder, and on its granite pedestal this inscription : "A trib-
ute to the founder of this structure from the stockholders of the Chi-
cago Auditorium Association, in recognition of his eminent services
as their president; in behalf of the citizens of Chicago, 1889."
The world now knows what a large part the Auditorium has
played in the culture of music. It has been the gathering place of
extraordinary national gatherings, and the scene of many brilliant
social functions, one of the most noted of the latter class being the
grand international ball following the inaugural ceremonies of the
World's Columbian Exposition in 1892. As Mr. Peck was the
founder of the remarkable enterprise, so for many years he should-
ered the main responsibilities of its extraordinary development.
Mr. Peck was also one of the leaders in the establishment of the
World's Fair at Chicago, being the first vice president, chairman of
the finance committee, and a member of the board of reference and
control. His services in the conduct of that notable event were of
such value that President McKinley appointed him United States
commissioner general to the Paris exposition of 1900. His appoint-
ment dated from July, 1898, and his term of service covered three
years, during which period he expended about a million and a half
dollars of the government appropriation, and turned back into the
treasury a considerable sum on his return to the United States. His
administration of the office reflected such honor upon himself and
the nation which he represented that France bestowed upon him the
highest gift which it is capable of granting to a foreigner, the decora-
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 929
tion of Grand Officer of the Order of the Legion of Honor. In this
connection, it may be added that Mr. Peck has received testimonials
from various other nations, including a gold medal from the Em-
peror of Germany, given in recognition of his services as their rep-
resentative in connection with the World's Columbian Exposition:
so that there are few American citizens who have a wider reputation
abroad for broad utility and typical American diplomacy than Mr.
Peck.
Mr. Peck's humane tendencies and broad-minded patriotism have
been evinced in many ways, but in no more striking manner than
a monument in Chicago commemorative of the dead soldiers of the
Confederacy. It was the first memorial of the kind erected in the
north, and was unveiled on Decoration Day, in the presence of an
immense gathering of citizens and soldiery, including Confederate
generals and famous military characters of the north, the ceremonies
being under the auspices of the First Regiment, Illinois National
Guard, and the scene of the notable event Oakwood Cemetery. The
military representative of the south invited representative citizens of
Chicago, accompanied by the First Regiment, to visit the principal
cities of the southern states. This fraternal invitation was heartily
accepted and the plan fully carried out under the auspices of the
Southern States Association, of which Mr. Peck was the organizer
and president.
In 1870 Mr. Peck assisted in founding the Illinois Humane So-
ciety; was president of the Chicago Athenaeum; has served under
two municipal administrations as a member of the Chicago board
of education, of which he was vice president for five years, and was
for many years a trustee of both the old and new University of Chi-
cago. He was one of the founders of the Union League Club in
1880, and was its president in 1893. He is also' identified with the
Chicago, the Chicago Athletic and other clubs. He was also one of
the charter members of the Calumet Club and served as its president
for two terms, in 1906 and 1907.
Mr. Peck is a man of simple tastes and fond of his home and
family. In 1870 he was united in marriage with Miss Tilla Spald-
ing, daughter of W. A. Spalding, of Chicago, and they have a fam-
ily of four sons and two daughters. His city residence is on Michi-
gan boulevard, and he has a beautiful villa at Oconomowoc, Wiscon-
930 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
sin, in which locality he indulges his fondness for boating and fish-
ing. Notwithstanding his wealth and thorough culture, Mr. Peck
has always been outspoken in his defense of the rights of working-
men, and he heartily despises all forms of snobbish aristocracy.
As the last surviving member of the group of remarkable men who
made the packing industry the largest single interest of Chicago, and
made Chicago the world center of the business, the
. r ' life of the late Nelson Morris contains a record of
Morris. , ..... . . . r
the growth ot the business from its mtancy to its
present mammoth proportions. Before taking up the fascinating narra-
tive of the late packer's career, it will be well to state some facts that
show the pioneer condition of the industry when Nelson Morris came
to Chicago. In pork packing Cincinnati had long held the title of
"Porkopolis," and in 1854-55 five times as many hogs were packed in
that city as in Chicago. But within ten years the latter city had risen
so rapidly that it packed more than twice the number of hogs packed
at Cincinnati. Similar gains marked the history of beef packing, the
number of cattle packed rising from about three thousand in 1848
to fifty thousand in 1859. So, in describing the career of Nelson
Morris from the early fifties to the present, it necessarily illustrates
the growth of the packing industry throughout the same period.
The foundation of the widespread industries of the late Nelson
Morris was laid by his ancestors in the Black Forest of Germany.
For generations that was the cattle district of the Fatherland, and
there by the early forties the Morris family had become wealthy
breeders of live stock. Being a man of democratic and independent
character, the elder Morris ignored all property considerations and
joined the revolutionary movement against Germany, becoming one
of the most earnest supporters of the movement to unite the Black
Forest district to the Republic of Switzerland. His political atti-
tude made him a pauper and an exile, and eventually was the means
of scattering the different members of his family abroad.
Nelson Morris was born in the Black Forest, January 21, 1838.
and. due to the misfortunes just recorded, set out for America when
twelve years old, one of his companions in the migration being the
late Carl Schurz, then famous for his part in the revolution of 1848.
Landing in Philadelphia, penniless and virtually friendless, the boy
walked all the way to New York and got employment at five dollars
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 931
a month and board to haul charcoal in Lakeville, Connecticut. With
the west as his goal, he worked his passage up the Erie canal on a
canal boat, remaining in Buffalo some time, and finally, in 1854, in-
vested all he had in a railroad ticket to the west and. because he
lacked enough to pay the entire passage, walked from Michigan City
into Chicago. At that time several stock yards had just been located
on the south side near the railroad lines just completed into the city,
one of them by John B. Sherman, who had established the Myrick
Yards on Cottage Grove avenue, the capacity of these yards being
considered something wonderful at the time. In these yards Nelson
Morris was employed for the first two years of his Chicago residence,
his monthly salary 1 with board) ranging from five dollars at first
to forty dollars in the second year. All that he could save he sent
across the ocean to his relatives or laid away for the purchasing of
the old family homestead and restoring it to his father. In the mean-
time he had begun to buy hogs himself, and did so much better than
as a salaried employe that a year later he ventured to purchase cat-
tle. This was the beginning of his career as one of the great packers
of the world — a beginning which was not aglow with bright colors.
In after years he was not averse to telling how he used to kill and
dress his own cattle and sleep on the slaughter house floor at night
in order to be on hand early in the morning with his beef and pork.
The meat business, especially in the early years, had strongly specu-
lative features owing to the wide irregularity between supply and
demand, and young Morris had his reverses with the rest. At the
age of eighteen he was swindled out of the purchase money for a lot
of hogs which were contracted for by a smooth Xew York man.
When nineteen he borrowed money with which to make the pur-
chase of his first carload of hogs.
Mr. Morris' regular business as a butcher was founded in 1858,
his shop being at the corner of Thirty-first street and the lake shore.
This was ten years before the establishment of Armour & Co. In
1862 he founded a packing house on a comparatively small scale
and during the latter part of the war supplied the Army of the West
with beef. In later life he filled contracts for the governments of
France. Great Britain. Germany and Japan. He was the pioneer
exporter of live cattle to Europe.
In 1866 Mr. Morris commenced business in a building on a por-
932 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
tic n of the site now occupied by Morris & Co. at the Union Stock
Yards. During the twenty years that elapsed since his arrival in
Chicago, his enterprise had expanded into great proportions, but
still relied upon fresh meat as its main source of income. As yet
only a commencement had been made of the utilization of by-prod-
ucts, which, through the ingenuity, energy and ability of Nelson
Morris more than any other one man, has revolutionized the entire
industry. On June 17, 1877, a portion of the present building was
opened to replace the original structure destroyed by fire, and two
weeks later the Fairbank Canning Company, now, as then, an in-
tegral part of the firm, turned out its first "Lion" can. Since that
time not only have repeated additions been made to the business, so
as to make the term "waste products," as applied to live stock, almost
a thing of the past, but packing houses have been erected at East
St. Louis, St. Joseph and Kansas City, the combined area of the
plants exceeding 150 acres. The East St. Louis plant was built in
June, 1889, that at St. Joseph in 1898, and that at Kansas City in
1905.
Nelson Morris' business being the oldest of its line in Chicago,
a brief description of its growth, therefore, will represent the prog-
ress of the packing industry in the United States. When the first
part of the present packing house was opened in 1877 it was divided
into four departments — the fresh meat, hides, oleo and canning de-
partments. The Chicago plant has now about seventy departments,
which include the preparation of all meat food products, from fresh
meats to plum pudding, and the manufacture of butterine, glue, tin
cans, electric light, and fertilizers, with the transformation of green
feathers and hides into merchantable goods, and the storage and sale
of eggs and poultry- Connected with most of the departments are
complete systems of refrigeration, which are extended to the Morris
system of cars organized to transport the products of the different
plants throughout the country. The Chicago plant also embraces a
hospital, fire brigade, barber shop, printing shop, lithographing es-
tablishment, laundry and architect's office. This, in brief, is a de-
scription of the immense business which developed from the little
butcher shop on the lake shore through the powerful instrumentality
of the Black Forest German, who died at his home on Indiana ave-
nue, August 27, 1907.
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
933
One point of Mr. Morris' career deserves notice, namely, that he
was always a live stock raiser first and packer second. For years
his Polled Angus cattle have been a feature of the markets and live
stock exhibits, and his cattle ranches in Texas and Nebraska em-
braced, altogether, a princely domain of nearly three hundred and
fifty thousand acres. In Texas Nelson Morris will always have a
place in the history of the cattle industry, for he was one of the pio-
neers in developing high-grade beef cattle to take the place of the old
Texas long horns that were a picturesque, but not very valuable
product of the ranges for many years. His example and the assist-
ance he gave other breeders in introducing pedigreed stock will not
soon be forgotten in Texas. Thousands of ranchers knew him per-
sonally and with them "Nels Morris" was the familiar but affection-
ate title by which they addressed him. The closeness of their rela-
tions to the great packer found unique tribute in the fact that several
hundred ranchers traveled from distant homes to Chicago in order
to attend the funeral of the dead packer chief.
The press of Chicago recognized in Mr. Morris one of the most
Dowerful builders of its commercial greatness, the following being
one of the many just eulogies published at the time of his death :
"Because Nelson Morris was the last of the group of men who
led in making the meat-packing industry the greatest business inter-
est of Chicago, and not only national but international in its scope,
his death is an event of civic interest. He was one of Chicago's great
builders of wealth and commercial and financial power, standing in
the packing industry on a level with Philip D. Armour and Gustavus
F. Swift, both of whom he outlived. He was a leader in the work
that made Chicago the nation's industrial and commercial metropolis.
"But Nelson Morris' career is even of greater interest because it
illustrates so clearly what the American opportunity was and is —
what it is that has made this nation the greatest success for the aver-
age man ever recorded in history — what is the opportunity that Amer-
ican ideals and institutions open to him who has the wit and will
to profit by them. Nelson Morris took 'the poor boy's chance — the
chance that America offers to all — and out of it won the success he
sought. And that chance is just as large, just as wide open today as
it ever was. The conditions of success, the requirements from the
seeker, the steps by which he may rise, may not be exactly what they
Vol. Ill— 2.
934 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
were fifty years ago. But the opportunity is just as great, and even
greater. The youth who fails in America to attain at least material
ease must seek the cause in himself and not in this country or its in-
stitutions."
The wealth of the deceased is estimated at about $20,000,000,
and besides holding the presidency of the Morris packing interests
and the Fairbank Canning Company, he was a director of the First
National Bank of Chicago, the First Trust and Savings Bank, the
National Live Stock Bank, the Stock Yards Savings Bank and the
Union Rendering Company. He was also heavily interested in the
National Packing Company and Rothschild & Co. He was one of
the original directors of the Chicago City Railway, clung to its sup-
port during the uncertain periods of its corporate life, but afterward
resigned from the directory although he remained a considerable
stockholder.
In 1863 Mr. Morris was married in Chcago to Miss Sarah Vogel,
their children being: Edward, Ira N., Gusta (Mrs. M. L. Roth-
schild) and Maud (Mrs. Henry C. Schwab). Nelson Morris' salient
characteristic was love for his family, and he was little given to so-
ciety life, although in his business relations he was direct and ap-
proachable. Fraternally, he was a charter and life member of the
Chicago Lodge A. F. & A. M., and was identified with the Standard
and Saddle and Sirloin clubs. Although Mr. Morris was one of the
great business men and industrial developers of the country, he was
generous in many unostentatious ways — in fact, an old-time friend
of the packer once contended with energy that Mr. Morris gave away
more money and said less about it than any other man in the country.
If there was anyone in the world who envied John V. Farwell
for the success which he fairly earned, that person has not yet ap-
peared. Although his energy, industry, his keen
John . i ns ioht and his clear outlook, might logically and
Farwell, Sr, . ° , ... , . , . ., , .
justly have earned him a high position in the busi-
ness world, envy and even detraction would surely have been his lot
had his success in material things not been mellowed by humanity and
generosity and been sanctified by the necessary support which his
wealth gave to the moral and religious institutions which claimed so
large a share of his life. Reared amid modest circumstances, he rose
from obscurity to a position in which he was for years in the bright
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 935
light of a broad public approbation, he never became hardened by the
egotism which sometimes cankers the souls of self-made men. With
the coming of wealth he did not allow self-indulgence to sap his
higher instincts, and throughout life held to the practice of his early
youth — of laying aside a portion of his earnings for the maintenance
of worthy charities and the church of his faith.
Mr. Farwell was worthy of the ancient and historic family of
which he was a representative. His genealogy is traced unbrokenly
to Richard Farwell of Yorkshire, England, who, in 1280 (during
the reign of Edward I.), married the heiress of Elias de Rillertone.
Henry Farwell came to Massachusetts early in the seventeenth cen-
tury, and as one of the first settlers of Concord became the founder
of the family in America. The annals of the Colonies show that
the Farwells were associated with the advanced matters of their
day in every particular; and that they constituted a hardy and thrifty
family, spreading over large sections of the eastern states. John
Yilliers Farwell (known in life as John V. Farwell, Sr.) was of the
seventh generation from the American progenitor of the family, and
was born at Campbelltown, Steuben county, New York, on the 29th
of July, 1825. He was the third son of Henry and Nancy (Jackson)
Farwell, who had removed from Massachusetts in 1820.
Mr. Farwell's early boyhood was passed on his father's New
York farm, and when he was thirteen years of age the family re-
moved to Ogle county, Illinois. A thorough district school education
in the two states was supplemented in 1841 by a course of study at
the Mount Morris Seminary, and, in accord with the bent of his
mind and his probable future, he paid special attention to mathe-
matics, bookkeeping and kindred branches. In the spring of 1845,
then in his twentieth year, he decided to test his capabilities in the
business field of Chicago. Three dollars which his father gave him
(the limit of his surplus) was spent in getting to the big city,
although he paid a portion of his expenses by working as one of
the hands on a lake vessel laden with wheat. With an empty pocket
but a well stocked brain, the young man soon obtained employment
in the city clerk's office at twelve dollars a month, with the privilege
of reporting the proceedings of the common council at two dollars
per meeting. Then, as always, when set to a task he knew nothing
but honest work, and when reporting the doings of the city fathers.
930 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
set down their words literally, whether they were elegant or other-
wise. His accuracy and minuteness lost him his position, and he
soon after divorced himself from public service, virtually for life.
For one year he was bookkeeper and salesman for Hamilton &
White, dry goods merchants, at a salary of eight dollars per month,
and he next entered the employ of Hamlin & Day, in the same line,
at an increase of $250 per year. His peculiar aptitude for the busi-
ness attracted the attention of -Wadsworth & Phelps, an even more
important firm, who engaged him at a salary of $600 — liberal com-
pensation for a young man of his age and day. In 1850 he became a
partner in the -firm, which had assumed the style of Cooley, "Wads-
worth & Co.. and remained unchanged with the incoming of Mr.
Farwell.
The establishment of John V. Farwell. Sr.. as an independent
dry goods merchant of Chicago and the country, dates from this
time (1850), and the house in which he thus assumed a modest
proprietary interest was then doing a trade of about $100,000 an-
nually. In 1858 the firm's place of business was removed to 42-46
Wabash avenue. The first change in the composition of the original
firm came in 1862. when Elisha S. Wadsworth retired, and the style
was changed to Cooley. Farwell & Co.. with Francis B. Cooley.
John V. Farwell and Marshall Field as partners. Mr. Cooley retired
in 1864. an d Levi Z. Leiter and S. X. Kellogg entered the partner-
ship, the firm becoming Farwell. Field & Co. Soon Messrs. Field
and Leiter withdrew and became partners of Potter Palmer in the
firm of Field, Leiter & Palmer, and in 1866 the membership of the
Farwell house was increased by the addition of W. D. and Charles B.
Farwell and J. K. Harmon. It was then that the house adopted
the familiar name of John V. Farwell & Co. On January 1, 1891,
the business was incorporated as the John V. Farwell Company, of
which the senior partner remained the controlling, although not
active, force until his death at his home in Lake Forest, on the 20th
of August, 1 90S. The deceased had celebrated his eighty-third birth-
day on the 29th of the preceding month.
In 1869 the Farwell house removed its place of business to 114
Wabash avenue, a short distance south of its former location, was
burned out at this location in 1870 and was rebuilding when the
great fire of the following year swept away the uncompleted struc-
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 937
ture. Instead of rebuilding in what was then the wholesale district
of Chicago, J. V. Farwell & Co. selected a site in Monroe street,
between Franklin and Market streets, remaining there until [882,
when a removal was made to the present location at Market and
Monroe streets. This innovation drew the attention of other houses
to the unwise business policy of occupying expensive locations and
valuable real estate for wholesale purposes. The result was the es-
tablishment of the great and distinctive wholesale district of Chicago.
For more than half a century Mr. Farwell was a conspicuous
figure in the work of the Young Men's Christian Association and in
the charitable and religious movements which revolved around the
grand personality of Dwight L. Moody. In fact, an epigrammatic and
mutual friend once christened Mr. Farwell as the "inventor of
Dwight L. Moody," and it is doubtless true that the great evangelist
would have fallen far short in the breadth of his achievements in
this city without the warm and generous support which he always
received from Mr. Farwell. The Chicago Avenue church was made
an assured success through his financial support, and in 1856 when
Mr. Moody founded the Illinois Street Mission for the reclaiming of
street waifs, it was Mr. Farwell's unstinted means which kept it
afloat. Neither was his work finished with the loosening of his
purse strings; for ten years Mr. Farwell served as superintendent of
the mission, and under his personal direction and impetus, the enter-
prise developed into a church and Sunday school of large proportions
and beneficent influence. He was also for years one of the most
active trustees of the Chicago Evangelical Society, organized by
Mr. Moody for the purpose of giving poor young men who have no
church advantages a practical training for religious work. Among
Mr. Farwell's other good works were also his labors in behalf of
the prisoners at the Bridewell, where he was long in the habit of
holding Sunday religious- services, and where he was the means,
through his temperance appeals and lay preaching, of reclaiming some
of the most obdurate. His spirit of practical Christian helpfulness
was conspicuously demonstrated during the ordeal of the Civil war,
being one of the foremost members of the Sanitary and Christian
Commission, whose splendid labors for the relief of stricken soldiers
and their families have gone into the brightest pages of history.
He was also instrumental in recruiting the Board of Trade Regi-
938 CHICAGO AXD COOK COUNTY
ment. in the raising and equipment of which he donated $40,000
and a generous portion of his time and strength.
Mr. Farwell donated the first lots he ever owned in Chicago
as a site for the home of the Young Men's Christian Association of
Chicago, and from that time until his death its local prosperity was
largely due to his liberality, his labors and his wise counsel. He
was one of the leading promoters of its $1,000,000 endowment fund,
and at the recent semi-centennial celebration of the organization in
Chicago he contributed $12,500 toward it. Although then in his
last long illness, the venerable and beloved citizen was represented
at the exercises by one of his sons.
Mr. Farwell served at one time as vice president of the Chicago
Board of Trade, but outside of his business, his charities and his re-
ligion — which, happily, ran in parallel lines — he was little known as
a public character. In 1864 he was a presidential elector for Illinois
on the Republican (Lincoln) ticket, and in 1869 he served as a mem-
ber of the board of Indian Commissioners. His service in these ca-
pacities covers his political record. It was in his capacity as a high-
minded business man and citizen that his influence was so strongly
felt in life and will be indefinitely continued now that his mortality
has passed away.
Mr. Farwell was twice married, his first wife, to whom he was
married April 16. 1849. being Abigail G. Taylor, daughter of John
G. Taylor of Ogle county. Illinois. Mrs. Abigail Farwell died in
185 1, leaving a daughter, and on March 8, 1854. he wedded as his
second wife. Miss Emeret Cooley. of Hartford, Connecticut, by
whom he had three sons and one daughter. The sons are John V.,
Jr.. Francis Cooley and Arthur Lincoln Farwell. Virtually from the
incorporation of John V. Farwell & Co. in 189 1 until their father's
death, the two sons first mentioned held the active management of
the great business. John Y. Farwell. Jr.. as treasurer of the corpora-
tion, and Francis C. Farwell as its secretarv.
To say that Marshall Field was the greatest merchant of his
day is to proclaim that he was the most eminent merchant prince
Ar ^ in the world's history ; and both statements are true
p n to the letter. In his boyhood he was noted for
both industry and perseverance, and, carrying the
same pre-eminent traits into his mature life, he came to tower above
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 939
his fellow merchants of the great working world. He penetrated
to the possibilities of men and busines situations with lightning-like
rapidity; the intellectual sweep with which he finally organized a
magnificent mercantile house whose scope embraced both the old
world and the new. proclaimed the man of vast power, as well as
penetration, and the unfailing courtesy and superb endurance of the
man carried all before him. The old-time merchants of the Stewart
school had these qualities of polished granite, but Marshall Field
added to them a world-view, and also the application of artistic
genius to mercantile affairs and environment. He not only sold
goods honestly and gave the people promptly what they wanted, but
he educated their tastes, showed them beautiful and new creations
for their persons and their homes, and then met their advanced and
more refined wants at as reasonable a cost as was compatible with
honest goods and fair profits.
And when Marshall Field had personally progressed from the
station of a raw clerk from the country districts of New England to
a world-wide eminence in the field of his mastery, he was still a
modest, unassuming man. "There have been men," said a local
journal on January 17, 1906 (the day after his death), "whom wealth
has made purse proud, arrogant, offensive to their equals and tyrants
to their employes. We are glad to say that Marshall Field was not
one of them. Riches did not change his manners. He was never
aggressive or pompous. There was in him no show of self-conceit
in manner or speech. He was reticent, but it was the reticence of
modesty, not of pride. His employes were attached to him. He
treated them with the courtesy he extended to everybody. He was
as quiet or reserved, and as unostentatious, when he was worth a
hundred million as when he was worth a thousandth part of that.
He attended strictly to his own business, which he understood per-
fectly, and did not meddle with that of others. He did not set him-
self up as the general instructor of the community. He asked people
to let him alone as regarded the just conduct of his affairs, and he
conceded to others the right he proclaimed for himself.
There was no man in Chicago more kindly regarded by his fellow
citizens than Mr. Field. There was no one so conspicuous of whom
so few harsh things were said. His riches made him odious to no
one, for the people high and low saw that he was untainted by wealth,
940 CHICAGO AXD COOK COUNTY
and was always an upright man, fair and even generous in his deal-
ings. He was the first citizen of Chicago when he died, and he has
left no one to take his place. He will be sincerely mourned by the
men, women and children of Chicago."
In explanation of his lifelong inclination to keep himself in the
background, Marshall Field always said frankly that he preferred
to work where he could do the most good, which in his case he
claimed was remote from public platforms and showy places. When
counsel was asked of him, however, either as a member of society
or as a citizen of Chicago, he gave it with exceptional power and
insight, couching his arguments and his conclusions in straightfor-
ward, forcible language. As a citizen he was ever ready to express
an opinion, if he felt that it was wanted and would be useful, and
not long before his death he analyzed Chicago's financial condition
in masterly manner, pointing out that many of its ills of dirt, decay
of public improvements, bad water and imperfect drainage, were due
to lack of businesslike handling of available funds.
Mr. Field's self-poised momentum as a merchant and a man was
an especial inspiration to young men, and, without assuming to be
a teacher of moral, or even business laws, within the later period of
his life he wrote a number of brief and pithy essays for their consid-
eration, advising them of the value of economy, honesty and industry.
The practical suggestions set forth may be summarized as follows:
Never give a note. Never buy a share of stock on margin. Never
borrow. Never give a mortgage on your holdings. Hold all cus-
tomers to a strict meeting of their obligations. Do business on a
cash basis. Give the best quality for the least money. Sell on shorter
time than competitors. Try to sell the same grade of goods for a
smaller price. Never speculate.
Mr. Field enjoyed the personal advantage that his physical ap-
pearance was in perfect keeping with his high and substantial char-
acter. Many noble men and women suffer a serious % drawback
through life because of physical characteristics which seem a brutal
contradiction of the real soul of their being. But Marshall Field
was both distinguished and genial iii appearance, and all his features
were strong and large. With white hair and mustache, high and
broad forehead, and calm yet penetrating gray-blue eyes shadowed
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 941
by heavy brows, he was a man of marked bearing who at once com-
manded attention and respect.
This superb personality originated and was nurtured near the
little village of Conway, Massachusetts, the year of Marshall Field's
birth being 1834. In this locality his English ancestors settled in
1650. The family homestead was about one mile and a half from
town, on the summit of a considerable elevation, which had long been
known as Field's Hill. Forest-clad hills were all around, and the
.panoramic view of meadows, brooks, nestling farms and villages,
was something to soothe the mind for years after, in the smoke and
bustle of great cities. Amid such surroundings were born and reared
the four sons and two daughters comprising the Field family, Mar-
shall being the third child and son. When he was six years of age
he commenced to attend winter school, and within the next few years
assumed the lead in such outdoor sports as "Fox and Hound," which
called for both speed and endurance. It is a matter of record that
Marshall was usually the Fox, that position requiring ingenuity as
well, and old settlers who were boys in the days of his residence
recall a famous run of twenty miles to South Deerfield and return,
in which the fox finally came home untouched and unwinded. In-
genuity, speed and endurance; that was Marshall Field — the boy,
father to the man. On account of the abandonment of the old road
which ran past the homestead and lowered the price of the property,
the home farm was sold when Marshall was about fifteen years of
age, and, although another was purchased, it was decided that the
third son was better fitted for a store clerk than for an agriculturist.
It is said that his mates fully subscribed to this decision, complaining
that they had no chance in a knife trade when Marshall was in the
ring. After serving a short apprenticeship in a store at Pittsfield,
which served to whet his ambition for a larger field, he decided
in favor of the great undeveloped west.
Mr. Field became a resident of Chicago in 1856, so that the fifty
years intervening between his majority and his death he devoted to
the development of his house, his character and the upholding of
the city's name for mercantile, commercial and civic honor. At the
time of his arrival in the western city Cooley, Wadsworth & Co. were
proprietors of its leading dry goods house. The population was esti-
mated anywhere from sixty to eighty thousand inhabitants, which
9-M CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
then seemed an empire of people to the young Massachusetts man.
Although then unformed to city ways, when he said simply and firmly
to the ''boss" that he was a good clerk and could sell goods, there was
that about him which carried conviction; he was therefore engaged,
and in today's vernacular, "made good." In January, i860, he was
admitted to the partnership and appointed manager of the business,
then conducted as Cooley, Farwell & Co., but after his association,
as Farwell. Field & Co. In i860 Levi Z. Leiter also entered the
firm, and in January, 1865, Potter Palmer (who had already been-
in business for thirty years) approached Messrs. Field and Leiter
with the proposition to buy his dry goods house, that he might retire
and recuperate his broken health. Mr. Palmer's offer of part cash
and notes for the balance was accepted, and the firm of Field, Palmer
& Leiter, which was formed January 11, 1865, transacted a flourish-
ing business until 1867, when the notes were paid and Mr. Palmer's
name dropped from the style.
The firm of Field, Leiter & Co. was formed in January, 1867,
and in the following September their business was installed in a large
building erected by Mr. Palmer on the northeast corner of State and
Washington streets. For four years and one month this was the
grand center of the dry goods trade of the northwest, and at the
time of the fire of 187 1 their sales had reached the aggregate of
$8,000,000. But the fire swept all away, entailing a destruction of
$3,500,000 worth of property, with an insurance of $2,500,000. Be-
fore the ruins had ceased to smoke, temporary headquarters were
established in the old street car barns, at the corner of State and
Twentieth streets, and the business was there conducted until another
store was completed on the old site in 1873. Meantime a building
had been erected on the corner of Market and Madison streets, and
a portion of it occupied for retail purposes and known as Retail No.
2, for the benefit of patrons coming from the west and north sides
of the city. With the completion of the State street store in 1873,
the retail was separated from the wholesale business and transferred
altogether to the State Street concern. Fire again visited Marshall
Field's State street store in 1877, the loss being $725,000, but it was
re-opened in the following year, the business having in the meantime
been carried on in temporary quarters. So the development of the
gigantic enterprise continued apace, its intricate and powerful ma-
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 943
chinery hidden from the public, but its continuous expansion indi-
cated by the occupation of new space from year to year. In 1878
Mr. Higinbotham was admitted as a partner, and in 1881 Mr. Leiter
retired. From the latter year, for a quarter of a century, Mr. Field
was the master spirit of the house.
In 1885 was commenced the vast granite structure covering the
square bounded by Adams, Franklin, Fifth avenue and Ouincy, for
the accommodation of the wholesale business, and it was completed
in 1887. By the expansion of the retail department seven-eighths of
the block bounded by State, Washington and Randolph streets and
Wabash avenue has been covered with granite buildings twelve stor-
ies in height — the portion which is still unoccupied being the corner
of Randolph street and Wabash avenue. The different structures are
connected by covered bridgeways, and for all conveniences are one.
The Annex, on the corner of Washington street and Wabash avenue,
was completed in 1893; Central Music Hall and other property on
Randolph street, was razed and replaced by the Field buildings in
1901-02; in 1905 the great store was extended north of the Annex
along Wabash avenue, and during 1905 and 1906 the original build-
ing at the corner of State and Washington streets, which had been a
mercantile landmark for so many years, was taken down and replaced
by the present immense granite frontage. The floor area of the re-
tail establishment is now forty-one acres, and its employes number
from six to nine thousand, according to the season. Some thirty-
five hundred persons are employed in the wholesale house.
Mr. Field's public works are numerous and important. In March,
1 87 1, he took a leading part in the effort to merge the old Chicago
Library Association into the Young Men's Christian Association.
After the great fire, he was one of the foremost to inspire hope,
courage and confidence in business circles, and make possible the
greater Chicago which arose from the ruins. His services in the
distribution of money and supplies were invaluable. Identified with
the Chicago Relief Society from its organization, he was named by
A. T. Stewart as first on the committee to control the $50,000 do-
nated by him for the relief of women and children in Chicago. He
was also for years a member of the Chicago Historical Society, aided
in founding the Art Institute, was one of the organizers of the Citi-
zens' League, and one of the charter members of the Commercial
944 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Club in 1877. In 18S1 he aided in the establishment of the Chicago
Musical Festival Association and of the Chicago Manual Training
School in 1882. To the latter he gave 820,000, and to the new Chi-
cago University he devoted a tract of land near the Midway Plais-
ance, now valued at $200,000. and known as "Marshall Field.'' He
was long a director of the Merchants' Loan and Trust Company, and
was otherwise associated with many of the great commercial, finan-
cial and industrial enterprises which have made Chicago a world's
metropolis. The climax of his public benefactions was the establish-
ment of the Field Museum, first at Jackson Park, and finally on the
lake front, by the provisions of his will $8,000,000 being bequeathed
for its founding and support.
The death of Marshall Field, generally pronounced the foremost,
citizen of Chicago, certainly one of the greatest figures of his day,
occurred at the Holland House. Xew York, where he was staying
during an anticipated week's absence from Chicago, on the 16th of
January, 1906. There were present at his death bed his wife (for-
merly Mrs. Arthur Caton), to whom he had been married only a
few months. Mr. Stanley Field, and Mrs. Marshall Field. Jr. The
latter, who was the widow of his only son, recalls the tragic death
of Marshall Field. Jr.. less than two months before, a blow to the
father which he bore with diernified silence, but which is thought bv
those nearest to him to have broken him in spirit and body. The
great bulk of his fortune of about $125,000,000 went to his two
grandsons, Marshall Field III., and Henry Field. His only daughter.
Mrs. David Beatty, wife of Captain Beatty. of the British navy, in-
herited $6,000,000, and Mrs. Delia S. Caton. the widow, the magnifi-
cent family residence, with contents, and $1,000,000 (an ante-nuptial
bequest > .
Since the death of Marshall Field, the head of the greatest mer-
cantile establishment in the world is John Graves Shedd. Mr.
_ Shedd's single desire has been to be called simplv a
I* )tt \r (t
-L . merchant. In this respect he has reached the great
Shedd. . °
goal at which he has aimed. Mr. Field on one occa-
sion, before a senate committee investigating the tariff, referring to
Mr. Shedd, said : "I believe him to be the best merchant in the United
States." Mr. Field evidently spoke from his knowledge and faith
in the man; he alone knew how much Mr. Shedd had been the
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 945
builder of the great mercantile house which bore the name of Field;
he knew who was the great master of the details of that gigantic
establishment and the late merchant showed his own generosity by
publicly giving credit where it was due.
Like Mr. Field, John G. Shedd started in a country store, where
he thoroughly learned the fundamentals of merchandising. He was
born in Alstead. New Hampshire, July 20, 1850, son of William and
Abigail (Wallace) Shedd. He received only a common school educa-
tion in his native town and Langdon. New Hampshire, and at the
age of sixteen left the farm to become a clerk with Solomon Saundi
a small vender of groceries in Bellows Falls, Vermont. For the suc-
ceeding two years he was in the employ of Timothy Tufts and James
H. Porter, of his native town, as clerk in a general store.
Mr. Shedd became identified with Chicago about the time of the
crisis caused by the fire and the subsequent beginning of a great era
of industrial and business development. He entered the employ of
Field, Leiter & Co. on the 7th day of August, 1872. and from that
time until the present has never ceased to be active in the up-building
of the house of Field. Mr. Shedd's thorough training makes him
master of the situation, whether as buyer, salesman, credit man or
manager. Outside of the production of merchandise, for which under
his careful guidance this house is noted to a larger degree than any
other business in the world, Mr. Shedd's greatest pride, perhaps, lias
been centered in the creating of their great retail store, the detail of
whose fixtures, originating entirely with Mr. Shedd, are famed
throughout the world. His one great sorrow has been that his
eminent senior, the late Marshall Field, did not live to see the com-
pletion of the model housing of this great business.
While Mr. Shedd recognizes the international scope of the modern
mercantile house and its place in the world as an educator of taste
and art, at the same time he insists that no merchant is ever e [uipped
along modern lines unless he has gone through the drudgery of the
business. An old friend of his once remarked : "I know a good many
business men of Chicago, but of them all I know : of no other man who
can go as quickly and deeply to the heart of things, hitting the bull's
eye with more certainty, than John G. Shedd." Like Marshall Field.
Mr. Shedd has always been generous in bestowing credit upon his
associates for good work; and for the success which has come to
946 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
him he warmly accords a large share of the credit to the late Henry
J. Willing, "who was his friend, adviser and counselor always."
With all his mercantile qualities, he will doubtless be most affec-
tionately remembered by his fellow and subordinate workers for his
efforts in affording them the opportunities of relaxation and recrea-
tion which up to within a few years were largely denied those who
toiled in the offices and great business houses of the city, for it was
he who originated and insisted on putting in force the Saturday
half-holiday among the wholesale establishments of Chicago. In
twenty years the movement begun by him has become an almost
general custom throughout Chicago and the West.
Mr. Shedd is a grateful, faithful Chicagoan. "Too many men
have made fortunes in Chicago." he says, "and while making them
have left the city to grow as it would. If some of these had found
a little time for audience with men who had the welfare of the
future city in mind and heart, fewer would have found fancied need
to take up residence in mope beautiful and more ripened environ-
ments." Among the recent good works which Mr. Shedd has per-
formed for the well being of the city, is that which has brought about
the construction of a new county building, commensurate with the
dignity of the second city in the United States and with the physical
safety of thousands of its citizens. He was chairman of the com-
mittee of investigation, as also of the citizens' committee which finally
passed upon the architect's plans.
Mr. Shedd was married at Walpole, New Hampshire, May 15.
1878, to Miss Mary R. Porter, and their two children are Laura A.
and Helen M. Shedd. The family home is a beautiful residence at
4515 Drexel Boulevard. Mr. Shedd has no other residence — Chicago
is his home, first, last and always. It is but natural that a man in his
position should be to some extent identified with club life, and he has
membership in the Chicago. Union League, Commercial. University
and most of the other prominent clubs in the vicinity of Chicago ».
Charles Anthony Stevens, dry goods merchant, was born at Col-
chester, Illinois. March 16. 1859, and received his education in the
public schools of his native town. His early days
* were spent on the farm, after which he worked for a
oTEVENS.
time as a clerk in one of the local stores. In 1870
he engaged in a retail business, on his r >\\n account, ar
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 947
Avon, Illinois, and in 1890 came to Chicago and organized the re-
tail dry goods firm which has done a continuous business since under
the name of Chas. A. Stevens & Brothers. Mr. Stevens is president
of the company. He is also vice president of the American Silk
Company, wholesale silks. On March 16, 1882, Mr. Stevens was
married to Miss Fannie E. Tompkins. They have three children :
Elmer T., Alta C. and Hazel M. Mr. Stevens is a member of the
Union League and Chicago Athletic clubs, and resides at the Ken-
wood Hotel.
The leading dry goods merchant whose name heads this sketch
has been one of the stanchest members of the firm of Carson, Pirie.
Scott & Co. for a period of forty years, and is still
managing the retail business of the house which
he himself founded. As his name implies and his
earnest, honest, strong character doubly indicates, Andrew MacLeish
is a Scotchman, born in Glasgow, on the 28th of June, 1838, son of
Archibald and Agnes (Lindsay) MacLeish. As is customary with
the boys of his nationality, whose parents are in comfortable circum-
stances, Andrew received a thorough education, which embraced
courses in the Glasgow Normal Academy, Hardy's English Acad-
emy, Flint's Commercial Academy and the Glasgow high school.
When about seventeen years of age he commenced to fill various
clerical positions in Glasgow and later went to London, coming to
the United States and Chicago in 1857.
In the above-named year, then nineteen years of age, Mr. Mac-
Leish became a permanent resident of this city, first' entering the
employ of J. D. Sherman and J. B. Shay, dry goods dealers, and
remaining with the two houses for six years. In 1864 he became a
member of the firm of J. B. Shay & Co., and materially assisted in
the expansion of their business for two years. In 1867 he became
associated with the house of Carson, Pirie, Scott & Co., founding
their retail business and entering into the active management of it.
For a period of forty years he has continued to fill that position, and
has proved to be the main force in the development of a great mer-
cantile business. With the growth of this enterprise he has also
developed into one of the leading citizens of Chicago, fully alive to
her hio-her needs and earnest and efficient in his support of the sub-
948 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
stantial institutions of charity and practical reform for which the
city is noted.
Mr. MacLeish is vice president of the hoard of trustees of the
University of Chicago and a trustee of Rush Medical College and
the Chicago Manual Training School. In his religious faith he is
a Baptist, and is widely known as a leader in the work of that de-
nomination, being a member of the Baptist Social Union and vice
president of the American Baptist Home Mission Society. In poli-
tics Mr. MacLeish has been a lifelong Republican, and is an active
and popular member of the Quadrangle and Union League clubs. Of
the latter, long known as one of the foremost organizations of a so-
cial and political nature in the country, he was a nominee for the
presidency in January, 1907.
Mr. MacLeish has been married three times. His first wife, to
whom he was married in Chicago in 1858, was Miss Lillias Young,
and the children born to this union were : Lily Agnes, now Mrs.
C. L. Day. and Blanche E. (Mrs. C. K. G. Billings). In 1881 he
married as his second wife Miss Marie Louise Little, and one child,
Bruce, was born to them. In 1888 Mr. MacLeish wedded Miss Mar-
tha Hillard. of Plymouth, Connecticut, and the following children
were the fruits of his third marriage: Norman Hillard. Archibald,
Kenneth, Isabel Marjoribanks. The family residence is at Glencoe,
Illinois.
Daniel Miner Lord, one of the founders of the great advertising
house of Lord & Thomas, retired from the main work of his life in
1904, but is still engaged in the management of
large interests of a financial and industrial nature.
He was born in Newton Corner, Massachusetts, on
the 29th of September, 1844, son of Daniel Miner and Eliza (Hardy)
Lord. Obtaining a public school education at home, in 1861 he was
prepared to enter college, but owing to the death of his father in
an accident he was obliged to relinquish all ambitions for a higher
education. Throughout the period of the Civil war he, therefore,
engaged in the shipping business, his residence being in New Y'ork.
Mr. Lord became a resident of Chicago in October, 1868. and
within two years thereafter entered the newspaper advertising field,
forming a partnership in that line with the late Ambrose L. Thomas
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 949
For more than thirty years these associates combined their remark-
able abilities for organization, promotion and substantial develop
merit, and built up a business remarkable for its extent, profits and
originality. On February 1, 1904, he sold his interest in the house
to former employes and retired from the business. He is still a di-
rector (former vice president) in the Metropolitan Trust and Sav-
ing's Bank, and the Sterling Remedy Company; treasurer and director
of the Opaque Shade Cloth Company, and director of the Columbia
Shade Cloth Company, Indiana Mineral Springs Company and the
Illinois and Indian Oil Company.
On September 21, 1887, Mr. Lord was married to Miss Alice
Barbee Tullis, and the following- children have been born to them:
Arthur D., Alice Tullis, Florence Eliza and Daniel M., Jr. The fam-
ily residence is at No. 5450 Cornell avenue. Mr. Lord is independent
in politics, and belongs to the Union League, Chicago Athletic 1 ex-
president), Chicago Literary, City, Kenwood and Homewood Coun-
try clubs. He is also ex-president of the Sons of the American Revo-
lution, Illinois branch; was vice president of the National Society
of Sons of the American Revolution, and is ex-vice president of the
New England Society.
The sudden death from heart disease of Ambrose L. Thomas.
on the 10th of November, 1906, removed from the world a forceful
and lovable personality — one who filled a large
Ambrose L. . . , ...... . . ,
„ place m the stern activities 01 business without mak-
Thomas. \ .
ing enemies, because his aggressive methods were
conducted in the open and he never spared himself the wear and tear
of such competition. Jt may be added that there are few fields where
competition is keener, greater or prosecuted with more severe expen-
diture of mental and physical vitality than that of advertising, which
he early selected as his province. His abounding success, therefore,
convincingly proved his firmness, his persistency and his broad and
persuasive abilities. In his more private traits of character, a charm-
ing sociability was evident, and his enviable ability to readily draw
associates to him was strengthened by those deeper qualities of faith-
fulness and honor, which made firm friends of acquaintances and
transformed temporary friendships into those of a lifetime.
Mr. Thomas was a native of the Pine Tree state, born in Thomas-
Vol. Ill— 3.
950 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
ton. in the year 1841. When quite young he became an office boy
in the employ of the Boston Traveler, where he remained until he
associated himself with T. C. Evans in the advertising business. The
decade which he thus spent in Boston was a period both of progress
and education in his chosen field, so that, when he came to Chicago
he was fully prepared not only to develop in the larger territory
of the west many plans which had been well matured in the east,
but was so firmly grounded in the fundamentals of advertising that
he was able to form prompt judgment on the feasibility of new
schemes presented. In 1870 he formed the partnership with Daniel
M. Lord, which, under the firm name of Lord & Thomas, continued
until the retirement of the senior partner February 1, 1904, when Mr.
Thomas himself became president. Without detracting from the
marked ability of Mr. Lord, it may be said that the services of the
deceased in the building of an establishment which had no superior
in the world in its line were invaluable, and along this line quote the
words of one of his associates uttered at the time of his death : "The
advertising world has lost a master, in the death of our executive.
His was a grand personality. He made friends all over the country
and held them, and that was the secret of his ability to organize and
get the most out of the advertising business. He was the prime fac-
tor in building up the business, working along lines that he fully ma-
tured before coming to Chicago from Boston, and he seemed particu-
larly satisfied of late that his efforts had been crowned with success."
Besides actively and successfully guiding the course of this great
advertising house, Mr. Thomas was president and director of the
Sterling Remedy Company; vice president and director of the
Orangeine Chemical Company, and director of the Metropolitan
Trust and Savings Bank and the Indiana Mineral Springs Company.
The deceased is survived by his widow and their two daughters —
one of whom is Miss Florence Thomas, a graduate of Smith College,
Springfield, Massachusetts, and the other, Mrs. Roscoe U. Lansing,
whose husband is identified with the First Trust and Savings Bank.
The home of the widow and unmarried daughter is still at No. 4722
Woodlawn avenue, which so long was the center of a happy and
wholesome life of sociability and domesticity.
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 951
Charles Richard Crane, first vice president of the Crane Company,
is a native of Chicago, born on the 7th of August, 1858, son of Rich-
_ _, ard T. and Mary (Prentice) Crane. He received
Charles R. ,• , ^ ■ 1, , v , , , . .
r Ins education in the public schools of this city, and
soon after finishing his courses therein entered the
Crane Company. He served in various capacities in the mechanical,
office and sales departments, so as to become thoroughly familiar with
the industry and the business in all their practical details. In 1894
he assumed his present office of vice president. In the manufacture
of valves and fitting, the vast Crane plant has no superior in the
world. Mr. Crane is also a director in the National Bank of the
Republic.
Mr. Crane has taken an active and influential interest in reforma-
tory movements of an industrial and civic nature. He has served as
president of the Municipal Voters' League and is a member of the
American Economic Association. In politics, he is independent.
In 1 88 1 Mr. Crane was united in marriage with Miss Cornelia
W. Smith, and the family residence is at No. 2559 Michigan avenue.
He is widely known in club circles, having membership in the follow-
ing organizations : City Club, Chicago Literary, Chicago, Calumet,
University, Chicago Athletic, Iroquois and the Century Club of New
York.
In his younger days one of the leading men of the American game
and in later years a large managerial figure in the National League,
also for more than thirty years head of the house
of A. G. Spalding & Co., one of the largest manu-
Spalding. . r . , . . . ° ...
facturers of sporting goods in the world — Albert
G. Spalding is perhaps more widely known among all classes of ath-
letes and lovers of sports than any other person in the United States.
He is a native of Byron, Illinois, son of James L. and Harriet I.
(Goodwill) Spalding, and was born on the 2nd of September, 1850.
He received a good education in the public schools of Byron and
Rockford, Illinois, and at the Rockford Commercial College.
From very early boyhood Albert G. Spalding has been a baseball
enthusiast, and at seventeen years of age had attained much local
prominence as a player. Joining the Forest City Club of Rockford
he did much to place that organization at the head of the amateur
952 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
clubs of the west, and gained national fame as a pitcher. In 1871
he joined the Boston Club of the National League, and for four
years was its star pitcher, as well as captain of the club. In 1876 he
became a member of the Chicago "White Stockings." and remained
with it as manager, secretary and president until 1891. During this
period of fifteen years the Chicago club was at the height of its fame,
winning the pennant six times — thrice in succession (1880-82) —
and to Mr. Spalding's energetic management and fine judgment a
large share of this signal success has been accorded.
In 1876, soon after joining the Chicago Club, Mr. Spalding asso-
ciated himself with his brother. J. Waller Spalding, and his brother-
in-law. William T. Brown, in the establishment of a house for the
manufacture and sale of sporting goods ; and. in view of the wide
popularity, as well as the thorough business qualities of all concerned
in the enterprise, it has enjoyed a rapid and substantial growth from
the first. The business was originally devoted to the sale of goods ;
was later incorporated with A. G. Spalding as president, and still
later the manufacturing branch was added to it. The plant is located
at West Fifty-fourth street and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific
Railroad tracks. The house has also a large establishment in New
York, of which Mr. Spalding is in personal charge, although he still
spends much of his time in Chicago.
Jacob Louis Kesner. the general manager of the Fair store, build-
er and owner of the new Municipal Courts building on Michigan
avenue, and largely interested in other down town
T J' real estate and ninetv-nine-vear leaseholds, is one
Kesner. . , _ - ■
01 the first men to be named among those most
prominently connected with the improvement of the city "within the
loop," and the practical realization of the plans for the "new Chi-
cago." As one of the far-sighted and energetic State street mer-
chants, he has suggested plans or has actively co-operated with others
for the improvement of that great commercial thoroughfare, and
those familiar with the many changes for the better that have taken
place in that street during the last ten years will recall that Mr. Kes-
ner contributed time, money and energy to such improvements.
Though a native of England. Mr. Kesner is, in all other ways,
a thorough Chicagoan. and comes by his pride and interest in the
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 953
city because it has afforded him a field in which his own energies
might expand without limitation. He was born in London, Decem-
ber 30, 1865, son of Louis Jacob and Sarah (Staal) Kesner. He was
a child when his parents came to Chicago, and the old Scammon and
Haven schools gave him the foundation of an education. When he
was twelve and a half years old he became a cash boy in the Fair
store (in July, 1878). As one of the least among a multitude he
began in a connection which has continued for nearly thirty years,
and resulted in successive promotions from the bundle wrapper to
cashier, salesman, floorwalker, buyer, assistant manager, and, on Jan-
nary 1, 1895, to general manager of the entire business. While he
was earning $2.50 a week at the Fair, he attended a business colloge
to acquire the principles of education most useful to him in his career.
Since Mr. Kesner became general manager, the Fair has maintained
a reputation as one of the world's great department stores, and in
this has shown not only a remarkable expansion of business, but also
a decided elevation in the standard of its goods and the class of its
patronage. The trade is both much larger and better, the artistic
feature having been developed in the display and quality of the goods
offered, which is in direct line with the progress of the mercantile
business throughout the United States.
Mr. Kesner has large and varied real estate interests in the loop
district. Best known of these is the handsome building at 148-149
Michigan avenue, where the new r municipal courts have quarters for
which the city pays $88,000 a year. His activity in making an ideal
business way out of State street has been directed largely through the
organizations known as the State Street Improvement and Protective
Association and the Citizens' Street Cleaning Bureau, of both of
which he is president. He is also president of the Strowger Auto-
matic Telephone Exchange, and is a director in the Kenwood Trust
and Savings Bank. His clubs are the Mid-Day, Illinois Athletic,
Hamilton, South Shore Country, Standard. Press, and he affiliates
with Chicago Lodge No. 437, F. & A. M. Mr. Kesner married.
August 30, 1887, Miss Bettie Frohman, and they have one child. Lu-
cile. The beautiful family home is at 4756 Grand boulevard. Mr.
Kesner's real estate offices are in the Majestic building.
954 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Enos M. Barton, president of the Western Electric Company, is
a native of Lorraine, New York, born on the 2nd of December, 1842,
_ , son of Sidney William and Fanny (Bliss) Barton.
Enos M. „ .,/.... . y K / .
n He received his education in various public and pri-
Barton. , , .-. . , , ,. . , . , • ,
vate schools 01 his home locality, pursuing his high-
er courses at the University of Rochester, New York.
Mr. Barton's first business experience was as a messenger boy in
a telegraph office, his coming to Chicago dating from 1869, when
he was twenty-seven years of age, as a member of the firm of Gray
& Barton (Elisha Gray and General Anson Stager and Mr. Barton
being general partners). In 1872 the Western Electric Manufactur-
ing Company was organized, Mr. Barton being secretary and general
manager. In 1882 the Western Electric Company was formed to* take
over the business of the manufacturing company and some other con-
cerns, and Mr. Barton became vice president, and in 1887 president.
Within the twenty years that he has been at the head of its affairs
the business has developed into one of the most extensive and com-
plete in its line in the world. When he became president its trans-
actions amounted to $2,300,000 annually ; these figures have been in-
creased to $69,000,000, for '1906. The number of employes has been
over 28,000. Besides being the master force in this vast business,
Mr. Barton is a director in the Merchants' Loan and Trust Company.
Professionally and personally, he is an associate member of the
American Institute of Electrical Engineers and a trustee of the Uni-
versity of Chicago.
Mr. Barton has been twice married— first in 1869, at Rochester,
New York, to Miss Katharine Richardson, who bore him three chil-
dren: Alvin L., Katharine and Clara M. His second wife, to whom
he was married in 1899, was Miss Mary C. Rust, of Chicago, and
into their household have been born two sons, Malcolm S. and Evan
M. Mr. Barton is affiliated with the Republican party and with the
following well-known clubs : Chicago, Union League, Commercial,
Quadrangle and Hinsdale. His home is at Hinsdale, Illinois.
During the period of the Civil war and before the fire, the firm
of Durand Brothers & Powers was a well-known house among Chi-
cago grocers. It was among the first firms to en-
„ / gage in the grocery wholesale trade in this city and
Durand. . .
helped to build up the city's prestige as a wholesale
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 955
center. Just before the war this firm had taken into its employ as
clerk, Calvin Durand, who was at that time about twenty-one years
old and who was a brother of some of the members of the firm. He
was born in Clinton county, New York, May 7, 1840, a son of Cal
vin Durand, a native of Vermont and a farmer by occupation. His
education was obtained in the public schools at Keeseville, New York.
The clerkship was cut short by the breaking out of the war. With
Lincoln's call for 300,000 three-year men in July, 1862. the entire
city was roused to enthusiasm, every important organization contrib-
uting its efforts and means for the Union cause. At that time the
famous "Board of Trade Battery" was formed and was drilled and
equipped so quickly that it had reached the front and taken part in
the battle of Perryville, Kentucky, by September 9th. Calvin Dur-
and went out as quartermaster sergeant of this battery, and served
till the close of the war. In 1864 he was made prisoner near Atlanta,
Georgia, and spent eight months in Confederate prisons, including
Andersonville and several others. Finally, in the month of March,
1865, he was exchanged at Richmond, and, the war closing soon
after, he was discharged from service.
Returning to Chicago as a veteran of the war for the Union,
Mr. Durand resumed business as a member of the firm which he had
entered as a clerk. After the Chicago fire, which caused only a tem-
porary cessation of the business, the firm became Durand & Co. Its
members were then John N. Durand, Henry C. Durand and Calvin
Durand. In 1886 a reorganization was effected, under the name of
H. C. & C. Durand, and the business was conducted as such until
1895, when the present firm of Durand & Kasper Company was
formed. On the death of Henry C. Durand in 1891 Mr. Calvin
Durand was elected president of the company. Throughout all these
changes the business has been recognized as one of the largest and
most substantial of Chicago wholesale grocery houses. He is also
vice president of Watson, Durand & Kasper Company, Salina. Kan-
sas.
Mr. Durand is a member of the Union League Club and the On-
wentsia Golf Club. His home is in Lake Forest. He is a director
in the State Bank of Chicago. He married Miss Sarah G. Downs,
daughter of Myron D. Downs, of Chicago. Their six children, one
956 CHICAGO AXD COOK COUNTY
son and five daughters, are all married. The son, Henry C, is vice
president and treasurer of the Dnrand & Kasper Company, and a
stirring-, energetic young business man. He belongs to the Union
League and Onwentsia clubs, and lives in Lake Forest.
When .Albert Arnold Sprague came to Chicago and established
the wholesale grocery house which soon became Sprague, Warner
& Co., the wholesale grocery business was in its
" infancy. Xine vears later, in 1871, according to an
Sprague. . ; J ... & .
historical statement appearing 111 a former history
of Chicago, "the city had achieved such importance as a distributing
center that the wholesale grocery business had proved a somewhat
alluring field for capital seeking investment." It is interesting to
know that the great house of Sprague, Warner & Co. is reallv a
pioneer in one of the most extensive departments of Chicago's great
mercantile enterprises.
The founder of the business and the president of the company is
a New Englander by birth and training. It is a noteworthy fact
that, among so many successful business men who are described as
beginning life in humble circumstances and working from early boy-
hood to get their start, Air. Sprague had the advantages of such en-
vironment and scholastic influences as are associated with the best
New England homes. Born at Randolph, Vermont, May 19, 1835,
son of Ziba and Caroline M. (Arnold) Sprague, he passed his boy-
hood on a farm and had excellent educational advantages. From
the common schools he entered Kimball Lnion Academv. where he
graduated in 1854, and in the following year became a Yale fresh-
man, where he took the regular classical course and graduated in
1859.
A tendency to pulmonary weakness caused Air. Sprague to aban-
don his ambitions for a legal career, and after spending three years
in gaining' ruggedness and health on the home farm in Vermont he
aspired to engage in the business life of the west and came to Chi-
cago in the spring of 1862. Without well defined intentions as to
his future he was not long in deciding that Chicago was a good field
for the wholesale grocery business. He and Z. B. Stetson formed
the firm of Sprague & Stetson, so that from the first Air. Sprague
has been the senior member of the company. They did a successful
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 957
business, though on limited capital, and on Mr. Stetson's retirement
the next year a new partnership was formed with Ezra |. Warner,
a native of Vermont, younger than Mr. Sprague, and who had also
recently come to Chicago to begin his business career. In [864 the)
were joined by O. S. A. Sprague, a younger brother of the president
of the company, who returned from the war and likewise identified
his lot with Chicago mercantile affairs. With the addition of this
partner the firm of Sprague, Warner & Co. came into existence, and
its name and success have continued without change for more than
forty years. It is rather remarkable that the men who founded the
business are still identified with its active direction, and it is a facl
that the character of the men has permeated the entire establishment.
which is a solid monument to their business methods. It is no ex-
aggeration to state that Sprague, Warner & Co. are the largest
wholesale grocers in Chicago, and perhaps in the world. Its particu-
lar territory extends from the extreme northern part of the middle
states to Georgia and the Carolinas on the south, and also throughout
the belt of middle west from north to south, while in the northwest
the g;oods of this house are on sale in every hamlet.
Though never active in practical politics, and finding no allure-
ment in the conspicuous side of public life, Mr. Sprague has directed
his activity into many other channels than his mercantile enterpr
He has been identified with many corporations, being director of the
Chicago Telephone Company and the Edison Electric Light Company.
He was one of the organizers and is still a director of the Northern
Trust Company, one of the strongest financial institutions in the city.
In the field of philanthropy his activity has also been conspicuous
Since 1873 ne ^ as Deen a director of the Relief and Aid Society, of
which he was president in 1887-90; is a trustee of the Chicago Or-
phan Asylum, the Presbyterian Hospital and Rush Medical Colk
and a director of the Art Institute. He is a charter member of the
Commercial Club, and its president in 1882; and also a member of
the Chicago Literary Society; the Chicago, University. Onwentsia,
Homewood and Pelee (Canada) clubs.
Mr. Sprague married at Royalton, Vermont, September 20. [862,
Nancy A. Atwood, daughter of Ebenezer. Their one daughter is
Mrs. Elizabeth S. Coolidge.
958 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Ezra Joseph Warner, member of the great wholesale grocery-
house of Sprague, Warner & Co., was born March 8, 1841, of an
old and honored New England family. The
,, T founder of the American branch was Joseph War-
Warner. , , r _ , , , . J F ,.
ner, who left England to worship according to
his private views, settled in Connecticut, and there died and was
buried. It is known that his son Joseph was born in 1685 — and there
the record ends. Joseph Warner, the fourth of that name, was
born in 1725, and his son (also Joseph) was among the pioneer
settlers of Sudbury, Vermont. He was a farmer and country mer-
chant, and lived and died in that locality.
The sixth Joseph Warner, father of Ezra J., was born in Sudbury,
Vermont, on the 4th of December, 1803, receiving his education in
the common schools and academy of that place and following his
father in the mercantile career, but far exceeding him in ambition
and enterprise. He removed to Middlebury, that state, was long
cashier of the bank there afterward established, possessed much busi-
ness ability, was genial and popular and took an active and practical
interest in matters of education and other public moment. He served
as a member of the state senate, and was one of the electors who
placed Lincoln in the presidential chair in 1861. At the time of his
death, which occurred on the last day of the year 1865, he had
been for a long period a trustee of Middlebury College and a trustee
of the Congregational church of Middlebury.
Joseph Warner was married in 1833 to Miss Jane Meech,
daughter of Ezra and Mary (McNeil) Meech, both representatives
of pioneer families of the state. Three children were born to this
union — James M., a gallant officer in the Civil war, from Vermont,
who reached the grade of brigadier-general, and died in 1897; Mary
and Ezra Joseph.
Ezra J. Warner is a native of Middlebury, where his father and
brother were such prominent figures. He prepared for college at
Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, New Hampshire, graduating
therefrom in 1857. He completed the full course at Middlebury
College in 1861, but before the end of the year obtained his first
taste of the west by going to Wisconsin and entering a lawyer's
office as student. x\s the profession did not appeal to him, however,
he promptly abandoned it, never to resume his legal studies. Decid-
^^Nr^
n
O
thi * ^
public li3kart
LSVOX
R
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 959
ing that by inheritance and inclination he was adapted to a com-
mercial life, he came to Chicago, and his experience here year by
year confirmed him in his final choice of a career.
In the summer of 1862 Mr. Warner joined Albert A. Sprague,
who had just established a modest wholesale grocery trade. In a
short time O. S. A. Sprague became associated with them, and the
business has since been conducted under the name of Sprague,
Warner & Co. In 1897 it was incorporated under that style, and
Mr. Warner has continued since as vice president of the company,
its remarkable progress through the years and its present standing
as one of the leading establishments of the kind in the world being
largely due to his keen business sense, broad judgment and com-
r -?> ?«?
m ls ll
■ * I
S II
THE WARNER SCIENCE HALL.
mercial instinct. Among the other large business interests with
which Mr. Warner has become identified may be mentioned the
western branch of the Liverpool, London and Globe Insurance Com-
pany, of whose board of directors he has been chairman since 1889.
He is a governing member of the Chicago Art Institute, and for
twelve years was a trustee of Lake Forest University. In 1901
he completed Warner Science Hall, of Middlebury College, as a
memorial to his father, the building being a credit to its donor and
a worthy tribute to one who was a warm friend of that institution
for so many years. It is also but an added evidence of Mr. Warners
generous encouragement, by the expenditure of his time, strength
and substance, of educational and other elevating institutions.
o6o CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
In November, i86r, Mr. Warner was married to Miss Jane
Remsen, of Middlebury, Vermont, a daughter of William H. and
Sarah Remsen, of that place, and natives of Long Island. Five
children have been born of their union : Frank, now a resident of
Pasadena. California; Maude, wife of Alexander McCormick, of
Chicago; Ezra. Jr., secretary of Sprague, Warner & Co.; Ethel and
Harold Remsen. During the summer months the elegant family
home is at Lake Forest, Illinois, the winter residence being at Pasa-
dena, California. Mr. Warner is a member of the club composed
of many of the cultured resorters of that beautiful city, and, in
Chicago, is identified with the well known Onwentsia and Chicago
Clubs. He is also active in the work of the Presbyterian church of
Lake Forest, in whose public affairs he has long taken an intimate
and useful part.
William Melancthon Hoyt, one of the leading wholesale grocers
of this country, and whose faith in Chicago has never weakened,
TT , ,, has been a stalwart resident of the citv fiftv-five
W M . . . .
' ' years, and one of the prime reasons why he is still
a stanch Chicagoan is that he was one of those
heroic business men who lost all but their pluck and faith in the
historic fire of 187 1. Any man who was made of the metal to pass
through that ordeal of destruction, cheerful in the present and con-
fident of the future, could not be shaken by any subsequent danger
to public or private fortune. The outward manifestation of Mr.
Hoyt's faith is the continued and large investments which he has
made not only in the enterprising extension of his great business
but in Chicago real estate, especially in the downtown district.
W. M. Hoyt was born in Xew Haven, Addison county, Vermont,
on the 26th of July, 1837, being a son of Carlos M.'and Lydia Ann
(Buttolph) Hoyt. He is of the tenth generation of the American
branch of the family, and a direct descendant of John Hoyt. who was
one of the original settlers of Salisbury, Connecticut. Seth Hoyt,
his grandfather, was a soldier of the Revolution, a justice of the
peace in Xew Haven, Vermont, and one of the censors whose duty
it was to pass upon the legislative acts and laws of the common-
wealth.
The early life of W. M. Hoyt was spent upon the home farm
and in obtaining an education in the public schools and the Ten
'
THE MEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRAR7
CHICAGO \.\l) COOK COUNTY 96]
Broeck Academy at Panton, Vermont. In 1855, at the age of
eighteen, he located in Chicago, securing employment in a grocery
store conducted by a Mr. Bevans. Eighteen months in this work
was followed by a course of study in Bell's Commercial College, from
which he graduated. After a service of another year on a salary,
in the employ of a fruit dealer, he started business for himself with
a capital of $89, occupying a room for which the rental was $1,100
per annum. This was the real beginning of his notable business
career. Opening as a small dealer in fruits, he later developed into
a wholesale grocer, whose trade readies all parts of the northwesl
and many sections of the United States.
In 1865 Mn Hoyt bought the business of James A. Whitaker,
at No. 101 South Water street. The great fire of 1871 not only
swept away his store at the foot of Wabash avenue, but two stores
which he then owned on Dearborn avenue. It was early in the fore-
noon of October 9th (the day after the fire) when he appeared to
sign the lease with Mr. Welsh for the store at No. 63 South Canal
street, whereupon the landlord remarked as he looked out of the
window and saw the tire raging across the river, "Would it not be
well to withhold our signatures until we know that this property
may not be destroyed?" To which Mr. Hoyt replied: "No harm
in executing the lease now, as in case the store goes the lease will
go with it." It was signed, and after a few days he was offered a
bonus for it, which was necessarily declined.
"On the evening of the same day," says a published account of
his participation in these troublous times, "Mr. Hoyt took a train
for New York, where he met his creditors, who were in great doubt
as to what would be the outcome of their Chicago business. After
a short conference, in which Mr. Hoyt stated that he could not say
how he stood, as payment of insurance was in doubt and his books
not balanced, but one thing was certain — he had a store rented and
wanted stock with which to start. The creditors were unanimous in
the opinion that it would be best to furnish the new supply and await
further developments. The result was that remittances came in
freely that the creditors got all their dues promptly and one hundred
cents on the dollar. The New York Times in an editorial announced
Mr. Hoyt as the first arrival from Chicago since the fire, and men-
962 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
tioned the good results of the conference in which Chicago pluck
would be met by New York generosity."
In 1872 Mr. Hoyt purchased the site of old Fort Dearborn at
Michigan avenue and River street, opposite Rush street bridge, where
he erected his present large salesrooms and warehouse. In addition,
the company own the building opposite, on River street, in which
are its coffee and spice mills. Because of the historic site of its main
building, Mr. Hoyt built into one of its walls fronting the river a
memorial tablet on which is engraved a sketch of the forts (built
1803-4 and 1816) which once occupied this ground.
The William M. Hoyt Company was incorporated under the
state laws in 1883, with the members of the old firm as stockholders,
and its present officers are as follows : William M. Hoyt, president ;
R. J. Bennett, vice president; Phelps B. Hoyt, secretary and treas-
urer; Albert C. Buttolph, N. Landon Hoyt, Otto C. Mattern and
Frank A. Allinger, directors.
On April 9, i860, Mr. Hoyt married Miss Emilie J. Landon,
daughter of Nelson Landon, of Benton, Lake county, Illinois, and
they had four children, as follows : William Landon, who died when
five years of age; Emilie Lydia, who died in 1903; Nelson Landon
and Phelps Buttolph. The last named graduated from Yale Uni-
versity in 1893, was then engaged in the management of his father's
real estate and later was identified with the wholesale grocery busi-
ness. Nelson Landon Hoyt is also an active manager in the business.
Outside of his great house, Mr. Hoyt is best known as the founder,
in 1872, of the Grocer's Criterion, which has developed into the lead-
ing trade journal of its class in the United States.
The following is so just an estimate of Mr. Hoyt's character that
it is here reproduced : "Mr. Hoyt has been helpful to scores of young
men who have gone to him for assistance. Many have been aided
and encouraged by his counsel ; others, through his interposition, have
secured positions of responsibility; and still others have obtained
from him the necessary means to embark in business. His present
partners were former clerks in his employ and were promoted to
their present positions on account of business ability and valuable
service. Partners with capital cut no figure with him. Honesty,
good morals and good business ability he regards as far more valuable
than cash capital. In this connection, Graeme Stewart (now de-
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 963
ceased) was for many years one of the prominent and active mem-
bers of the company. His liberality in matters of charity is directed
toward helping others to help themselves, and many deserving chari-
ties find in him a liberal contributor. Though not a member of any
church, he sympathizes in a practical way with the charitable and
Christian work of his wife." He erected the beautiful memorial
church in Winnetka in memory of his daughter, Mrs. Fox, and her
three children, who perished in the Iroquois fire of December 30,
1903.
In politics Mr. Hoyt was a Republican up to the time of Grover
Cleveland's nomination. He then changed his party and helped elect
the Democratic candidate. He is now a strong Bryan man and hopes
to live to see him elected president. He is a home man, having
given up all his memberships in the various city clubs to which he
was formerly a member. In this we must except the Skokie Golf
Club — the game of golf is very popular with him. He feels that the
exercise and outdoor life that he gets at the game is what has given
him health as well as much pleasure. Mr. Hoyt's summer residence
is in Winnetka, Illinois, and his winter home at Green Cove Spring,
Florida.
Phelps Buttolph Hoyt, secretary and treasurer of W. M. Hoyi
Company, among the leading wholesale grocers of the country, was
born in Chicago on the 25th of September, 1872.
Phelps B. Re . g a gQn of W illiam Melancthon and Emilie
Hoyt
(Landon) Hoyt. Phelps B. Hoyt obtained his pre-
liminary education in the University school, Chicago, and after-
ward entered the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University, from
which he was graduated in 1893 with the degree of Ph. B. Pie en-
tered business life immediately after graduating and since then has
been engaged in real estate (largely in connection with his father's
estate) and the business of the W. M. Hoyt Company. Since July
30, 1903, he has held the office of secretary and treasurer of the lat-
ter corporation.
Mr. Hoyt was married in Chicago January 25, 1895, to Miss
Bessie Wade Allen, and they have two children, May Elizabeth and
Emilie Lydia Hoyt. The family residence is at 576 East Division
street. In politics, Mr. Hoyt has always been independent, and is
964 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
a member of the University, Saddle and Cycle, Chicago, Onwentsia
and Glen View clubs.
Nelson Landon Hoyt, director in the W. M. Hoyt Company, and
a manager of its sales department, is a native of Chicago, born Sep-
tember 25, 1869, and is a son of William M. and
' ' Emilie (Landon) Hoyt. He obtained his educa-
tion first at Lake Forest University, and then at
Claverack College, Hudson, New York, graduating from the latter
in 1888. In the year mentioned he became associated with the W.
M. Hoyt Company as bill clerk, advancing successively to the posi-
tion of city salesman, correspondent and department manager. In
1899 he was elected a director in the concern and placed in charge
of the sales department (including salesmen), besides being assigned
to the duty of buying staple goods of the house.
On June 4, 1893, Mn Hoyt married Miss Blanche Tompkins, of
Morrisville, New York, and to their union have been born the fol-
lowing children: William M. Hoyt, II., Sarah Elizabeth, Nelson
Landon and Blanche Josephine. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hoyt are active
in the work of the First Congregational church of Winnetka, Illi-
nois, that beautiful suburb having been for several years the place of
their residence. Mr. Hoyt is also widely identified with outdoor
sports, holding membership in the Glen View and Skokie Golf clubs
and the Sanganois and the English Lake Shooting clubs.
Robert John Bennett, vice president of the W. M. Hoyt Company
and for a quarter of a century the virtual financial manager of that
great house of wholesale grocers, is, after the found-
1 • ' er of the business, the strongest personal force in
Bennett. .
the development of the establishment. He is a na-
tive of the Empire state, born in Pulaski, Oswego county, on the 9th
of February. 1839, being the son of Reuben J. and Alta (Haskins)
Bennett. The Bennetts are descended from Irish ancestors who
came to the United States during the Colonial period. On the ma-
ternal side he is a direct descendant from Miles Standish, his mother
having been of the sixth generation from the famous Massachusetts
governor.
When Robert J. was five years of age, his parents left their old
New York homestead and settled on a tract of government land
which the father had purchased near Diamond Lake, Lake county.
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 965
Illinois. The latter continued the cultivation and improvement of
the new western farm until his death in 1883, his wife surviving him
for ten years. This was the scene of the periods covering the life
of Robert J. Bennett until he reached his twenty-fifth year, when, with
good health and a thorough education (enforced by several years of
teaching) he came to Chicago.
When Mr. Bennett became a resident of Chicago, in March, [863,
he entered the employ of William M. Hoyt as a cashier and general
bookkeeper, Mr. Hoyt's business being then in process of develop-
ment from that of a dealer in fruits and fancy groceries to that of
a wholesale grocer. In 1865 Mr. Bennett joined A. M. Fuller in
the purchase of Mr. Hoyt's interest in the store, and Mr. Hoyt him-
self embarked in the wholesale grocery trade. The great fire swept
away all the earthly possessions of Bennett & Fuller, but although
their creditors agreed to accept fifty cents on the dollar they were
paid in full. This cost the young merchants a heroic effort. On Au-
gust 1, 1874, the firm consolidated their business with that of Wil-
liam M. Hoyt, and the greater part of the time since Mr. Bennett
has assumed the financial direction of the company's broad trans-
actions. In 1882 the firm was incorporated with a capital stock of
$500,000, and the following officers : William M. Hoyt, president ;
A. M. Fuller, vice president, and R. J. Bennett, secretary and treas-
urer. Later Mr. Bennett was elected to the vice presidency.
In 1872 Mr. Hoyt erected the extensive building now occupied by
the company as its salesrooms and warehouse, and in 1880, at the sug-
gestion of the Chicago Historical Society, a marble tablet was in-
serted in one of its walls commemorative of the fact that the struc-
ture stands upon the site of Fort Dearborn of 1803-04 and [812.
The inscription was written by Mr. Bennett, and the tablet also
planned by him.
Mr. Bennett has had a variety of interests outside of the company
to which he has devoted his best strength and abilities. At one time
he was a director of the Atlas National Bank, and subsequently vice
president of the Western State Bank (which later became the West-
ern Trust and Savings Bank), as well as a member of the firm of
Glenn R. Powers & Co., general merchants of Belgrade. Montana
He has also been prominent in various lines of religious work, bein
a stanch Congregationalist. He has been a leader in the support
Vol. Ill— 4.
966 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
development of the Young Men's Christian Association of Ravens-
wood; has for the past nine years been president of the Illinois Chil-
dren's Home and Aid Society; is an earnest worker for the City
Missionary Society, and is a trustee of Wheaton (111.) College. In
politics, he has been an unwavering Republican, and while a resident
of Lake Forest took an active part in its public affairs, serving both
as alderman and acting mayor.
On April 9, 1862, Mr. Bennett was married to Miss Electa M.
Hoyt, sister of William M. Hoyt, and to them have been born these
three children : Arthur G., for some time secretary and treasurer of
the W. M. Hoyt Company; Maude E., wife of Morrison H. Vail,
an architect residing at Dixon, Illinois, and William Hoyt Bennett,
also identified with the W. M. Hoyt Company for several years.
Although the development of wholesale business has taken place
within the last half century, it is rather remarkable to find a man still
in active affairs who has been identified with this
r branch of business practically since its beginning in
Chicago. Calvin Rich Corbin, of the firm of Cor-
bin, Sons & Co., well-known grocery and tea importers, helped origi-
nate the jobbing business in Chicago, and a history of his experience
in the business would be a history of the business itself. When he
came west something over fifty years ago, however, it was not with
the purpose of engaging in this line of trade, and it was only as he
recognized the opportunities of the growing city that the field of his
most important efforts has presented itself. A native New England-
er, who traces his American ancestry from James Corbin, an Eng-
lish emigrant of 1680 and one of the founders of Woodstock, Con-
necticut, Air. Corbin was born at Dudley, Worcester county, Massa-
chusetts, February 12, 1832. After receiving a common school edu-
cation in Massachusetts, he came west in 1855, joining an engineer-
ing corps in Wisconsin that was engaged in locating a section of the
Northwestern Railroad from Fond du Lac to Green Bay. Employed
thus for two years, he then came to Chicago in the spring of 1857
and became associated with the J. W. Doane fruit house, which en-
tered the tea and coffee trade later. From clerk he rose to be part-
ner in this firm, and in 1866 severed his connection to become part-
ner in the establishment conducted under the name of Swormsted,
Corbin & Co. In 1868 he became a member of the firm of Ingraham,
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 967
Corbin & May, which, in 1883, became Corbin, May & Co. In Janu-
ary, 1898, following; the death of Horatio N. May in the preceding
September, the business was reorganized as Corbin, Sons & Co., and
since then Mr. Corbin has been senior partner and directing head.
A number of years ago this firm began the importation of tea and
coffee, which was almost a new undertaking for the grocery houses
of Chicago, and the firm of which Mr. Corbin was a member was
among the earliest to enter this field of business. Mr. Corbin's man-
agement of the Japan tea trade during the '70s has become a note-
worthy part of the commercial history of Chicago.
Although essentially a man of business and with quiet and de
mestic tastes, Mr. Corbin has always been earnest and persistent in
the advancement of all movements designed to reform the municipal
service of local politics. For more than thirty years he has been one
of the constant workers in such fields as have been so efficiently occu-
pied by the Citizens' Association, the Civic Federation and the Mu-
nicipal League. He was one of the early members of the Union
League Club, but resigned in 1905. He has been connected with the
Unity (Unitarian) church since its organization by Rev. Robert
Collyer.
Mr. Corbin married, in 1861, Miss Caroline Elizabeth Fairfield,
and their children are Franklin N., Calvin Dana, John and Lawrence
Paul. John Corbin was for several years the dramatic critic on the
New York Sun, and is now a writer of note for the magazines.
Franklin N. and Lawrence Paul are associated with their father in
business. Mrs. Corbin, who was born in Pomfret, Connecticut, is of
old New England stock, tracing her descent from two Mayflower an-
cestors and also being a charter member of the Daughters of the
American Revolution. She has been a voluminous writer upon sub-
jects connected with moral and civic reform, and is now president of
the Illinois Association Opposed to the Extension of Suffrage to
Women.
John C. Shaffer is one of the phalanx of strong men who, within
late years, have placed their stamp upon Chicago as a city of remark-
able versatility as well as of substantial accom-
John C. pHshments. Such a man and such a city de-
Sh AFFFR
cisively prove the fallacy of the old idea that versa-
tility is incompatible with real success and advancement.
968 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Shaffer, who is a native of Maryland, was born in Baltimore, on the
5th of June, 1853, and is a son of James and Ann (Crout) Shaffer.
He is of German ancestry, one of his grandfathers coming to this
country prior to the Revolutionary war, in which he served as an
ardent patriot. Mr. Shaffer's father was a carpenter and builder,
a man of faithful and upright life, and also a native of Maryland.
As the financial condition of the family was very humble, the attend-
ance of John C. at school terminated with his fifteenth year, although
this was by no means the termination of his education; for he pur-
sued special courses, systematically read standard literature and was
a persistent self -educator throughout his earlier years. In his boy-
hood he learned telegraphy, and was in the employ of the Western
Union Company for about four years, attaining to the position of
manager of the Baltimore office, and, in railroad service, to that of
a train dispatcher. Afterward he served as bookkeeper for various
houses, including several on the Chicago Board of Trade, and con-
tinued in this line of employment until 1880. For seven years after-
ward he was the proprietor of a grain commission business, and then
branched out into larger undertakings.
Mr. Shaffer inaugurated his street railway career by buying the
Richmond (Ind. ) system, and in 1888 introducing electricity as the
motive power. It was the first electric equipment for such a purpose
west of the Alleghenies, and after selling the railway to advantage
Mr. Shaffer bought the street railroads of Indianapolis, Indiana, and
under his presidency they were brought to a high state of working
efficiency. In the meantime he had purchased and improved the
Asbury Park (N. J.) Electric Railway, and, having disposed of his
interests in Indianapolis, in 1892, he came to Chicago and built the
electric line to Englewood. In 1897 ne engaged in the grain and
elevator business in Cleveland, Ohio, and in the following year built
an electric line in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and for several years
operated it as president.
By the purchase of the Chicago Evening Post in April, 1901,
Mr. Shaffer entered a new field, to which he has shown his eminent
ability. His executive ability, his strong, versatile mind, trained with
equal thoroughness to both business and literary accomplishments,
make him an ideal newspaper publisher and editor ; and he has ably
directed both departments of the journal.
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 969
He organized and purchased the Frank Parmclee Transfer Cum
pany, of which he is still president. He purchased in 1905 the South
Chicago Elevators, with grain capacity of 4,500,000 bushels, and
operates the same under the name of J. C. Shaffer & Co., Grain Mer
chants. This grain business here and in Cleveland is the largest cash
grain business done by any one firm in the United States. They,
combined, purchase 36,500,000.
On December 5, 1888, Mr. Shaffer was united in marriage with
Miss Virginia, daughter of Rev. F. M. Conser, of Baltimore, Mary-
land, and the two children born to their union are Carroll and Kent.
Politically he is a stanch Republican, and in his religious faith is a
Methodist. He is a member of the Chicago, Union League, Chicago
Athletic, Caxton, Twentieth Century, Press, South Shore Country,
Automobile, Mid-Day, Evanston Golf and Glen View Golf clubs of
Chicago, and Lotus, Illinois and City clubs of New York; the
Columbia Club of Indianapolis, and the Bibliophile Society of Boston.
His library is unexcelled as to fine works, and his collection of paint-
ings are widely known among noted collections by private parties.
Curtis Nathaniel Kimball, president of the W. W. Kimball Com-
pany, manufacturers of pianos, pipe organs and other musical instru-
ments, is a nephew of the founder of the pioneer
music house of Chicago. Fie was born in Wayne
Kimball. ,.,»-., ,1 T 1 «■
township, Mitchell county, Iowa, on the 4th or
January, 1862, being the son of David W. and Sarah (Moore) Kim-
ball. Educated in district and private schools of his home neighbor-
hood, he completed his literary training when he was eighteen years
of age, after which he pursued a business course, taking the latter
after his location in Chicago in 1879. He then became connected
with the W. W. Kimball Company, spending the first seven years
in the orhce and another seven years among the dealers of the house.
Since 1893 he has held offices within the company of treasurer, vice-
president and president, being elected to the position last named in
^OS-
Frederick E. Coyne, who has been a resident of Chicago for
nearly a quarter of a century, has been one of its most prominent
citizens, both in business and public affairs. He
Frederick E. ^^ ^ of the pioneers in the establishment of
so-called bakery lunches, and still conducts a large
970 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
and prosperous place on Madison street. He has also held two gov-
ernment offices, both of which he has honored by his honorable and
efficient conduct of their affairs.
Frederick E. Coyne was born in East Orange, New Jersey, in
the year i860. He was educated in the public schools of his native
place, and became a resident of Chicago in 1883. After coming to
this city he was employed for a short time as a clerk, but, having
saved a small capital, started a bakery, later adding several restau-
rants to this line and changing his retail bakery into a wholesale con-
cern. This,- also, he still conducts.
Mr. Coyne has always been a staunch Republican, and active in
politics. In 1897 he was appointed collector of internal revenue in
Chicago, holding the office for four years and conducting its affairs
with the honest and business-like promptness which characterized the
conduct of his own affairs. His record was emphatically endorsed
by his appointment to the postmastership, made in 1901, and to the
multitudinous and intricate details of his new department he brought
the same business acumen, foresight and practical grasp of mind
which had earned him the previous successes. He held the Chicago
postmastership for another four years, and since 1905 has given his
attention to the superintendence of his large and growing private
interests. He resides at 795 Warren avenue.
Leander James McCormick, one of the founders of the great Chi-
cago manufactory of harvesting" machines, was the son of Robert
and Mary Ann (Hall) McCormick, and born on
, , ^ the family estate in Virginia, known as the Wal-
McCormick. _ J _ _ , & _,
nut Grove Farm, February 8, 1819. 1 he Mc-
Cormicks emigrated originally from the north of Ireland, and set-
tled in the Old Dominion, and like most of the Scotch-Irish race, were
a thrifty, God-fearing people, who trained their children after the
strict customs of the Presbyterians of those days. Robert McCormick,
the father, also inherited the sturdy mentality of his Scotch fore-
fathers, being noted for the extent of his historical and scientific
knowledge, as well as for his mechanical genius. Between the years
1809 and 1825 he constructed various reapers and tested them on the
family estate, but his machines were not a practical success until the
late twenties, when he invented and applied what is known as the
vibrating sickle and horizontal reel. A number of these improved
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 9?J
machines were built previous to 1844; in that year twenty-five v.
constructed; in 1845, fiftyi and 1846 seventy-five. The elder McCor
mick was a man of great energy and business capacity and developed
many large interests outside of those connected with the manufacture
of his inventions; in fact, his affairs were so expanded that the panic
of 1837 caused him serious embarrassment, and it required the
united efforts of the family to lift the debt from the estate. In the
meantime, Leander J. McCormick, who most strongly inherited the
mechanical and inventive genius of his father, had become his father's
assistant in the shop as well as in the sale of reapers, horse
power machinery, blacksmith's bellows and other tools, and soon
after his father's decease, in association with his brother Cyrus II..
he commenced the systematic establishment of the reaper in the wesl
ern markets. In 1846 the reaper works were established in Chicago:
the first in the west.
In 1847 William B. Ogden and Charles M. Gray joined the Mc-
Cormicks in the venture, but remained in the business but a short time.
In 1850 William S. McCormick joined the business. From the first
Leander was the mechanical power of the enterprise, and in the spring
of 1848, he removed his family to Chicago, and assumed the entire
management of the manufacturing department, acquiring a one -sixth
interest in the business. From 1850 to 1859 he held the same position
on a salary. In 1859 he and his brother, William S., became inter-
ested in the business to the extent of one-fourth each, the firm becom-
ing C. H. McCormick & Bros. At the death of William S., in
September, 1865, Leander J. acquired a one-third interest.
By the great fire of 1871 Leander J. McCormick lost not only
his home and other valuable property, but his share in the great
reaper works, which were then located on the north side, near the
mouth of the river. It is due to the energy and practical ability of
Mr. McCormick that the new and far more extensive works on the
west side were so promptly completed, as he personally planned and
superintended their construction. In fact, it will be found that in all
the years which covered the establishment and the most remarkable
development of the business, it was Leander J. McCormick who met
all such crises with his indomitable will, his untiring energy and his
genius for practical accomplishment. It was in the apparent seclusion
of his workshop that he conceived and tested many of the inventions
Qj2 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
which made the McCormick harvesting machinery a world leader of
its kind, and at his death in Chicago, February 20, 1900, he was
recognized by those conversant with the facts as one of the greatest
promoters of industrial Chicago. During the later years of his life,
although Mr. McCormick was vice president of the McCormick Har-
vesting Machine Company, he took no active part in the business, and
at his final withdrawal in 1889, his former investments in the concern
were largely placed in business property in the central district, and at
the death of Mr. McCormick his estate, which had vastly increased
in value, was placed under the management of his son. R. Hall Mc-
Cormick.
The deceased was a man of marked honor in all his business con-
nections, and his life outside of that field was founded on the highest
plane of probity and broad justice. He was one of the organizers of
the South Presbyterian Church, of Chicago, in 1854, but afterwards
returned to the mother body, the North Presbyterian church, and
died a firm believer in the faith of his family and his boyhood. To
the last he retained a warm affection for his native state, and one
of his generous acts, for which the Old Dominion will long remember
him, was his donation to the University of Virginia of its twenty-six
inch telescope, which at that time was the largest in the world, and
which has since been continually brought into requisition in the cause
of science and higher education.
Robert Hall McCormick, for a number of years a partner in the
firm of C. H. & L. j. McCormick and in the incorporated
business of the McCormick Harvesting Machine
- , , ' Companv, is the eldest son of Leander T. McCor-
McCormick. ./'.,. . . , . ~
mick, one of the founders of the great industry with
which the family name will always be associated. Mr. McCormick
is a native of Rockbridge county, Virginia, born on the 6th of Sep-
tember, 1847.
He was brought by his parents to Chicago when he was about
a year old. He received his education in the preparatory and col-
legiate departments of the old Chicago University. In 1871 he en-
tered the business of C. H. & L. J. McCormick; August, 1875, he
was admitted as a partner, and continued as such until the incorpora-
tion of the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, August 10,
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 973
1879, when he was appointed assistant superintendent of the manu-
facturing department.
During the years 1875 and 1876 Mr. McCormick personally ex-
perimented with the self-binder in the wheat fields of the west and
southwest, and made, both in reaper and binder, improvements which
were adopted and patented by the firm. At the Centennial Exposition
in 1876, he was in full charge of the field exhibits of the McCormick
harvesting machinery, and under his guidance the self-binder so com-
pletely demonstrated its superiority over the other machines on tin-
market as to offer to the agricultural world a revelation in labor-
saving machinery.
In 1889 his father and he disposed of their united interests in
the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, withdrawing entirely
from the business. Their former investments in the harvesting busi-
ness were largely placed in real estate, centrally located in Chicago,
and selected by R. Hall McCormick. These properties have since
greatly increased in value, and on the death of his father he was
made sole trustee of the estate.
Mr. McCormick's tastes are as artistic as they are practical and
businesslike. He has made a special study of the British school of
art, and his residence at 124 Rush street, north side, is embellished
with rare specimens of this school. Works from his collection have
been exhibited in Washington, Philadelphia, Omaha and other large
cities, and his entire collection in the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburg,
and also in Boston. In acknowledgment of the latter, he was ap-
pointed honorary member of the Copley Society of Boston. He has
compiled a biographical and descriptive catalogue of his collection,
which has a place in the chief galleries of the United States and
Europe. Mr. McCormick is a member of the Chicago, Onwentsia
and Saddle and Cycle clubs, of Chicago; the New York Yacht Club,
of New York; the Kebo Valley and Reading Room and Swimming
Pool Clubs, of Bar Harbor, Maine, where he has an attractive summer
home. He was one of the pioneer four-in-hand drivers of the west,
having been one of the three who drove their coaches the opening
season of the Washington Park Club, in 1884. He is also interested
in yachting and automobiling. Mr. McCormick is a trustee of the
Art Institute of Chicago, and a director of the Chicago Relief and
Aid Society.
974 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
On June i. 1S71, Mr. McCormick married Miss Sarah Lord Day,
daughter of Henry Day, of the firm of Lord, Day and Lord, New
York lawyers, and their children are as follows: Henrietta H., now
Mrs. Nelson B. Williams, who resides at Bedford, New York ; Eliza-
beth D. ; Robert Hall, Jr. ; Phebe Lord, and Mildred D. McCormick.
Edward L. Ryerson, president of the great supply house for the
iron and steel trade, is a son of the founder of the firm of Joseph T.
Ryerson & Son. under which style the business has
„ been conducted since he became a partner, nearly
Ryerson
thirty }^ears ago. The elder Mr. Ryerson established
himself in Chicago as a wholesale iron merchant in 1842, occupying at
first small offices and warehouses on South Water street. Later the
business was removed to larger warehouses in the block bounded by
Lake and Clinton streets and Milwaukee avenue. This site was sold
to the Northwestern Railroad Company and will be occupied by the
new terminal, the plant of the concern now being a collection of enor-
mous buildings extending over three blocks, from Fifteenth place to
Eighteenth street and from Rockwell street to Campbell avenue. Joseph
T. Ryerson was a man of not only great ability as an organizer and a
promoter, but expended generously of his time and means in the
furtherance of charitable movements. He was one of the incorporators
of the Chicago Relief and Aid Society in 1857, and was long a director,
holding a position on the board at the time of the Chicago fire, and
for several years thereafter, which was the period of the greatest
activity of the organization. In the 'seventies he was also prominently
associated with the management of the Woman's Medical College, the
Illinois Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary, and other institutions whose
work for good has been substantial and continuous. During anti-war
times he was an ardent Free Soiler, and, with other prominent men of
the city, gave an enthusiastic reception to James T. Lane when he
lectured in Chicago, in May, 1856. He was one of the finance com-
mittee appointed by a popular gathering to raise funds for the sending
of an Illinois colony to Kansas in the support of the free soil move-
ment. He also contributed freely toward the support of the Union
cause during the Civil war; but, as a rule, devoted his time to his large
business interests and works of charity rather than to public or
political matters.
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 975
Edward L. Ryerson was born in Chicago, November 24, [854,
and after graduating from one of its high schools entered Yale Uni-
versity, in which he completed the^ course which earned him the degree
of Ph. B. in 1876. He at once commenced his business career in con-
nection with his father's house, and in 1879, upon his admission to
partnership, it assumed the style of Joseph T. Ryerson & Son. Tin-
business was incorporated under the same name in 1888, and after
the death of his father Edward L. Ryerson became president. He has
since had a controlling interest in the house, which, through his w
energetic and enterprising management, has been raised to its pres* n\
position of eminence. Its present mammoth plant, which centers on
Sixteenth street and Campbell avenue, occupies a ground space of
three city blocks, with 675,000 square feet of floor space and having
a capacity of 150,000 tons. It has been demonstrated that forty-nine
freight cars can be handled at one time in its warehouses. The plant
has been well described as a huge department store for the iron and
steel trade, offering to contractors, builders, shops, etc., quick ship-
ments on their requirements. In ordering steel from the mills it often
requires several months to secure shipments, as the manufactories carry
no material in stock to supply an immediate demand ; hence the neces-
sity for such a vast supply house as that of Joseph T. Ryerson & Son.
The company also handles over one thousand specialties, and has a
complete equipment of heavy machinery for making such material as
shops would not be able to handle and keep in stock. The steel build-
ings are equipped with sixteen high speed traveling cranes of from
ten to twenty tons capacity, with a span of one hundred feet, hi the
center of the largest building, covering nearly two city blocks, is an
enormous high speed friction saw for cutting beams. It has a record
of severing a steel beam twenty-four inches wide and weighing 100
pounds to the foot in sixteen seconds, which is about the speed of an
ordinary buzzsaw cutting through soft pine. With the exception of
the specialties mentioned, the house does not manufacture, its mam
function being as a supply depot, carrying vast stocks of structural
steel, plate steel, sheet steel, bar iron and steel, and boiler tubes, ready
for the customer at almost a moment's notice. It is one of the greates
institutions of a great city.
As to the more personal relations of Edward L. Ryerson. it may 1
976 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
stated that his religious connections are with the Episcopal church.
He is a Republican in politics and a member of the following clubs :
Chicago, University and Union, of Chicago, and the New York Yacht
and University, of New York City. In 1879 he was married at New
Haven, Connecticut, to Miss Mary Pringle Mitchell, and their children
are Joseph Turner, Mary Mitchell, Donald Mitchell and Edward
Larned Ryerson, Jr. The eldest son has been associated in the business
of Joseph T. Ryerson & Son for a number of years, and now holds the
position of treasurer of the house.
John Austin Hamlin, late proprietor of the Grand Opera House,
Chicago, popular and honored in the American field of amusements for
thirty-six years, died in this city on the 20th of May,
;L IQ08, in the seventy-first year of his age. Before
Hamlin. , y . J J , &
he became noted as a promoter and manager of the-
atricals, his name had spread throughout the country in connection
with Hamlin's Wizard Oil, and the unique method by which he made
a fortune out of this patent and really meritorious medicine, naturally
led to his after career in the amusement field. This combination of
qualities in his flexible character of an unusual talent for getting busi-
ness results through original methods and his keen discrimination of
what was both artistic and of enduring popularity is well brought out
in a Chicago journal commenting on his decease : "Only in the Amer-
ica of the last half-century would it be possible to find, perhaps, a career
so varied and embracing so many interests, apparently unrelated and
even hostile, as were combined in the life story of John Austin Hamlin.
It was a period (above all in the middle west) of transition — a period
when types of activity were not sharply defined and a man might touch
on the one hand a business calling for the broadest sort of popular
advertising and on the other establish more than a casual relationship
with the arts. Inasmuch as he did this very thing, Mr. Hamlin
reflected perfectly the social flexibility which soon passes out of devel-
oped communities, and he already is a figure of history in Chicago.
"Mr. Hamlin did much for the stage in Chicago and the west and
his influence always was thrown on the side of what is most enduring
and valuable in things theatrical. His views of the playhouse were
conservative and he did not care for what is popular and of the moment
only. A study of the playbills of twenty-five years ago will show that
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 977
many of the famous stars of that day preferred to twinkle in the firma-
ment of which Mr. Hamlin acted as cloud compeller."
The deceased was born in Cuyahoga Falls, Summit county, Ohio,
on the 29th of June, 1837, son of Dr. William Starr and Eliza (Welch )
Hamlin. He was educated in the public schools of Ohio and at
Taylor's Academy, Cuyahoga Falls. His father was a pioneer circuit
rider, who, w r hile faithfully administering to the souls of men and
women, did not forget the bruises, sprains and other hurts (if then-
bodies. When he died he left his son, John A., little except the f< irmula
for the oil which he dispensed with his kind and Christian words. This
proved the keynote to that son's progress in life. In 1859, when he
was twenty-one years of age, he patented the formula and commenced
to manufacture the remedy at Cincinnati under the name of Hamlin's
Wizard Oil, remaining president of the company thus designated until
the time of his death. In the first year of the war he came to Chicago
to develop the business, and about this time originated the "medicine
show" as his star advertising medium. He employed comedians, ven-
triloquists and fakirs to draw the crowds throughout the country, after
which the lecturers came upon the stage and sold the oil as fast as
they could hand out the bottles. It w r as one of the most successful
advertising schemes of the day and placed the business on a splendid
foundation. In 1872, a few months after the great fire, he built the
Hamlin Theater in Chicago, which afterward became the Grand Opera
House. Of this he had been the sole proprietor for many years, and
around it were long clustered his most earnest work and best thoughts
for the advancement of legitimate and high-class theatricals.
Mr. Hamlin was an old-time Republican, and a well known mem-
ber of the Union League, and also belonged to the Masonic fraternity.
In i860, while a resident of Cincinnati, Mr. Hamlin married Mary
Eleanor Hart, and the children of the family are: Harry L., manager
of the Grand Opera House; Frederick R., who died after having estab-
lished a reputation as a successful producer of theatrical attracts ns;
Lawrence B., also deceased; George J., a leading concert tenor; Herbert
W., a lawyer of high standing in Chicago; Robert A., whose death
occurred soon after his graduation from Yale University; and Mrs.
Bessie F. Clark. The wife of the deceased also survives, and, with
the living children, was at the bedside of the veteran and honored
citizen when he peacefully passed away from the activities of this life.
978 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
A.S chairman of the executive committee and vice president of the
International Harvester Company, John Jacob Glessner is one of the
active managers of one of the greatest corporations
• J ' in the world, upon which depends in a noteworthy
Glessner. , , . , . . '
degree the progress of man s most important indus-
try. "Without further comment, it is evident that his position is one
of eminent responsibility.
Mr. Glessner is a native of Zanesville, Ohio, born in January,
1843, being a son of Jacob and Mary (Laughlin) Glessner. His
education included not only a training in the public schools of Zanes-
ville, but in the local newspaper business. In 1864 Mr. Glessner first
entered business as a manufacturer of harvesting machinery, identify-
ing himself with it as a member of the firm of Warder, Bushnell &
Glessner, of Springfield. Ohio. He is still vice president of the cor-
poration known as the Warder. Bushnell <&: Glessner Company.
Mr. Glessner became a resident of Chicago in 1870, settling here
in order to manage the business of his firm from a point which is
near the center of his sales territory, but retaining the factory at
Springfield, Ohio. So largely was he credited with the remarkable
success of his company that when its business was combined with
that of the other leading harvester machinery companies and the In-
ternational Harvester Company came into existence. Mr. Glessner
was chosen chairman of its executive committee and vice president.
Since coming to Chicago. Mr. Glessner has been called upon as
a wise counselor and successful manager of various municipal and
charitable institutions, such practical abilities as he possesses being
most necessary requisites in the insurance of the best results in these
higher fields of activity. He has served as president of the Citizens'
Association, holding the position when that body prepared the drain-
age canal bill and secured its passage by the legislature. For about
seventeen years he has served as a director of the Chicago Relief and
Aid Society, and has been repeatedly urged to accept the presidency.
He is also a trustee of the Chicago Orphan Asylum, Rush Medical
College. Chicago Orchestral Association and the Art Institute. He
enjoys membership in the Chicago. Union League. Quadrangle, Liter-
ary and Commercial clubs, having been president of the last named
organization.
In December, 1870, at Springfield, Ohio, Mr. Glessner married
PU; MBRARY
LHNOX AN*
JF.W Jf'OUMPATIOMI
-
r 0yi/&»4Mfit, c<f
t&w^/q / ^/ua J/
/&etLtcckc<L>
^
CJC4lMj/<T &(?
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 979
Miss Frances Macbeth, daughter of James R. and Nancy (Bayard 1
Macbeth, and their children are as follows: John George M. and
Frances, now the wife of Blewett Lee, general attorney of the tllinois
Central Railroad Company.
Eugene Jackson Buffington, president of the Illinois Steel Com-
pany, is one of the most prominent business men and managers of
_ T laree industrial interests in Chicago. He is a native
FlJGENE T .
^ of West Virginia, born at Guyandotte, on the 14th
Buffington. . ^ b r -r
ot March, 1863, son of James H. and Columbia
(Nicholas) Buffington.
Mr. Buffington obtained his education principally in the public
schools of Covington, Kentucky, of which he was a student from
1870 to 1879. Subsequently he pursued higher courses at the Chick -
ering Institute, Cincinnati, in 1879-80, and at the Vanderbilt Univer-
sity, in 1881-3. Soon after leaving the latter he received the appoint-
ment of treasurer of the American Wire and Nail Company at
Anderson, Indiana, and the efficient performance of his duties in that
position earned him promotion to the office of secretary and treasurer
of the American Steel and Wire Company. He continued his contin-
uous advancement through various managerial positions until January
1. 1899, when he was elected president of the great corporation known
as the Illinois Steel Company.
On November 27, 1888, Mr. Buffington was united in marriage
with Miss Drucilla Nichols Moore, the ceremony occurring in Cat-
lettsburg, Kentucky. The family residence, is at Evanston, Illinois,
and Mr. Buffington has membership in the Merchants', Union League
and Chicago clubs.
The late Colonel John Mason Loomis was a man of unflinching
determination; to many he seemed stern, but whether on the battle
field or in the hard conflicts of business his firmness
-L ' had no touch of cruelty to it; and he never ordered
an advance which he was personally afraid to lead.
In actual works of charity the Colonel became a beloved character.
He contributed liberally to many of the public institutions of the city,
and is especially remembered for his identification for many years
with the broadening affairs of the Chicago Relief and Aid Society,
to which he freely gave both of his time and means and whose useful
9 8o CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
work be virtually managed for more than a decade after the great
fire.
Colonel Loomis was born at Windsor, Connecticut, on the 5th
of January. 1825. and was descended from an old English family.
The founder of the American branch was Joseph Loomis, of Essex
county, England, who landed in Boston, Massachusetts, on the 17th
of July, 1638. In 1639 Joseph Loomis bought a piece of land in
Hartford county, Connecticut, which is still in possession of the
family, although no member of the family in all these generations
has ever inherited it through the will of a testator. James Loomis,
the father of John Mason, was also a native of Windsor, a farmer,
a merchant, a miller and for several years colonel of the First Regi-
ment of Connecticut State Militia. Being a great admirer of John
Mason, a famous soldier of New England, he named his son after his
hero, so that the Colonel Loomis of Illinois had a special incentive to
earn a name in military annals.
Mr. Loomis received his early education in the common schools
and academies of Connecticut, and afterward had some practical
business training in his father's store. But his inclination was early
manifest, for in his youth he received the appointment of midshipman
in the United States navy and at the age of eighteen was captain of
a company of local militia. Finally, becoming weary of waiting for
a regular assignment in the navy, he shipped in the China tea trade,
and for about four years was a sailor of various grades on the high
seas.
In 1846 Mr. Loomis became a landsman, venturing at once into
what was then the far west. His father had been selected as a dele-
gate to the famous River and Harbor Convention, which met in Chi-
cago during that year, and thither he was accompanied by the son.
Before returning to their Connecticut home they concluded to visit
Milwaukee, and believing it a lake port of unusual promise, the son
spent the winter there, after which he decided to make the Cream City
his home. He first went to work as a clerk in a lumber yard, and in
1848 bought the stock of his employers and began business for him-
self. He prospered from the first, and with the exception of his
military service in the Civil war was interested in the lumber trade
until the day of his death, August 2, 1900. During the last years of
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 981
his life, however, he was gradually shifting the heavier burdens upon
younger shoulders.
In 1852 Mr. Loomis transferred his business to Chicago, locating
a yard at the corner of Madison and Market streets, and soon after-
ward formed a partnership with the late James Ludington, of Mil-
waukee, the business, under the firm name of Loomis & Ludington,
prospering and growing until the outbreak of the Civil war.
Soon after locating in Chicago Mr. Loomis joined the famous
Chicago Light Guard. Of this organization he served as first lieu-
tenant, and obtained so high a reputation as a military disciplinarian
that Governor Yates, in August, 1861, requested him to take com-
mand of a regiment for service in the Civil war, giving him a com-
mission as colonel of the Twenty-sixth Volunteer Infantry, a body of
carefully selected men which the Governor himself had been most
instrumental in raising. And their record was thus commended by
Governor Yates, when, after three years of fine service, the regiment
returned to Springfield for re-enlistment : "When I selected Colonel
Loomis as the commanding officer of the regiment," said the Gov-
ernor, "it was not because he had raised it. I selected him because of
his ability to command, for his military talent, and for his devotion
to his country; and I was not mistaken in the man. He has proved
equal to the emergency. The names of New Madrid, of Island No.
10, of Iuka, Corinth, Farmington, Vicksburg, Jackson, Tunnel Hill
and Chattanooga, which are inscribed upon its battle-scarred flags and
upon those fields which its valor won, afford ample evidence of the
valuable service which was performed there. We have watched you
through long and tedious marches, through sufferings and trials. In
that memorable battle of Tunnel Hill we saw you march undismayed
at the head of the army and receive for your valor the praise of your
commanding generals, Grant and Sherman. In the name of the peo-
ple and of every loyal heart in the state we welcome you, Colonel
Loomis, and your men, today." During the three years of his service
Colonel Loomis participated in fifty-seven battles or skirmishes, and
campaigned over sixty-nine hundred miles of country. While in the
field he was noted as a rigid disciplinarian and a cool, intrepid fighter.
His eminent fitness for leadership was quickly discerned by his su-
perior officers, for during his service in the field he was most of the
time either acting with his regiment as an independent command, or
Vol. Ill— 5.
982 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
was in command of a brigade or division. With the Twenty-sixth
Illinois Regiment he exercised an independent command in northern
Missouri from the outbreak of the war until February, 1862, and
during the balance of that year commanded the First Brigade, Second
Division, Army of the Mississippi, and the Second Brigade, Second
Division, Army of the Tennessee. In 1863 an d 1864 he was the
superior officer of both a brigade and a division (First, Sixteenth
Army Corps), Army of the Tennessee. At Chattanooga and Mission-
ary Ridge, he commanded a division composed of Colonel Burchbeck's
Brigade, Eleventh Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, and his own
First Brigade, Fourth Division, Army of the Tennessee. He also led
the rear guard of the Thirteenth Army Corps, Army of the Ten-
nessee, from December, 1862, to January, 1863, m the campaign
from Oxford, Mississippi, to LaGrange, Tennessee. He also served
as commandant of the post at Oxford, Mississippi. Colonel Loomis
was recommended for promotion to brigadier general by General
Grant in December, 1862; by General Sherman in December, 1863,
and again by General Grant in April, 1864; Dut I0r some unexplained
reason, and to the deep regret of his many friends and admirers, he
never received the promotion to which he was justly entitled. On
April 30th, 1864, ne resigned from the service, having so greatly
overtaxed his powers of endurance that it became imprudent for him
to continue longer in the field.
Upon his return to civil life, Colonel Loomis found that the busi-
ness outlook was discouraging, and, with the destruction of his old
home by fire, his future seemed dark indeed. But he bravely and
energetically resumed the lumber business, although he was virtually
without capital, and by diligence and good judgment developed his
interests into far greater magnitude than they had ever reached before
the w r ar. He acquired an interest in extensive pine lands near Man-
istee and Ludington, Michigan, which, with the marketing of their
products, brought very large returns. To carry on this branch of
the business he became one of the organizers of the Pere Marquette
Lumber Company, at Ludington, Michigan. On the death of its
president, Hon. Delos L. Filer, he assumed the management of its
affairs, which he retained until the time of his death. In the mean-
time he had received John McLaren into his employ, and in 1870
made him a partner in the firm of John Mason Loomis & Companv.
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 983
the "Company" comprising Mr. McLaren alone. For fifteen years
they transacted a large business at Chicago in the lumber commission
line, and in 1885 Colonel Loomis retired from the partnership.
Colonel Loomis' connection with the Chicago Relief and Aid
Society commenced after the Chicago fire in 1871. For a year or
more after that sweeping calamity, he devoted his entire time to the
receiving and distributing the world's gifts to the needy, and to the
providing of temporary quarters for the homeless. His connection
with this great charity ended only with his own life. In 1873 he
served as its auditor, and was a member of its auditing committee
from 1874 to 1 88 1, ever giving freely of his energies, abilities and
means in furtherance of the work. Soon after its organization in
1874, he became an active member of the Citizens' Association of
Chicago, and served as chairman of its military committee from 1879
to 1883. Colonel Loomis was among the far-seeing pioneers in the
organization of the Illinois National Guard. He had long seen the
necessity for the creation of a citizen soldiery, properly drilled and
equipped, which should serve as a nucleus for home defense in case
of war. He was of those wise men who believed that national se-
curity was largely dependent on ample military preparation. During
the period of his service as chairman of the military committee of
the Citizens' Association he enjoyed special facilities for advancing
the interests of the Illinois National Guard. More than any other
man he placed that organization on a firm financial basis, and~ was
personally the means of raising twenty thousand dollars for its early
support. He was also one of the charter members of the Loyal
Legion, and in 1884 succeeded General Sheridan as commander of
the Illinois Commandery. He was a member of the George H.
Thomas Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and of the association
composed of his surviving comrades of the Twenty-sixth Illinois
Regiment, of which he was honorary colonel from the date of its
organization until his death. He was also closely identified with the
Society of the Army of the Tennessee from its founding until his
death, attending most of its reunions and serving several times as
vice-president of the organization. In fact, there were few -Civil
war veterans of the west who enjoyed a wider popularity in patriotic
associations than did Colonel Loomis.
984 - CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
In politics Colonel Loomis always voted for Republicanism. While
a lover of his home, he was at the same time broadly social, and was
identified with the Chicago, Calumet, Union, Saddle and Cycle, On-
wentsia and Tolleston clubs, all of Chicago, also of the Jekyl Island
Club, with headquarters on the island so named, off the coast of
Georgia. Of the two clubs last noted, the Colonel was a charter
member.
In 1878, Colonel Loomis, with his brothers and sister, incor-
porated the Loomis Institute at Windsor, Connecticut. This institu-
tion is 1o be a memorial to this branch of the Loomis family, for the
Colonel and his associate founders, through the death of all of their
children, foresaw that with their death an honored name would
become extinct. The Loomis Institute is, in the words of its charter,
"for the free education of all persons between the ages of twelve and
twenty years who can read and write and who are grounded in the
elementaries of arithmetic, grammar and geography. In case a
greater number of persons having the requisite qualifications shall
apply for admission than the institute can accommodate, then selec-
tion from said applicants shall be made, first, from those belonging
to the Loomis family by name or consanguinity; next, from those
belonging to the town of Windsor; next, from those belonging to the
state of Connecticut, and next from those deemed worthy without
regard to state or nation, all of which shall be determined by the
trustees or their successors, or by committees by them appointed, in
conformity to the provisions of the incorporating act." The family
homestead bought by Joseph Loomis in 1640 is to be the site of the
institute buildings, and the eventual endowment fund will be the
estates of Colonel Loomis, his brothers and sister, amounting approx-
imately to two million dollars. This memorial will live as an evidence
of the noble traits of this family, which are interwoven with the
Loomis history from the time of its planting in American soil.
Colonel Loomis' wife was formerly Miss Mary Hunt, daughter
of Hon. Milo Hunt, of Chenango county, New York, to whom he
was married in 1849, when starting in the lumber trade as a resident
of Milwaukee. To their deep sorrow the children born to them all
died in infancy. His honored widow still survives, residing at 55
Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, and as a lasting tribute to the Colonel's
memory Mrs. Loomis recently erected a beautiful memorial altar of
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 985
marble and mosaic in Grace church, the ancestral house of worship at
Windsor, Connecticut. Both husband and wife were members of
Grace Episcopal church, Chicago, from its organization.
Robert B. Gregory, elected president of Lyon and Ilealy in 1907,
has been identified with the music trade for more than forty years, or
_, _, since the establishment of the great house in whose
Robert B. , , , '?,.,,,
^ development he has been such a faithful and in-
fluential agent. His steady rise from a subordinate
clerkship to the head of the widely extended and firmly established
business is a just reward of his many years of effort and his strong
natural abilities — all steadfastly applied to the honorable advantage of
the house.
Mr. Gregory is a native of Jonesville, Michigan, born September
4, 1848, son of Robert and Elizabeth (Bowman) Gregory. He was
educated in the home schools, and at the age of fifteen came to Chicago,
his first employment being as an office boy with Root and Cady, pro-
prietors of a music store, later becoming a messenger boy with the
State Savings Bank. With the establishment of the firm of Lyon and
Healy, in 1864, the youth of sixteen entered their employ and com-
menced his long and upward career in the commercial field of music.
From the position of clerk he was promoted to that of traveling sales-
man, and in the latter capacity rendered them fine service for some
four years. Afterward (from 1875 to 1892) as foreign buyer, he oc-
cupied a particularly responsible and delicate field. Thus becoming
thoroughly familiar with the business of the house within its office
and both in its domestic and foreign territory, Mr. Gregory's admission
to the firm as a general partner was but a legitimate advancement, and
in 1890, when the business was incorporated, he assumed the position
of treasurer of the company. He was later elected vice president, and.
as stated, was chosen to the head of the business in December, 1907.
Mr. Gregory is a leader in both business and social circles. He
was married in Chicago, December 18, 1880, to Miss Addie V. 1 1 i 1 >—
bard, and three children have been born to them — Eleanor Hibbard,
Grace (deceased) and Ruth. The family has long been prominent in
the work of Grace Episcopal church, in which Mr. Gregory is a ves-
tryman, and the city home is at No. 1638 Prairie .avenue; "Ledge-
mere;" the beautiful summer home, is in Highland Lark. Personally,
986 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Mr. Gregory is independent in politics, and is identified with the Union
League, Chicago Athletic, Exmoor and South Shore Country clubs.
One of the strongest men of Chicago, Arthur Dixon has attained
prominence as a business factor and as a sturdy and progressive force
in the public affairs of the city, county and state.
Arthur
" He is of Scotch-Irish descent and his entire career
has demonstrated that his blood is of the best strain.
He was born March 27, 1837, in county Fermanagh, north of Ire-
land, son of Arthur and Jane (Allen) Dixon. His father was a man
of noticeable flexibility and force of character, being at times farmer,
teacher and attorney, his grandfather and uncle holding commissions
in the British army. It was from this father, for whom Arthur Dixon
always had the deepest affection and reverence, that the son with whom
this sketch chiefly deals, received his early training 'and from whom he
inherited many of his characteristic traits.
As a boy Mr. Dixon was remarkably alert and vigorous, both
mentally and physically, his favorite early studies being mathematics,
logic, history and ethics. The discipline of his youthful years was
moral, as well as mental, and from early boyhood he was a constant
attendant at the Episcopal and Methodist Sunday schools. At the
age of eighteen he left home, even then grounded in all manly traits,
and from 1855 to 1858 resided in Philadelphia, where he had joined
some old-time friends. He then spent three years at Pittsburg, en-
gaged in the nursery business.
The coming of Arthur Dixon to Chicago dates from 1861. when
he became a clerk in the grocery of G. C. Cook, but soon after as-
sumed the role of a proprietor, which he continued for a number of
years with fair success. In the meantime he had accidentally en-
tered the field of business, in which more than forty-five years of
able and stanch labors have brought him a standing second to none
in the country. One of his grocery customers ran up so large a bill
of credit that cash payment was beyond the limits of possibility, and
in payment thereof Mr. Dixon assumed a team of horses and a wagon.
To prevent the animals from eating up his final profits he engaged
in teaming, this accidental outside venture proving so profitable that
in 1862 he abandoned his grocery business and established a general
teaming concern at 299 Fifth avenue. This was the origin of the
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 987
enormous business which has been transacted for forty-six years un-
der the name of the Arthur Dixon Transfer Company, of which he
is still president. In addition to his controlling interest in the com-
pany he is a director in the F. Parmelee Company, the Central Trusl
Company, West Pullman Land Association, Dixon Land Association,
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company and Grand Trunk Railroad
Company.
Mr. Dixon's splendid services for the public and the Republican
party commenced during the period of the Civil war, when he was an
energetic, rising young business man. His work in enlisting and
equipping men for the Union ranks called 'forth general praise. To-
ward the end of the war he became especially prominent in local poli-
tics and obtained firm standing with his fellow citizens by his active
participation in the establishment of the fire limits. In the spring of
1867 he was elected by the Republicans as alderman from the Second
ward, and for twenty-four years served continuously as a member of
the city council, holding the record both for faithfulness and length
of aldermanic service. Although he was returned to his seat year
after year with increased majorities and sometimes without opposi-
tion, the contest in the common council over his elevation to the presi-
dency oi that body was bitter. He was chosen, however, and con-
tinued in office from 1874 to 1880, inclusive. At various times he
served as chairman of all the important committees and, whether as
a working member, a debater or "watchdog of the city treasury,"
made his mark. Among other important measures he advocated mu-
nicipal ownership of the gas plant, high water pressure, building of
sewers by special assessment, creation of a public library, annexation
of the suburbs, building of viaducts over railway crossings, the drain-
age law and the extension of the fire limits. At Mr. Dixon's resigna-
tion in April, 1891, the city council, as a body, expressed its unqualified
regret at his action, and placed on record its conviction of "his great
public worth, his zeal for honest and economical government, his sin-
cere interest in the cause of the tax payers, and his undoubted and
unquestioned ability in every position assigned to him." Mr. Dixon
was one of the foremost in laying a wise and substantial foundation for
the World's Columbian Exposition, and in April, 1892, was elected
one of its directors, his services and counsel being invaluable.
gSS CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Mr. Dixon represented the first senatorial district of Illinois in
the twenty-seventh general assembly, and among- the bills introduced
and passed by him at that session were those providing for the loca-
tion of the Chicago Public Librarv and the extension of seweraee and
water by special tax levy and sundry other bills. For a quarter of
a century he has been a member of the city and county Republican
central committees, and has served many times as chairman of both
of these bodies. In 1872 he was a leading candidate for Congress,
failing of the nomination by only a few votes, and in 1880 served as
a delegate to the national Republican convention which named James
A. Garfield for the presidency. Justly proud of his nationality, Mr.
Dixon has also been highly honored by the Irish Republicans of the
city and nation. In 1868 he was elected president of the Irish Re-
publican Club of Chicago and in the following year to the head of the
national organization. In Masonry his standing is long and high,
having joined the fraternity in 1865 and being now a life member of
the chapter and commandery. a thirty-second degree Mason of the
Scottish rite. Mr. Dixon has also served as president of the Irish
Literary Society and his mind is of a high order. He has a choice
library of religious, scientific, poetical and philosophical works, and
is in close and inspiring communion with the intellectual masters and
moral prophets of the past and present.
In January, 1862, Mr. Dixon married Miss Annie Carson, of Alle-
gheny, and fourteen children have been born to them, of whom six
sons and six daughters are still living. George \Y. Dixon, the sec-
ond son, is secretary and treasurer of the Arthur Dixon Transfer
Company, and Thomas J. Dixon, third son, holds the position of gen-
eral manager. The domestic relations of Arthur Dixon have always
been warm and harmonious in the extreme, and his home at 31 31
Michigan boulevard represents an ideal American household. He wa.'
reared in the Episcopal faith, but for many years has been a leader ir
the work of the First Methodist church, of which he has been a trus-
tee and Sunday-school teacher for forty-five years, and is now presi-
dent of the board. His broad identification with organizations of £
social and co-operative nature is indicated by his membership in the
Methodist Social Union. Art Institute. Historical Society. Chicago
Real Estate Board, Bankers' Club. Chicago Board of Trade, Union
League and the Hamilton. Calumet and Illinois Athletic clubs.
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 989
A native of Chicago, where he also received his education and
from whose life he drew his individual inspiration, George William
_ T , T Dixon is a typical citizen of the typical western
George W. . ' . . ', ■ , ,
■p. city — now western only in geographical location,
but metropolitan in spirit and the scope of her ac-
tivities. He is a business man of broad education, secretary and
treasurer of the Arthur Dixon Transfer Company; has a thorough
legal training; has ably served in the upper house of the state legisla-
ture, and his influence in Republicanism is further indicated by his
pending service as presidential elector from the first Illinois district.
After passing through the grammar course in Chicago and grad-
uating from the old West Division high school, Mr. Dixon pursued a
classical course in the Northwestern University, from which he gradu-
ated in 1889 with the degree of A. B. He then entered the law school
of the same institution, from which he graduated in 1892, with the
degree of LL. B. After leaving college Mr. Dixon practiced his pro-
fession for about five years, his work being largely in the capacity
of receiver for large corporations. In 1893 he became identified with
the Arthur Dixon Transfer Company, being appointed to his present
position in the same year. The business of this great corporation was
founded by his father and has been developed through the united
efforts of different members of the family. Its modern growth into
one of the leading establishments of the kind in the country has come
largely through the executive ability and trained legal mind of its
secretary and treasurer.
Mr. Dixon's prominence as a Republican was made generally evi-
dent by his service in the state senate as representative of the first
Illinois district. He has also served on the staff of Governor Richard
Yates with the rank of colonel. As stated, he is a presidential elector
from the first Illinois district, also served as a member of the com-
mittee on arrangements to prepare for the reception of the delegates
to the Republican national convention of 1908. This work was thor-
oughly and systematically accomplished even to the smallest detail,
and all the arrangements met with the hearty approval of all con
cerned. Mr. Dixon is identified with the Union League Club. Chi-
cago Club, Chicago Athletic Association, University Club. City Club.
Twentieth Century Club and the Hamilton Club. He has been a lead-
ing spirit in the political and reformatory work inaugurated by the
990 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
organization last named, of which he is a life member and first vice
president, as well as chairman of its political action committee. He
has also been chairman of the entertainment committee and secretary
of the club, and at the time of the peace jubilee held in honor of
President McKinley, acted as secretary of the banquet. Mr. Dixon
has been active and influential in all movements tending 1 to civic re-
form, and was a delegate to the Chicago charter convention of 1907.
He retains an active membership in the Illinois State Bar Association,
and belongs to the Masonic order and Knights Templar.
On March 2, 1903, Senator Dixon was united in marriage with
Miss Marion E. Martin, and his residence is at No. 2706 Michigan
boulevard. The two children born to this union are Marion Martin
and George William Dixon, Jr. Mr. Dixon is a leading Methodist,
having served as superintendent of the Sunday school of the First
Methodist church for many years and president of the Chicago Meth-
odist Social Union in 1901-02.
Thomas John Dixon, general manager of the Arthur Dixon Trans-
fer Company, was born in Chicago, September 9, 1869, and is a son of
Arthur and Annie (Carson) Dixon. His father
„ •*" has been a prominent citizen of Chicago for more
Dixon. , . / , , . , . , ,
than forty-five years and his biography precedes his
sons' in this work. Thomas J. completed the grammar and high
school courses in Chicago, after which he entered the Northwestern
University at Evanston, but finished only his junior year, as he was
anxious to enter business. He at once entered the employ of the
Arthur Dixon Transfer Company, and has advanced to his present
position through sturdy work and real ability. The great and increas-
ing volume of business transacted by the company makes his position
far from a sinecure, in fact, continuously more arduous in its duties.
In 1894 Mr. Dixon was united in marriage with Miss Dora Alice
Moon, a native of Michigan, and they have two children, Arthur and
John Wesley Dixon. Mr. Dixon is a Republican and in 1905-06
represented the Second ward in the city council. His social member-
ship is with the Union League, Hamilton and Chicago Athletic clubs,
and in his stanch Methodism he upholds the family record. In Ma-
sonry he is a Knight Templar of the thirty-second degree, Scottish
Rite.
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 991
The late William Gold Hibbard was one of Chicago's merchants
who have made her both gigantic in the world of trade and highly
honored in the higher fraternity of practical helpful-
Tj ' ness and charity. He died a wealthy man, but he
Hibbard. . j j
had given generously not only to upbuild the great
house which he founded but to assist into paths of honorable labor
those who were able to work and those who were thrown helpless
upon the world.
William G. Hibbard, who at his death, October 11, 1903, was still
president of the widely known hardware house of Hibbard, Spencer,
Bartlett & Co., was born at Dryden, Tompkins county, New York, in
the year 1825. His parents were Joel Barber and Eliza (Gold) Hib-
bard, who sent him to the academy at Cortland, that state, where he
obtained the bulk of his education. In 1849, then twenty-four years
of age, he came to Chicago, first entering the employ of Stimson and
Blair, dealers in hardware. He not only thoroughly learned the busi-
ness, but saved a small capital by six years of economy so that he was
enabled to become part proprietor of a store himself. In 1855 he formed
a partnership with Nelson and Fred Turtle and George M. Gray, the
resulting firm being known as Tuttle, Hibbard & Co. Two years later
the building was destroyed by fire, and the young merchants removed
to larger and more favorable quarters at No. 32 Lake street. In 1865,
after eight years of prosperous trade at the new location, Messrs.
Tuttle and Gray retired, their interests being purchased by Mr. Hib-
bard and F. F. Spencer. Thus, as Hibbard and Spencer, was laid the
foundation of the modern house. The name was afterward changed
to Hibbard, Spencer & Co. by the admission of A. C. Bartlett, who
had been in the service of Tuttle, Hibbard & Co. since 1864. Contin-
ued expansion of business necessitated a move, in 1867, to Nos. 92-94
Michigan avenue, and there, in the midst of their prosperity, they
were found by the great fire of 1871. But on the 10th of October,
early in the morning, less than twenty-four hours after their store was
swept away, they resumed business with the hot remnants of their
stock at Mr. Hibbard' s private residence, No. 1701 Prairie avenue.
This is said to be the quickest resumption of business after the fire.
For about seven months the firm occupied a one story wooden shed
on the Lake Front, between Washington and Randolph streets, and by
the middle of June moved into their rebuilt store, at the old number.
992 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Xo. 32 Lake street. Since then frequent additions of office and ware-
house accommodations have resulted in a massive structure which
occupies the block between State, South Water, Wabash and the river.
In 1882, under the advice of Mr. Hibbard, the business was turned over
to a stock company known as Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co., of
which he remained president up to the day of his death.
Mr. Hibbard is recognized as one of those broad-gauge type of
business men whose ideas of their functions do not rest on the basis
of mere justice, but whose policy always inclines toward the co-opera-
tive and generous. Those who proved by their faithfulness that they
merited his confidence were advanced according to their abilities, and
after the incorporation of the company rewarded with shares in the
business. Such was both generous and wise treatment, and was in
line with the advanced thought of the day. He also took a most prac-"
tical interest in the good works of organized charity, one of the many
public institutions of this character in which he was especially inter-
ested being the Foundlings' Home of Chicago, of which he was presi-
dent for many years.
In 1855 Mr. Hibbard wedded Miss Lydia Beekman Van Schaack,
a daughter of H. C. Van Schaack. a prominent lawyer of Manlius,
Onondaga county, New York, and descendant from some of the most
aristocratic and substantial Dutch pioneers of the Empire state. Of
the eight children born to this harmonious union, six are still alive,
two of the sons, William G. and Frank Hibbard, being prominently
identified with the business founded by the deceased. The' widow is
also living, one of the best known of Chicago pioneers.
To be the witness of the growth of a business house from small be-
ginnings to one which has a world-wide scope is to be the observer of
quite a wonderful and imposing sight in the prac-
' ' tical world; but to be both a witness and an active
and leading factor in such a remarkable development
is an experience accorded to but few men. This development of a great
business can only be partially compared to the rising of a monumental
building under the supervision of master minds; for, while in both
cases those who have the responsibilities of the construction watch
and direct with honorable pride the countless details which must be
mastered and forwarded in the working out of the general plan, those
who rear the structure of a vast business are building with the ever
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
993
shifting material of humanity instead of with iron, steel, stone and
bricks. Immeasurably greater, therefore, is the genius of the man who
deals with men and women, molding them to his purposes; who, in
the guiding of his enterprise to the heights of superiority, is obliged
to meet fierce competition and new conditions — than the architect or
the builder, who depends for success upon the exact sciences and solid,
substantial, dependable material.
Among those in Chicago to whom this comparison legitimately
applies is A. C. Bartlett, president of the corporation of Hibbard,
Spencer, Bartlett & Co., which operates one of the largest hardware
houses in the world, its mammoth establishment on State street be-
tween South Water and the Chicago river, being one of the most con-
veniently arranged and finely constructed buildings for its purposes in
existence. It is a fitting outward manifestation of the extent and per-
manence of the business itself. As would be expected, the presiding
genius of this great business is a strong, broad, accurate man, en-
dowed with remarkable mental concentration and a fine logical mind ;
but, what is remarkable in business men of his caliber, he is also cul-
tured and polished, an attractive writer and an easy, effective public
speaker. His hard, common sense, which has brought him eminence
in the business world, is also refined and mellowed by his generosity
and benevolence.
Mr. Bartlett evidently inherited some of his business ability from
his father, but none from his grandfather, who was notoriously a "poor
manager." Born at Stratford, Fulton county, New York, June 22,
1844, he comes of brave, sturdy families, who were widely known
pioneers of the central part of the state north of the Mohawk river.
Colonel Ichabod Bartlett, his paternal grandfather, made a good officer
in the Revolutionary war, but when it came to the more prosaic cam-
paign of life he lacked the persistent industry which wins the average
success. The family being in rather needy circumstances, one of the
sons, Aaron, with the other children, obtained little schooling; it is
said that a year covered the educational period of his life. This boy,
who was born in 1800, was reared on his father's small farm and his
experience there, as well as a short independent venture in the same
line, induced him to abandon agriculture and become a partner in a
country store. Unlike his brave father, he possessed a good head for
business and gained such ground that he associated himself with
994 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Isaac Hyde, of New York City, in the erection and operation of a sole
leather tannery, the resulting firm of A. Bartlett & Co. becoming quite
well known in central New York.
Nathaniel Dibell, the maternal grandfather of A. C. Bartlett, was
a sturdy, thrifty New Englander, who went to New York shortly after
his marriage, bought and improved a large farm, raised a family of
eight girls, lived comfortably and happily, was honest and popular,
served the public in various official capacities, and altogether passed
what may be called an uneventful but eminently useful and honorable
existence. His daughter Delia, who was born September 3, 1806,
married Aaron Bartlett, and their only son was Adolphus C.
The boy attended the village school of his native Stratford until
after his father's death, January 1. 1854. when, at the age of ten, he
came with his mother to Salisbury Centre, in the adjoining county of
Herkimer. There he attended the common schools until his sixteenth
year, after which he enjoyed the benefits of mental training for one
year at the Dansville academy and for two years at the Clinton Liberal
Institute, both New York institutions. As his health became somewhat
delicate he abandoned his intention of mastering even more advanced
courses, and, after teaching one winter and being employed as a clerk
in a country store for one summer, took a course in a commercial col-
lege preparatory to adopting a business career.
When Mr. Bartlett came to Chicago, at the age of nineteen, his
plan was to enter a wholesale house, obtain the necessary experience,
and then embark as a merchant in some small village, using as capital
a few thousand dollars which his father had left him. With this end
in view he entered the employ of the hardware store of Tuttle, Hib-
bard & Co. as a general utility boy, with promise of a nominal salary.
But his eyes were open and his brain was busy, and the more he saw
of the business life of the bustling city the better he liked it ; his
original intention to do business in a small place in a modest way
• gradually and completely oozed away. At the end of the first year
the firm name was changed to Hibbard and Spencer, and three years
later, then twenty-three years of age. he was given a silent interest in
the business. At the conclusion of another three years Mr. Bartlett
was received into the firm as a general partner; on January 1, 1877,
the style of the firm was changed to Hibbard. Spencer & Co., and,
upon the incorporation of the business January 1, 1882, to Hibbard,
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 995
Spencer, Bartlett & Co., with Mr. Bartlett as secretary of the corpora-
tion. Upon the death of Mr. Spencer in 1894 he became vice presi-
dent, and assumed the presidency January 1, 1904, Mr. Hibbard's
death having occurred in the preceding October.
A simple mention is all that can be accorded Mr. Bartlett's connec-
tions with the business, financial, educational, social, political and
charitable institutions of Chicago ; but that mention is sufficient to in-
dicate the great breadth and variety of his activities and how vast is
his influence for the material progress and higher good of the city.
He has been a member of the Chicago board of education and is a
trustee of Beloit, (Wis.) College and the University of Chicago. He
is a charter member of the Commercial Club, an ex-director of the
Chicago & Alton Railroad Company and a director of the First Na-
tional Bank, Northern Trust Company, Liverpool & London & Globe
Insurance Company. He has also served on the directorate of the
Chicago Athenaeum, and since 1873 has been a director of the Chicago
Relief and Aid Society. He is a trustee of the Art Institute; president
of the Home for the Friendless, vice president of the Old People's
Home, and has been a director of the Orphan Asylum. He is a mem-
ber of the Chicago Club, and his Republicanism is indicated by his
membership in the Union League Club.
Mr. Bartlett was married to Mary H. Pitkin, who died December
19, 1890, the mother of Maie Bartlett Heard, Frederick Clay and
Florence Dibell. His second wife, to whom he was united June 15,
1893, was formerly Abbey H. Hitchcock, daughter of Bailey H. Hitch-
cock, a brother of the late Charles Hitchcock of Chicago. By this
marriage there has been one child — Eleanor Collamore.
Col. Isaac Leonard Ellwood, although occupying a magnificent
homestead at De Kalb, in the Illinois county by that name, is a man of
broad and public character, widely known through-
„ out the state, and especially in Chicago, where his in-
Ellwood. , . , , , , , . , 1 1 , •
dustnal and landed interests have long made him a
familiar figure. It is therefore eminently proper that he should be fit-
tingly represented in a work of this character, which aims to fairly
represent the forces which have contributed to its advancement and
present standing.
Isaac L. Ellwood is a native of Salt Springville, Montgomery
county, New York, born August 3, 1833, and traces his ancestry
996 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
to Thomas Elhvood, the noted London Quaker, born in 1639
and chiefly educated by the poet Milton. It is a matter of history
that Thomas Ellwood suggested to Milton the writing of "Paradise
Regained" when "Paradise Lost" was submitted to him for criticism.
This eminent member of the Ellwood- family has been honored by the
Quakers of the old and the new world, John G. Whittier having con-
tributed a memoir to the record. The first of the family to establish
himself in America was Richard Ellwood, who in 1748 settled with his
family near St. Johnsville, in the Mohawk valley, New York. His stone
residence is still standing in a good state of preservation near the line
of the New York Central Railroad. Richard Ellwood died a few years
after coming to this locality, leaving four sons and two daughters.
Isaac Ellwood, the grandfather of the Colonel, died on a farm near
Fort Plane, one of his three sons, Abram, was father of Isaac L.
Abram Ellwood married Sarah Delong, daughter of James Delong, a
native of France, and they became the parents of seven sons, six of
whom have attained prominence in Illinois. There were also three
daughters in the family.
Isaac L. Ellwood spent his early years attending the public schools
of Montgomery county, New York, and as driver of a team on the
Erie canal. Later he obtained a clerkship with the management, and
was also employed as a salesman, but in his eighteenth year struck
for the gold fields of the Pacific coast, with the rush of '51. By hard
work and frugality he managed to collect a small capital, with which
he returned east and in 1855 established a hardware store in De Kalb.
He also branched out as an auctioneer, and his suavity and keenness
combined brought success in both vocations. But the foundation of
his fortune was laid when he formed a partnership with Joseph F.
Glidden, and established the manufactory of barbed wire whose
products were introduced to all the civilized countries of the world,
and the Glidden Barbed Wire stood for years as the best which the
market afforded. In 1876 Mr. Glidden sold his interest in the busi-
ness to the Washburn and Moen Manufacturing Company, of Massa-
chusetts, which combined with Colonel Ellwood to push the enterprise
to even greater proportions. Through the latter's knowledge of the
earlier phases of the business, his familiarity with the original pat-
ents and his wide business influence, all inventions on both the wire
and machinery were so wisely consolidated as to prevent further litiga-
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 997
tion and make the manufacture absolutely safe. Upon this solid foun-
dation of legal security and confidence the business took even more as-
tonishing strides, until it was one of the most successful industries of
the country. Later Mr. Ellwood became sole owner of the business,
which was reorganized under the name of the I. L. Ellwood Manufac-
turing Company. As the railroads and farmers alike commenced to use
the wire, the territory under his style of fence was soon increased by
thousands of square miles. He then extended the scope of his in-
dustry by establishing a wire drawing plant at De Kalb, and at about
the same time commenced the extensive manufacture of wire nails and
woven wire fencing. These enterprises have also grown to unusually
large proportions, and, with his barbed wire plant, were absorbed in
late years by the American Steel and Wire Company.
Colonel Ellwood has become well known as a public character in
the state, and has been largely concerned in the growth of higher edu-
cation. In 1895 ne s P en t several months at Springfield, and was most
influential in securing the legislation which resulted in the establish-
ment of the Northern Illinois State Normal School at De Kalb. When
the school was located he platted the so-called I. L. Ellwood addition
and built thereon several club houses and residences for the accommo-
dation of the school management, and this section has since become
one of the most desirable resident districts of the city. Colonel Ell-
wood has been an unvarying Republican, has been a liberal contributor
to party support, and his influence as a man and a citizen has been
broad and elevating. On June 5, 1902, he commenced his four years'
service as a railroad and warehouse commissioner, and has served on
the staffs of Governor Tanner and Governor Yates, by which circum-
stance he has received the title of colonel.
On January 27, 1859, Mr. Ellwood was married to Miss Harriet
Miller, daughter of William A. Miller, of De Kalb, and four sons and
three daughters have been born to them. Two sons died in infancy,
and Mrs. John H. Lewis has also passed away. The living children
c.re as follows: William L., Mrs. Harriet Mayo, Mrs. Mary Lewis.
Mrs. Jessie Ray (Denver, Colorado), and E. Perry Ellwood. The
eldest son, William L., was for several years engaged in the breeding
and importation of French draft horses, making annual trips to France
in the interest of his business. At present he has charge of the Ell-
wood stock farms, located near De Kalb, and containing- 3.400 acres
Vol. Ill— 6.
998 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
m
of highly improved land and supplied with all the modern improve-
ments. In addition to this estate. Colonel Ellwood is the owner of
400,000 acres of land in Texas, which is rapidly being developed and
increased in value. The handsome family residence at De Kalb is
surrounded by spacious and well kept grounds, one of its unique at-
tractions being a deer park. A splendid summer resort is also main-
tained at Palatka, Florida.
James Theodore Harahan, president of the Illinois Central Rail-
road Company, is recognized as one of the masters of railroad man-
agement and development in the United States, and
TT therefore a world-leader in this field. He was born
Harahan. .
in Lowell, Massachusetts, in the year 1843, his
father being born in Scotland and his mother in Massachusetts. At
the outbreak of the Rebellion, although Harahan was then but seven-
teen years of age, his appearance was so mature that he was passed
into the First Massachusetts Infantry, and served with it in the des-
perate fighting around Richmond. He was afterward transferred to
the Fourth Xew York Light Artillery, and served with that organiza-
tion until he entered the employ of the government in the railroad
transportation of troops and equipment around Alexandria. His spe-
cial duties were on the Orange & Alexandria Railroad, and as the
Confederate guerrillas were very active in this locality his induction
into the work which became the serious business of his life was ac-
companied by not a little danger and excitement.
After the war Mr. Harahan entered the service of the Nashville &
Decatur Railroad, with headquarters at Nashville, Tennessee, and
from 1866 to 1870 he was employed by the Louisville & Nashville
road, with headquarters in the different towns along the route. Then
he took charge of the Shelby railroad; was roadmaster of the Nash-
ville & Decatur Railroad from 1872 to 1879, an( l within the following
two years superintendent of the Memphis and New Orleans divisions
of that road. In 1883-4 he was general superintendent of the Louis-
ville & Nashville railroad south of Decatur, and the following year
became general manager of the entire line. He then accepted the gen-
eral superintendency of the Pittsburg division of the Baltimore & Ohio
Railroad, resigning this position to become assistant general manager
of the Louisville & Nashville, and within a few months being pro-
moted to be head of the road. From October, 1888. to November,
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
999
1890, he was successively assistant general manager of the Lake Shore
& Michigan Southern Railway, general manager of the Chesapeake &
Ohio Railway and general manager of the Louisville, New Orleans &
Texas Railway. On November 1, 1890, he assumed his duties as sec-
ond vice president of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, and was
elected president in 1907.
Mr. Harahan has been twice married, his first wife being Miss
Mary Kehoe, of Maysville, Kentucky, who died in 1897. On April
19, 1899, he married Miss Mary N. Mallory, the daughter of an old-
time friend, Captain W. B. Mallory, of Memphis, Tennessee. The
children born into the Harahan household have been as follows: Wil-
liam J. Harahan, general manager of the Illinois Central Railroad
Company; J. T. Harahan, Jr., with a Chicago manufacturing com-
pany; Mrs. A. N. Dale, of Memphis, and Mrs. Mary Shirley, of Chi-
cago. Mr. Harahan has a broad connection with the clubs of Chicago
and the southwest, those claiming his membership being the Home-
wood Country, Chicago, East End, Gentleman's Driving, Noondav
(St. Louis), Pendennis (Louisville), Tennessee (Memphis), and the
Boston and Pickwick clubs (both of New Orleans). Mr. Harahan's
Chicago residence is at 3358 Michigan boulevard.
Marvin Hughitt is more than seventy-one years of age, and yet
the honored president of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Com-
pany, is still in the field as one of the most energetic,
Marvin , , ■ + t + , ,• •
TT keen and progressive masters of transportation in
H IJCHTTT ito 1
the world. He has been a resident of Chicago since
1854, and he is as proud of it as a great center of the railroad world
as the city is proud of him for accomplishing such a giant's share of
the work necessary to bring about this triumph.
Born on a farm near Genoa, Cayuga county, New York, on the
9th of August, 1837, Mr. Hughitt is the son of Amos and Miranda
Hughitt, his ancestors on both sides of the family having been of
agricultural stock. The boy attended faithfully to his farming duties
until he was fourteen, but at that age decided that he would break-
away from the ancestral vocation. He therefore went to Auburn, the
county seat, and secured a place as a messenger boy in a telegraph
office. Before he was seventeen he was an expert operator, being
one of the first in the United States to receive messages by sound.
When he first came to Chicago, in 1854, he found a place with the
S^inSQftK
iooo CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Illinois & Mississippi River Telegraph Company, and afterward with
the St. Louis, Alton & Chicago railroad, now the Chicago & Alton,
his duties in the latter connection being both those of a telegraphic
operator and a trainmaster. His next railroad service was as train-
master for the Illinois Central, in charge of the southern end of the
road, stationed at Centralia, and his executive feats in the forwarding
of troops during the imperative times of the Civil war materially ad-
vanced his reputation and his prospects. By 1864 he had advanced to
the general superintendency ; was assistant general manager of the
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul in 1870; general manager of the Pull-
man Palace Car Company in 187 1-2, and on March 1st of the latter
year was appointed general superintendent of the Chicago & North-
western Railway. Four years later he became its general manager,
and was its vice president and general manager from June 2, 1880, to
June 2, 1887, when he became president of the great system which he
had done as much as any one man to organize and expand. In 1882
he had become president of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis &
Omaha Railway, and two years later was chosen to the presidency of
the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Railroad. He is still at the
head of these lines, as well as president of the St. Paul, Eastern Grand
Trunk Railway and Sioux City & Pacific, and director of the Union
Pacific Railroad Company, Northern Trust Company and Equitable
Life Assurance Society of the United States. Aside from taking so
large a share in the splendid development of the Northwestern Railway
System, perhaps Mr. Hughitt's most useful work — certainly that which
has earned him the most gratitude- — is his institution of a pension
system for the benefit of employes who have been in the service of the
road for twenty years, have become physically disabled between the
ages of sixty-five and sixty-nine, or who wish to retire at the age of
seventy. The system went into effect January 1, 1901. The pension
allowed is based upon a fixed per cent of the wages received by the
applicant during the last ten years of his service. It is estimated that
the innovation will eventually cost the company $200,000 per annum.
Mr. Hughitt's wife was formerly Belle Barrett Hough, of Rock
Island, Illinois, and for many years the family residence has been at
Lake Forest. Mr. Hughitt is domestic and enjoys the companionship
of a few chosen friends. He does not enjoy general society, and the
only club with which he has been especially identified is the Commer-
TWI
ASTOR, LBNOJ
T1LDJRM *'OU>U
R
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1001
cial, of which he has served as president. Mr. Hughitt was at one
time a Democrat, but since the death of his political ideal, Stephen A.
Douglas, has allied himself with the Republican party.
Frederic Adrian Delano, for the past two years president of the
Wabash Railroad Company, is one of the best known practical rail-
road men in Chicago. For twenty years he was
__ in the service of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy
Delano. _ ., , . , , • , *
Railroad, with headquarters either at Aurora or
Chicago, rising steadily, strictly on his merits, from the position of
apprentice machinist to that of general manager of the great system.
Both as an engineer and an executive officer there -is no one of his
years who has a finer record for practical and valuable railroad work
than Mr. Delano.
A native of Hong Kong, China, where he was born on the ioth
of September, 1863, Mr. Delano is the son of Warren and Catherine
Robbins (Lyman) Delano. He is of that diverse stock from which
spring strong, active men, his ancestors on the paternal side being
French Huguenots and English Pilgrims, the latter settling near
Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620 and thereafter. His mother's fore-
fathers were Englishmen and Scotchmen, who came to Boston and
Salem, at various periods from 1630 to 1700. Mr. Delano's thor-
ough education embraced a training of six years in the Adams Acad-
emy of Quincy, Massachusetts, and four years in Harvard College,
obtaining his A. B. from the latter in 1885.
It is a tribute to Mr. Delano's strength of character that such a
thorough literary discipline did not unfit him for the rough and prac-
tical work of life; but with him, as it should be with all young men,
his thorough education enabled him to take up his work more intelli-
gently and with greater conscientiousness. Soon after his graduation
from Harvard he entered the locomotive repair shop of the C, B.
& Q. R. R. at Aurora, Illinois, as an apprentice machinist, and con-
tinued thus employed for two years. In July, 1887, he was placed
in charge of the bureau of steel rail inspection, tests and records,
and in April, 1889, was promoted into the general administrative
department of the company, as assistant to the second vice-president.
After holding that position until July, 1890, he assumed the even
more responsible office of superintendent of terminals at Chicago,
discharging its duties with conscientious ability until 1899, when he
1002 CHICAGO AXD COOK COUNTY
became superintendent of motive power. Serving in the latter capac-
ity for two years, he was appointed general manager of the entire
system and continued to direct its operations from July I, 1901, to
January 1. 1905. In this position Mr. Delano so demonstrated his
powers as a general officer as to attract the attention of the Wabash
Railroad management, and he assumed the first vice-presidency of
that company May 1. 1905. and soon afterward became president i
the system. Besides being the guiding force of this important line,
he serves as director of the Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railr
and of the Hamilton National Bank. In January. 190S. Mr. Delano
was appointed a member of the Harbor Commission of the city of
Chicago by Mayor Busse. He is also a member of the American
Society of Civil Engineers. American Institute of Mining Engineers.
Western Society of Engineers, and the University, Union League,
Mid-Day and Literary clubs, of Chicago.
Married November 22. 18SS. to Miss Matilda Peasley, Mr.
Delano has become the father of four daughters : Catherine, Louise.
Laura and Matilda. In religion he is a Unitarian, and is liberal and
charitable in all his views.
Harry Irving Miller, president of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois
Railroad Company, is a native of Cleveland, Ohio, born on the 12th
of Tanuarv. 1862. being a son of John F. and
H ARRY 1
, * ' Almira G. Miller. His thorough and broad educa-
tion embraced tutelage at Russell's College, Xew
Haven. Connecticut : at Mount St. Mary's, Emmitsburg. Maryland,
and Cornell University. He began railroad work in the employ of
the Pennsylvania Lines west of Pittsburg, becoming a clerk in the
superintendent's office at Richmond. Indiana. Subsequently he filled
various positions in the engineering department of that line, and in
1888 was appointed superintendent of the Richmond division. He
became superintendent of the Louisville division of the Pennsylvania
Company in 1890: superintendent of the main line division (Yan-
dalia » in April. 1894: general manager of the Yandalia Line, with
headquarters in St. Louis, in June. 1901 : general manager of the
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway, with office at Chicago, from
December 15. 1903. to March 1. 1905. when he became vice-president
and general manager of Chicago & Eastern Illinois and Evansville vS:
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
1003
Terre Haute railroads, and November 1, 1906, he was made pr<
dent of these properties.
At Richmond, Indiana, Mr. Miller wedded Miss May B. Bur-
bank, and the child born to them is Alvin Ford. The family residence
is at No. 234 Lincoln Park boulevard. Mr. Miller is a member of
Kappa Alpha fraternity. His general social affiliations are with the
Chicago, Union League, Chicago Athletic, South Shore Country,
Exmoor and Glen View clubs.
Edward Payson Ripley, president of the Atchison, Topeka &
Santa Fe Railway Company, as well as president and director of
fifteen other railroad corporations and director of
Edward P. ...
numerous railroad, mining and manufacturing en-
terprises, is one of the great traffic managers of
the world. He was born in Dorchester, now a part of Boston, Mas-
sachusetts, October 30, 1845, hi s family being of English descent and
one of the oldest in New England, being founded in the Old Bay
state as early as 1630. Mr. Ripley's father, Charles P., was a native
of Vermont, but removed to Dorchester when a young man and there
resided as a merchant until his death in 1866. In 1843 ne married
Miss Anne Payson, who was a member of the same family as the
distinguished scholar and divine, Rev. Dr. Edward Payson.
Mr. Ripley graduated from the Dorchester High School, and at
the age of seventeen became a clerk in a Boston dry goods store. In
1869 he entered the employ of the Pennsylvania Company as a freight
clerk in the Boston office, and in the following year became connected
with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company in a more
responsible position. Two years later he was made the New England
freight and passenger agent with headquarters in Boston; in 1876
was appointed general eastern agent, and in 1878 was promoted to
be general freight agent with headquarters in Chicago. In 1887 the
office of traffic manager was created by the management of the Chi-
cago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company, and Mr. Ripley chosen
to fill the position. In the following year he was advanced to the
office of general manager, which he resigned June 1, 1890, and on
the following August was elected third vice-president of the Chicago,
Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company, his offices being in Chicago.
On January 1, 1896, Mr. Ripley resigned that position to assume the
presidency of the great system of which he is still the head.
ioo 4 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Mr. Ripley has always concentrated his abilities on the business
of his life, and has ventured little outside the field of railroading;
and as that, in his case, has virtually covered the United States, he
has found full scope for them. He was very prominent, however, in
securing Chicago as the site of the World's Columbian Exposition,
and was one of its leading members of the committee on ways and
means and transportation.
On October 4, 1871, Mr. Ripley married Miss Frances E. Har-
ding, daughter of Wilder Harding, of Dorchester, Massachusetts, and
they have four children: Alice H., Frances P., Robert H. and Fred-
erick C. Since their marriage Mr. and Airs. Ripley have resided at
Riverside, Illinois. Socially he is a member of the Chicago, Mil-
waukee and Topeka clubs, the Metropolitan and Lawyers of New
Y r ork, the Santa Barbara of Santa Barbara, California.'and the Cali-
fornia of Los Angeles.
Abraham Calvin Bird, third vice-president of the Gould railroads,
for more than forty years an influential working factor in the railway
systems of the west, and for about half of that
-r, period prominently identified with the management
of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad
Company, is an Illinois man, born near Pittsfield, Pike county, March
4, 1843. He is the son of Rev. William H. and Eliza E. Bird, who
were natives, respectively, of Kentucky and South Carolina. When
eighteen years of age he left his school and farm work to enlist in
Company D, Twenty-second Illinois Volunteer Infantry. On Novem-
ber 28, 1862, he re-enlisted for three years in the regular army,
becoming a private in K troop, Fourth United States Cavalry, his
term of service carrying him to the termination of the Civil war.
The Fourth United States Cavalry formed a part of General Wil-
son's cavalry corps, and Mr. Bird participated in such engagements
as Belmont, Stone River, Chickamauga, Franklin, Nashville and At-
lanta, closing his active service with the army of observation on the
Rio Grande at the time French troops occupied Mexico.
Upon being mustered out of the army November 28, 1865. Mr.
Bird returned to Illinois, and in the winter of 1865-6 began his long
and progressive railroad career as a night watchman for the St. Louis,
Alton & Terre Haute Railroad (now the Big Four) at Pana, Illinois,
being soon advanced from this position to truckman and station bag-
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1005
gage man at the same point. After fifteen months he became bill
clerk and cashier, and when he had filled the latter place for two and
a half years was transferred to the general freight office of the com-
pany as claim clerk. In this capacity his abilities were brought more
into general notice, and within less than two years he was offered
the chief clerkship in the general freight office of the St. Louis,
Kansas City & Northern Railway, which he filled from April, 1872,
to July, 1874. His next advancement was to the office of general
freight agent of that corporation, which he held until November,
1879, when he assumed the same relations with the Wabash, St.
Louis & Pacific Railroad, since reorganized as the Wabash Railroad.
On January 1, 1880, Mr. Bird became superintendent of freight traf-
fic of the road named, and three years afterward he accepted the still
more responsible position of general freight agent of the Chicago,
Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company. In February, 1889, he
was appointed its freight traffic manager, and in December, 1895,
general traffic manager of the entire great system. On December 30,
/8Q9, Mr. Bird was elected third vice-president of the company, and
discharged the duties of this important executive office with such
ability as to gain the admiration of the managers of the Gould lines,
who offered him the vice-presidency of the roads controlled by them.
which he accepted.
On the 24th of October, 1867, Mr. Bird married Miss Sarah E.
Lippincott, of Duquoin, Illinois, and four daughters and three sons
have been born to them. Two of the latter died in infancy. Mr.
Bird's tastes are essentially domestic, and he has a beautiful home
in Evanston. His outside social relations are with the Union League,
of which he has been a member since 1888, and vice-president in 1899,
while he is fraternally associated with Masonry, having taken all the
degrees of the York and Scottish rites except the thirty-third degree
of the latter. He has always been a Republican and is identified, in
his religious faith, with the Presbyterian church.
From brakeman to freight traffic manager of the great Santa Fe
System within a period of eighteen years, and since 1905 third vice-
president of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific
William B. Railroad Company, is but an epitome of the bril-
"liant railroad career of William Baxter Biddle. He
is a native of the state of Wisconsin, born in Beloit, November 12.
ioo6 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
1856, a son of Charles H. and Alice (Coffman) Biddle. The paternal
side of his family is of English origin; the maternal, of German.
William B. received his education in the Beloit public schools, and
soon after attaining his majority became a brakeman on the Atchison,
Topeka & Santa Fe road. Soon afterward he was appointed station
agent, and from 1882 to 1886 was chief clerk in the general freight
office of the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad (included in the Santa Fe
system) ; next assistant general freight agent of the same road and
division freight and passenger agent, and (in 1888) assistant general
freight agent of the entire system. In 1890 he became assistant
'freight traffic manager of the system, and four years later was ad-
vanced to the head of the department. This position he held until
March 1, 1905. when he was elected third vice-president of the Chi-
cago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company.
On November 23, 1880, Mr. Biddle was united in marriage to
Miss Ella Frost, of Beloit, Wisconsin, and the children born to them
have been Robert C, Wheldon F. and Walter C. The family home
is at No. 4531 Greenwood avenue. Mr. Biddle is a member of the
Union League, Mid-Day, Kenwood and Midlothian clubs and the
Chicago Athletic Association.
John Nicholson Faithorn, long a prominent railway official, is a
native of England, born in London, March 21, 1852. The family
moved to Chicago in 1873 and in that year he corn-
er menced his railway service by accepting a clerkship
r ATTHORN
with the Chicago & Alton Railway Company, with
which company he remained until 1882 in various capacities in the
local and general freight office, being chief clerk of the general freight
office at the time he severed his connection with that company. From
1882 to 1885 he was auditor of the Southwestern Railway Associa-
tion, and for the succeeding two years served as commissioner and
arbitrator of the Western Railway Association. He was chairman
of this asociation and a member of the Board of Commissioners of
the Western Trunk Line Association from 1887 to 1890. On Octo-
ber 1, 1890, he became chairman of the Southwestern Railway and
Steamship Association, remaining as commissioner of the Western
Trunk Line Association, and continued in these capacities until De-
cember 31, 1892. On January 1, 1893, he became vice-president and
general manager of Street's Western Stable Car Company, managing
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1007
its business for five years, during a portion of which period he was
general manager of the Wisconsin & Michigan Railway Company.
In November; 1898. Mr. Faithorn was elected to the presidency of
the St. Louis, Peoria & Northern Railway, and retained that position
until the company became non-operating, and in August, 1899, was
chosen president and general manager of the Chicago Terminal
Transfer Railroad. In July, 1902, he was also elected vice-president
of the Chicago & Alton Railway Company, retaining meanwhile his
position as president of the Chicago Terminal Transfer Railroad
Company. In December, 1905, he resigned the vice-presidency of the
Chicago & Alton Railway Company, and has since continued as the
president of the Chicago Terminal Transfer Railroad Company.
On January 1, 1873, Mr. Faithorn was united in marriage with
Miss S. Levett, and the children of their union are Edith Maude and
Walter Ernest. The latter is manager and treasurer of the Faithorn
Company, of which his father is the president. The elder Faithorn
is a member of a number of well known clubs, including the Chicago
and Chicago Athletic. He is also a Knight Templar.
Walter Ernest Faithorn, treasurer and manager of the Faithorn
Company, is a native of Chicago, born on the 6th of November, 1879,
_ the son of lohn N. and Sarah (Levett) Faithorn.
Walter E
„ The father became prominent in railwav circles be-
Faithorn. . ..,...., ....
fore associating himself in the printing business with
his son, and a sketch of the father's career precedes this. Walter E.
received his education in the Norwood Park public, school, a private
institution in St. Louis, Missouri, and in the Princeton-Yale and
Kenwood preparatory schools of Chicago; also, after his graduation
from the last named, at the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale Uni-
versity, in 1 90 1 obtaining his degree of Ph. B. from the institution
named.
Mr. Faithorn served as a civil engineer on the Chicago Terminal
Transfer Railroad, of which his father is president, from September,
1901, to February, 1903, and since the latter date has been connected
with the Faithorn Company in his present capacity. He is a Repub-
lican in politics, but, as a bright and progressive young business man,
has given little attention to such matters. Besides actively and suc-
cessfully superintending the printing establishment mentioned, he is
manager of the Railway Journal, and therefore finds abundant scope
1008 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
for his energies and abilities. As to social affairs, he is a member of
the Berzelius Society, New Haven, Connecticut, and of the Calumet,
University and South Shore Country clubs.
William Henry McDoel. president of the Chicago, Indianapolis &
Louisville Railway, is a native of Goffstown, New Hampshire, born
on the 28th of March, 1841, son of Joseph and Ann
, r ~ (Closrston) McDoel. He was educated in the public
McDoel. «,«./- • , -
- school ot his native town, and at the age of twenty
(September 7. 1861) entered the service of the Great Western Rail-
road of Illinois in a minor clerical capacity, and later was appointed
agent for the same road at Tolono. Illinois. In 1864 he became agent
of the Toledo, Wabash & Western Railway at State Line, Indiana, and
in the following year located at Keokuk, Iowa, as general agent of
the same line. After holding that position for ten years he accepted
the western agency of the Blue Line, with headquarters at Ouincy,
Illinois, and three years thereafter became general freight agent of
the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, filling the position last named
from 1878 to 1884. Shortly afterward he went to Kansas City, Mis-
souri, to assume the duties of southwestern freight agent of the Chi-
cago, Burlington & Ouincy Railroad, and since July 1, 1884, has been
identified with the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago and its successor,
the Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville road.
In 1884 Mr. McDoel was appointed general freight agent of the
road named above, after two years in that capacity became traffic man-
ager, and after filling the latter position for five years, on April 15.
1 89 1, was promoted to be general manager. In April, 1894, he was
elected vice-president of the road; was receiver in 1896-7; vice-presi-
dent and general manager in 1897-9, and since April 25th of the latter
year has acted as president. He is also president of the Indiana Stone
Railroad Company and of the Kentucky & Indiana Bridge and Rail-
road Company, as well as a director of the American Trust and Sav-
ings Bank.
On the 1 2th of September, 1865, Mr. McDoel was united in mar-
riage with Miss Rebecca Lucas, and the daughter born to this union
is now Mrs. Mary (McDoel) Kenly. The second marriage of Mr.
McDoel was at Kenosha, Wisconsin, December 27, 1898, to his present
wife (formerly Katherine R. Neff). The family residence is at Gen-
eva. Illinois. Politicallv. Mr. McDoel classes himself as a Gold Demo-
i TH? YORK
DV I
ITlLDJF.fl JfOUWfATlWWl
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1009
crat, and has membership in the Chicago, Union League, Midlothian,
Chicago Golf and South Shore Country clubs.
Judge Elisha Chapman Field, vice president and general solicitor
of the Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville Railroad Company, has been
_ _ a substantial adornment of both the bench and cor-
ELISHA C. 7. , r tt • • r ^
„ poration bar for many years. He is a native of Por-
ter county, Indiana, born April 9, 1842, being a son
of Thomas J. and Louise (Chapman) Field, natives of New York who
migrated to Indiana in 1836 and spent the remainder of their days in
the Hoosier state. Elisha C. Field was graduated from what is now
known as the Northern Indiana Normal School in 1862, but pre-
ferring the law to pedagogy soon ^afterward entered the law depart-
ment of the University of Michigan, by which he was honored with
his professional degree at the completion of his course in 1865.
Judge Field entered practice at Crown Point, Indiana, in the year
mentioned above, and in 1868 was elected prosecuting attorney of what
was then the ninth district of the state. Upon the expiration of his
term in that office he was elected to a seat in the Indiana legislature.
His career as a legislator brought him into general notice, and his
subsequent practice at the bar added to his reputation as an able de-
bater, a versatile and substantial lawyer, and a genial, earnest and
sterling citizen. All of these qualities gave him the ideal judicial
stamp, which was formally placed upon him by popular vote in 1879,
when he was elected to the bench of the thirty-first circuit of Indiana.
The record of his first term was signally endorsed by his re-election
without opposition in 1884, and his continuation upon the circuit
bench until 1889. In that year he resigned to accept the general solici-
torship of the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago Railroad, retaining
the office under the administration of its successor, the Chicago, In-
dianapolis & Louisville Company. In 1907 he was chosen to the
vice presidency .of the latter company, which, in connection with the
general solicitorship, he still holds with characteristic zeal, faithful-
ness and professional ability. He is also vice president of the Indiana
Stone Company and a director of the Consolidated Stone Company.
On September 1, 1864, Judge Field was united in marriage with
Miss Mary Jackman, of Sycamore, Illinois, and their four children
are as follows: Charles E., general claim agent of the Chicago. In-
dianapolis & Louisville Railway Company; Cora Belle, now Mrs. G.
ioio CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
V. Crosby, of Chicago ; Robert L., a graduate of the Bethel Military
School, of Virginia, and commissioned captain by the governor of the
state ; and Bernice Ray Field. The Judge has always been an earnest
Republican and while a resident of Indiana attained to a position of
national influer ce, serving in 1888 as a delegate from the tenth con-
gressional di^zrict to the national convention held in Chicago. Since
coming to t'.iis city his broad and pressing railway duties have barred
him from continuous participation in politics, although in 1904 he
served Pi a presidential elector from Illinois. In view of his family
genep!ogy. he enjoys membership in the Illinois Society of the Sons
of KuW York, and upon the organization of the Indiana Society of
Chic £0 was elected its first vice president, in which office he is still
prominent in its affairs. As he resides at Xo. 542 West Sixty-first
street he is also identified with the Englewood Men's Club.
In the management of the street railways of a large city is re-
quired a specially clear-headed order of ability, one which is active,
penetrating and far-seeing; for the rapid extension
,, of these transportation svstems must be prosecuted
Mittex. 1 J l
without interruption to the seething torrents of
travel which continually pour through the city's thoroughfares.
Through long experience and natural aptitude, these problems have
been well solved by Thomas Eugene Mitten, now president of the Chi-
cago City Railways Company.
Mr. Mitten is an energetic, level-headed Englishman, born in Sus-
sex, in the year 1865. As he came to the United States in 1880. he
simply brought with him the national constitution and temperament ;
everything else, his mature training, the practical education which has
determined his mode of advance and his station in the business world
— all of this has been of the western American type. At the age of
nineteen he began his railroad career as a telegraphic operator for
the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad, and later filled the positions,
successively, of agent, train dispatcher, trainmaster and adjuster of
claims for the same corporation. Mr. Mitten was appointed general
superintendent of the Denver, Lakewood & Golden Railroad Company,
and also entered the field of street railway management in Milwaukee.
He located in the Cream City as general manager of the Milwaukee
Street Railroad Company, and held that position until 1901, when
he became general superintendent of the International Railway Com-
ASTOR, LENOX AND
T1LDXM J-OUtfPATlOX*
A L
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY ion
pany of Buffalo, New York. In December, 1901, he was promoted to
the position of general manager of the same, and continued to be thus
engaged for about four years. In 1905 he was elected first vice presi-
dent of the Chicago City Railway Company and came to this city to
live, discharging the duties of the office so acceptably to the manage-
ment that he was elevated to the presidency.
Dwight Foster Cameron is one of the best known lawyers identi-
fied with the management of railroads in Chicago. He was born in
Stockbridge, Madison county, New York, on the
„ 28th of Julv, 1814, son of John and Isabella (Min-
Cameron. . J ' .7' , . J . ,
zie) Cameron. Until he was sixteen years of age he
remained on his father's farm in Madison county, near the village of
Peterboro, his schooling having thus far been limited to instruction in
the district school during the winter terms. From this time, for four
years, he was enabled to obtain a more systematic mental training as
a pupil in the Peterboro academy. During this period the youth not
only studied hard but paid his own expenses, teaching in the winter
months for this purpose.
When he was twenty years of age Dwight F. Cameron left his
schooling and his home and started for the west as the pioneer of the
family, all the members of which followed him eventually. Locating
in Ottawa, Illinois, in 1854, he first entered a bank as a clerk, but
after a few months in that capacity connected himself with the law
office of Glover and Cook as a student. Although he began to practice
before the justices when he had been in the office but a month, he
was not regularly admitted to the Illinois bar until 1856. His assur-
ance based upon pronounced ability brought him success from the first,
and during the fourteen years of his residence at Ottawa he earned a
substantial reputation throughout the state as a lawyer' identified with
railroad management and promotion. From 1864 to. 1870 he served
as attorney and director of the Ottawa, Oswego & Fox River Valley
Railroad, participating in the promotion and the building of its lines.
During this period he transacted virtually all the legal business of the
company, and as its condemnation suits were under a constitutional
provision new at that time, they presented many difficult and delicate
problems.
Mr. Cameron located in Chicago in 1870, and for the following
twenty-one years he was engaged in various broad enterprises, in
1012 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
which his thorough legal training made him an invaluable managerial
factor. In 1891, in connection with the late Columbus R. Cummings,
he built the South Chicago City Railway, and thereafter developed the
Hammond, Whiting & East Chicago Electric Railway.
In 1858 Mr. Cameron was united in marriage with Miss Fanny
E. Norris, daughter of George H. Norris, a well known banker of
Ottawa, Illinois. She died in August, 1903. Three children were
born to them, their eldest, George H. Cameron, being now captain in
the Fourth United States Cavalry, stationed at Fort Riley as assistant
commander, in charge of the school of cavalry located at that post. As
a cadet from Illinois, he entered the West Point Military Academy
July 1. 1879, under competitive examination; was appointed second
lieutenant in the Seventh Cavalry June 13, 1883; became first lieuten-
ant of the Fourth Cavalry March 9, 1891 ; promoted captain in the
same command March 2, 1899, and was brevetted adjutant of his regi-
ment August 16, 1900. The two other children of Mr. and Mrs.
D. F. Cameron are Mary Gertrude, wife of YYilliston Fish, a lawyer
connected with the Chicago Union Traction Company, and Rev.
Dwight F. Cameron, Jr., an Episcopalian minister of New York city.
On August 12, 1907, Mr. Cameron was married to Elizabeth F.
Colvin, daughter of ex-Mayor Colvin, deceased. In politics, Air. Cam-
eron is a Republican.
John Millard Roach, president and general manager of the Chicago
Consolidated Traction and the Chicago Railways Company, is one of
the successful and practical street railway men of
-L ' Chicago who is ''doing things" in the solution of the
great transportation problem, instead of talking
"about them. From a conductor to the head of a system which em-
braces more than five hundred miles of city and suburban tracks, all
within thirty-five years, implies an advancement at the expense of
ceaseless labor and an executive and initiatory ability of the highest
order.
The original Roach stock was Scotch-Irish, and Virginia was the
first of the American commonwealths to be chosen as a home by the
emigrating ancestors of the family. From the Old Dominion the
family migrated to Jackson county, Ohio, where John M. Roach was
born January 30, 1852. His parents were John M. and Sarah ( Mac-
kay) Roach, and in 1863 left their Ohio home with their family and
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1013
located in DeKalb county, Illinois. The elder Roach had long- been a
thrifty merchant and wool grower in the Buckeye state, and quite a
colony of neighbors settled with him in his new Illinois home. There
he passed his remaining years, but his wife, the mother of John M.,
still survives him and resides at Belvidere, Illinois.
When fifteen years of age John M. Roach returned to Ohio and
entered the college at Beverly, where he spent two years, after which
he started for the west and located at Helena, Montana, where he was
engaged for a time as a newspaper reporter. Then he advanced (on
horseback) to Walla Walla, Washington; Portland, Oregon, and down
the Pacific coast to Los Angeles ; from this point he turned eastward
and rode to Salt Lake City, and, still unsatisfied with the outlook,
made for Chicago.
Mr. Roach's coming to this city dates from 1872 — the commence-
ment of a reformatory period succeeding the ravages of the fire in
which originated the careers of many of the strongest Chicago men
of present middle age. The young man took the first living position
which offered, that of a horse-car conductor, but six months of this
lowly occupation brought him advancement to a cashiership with the
company — the North Chicago Street Railway. In 1879 ne attained
the dignity of a purchasing agent, became assistant superintendent in
1887, and superintendent in 1890. Three years later the management
promoted him to the position of second vice president and general
manager of the company. In 1897 he was elected vice president and
general manager of the West Chicago Street Railway Company, and
the same year president of the Cicero & Proviso Street Railway Com-
pany. In 1899 Mr. Roach was chosen to the vice presidency of the
Chicago Union Traction Company, and in 1901, with the consolida-
tion of the north and west side lines, to the position of president and
manager of the Chicago Consolidated Traction Company. So that
outside of the elevated roads, Mr. Roach now is the most powerful
leader of local transportation in Chicago.
On July 4, 1872, Mr. Roach married Miss Kate E. Lyon, of Rock-
ford, Illinois, and they have one child, Frederick Lyon Roach. The
elegant family residence is at Elmhurst, Illinois. Mr. Roach is widely
identified with the club life of Chicago and vicinity, as is evidenced by
his membership in the following organizations : Union League, New
Vol. Ill— 7.
ioi4 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Illinois Athletic, Union, Marquette, Illinois, Chicago Country and
Exmoor Country clubs.
George Weston, a leading civil engineer and special expert in the
construction and valuation of street railway lines, is a native of Kala-
mazoo, Michigan, born on the 30th of January, 1861.
He is a son of John and Katherine (Clark) Wes-
vVeston
ton, the family being of English descent, although
branches of it have long been established in the United States. His
father came to the United States in 1854, first settling in New York
and two years afterward in Michigan, where for years he was a build-
ing contractor. George Weston received his early education in the
Kalamazoo schools. After leaving the city high school he pursued spe-
cial courses of a technical nature and in 1880, when nineteen years of
age, he joined the engineering corps of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas
Railroad Company, serving as rodman in the construction of the
work south from Fort Worth, Texas. In 1882-5 he engaged in mer-
cantile pursuits and then went with the engineering corps of the Gulf,
Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad Company. He was advanced suc-
cessively to instrument man and assistant engineer in charge of con-
struction, and remained in that company's employ until the spring of
1887, when he resigned his position in order to enter the employ of
Charles T. Yerkes in Chicago.
At the time Mr. Weston became a resident of this city the north
side cable lines were in course of construction, and he was placed in
charge of the building of the Clybourn avenue, Milwaukee avenue,
Blue Island avenue and Halsted street lines of the north and north-
west sides. He also rebuilt about seventy-five miles of horse car lines
on the west side converting them into electric systems. In July,
1896, he resigned his position under Mr. Yerkes and became manager
of the construction department of Naugle. Holcomb & Company. In
this capacity he superintended the building of the lines of the Sub-
urban Railroad Company of Chicago, as well as the changing from
steam to electrical power of the Chicago Terminal Transfer Company,
and, in outside territory, the construction of the Tennessee Central
Railway. In 1901, Air. Weston formed a partnership with his brother,
Charles V. Weston. They conducted a flourishing business as consult-
ing and constructing engineers until March, 1903, when the latter
was appointed chief engineer of the South Side Elevated Company.
THE >'EW Y0KK
PUBLIC LIBRAS
ASTOR,
TIL
L I
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1015
The partnership was dissolved but both continued to follow the chosen
profession.
Under the commission appointed by the city of Chicago, in 1906,
to place a value upon the tangible and intangible properties of the
Chicago City Railway Company and the Chicago Union Traction
Company, the separate departments of the work were placed in charge
of engineers especially experienced in the several lines, each of whom
was supplied with a corps of competent assistants. The entire or-
ganization of office and field forces was under the personal direction
of George Weston, who for the preceding twenty years had been identi-
fied with the transportation problem in Chicago.
In 1907, he was appointed by the Wisconsin Railroad Commis-
sion as a member of its valuation staff to appraise the properties of
the Milwaukee Street Railway and Light Company. In the perform-
ance of similar duties, both in Chicago and Milwaukee, he demon-
strated his right to be classed as one of the foremost experts in the
country in the appraisal of street railway properties.
In May, 1907, Mr. Weston was appointed "Assistant Chief Engi-
neer of the Work" under the Board of Supervising Engineers, Chi-
cago Traction, and in January, 1908, was appointed a member of the
Board of Supervising Engineers, Chicago Traction, to represent the
city of Chicago.
In January, 1903, Mr. Weston was united in marriage to Miss
Georgina E. Becker, of Dubuque, Iowa. Mr. Weston's professional
membership is with the American Society of Civil Engineers, Western
Society of Engineers, Chicago Engineers Club and the Engineers
Club of New York City. Socially, he is identified with the Exmoor
Country Club and the Chicago Athletic Association.
An unusual combination of legal and executive talents has enabled
Mason Brayman Starring to rise from the position of clerk to the
vice-presidency of the Chicago City Railway Com-
Mason B. pany and j ater tQ the presidency f tne Northwest-
ern Elevated Railway system, of Chicago; and this
remarkable advancement has all been accomplished within a period
of twenty years. A long line of sturdy American ancestors who
have participated in the upbuilding of the nation since its inception,
combined with his own ambition and concentration, have contributed
1016 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
to his success. The circumstances of his birth and rearing in Chicago
may also have had their promotional influences upon his career.
Born in Chicago, May 8, 1859, the son of Henry J. D. and Alida
M. (Tower) Starring, Mason B. Starring traces his historic ancestry
to Holland and later to heroes of the American Revolution. Being
thus endowed with sturdy, fighting blood, obstacles have had no ter-
rors for him, but only stimulated him to persistent activity. He
passed with credit through the Chicago public and high (the old
Central) schools, and at the age of eighteen entered the baggage
department of the Chicago, Burlington & Ouincy Railway. His
father had long been at the head of that department, and had not only
been a faithful officer, but one who had demonstrated his originality
by inventing the system of checking baggage which was first adopted
by the great system with which he was connected and has subse-
quently extended to the railways of the United States. At the age
of twenty years the younger Starring became a general officer of the
company, being made head of the baggage department to succeed his
father; this was probably an unheard of honor for one of his age.
Until 1885 he continued in the employ of the steam railways, part
of the time being general baggage agent of the Pennsylvania Com-
pany. From 1885 to 1888 he engaged in business for himself, settling
in Iowa as a banker and grain. dealer.
Air. Starring has been a resident of Chicago since 1888, when he
entered the office of the Chicago City Railway Company as a clerk.
It is said that the ultimate ambitions of a young man are well indi-
cated by the way in which he spends his nights, and as Air. Starring
passed them in digging among ponderous law books, it may be readily
surmised that his mind was above the desk of a mere railway clerk.
In due time he was admitted to the bar. and in 1894 was made assist-
ant general counsel of the Chicago City Railway under Julius S.
Grinnell, and at the death of his superior in 1898 was made acting
general counsel. In 1903 his title was changed to general solicitor,
he was elected a director and general manager of the company in-
May, 1903. and in February, 1906, was promoted to the vice-presi-
dency. By this time Air. Starring was generally recognized as one
of the greatest figures connected with the all-important traction inter-
ests of Chicago, and therefore could not but perceive that the elevated
systems were destined to be the field of the most extensive future
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1017
development. None was making more rapid advances into unoccu-
pied territory, or. promised better service, than the Northwestern
Elevated, and when the presidency of that system was therefore
offered to him, in March, 1907, he accepted its responsibilities, with
the present prospect of materially extending a reputation which, in
the field of city transportation, is already national in its scope.
Mr. Starring's wife, to whom he was united in marriage October
27, 1886, was Miss Helen Swing, daughter of the late Professor
David Swing, one of the greatest liberal and independent preachers
which America has produced. They have had two children: David
Swing and Mason B. Starring, Jr. The elder son, who is a namesake
of his famous grandfather, is a student at Harvard. The family
residence is at 568 East Division street, in the winter, and at Lake
Geneva in the summer. Mr. Starring is a member of the Chicago,
Calumet, Industrial and Lake Geneva Country Clubs, and is a mem-
ber of the board of governors of the South Shore Country Club. He
is also a member of the executive committee of the Chicago Commer-
cial Association, and a member of the board of managers of the Sons
of the American Revolution.
The remarkable development of the industries of the United
States is in nothing more evident than in the fact that in some of
_ their most important branches the founders thereof
Nathaniel S. ^.„ .. ™ , , , +u
.„ are still alive, lhe phenomenal expansion 01 the
Bouton.
railroad interests of the country has stimulated all
the manufactures relating to structural work and equipment. Not-
withstanding these preparatory statements, it will scarcely be credited
by manv that the first manufacturer of car wheels in the United
States is living in Chicago today in the person of Nathaniel Sherman
Bouton, and that for several years in the late fifties the firm of which
he was a member built nearly all the railroad bridges constructed in
the west. Mr. Bouton is not only the pioneer car wheel manufac-
turer, but one of the fathers of the industry known as structural iron
wi >rk in the United States.
Born in Concord, New Hampshire, on the 14th of May, 1828,
Mr. Bouton is rapidly nearing his eightieth birthday, and, although
he has been retired from active life for some years, still remains in
touch with the industries which he did so much to establish. Mr.
Bouton's parents were Rev. Nathaniel and Harriet (Sherman) Bou-
1018 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
ton. the paternal branch of the family being of French-Hugnenot
descent. The American ancestor was John Bouton, who emigrated
from England to the United States in 1635. The mother of Na-
thaniel S. Bouton was granddaughter of Roger Sherman, the cele-
brated statesman and philanthropist. The father, Dr. Bouton, was a
profound scholar and a learned historian, as well as an eminent Con-
gregationalist. and preached for forty-two years in Concord, New
Hampshire.
When he was fourteen years of age Nathaniel S. Bouton went to
W( >rk upon a farm in Connecticut, upon which he remained until he
was sixteen, when he taught school for a short time in the same state.
His first prospecting tour through the west was taken in 1846, and
upon his return to New Hampshire he entered the employ of E. & T.
Fairbanks & Company, scale manufacturers, and in their interest trav-
eled on horseback and by stage through Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio,
Indiana. Michigan and Illinois. During the six years thus spent he
acquired a thorough familiarity with the conditions and resources of
the western country, and finally decided to locate in Chicago, obvi-
ously destined to be the center of a prodigious territorial development.
Mr. Bouton located in this city in 1852, first becoming connected
with George YV. Sizer & Company, who already had extensive foun-
dries in Cleveland and Cincinnati and were about to organize one in
Chicago. Mr. Bouton was placed in charge of their business in this
city, and later became a partner in the firm. The foundry which he
established on Clark street near Fifteenth was chiefly engaged in the
manufacture of car wheels and castings for the rolling stock which
was being placed on the various railroads pushing out of Chicago into
the surrounding territory. They also furnished all the castings and
wheels required for the Union Car Works of Messrs. Stone &
Boomer, car and bridge builders. When the plant of the latter firm
was burned in September, 1855, Mr. Bouton purchased for them the
works of the American Bridge Company, and shortly afterward
became a member of the firm, whose name was changed to Stone,
Boomer & Bouton. The manufactory became known as the Union
Car and Bridge Works, which were sold in 1857 to the Illinois Cen-
tral Railway Company. During the busy two years of Mr. Bouton's
connection with the enterprise the works turned out nearly all the
railway bridges built in the west, including the first one thrown
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTS 1019
across the Mississippi river at Rock Island. In that year he associated
himself with Christopher B. Bouton and Edwin F. Hnrlbut to form
the firm of N. S. Bouton & Company, and after nine years of suc-
cessful business the concern was incorporated ( in 1871 ) as the Union
Foundry Works, with N. S. Bouton as president, Mr. Hurlbut as
vice-president and superintendent, and Christopher B. Bouton as sec-
retary and treasurer. The structural iron work of many of the
prominent buildings of Chicago and the west was produced by this
well known establishment. In 1881 the premises were acquired for
right of way by the Western Indiana Railway Company, and a new
company was organized under the name of the Union Foundry and
Pullman Car Wheel Works and located at Pullman, Mr. Bouton
being chosen president of the enterprise. The new plant covered
eleven acres of ground, and, besides being a general foundry and ma-
chine shop, manufactured car wheels and castings for the Pullman
Car Company. In 1886 Mr. Bouton disposed of his interests in the
Pullman Palace Car Company, and established the Bouton Foundry
Company in Chicago, from the active operations of which he gradu-
ally retired, leaving the business eventually in the hands of several
of the younger men who had been his associates and employes.
Mr. Bouton's participation in public affairs has been both active
and permanently useful. In 1857 Mayor John Wentworth appointed
him superintendent of public works, and during his administration
the first street paving was done and the present city grade established.
In 1862 he became quartermaster of the Eighty-eighth Illinois In-
fantry, but served as staff officer, A. A. Q. M., until the battle of
Chickamauga, when the pressure of private business compelled him
to resign. Mr. Bouton was one of the twelve original members of
the Chicago Relief and Aid Society, having not only its widely ex-
tended charitable work in charge, but was the special dispenser of the
great fund of $100,000 raised for the relief of sufferers of the fire
of 1871. For five years the work which he performed in this connec-
tion was hard and continuous, the bearing of this additional burden
seriously affecting his health. But he had the eventual satisfaction
of knowing that the fund had been honestly distributed.
Mr. Bouton has always been active in religious work. He was
an elder of the Olivet Presbyterian church at one time, afterward
united with the Second, and was finally prominent in the organization
1020 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
of the Kenwood Evangelical church, which ignores sectarianism alto-
gether. He was the first president of the Chicago Bible Society, and
devoted much time to its work.
Mr. Bouton has been twice married, first to Miss Emily L. Bissell,
daughter of Dr. Bissell, of Suffield, Connecticut, who died in 1858,
about a year after their union. His present wife was Mrs. Ellen
Shumway, daughter of Judge Gould, of Essex, New York.
The manufacturer who concentrates his energies upon any device
which really redounds to the development or smooth working of the
railroad is sure of a fine issue from his labors. It
A [orris
_ would seem that Morris Sellers, president of the
Sellers.
Sellers Manufacturing Company, has achieved some
signal results in the construction and maintenance of railways, adding
to their durability and the safety of the traveling public. From his
long personal experience and extensive observation as manager, as
well as through his contact with railway officials, he became aware
of the then existing practice of splicing the ends of rails together in
track laying, and in 1879 devised and began the manufacture of what
afterward became widely known as the Samson Splice Bar. In this
device the angle bar was rolled with a reinforcement in the center, giv-
ing the greatest admissible stiffness at the immediate junction of the
rails, thereby absorbing the wave line of deflection and carrying it
through to the immediate joint specially provided to receive it. Thus
the rail became as nearly as possible continuous, and the joint which
brought this desideratum about was placed on many thousands of
miles of tracks and is still widely used. The next important achieve-
ment was the designing and manufacture of the Anchor Tie Plate,
which is imposed between the rail and wooden tie. preventing the latter
from being cut or abraded by the action of the rail. This plate does
not cut into and destroy the tie, but presses into all the top fibers of the
wood, thus effectively resisting the constant gauge-widening action of
the track independent of the lateral resistance of the spikes. A vertical
abutment extending the whole width of the plate outside the rail pre-
vents the rail from cutting the spike, and absolutely precludes the
spreading of the rails, so. destructive and fatal to life and property.
Two plants — one on Chicago avenue, this city, and the other at May-
fair — are now running to their full capacity in the manufacture of
these splice bars and tie plates, which are used by many of the lead-
<>nryoo
THE NEW YORK
1BLIC LJBKAKY
OX AHO
ICATIOKJI
L
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 102 1
ing roads in the United States, especially those of the north and west
whose geographical situation compels them to use the soft wood so
easily obtainable in their sections of the country. The active manage-
ment of these plants is in the able hands of John M. Sellers, son of
Morris Sellers, and whose official position is vice president and general
manager of the company.
Morris Sellers is a Philadelphian, born on the 14th of November.
1832, being the son of Charles and Elizabeth (Morris) Sellers, and
comes of a Quaker family, whose forebear, John Sellers, came from
Ensrland with William Penn in 1682. The founder of the familv in
i s
America was one of the most expert mechanics of his time, and his
talents have descended through succeeding generations, several mem-
bers of this particular branch having achieved national and interna-
tional reputations. The head of this branch, John Sellers, the fifth
from the emigrant, was the great-great-grandfather of Morris Sellers,
and a man of large influence in the affairs of the colony of Pennsyl-
vania. He was a prominent lawyer and, in view of his standing both
in his profession and the community, was chosen chairman of the
committee which drafted the constitution of the state of Pennsylvania,
his being the first name signed to that document. At the ter-
mination of the Revolutionary war, he served as a member of the first
senate of the Keystone state. During the progress of the struggle he
was one of the leaders in the patriot cause, and his son, Nathan Sellers,
early joined the Pennsylvania militia of the Continental army, saw
active military service as an officer and rendered other signal aid. He
was a lawyer and an engineer, as well as a patriot, and the promptness
and versatility of his character are illustrated in an incident herewith
given.- At one stage of the Revolution, the country was so drained of
its paper supply that Washington himself was obliged to use blank
leaves torn from an old ledger in order to send his dispatches to Con-
gress. Nathan Sellers happened to remark that he believed he could
make paper, and Washington sent him at once to York, Pennsylvania,
with a detachment of troops, for the purpose of seeing what could be
done with an oid paper mill which had been destroyed by the British.
Mr. Sellers repaired the plant and restocked the country with the
paper, which was in pressing demand; the family still having in its
possession sheets bearing the water mark N S. After the war Nathan
Sellers devoted his abilities to the utilization of the water power fur-
1022 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
nished by the streams in the vicinity of Philadelphia, and constructed a
canal from that city to Bristol, Pennsylvania. He built many dams and
small mills on those streams, among them a sawmill, foundry, forge
and machine shop on his father's property, getting his power from
Cobb's creek — then separating Philadelphia from Delaware county, but
now within the city limits and known as Cardington.
In this plant and under the name of Coleman Sellers and Sons,
were afterward manufactured wool carding machines, paper mill ma-
chines, hand fire and steam engines, and (in the later thirties) several
locomotives for the Pennsylvania state roads. These last were among
the first locomotives built in the United States in competition with the
English makes. Dr. Coleman Sellers, the uncle of Morris, was another
famous engineer of the family, and in some respects the most eminent.
After a long life of distinguished services'in the fields of mechanics and
physics he placed the noble capsheaf upon his career by planning the
system for the utilization of the electric power to be derived from that
vast mechanical agent, Niagara Falls. He was born January 28,
1827, and died at his home in Philadelphia, on the 19th of December,
1907. He was a grandson of the Nathan Sellers mentioned above,
and had inherited the. tendency of five generations of ancestors dis-
tinguished for ability in mechano-physics. It is not surprising that he
was an inventor at seventeen ; that he left the farm and became con-
nected with the Globe Rolling Mills at nineteen ; that he afterward
became a chief partner in the Philadelphia machine works of William
Sellers & Co., and retired in 1888 to become a consulting engineer
and work out the great problem of harnessing the falls of Niagara for
electrical purposes. He was the American representative on the In-
ternational Niagara Commission of five members, composed of some of
the foremost scientists of the world, but eventually his ideas prevailed
and the actual realization of the dream was brought about through
him.
To return to Morris Sellers, the nephew of this distinguished and
lovable man, it should be stated that when his father, Charles, and
uncle, George E., removed to Cincinnati in 1840, the boy was only
eight years of age. He received his education in the public schools of
that city and at Woodward College, and afterward joined his father
in his various enterprises connected with the manufacture of iron and
steel, the principal of which was the Globe Iron Rolling Mills. This
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1023
was founded by Charles Sellers, the father, who attached to it the first
wire-drawing plant west of the Alleghanies, which made the wire -for
Professor Morse's second telegraph line — that between Cincinnati
and Columbus. One of the duties of young Morris Sellers was to
solder together the wire, which was manufactured in sections. His
father also established an iron furnace in middle Tennessee to make
pig iron for the Cincinnati market, employing slave labor to utilize the
ore and timber (charcoal) obtained from a large tract of land which
he had there purchased. This enterprise proved a failure, as it was
much cheaper to float pig iron down the Ohio river than to steamboat
it up from the mouth of the Cumberland. The elder Sellers was then
engaged by Duff Green, editor of the Congressional Globe, Washing-
ton, to assist him in his grand scheme of so utilizing the mineral de-
posits of the south as to make that section of the country quite indepen-
dent of the north so far as concerned its requirements for railroad and
industrial development. This gigantic plan failed for lack of financial
support, the only practical result being the development of the town of
Dalton, Georgia, which was virtually owned by Mr. Green. Young
Sellers was employed in the sawmill which was here erected, and was
also engaged in establishing the grades and platting various streets in
that place. Finding no further occupation in that locality, the youth
obtained a position on the old Georgia state railroad, running between
Atlanta and Chattanooga, but, anxious to return to the north, he
joined the construction force of the Bellefontaine & Indiana Railroad,
then being built between Galion and Marion, Ohio. He afterward ran
the first passenger locomotive on the line, being taken off his engine
to install the machinery in the Galion repair shops, then the largest
and most complete plant of the kind west of Cleveland.
In the winter of 1854-5, when twenty-two years of age, Mr. Sellers
obtained a position as a locomotive engineer on the Michigan Central
Railroad, and in that capacity hauled a gravel train in the filling of the
lake front for the site of the old passenger depot at the foot of Ran-
dolph street. Shortly afterward he was transferred to Michigan City,
where he was placed in charge of the repair shops of the road on the
division from that city to Chicago. While in this position, unsanitary
conditions and hard work undermined his health, and his desire for a
change resulted in his appointment as master mechanic and assistant
superintendent of the Peoria and Oqnawka Railroad, but upon the
i02 4 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
sale of that road to the Burlington system, and not desiring to accept
a subordinate position, he accepted the responsibilities of the foreman-
ship in charge of all passenger engines between Pittsburg and Harris-
burg, on the Pennsylvania road, being alone responsible to the traffic
department. In i860 the longing to return to the west so mastered
him that he resigned his position to become assistant superintendent
and master mechanic of the new road known as the Des Moines Val-
ley, to run from Keokuk to Ottumwa (Iowa), and under his manage-
ment the line was extended to Des Moines and Fort Dod^e. It was
subsequently incorporated into the Rock Island system.
Mr. Sellers was employed in these labors until 1871, when George
Westinghouse, who had invented his air brake and was struggling to
introduce it to the railroad world, decided that what he most needed
in his work was a man who was thoroughly conversant with the phy-
sical operations of a railroad in all its details, and he therefore offered
Mr. Sellers the position of his general sales agent. The selection re-
sulted in having the brake placed on ninety per cent of all the roads
in the United States within three years from the commencement of
operations under the new management. That having been accom-
plished, and after refusing several flattering offers from eastern rail-
roads, Mr. Sellers decided to locate in Chicago and establish an inde-
pendent business along the lines with which he was so thoroughly con-
versant. Upon his return to this city in 1875 he opened an office in
the Ashland block as representative of the four prominent Pittsburg
concerns — the "Westinghouse Air Brake Company, Pittsburg Locomo-
tive Works, Union Forge and Iron Company, and the A. French El-
liptical Springs Company — each of whom paid a nominal salary, with
the privilege of engaging in any other business that did not conflict
with theirs. In the year following his coming to Chicago Mr. Sellers
established the manufacturing business of Morris Sellers & Co., and
built a rolling mill for the manufacture of the angle splice bar, in 1894
the business being incorporated under its present style, Sellers Manu-
facturing Company. Mr. Sellers has also been prominently interested
in the Hewitt Manufacturing Company and the Chicago Drop Forge
and Foundry Company, having served as president of each and as
director in the Harvey Steel Car and Land Association. Further, he
was a director and one of the committee charged with the great work
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1025
of constructing the Grant Locomotive Works, formerly occupied by
the Siemens and Halske Company.
Mr. Sellers has been twice married — first, to Miss Amanda Patter-
son in 1854, who died leaving one daughter, now Mrs. P. A. Largey ;
and secondly, to Miss Rosa McCune, by whom he had the following
children: John M., Blanche, Mrs. Rudolph Ortmann, and Elizabeth
M., now Mrs. Horace C. Hutchins. Mr. Sellers has never been a club
man, as to social matters, but is very fond of out-door sports and an
especially enthusiastic hunter, being a member of the Nee-Pee-Xaul
Shooting Club of Wisconsin and Swan Lake Shooting Club of Illinois.
This life-long participation in out-door activities has kept him in vigor-
ous mental and physical health, and it is hard to realize that Mr. Sel-
lers is a Chicago pioneer who saw the city fifty-four years ago. He
then came hither in the employ of the Michigan Central Railroad with
his young wife and infant daughter, and after staying for a short
time at the "American Hotel," corner of Wabash avenue and Lake,
went to board with his family at the house of Probate Judge Henry L.
Rucker, northeast corner of Dearborn and Monroe. But, deciding
that the country air would be better for his wife and little one, he rent-
ed a cottage near the northwest corner of Wabash avenue and Six-
teenth street and adjoining the St. Charles branch railroad. By mak-
ing this move the family was quite isolated, for there was but one
house south of the Sellers cottage to Twenty-second street, all open
prairie on which the cattle grazed, with what is now Wabash avenue
terminating in a dairy farm ; and north, between that road and Wel-
don station, at Twelfth street, was a fine, lusty corn field. The state-
ment of such facts as these is a forcible reminder of the marvelous
progress of Chicago, of which Mr. Sellers has been not only a fascinat-
ed spectator but an active factor. It is also a suggestive illustration
of the strides which the United States has taken as a nation to remem-
ber that in his person is a direct historic link between Morse's first
crude telegraph lines and the vast and complicated systems which n< >w
make the world vibrant with life and intelligence. Mr. Sellers' career
is also a marked illustration of the strong influence of ancestral traits
in bringing success to any given individual, and of the wisdom of
choosing a field which is connected with the development of some such
agent of civilization as the railroads, than which, in America, there
has been none greater.
1026 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Now Hearing his seventy-seventh year, in his sixtieth year of unin-
terrupted work as a professional civil engineer and for forty- four
years chief engineer of the Chicago, Milwaukee &
TT , •*' St. Paul Railway Company, Don Juan Whittemore
Whittemore. . . , _ , t ■ t ,
is one ot the finest figures connected with the pro-
fession in the United States. He is not only grand in the wonderful
faithfulness with which he has devoted himself to his work, but in
his continued originality and breadth of view. In private intercourse
and in public acknowledgment his eminence has been repeatedly and
warmly acknowledged. Coming into the field of practice long before
the engineering schools of the country as they are known today were
even planned, he finally accomplished professional work of such en-
during worth and originality that even the younger generation of
engineers were eager to honor him, as well as universities of high
standing in several states of the country.
In 1884 Mr. Whittemore was honored by the American Society
of Civil Engineers with the presidency of that organization, and the
University of Vermont (his native state) has conferred upon him the
title of Civil Engineer, while the University of Wisconsin (the state
with which he is most prominently identified, both by long residence
and pioneer work) has recognized his scientific attainments by hon-
oring him with the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Besides the im-
portant influence which he has wielded for many years in the Ameri-
can Society of Civil Engineers he had been conspicuously identified
with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Western
Society of Engineers, having also a life membership in the Institution
of Civil Engineers of England. Mr. Whittemore's international
standing was emphasized in 1889, when about two hundred and fifty
representative American engineers of various classes visited England,
France and Germany, and he was selected as chairman of the delega-
tion. Upon this occasion he formed a friendship with Professor
Tyndall which was of firm and lifelong duration. As vice-chairman
of the World's Congress of Engineers at the Columbian Exposition
Mr. Whittemore received another notable honor. A pleasing and
ready writer, he has been a frequent and valued contributor to the
Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and has
also taken a part in several noteworthy discussions.
Of those which attracted the widest attention both among engi-
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1027
neers and railroad magnates was the discussion of his paper reported
in the Transactions and numbered 730, the aim of the author being
to prove from the works of nature that man's general plan in making
railway excavations and embankments in right line planes, instead
of in general curves, violates all the lessons of nature and is obliged
to pay for in large expenditure of dollars and cents. Immediately
after the line of railway is opened for traffic the ditching train is
called into service to remove the slush washed down from the abrupt
embankments. Mr. Whittemore proposed to sod his sloping embank-
ments, and pave and tile his ditches. His suggestions were enthusi-
astically approved by such engineers as J. F. Wallace, who testified
that he knew of cases where it required as great an expenditure to
maintain a good roadbed through excavations as it originally cost
to make the cuts, due to the sloughing in of the sides, the filling up
of the ditches and the imperfect drainage caused thereby.
Mr. Whittemore is as well known as a pioneer of the American
cement industry as in connection with Wisconsin and northwestern
railroads. About 1874 his attention was called to the hydraulic
properties of the water-lime rock along the Milwaukee river, and as
the result of tests made under his supervision was formed the Mil-
waukee Cement Company. The original works were built in 1876
and rebuilt in 1893, while a second plant was placed in operation in
1889. Mr. Whittemore was a director of the company until 1891,
when he resigned to become one of the founders of the Western
Portland Cement Company, of which he is still vice-president. He
was a member of the committee of the American Society of Civil
Engineers which prepared the famous report on a uniform system of
cement tests.
Mr. Whittemore has been a member of the American Society of
Civil Engineers since 1872, of the Institution of Civil Engineers since
1885, and of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers since
1889.
The main facts in the life of Don J. Whittemore are that he was
born in Milton, Vermont, on the 6th of December, 1830, and is of
the seventh generation from Thomas Whittemore, who came from
Hitchin, an ancient market town in Hertfordshire, near London,
about the year 1640, and settled in that part of Maiden which is now
Everett, Massachusetts. In 1645 ^ e was tne owner of a farm on the
1028 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
western border of Chelsea, which remained in possession of his de-
scendants until 1845, a period of two hundred years. Albert Gallatin
Whittemore married Abby Clark, also of English ancestry, and Don
J. Whittemore was the second son of this union. He was educated
by his father and at Bakersfield Academy until he was seventeen years
of age, when he left school and became connected with the engineering-
corps of the Vermont & Canada Railroad Company. He so rapidly
advanced that when he was only nineteen years of age he was ap-
pointed assistant engineer of the company, having charge of the con-
struction of the line between S wanton, A^ermont, and Rouse's Point,
New York. As assistant engineer of the Great Western Railway of
Canada, he next had charge of the construction of a division of that
line, and retained that position until the death of his father in 1852.
The latter was largely interested in the Central Ohio Railway, and
was accidentally killed while inspecting a bridge on the section which
was being constructed between Zanesville, Ohio, and Wheeling, West
Virginia. Don J. Whittemore therefore resigned his position with the
Canadian road to look after his father's interests in the Central Ohio,
and while thus engaged became contractor's engineer on the latter
railroad.
This proved the entrance of Mr. Whittemore into the field of rail-
road construction northwest of the Ohio river, and in 1853 he was
appointed assistant to the chief engineer of the LaCrosse & Milwau-
kee Railroad Company, which was afterward merged into the Chi-
cago, Milwaukee & St. Paul system. At the conclusion of four years
of construction work on the line mentioned he resigned to accept a
chief engineership with the Southern Minnesota Railroad, locating
about two hundred and fifty miles of its line within the succeeding
two years. Work was then suspended, as on so many other experi-
mental lines in the northwest in those days, and in 1859 Mr. Whitte-
more went to Cuba to recuperate from the effects of his hardships
in the wilderness of that section of the United States. After acting
as assistant chief engineer of the Western Cuba Railroad for about a
year he returned to his work in Wisconsin, becoming assistant chief
engineer of the LaCrosse & Milwaukee Railroad Company in i860
and continuing thus until 1864, when it was merged into the Chicago,
Milwaukee & St. Paul system. With this great corporation, he
entered upon a term of service as chief engineer, which has extended
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1029
over a period of forty-three years, during which the company has
developed one of the great railway systems of the world. His con-
nection with matters of broad concern outside of his immediate pro-
fessional duties have already been noted, as well as the standing he
has acquired as an engineer of general fame and a scientist of great
prominence. He is also chief engineer of the Chicago, Milwaukee
& St. Paul Railway Company of South Dakota and Montana, being a
part of the line now being constructed to the Pacific coast.
Mr. Whittemore was wedded in 1883, at East Orange, New Jer-
sey, to Miss Clara Clark, and one child, Fanny, has been born to
their union. Although his official headquarters were removed to
Chicago in 1891, he still considers Milwaukee his residence.
The late John Mohr was one of the pioneer iron workers of Chi-
cago, and one of the foremost to develop boiler making as a great
industrial specialty. He was a native of Germany,
^ born March 14, 1826, and at his death, August 20,'
1903, had been engaged in Chicago in various forms
of iron manufactures for a period of more than half a century. The
first sixteen years of his life were spent in the Fatherland, working
upon the prosperous home farm and securing a good education in
the neighborhood schools. He became especially well versed in mathe-
matics, which fact was of great benefit to him in his subsequent career
as a mechanic and manufacturer.
In 1842 John Mohr landed in New York, coming direct from
his German home, and proceeding thence to Philadelphia, became en-
gaged in marine transportation, making voyages for the exchange of
produce between the leading seaboard towns of New England and
Canada and various ports on the South American coast. Later he
transferred the scene of similar operations to the Mississippi valley
between St. Louis and New Orleans, and still later learned the black-
smith's trade while a resident of Canada.
In 1848 Mr. Mohr located in Chicago, and, as temporary employ-
ment, assumed the task of operating the old river ferry. A collision
with a blundering freight vessel threw his craft out of water and
himself out of business, as well as put a final period to his career of
water transportation.
Mr. Mohr now entered the long phase of his life devoted to iron
Vol. Ill— 8.
1030 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
working. For some months he was a blacksmith in the employ of
P. W. Gates, perhaps the pioneer of all Chicago iron workers, and
later entered the boiler shops of James W. Cobbs, wdiose plant was at
Canal and Kinzie streets. The foreman of the shops at that time
was H. H. Warrington, who afterward founded the Vulcan Iron
Works, and a fellow workman, Carlisle Mason, assisted to found the
Excelsior Iron Works in 1852. When the latter were put in opera-
tion, Mr. Mohr was made foreman of the boiler shop, and after five
years was admitted into the firm, remaining connected with the busi-
ness for twenty-five years. In 1882. severing his connection with
the above named establishment, he associated himself with his son,
Joseph, in the firm of John Mohr & Son, manufacturers of boilers,
the name assuming its present style, John Mohr & Sons, with the ad-
mission of his sons to a participation in the business. The deceased
was an energetic, able and yet conservative business man, and his
was one of the few large industries of Chicago which passed through
the financial storms and depressions of 1893-96 without seeking even
temporary financial relief. In 1854 John Mohr was married to Miss
Theresa Mayer, a native of France, and of eight children born to
their union and todav living, five sons are now associated in the busi-
ness which he founded.
The late General Charles Fitzsimons was a man of brave, ster-
ling and substantial character, making a fine record both as a soldier
and a. business character. His partnership with
„ Charles T. Connell endured for thirtv-seven years,
PlTZSIMONS. '.
and during that almost phenomenal period of har-
monious association the firm pushed forward some of Chicago's most
important improvements in the lines of river, harbor and canal im-
provements.
Charles Fitzsimons was a native of New York state, born of
Irish parentage, and when a young man, on July 17, 1861, entered
the Union army as captain of the Third New York Cavalry, joining
the service from Rochester, New York. In May, 1862, he was pro-
moted to major of the same regiment, and in October. 1863, was
made lieutenant colonel of the Twenty-first New York Cavalry. He
was commissioned colonel of this regiment and brevetted brigadier
general in February, 1865, and after serving one year on the frontier
was mustered out on Tune 26, 1866.
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY icni
After this continuous and arduous service, General Fitzsimons
located in Chicago, and in 1867 formed a partnership with Charles
J. Connell for the primary purpose of building- wooden bridges and
furnishing heavy timber to railroad companies and other constructors.
To this end they erected a mill on Magazine slip, Chicago, for the
purpose of sawing heavy timber. Many of the contracts taken by
the company, even during the earlier period of its existence, were
very heavy, one of the most extensive in the way of bridge building
being that under which was constructed all the wooden bridges on
the Union Pacific Railway between the North Platte river and Salt
Lake City. During the prevalence of high prices for freighting lum-
ber to Chicago, the firm rafted their timber in the log across Lake
Michigan, some of the rafts containing fully a million feet of timber
each. The logs were landed at North Pier, and there sawed into
such timber as the trade demanded. After the panic of 1873 timber
freights were so far reduced that there was no profit in this practice,
and it was abandoned. Subsequently they engaged very heavily in
the building of what are known as Howe-truss bridges, sold timber to
the trade and engaged in dredging and dock building. Upon die
dissolution of the firm of Fox & Howard, the oldest firm of dock
builders in the city, Fitzsimons & Connell formed a partnership with
Harry Fox, and upon his death assumed entire control of the business.
As an illustration of the character of the work accomplished by ihe
firm at this period may be mentioned the Fullerton avenue conduit,
four thousand feet of the Lincoln Park breakwater, two thousand
feet of the government breakwater, the superstructure of Rush street
bridge (built in 1884) and five thousand feet of the lake shore pro-
tection at what was then known as South Park. Still later the firm
entered largely also into the business of pile driving, both in connec-
tion with improvements along the water ways and in the work of lay-
ing the foundations of large buildings. The business association be-
tween Messrs. Fitzsimons and Connell was dissolved only with the
death of the General, in 1904. In his decease the city lost a rugged
and picturesque figure, a man of abounding energy and ability, strong
and versatile in his business relations, approachable and popular, and.
in view of the main work of his life, recognized as an important fac-
tor in the material development of Chicago and the northwest. Gen-
eral Fitzsimons is survived by his widow (Mrs. Augusta Fitzsim-
1032 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
ons), who resides in comfort at No. 161 Ashland boulevard, west
side.
William Henry Finley was born in Wilmington, Delaware, Jan-
uary 22, 1862, of Irish parentage. He was educated in the public
schools of his native city, and fitted himself for the
William H. , , . .« . , . , .
,_, profession of civil engineering under private in-
structors. His first engagement was with the Edge
Moor Iron Company of Wilmington, Delaware, as draftsman, and
he afterward advanced to the position of designer and computer. In
1887 he resigned his position to accept the appointment of assistant
engineer of bridges with the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Rail-
road Company, his duties embracing the superintendence of the de-'
signing and computing of the road's structures and buildings. In
1892 he entered the service of the Chicago & North-Western Rail-
way Company, as engineer of bridges, and in 1900 was promoted to
the position of principal assistant engineer of the road, and later to
his present position of assistant chief engineer of the system.
Mr. Finley is an active member of the American Society of Civil
Engineers, the Western Society of Engineers (past president), the
Engineers' Club, the National Geographic Society and the Fox
River Country Club. Married in 1883 to Miss Sarah H. Furry, of
Atlantic City, New Jersey, he is the father of four children : Jeanette
P., Ralph H., Max H. and Cedric C. The family home is at Ba-
tavia, Illinois.
Oscar Pearl Chamberlain has been chief engineer of the Chicago
& Illinois Western Railroad since 1904. This is one of the important
_ _ industrial railroad lines radiating from Chicago.
Oscar P. .
r ' Mr. Chamberlain's career as engineer has been one
Chamberlain. &
of steady promotion. He was born in Pittstown,
Rensselaer county. New York, November 26, 1870, son of Alonzo
Bradner and Laura Arceville (Munson) Chamberlain, being a branch
of the New England Chamberlains. Educated in the public schools
of Auburn, New York, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, graduating
from the high school of the latter city in 1885, he pursued his studies
in the Towne Scientific School of the University of Pennsylvania dur-
ing 1885-89 and graduated in the civil engineering section with the
degree of B. S. in 1889. He was successively rodman, transitman
and assistant engineer for the Pennsylvania Railroad (P. B. & W.
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1033
R. R., Grand division), 1889-02. As division engineer of the Chicago
Great Western Railroad he first became identified with Chicago dur-
ing 1902-04, and during the latter year served a brief time as assist-
ant engineer of the Northern Pacific Railroad, since then being en-
gaged in his present duties. Mr. Chamberlain is also chief engineer
for Dolese & Shepard Company, manufacturers of crushed stone and
lime, whose plants are the most extensive of the kind in Cook county.
He has been connected with this firm since 1904. Since June, 1907,
Mr. Chamberlain has also been connected with the Union Paving
Company as general manager of that corporation.
Mr. Chamberlain is a member of the Western Society of Engi-
neers, the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance of Way
Association, and the Chicago Engineers Club. He is unmarried, and
resides in LaGrange, Illinois.
Willard Adelbert Smith, publisher and proprietor of the Railway
and Engineering Review, has for over 35 years been engaged in his
special line of publishing in Chicago, and during
D that period has been chief of transportation of two
American expositions, and in charge of the Ameri-
can section of that department at the last Paris exposition. For his
services in connection with these international events, as well as for
his general furtherance of transportation development, he has been
decorated by two European countries and by the Empire of Japan.
It is therefore no stretch of statement to again assert that his reputa-
tion on matters relating to transportation, whether considered from
a theoretical, historical or practical standpoint, is of world-wide scope.
Mr. Smith is a Wisconsin man, born at Kenosha, September 20,
1849, tne son of William Harrison and Mehitable (Allen) Smith.
His paternal ancestors came from England in 1640 and settled in
New Hampshire, while his mother's family, although also of English
descent, founded homes at an early day in New York state. Mr.
Smith obtained his elementary education in the common schools of
Kenosha, graduated into the high' school of Rockford, Illinois, and
thence into Shurtleff College, Upper Alton, same state. After com-
pleting his literary course at the latter in 1869, with the degree A. B.,
he entered the law department of the Washington University, at St.
Louis, Missouri, from which in 1872 he received the degree of LL. B.
jo 3 4 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Later Shurtleff College conferred upon him A. M. and, in 1906,
LL. D.
Air. Smith first entered the publishing business as editor and pub-
lisher of the St. Louis Railway Register, in 1871, and two years later
bought the Chicago Raikvay Review, now the Railway and Engineer-
ing Review (weekly), removing at the time to this city, and having
since been continuously located here as a publisher.
His identification with the great expositions of the past fifteen
years includes his services as chief of the department of transporta-
tion, World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, in 1893; chief of the
department of transportation and engineering for the American com-
mission to the Paris Exposition of 1900; chief of the department of
transportation of the Universal Exposition, St. Louis, 1904. He was
a delegate of the state department of the United States government
to the International Railway Congress, which met at Paris, in 1900,
and at Washington in 1905 ; to the International Tramway Congress
and the International Association for Testing Materials, Paris, 1900.
He was also a member of the Advisory Board which cooperated with
the Pennsylvania Railroad System in conducting the important tests
of locomotives at the St. Louis Exposition. Mr. Smith was honored
with medals from France, Germany and Italy for services in connec-
tion with the World's Columbian Exposition, and is the possessor of
the famous Tiffany "Transportation Vase." He was decorated as
Chevalier Legion of Honor by France; Royal Order of the Crown,
Germany, and Imperial Order of the Rising Sun, Japan. In 1907
he was promoted to officer of the Legion of Honor of France. He is
a member of the Western Society of Engineers, the Master Car
Builders' Association and the American Railway Master Mechanics'
Association, and an honorary member of the National Carriage
Builders' Association, the American Society of Railroad Superintend-
ents and the Roadmasters and Maintenance of Way Association. Lo-^
cally he is identified with the Union League Club, has been a trustee
of the University of Chicago almost from its foundation, and chair-
man of the Press and Extension Committee, and is a patron and hon-
orary curator of the Field Museum of Natural History. He has been
for many years a trustee of the Memorial Baptist church, and was for
two years president of the Chicago Baptist Social Union.
"ITT AMD
L-J
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1035
On May 1, 1872, Mr. Smith married Maria Curtis Dickinson, of
New York, the ceremony occurring at St. Louis. Their children are
Mrs. Bruce V. Crandall, of Kenilworth, Illinois, Edith May and
Harold Adelbert Smith.
M. A. Donohue, senior member of the firm of M. A. Donohue &
Co., Printers, Binders and Publishers, was born in the village of Gort,
County Galway, Ireland, on the 25th of September,
' ' 1 84 1. His parents were John and Bridget (Con-
nelly) Donohue, who brought him to Philadelphia
in 1852. In May, 1856, they came to Chicago, during which year he
commenced to learn the trade of bookbinder. In 1861 he engaged in
business for himself and he has continued in that line of business up
to the present time. In 1863 he married Miss Jane Furey ; he is the
father of nine children, seven of whom are living.
Charles Frederick Gunther, one of the greatest manufacturers of
confectionery and dealers in sweetmeats in the west, has gained a great
reputation, and, better still, has demonstrated
throughout his busy life that man is not to be com-
mended alone for the riches which he gathers, but
rather for the wise uses to which he applies them. His means have
enabled him to indulge his love for historic research to the fullest ex-
tent, and he has not only visited all the noted regions of the world,
thus broadening and verifying his knowledge derived from books,
but has gathered collections of manuscript, historic volumes and por-
traits, as well as relics of all the American and Civil wars from the
Colonial to the Spanish, which serve as object lessons to illustrate the
marked civilizations of the old and the new worlds. His treasures
comprise manuscripts of the most ancient writings of the world, from
the stone rolls of the Assyrian and the Babylonian periods and the
papyrus parchments of the Pharaohs, to the present time. He undoubt-
edly possesses the rarest collection of Bibles in existence, including a
copy of the first New Testament printed in English (1528) ; all of the
first Bibles printed on the American continent, such as the Elliott
Indian Bibles and the Martha Washington Bible and the first American
Bible by Atkinson in 1782. The famous Gunther manuscripts include
a well authenticated and very rare autograph of Shakespeare, and
Moliere and original manuscripts of Goethe, Schiller, Tasso, Michael
1036 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Angelo, Gallileo, Raphael, and many other famous characters of
Europe and America — memorials direct from the hands of noted
writers, poets, musicians, clergymen, politicians and monarchs. In
his galleries are the original manuscripts of "Star Spangled Banner/'
"Home, Sweet Home," "Old Lang Syne," "Old Grimes," and "Lead.
Kindly Light" and many others. Among the maps are^the earliest
ones relating to America from 1500 up, and the first edition of Martin
Waldseemuller's Cosmography, 1507, which for the first time gives
the name America to the new world. Of the Gunther portraits per-
haps the most famous is that of Columbus by Sir Antonio Moro, paint-
ed about 1552 from a miniature then forming a part of the historic
museum in the Prado Palace, Spain. Washington Irving, who thor-
oughly searched the archives of Spain, pronounced this the best and
truest portrait of Columbus extant. The collection also contains four-
teen original portraits of Washington, including the first ever made
of him by the elder Peale, and the only portrait in existence of Wash-
ington's sister Betty and her husband, including the two lost por-
traits of George and Martha by Saint Memen. The relics of George
Washington cover his entire career, and the department of Americana
includes also rare memorials of Abraham Lincoln and all other great
historic characters.
But the collection for which Mr. Gunther is most widely famed is
known as the War Museum, and is the most complete exposition of
the horrors and glories of the Civil war extant. This priceless exhibit
was protected by him in private quarters for some time, and in the late
eighties, mainly through his efforts, the celebrated military prison of
the south, Libby, was removed bodily from Richmond, Virginia
(where it had been occupied as a tobacco warehouse), to a site selected
for it on Wabash avenue, Chicago, and within its historic walls was
installed the War Museum. Mr. Gunther was president of the Libby
Prison War Museum Association during its existence, and was after-
ward president of the company which erected the Coliseum on the site
of the former War Museum. This unique collection will, in the near
future, be transferred to some park on the west side of the city, in
which a fitting building will be erected for its preservation and con-
tinuous presentation to the public.
That Mr. Gunther should be the originator of such a collection is
all the more unique, in that by force of circumstances his lot during
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1037
the Civil war was cast with the Confederacy. Born in Wildberg, a
beautiful town in the celebrated Black Forest district of Germany, on
the 6th of March, 1837, when he was five years of age his parents
emigrated to the United States. Fifty-two days were consumed in
making the voyage between Havre and New York, and the family
finally settled in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and afterward re-
moved to Somerset county, where Charles F. was educated and com-
menced practical life as a carrier on horseback of the government mail,
his route covering forty miles to Johnstown and return, his compensa-
tion being twenty-five cents per day. In the spring of 1850 the fam-
ily removed to Peru, Illinois, where the youth's education was contin-
ued, as well as his business training. He became a competent drug
clerk, studied medicine to some extent, was a postoffice employe at
Peru, and still later became connected with the local branch of the
famous Chicago bank of George Smith & Co. (Alexander Cruick-
shank). After a few years he was made cashier of the institution,
but, notwithstanding his bright prospects, located in Memphis, Ten-
nessee, with Bohlen, Wilson & Co., the leading ice firm of the south,
whose source of supply was at Peru. With the opening of the Civil
war and the paralysis of business in the southern states, by being cut
off from intercourse with the north by the United States government,
and exhaustion of supplies, there was but one thing to do, that was
to fall in line for service, and he joined the naval branch of the Con-
federate government as a steward and purser, purchasing supplies
and transporting troops along - all the southern rivers tributary to the
Mississippi. By the capture of Memphis and New Orleans, his steam-
er, while up the Arkansas river, was blockaded and burned by the
Union forces, and he himself made a prisoner of war in the field.
Being shortly liberated, he returned to his old home in Peru, and soon
after accepted a position with a Peoria bank, subsequently securing
a connection with the wholesale confectionery house of C. W. San-
ford, of Chicago, as its first traveling salesman from Chicago for the
south, with the states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, West Virginia and
Kentucky. It was while thus employed that he made his first trip to
Europe.
Successively, Mr. Gunther entered the employ of Thompson, John-
son & Co., wholesale grocers of Chicago; became the Chicago repre-
sentative of Greenfield, Young & Co., leading New York confection-
1038 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
ers, and in the fall of 1868 opened a retail store himself on Clark
street, thus establishing the first high-grade store of the kind in the
city. Among his introductions were the famous caramels, which he
was first to manufacture and made a great American staple. His store
was a victim of the 187 1 fire, but the interruption to his business was
short, and his prosperity has since been continuous. Today his great
establishment on State street is filled not only with healthful and ar-
tistic forms of confection, but with his rare treasures illustrative of
the world's history and its historic characters. In 1879 Mr. Gunther
was one of the commission which accomplished so much in opening
trade relations between Mexico and the United States, and has for
years been recognized as one of the truly representative men of Chi-
cago.
Mr. Gunther has taken an active part in the public affairs of his
city, and is a leading Democrat. He believes in the democratic doc-
trine, "equal rights to all and special privileges to none," and tariff for
revenue onlv. He has served two terms in the city council and one
term (1901-05) as city treasurer, having brought the same business-
like and energetic spirit into his public career which has made him
a leader in the commercial world. He is a Mason of the thirty-third
degree (Medinah Temple, Knights Templar) and a member of the
following organizations : Union League, Jefferson, Caxton, German-
ic, Geographic, Cook County Democratic, Illinois Athletic and Iro-
quois clubs, having served as president of the last named ; Chicago
Historic Society (trustee), Chicago Academy of Sciences (trustee),
die Chicago Art Institute (governing member), and Alliance Fran-
caise. Mr. Gunther speaks German, French and Spanish, and con-
tinues his studies up to date in the sciences and arts.
In 1869 Mr. Gunther married Miss Jennie Burnell, of Lima, In-
diana, and they have become the parents of two children, Burnell and
Whitman. Both Mr. and Mrs. Gunther have for many years been
active members of various societies for the promotion of the welfare
of Chicago, and are as widely honored as they are known.
The founder of the David Bradley Manufacturing Company was
a rugged man, of marked force of character, both an originator of
mechanisms and a practical developer of their pos-
' sibilities — a combination which is as remarkable as
it is strong, when found united in the personality of
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1039
an honest character of broad caliber. David Bradley was also a man
of kindness and systematic Christian philanthropy, and especially de-
voted the later years of his life to good private works and the sup-
port and extension of public charities.
Born November 8, 181 1, David Bradley was descended from
Puritan stock, the first of his family to come to America being Wil-
liam Bradley, who settled in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1637. Da-
vid Bradley's early manhood was spent at Syracuse, New York, where
his inventive and mechanical tendencies were applied to the manufac-
ture of agriculture implements and stoves. But, with other discern-
ing men, he saw that the manufacturing field of the future was to lie
adjacent to the territory of greatest development. He therefore came
to Chicago in 1835, secured employment in the manufacture of plows,
and assisted in the establishment of the first iron foundry in the
young city, purchasing and shipping for his employers the first car-
load of pig iron that was received in Chicago. The next occupation
in his varied early career was that of a farmer in Lake county, Illi-
nois, this experience of four years being of decided educational value
to him as revealing the imperfections of the old plow and the neces-
sity for an improvement in its form and design.
In 1854 Mr. Bradley founded his plow works to manufacture the
make known as the Garden City Clipper, which, years before, he had
assisted in turning out from the shop of Mr. Pierce, his brother-in-
law, who was the original maker of them. During the first year
of the enterprise he became associated with Conrad Furst, under the
firm name of Furst & Bradley, manufacturers of plows and agricul-
tural implements. The little shop on Randolph street, with its an-
nual business of $10,000, was soon outgrown, and the nucleus of the
mammoth plant on Jefferson, Fulton and North Desplaines streets
was erected. Until 1872 the firm name was Furst & Bradley, but at
that time it was incorporated as the Furst & Bradley Manufacturing
Company, and in 1884 as the David Bradley Manufacturing Com-
pany. In 1895 tne t° wn of Bradley was built, and its founder re-
mained president of the David Bradley Manufacturing Company un-
til his death in November, 1899, when he was succeeded by his son,
J. Harley Bradley.
io 4 o CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Joseph Harley Bradley, president of the David Bradley Manufac-
turing Company, was born in Racine, Wisconsin, on the 30th of Sep-
tember, 1844, and is a son of the founder of the
J ' , great agricultural implement works on Jefferson,
Fulton and North Desplaines streets. When he
was five years of age he was brought to Chicago by his parents, and
in this city he was educated. At the attaining of his majority in
1865 he became a partner in the firm of Jones, Ellinwood & Bradley,
engaged in the retail implement and seed business. In 1868 he dis-
posed of his interest, and, with Harry Banks, organized the firm of
Bradley & Banks, their principal sales being of the implements man-
ufactured by the elder Bradley. He also withdrew from this con-
cern in 1872, and was elected secretary of the Furst & Bradley Manu-
facturing Company.
J. Harley Bradley retained the secretaryship of the Furst & Brad-
ley Manufacturing Company for ten years, and in 1882, when the
David Bradley Manufacturing Company was organized was elected
its vice president and treasurer. In 1899, upon the death of his
father, he succeeded to the head of the business. The company has
large works at Bradley, Kankakee county, Illinois, as well as the
Chicago plant. Mr. Bradley is also president of Bradley, Clark &
Co., Minneapolis; David Bradley & Co., Council Bluffs, Iowa, and
Bradley, Alderson & Co., Kansas City, and a director of the North-
ern Trust Company, of Chicago. He was one of the organizers of
the Chicago Freight Bureau, founded in 1883, and has since been
one of its most active and influential members. For twelve years he
has been a member of the State Board of Agriculture, and in 1891
served as president of the Citizens' Association. In 1904 he was
president of the Commercial Club.
Mr. Bradley was a leader in the organization of the Chicago Re-
lief and Aid Society in 1871, has always been active in its work, and
in 1883-84 was a member of its board of directors. He is also prom-
inent in social life, being identified with the University. Chicago,
Union League and Illinois clubs, being president of the last named
in 1883-85.
In 1872 Mr. Bradley was married to Miss Margia Peugeet, of
Brooklyn, New York, who died in 1896, leaving four daughters. Mr.
Bradley resides at No. 85 Rush street.
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1041
Hon. Charles M. Netterstrom, for many years prominently iden-
tified with the business and public interests of Chicago, is a native
_ of Stavanger, Norway — a city located midway on
Charles M. .. , b . f \ u . \ , ,
, T the western coast of that country — where he was
Netterstrom. 01 o o x T -
born on September 24, 1848. His parents were
John Jacob and Serena (Knutsen) Netterstrom, his father having
been born in Malmo, Sweden, in 1816. The elder Netterstrom re-
moved to Norway in his early years, where his life occupation was
that of a fisherman. He attained prominence and prosperity in that
field, owning three of four large fishing schooners and controlling an
extensive trade. Desiring, however, to give his children the broader
advantages found in the United States, the parents emigrated hither
in 1864, arriving in Chicago on July 3rd of that year.
As Charles M. Netterstrom was only six years of age when the
family located in Chicago he commenced his education soon afterward
in its public schools. After being a pupil successively in the Sanga-
mon, Franklin, Newberry and Ogden schools, still only ten years of
age he commenced to work for the late S. T. Gunderson, who as a
youth of eighteen had just established a carpenter shop of his own.
The boy worked as a lather until he was seventeen years of age, when
he also started a business of his own. As he had already learned
the coopers' trade of his father, he was in his early youth master of
two good occupations, and for three years alternated, being a lather
in the building months and a cooper in winter. In 1873 ne became a
plasterer contractor, and continued in that line until 1880, doing his
full share in forwarding the phenomenal building operations which
continued for years after the great fire of 1871. Mr. Netterstrom
then entered the fields of street paving, and for more than twenty
years was most extensively engaged in that line. One of his most
famous contracts consisted in the paving of North Clark street, from
Diversey street to Lawrence avenue, a distance approximately of
three miles, in a period of about three months and a half — from Au-
gust 8th to November 27th. This is said to be the longest stretch
of paving ever covered by one contract in the history of Chicago.
In 1902 Mr. Netterstrom retired from active business, tempor-
arily, but his activity of mind and body urged him into a new field,
and in 1906 he became president of the Newsted Manufacturing
Company, manufacturers of detachable store fixtures. One of their
io4-' CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
chief specialties is shelving, built in sections and made to slide to-
gether like a telescope. It is patented by the company, and is being
rapidlv placed upon the market.
For more than a quarter of a century Mr. Xetterstrom has been
one of the most prominent Republicans in the northern section of
the city. From 1881 to 1887 he served as commissioner and trustee
of the town of Lake View, holding the latter office when it became
a corporate part of Chicago in the latter year. In 1893 he was elect-
ed a commissioner of Cook county, being elected chairman of the
board. In 1895 he was elected to represent the Twenty-first sena-
torial district in the state legislature, his district embracing the Twen-
ty-first, Twenty-second and Twenty-fifth wards, or the territory be-
tween the river, the lake shore and Irving Park. It may be of in-
terest to note that he immediately preceded Mayor Busse in that of-
fice.
In all these official capacities, Mr. Xetterstrom has shown his
high appreciation of public responsibilities in that he has given his
attention to matters of practical value. While commissioner of Lake
View he was a tireless promoter of such public improvements as
necessary water pipe and sewer extensions, the building of cement
sidewalks and street pavements. While chairman of the county board
of commissioners, among the other responsibilities which devolved
upon him was the handling of $200,000 with which to complete im-
provements upon the criminal court building. This was the amount
estimated as necessary by the party in power when the appropriation
was made. But by the exercise of careful business methods he fin-
ished the work for some $119,000. and completed the immense pro-
ject in four months, or from March 1st to July 1st.
On the 30th of October, 1869. Mr. Xetterstrom was united in
marriage with Miss. Anna M. Anderson, who died in March 1907.
Seven children were born to them, as follows : Walter, Reuben, Ar-
thur and Emma, who are living, and Minnie. Charles and Adeline,
deceased.
Evan Euan. Kimble, president of the Kimble Glass Company,
manufacturers of scientific glass apparatus and homeopathic vials,
_, is at the head of the largest factory of the latter
-r^. specialtv in the world. Creamerv and graduated
Kimble. , fe . .
glassware is also turned out in large quantities.
Tt_
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CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1043
Mr. Kimble is thoroughly qualified to conduct and develop such an
extensive industry, as he has been engaged in some form of glass
manufacture since early boyhood, and is generally recognized as one
of the most thoroughly informed and practical glass men in the
country.
Mr. Kimble is a native of Tuckahoe, New Jersey, being the fourth
of five children, born on the 18th of October, 1868. He resided
in his native place until he was six years of age, but, his father
meeting with reverses in a lumber venture and the loss of vessel
property, the family removed to Vineland, and, after six years, to
Millville, New Jersey. The son attended the public schools until he
was fourteen years of age, at which time he and his brothers entered
the employ of Whitall, Tatum & Co., glass manufacturers, with whom
he obtained his first insight into the business in which he is now
engaged in Chicago. Having thus entered the industrial world at an
early age, he steadfastly continued in the field he had chosen.
In 1895, when twenty-seven years of age, Mr. Kimble left the
employ of Whitall, Tatum & Co. and removed to Gas City, Indiana,
as manager of the homeopathic vial department for the . Sheldon
Foster Glass Company. This enterprise was a new venture on the
part of the company named, and Mr. Kimble remained its superin-
tendent until November 2, 1901. Coming to Chicago at the date men-
tioned, he established his present business at 152 Michigan street
with a force of only four men, but the rapid expansion of his enter-
prise forced him to remove to more commodious quarters in some six
months. His next location was at No. 149 Fulton street, and here
he occupied a floor space of 9,000 square feet, remaining at this
number until November, T906, by which time the unusual expansion
of the business necessitated a removal to the large building he now
occupies at 142-156 East Huron street. These accommodations cover
a floor space of 25,000 square feet and 150 men are employed in the
industry, constituting, as stated, the largest homeopathic vial manu-
factory in the world. It may also be added that the Kimble Glass
Company use the only machine ever invented for the automatic manu-
facture of vials.
In 1892 Mr. Kimble married Miss Carrie W. Dougherty, of Mill-
ville, New Jersey, and they have one child, Herman Klineberg, born
December 16, 1897. The family residence is at 1728 Sheridan place.
1044 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Mr. Kimble is a member of the Illinois Athletic Club, but is too
essentially domestic to be prominent, in general social circles. Hav-
ing also risen to business and industrial prominence through inde-
pendent and self -depending exertions, most of his time is absorbed in
the task of keeping in close touch with a business which is already
extensive, and is, through his tireless promotion and able manage-
ment, rapidly and substantially expanding. Besides being president
of the Kimble Glass Company, he is chairman of the board of di-
rectors of the Chicago Vial Manufacturing Company and a director
of the Vineland (N. J.) Glass Tube Company.
During the past thirty years Arthur Jerome Atwater has been
engaged in the coal busines in Chicago, almost continuously as sales
agent, and at the present time is one of the best
" J* known men of the trade. His father, John Bow-
man Atwater, was a direct descendant of Thomas
Atwater, who died at Reyton, county of Kent, England, on the 5th
of October, 1484. His mother, Lauretta Allen Atwater, was the
daughter of Bela Allen and Susan (Fenton) Allen, of Bradford,
Vermont, her father being a nephew of Ethan Allen, the idol of the
"Green Mountain Boys."
Arthur J. Atwater was born at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, May
8, 1858. and was educated in the public schools of Geneva, Illinois,
graduating from the high school in 1876. His father was a promi-
nent business man in the pioneer days, and among his associates of
the early sixties may be mentioned such men as John V. Farwell,
Senaca D. Kimbark and John A. Logan. After leaving school, Arthur
J. became a clerk for Coxe Brothers & Co., coal merchants, at No. 84
La Salle street, Chicago, and continued with that firm for a period
of seventeen years. For four years he was northwestern agent for
the Consolidated Coal Company, and then returned to the firm men-
tioned as manager of the bituminous department. He resigned to
accept the position of western sales agent for the New Pittsburg Coal
Company, and continued with them until they went out of business at
Chicago, in June, 1898. Since that date he has been western sales
agent for the Sunday Creek Company, his offices being in the Old
Colony building.
Mr. Atwater lias been a resident of Morgan Park for eighteen
years, and for eight years was a member of the board of trustees of
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CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1045
that village. He was also a member of the board of local improve-
ments. He is treasurer and vestryman of the Church of the Mediator
(Episcopal), and is a member and director of the Ridge Country
Club, as well as president of the St. Andrews Men's Club, of Morgan
Park. Active and prominent in Masonry, he is identified with Tracy
Blue Lodge. Oriental Consistory, and Medinah Temple of the Mystic
Shrine. He is also a member of the Royal League, Modern Wood-
men of America, Illinois Commercial Men's Association, and Order
of Kokoals.
On the 9th of October, 1889, Mr. At water was united in marriage
with Miss Helen May Purdy, daughter of H. G. Purdy, an extensive
land owner of Nevada. Their children are: Harry Arthur (a
student at the Lewis Institute), Elaine Lauretta, George Wilson,
Cordelia Althea and Maxine Helen.
John Umbricht, president of the Chicago Bank and Office Fixture
Company, is a native of Springfield, Illinois, born on the nth of
April, 1866. His father, John Baptist Umbricht,
TT ** was born in Switzerland, in the year 1827, and died
I I AT "R RI C TT T
in Chicago in 1903. His mother (nee Catherine
Deschler), was also a native of the Swiss republic, and died when
John, the youngest of seven children, was only six months old. The
elder Umbricht was a first class mechanical engineer, skilled in all
kinds of high-class technical work in iron, glass and wood. In Switz-
erland he had been an inspector of machinery in one of the largest
woolen factories in his home town.
In 1868 John B. Umbricht came to Chicago, and about a year
after his arrival he started a wood-working shop on Larrabee street,
between Clybourn avenue and Blackhawk street. At this location
he commenced the manufacture of fine regulator clock cases and store
and office fixtures. Mr. Umbricht turned out the finest work in his
line of anybody in the city. In 1870 his factory was destroyed by
fire, was rebuilt at No. 143 Clybourn avenue, and again burned in
the great conflgration of 1871. The business was subsequently re-
established, and Mr. Umbricht continued in the wood-working line
until his death in 1903.
John Umbricht was only five years of age at the time of the
great fire of 1871, and well remembers the unpleasant experience of
the family at that time, when for nearly three months, with other
Vol. in— 9.
1046 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
refugees, they occupied the Newberry school building on the north
side. No lights were allowed in the rooms, for fear of a fire in
the school building, and sweet potatoes shipped from the south formed
the chief diet of the homeless people. It was here that the boy
afterward attended school, at the same time learning the trade of a
cabinet maker under his father's tuition. He also worked with the
Pullman Company, Bush and Gerts Piano Company and Healy &
Millet. He also attended a night school at Pullman, and by the
time he had attained his majority was thoroughly prepared to be
a val uable member of any community.
In 1889 Mr. Umbricht commenced business in his present line,
locating at Canal and Polk streets, and later incorporating it under
the name of the Chicago Store and Office Fixture Company. In
July, 1905, he sold his interest in the former firm and in the follow-
ing month started another factory at Nos. 677-79 West Van Buren
street, under the name of the Chicago Bank and Office Fixture Com-
pany. Of this Mr. Umbricht is president and Alfred C. Crawford
secretary and treasurer. The manufactory, 125 by 50 feet in dimen-
sions, is two stories and basement in height, while the warehouse
is a three-story structure, 75 feet by 40 feet on the ground. The out-
put includes fixtures of the finest and most substantial make for
banks, offices, restaurants, cigar stores, shoe stores, jewelry and mil-
linery establishments, and for all metropolitan institutions of a busi-
ness, financial or commercial nature.
Julius Bender, an extensive manufacturer and dealer in the line
of general store fixtures, has demonstrated his business persistency
and worth by a residence of nearly twenty years
j* in Chicago, during which period he has developed
Bender. .
a very modest establishment into one of goodly
proportions. He is a native of Hatzenport-on-the-Mosel, Germany,
a town not far from Coblenz, and his parents were Benjamin and
Sarah (Adler) Bender. His father was a prosperous wine grower
and merchant, who gave his son a substantial public school education.
In 1883 Mr. Bender emigrated to the United States, reaching
New York in August of that year, where he remained until the
following December, when he went to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. There,
for several years, he was engaged in buying and selling horses. In
1889 Mr. Bender came to Chicago, and started a small business in the
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1047
fixture line at 903-9 North Halsted street, having had a short experi-
ence therein at New York and Milwaukee. His store was at that loca-
tion for eight years, when he moved his growing business to Des
Plaines near Randolph street. After remaining there some four years
in 1 90 1 he opened his present large store at Nos. 230-38 West Madi-
son street, corner of Peoria.
In 1890 Mr. Bender married Miss Sophia Gutman, and two
daughters have been born of their union — Sylvia and Rose. Mr.
Bender is a member of the A. F. and A. M., and is also identified with
the Hampden Club.
Daniel W. Ryan, founder of the D. W. Ryan Cooperage Com-
pany, was born in Tipperary, Ireland, in 1843, an d died in Chicago
on the 27th of December, 1899. When he was a
P boy of twelve years he came to Chicago, and when
a young man started a cooper shop at what was
then Nickersonville, a suburb of Chicago, now included in the north-
western section of the city. Later he removed to Ross and McHenry
streets, where he continued the business about five years. He com-
menced business with one or two helpers, and was first engaged in
repairing second-hand barrels. After the Civil war he started quite
a large shop at the site of the present large plant, Nos. 17-29 Besley
court. Before his death in 1899 he had developed the business into
fine proportions, his plant being one of the largest and most complete
in the west.
On the 6th of August, 1862, Daniel W. Ryan enlisted in Battery
M, First Illinois Artillery, and served until his honorable discharge
at the close of the war, July 24, 1865. Concerning the valiant service
of Battery M, Eddy's "Patriotism of Illinois in the Civil war" says:
"Battery M was organized at Chicago and mustered into service on
the 12th of August, 1862, with the following roster: Captain, John
B. Miller; senior first lieutenant, George W. Spencer; junior first
lieutenant, George H. Colvin; senior second lieutenant, Thomas Bur-
ton; second lieutenant, B. H. Fluskey. The battery left Chicago on
the 27th of September, 1862, with 185 men. It went through all the
Atlanta campaign under Sherman, and through the entire Knoxville
and east Tennessee campaigns with remarkably little loss, when its
gallantry and exposure are taken into account. It arrived in Chicago
on the 19th of July, 1865, for final muster and discharge, with only
1048 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
ninety-six men." Although popular and able, Mr. Ryan was not
an active politician during his long and honorable residence in Chi-
cago, his only public service being as alderman of the Fourteenth
ward, in 1 886-8, and during the administrations of Carter H. Harri-
son and John A. Roche.
The business of the D. W. Ryan Cooperage Company is now con-
ducted by the children of the deceased founder, as follows : D.
W. Ryan, president; C. M. Ryan, secretary and treasurer; Mary C.
Ryan, Agnes E. Ryan and Eliza M. Ryan, office assistants. The
output of the plant is now only new barrels, for pickles, kraut, cider,
vinegar and oil. The establishment manufactures 450,000 barrels
yearly, which are shipped throughout the United States. The grounds
cover 150 by 175 feet (the buildings alone, 175 feet by 50 feet), and
the shipping of goods is greatly facilitated by direct connection with
the tracks of the Northwestern Railway Company.
Henry M. Wilmarth was a man of pronounced force of character,
sound and honorable in his busines life. For many years he was one
of the most valued directors of the First National
,, r Bank. In the midst of his family and intimate
Wilmarth. . . . , ,. , . . :
friends, he was cordial and genial, in contrast with
a certain attitude of reserve toward others.
Mr. Wilmarth was a native of Newport, New Hampshire, born
Wilmarth. His father was a farmer and manufacturer. Henry M.
on the 25th of January, 1836, son of Jonathan and Lucy (Cheney)
Wilmarth came of an ancestry which was thoroughly Puritanic, his
moral training was both high and rigorous, and when ready to go
forth into the world of business, the simple, foundation principles of
right and wrong were firmly fixed in his character. In 1856 Mr.
Wilmarth came to Chicago. His first employment in Chicago was
with the gasfitting establishment of Gerould Brothers, then a prom-
inent firm in that line of business. Two years later both proprietors
died, and Mr. Wilmarth, despite his comparative youth, was selected
to administer their affairs, later becoming sole proprietor of the
house. Soon afterward he formed a partnership with his brother,
and, under the firm name of H. M. Wilmarth & Co., a large and
lucrative business was developed, both in gas fitting and the sale of
gas fixtures. The deceased remained actively identified with it until
his death.
n
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^MjU^COU^^OLAJCtC
TBI NEW YORI ?
PUBLIC LIBRARY I
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T1LDF.H KOU
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1049
In 1874 Mr. Wilmarth was elected a director of the First
National Bank of Chicago, and until the day of his death, February
27, 1886, devoted much of his time and thought to the upbuilding
of this institution. His only political service was as alderman of the
old Fourth ward in 1865-6. With others, he united in the establish-
ment of the Central church, under the ministry of David Swing.
The death of Mr. Wilmarth was consequent upon an exposure
incidental to a railway accident, and his useful and honorable life
was brought to a close in the unimpaired vigor of middle age. He
was long a member of the Chicago Club, and of a hunting association
which had its headquarters in Marquette, Wisconsin.
On May 21, 1861, Henry M. Wilmarth was united in marriage
with Miss Mary J- Hawes, of New Belford, Massachusetts, and three
daughters were born to their union: Fanny, who died in infancy;
Stella, who died in September, 1885, and Anna H., now the wife of
James Westfall Thompson, a member of the faculty of the University
of Chicago. Their child, Wilmarth Westfall Thompson, was born
June 24, 1899.
Harold Ulmer Wallace, for eleven years a prominent figure in the
engineering and executive departments of the Illinois Central Rail-
way and now president of the Wallace-Coates En-
Harold U. . . ~ . • , ■ -,.-
,,,. gmeenng Companv, supervising and consulting en-
Wallace. . . .
gineers, is a native ot Rock Island, Illinois, where
he was born November 15, 1872. He is a son of John Findley and
Sarah Elmira (Ulmer) Wallace, his father having been for years
one of the most noted bridge and railroad engineers in the country,
and in 1904-05 chief engineer of the Panama canal. The elder Wal-
lace is a Massachusetts man and a C. E. graduate of the University
of Wooster. He entered railway service as a rodman for the Car-
thage & Ouincy Railroad, and through the seventies served as as-
sistant engineer of the Rockford, Rock Island & Peoria Railroad,
with the United States engineering corps, as county surveyor and
city engineer and as chief engineer and superintendent of the Peoria
& Farming-ton Railroad. Afterward he was chief engineer of the
Central Iowa Railroad in Illinois, had charge of the construction of
the Missouri river bridge for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe road,
and from 1891 to 1904 was identified with the Illinois Central Rail-
road as engineer of construction, chief engineer, and general manager.
io;o CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
The paternal grandfather of Harold U. Wallace, David A. Wal-
lace, was a prominent Illinois educator, and at one time president
of Monmouth College.
Harold U. Wallace's early education was obtained in the public
schools of Chicago, and he also pursued a course in the Chicago
Manual Training School, from which he graduated in the class of
1892. Prior to actual practice, his civil engineering training was
secured at Purdue University, from which he secured his degree in
1894. For the succeeding two years he acted as assistant engineer
on the Illinois Central Railway, from 1896 to 1899 as roadmaster,
and in 1900 was advanced to the superintendency. This latter posi-
tion he retained for two years, and in 1902-05 acted as chief engi-
neer. From June 1. 1905, until June 1, 1906, he was third" vice
president of J. G. White & Co.. engineers and contractors of Xew
York City, and from the latter date to the present time has served
as president of the Wallace-Coates Company, with headquarters in
Chicago.
On the 1 2th of September, 1894. Mr. Wallace married Miss Lura
Dean Wvcoft, and the four children born to them have been as follows :
John Earl, Arthur Wycoff, Clarence Jay and Frances Fern Wallace.
The city home of the family is at No. 237 East Forty-seventh street,
and the country home at Flossmoor, Illinois.
Mr. Wallace is widely connected with various clubs of a profes-
sional, social and recreational nature, having membership in the En-
gineers' clubs of both Chicago and New York, and the American
Society of Civil Engineers, as well as of the Union League Club
and the Homewood Country Club of Chicago, the Menesha Outing
Club of Memphis, Tennessee, and the New York Railroad Club.
He is also a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.
Within the past twenty years the conflict between the industrial
classes and capitalists has, while often reaching acute stages, been
marked by many developments which recur to point
" a final solution, and has been notable for many ad-
justments of relatives that have brought honor to
both parties in the contest. The progress of arbitration and the
growth of "the spirit which sinks personal considerations and makes
individual sacrifices for the general good," invoked by President
Roosevelt in the settlement of the anthracite strike of 1902, are
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 105 1
among the most valuable achievements of the American people dur-
ing the last quarter century. The employment of arbitration in set-
tling the difficulties between operators and mine workers may be
said to have first been recognized as a practical method in an address
sent out by a committee of miners and mine owners from Chicago
in 1885. The important paragraphs of this address were as follows:
''The undersigned committee believes that this convention will prove
to be the inauguration of a new era for the settlement of the indus-
trial question in our mining regions in accordance with intelligent
reasoning, and based upon fair play and mutual justice.
"The history and experience of the past make it apparent to
every intelligent and thoughtful mind that strikes and lockouts are
false agencies and brutal resorts for the adjustment of the disputes
and controversies arising between the employing capital and em-
ployed labor. They have become evils of the greatest magnitude,
not only to those immediately concerned in them but also to general
society, being fruitful sources of public disturbance, riot and blood-
shed. Sad illustrations of this truth are now being witnessed in cer-
tain of our large cities, and in several of the mining and manufactur-
ing centers of the country. These industrial conflicts generally in-
volve waste of capital on the one hand and the impoverishment of
labor on the other. They engender bitter feelings of prejudice and
enmity, and enkindle the destructive passions of hate and revenge,
bearing in their train the curses of widespread misery and wretched-
ness. They are contrary to the true spirit of American institutions,
and violate every principle of human justice and of Christian charity.
"Apart and in conflict capital and labor became agents of evil,
while united they create blessings of plenty and prosperity, and en-
able man to utilize and enjoy the bounteous resources intended for
his use and happiness by the Almighty.
"Capital represents the accumulation, or savings, of past labor,
while labor is the most sacred part of the capital. Each has its re-
spective duties and obligations toward the other. Capital is entitled
to fair and just remuneration for its risks and its use, and must have
security and protection, while labor, on the other hand, is as fully and
justly entitled to reward for its toil and its sacrifices. Each is en-
titled to its equitable share, and there is no law, either human or di-
vine, to justify the one impoverishing and crushing the other. God
io 5 _> CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
tells us, 'The laborer is worthy of his hire,' and threatens the venge-
ance of Heaven upon the oppressors of the poor.
"The question of what one should pay and the other receive in
compensation can best be determined by friendly conferences, where
intelligence and arbitration will take the place of the usual irrational
and cruel methods of the past. It is evident that the general stand-
ard of reward for labor has sunk too low, by reason of reductions
that have taken place during the past few years, and that miners
generally are receiving inadequate compensation in an employment
full of toil and danger.
"It is equally true that the widespread depression of business, the
over-production of coal, and the consequent severe competition have
caused the capital invested in mines to yield little or no profitable
returns. The constant reductions of wages that have lately taken
place have afforded no relief to capital, and, indeed, have but tended
to increase its embarrassments. Any reduction in labor in any coal
field usually necessitates and generates a corresponding reduction in
every other competitive coal field. If the price of labor in the United
States was uniformly raised to the standard of three years ago the
employers of labor would occupy toward each other the same relative
position in point of competition as at present, such an advance would
prove beneficial to their interests, as it would materially help to re-
move the present general discontent of the miners in their employ-
ment. However, such a general advance cannot be made at the
present time from the fact that already contracts in many districts
have been made between the coal operators and their miners which
will last until next spring; also that contracts have been entered into
with manufacturers and large consumers of coal which will continue
in force up to the same time.
"The committee would therefore suggest and invite that another
meeting shall take place at Pittsburg on December 15th next, where
it is hoped there will be a full representation of miners and mine
owners throughout the various states and territories, and where per-
manent action may be taken, looking to the improvement of both
interests.
"The committee feels that this question of laboV is one of vital
importance and it must be met in a spirit of conciliation, and that
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1053
the problems connected with it require studied thought, that it may
be lead to some wise and happy solution.
"This is the first movement of a national character in America,
taken with the intention of the establishment of labor conciliation, and
while many practical difficulties may present themselves in retard-
ing the attainment of the laudable end in view, it is to be hoped
that at least an honest general effort shall be put forth by the oper-
ators and miners.
"The intelligence and progress of the age demand this. Our
material interests demand it. Common justice demands it. The in-
ternal peace of our common country demands it. Respect for the
dignity of American honor demands it. The security of capital de-
mands it."
The first signer, and the actual writer of this address, was Col.
William P. Rend, who, for many years has been one of the largest
coal operators in the country, till recently owner of some of the
largest mines in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, and now
owner of extensive collieries in southern Illinois. Those who have
followed with anxiety the conflict between the industrial classes and
capitalists within the past twenty years see in him one of the most
broad, impartial and practical arbitrators who have entered the arena
and had the bravery to attempt to do justice to both parties in the
settlement of matters in dispute. In all respects, although energetic
and positive, his character is one of remarkable poise, devoid of stub-
born prejudice and personal spite. After he has examined a matter
from all available standpoints and sources of information, he acts
with conscientious decision and with the momentum of a great mov-
ing body, but even in action if new developments have a direct bear-
ing upon the point at issue he has the justice and the manliness 10
stop and consider whether his course is right or wrong. This trait
is indicative of the greatest bravery which can be shown by the mod-
ern leader of affairs — the willingness to learn from whatever source
of information and the open acknowledgment of personal fallibility
— and is the characteristic of Colonel Rend's character which has
drawn to him countless supporters and friends and placed in his
hands the power of untold good in the conciliation of those great in-
terests whose unfortunate hostility is today the greatest threat to
internal peace and security.
1054 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
The peculiarly inspiring and attractive traits of Colonel Rend's
personality are perhaps a racial inheritance, as he is a native Irish-
man, born in county Leitrim, on the ioth of February, 1840. His
father, Ambrose Rend, was a substantial farmer, while his mother,
Elizabeth (Cline) Rend, was a daughter of Hugh Cline, for years
steward of one of the greatest and most ancient estates in Ireland.
When the boy was seven years of age his parents settled in Lowell,
Massachusetts, where he received his education, graduating from its
high school when seventeen. During this period of his schooling
he had gained considerable experience in the dry goods line, and
after his graduation from the Lowell high school he endeavored to
find employment in New York. Failing, after quite a search, and
finding his small means reduced to alarming proportions, he started
for New Jersey with the determination to accept whatever offered
in the line of honorable employment. Fortunately, on the day after
his arrival on Jersey soil he secured the position of a teacher in New
Brooklyn, which he held for twelve months. While on a visit to
Baltimore he saw an advertisement for a teacher in the school district
near West River, Anne Arundel county, Maryland, and from sev-
enty applicants was selected for the position by the trustees. His
scholars were generally the children of wealthy and prominent plan-
tation owners, and as he made his home with one of these during the
three years in which he taught here, he had the best of opportunities
to observe the condition of southern life and study the southern
character. While holding the position of teacher he continued his
own classical studies, both privately and under the guidance of the
president of St. John's College, an institution located ten miles from
his residence and to which he resorted Saturday afternoons.
At the breaking out of the Civil war, which occurred at this
period in Colonel Rend's life, his course was for a time problematic.
He liked the southern people and his most intimate friends were slave-
holders ; but he disliked the institution of slavery itself and he ab-
horred the doctrine of secession. Attachment to principle won the
victory over personal friendship, and at the firing on Fort Sumter
he resigned his position and shortly afterward vainly attempted to
organize a Union company at Annapolis, Maryland. Going then to
Washington he joined the Fourteenth New York Volunteers, with
which he remained until the expiration of his term of enlistment,
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1055
serving most of the time as a non-commissioned officer. With the
Army of the Potomac he participated in the engagements at Han-
over Court House, second Bull Run, Mechanicsville, Gaines Mills,
Malvern Hill, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and York-
town. At the siege of Yorktown he was the first man in the regiment
who was struck by a bullet, although not seriously wounded. At
Malvern Hill, where the regiment lost one-third of its entire num-
ber in killed and wounded, he escaped with the loss of a portion of
his pants, and throughout the entire two years of his service his
escapes were narrow and thrilling.
Being honorably discharged in 1863 he paid a brief visit to his
old Lowell friends and while thus enjoying himself met the young
lady who, a year later, became his wife. He located in Chicago dur-
ing the latter part of the war, first securing a position as an out-sur-
veyor for a railroad company locating a line from Madison, Wiscon-
sin, to Winona, Minnesota. In the winter he returned to the city,
intending to resume his surveying — which was congenial work — in
the following spring, but securing a position as foreman of the freight
depot of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company, he started
a line of teams as a side issue to his regular employment. His team-
ing business, however, developed to such proportions as to engage
his entire time and proved the basis of his fortune and the substan-
tial beginning of his career as one of the strong men of Chicago.
With an energy, industry and clear business vision which met every
situation he expanded his interests, he embarked in the coal trade in
partnership with Edwin Walker, the well-known corporation attor-
ney, which connection continued from 1882 to 1907. It was not
long before the firm of W. P. Rend & Co. became the largest in the
west engaged in the soft coal trade, they being the first to introduce
in Chicago the far-famed Hocking Valley coal. The business so
developed that at length the firm found it necessary to open up and
operate mines in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Colonel Rend personally
owned three of the largest mines in western Pennsylvania and valu-
able properties of the same nature in Ohio, besides valuable oil wells
in the Keystone state.
It is easy to understand how influential a factor such a man
would prove in the settlement of disputes between the coal miners
and operators of Ohio and Pennsylvania, where his invaluable serv-
1056 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
ices as an arbitrator have chiefly been required. He is a strong be-
liever in arbitration and councils of arbitration, as opposed to lock-
outs and strikes, and has for years been the most prominent advocate
of such a policy in the country. In these states his efforts have been
most beneficial in preventing these open ruptures and in softening the
hostility between the two interests. In northern Illinois his name
has also become all powerful in this reform. In pursuance of his
life-long policy of conciliation and arbitration Colonel Rend has
often come in conflict with the views and wishes of his fellow-opera-
tors ; but he has never swerved from his honorable course of mutual
justice, so that there is no man in the country who today more fully
enjoys the confidence of the coal miners of Pennsylvania, Ohio and
Illinois than Colonel Rend. He and Judge Thornton, who was a
contemporary of Abraham Lincoln, and a former member of the
Illinois supreme bench, served as a board of arbitration that settled
many disputes in the coal industries, and in such manner that all
parties were satisfied. Colonel Rend has recently sold his mining-
properties in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, and is now
owner and is operating extensive coal properties in southern Illinois.
The Colonel is also a strong advocate of the temperance cause,
and, in religion, is a Catholic — free from prejudice and a stern hater
of bigotry. Besides his meritorious war record he has a prominent
place in the military annals of the Illinois National Guard, holding
at one time the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Captain Israel Parsons Rumsey, for over forty years engaged in
Chicago as a grain commission merchant and for the past five years
senior member of the firm of Rumsey & Co., one
T "D
Israel r. of tlie j ar g est receiving houses in this city, was
born at Stafford, Genesee county, New York, on
the 9th of February, 1836. Although the son of a farmer, he received
a good academic education, and at the age of seventeen entered the
drygoods store of Howard & Whitcomb, at Buffalo, New York. In
April, 1857, being then twenty-one years of age, and having saved
some money from his very modest wages, he went west and located
at Keokuk, Iowa. The house by which he was employed became em-
barrassed in the panic of 1857, and the firm sold the business to
an uncle in the east, which proceeding left young Rumsey temporarily
THE NEW YO
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CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1057
stranded. But, undaunted, he bought the delivery business of the
largest morning paper in the place, for which he paid $100, and en-
tered with confident enthusiasm into his new field. His hours of
work commenced at one o'clock in the morning, and, as his collections
had to be largely made in the day, his daily period of labor was long
and strenuous. But the uncle to whom the store had been sold soon
arrived and engaged him at an increased salary, placing him in charge
of the hardware department with his former employers as clerks.
The young man sold his newspaper business at a profit, so that he felt
quite jubilant. In April, 1858, a year after coming to Keokuk, under
orders from the proprietor, he removed the stock of hardware to
Chicago and continued in that line for some months.
In the autumn following his arrival in Chicago Mr. Rumsey was
employed by Flint & Wheeler, leading dealers in provisions and
grain, and in i860 organized the house of Finley, Hoyt & Rumsey.
Just as Mr. Rumsey was coming to the front in that business, the
Civil war loomed up, to the exclusion of all other considerations in
the minds' of men of true patriotic stock.
Under the first call of Governor Yates for 30,000 men in April,
1861, Mr. Rumsey assisted in the organization of Taylor's Chicago
Battery. Early in June that command proceeded to Cairo, Illinois,
and in July Mr. Rumsey was mustered into the service as junior
second lieutenant of what became known as Company B, First Illinois
Light Artillery. In November he participated in the battle of Bel-
mont, Missouri, which was General Grant's first engagement of the
Civil war. He afterward served as adjutant general for General W.
H. L. Wallace, who died a few days after the battle of Shiloh, Ten-
nessee, from wounds received April 6, 1863. As a unit of Sherman's
great army he marched from Shiloh to Corinth, Mississippi, thence
to Memphis, Tennessee, Vicksburg, Mississippi, and Missionary
Ridge, Tennessee, and so on to Atlanta, Georgia, participating in all
the battles and historic marches and campaigns of the memorable
Fifteenth army corps. His brother, John W. Rumsey, was also a
member of the famous Battery A, First Illinois Light Artillery, and
was Wounded at Resaca while commanding it.
In the fall of 1864, upon the return of the brother mentioned,
from the front, the two formed a partnership in Chicago under the
firm name of I. P. & J. W. Rumsey, first engaging in the flour and
1058 CHiCAGO AND COOK COUNTY
grain brokerage business, and two years afterward in receiving and
shipping. Later the firm names were changed to Rumsey, Williams
& Co. and I. P. Rumsey & Co., the latter title being retained until
1873, when William P. Walker joined the co-partnership, the house
thus becoming Rumsey & Walker. This was followed by Rumsey &
Buell, in 1882, and in 1889 Mr. Rumsey retired from the board with
the intention of engaging in the manufacturing business, but in 1892
resumed his position in the old and familiar field by becoming the
head of Rumsey, Lightner & Co. This name continued unchanged
until 1902, although Mr. Lightner had been dead for six years, but
in May of that year Mr. Rumsey purchased the interests of two of
his partners, retained his connection with F. M. Bunch, added his
son, Henry Axtell Rumsey, to the firm, and reorganized the business
under the name of Rumsey & Co., as at present. Mr. Rumsey has
filled positions in the committees of the board, and twice was elected
a director; was also one of the originators and until 1901 a large
stockholder and vice president of the Cleveland Grain Company, and
is still the owner of a number of elevators in Illinois.
Thus progressive and prominent in his business ventures, Mr.
Rumsey has also made a name for himself as a citizen who considers
it his duty to do his utmost to further the moral and civic progress
of the city which he has chosen as his home. He has been especially
earnest along the line of liquor reform, and in his insistence that high
license is a powerful remedial agent for the best. Since its organiza-
tion in 1877 he has been closely identified with the Citizens' League
for the suppression of the sale of liquor to minors and drunkards,
and has served as its president since 1883. To the ceaseless labors
and vigilance of Captain Rumsey, more than any other man, is due
the routing of the gamblers in Cook county during 1901, and their
subsequent expulsion from Lake county. He is still first vice presi-
dent of the Citizens' Association of the latter county. His latest
achievement was the securing of the passage of a bill forbidding the
establishment of liquor saloons within one and one-eighth miles of
army posts or naval training stations, which was passed by the Illinois
legislature of 1906-7.
Mr. Rumsey was active in the work of securing the site of the
World's Fair for Chicago; has served as a member of the Shiloh
Battlefield National Park Commission, and has long been prominent
RESIDENCE OF I. P. RUMSEY, LAKE FOREST.
TH!
PUB]
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TILL
II
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1059
in the progress of the Presbyterian church. For nine years he was a
member of the managing board of the Presbyterian Hospital, Chi-
cago; was a trustee of the Presbyterian League, and served as chair-
man of the committee that raised funds to build the Grace and Sixth
Presbyterian churches, in which he was for many years an elder.
Fraternally and socially he is identified with the George H. Thomas
Post No. 5, G. A. R., the Loyal Legion Commandery of Illinois, and
the Union League Club.
In 1867 Captain Rumsey married Miss Mary M. Axtell, of
Batavia, New York, and their children are as follows : Juliet Lay
(wife of Rev. Grant Stroh, Muskogee, Oklahoma), Minnie May,
Henry Axtell, Wallace Donelson and Lucy Ransom (Mrs. William
A. Holt, Oconto, Wisconsin). For the past twenty years the pleasant
family residence has been in Lake Forest.
Wallace Donelson Rumsey, treasurer of the Beldefi Manufactur-
ing Company, manufacturers of various wires and cordage used in
telephone and electrical devices, is a son of the
-r, veteran commission merchant, Israel P. Rumsev.
Rumsey. tt , . _ . • . _ ,
He was born in Chicago, on the 16th or February,
1880, and received his education at Lake Forest Academy and the
university itself, as well as at Williams College. Massachusetts, from
which he graduated in 1903. After leaving college, he returned to
Chicago, and, joining the Belden Manufacturing Company, in the
organization of which his father was a prominent factor, it being
organized in 1902, he was elected treasurer of the concern, a posi-
tion which he still holds.
On June 6, 1907, Mr. Rumsey married Miss Edna Lake, of
Menasha, Wisconsin, daughter of Franklin D. Lake, treasurer of the
Menasha Woodenware Company, and prominent in the business,
social and church affairs of that beautiful little city. Mr. Rumsey
himself is widely known in similar circles in Chicago, being a member
of the University Club and Loyal Legion, of Chicago; of the Winter
Club, Lake Forest, and the Chi Psi fraternity, connected with Lake
Forest University. They are members of the Fourth Presbyterian
church. They have a son, born May 5, 1908, and named David Lake.
The Belden Manufacturing Company, with which Mr. Rumsey
is identified in a business way, has its plant at No. 194 Michigan
street, and is one of the growing industries of the city, with the fol-
1060 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
lowing officers : Joseph C. Belden, president ; Newell B. Parsons,
vice president ; Wallace D. Rumsey, treasurer, and Harold E. Wil-
kins, secretary. The original capital of the concern in 1902 was
$50,000, these figures having since been increased to $200,000. In
the unusual growth of the business indicated by this increase the
treasurer of the company has proved an influential factor.
Joseph Rosenbaum is one of the veteran and leading commission
merchants of Chicago, dealing both in live stock and grain, and is
also an old and honored soldier of the Civil war,
„ J having been elected department commander of the
Rosenbaum. f
state by the encampment of the Grand Army 01 the
Republic which met at Quincy, Illinois, in May, 1908. Mr. Rosen-
baum is a Bavarian, his birth at Munich, in the famous military
kingdom of Germany, occurring on the 1st of April, 1838. The cir-
cumstances attending his coming to the United States, as a bright
and ambitious boy of twelve, had a direct and a strong bearing upon
a prominent phase of his after life. His father's activity was so evi-
dent in the revolutionary movement of 1848 that the authorities,
dominated by Prussia, fixed his penalty at death in case he did not
leave the country within two days. Prussia had obtained constitu-
tional government, and the revolution was largely an effort of the
progressive element of young men to obtain the same rights for the
other kingdoms and principalities, which afterward became United
Germany under a constitutional monarch. The revolution was tem-
porarily crushed, but resulted in driving from the country many
young Germans of unusual ability. A majority of them finally set-
tled in the west, among whom were the late gifted statesman and
man of letters, Carl Schurz, and Governor Salomon, of Wisconsin,
a great figure in the civic and military annals of that state. Mr.
Rosenbaum' s father had truly a noble company when he fled his
Fatherland in 1848, and founded a new home in that western fron-
tier town of Dubuque, Iowa. In 1850, after he had fairly estab-
lished a means of livelihood in that place, his daughter and his two
sons, Morris and Joseph, joined him in the far west of the United
States. The events of this troublous period in the family life made
a deep impression on the latter, especially the military atmosphere
which was more than normally prominent in Bavaria during the revo-
lutionary period.
>K\w^
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1061
In 1858, when twenty years of age, Mr. Rosenbaum associated
himself with the brother mentioned and established a general store
at Cedar Falls, Iowa, but after four years of business life the events
of the Civil war so stirred his military ardor that he enlisted (July,
1862) in Company B, Thirty-first Iowa Volunteer Infantry and
served in the fighting ranks until hostilities on the battlefield com-
pletely ceased. In 1865 he returned from the front and, with his
brother, Morris, began to handle live stock and grain at Waverly,
Iowa, their chief market being Chicago. Two years later they en-
tered into partnership in the banking business, Joseph being cashier
of the Bremer County Bank, and Morris held the same position in
the Bank of Nashua, Iowa, both of which institutions they had
founded. In 1874 they sold their Iowa interests in both of the bank-
ing concerns, and coming to Chicago established the live stock com-
mission firm of Rosenbaum & Co., now the corporation of Rosen-
baum & Co. Joseph Rosenbaum also founded the firm of Rosenbaum
Brothers, grain commission merchants. He is also president of the
Live Stock Investment Company and of the J. Rosenbaum Grain
Company.
Mr. Rosenbaum has long been an active member of the Grand
Army of the Republic, and his strong influence for the good of the
fraternity, as well as his stanch personal character, met with signal
recognition when he was elected to his present position as department
commander of Illinois. In 1873 l ie was united in marriage with
Miss Emma Frank, and the children born to them have been Mannie,
Edwin Stanton, Blanche and Walter. The family resides in hand-
some apartments at the Auditorium Annex. Mr. Rosenbaum is a
stanch member of the Sinai Congregation, is identified with the
Standard Club and is a Royal Arch Mason.
For the past fifty years Charles Enoch Morrill has been identi-
fied with the manufacture of varnishes and paints, and is now presi-
dent of the firm of Valentine & Co., one of the
* ' largest concerns of the kind in the world, having of-
fices in New York, Chicago, Boston, Paris, London
and Amsterdam. Mr. Morrill is a son of Amos and Sarah E. (Nich-
ols) Morrill, and was born on a farm in East Kingston, New Hamp-
shire, on the nth of January, 1832. After being educated as far as
possible in the public schools of his neighborhood, at the age of
Vol. Ill— 10.
io62 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
sixteen he learned the shoemaker's trade, which he followed for
about live years. Tn 1850 he improved his prospects by taking a
clerkship in a country store of his native town. Later he bought the
business, but in 1858 joined the Boston varnish house of Stimson,
Valentine & Co., which subsequently became Valentine & Co.. and
which changed their location to New York City.
Mr. Morrill held the position of shipping clerk of this firm from
1858 to 1862, when he was made traveling salesman and continued
to push the business of the house with energy and judgment tor a
period of ten years. In 1879 ne became manager of the Chicago
branch, and in 1882 organized the Lawson Varnish Company, of
which he was made president. He maintained his connection with
Valentine & Co.. however, and in 1899. when the two companies
consolidated, he became vice president of the new corporation, and in
1900 was advanced to the presidency. The stores and factories of
the concern are located in New York and Chicago, and the manage-
ment of the business is among the most progressive of any in the
country.
In 1857 Mr. Morrill wedded Miss Adeline Susan Carter, and the
children born to them have been as follows: Allan A., Mrs. Susie
A. Cole and Mrs. Annie S. Hays. The family residence is at No.
275 Fifty-third street, but much of the summer season is passed in
Mr. Morrill's country home in East Kingston, New Hampshire.
He is a member of the National Association of Manufacturers and
the Union League Club.
Allan Augustus Morrill, for many years prominently identified
with the house of Valentine & Co., manufacturers of varnish, is a
native of East Kingston, New Hampshire, born
\ll\x A
' May 3, 1859. son of Charles Enoch and Ade-
line Susan (Carter) Morrill. He obtained his
education in Phillips Academy. Andover, Massachusetts, and after
leaving school in 1879 became identified with the New York
varnish house of Valentine & Co.. with which his father had been
connected as traveling salesman for fifteen years. In 1879 the elder
Morrill became manager of the Chicago branch of the house, and
the son became an invaluable assistant both in its management and
development, in the founding of the Lawson Varnish Company, and
in the conduct of the consolidated concern known as Valentine &
THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LHNOX A
T1LDF.N J^'OUiSPATi'
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1063
Co. The consolidation was effected in 1899, anc ^ since 1900 Allan
A. Morrill has been a director and assistant treasurer. The business
with which he is thus so prominently identified is one of the most
extensive of the kind in the world. Its factories for the manufac-
ture of varnishes and colors are in Chicago and New York, where
there are also large sales rooms, and the branches of the concern
are in Boston, Paris and Amsterdam.
In March, 1883, Mr. Morrill was united in marriage to Miss Cora
Susan Dodge, and they have one son, Allan Donald. In politics,
Mr. Morrill is a Democrat, and is a member of the Chicago Athletic
Association, South Shore Country and Chicago Automobile clubs.
John Brackett Lord, president and general manager of the Ayer
& Lord Tie Company, is a native of the Old Bay state, born at New-
ton. Upper Falls, on the 5th of June, 1848. He is
j a son of Brackett and Clarissa Williams (Winslow)
Lord, and received his education in the public
schools of his native place and at the Wesleyan Academy of Wilbra-
ham, Massachusetts. At the age of nineteen he entered his father's
grain and flour house, where he remained until 1872, going then to
Kansas, Illinois, where the elder Lord placed him in charge of his
large grain warehouse.
In 1875, three years after thus locating in Illinois, Mr. Lord en-
tered the general grain business, his operations for some eight years
covering the central part of the state. In 1882 he became associated
with C. ,W. Powell in the business of supplying lumber to railroads,
the headquarters of the firm being Paris, Illinois, for two years, and
Chicago from 1884 to 1893. The firm was then dissolved, and Mr.
Lord associated himself with Edward E. Ayer (whose sketch appears
in this work) under the name of Ayer & Lord Tie Company. Their
business, which is now the largest of its kind in the world, embraces
dealings in oak ties, which are supplied to railroads, bridge builders
and construction companies, and the chemical treatment of pine, red
oak and soft woods generally, by which they are rendered virtually
as durable as the harder varieties. Large plants for the latter purpose
are located at Carbondale, Illinois, Little Rock, Arkansas, and Gre-
nada, Minnesota, and their combined capacity is equal to six million
ties annually. Besides being at the head of the great business and
industries operated by the Ayer & Lord Tie Company, Mr. Lord is
1064 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
also a director of the Harris Trust and Savings Bank, of which he
was one of the organizers.
In 1874 Mr. Lord was wedded to Miss Annie E. Steele, daugh-
ter of Dr. James M. Steele, of Grand View, Edgar county, Illinois,
and the children born to them have been as follows: Clara S., Mary
T., Margaret and Russell. The family residence is at No. 4857
Greenwood avenue. In politics Mr. Lord is a Republican, and is
identified with the following leading clubs : Chicago, Kenwood,
Homewood Country, South Shore Country and Automobile Club
of America.
Edward Everett Ayer, vice president of the Ayer & Lord Tie
Company, is one of the oldest and most prominent suppliers of lum-
ber to railroads in the country. A Wisconsin man,
. he was born at Kenosha on the 16th of November,
Ayer
1 84 1, and is the son of Elbridge Gerry and Mary
(Titcomb) Ayer. His father was one of the pioneers and leading
men of that city, and his sister, Mary Ayer, was the first child born
there. Elbridge G. Ayer lived in Kenosha until 1846, when he moved
with his family to Walworth county, Wisconsin, and in 1856 to Har-
vard, McHenry county, Illinois.
Edward E. Ayer obtained his education partly in Wisconsin and
partly in Illinois, and in i860, when nineteen years of age, migrated
to the western plains, reaching California in the following year.
There he enlisted for service in the Civil war, joining the First Cali-
fornia Cavalry and afterward becoming attached to Company I, First
New Mexico Infantry, as its second lieutenant. In the capacity
named he served for two years and ten months in California, Ari-
zona and New Mexico; resigned in 1864, returned to his home in
Harvard, and in the following year commenced business as a railroad
contractor.
Mr. Ayer continued a very successful business in the line named
from 1865 to 1 88 1, when he built a sawmill at Flagstaff, Arizona,
primarily for the purpose of supplying the Atlantic & Pacific and the
Mexican Central railroads with ties, timber and lumber. In the vi-
cinity of his mill was fully 400,000,000 feet of accessible white pine
timber. In 1882 he incorporated the Ayer Lumber Company, with
a capital stock of $250,000, and its business extended, with the build-
ing of railroads, over Lower California and Mexico and other sec-
THE 1
PUBLK
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i/
tv-co,
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1065
tions of the southwest. In a few years the business was aggregating
$1,000,000 annually, and an immense yard was established in Chi-
cago for the storage of ties, telegraph poles and railroad material in
general. Mr. Ayer has continued to be active in this line, and has
also extensive lumber interests in both the south and southwest. His
association with John B. Lord in the Ayer & Lord Tie Company
dates from 1893. The supply of the concern is confined to railroad
ties and lumber, and in these specialties they are the leaders in the
United States. Besides being vice president of this company, Mr.
Ayer was for some time president and director of the Texas Tie and
Lumber Preserving Company and the Tonty Lumber Company.
On September 7, 1865, Mr. Ayer married Miss Emma Augusta
Burbank, and their daughter is now Mrs. Elizabeth Burbank John-
son. His city residence is at No. 1 Banks street and he has a beauti-
ful summer home at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, known as The Oaks.
In club circles he is identified with the Chicago, Caxton, Commercial,
Saddle and Cycle and South Shore Country clubs. It is said that
Mr. Ayer has probably the finest private library in the United States
on Americana and the North American Indian. He is a life member
of the American Historical Association; a director of the Newberry
Library, Art Institute, Chicago Historical Society and the Field Co-
lumbian Museum, and served as president of the last named from
1893 to 1898.
Albert Dickinson, president of the Albert Dickinson Company,
which conducts one of the largest seed houses in the world, is a
native of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where he
Albert wag bom 0c tober 28, 1841. He is the eldest son
of Albert F. and Ann Eliza (Anthony) Dickinson,
both of whom were also natives of western Massachusetts. In 1855,
when he was fourteen years of age, the boy came to Chicago with
his parents, his father having established a grain and produce business
in the city during the previous year.
i\lbert Dickinson finished his education in Chicago, being a mem-
ber of the pioneer graduating class (1859) of the first Chicago high
school. He then entered his father's business, continuing thus until
the outbreak of the Civil war. In April, 1861, he enlisted in Com-
pany B of the Chicago Light Artillery, known as Taylor's Battery,
and later as Company B, First Regiment, Illinois Light Artillery,
io66 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
and remained in active service with this command for three years
and three months. He participated in the first fight at Fredericks-
town, Missouri, and was in the historic battles of Fort Donelson,
Shiloh, siege of Corinth, Chickasaw Bayou, Arkansas Post and
Vicksburg. Thence his battery was dispatched to Memphis, with
Sherman's grand army, and then moved on to Chattanooga, and took
part in the battle of Missionary Ridge and the relief- of General
Burnside at Knoxville. During the following spring he served in the
Atlanta campaign, receiving his honorable discharge in July, 1864.
After his return from the army Mr. Dickinson located at Durant,
Iowa, where for a year he engaged in buying grain, but his father's
failing health recalled him to Chicago, after which he actively par-
ticipated in the conduct of the business. The Chicago fire of 1871
destroyed all, besides entailing debts of several thousand dollars,
part of the latter occasioned by a mortgage which was incurred to
pay for the new warehouse, and the insurance carried on the property
was a total loss. For about a year and a half after the fire Albert
Dickinson and his brother, Nathan, worked together to rebuild the
shattered business, and, following its removal to Kinzie street, their
sister, Melissa, and brother, Charles, the latter fifteen years of age,
joined in the enterprise, both to develop the house and to pay its
debts, as well as the liabilities of their father, formerly incurred;
and to this hard undertaking their united efforts and abilities brought
signal success.
The original house of the firm was established on Kinzie street,
between Dearborn avenue and State street, and there it remained
until the fire of 187 1. For about a year and a half afterward it was
on North Jefferson street near Kinzie, and later at No. 136 Kinzie
(near La Salle). With the expansion of the business and the neces-
sity of obtaining more room, a removal was effected to No 117
Kinzie street, and shortly afterward it occupied No. 119 of the same
thoroughfare, and a few years later No. 113 Kinzie, as well as Nos.
104-110 Michigan street. The Empire warehouse on Market street
(the river), between Quincy street and Jackson boulevard, was also
added to their storage facilities, and still later, with the continuous
increase of business, another on the railroad track, at Sixteenth and
Clark streets, when the Kinzie, Michigan and Market street ware-
houses were given up. For many years they had been using the
THE NEW
PUBLIC li:
ASTOR, LHNQX ANJB
T1LDF.N *OUXJt>ATAOX*
'7
of.
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1067
property of the Chicago Dock Company for storage purposes, and in
1889 obtained control of the company mentioned, and in 1900 they
removed to their present location. The local plants of the company
now occupy 690 feet on Taylor street, 400 feet on the river and 266
feet front on Clark street (the Clark and Sixteenth street ware-
houses), comprising the most modern office facilities, storage and
wharfage accommodations, and up-to-date mechanisms for the
handling of goods. Not only has the business so expanded as to
necessitate this great increase in the accommodations of the local
plants, but branches have been established at Minneapolis, Minnesota,
and Lansing, Michigan.
Until about 1874 a general commission business was conducted,
but after this year the transactions were on a cash basis, exclusively
as dealers, and the dealings were chiefly in seeds. Previous to 1888,
for sixteen years, the business had been in the name of Albert Dick-
inson, with no salaries or division of profits, but at this time a stock
company of $200,000 was formed, with "Albert Dickinson as presi-
dent, Charles Dickinson as vice president, and Nathan Dickinson as
treasurer. The first named retains the presidency of the Chicago
company, as well as of several other corporations in which he is a
large stockholder, being also a director in the Chicago Dock Com-
pany. Outside of all business organizations he is a member of the
Chicago Academy of Sciences, in whose welfare he has long been
deeply interested. He also belongs to the Illinois, Chicago Athletic,
Union League and South Shore Country clubs; is identified with the
George H. Thomas Post No. 5, Grand Army of the Republic and in
politics is a stanch Republican in national affairs.
Charles Dickinson, vice president of the Albert Dickinson Com-
pany, is a native of Chicago, born May 28, 1858, and is" the youngest
son of Albert F. and Ann Eliza (Anthony) Dick-
■p. inson. He was educated in the public and high
Dickinson. ■ r to
schools of the city, and as a boy worked for Charles
Gossage & Co., dry goods merchants. His father was one of the pio-
neer members of the Board of Trade, and established the house as
a general commission concern in 1855. Charles was the youngest
son, and did not become identified with the business until 1872, and
at that time associated himself with his two brothers, Albert and
ic68 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Nathan, who were about to rebuild the establishment upon the ruins
caused by the great fire of the preceding year.
In 1872 the nature of the business was changed from that of a
general commission house to the exclusive handling of seeds. It was
incorporated in 1888 as the Albert Dickinson Company, and since
that year Charles Dickinson has been its vice president. His ability,
accompanied by hard work, have given him high standing, and made
him especially valuable as a general representative of the house. In
its interests he has made long journeys abroad. His first trip was
taken in 1880, when he spent several months in Europe, his travels,
three years later, extending into Africa. In 1894-5 he spent ten
months in Russia, Germany, France, Denmark, Turkey and other
countries of continental Europe. About twelve months in 1900-1
were also spent in Europe on business connected with the firm, of
which five months were passed in Russia with his family. While
these travels have been mostly of a business nature, he has not failed
to visit points of classic and historic interest, so that he has both
broadened his own character and accomplished a fine work in extend-
ing the business and reputation of the house.
Mr. Dickinson has been identified, in a leading way, with the
Chicago Dock Company for many years, having been a director since
1889, and vice president since 1895. He was a Chicago pioneer in
the use of phonographs and automobiles, and has been interested in
their manufacture. At the present time Mr. Dickinson is vice president
of the Twin City Trading Company, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and
of the American Warehouse and Trading Company, of New Jersey.
His membership in commercial bodies embraces the Chicago Board of
Trade, New York Produce Exchange, Minneapolis Chamber of Com-
merce, Duluth Board of Trade and St. Louis Chamber of Commerce,
while his identification with social and political organizations is with
the following: Union League, Illinois, Germania, Chicago Athletic,
Chicago Automobile, Menoken and South Shore Country clubs, of
Chicago, and the Lotus, New York and New York Athletic clubs,
of New York City. Since the organization of the Iroquois Memorial
Emergency Hospital he has been a trustee and vice president.
On September 29, 1897, Mr. Dickinson married Mrs. Marie I.
Boyd, whose children by a former husband were William T., Mar-
garet F., Henry J., Louise M. and Gordon W. Boyd. The family
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1069
residence is at No. 603 Dearborn avenue. In his religious faith, Mr.
Dickinson is a member of the Central Meeting of the Society of
Friends.
Nathan Dickinson, treasurer of the Albert Dickinson Company
since its incorporation in 1888, is a native of Curtisville, Massachu-
setts, born February 6, 1848, and is the second son
^ of Albert F. and Ann Eliza (Anthony) Dickinson.
Dickinson. tt , v . • « j
He came to Chicago with his parents in 1855, and
in 1865, after graduating from the old Dearborn School, began busi-
ness in his -father's commission house, which had been established
when the family came to the city.
Mr. Dickinson has therefore been connected with the business
conducted by Albert F. Dickinson (the father), and under the names
of Albert Dickinson (the eldest son) and the Albert Dickinson Com-
pany, for a period of more than forty-two years ; and it is needless
to say that he has been continuously at the foundation of its remark-
able development from a general commission house to one of the
largest seed establishments in the world. He is also a director of
the Chicago Dock Company.
In July, 1889, Mr. Dickinson married Miss Louise H. Boyd,
and their children are Ruth B. and Albert B. Dickinson. The family
reside at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
Henry Axtell Rumsey, treasurer of the grain commission firm of
Rumsey & Co., whose business was founded by the elder Rumsey
more than forty years ago, is a son of Israel Par-
t-, sons and Mary (Axtell) Rumsey, and was born
Rumsey.
in Chicago on the 15th of December, 1871. He
received his early education in the public schools of this city, and in
1887, when the family removed to Lake Forest, Illinois, became a
student at the university academy. In 1890 he was graduated from
the Lake Forest Academy, after which he entered the university itself,
finishing there his sophomore year. Mr. Rumsey then entered Wil-
liams College, at Williamstown, Massachusetts, and at the creditable
completion of his course there in 1894 obtained his degree of A. B.
During this period he became a member of Chi Psi fraternity.
After leaving college Mr. Rumsey entered the employ of the Holt
Lumber Company, of Oconto, Wisconsin. In 1898 he located in this
city as manager of the Chicago sales department, and subsequently
io/o CHICAGO AXD COOK COUNTY
assisted in the organization of the American Lumber Company. Of
the latter he was elected treasurer and held that office until 1901,
when he became identified with the Wabash Screen Door Company as
secretary. This position he resigned in 1903, in order to join his
father in the firm of Rumsey & Co., of which, at its incorporation,
December 13, 1904, he was chosen treasurer. He also holds the same
office in the Prairie State Grain and Elevator Company, grain ship-
pers, with an elevator at Kankakee, Illinois. The latter company was
incorporated January 27, 1905. It may be added that he is treasurer
of the Illinois Granaries Company, incorporated September 28, 1906,
and operating elevators throughout Illinois.
On June 12, 1906, Mr. Rumsey married Miss Marion E. Doud,
daughter of the late Levi B. Doud, one of the oldest and best known
live stock merchants in Chicago. The family residence is in Lake
Forest, Illinois. Mr. Rumsey has taken deep and prominent interest
in the improvement and public affairs of his residence city, having
served one term as alderman and been otherwise honored. His
religious affiliations are with the Lake Forest Presbyterian church,
and he is prominent in its work, as well as in general charitable move-
ments. For the past few years he has been especially interested in the
Children's Home and Aid Society, of which he is a director. His
politics are Republican, and he enjoys membership in the Union
League, University and Lake Forest Winter clubs.
Joseph Russell Jones, the subject of this sketch,* was born at Con-
neaut, Ashtabula county, Ohio, on February 17, 1823. His father,
Joel Jones, was born at Hebron, Connecticut, May
JD TTCCUr T
14, 1792, and after marrying Maria Dart, the
Jones
J daughter of Joseph Dart, of Middle Haddam, Con-
necticut, removed with his young family to Conneaut, Ohio, in 181 9.
Joel Jones, the father, was the sixth son of Captain Samuel Jones,
of Hebron, who served with credit as a commissioned officer during
the French and Indian War. That the latter was a man of considera-
tion is shown by the fact that he held two commissions under King
George the Second. One of these, now in possession of his descend-
ant, is dated March 27, 1758. In early manhood, Samuel Jones es-
tablished himself at Hebron, where he married Lydia Tarbox, by
* By James Harrison Wilson, LL. D.. late Major General, U. S. V.
?v
DL.I
ASTOfl, LKNOi AN*
TILDE* -ATlOHf
A
I.
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1071
whom he had six sons and four daughters. Nine of these children
grew up and became useful citizens. Samuel, the eldest son, was a
lawyer, and practiced his profession for many years at Stockbridge,
Massachusetts. He was a person of eminent learning and cultivation,
and in 1842 published a treatise on the "Right of Suffrage," which
was probably the first work of this kind from the pen of an American
writer.
From another son, Joel Jones, the first president of Girard Col-
lege, Samuel Jones, a doctor of medicine, and Matthew Hale Jones,
all of Philadelphia, were descended. A kinsman of theirs, Anson
Jones, the descendant of a third son, was the second president of the
Republic of Texas.
The family possesses a letter written at Fort Edward by Captain
Samuel Jones, to his wife, dated August 18, 1758, in which it appears
that no years prior to that date, his ancestor, Colonel John Jones,
was one of the judges who tried and condemned Charles the First.
This Colonel John Jones married Henrietta Catharine, the second sis-
ter of Oliver Cromwell, in 1623, and was executed on October 17,
1660, after the restoration of Charles the Second. His son, Wil-
liam Jones, survived him, and before his father's death married Han-
nah Eaton, then of the Parish of St. Andrew, Holden. Later he came
to America with his father-in-law, Theophilus Eaton, the first gov-
ernor of the colony of New Haven, where he filled the office of dep-
uty governor for many years. He died October 17, 1776, and he
and his wife lie buried together at New Haven under the same stone
that covers Governor Eaton.
From this brief family sketch it will be seen that J. Russell Jones
is a direct descendant from the best Puritan blood of both England
and America, and therefore comes naturally by the high qualities
which, from the first, have characterized and ornamented his private
and official life.
His father died while he was still a child, leaving his mother, with
slender means to care for and educate a numerous family, which,
before the period of public schools, was no easy task. *
At the age of thirteen, young Russell Jones (for by this name
he has always been known to his intimate friends) became a clerk in
a dry goods store at Conneaut, while his mother and the other mem-
bers of his family removed to Pecatonica (now Rockton), in Winne-
1072 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
bago county, Illinois. Russell remained for two years with his em-
ployers, giving them the greatest satisfaction by the fidelity, the in-
dustry and the careful attention to details which have always been
his most noted characteristics.
At fifteen years of age he decided to rejoin his family and seek
his fortune in the west. When this became known to the influential
members of the Presbyterian church, they endeavored to persuade him
to remain at Conneaut, and offered as an inducement to pay all the
expenses of his education for the ministry. But young Jones, with
a sincere gratitude for their partiality and benevolence, declined their
offer, and taking passage, August 12th, on board the schooner "J.
G. King," he landed at Chicago on August 19, 1838. From there he
finished his journey to Pecatonica by private conveyance, the stage
coach for that week having already gone west. He remained with
his family for two years, rendering such service to his mother as his
youth and delicate constitution would permit.
In 1840, when seventeen years of age, he made his way to Ga-
lena, then the largest and most flourishing city in the northwest. It
was the commercial center of the lead mines region, then rapidly fill-
ing up with immigrants from the older states. His purpose, of course,
was to better his condition, but as his entire disposable resources did
not exceed a single dollar, his first appearance in the scene of his fu-
ture successes was far from encouraging; but. full of hope and con-
fidence, he was glad to accept a clerkship at a mere nominal salary
for a few months. His activity, industry and modesty made him
many new acquaintances, and through the kindness of the late Cap-
tain Edward Hempstead he secured a similar place in the house of
Benjamin H. Campbell, who, a few years later, became one of the
leading merchants of the northwest, and many years afterwards
Jones' successor as United States marshal for the northern district
of Illinois.
Young Jones found in Mr. CampbelFs employment a kindly, ap-
preciative and agreeable social environment which he valued highly.
He also found a cordial encouragement in his work and an ample
field for his activities, his talents and his aspirations. This re-
gion was at that time filled with a spirit of enterprise of which he
fully partook and which developed in him the qualities which have
so highly distinguished him since as a man of keen perceptions, ster-
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1073
ling worth and remarkable abilities. Of course, his employer soon
became his friend, and noting his self-control, his great aptitude, his
unerring judgment and his singular capacity for discovering and
initiating new business, advanced him gradually until he became a
partner in the concern.
Russell Jones continued in this partnership with success and profit
until 1856, when the firm was dissolved. By this time he had come
to be regarded as an influential man of affairs throughout the sur-
rounding region. In 1846, while still engaged in mercantile business,
he was elected secretary and treasurer of the Galena and Minnesota
Packet Company, which important position he filled with entire sat-
isfaction to the company for fifteen years.
Galena early became an important center of political as well as
of business activity, and during the great contest over slavery in the
territories, which resulted in the organization of the Republican party,
it was the home of E. B. Washburne, a radical of the radicals, as well
as of other strong- partisans, both pro-slavery and anti-slavery. Ulys-
ses S. Grant was at that time a clerk in the leather store of Simpson
and Grant, and it was while thus employed that Russell Jones made
his acquaintance. They afterwards became close friends, and this
relation continued throughout Grant's life. In its earlier stages Jones
acted as trustee and financial agent for the investment of Grant's sav-
ings, and always with such care and prudence as to ensure both safety
and profit. But Jones was more than a financial adviser. Through
Rawlins, Grant's adjutant general and Secretary of War, with whom
he was intimate, he was from the start a trusted and sagacious coun-
sellor in all that pertained to Grant's earlier political career, and his
election to the presidency. Even while abroad as Minister, Jones
found means of making himself felt in behalf of honest men and hon-
est measures. Living correctly himself, he gave his advice with en-
tire frankness and independence, and always in the interest of good
government and his friend's true fame.
As an instance of their intimate relations and of the rare humor
which but few of Grant's most intimate friends suspected he pos-
sessed, Mr. Jones tells the following story :
Just before Grant's inauguration, in 1869, Jones went to Galena
with a private car to conduct the General to Washington. Their train
stopped at Altoona and when seated in the car after breakfast, Grant
1074 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
lit a cigar, and turning to Jones, said: "The indications are, Jones,
that I shall have several appointments to make within a few days,
and I am a little surprised that I have not yet heard what you are
going to want. In fact, I have been considerably exercised over the
matter, fearing you might ask for something that I might not think
you were entitled to, and would be compelled to refuse, which, of
course, would embarrass me. But I have made up my mind what
I shall do when I get to it."
"Well, General," said Jones, "I am a little curious to know, about
how you have measured me up," to which Grant replied very gravely :
"I am going to offer you the postoffice at Vincennes, Indiana !"
A man of serious convictions and independent political principles,
Russell Jones early identified himself with the free-soil movement,
and in i860 he was elected as a Republican to the thirty-second gen-
eral assembly of Illinois for the district composed of Jo Daviess and
Carroll counties. A member of but few words and fewer speeches, he
soon became an active and influential participant in the actual work
of that important body, exerting a decisive influence in all its meas-
ures of public interest, thereby winning for himself the approval not
only of his own section, but of the entire state.
At Springfield he made the acquaintance of Abraham Lincoln,
David Davis, Richard Yates, and many other leading men of the
state, and this in turn naturally resulted in his appointment by the
president, shortly after his inauguration, to the post of United States
marshal for the northern district of Illinois. At that time this was
one of the most important offices in the state, and was actively sought
by many influential men. Jones' appointment necessarily changed
his residence to Chicago, and promptly brought him into contact with
much larger interests than those which had previously engaged his
attention. It made him known to all the principal journalists and
politicians of that important city, and in due time led to an acquaint-
ance with the public enterprises centering there. His office, which in
those days was largely used by the president as a means of communi-
cating with important politicians, brought him also in contact with
many of the leading professional and business men.
Soon after removing to Chicago, Jones organized the Chicago
West Division Railway Company, and was for twenty-five years, ex-
cept while residing abroad, its president. Being a man with a talent
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1075
for looking after details, his management was both efficient and eco-
nomical, and soon brought the system of street roads under his con-
trol to a high degree of prosperity. It is much to his credit that when
the period of cable and elevated tramways arrived, his lines were
amongst the most prosperous in the city. They were, therefore, at
once sought for by promoters as an important adjunct to the system
which they sought to control and extend ; but so firm was the hold and
.so exact the knowledge of Mr. Jones as to the true value of the prop-
erties, that he obtained for a majority of the stock $600 per
share, in which every interest had an equal right to participate, and
he then negotiated a lease which fully protected the smallest as well
as the largest stockholder. In all the vexatious complications which
have since arisen, the rights of the original stockholders in this com-
pany have been safeguarded and, in substance, fully recognized.
In the midst of his official duties, both private and public, he still
found time to interest himself in commercial and manufacturing en-
terprises, which increased his standing as one of the most skillful and
influential citizens of Chicago.
Notwithstanding his business activities, he neglected none of his
duties as marshal, but performed them all so successfully and so much
to the gratification of the federal judges and the government that
Mr. Lincoln, at the beginning of his second term, reappointed him
to the position, which he held till called by General Grant to a much
more eminent one — that of minister to Belgium.
Naturally enough, on account of his personal merits, his political
influence, and his fine sense of discretion, Russell Jones became one
of Mr. Lincoln's trusted friends, and throughout life enjoyed his en-
tire confidence. He was frequently called to Washington for consul-
tation on matters of public interest as well as upon subjects of per-
sonal importance to the president.
During the war of the Rebellion, Jones made several visits to
the army under General Grant, in which many of his Illinois friends
held positions of commanding influence. Shortly after Grant's great
victory over Bragg at Chattanooga, a movement was begun by a
number of leading men at New York for the purpose of making the
victorious general the Republican nominee for president. This set
Jones to thinking, and he wrote to Grant substantially as follow: "I
have no disposition to meddle with your affairs, but cannot resist
1076 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
saying that I very much hope you will pay no attention to what is
being said about your being a presidential candidate to succeed Lin-
coln." Shortly after this Mr. Jones was telegraphed to come to
Washington, as the president wished to see him. On his way to the
train he stopped at his office, which was in the postoffice building,
and in passing his box took out several letters, which he did not look
at until he had boarded the train. One of these communications he
found was from General Grant in reply to the letter referred to above
in which the General said: "I am receiving a great deal of that kind
of literature, but it very soon finds its way into the waste basket. 1
already have a pretty big job on my hands, and my only ambition is
to see this rebellion suppressed. Nothing would induce me to think
of being a presidential candidate, particularly so long as there is a
possibility of having Mr. Lincoln re-elected."
Upon reaching Washington, Mr. Jones notified the president of
his arrival, saying he would call when it was most convenient for the
president to receive him. He was told to come to the White House
that evening at eight o'clock, which he did. As soon as the president
was disengaged, he took Mr. Jones to his private office. He seemed
to want information in regard to the general feeling out west, and
to assume that Jones was fairly well informed. It was not very long
before Jones thought he could see that the president wanted to learn
what he could about Grant, whereupon he took from his pocket the
letter from Grant referred to above, and handing it to the president,
said: "I have an idea, Mr. President, that this letter will interest
you. I received it on my way to the train as I left home. v The
president read the letter, and when he came to that part which said :
'.'Nothing would induce me to think of being a presidential candidate
particularly so long as there is a possibility of having Mr. Lincoln
re-elected," he laid down the letter and, rising, put his hand on
Jones' shoulder and said : "You will never know how gratifying
that is to me. No man knows how deeply that presidential grub
gnaws unless he has had it himself."
This characteristic incident was equally important to Lincoln and
to Grant, as it established a perfect understanding between those dis-
tinguished men.
Shortly after General Grant's election to the presidency, four
years later, he nominated his friend Jones to the senate for the post
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1077
of minister resident at Brussels, and this was no less a recognition
of his prudence and fitness for the work of diplomacy than of the
patriotic services which he rendered to the government during the
entire period of the Civil war.
It should be noted that Jones had early been chosen as the mem-
ber of the national Republican committee from Illinois, and that he
held this position for the entire period of the Civil war, during which
he gave many proofs of his capacity as a politician, a man of affairs,
and a loyal citizen.
The senate ratified his appointment as a minister, and Mr. Jones
set out, with his entire family, for his new post at Brussels, of which
he took possession July 21, 1869. He was there received with every
mark of respect and confidence. A close and attentive student, and
blessed with a remarkably retentive memory, he rapidly acquired a
knowledge of French, which is the language of the country. This,
together with his extended business experience, soon enabled him to
become accurately informed in regard to the great interests of the
country and people to which he was accredited. His first important
duty was to make an elaborate report on the cereal productions of
Belgium, which he did to the entire satisfaction of the department of
state. This was followed by the release of an American citizen from
prison, which he obtained without friction or noise, and by the nego-
tiation through his help of an extradition treaty between the two
countries. Later he lent his official assistance to the establishment
of a steamship line between Antwerp and New York, and made an
extensive report on the rail and canal transportation of Belgium.
It was during Mr. Jones' stay abroad that the adjustment of "The
Alabama Claims" against Great Britain, under the Treaty of Wash-
ington, became a question which arrested the attention of the world.
It was a time of great anxiety to every American representative in
Europe, and it is but fair to say that in this emergency no minister
was more active or effective than Mr. Jones in giving European opin-
ion a favorable turn.
A peculiar combination of circumstances that existed during the
Franco-German war placed Mr. Jones in the unique position of being
the only man outside of Paris, not connected with the German army,
who could get a communication through the lines into Paris. It so
happened that Mr. Washburne, our minister to France, was an inti-
Vol. in— 11.
io;8 CHICAGO AXD COOK COUNTY
mate personal friend of Prince Bismarck, and was the only repre-
sentative of any country who remained in Paris during the entire
siege. On one occasion, in conversation with Prince Bismarck, Mr.
Washburne remarked that being unable to correspond with Jones,
United States minister to Belgium, was working a hardship on him,
as they were the most intimate friends and for thirty years had never
been separated. Whereupon the Prince said : "If your friend will
say to you that he will not allow anything contraband of war in his
correspondence, I will arrange matters so that you can correspond
with him with perfect freedom." The result of this arrangement
was that even the King of Belgium, when he desired to communicate
with his minister in Paris, was compelled to send his messages through
Mr. Jones, the United States minister at his court.
But it would give a false impression if the reader were left to
infer that Mr. Jones was entirely given up to affairs of state during
this period of his life. While he neglected no public duty, it was a
period of rest, recreation and study for himself and his family. Hav-
ing ample means of his own, he not only kept open house and enter-
tained liberally, but gave much time to the study of literature and
art, in consequence of which he became a critic and collector of ex-
cellent taste and judgment. De\oting himself principally to the
French, Dutch and Flemish schools, he made a collection of paint-
ings for his residence in Brussels, which he afterwards transferred
to his permanent home at 2108 Michigan avenue, Chicago. It is rich
in examples from the easels of such artists as Ruysdael, Verbockhoe-
ven, Madou, La Jeune, Koekkoek, Blommers, Cussow, Binet, Schrey-
er, Jacque, Clays, Van Luppen, Perignon, Verdyen, DeConinck,
Robbe, Rotta, De Haas, Fourmois, Plumot and Lamoriniere.
In the summer of 1875 Mr. Jones resigned his ministerial post
and returned to Chicago, but had hardly arrived when President
Grant offered him the post of secretary of the interior, a position for
which he was admirably fitted, but which he felt compelled to decline,
his business interests demanding his presence at home; but when he
made this known, Secretary Bristow and the President united in in-
sisting that he should become collector of customs for the port of Chi-
cago. Yielding to the call of duty, he accepted this important office,
and held it to the entire satisfaction of the merchants of the section
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY zo;g
tributary thereto till his successor was appointed by the next admin-
istration.
This ended his career as an office holder, but he remained presi-
dent of the street railway company till 1888, when he negotiated the
lease which turned the property over to another company, which
lease provided for each stockholder getting $600 per share for half
his holdings and thirty-five per cent annual dividend on the other
half.
Although well advanced in life, he enjoys excellent health, and
is a director in the Illinois Trust and Savings Bank, the Guarantee
Company of North America, the Chicago Telephone Company and
the Central Union Telephone Company. As such he takes an active
interest in the great business carried on by those corporations. In
addition to these interests, for several years he was president of
the Pelee Club on Pelee Island, in Lake Erie, and he is also a member
of the Society of Sons of the American Revolution and the Chicago
Historical Society.
A gentleman of the old school, modest, self-contained and pru-
dent, at all times and in all places ; loyal to his friends ; devoted to his
family; a good husband, a good father and a good citizen, he has
lived the simple life and gained the affectionate regard of all who
have come within the circle of his acquaintance and influence. In-
dustrious and methodical to an unusual degree, he probably can give
a correct statement of his receipts and expenditures for every year
of his life since boyhood. Blessed by a sound and discriminating
judgment in business, he has acquired a comfortable fortune, and it
is just to say for him, what he could not be induced to say for him-
self, that while he never appeared anxious to be rich, and still less
to make a show, he has always treated the riches which came to him
as though they were a sacred trust to be used for his kinsmen of
every degree who might be surrounded by circumstances less fortu-
nate than his own. To the chosen few who have been permitted to
know his inner life nothing can be more beautiful than the spirit of
justice and generosity which has always controlled both his private
and public conduct, and which has won for him the respect and friend-
ship not only of Lincoln, Washburne, Grant and Rawlins, but of such
men as Judge Drummond, Judge Gresham, George M. Pullman and
Marshall Field. Happy is the state and city that can show such an
1080 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
array of civil, military and business leaders, and fortunate is the man
whom they loved and honored.
Russell Jones, on September 14, 1848, at Galena, Illinois, mar-
ried Elizabeth Ann Scott, the daughter of Judge Andrew Scott, for
many years a distinguished citizen of Arkansas. Blessed by a fam-
ily of six children, three sons, Russell Sheldon (deceased), Ben Camp-
bell (deceased), and Frank Ormsby (deceased), and three daugh-
ters, Lizzie Scott, Rebecca Fulkerson and Eliza Maria (deceased),
this worthy couple have had their share of joys and sorrows, and
through it all their home has always been the abode of peace and
plenty, as well as of art, hospitality and refinement. Husband and
wife, they have lived together sixty years in mutual confidence and
love, and in their declining years are not only comfortable in this
world's goods, but rich in the affectionate regard and honor of their
children, grandchildren and a host of faithful friends.
Walter John Raymer, prominent in the business and civic affairs of
Chicago, is a native of Woodstock, Ontario, Canada, born on the
2 1st of Tune, 1864, son of Robert and Mercy Ray-
Walter
t-, mer. After receiving a grammar school education
Raymer.
in his home schools he came to Chicago in 1881,
being then seventeen years of age, and at once obtained employment
with Gibson, Parish & Co. Since that time he has been engaged in
various commercial pursuits, and since October 20, 1890, has been
resident manager of the American Pin Company, manufacturers
of all varieties of brass goods, whose manufactory is in Waterbury,
Connecticut. In this capacity he is manager of the company's in-
terests in all that section of the country west of Cleveland, his
position calling for rare judgment and broad and prompt business
abilities.
Always deeply interested in the public affairs of his section of
the city (formerly the Fifteenth ward), Mr. Raymer's substantial
and honorable qualities as a citizen were turned to public account
by his election as alderman in 1898. His Republican associates of
the council soon discovered his value as a municipal legislator, and
he was chosen to many important committees. On April 5, 1904, he
was elected for his fourth term, having ably served as a member of
the finance, health department, elections, civil service and police sta-
tions and bridewell committees, as well as chairman of the committees
i
PQ3LIC LIB -
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CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1081
on railroad and river improvements. He was a member of the railway
commission from the time of its organization until he left the council.
As an alderman he assumed a firm attitude on the subject of muni-
cipal ownership, holding that the city should not own the street rail*
way tracks, but only such property as the water works, whose opera-
tion had a direct bearing upon public hygiene. He was especially
opposed to municipal ownership of the street railway system, claim-
ing that thereby the dominant party would virtually control 25,000
or 30,000 employes and create a dangerous political machine. Mr.
Raymer left the city council with a reputation for broad and useful
service, earnestness, straightforwardness and substantial ability,
which has since caused his name to be prominently mentioned for the
mayoralty. During the first six months of Mayor Busse's term he
served as purchasing agent for the city, and afterward was appointed
superintendent of track elevation, performing valuable work for Chi-
cago in both capacities. He is a leading member of the Hamilton
Club, popular, a good organizer, and a dependable man in every sense
of the word. Besides ably carrying his responsibilities as manager of
the American Pin Company, he is vice president of the Northwestern
Trust and Savings Bank.
On the 3rd of November, 1885, Mr. Raymer was united in
marriage with Miss Mary Gallagher, and the three children born to
their union are Abigail Mercy, Alice Veronica and Ellen May Ray-
mer. A lover of the domestic circle, he also enjoys a broad social
intercourse through his identification with such organizations as the
Illinois Athletic (director), Mid-Day and Westward Ho clubs, and
the Chicago Association of Commerce.
For nearly thirty years Edward William Bailey has been the head
of the leading commission, grain and provision business styled E. W.
Bailey & Co., with headquarters in Chicago, and
" -r, a branch at Montpelier, Vermont. He is sole pro-
Bailey. . .,„/., , , .
pnetor of the Chicago house, but has partners in
the Vermont branch, whose business embraces a wholesale and retail
trade in flour and grain and the operation of grain mills at Mont-
pelier and Swanton, Vermont.
Mr. Bailey is a Vermonter, born at Elmore, LaMoille county, on
the 31st of August, 1843, being the son of George W. and Rebecca
(Warren) Bailey, who were both natives of Berlin, in the Green
io82 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Mountain state. The Bailey family is of Scotch lineage. The
youngest of ten children, Edward W. Bailey obtained his education
in the public and Washington county grammar schools of Mont-
pelier, and at the age of seventeen commenced to assist his father in
the management of the home farm, on which he remained until 1869.
In that year he purchased a grocery store at Montpelier, and, in the
following year, added a grain mill to his business.
In 1879 Mr. Bailey came to Chicago and formed a partnership
with V. W. Bullock for dealing in grain on commission, and three
years thereafter he became sole proprietor of the business, retaining
his connection with his Montpelier enterprises. In Chicago Mr.
Bailey occupies large and convenient offices at No. 72 Board of Trade.
During the panic of 1893 he met with business reverses, but has since
cleared off all indebtedness, and is stronger than ever both as a com-
mercial factor and a citizen. His high standing on the Board of
Trade has been signally acknowledged in many ways, but in no more
forcible manner than by his election to a directorship and vice presi-
dency of that body.
On May 26, 1870, Mr. Bailey was united in marriage with Miss
Jennie Carter, the ceremony occurring at Montpelier, Vermont, and
the children born to them have been as follows : George C. and Mrs.
Mary Blanchard (Bailey) Meyer. The family residence is at No.
23 Oakwood avenue. In politics Mr. Bailey is a Republican. He
is a member of the Union League and South Shore Country clubs,
and is also identified with the New England Society. His religious
views are liberal, and he was for many years an earnest member of
Professor David Swing's church.
Paul Blatchford, secretary of the Central Supply Association
(manufacturers and jobbers in water, steam and gas supplies) and
of the Chicago Metal Trades Association, is a
t, native of Chicago, eldest son of Eliphalet W. and
Blatchford. ,, _ ,,__.„. '.*.... f r , • •
Mary E. (Williams) Blatchford. After obtaining
a preparatory education in this city, he became a student at Amherst
College, Massachusetts, from which he graduated in 1882 with the
degree of A. B. For eighteen years after leaving college he was
actively engaged in the lead works of E. W. Blatchford & Co., as
secretary and assistant manager, withdrawing in 1900 to assume
his present office as secretary of the Central Supply and other em-
\
TlLDr.N i-OUNDATlOXt
ANB
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CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1083
ployers' and manufacturers' associations. He also enjoys the fol-
lowing official connection with the institutions named : Secretary of
the Chicago Metal Trades Association (since 1903), also holding
a similar position with the Employers' Association of Hotel Men of
Chicago, and the Paper Box Manufacturers' Club.
In 1887 Mr. Blatchford was united in marriage with Miss Frances
V. Lord, of Bangor, Maine, and the following children have been
born to them: John, Dorothy L., Barbara and Charles L. The
pleasant family residence is on North Euclid avenue, Oak Park,
Illinois. In view of his genealogy, Mr. Blatchford is a member of
the Society of Mayflower Descendants, being its governor in 1907-8,
also Sons of Colonial Wars and Sons of the American Revolution.
He is an old and prominent Mason, and is identified with Oak Park
Lodge, Cicero Chapter, R. A. M., Siloam Commandery, K. T., and
Medinah Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He also belongs to the Uni-
versity, Westward Ho, Caxton and Amherst clubs of Chicago, being
a director in the last named. In politics he is a Republican.
Joy Morton, a leading merchant, financier and director of large
and varied commercial interests in the west, and a well known resident
of Chicago for nearly thirty years, is the eldest
Toy
.... J son of the late Hon. T. Sterling Morton, a pioneer
Morton i , _,.....
in the development of the western Mississippi val-
ley, orginator of Arbor Day, now generally observed by all states
of the Union, and which has done so much to clothe their broad ex-
panses with refreshing, ornamental and valuable groves, of untold
benefit both to the present and the future.
When twenty-two years of age the elder Morton wedded Caroline
Joy French, of Detroit, and in November, 1854, migrated to Ne-
braska, near Nebraska City, and there founded a frontier homestead,
which came to be known as Arbor Lodge. It was here that their son
Joy, who was born on the 27th of September, 1855, was educated
and reared, his early schooling being received at Talbot Hall, an
Episcopalian boarding school near his home. While still a lad he
engaged with his brothers as freighter on the plains, and at the age
of sixteen became an errand boy in the Merchants' National Bank of
Nebraska City. He had been promoted to the tellership of that insti-
tution at the age of nineteen, and soon acquired an interest in the
bank, which he still retains. Railroading next claimed his attention,
1084 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
and for several years he was identified with the treasurer's office of
the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad at Omaha, and the supply
department (of which he was the head) at Aurora, Illinois. In 1879
he came to Chicago as a member of the firm of E. I. Wheeler & Co..
then the oldest and largest salt house in Chicago. Upon the death
of Air. Wheeler in 1885, he became the head of the firm, whose name
was changed to Joy Morton & Co., the "company" being Mark Mor-
ton, a brother. For more than twenty-nine years this extensive and
constantly increasing business has been Mr. Morton's main concern,
although he has enjoyed a wide and prominent connection with the
management and promotion of many other extensive enterprises.
He is president and director of the Great Western Cereal Company,
director of the American Trust and Savings Bank and the Railway
Exchange Bank, president and director of the Morton-Gregson Com-
pany, director of the Western Cold Storage Company, director of
the Corn Products Refining Company, the American Hominy Com-
pany and the Chicago & Alton Railway Company, and president of
the International Salt Company of Illinois and the Hutchinson-Kan-
sas Salt Company.
Mr. Morton was married in Omaha, Nebraska, September 23,
1880, to Miss Carrie Lake, daughter of Judge B. Lake, and they have
two children— Jean, born in 1883, and Sterling, in 1885. Mr. Morton
is a member of the Chicago Historical Society, and is also identified
with the Commercial, Chicago, Midlothian, South Shore and Caxton
clubs, of Chicago; Chicago Golf, of Wheaton, Illinois, and the
Lawyers' and Transportation clubs, of New York. His business
office is in the Railway Exchange building, Chicago.
Thomas Edward Wilder, president of Wilder & Co. (incorporated
in 1907), leading tanners and wholesale jobbers of leather, is a
native of Lancaster, Massachusetts, born on the
* 15th of August, 1855, being a son of Charles Lewis
and Harriet Ellen (Harris) Wilder. He obtained
the foundation of his education in his native town, chiefly at the
Lancaster Academy, afterward pursuing a course at the Worcester
(Mass.) Polytechnic Institute, from which he graduated with the
degree of B. S.
Mr. Wilder never entered into practice as an engineer, but after
teaching school for about a year came to Chicago in 1875 and ob-
1 THI WW YORK
1 TVTTT"|T TO T TOXj A Ti^P I
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CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1085
tained a clerkship with Walker, Oakley & Co., well known tanners.
Under the style of T. E. Wilder he established a leather commission
business in 1878, and in the following year formed the firm of John-
son & Wilder, manufacturers of cut soles. This was succeeded by
Wilder & Hale in 1880, and in 1887 the business assumed its present
name, Wilder & Co., with himself as senior partner and John E.
Wilder as junior. The business covers a number of specialties, as
besides tanning and wholesale jobbing the firm manufactures cut sole
and shoe bottom stock. For years the Wilder brothers had followed
the co-operative plan in the conduct of their business with the best
financial and most harmonious results, making it a practice to see that
their employes prospered with them. In December, 1906, they an-
nounced a dissolution of partnership, stating the following: "The
purpose of the dissolution is for the formation of a stock company,
the better to enable the recognition of meritorious service rendered
by the young men who will become interested in the new company as
stockholders and directors, and, besides such, to recognize in a profit
sharing proposition those whose service and loyalty to the business
may warrant." On January 2, 1907, Wilder & Co. was transformed
into a corporation, with a paid-in capital of $400,000, and the fol-
lowing officers : T. Edward Wilder, president ; John E. Wilder,
vice president; Charles Perkins, treasurer; Ralph D. Griffin, secre-
tary; Messrs. Wilder and Perkins, Frank A. Gould and Louis W.
Crush, directors. Besides being president of the business which he
founded, he is vice-president of the Wilder-Manning Tanning Com-
pany, of Waukegan, Illinois, and chairman of the J. W. & A. P.
Howard Company, Limited, of Corry, Pennsylvania, tanners of sole
leather. In February, 1908, he was elected general secretary of the
Chicago Association of Commerce, having since the organization of
that body been a member of its publicity and other important com-
mittees. No public spirited citizen of Chicago need be informed
of the good work which has been accomplished by the association
named.
Mr. Wilder is also vice president for the state of Illinois of the
National Rivers and Harbors Congress, and in view of this office,
as well as of his position as member of the executive committee of
the Chicago Association of Commerce, he has been very active in
promoting the great project of a deep waterway from the Great
io86 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Lakes to the Mississippi valley. He is one of Chicago's far-seeing
citizens who has long realized its vast possibilities, and is also con-
fident that the project will be fully realized within the span of his
life.
In 1880 Mr. Wilder was united in marriage with Miss Anna G.
Tucker, daughter of William F. Tucker, of Chicago, and the children
born to them have been as follows : Marjorie, now Mrs. William H.
Emery, whose husband is also engaged in leather manufacturing;
Edward Tucker, Erskine Phelps, Harold, Paul and Harris Emory.
The family has long resided in Elmhurst, Illinois, where Mr. Wilder
is most popular as a citizen and a social factor. He has served
as president of the school board at Elmhurst, and is now president
of the New England Society of Chicago, and otherwise has been active
in public affairs. He has also been president of the Elmhurst Golf
Club, and, as to city clubs, has long been identified with the Union
League and Chicago Athletic Association. In politics he has always
been a Republican, and his religious faith is Unitarianism.
Edward Burgess Butler, one of the founders of the firm of But-
ler Brothers, is the pioneer of what has come to be known as the
wholesale mail order business. Mr. Butler is a na-
„ rive of Lewiston, Maine, born on the 16th of De-
cember, 1853, the son of Manly Orville and Eliza-
beth (Howe) Butler. When he was six years of age the family re-
moved to Boston, where he obtained a grammar and high school edu-
cation, working between school hours in a grocery store. At the
age of sixteen he left school and after filling various minor positions
with a wholesale dry goods and notion house became a commercial
traveler, being at this time but eighteen years of age. For the suc-
ceeding five years he received a thorough training in selling mer-
chandise in the United States and Canada.
In 1877 Edward B. Butler formed a partnership with his brother,
George H., and under the title of Butler Brothers, they started busi-
ness as wholesalers of notions and small wares. In the following
year they were joined by the third brother, Charles H. Butler. Their
early inauguration of the "five-cent counter plan,"' by which thous-
ands of articles were retailed at a uniform price, has proved the
foundation of the modern department store. Their second radical
departure from the business methods then prevailing was the selling
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1087
of their goods by catalogue. Instead of sending out traveling men to
solicit trade, they issued a comprehensive catalogue styled "Our
Drummer," which, being the first of its kind, and growing with the
business, has been the most original and complete of all mercantile
publications, and has taught hundreds of jobbers the use of printer's
ink.
Mr. Butler is president of the corporation formed in 1887 and
still known as Butler Brothers, although the brothers who were asso-
ciated with him in the establishment of the great business are both
deceased. There are now great distributing houses in New York,
Chicago, St. Louis and Minneapolis, these four establishments em-
ploying more than six thousand men and transacting an annual busi-
ness of nearly $40,000,000. Coolness and clearness of judgment and
a remarkable power of organization and management are imperative-
ly demanded in the chief executive of such a business — qualities emi-
nently developed in Edward B. Butler. He is also a director in the
Corn Exchange Bank, is a trustee in the Art Institute of Chicago
and the Municipal Museum, and has always been active and influen-
tial in the broad movements of public education and charity. In 1893
he served as chairman of the ways and means committee of the
World's Columbian Exposition, being also chairman of the Bureau
of Admissions and Collections. Later, for two years, he was the
active head of the Civic Federation of Chicago. For many years he
has served as president of the Illinois Manual Training School Farm
for Boys at Glenwood, and is a director of the Chicago Orphan Asy-
lum, City Homes Association, Chicago Bureau of Associated Chari-
ties, Chicago Refuge for Girls, First State Pawners' Society and the
Hull House Social Settlement. He was one of the first supporters
of Hull House, in the early nineties having erected and donated a
building in the furtherance of its objects, which contained a picture
gallery, a reading room and a branch of the public library. Besides
being identified with the Commercial and Merchants' clubs, Mr. But-
ler also belongs to such social organizations as the Chicago, Union
League, University, Midlothian, Cliff Dwellers and the South Shore
Country clubs.
In 1880 Mr. Butler was united in marriage with Miss Jane Hol-
ley, of Norwalk, Connecticut, and their residence is at No. 3408
Michigan avenue.
[o88 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
James Elliott Defebaugh, editor and proprietor of the American
Lumberman, has been prominently connected with trade journalism
_ in Chicago for more than twentv-five years, and for
Tames Elliott . . .......
J _ nearly the entire period with publications identified
with the lumbering interests. He is a native of
Williamsburg, Blair county, Pennsylvania, born on the 28th of March,
1854, son of James Elliott and Elizabeth Ann (Kinney) Defebaugh.
After receiving a common school education, at the age of fourteen
he commenced to learn the printer's trade, spending three years in
its mastery. From 1869 to 1875 ne ne ^ a case on the Pittsburg Ga-
zette, was afterward in the office of the Daily Patriot at Harrisburg.
Pennsylvania, for a time, and in 1876 was assistant cashier of the
Philadelphia Times.
In 1877 Mr. Defebaugh came to Chicago, first working at his
trade in the offices of R. R. Donnelley and the Chicago Inter-Ocean,
and after four years in his old field of employment accepted a posi-
tion with the Young Men's Christian Association as secretary of the
Burlington (Iowa) branch. In 1882 he returned to Chicago, where,
for the succeeding three years, he acted as representative of the Shoe
and Leather Reporter, of New York, and other eastern trade publica-
tions. In 1885 -he became acting secretary of the Lumberman's Ex-
change of Chicago and Lumber Manufacturers' Association of the
Northwest, during the absence in Europe of George W. Hotchkiss,
the regular official, continuing his connection with eastern and south-
ern trade journalism.
In 1886 Mr. Defebaugh founded The Timberman, a weekly trade
journal, and in connection therewith in 1893 to 1906 became respon-
sible for the business and editorial management of The Young Men's
Era, the international official organ of the Young Men's Christian
Association. Mr. Defebaugh also acquired by purchase, in 1887.
the weekly Lumberman's Gazette, of Bay City, Michigan, established
in 1873, and the same was absorbed by The Timberman. On Janu-
ary 1, 1899, a consolidation of The Timberman and The Northwest-
em Lumberman, owned by W. B. Judson, was accomplished, and
Mr. Defebaugh became president and editor and Mr. Judson mana-
ger of the consolidated paper, which became known as The Ameri-
can Lumberman. In the spring of 1906 Mr. Defebaugh acquired,
by purchase, Mr. Judson's half interest in the property and has since
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1089
been owner and director of its business and editorial policy. As at
present constituted, the journal is one of the world leaders in its
special province of journalism.
In 1883 Mr. Defebaugh married Miss Annie E. Carhart, of Chi-
cago, and of the three children born to them — Carl W., Jay Carhart
and Harold Elliott — the last two mentioned are now deceased. The
family residence is at No. 5344 Ellis avenue. Mr. Defebaugh has,
since its organization, been identified with the work of the Chicago
Commercial Association. He is also identified with the Midlothian.
South Shore, Press, Union League, Hamilton, City and Illinois Ath-
letic clubs, and has for many years been a member of the board of
managers of the Young Men's Christian Association, of Chicago.
Presbyterianism is his religious faith, and he has been for twenty-
seven years a member, and for many years an elder and trustee, in
the Forty-first Street church. He is a trustee of the Illinois College,
located at Jacksonville, Illinois.
Charles Henry McConnell is president and proprietor of the Eco-
nomical Drug Company, one of the largest houses of the kind in the
country. He is a native of Dublin, Ireland, where
„ ' he was born on the 12th of October, 1841, a son
of James Kenny and Sarah (O'Neill) McConnell.
The father was an expert accountant and bookkeeper. The family,
consisting of the parents, two sons and a daughter, emigrated to New
York City in 1847, remaining there a year and then removing to
Charleston, South Carolina. After remaining in that city about the
same length of time, the home was again transferred, the residence
being in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for some five years. Then the fam-
ily located in Detroit, and there the homestead remained for a period
of twenty years.
Charles H. McConnell was educated in the public schools of De-
troit, and also served his apprenticeship in the Tribune office, under
Henry Barns, one of the pioneer newspaper men of the west, as well
as an influential Republican politician. In 1862, however, the young-
man was drawn from that field to the more exciting theater of the
Civil war, and went to the front as a private in Company B, Twenty-
fourth Michigan Volunteer Infantry. For three years the command
with which he was identified was a portion of the famous Iron Bri-
gade, Army of the Potomac, the records of the war department show-
1090 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
ing that for the entire period of the Rebellion no other brigade in the
Union armies suffered so great a loss in killed and wounded, in pro-
portion to the actual strength of the organization. Mr. McConnell
received an honorable discharge in Detroit, Michigan, on the 8th of
July, 1865, and retains as a priceless memento of that memorable per-
iod, a handsome diamond set in a gold pendant, recording the fact
that he carried the colors of his company from Gettysburg into the
Wilderness.
Air. McConnell reached home from the war at eight o'clock at
night, and the following morning at seven o'clock was working at
his "case," later in the day assisting in the "make-up," and doing
whatever else was required of a master of his craft. In 1866 he took
charge of the job rooms of the Detroit Post, in which capacity he de-
veloped a fine trade, especially in the specialty of show printing.
On the 4th of March, 1873, Mr. McConnell came to Chicago and
established the National Printing Company, whose leading specialty
was also show printing. Of this concern, which employed fifty men,
he was secretary, treasurer and active manager, and in 1883 (the
most successful year) the business amounted to $200,000. J. H.
Haverly, the famous amusement manager, was one of its first and
heaviest patrons. Unfortunately he invested too extensively in Colo-
rado mines, and in the year named his ventures in that line culminated
in the swamping of his legitimate business. In self-preservation Mr.
McConnell was compelled to assume the management of Haverly's
Theater in Chicago, the California Theater in San Francisco, Haver-
ly's Theater in Brooklyn, and several other houses of amusement con-
trolled by Mr. Haverly. This enormous responsibility in an unfami-
liar field netted to Mr. McConnell a total loss of $320,000, and in
1884 he met with another loss of $250,000 by the burning of his print-
ing establishment. But he had learned a lesson in the Civil war.
which was never to acknowledge permanent defeat; so that within a
few years he was again firmly on his feet, and in June, 1892, established
the Economical Drug Company, which was the first in the city, and
perhaps in the west, to retail drugs at cut prices. In the founding
and development of this policy Mr. McConnell has established one of
the leading houses of Chicago.
On May 31, 1868, Air. McConnell married Miss Clara Virginia
Chope, and one child, Cora Edith, has been born of this union. The
THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY
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CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1091
family residence is at No. 4417 Ellis avenue. Mr. McConnell is a
member of the Pharmaceutical Association, is identified with the Chi-
cago and Illinois Athletic clubs, and is prominent in the Grand Army
of the Republic. In the fraternity named he is past commander of
Columbia Post, and in 1904-5 served as chief of staff to John C.
Black, commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic.
Arthur Middleton Barnhart, president of Barnhart Brothers &
Spindler, proprietors of one of the largest and most complete type
foundries in the world, was born at Hartfield,
"t, ' Chautauqua county, New York, and is a son of
[j A R "N" TT A RT
Peter and Sarah (Herrick) Barnhart (deceased).
In 1865, with his brothers, George W., Warren and Alson E., he
established himself in Iowa as a newspaper publisher, continuing
in that field for about eight years. During that period the four
brothers founded the Iowa State Leader, at Des Moines, which, about
two years ago, was consolidated with the Iowa State Register, and at
the same time owned the Muscatine Courier, Marshalltozvn Advance
and Independence Conservative, all Iowa newspapers.
In 1868, with the above mentioned brothers, Mr. Barnhart estab-
lished himself in Chicago, although for five years thereafter he and
his brothers continued actively in the Iowa newspaper field. First
establishing himself in Chicago in the newspaper advertising business,
he soon perceived that there would be a great field for a thoroughly
equipped and well managed type foundry, which should meet the
rapidly increasing demand for type and printers' supplies from news-
papers, publishing houses, and many other sources originating in such
an expanding territory as Chicago and the west. In 1869, with his
brothers, George W., Warren and A. E. Barnhart, and Charles E.
Spindler, he purchased a small plant known as the Great Western
Type Foundry, the business being later incorporated as Barnhart
Brothers & Spindler. The enterprise has had a phenomenal growth,
and its business and reputation extend throughout the world. The
present officers of Barnhart Brothers & Spindler are as follows :
Arthur M. Barnhart, president; Alson E. Barnhart, vice president;
W. H. French, secretary, and M. W. Barnhart, treasurer. The house
has branches in St. Paul, Seattle, Omaha, Kansas City, St. Louis,
Dallas, Washington (D. C.) and New York; also representatives in
Nottingham (England), Manila (Philippines), India, China, Africa,
1092 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Australia, New Zealand, Cuba, Mexico and the Latin Americas, and
manufactures type in all modern languages.
Besides being president of this great business, both domestic
and foreign, founded more than forty years ago by Barnhart Brothers
& Spindler, Arthur M. Barnhart is president of the Great Western
Type Foundry Company, of Kansas City, Missouri, and of the Great
Western Building Company of the same city, as well as a director
in the National Type and Paper Company, of New York, whose
operations extend to Mexico, Cuba and the Latin Americas, in whose
important cities large stocks of goods are on sale. Mr. Barnhart
is also a director in the following corporations : Barnhart Type
Foundry, New York; Minnesota Type Foundry, St. Paul, Minnesota;
Great Western Type Foundry, Omaha, Nebraska; Great Western
Type Foundry, Kansas City, Missouri ; St. Louis Printers' Supply
Company, St. Louis, Missouri; Barnhart Type Foundry, Dallas,
Texas; Southern Printers' Supply Company, Washington, District
of Columbia, and the Pacific Printers' Supply Company, Seattle,
Washington. It will thus be seen that Mr. Barnhart's interests in
the great field of printers' supplies are world-wide.
Mr. Barnhart has shown his breadth of character by maintaining,
through the years of his residence in Chicago, a deep interest in
many of its public movements. He is on the board of governors of
the Chicago Art Institute ; is a member of the Municipal Art League,
and long served on the advisory board of the Civic Federation, and
on the executive committee of the Legislative Voters' League. He
is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science, is a trustee of Wesley Hospital, St. James Methodist Epis-
copal church and member of the Methodist Social Union, and is also
a member of the Press, Union League, City, Chicago Athletic, Cliff
Dwellers, Glen View, Homewood, South Shore Country, Kenwood
Country and Quadrangle clubs.
Mr. Barnhart has been a successful business man all his life,
has an enviable reputation for business ability and integrity,
and is now enjoying the full fruits of an active and honorable career.
He has always maintained an able and conscientious force of em-
ployes about him, who have been educated up to his ideals of clean
business methods. It is a fact that no business house in this country
Ra rnkart &f
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to
BARNHART BROS. & SPINDLER PLANT
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CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1093
stands higher for fair and square dealing than Barnhart Brothers &
Spindle r.
Benjamin F. Homer, president of the Hodge & Homer Co., is
one of the oldest and most successful hardware merchants in Chicago.
He is a native of Granville, Washington county,
\J * New York, born on the 19th of February, 1834,
being a son of Zenas and Rhoda (Beach) Homer.
His father was a Massachusetts man, while his mother was a native
of Litchfield county, Connecticut. When a boy Benjamin F. accom-
panied his parents to the western part of the state, where he first
received a common school education and afterward pursued a course
of two years in the Wyoming Academy. At the age of eighteen he
was so well advanced that he became a teacher in the public school
at Warsaw, New. Y'ork, but after engaging a year in that field re-
turned to the familiar occupation of farming. He was thus engaged
until i860, when, in company with a cousin, he entered the drug
trade at Warsaw. Shortly afterward he bought his partner's interest,
and for eight years conducted a successful business alone.
Profitably disposing of his drug business in Warsaw, Mr. Homer
came to Chicago, and May 15, 1868, bought an interest in the hard-
ware store of Morris, Hodge & Co., and about two years later Mr.
Morris sold out to his partners. The firm thereby became Hodge &
Homer, and in 1890 the business was incorporated under the style
of the Hodge & Homer Company, of which Mr. Homer has been
president since its incorporation. The house has reached a high state
of prosperity and reputation, its business embracing large transac-
tions in builders' hardware, mechanics' supplies, machinery, agricul-
tural implements, cutlery and similar goods. Besides being at the
head of this extensive concern, Mr. Homer is a director of the Prairie
State Bank, and is interested in other financial and business institu-
tions.
In 1857 Mr. Homer was married at Richfield, New York, to
Miss Emeline C. Firman, a native of that place, and the two children
born to them are Florence Elizabeth and Fred Matthews Homer, the
latter being engaged with his father in business. The family resi-
dence has been in Evanston for many years. The elder Homer has
long been a leader in the work of the Congregational church. For
many years he was a member of the Union Park Congregational
Vol. Ill— 12.
ro94 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
church, and for a decade was a trustee and deacon of the Evanston
First Congregational church. He is also identified with the Congre-
gational Club and the New England Society. Mr. Homer cast his
first vote for the Republican party, which was organized the year
after he attained his majority, and he has remained a member of the
great political organization ever since.
For twenty years an active and successful commission merchant
in grain, and one of the leading members of the Chicago Board of
Trade, John Hill, Jr., has acquired prominence
-tt t within the past decade as a vigorous opponent of
bucket shops and all illegal trading. He is a native
of Peru, Illinois, born on the 23rd of November, 1856, son of John
and Elizabeth (Donahue) Hill. Being brought by his parents to
Chicago when a child of five years, he was educated in the public
schools of the city, and at the age of sixteen years entered the office
of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company, being
connected with the cashier's department for four years. In 1876
Mr. Hill became identified with the grain commission house of
McLandburgh & Co., and continued in their employ for some five
years. In 1879 he had been elected to membership on the Board of
Trade, and in 1881 established a business of his own. During this
period of his career, which terminated in 1897, he became known
as one of the most energetic, straightforward and able members of
the Board, and for the last eight years of his active participation in
its transactions he was a member of the firm of McCourtie, Hill &
Co.
In 1892 Mr. Hill was first elected a director of the Chicago Board
of Trade, and was re-elected in 1895, serving as chairman of the
Bucket Shop committee in 1896-8. In the meantime his able and
effective opposition to irregular trading had attracted earnest atten-
tion, which extended over the city and even beyond. The demand
for his services in the efforts of good citizens to suppress gambling
in all its forms became so insistent and general, that in 1897 he with-
drew entirely from business on the board of trade to devote himself
to this field of reform. In 1896 he had been chosen chairman of
the committee on gambling of the Civic Federation of Chicago, and
up to the present time has been one of the best known figures in
the west engaged in the anti-gambling crusade. In 1905 he estab-
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1095
lished Hill's National Reporting Company, which furnishes commer-
cial information to bankers, brokers, and investors, and has already
developed an extensive business in its specialty.
In May, 1881, Mr. Hill married Miss Nellie M. Graham, daugh-
ter of Charles H. and Dorothy (Douglas) Graham, and the two chil-
dren born to their union are Dorothy and Jessie. The family resi-
dence is at No. 6049 Kimbark avenue. Mr. Hill is identified with
the Masonic fraternity, and is a popular as well as a noteworthy
member of the community.
Augustus Alvord Carpenter, one of the founders of the vast
lumber trade of Chicago and the northwest and a citizen who for
more than forty-five years has also been a prac-
A TTr , T T CTTTC A
„ tical supporter of the higher life of the western
metropolis, is now retired from business, and in
his eighty-third year, he is justly entitled to the rest and
recreation of a successful, veteran and honored member of the com-
munity. Mr. Carpenter has had the wisdom to devote much of his
time and means to the furtherance of those municipal reforms which,
in spite of all outside detractions, have maintained the standing of
Chicago as an advanced metropolis of the world. He has been
thereby wise, for he has added to his remarkable business career the
honor of disinterested and elevated citizenship.
Augustus Alvord Carpenter is a native of Chateaugay, Franklin
county, New York, born on the 8th of June, 1825, son of Alanson
and Guiaelma (Nichols) Carpenter. His earlier years were spent
upon the home farm and in the district schools of his neighborhood,
and at the age of seventeen he commenced a career extending over a
decade, which was an experimental period of his life devoted to
farming and general merchandising in the Empire state. In 1852,
with his brother, he joined the California gold seekers by the ocean
and isthmus route. While on the coast for three years he engaged
both in mining and trading, most of this period being spent at Rose's
bar, on the Yuba river near Marysville. In 1855 he returned to the
east and soon afterward settled at Monroe, Wisconsin, where he
engaged in the dry goods and cattle business for the succeeding four
years.
When the effects of the panic of 1857 had virtually subsided, Mr
Carpenter entered into the field of operations of which for so many
1096 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
years he was one of the great masters of the northwest. In 1859,
with his brother William O., he established a retail lumber yard at
Monroe, and in the following year the two purchased an interest in
the business of Kirby and Stephenson, who were then operating a
mulay mill at Menominee, Michigan, and a retail yard at Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. The members of the original firm were Abner Kirby,
a pioneer of the Cream City, and S. M. Stephenson, of Menominee,
who afterward became one of the largest lumbermen in the north-
west and very prominent in Michigan politics. The addition of the
Carpenter brothers changed the firm name to Kirby, Carpenter &
Company, which in 1872 was incorporated under Illinois laws as "The
Kirby-Carpenter Company," and notwithstanding that Mr. Kirby
withdrew in 1880, the corporate name remains the same and Augustus
A. Carpenter is still president of the company. The original mill
at Menominee consisted of a single saw, with a yearly capacity of
2,000,000 feet, and the first stock of the incorporated company
amounted to $500,000, with a surplus of $362,000 and timber re-
sources of 400,000,000 feet. In the early nineties three large mills
were in operation with a cutting capacity of 115,000,000 feet per
year; the surplus had reached $3,871,000 and the company held some
800,000,000 feet of standing timber. About a thousand men were
employed on an average, and a large grist mill was constantly run-
ning to supply feed for the 400 horses and mules used in the various
departments. In addition, there was a planing mill and several dry
kilns, and the vast lumber yards in Chicago formed a leading feature
of the city's industries.
In 1862 Mr. Carpenter took up his residence in Chicago and soon
afterward a lumber yard was opened at the junction of the north
branch with the main river, and soon much of the Milwaukee trade
was attracted to this point. At the outset the sales amounted to
about 10,000,000 feet per annum. In 1868 a new mill was erected,
its capacity increased from time to time, and in 1892 the sales at the
Chicago yards had reached 134,000,000 feet annually. From the
time of his coming to Chicago Mr. Carpenter made this city the
headquarters of all his interests, the manufacturing portion of which
has been actively conducted at Menominee for many years. Long-
prior to that time a large yard was maintained in the lumber district
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1097
of Twenty-second street, where the bulk of the mill product was
sold to country dealers.
Mr. Carpenter was for many years a broad and active figure in
the great lumber interests which center at Menominee, Michigan,
and was one of the earliest and most successful developers of the
mineral resources of the Superior region. For years he was presi-
dent of the Lumbermen's Mining Company of Iron Mountain, Michi-
gan; was for some time president of the Lumbermen's National
Bank of Menominee, and was largely interested in the Electric Light
Railway and Power Company of Menominee. In Chicago he became
one of the incorporators of the Lumbermen's Exchange, was elected
vice-president in 1876 and president in 1882, and served continuously
on the executive committee until 1888.
Although Chicago was abandoned as a distributing point by the
Kirby-Carpenter Company, it remained the executive and financial
center of Mr. Carpenter's widely extended interests and he continued
to be identified with the city in many lines of activity. He has served
for many years as a director of the First National Bank of Chicago
and has been president of the Citizens' Association, as well as of the
Union and Commercial clubs of that city. In 1863 Mr. Carpenter
was wedded to Miss Elizabeth K. Kempton, of New Bedford, Massa-
chusetts, and the children born to them were : Augustus A. Carpen-
ter, Jr., now prominently engaged in the lumber and tie business;
and Amie, wife of John E. Newell, a resident of Chicago.
Augustus A. Carpenter, Jr., who for years was one of the promi-
nent members of the younger generation of lumbermen in the west, is
a native of Chicago, born on the 9th of February,
_ 1868, son of Augustus A. and Elizabeth (Kemp-
( ARPT^^TT<*R
T ton) Carpenter. His father is one of the business
pioneers of the northwest, a founder both of its
lumber trade and its mineral industries, having been a resident of
Chicago since 1862 and a leader in both its commercial and civic
development. In view of the wide influence of the elder man, his
biographical record is published preceding this.
The junior Carpenter received his education in the private schools
of Chicago, and when nineteen years of age entered the yard of the
Kirby-Carpenter Company at Menominee, Michigan, to learn the
business "from the bottom up." This was his literal experience, for
1098 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
he commenced his career at the bottom, gradually mastering all the
details of sorting, piling and shipping, with the later responsibilities
of superintendent of the mills, and finally those of general manager
of the entire business. In 1896 he became associated with the Texas
Tie and Lumber Preserving Company, of which he was the vice-
president and manager. He held the same office with the Tonty
Lumber Company, and in 1903 was elected vice-president of the
Ayer & Lord Tie Company. At the present time Mr. Carpenter is
also a director of the First National and Security banks of Chicago
and president of the Grueby Faience Company of Boston, Massa-
chusetts.
On November 17, 1897, Mr. Carpenter was married to Miss Alice
Keith, and two children have been born to them, Keith and Alice
Elizabeth Carpenter. The family residence is in Lake Forest, Illi-
nois, and Mr. Carpenter has membership in the Onwentsia, Saddle
and Cycle, University and Chicago clubs.
George Tyler Burroughs, president of the American Battery Com-
pany, was born in Warren, Massachusetts, on the 13th of October,
1833, being a son of Abner Tyler and Mary (Rice)
„ Burroughs. He obtained his education entirely in
Hi JRROIJC HS
the Old Bay state — first, in the public schools of his
native town, then at Munson Academy and finally at Quaboag Acad-
emy, the last named also a Warren institution. At the outbreak of the
Civil war he joined the Union forces as a private of the Seventy-first
Regiment, New York State Militia, and thus served at the first battle
of Bull Run. At the first and second engagements at Fredericksburg
he served on the general brigade staff at headquarters. Later he
enlisted in the Forty-third Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry,
was elected first lieutenant, and before the conclusion of the war Mr.
Burroughs had been promoted successively to captain, assistant com-
missary of subsistence, staff captain and brevet major.
In 1868 Mr. Burroughs came to Chicago and engaged in business
as a distiller of alcohol and spirits, distilling and rectifying under the
name of the Phoenix Distilling Company and Abel Ames & Co. He
was thus engaged for twenty-seven years, or until 1895. For the
last two years of this period he had been identified with the American
Storage Battery Company, and in 1896 was elected president of the
company.
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
1099
On February 23, 1863, Mr. Burroughs was united in marriage
with Miss Mary Evelyn Zieger, of Columbus City, Iowa, and the fol-
lowing are their children: George Tyler, Jr., Henry Studley, Frank
Coleman and Edgar Rice. The family residence is at No. 493 Jack-
son boulevard. In politics Mr. Burroughs is a Republican, He is a
Mason of the Knight Templar degree, and a charter member of the
Loyal Legion, a member of an Illinois club and of George H. Thomas
Post, No. 5, G. A. R.
Those who are familiar with the details of the operations of the
JAMES H. ASHBY.
great Chicago stock yards are ready to admit that their superintendence
must involve executive ability of the highest order,
James H. wn ii e those who are more thoroughly posted are
filled with admiration at the clock-like regularity and
facility with which business is transacted through them. The strong
and active brain of James H. Ashby is largely responsible for this
remarkable work, of which he has been in charge for twenty years,
as superintendent of the Union Stock Yards and Transit Company.
James H. Ashby is a native of the Empire state, born in Dutchess
iioo CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
county, on the 17th of November, 1847. He is a son of James N. and
Sarah (Van Benschoten) Ashby, and remained with his parents upon
the home farm until 1880. In the vear named he came to Chicaeo
and entered the employ of the Union Stock Yards as yardmaster, a
position he held for about six years. In 1886 he was appointed as-
sistant superintendent, but so readily proved his ability in that posi-
tion that in the following year he was advanced to the superintendency.
He not only holds that position, but is president and director of the
North Avenue Manufacturing Company and Amity Building and Loan
Association, and director of the Live Stock Exchange National Bank,
Stock Yards Savings Bank and Union Rendering Company.
In 1872 Mr. Ashby was united in marriage with Miss Maria S.
Rogers, of Dutchess county, New York, and their residence is at No.
361 Oakwood boulevard. Mr. Ashby is fond of driving and all forms
of outdoor recreation, being a member of the Kenwood, South Shore
Country, Saddle and Sirloin, and the Gentlemen's Driving clubs, the
last named an organization of Wheaton, Illinois. In politics, he is
an independent Republican.
Alfred Landon Baker, senior member of the firm of Alfred L.
Baker & Co., stock and bond brokers, is a native of Boston, Massachu-
setts, born on the 30th of April, 1859, his parents
being Addison and Maria (Mudge) Baker. He was
educated in Lynn, Massachusetts, graduating from
the local high school in 1876. After studying law in the office of
George W. Smith, of Boston, in 1881 he was admitted to the bar of
Essex county. At first he formed a partnership with John R. Bald-
win, and under the firm name of Baldwin and Baker practiced his
profession in Lynn for some three years. During this period of his
career he served as a member both of the city council and school
board, and was interested in public enterprises of every kind.
In 1886 Mr. Baker became a resident of Chicago, associating him-
self with Louis M. Greeley and, as senior member of the firm, Baker
and Greeley, engaging successfully in the practice of law until 1895,
when he retired to enter the financial field.
Since the year above named Mr. Baker has been either a banker,
or a stock and bond broker. He at once became a member of the
Chicago Stock Exchange, and later of the Chicago Board of Trade
and the New York Stock Exchange. In January, 1899, he was joined
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY iioi
by Solomon Sturges and Hugh McB. Johnston in the formation of the
present firm of Alfred L. Baker & Co., which has always been one
of the prominent stock brokerage firms of the city. From 1898 to
1900 inclusive, Mr. Baker served as president of the Chicago Stock
Exchange, and personally is widely known and honored. He is popu-
lar socially, and is a member in such standard organizations as the
Chicago, Union League and University clubs, and was for five years
president of the Onwentsia Club in Lake Forest; also president of
the Merchants' Club in 1905. He is vice president of the National
City Bank.
Mr. Baker's wife was formerly Miss Mary Corwith, of Chicago,
to whom he was married in 1894, and two daughters have been born
to them, Isabelle and Mary. The family residence is at Lake Forest.
Illinois.
Myron Jay Carpenter, president of the La Grange Stone Com-
pany, saw service for many years as a railway employe and official.
He is a native of Illinois, born in Caledonia, on the
J" 1 2th of April, 1850. When he was nineteen years
of age he commenced his railroad career as a tele-
graphic operator with the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway
Company. Subsequently he served as cashier and still later as agent
of the Chicago & North-Wetsern Railway Company, at Chicago, this
period of his career covering fourteen years. He was then advanced
to the division superintendency of the Chicago, St. Paul & Kansas
City Railway, and in 1888 he became general manager, and in 1889
president of the Duluth & Iron Range Railroad.
In 1892 Mr. Carpenter was chosen president of the Chicago &
Eastern Illinois Railway, remaining at the head of its affairs for ten
years, and from 1902 until September, 1904, he held the office of vice
president and general manager of the Pere Marquette Railroad Com-
pany. In 1906 he purchased the business of the La Grange Stone
Company, of which he is the president and owner.
Mr. Carpenter's wife was formerly Miss Rebecca Whittlesey,
daughter of Rev. John E. Whittlesey. Her father was a native of
New Britain, Connecticut, was educated in the east, and at an early
day went to Iowa as a home missionary. Mrs. Carpenter has naturally
taken a deep and active interest in mission work. Mr. Carpenter has
been a strong and constant factor in the activities of the Young Men's
uo2 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Christian Association, especially in the railway branch of the work,
and is a director and assistant treasurer of the Chicago Central Young
Men's Christian Association. He is a member of the Chicago Club,
and his home is at La Grange, one of Chicago's most attractive sub-
urbs.
George Mackensie Brill, consulting mechanical and electrical engi-
neer, has been actively engaged in his profession since his graduation
from the engineering department of Cornell Univer-
7 sity in 1891, with the degree of M. E. From 1891
to 1896 he was Engineer of Tests for the Solvay
Process Company at Syracuse, New York ; was chief engineer Solvay
Process Company, Detroit, Michigan, 1896-97; was general engineer
with Swift & Co., 1897 to 1900, and since the latter date has been
located in Chicago practicing as consulting engineer.
Mr. Brill, whose career as an engineer may be said to have begun
with the period of most phenomenal development in technical profes-
sions, and whose fifteen years of successful experience gives him a
place of prominence in his line, was born in Poughquag, New York,
March 24, 1866, a son of Thomas and Mary Jane (Hurd) Brill, his
lineage being Dutch on the paternal and Scotch on the maternal.
After a common school education he attended Wesleyan Academy at
Wilbraham, Massachusetts, and later entered Cornell University.
Mr. Brill is a member of the American Society of Mechanical En-
gineers, being manager of the same from 1904 to 1907. He is a fel-
low of the American Association for the Advancement of Science,
and a member of the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Edu-
cation, and of the Western Society of Engineers. Also a member
of the Union League Club and Engineers' Club of Chicago, and the
Columbia Club of Indianapolis. His wife, to whom he was married
June 1, 1892, was Achsah Angeline Quick. They have three children,
Elliot M., Meredith and Roland. Their home is 6613 Harvard ave-
nue. Mr. Brill's office is in the Marquette building.
John Joseph Stream, widely known for his prominence in the grain
and elevator business, is a native of Chicago, born on the 1st of Feb-
ruary, 1870, son of Joseph and Mary Stream. He
~. J ' was educated in the public schools of the city, and
while engaging in business affairs pursued a course
at the Chicago College of Law, from which she graduated in 1892.
rUDUC L
ASTOR, LENOX '
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CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1103
Mr. Stream's business career was begun as an office boy for Charles
Counselman & Co., brokers and elevator men, and has ever since been
identified with the Counselman interests, through all changes of part-
nership and name. He is now the practical manager of their affairs,
in this capacity being president of the South Chicago Elevator Com-
pany and of the Chicago Grain and Elevator Company (operating
elevators along the line of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway
in Iowa). In the wide prosecution of these interests he utilizes his
membership in the Chicago Board of Trade, Milwaukee Chamber of
Commerce and St. Louis Merchants' Exchange, and is a leading figure
in the commerce of the west.
Mr. Stream's wife was formerly Martha Avery Clarke, to whom
he was married in Rock Island, Illinois, and one child, Edna, has been
born to their union. The family resides at No. 48 Groveland Park.
Mr. Stream's political affiliations are with the Republican party, and
he is a member of the Union League and Illinois Athletic clubs. In
his religious faith he is an Episcopalian.
George Albert Philbrick, for many years intimately and prominent-
ly identified with the public and industrial affairs of the town of
Cicero, is of English origin, the family name being
George A. descended from De Philbrique, the Norman ancestor
who fought at Hastings (1060). In both England
and the United States the Philbricks have always been identified with
the conservative, substantial middle class, which has proved the ulti-
mate salvation of both great nations. The American founder of the
family was Thomas Philbrick, a ship carpenter who in 1630 came from
Lincolnshire and settled in Watertown, Massachusetts. One branch
of the family was afterward planted in New Hampshire, Simon, the
father of our subject, being born in Ossipee, that state, in 1801. From
Ossipee he removed to Corinna, Maine, where he passed the remainder
of his life as a farmer, and a moral and deeply religious man. He was
a prominent Free Will Baptist, his house being thrown open freely
to the clergymen of that denomination. As he was amiable and
lovable, as well as just, substantial and religious in the highest sense
of the word, his death on June 19, 1876, was deeply and widely
mourned. Three children were born to his marriage with Lovica
Young, who survived him until 1888.
George A. Philbrick, son of the above mentioned couple, was
no4 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
born at Corinna, Maine, on the 28th of January, 1832. He obtained
his education in the schools of Corinna and Foxcroft, teaching for sev-
eral years in Maine, Delaware and Maryland before coming to Illinois
to follow the same vocation in this state.
Mr. Philbrick came to Illinois in 1857, and for seven years taught
in the state — one year in Adams county and six years as principal at
Hamilton, Hancock county. In 1864 he became a bookkeeper for
Gafford & Co., Iowa pork packers, and in 1865 located in Chicago.
In 1868-9 ne taught school in that portion of Cicero now included
within the city, and during a portion of the time filled the office of
town clerk. From that time until the present, or for a period of four
decades, he has been one of Cicero's most influential citizens. His
services as town clerk extended over four and a half years, and he
has served either as treasurer of the school board, or treasurer of the
school fund, since April, 1874. During this unusual term of service
as school treasurer Mr. Philbrick has handled something like $8,000,-
000 of the public funds without a serious complaint as to prompt-
ness, and none whatever as to honesty.
Says one account of Mr. Philbrick's services : "Investiture with
office of public responsibility and trust is, however, but one of many
ways in which his fellow-citizens have attested their faith in his keen
intelligence, his sound business sense and his unquestionable integrity.
Upon the organization of the Cicero Building and Loan Association
in 1886, Mr. Philbrick was elected a director. For four years he was
the company's treasurer, and was its secretary from 1891 to 1901,
when he resigned. He is a man of rare mental endowment, his per-
spicacity and memory being particularly remarkable. At the time of
the great Chicago holocaust of 1871, he was invested with many finan-
cial responsibilities of weighty and intricate character, and during the
months which followed that disaster these qualities were exemplified
in a notable degree. At that time he was town clerk and ex-officio
secretary of the Board of Trustees of Cicero ; secretary of the Chicago
Asphalt Company, secretary of the treasurer of the Chicago & Joliet
Gravel Company; secretary, treasurer and supervisor of the town, and
secretary of the Union Park Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of Chicago. In
all these capacities he was the principal keeper of accounts, and in the
fateful blaze of October, 1871, more than $1,500,000 evidences of in-
debtedness, in the form of books of original entry and negotiable or as-
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1105
signable documents which had been under his care, were destroyed.
Yet so accurate was his recollection that he was able to name both
debtors and the amounts of their obligations, and, while there were
necessarily many uncollectable accounts, in no case was the accuracy
of his statement of the same, from memory, seriously or successfully
disputed. This may fairly be called a triumph of mind over matter,
and its parallel can scarcely be found in the commercial annals of any
city in the world."
On October 25, 1855, Mr. Philbrick wedded Miss Mary Hinds
Stevens, daughter of Nathaniel H. and Betsy (Hinds) Stevens, of
■Dover, Maine. Mary A. Philbrick, the child of this union, is now the
wife of Oliver W. Marble, an architect of Sandusky, Ohio. Mrs.
Philbrick passed away May 30, 1906. The deceased was a firm- be-
liever in Christian Science, and her husband retains his faith in its
tenets. The wife and mother was also an ardent worker in the tem-
perance cause, and was one of the three women who prevented the
introduction of the saloon in Austin. In 1855 Mr. Philbrick was ini-
tiated as a Mason in Penobscot Lodge, at Dexter, Maine. For ten
years he was connected with Union Park Lodge of Chicago, and is at
present a member of Cicero Chapter No. 180, R. A. M., and of Siloam
Commandery. He was treasurer of Cicero Chapter from 1878 to
1903.
The financing of large enterprises has become a noteworthy
specialty in metropolitan communities, and few stand higher in the
Chicago field than Clement Laverne Boon. By the
-r> logic of education and experience he has attained
Boon. te , . , , t ,
such standing, for he has not only enjoyed a train-
ing in the law but in the detailed handling of investments and securi-
ties. He is a native of Hamilton, Madison county, New York, being
the son of William H. and Sarah C. (Staples) Boon. Clement L.
graduated from the Hamilton public schools and later became princi-
pal of Lowell's Commercial College, of that place. This position he
held for two years, devoting all his spare time to the study of law
under Hon. Neri Pine, of Binghamton. Later he entered the law
office of Hon. Alexander Cummings, and in May, 1877, was admit-
ted to the New York bar.
After engaging in general practice for some time Mr. Boon ac-
cepted the position of private secretary and general agent for Hon.
i too CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Sherman D. Phelps, of Binghamton, and thus became familiar with
his large banking and other interests, acquiring at the same time
valuable general information as to the judicious and successful con-
duct of such affairs. After the death of Mr. Phelps he removed to
the west and was engaged until 1893 in the handling of investments
for large English and Scotch companies. In the year mentioned
Mr. Boon came to Chicago and has since conducted a large business
in the handling of municipal bonds and the capitalization of gas,
electric light and traction companies. For several years he has been
engaged almost exclusively in financing traction and steam railways
and handling high-grade securities, the style of his house bemg C. L.
Boon & Company.
Frederic William Upham has been long recognized as a Chicagoan
not only of substantial and broad usefulness, but possessed of those
„ TTr special talents founded on common sense which
Frederic W. * ., , , ,
-ry the community can always rely upon for the fur-
therance of its best practical interests. Irrespective
of politics or occupation, his ethical standard of life is high, while as
a business man and an exponent of Republicanism his personal char-
acter has had a tendency to honor both fields of activities.
Mr. Upham was born in Racine, Wisconsin, on the 29th of Janu-
ary, 1861, a son of Calvin H. and Amanda E. (Gibbs) Upham. The
early educational advantages which he received in his native city
were supplemented by attendance at Ripon (Wisconsin) College, and
leaving that institution in 1880 he entered the employ of the Upham
Manufacturing Company, of which his uncle, William H. Upham
(governor of Wisconsin from 1895 t0 ^97) was president. His
relations with that - corporation were continued until 1894, during
which period he served in all capacities from lumber inspector to
general manager. In the last named year he removed to Chicago and
organized the Fred. W. Upham Lumber Company, of which he has
since been the president. He is also senior member of the firm
Upham and Agler, hardwood lumber merchants; vice-president of the
Peabody Coal Company and the Pawnee Railroad Company, the
Peabody Mining Company and the Southern Illinois Mining & Wash-
ing Company.
As a Republican, Mr. Upham is an active, honorable and reliable
worker in party and public affairs, and has served as its representative
n /vu
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PUBLIC
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CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1107
in many important positions, both in Wisconsin and Illinois. He was
a delegate from- the Eighth Wisconsin district to the National Repub-
lican convention at Minneapolis in 1892, and served as alderman
from the Thirty-second ward of Chicago in 1898. He resigned the
latter office at the following November election, by which he became
a member of the Cook County Board of Review. He entered upon
the duties of that position on the 1st of January, 1899, and has con-
tinued as its incumbent by subsequent elections to the present time.
No property owner needs to be told that there are few positions which
require greater patience, fairness and broad judgment than that which
Mr. Upham has so creditably filled. His firm and high standing
with the Republican party has been further verified by his recent
selection as chairman of the local committee of the national managing
body.
The family relations of Mr. Upham connect him with the Society
of Colonial Wars, Sons of the American Revolution and the Military
Order of the Loyal Legion, and he belongs to the following clubs:
Mid-Day, Union League, Chicago, Chicago Athletic, Hamilton,
Lincoln, Marquette, Commercial, Germania, Press, Glen View and
South Shore. Mr. Upham's wife was formerly Miss Helen Hall, to
whom he was married at Cedar Rapids, Iowa. His residence is at
No. 100 Astor street.
In the reorganization of the Chicago Board of Education follow-
ing the election of Mayor Busse in 1907, no appointment gave more
^ „ general satisfaction than that of Daniel Ross Cam-
Daniel R. 1 r 11111
~ eron, who for twenty-two years had been closely
Cameron. '_.„.,'
and mfluentially identified with the public systems
of education, both of the city and the county. As a man his mind had
always been open to the consideration of proposed improvements in
methods of teaching and general administration, and, as one of the
staunch business men of the city who for nearly forty years had
guided a rapidly expanding business through perils both usual and
unusual, he had faithfully considered all educational questions from
the standpoint of general utility. For the sake of being thought
radical or original Mr. Cameron never pursued a course which might
jeopardize the best interests of practical education for the masses of
the children who depended upon the public systems of instruction ;
therefore because of his long and valuable experience and his thought-
no8 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
ful conservatism the public generally hailed his appointment as a wise
municipal act.
As is demonstrated by his name, Mr. Cameron is of ancient
Scotch ancestry, but was born in Summerstown, Ontario, Canada,
on the iqth of August, 1836, his parents, who were also natives of
the Dominion, being Daniel and Isabella (Ross) Cameron. Various
members of his mother's family have also been conspicuous in the
annals of Scotland, and both Camerons and Rosses number some of
the great divines, scientists, educators and statesmen of America and
Great Britain. In 1848 the parents removed with their family to
Fort Covington, Franklin county, New York, where they spent the
remainder of their long and honorable lives, the father dying at the
age of eighty-four and the mother at seventy-three.
Owing to the better educational advantages which he could there
obtain, Daniel R. Cameron was educated in the schools of Williams-
town, Ontario, until he was sixteen years of age, evincing in his youth
those qualities which distinguish his nationality and his character as
a man — marked mental power, indomitable perseverance and a faculty
of inspiring in others the confidence of success which he always felt
himself. At the age of sixteen he returned to Fort Covington and
there taught school for a year ; then became a clerk in the store of
W. L. Streeter, and after Mr. Streeter's retirement from business,
he entered the employ of Manning & Tuthill, of that place. After
being connected with this firm for five years he resigned his position
and formed a partnership with James Cameron, his brother, and
under the style of James and D. R. Cameron a business in general
merchandise was profitably conducted from 1857 to i860, when the
latter formed similar relations with Mr. Ware. In 1863 D. R. Cam-
eron closed his business at Fort Covington and came to Chicago.
Mr. Cameron's first business connection in Chicago, formed soon
after his arrival, was for a short time with the Chicago & North-
western Railway and then with Culver, Page and Hoyne, the sta-
tioners, and he remained with them as a salesman until 1870. His
experience with this house covered the uncertain periods both of the
later years of the Civil war and Reconstruction, when the fluctuations
of values and the alternate depressions and "booms" tested the in-
genuity and endurance of the best business men of the country. The
training was invaluable, and in 1870 he determined to test his own
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1109
capabilities in an independent venture by forming partnership in the
same line with William A. Amberg, who, for several years, had been
a bookkeeper for Culver, Page and Hoyne. At No. in Madison
street they established the firm of Cameron, "Amberg & Company, and
in October of the following year their stock of stationery, tools, type,
implements and machines were all swept away by the great fire. But
after three days they resumed business at Nos. 12 and 14 West Ran-
dolph street, where they remained two years and became well estab-
lished. In 1873 the establishment was again removed to 84 Lake
street, and in 1878 their growing business was again interrupted by
fire.
Cameron, Amberg & Company then re-established themselves at
Nos. 71-3 Lake street, where they have since remained, increasing
their manufacturing facilities with the growing demands, improving
their machinery, keeping pace with the various new conveniences in-
troduced to the business world in the lines of record books and
furnishings, and in every way meeting and, in many respects, over-
taking their keenest competitors. The building is 40 by 170 feet in
dimensions and five stories high, and is wholly occupied by the various
departments of the concern, the trade of the house being both retail
and wholesale.
For the average man the founding and development of a sta-
tionery, printing and book-manufacturing business, which has reached
a commanding position in those lines, would be considered a suffi-
cient achievement for the employment of all his energies of mind and
body. But Mr. Cameron is not an average man, and during his
residence in Chicago has never failed to reserve a portion of his
strength and means for the furtherance of elevating public move-
ments. He was long interested in the cause of public education, and
proved its useful friend in many ways before receiving official recog-
nition from the county and city authorities. He was for six years
a member of the Cook County Board of Education, and his longer
service on the city board commenced in 1890, under appointment by
Mayor Cregier. Since then he has served almost continuously on the
Chicago Board of Education, having been twice its president, chair-
man of the high school for many years, vice-president, chairman of
school management, and a member of every committee of importance
within the organization. Is it any wonder that there is no man on
Vol. Ill— 13.
1 1 io CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
the board whose services and judgment are considered of higher
value to the progress of higher education than those of Daniel R.
Cameron ?
Mr. Cameron is a staunch Democrat and takes a constant interest
in the political issues of the times. He was a charter member of the
Iroquois Club, although not now identified with the organization.
At the present time he has membership in the Chicago Athletic Asso-
ciation and the St. Andrew's Society, of the latter having twice served
as president. He stands very high in the social circles and associa-
tions of the Scottish elements of the city, and, as must be inferred
from the above brief review of his work, is one of Chicago's most
prominent business men and useful public characters. Besides his
city residence, he has a beautiful home in Altadena, California, where
he spends his winters.
Charles Ambrose Plamondon is one of those citizens of the younger
generation who has always been proud to give his best talents and
r . most faithful service to the upbuilding of his
P MOMnoN adopted city, and as Chicago is one of the great
cities typical of modern progress his broad and use-
ful work therein stamps him as a representative American. Neither
has he been cramped as a money maker and simple business man,
but has given his strength and clear thoughts to the higher cause of
public education and enlightenment.
Mr. Plamondon is a native of Ottawa, Illinois, born on the 14th
of September, 1856, his parents being Ambrose and Cecelia (Higgins)
Plamondon. At the age of sixteen, after he had passed through the
public and high schools of Chicago, he entered the employ of his
father, who was a leading business man of the city and founder of
the A. Plamondon Manufacturing Company, established in 1859 and
large manufacturers of machinery. Ambrose Plamondon was so
closely concerned with the founding of Chicago's infant industrial
life that a sketch of him follows this.
When the elder Plamondon died, February 19, 1896, Charles A.
Plamondon was chosen head of the A. Plamondon Manufacturing
Company, and has continued to be its president, his brother George
having served as vice-president. Charles A. is also vice-president
of the Saladin Pneumatic Malting Construction Company, and is a
director of the Fort Dearborn National Bank. His father was one
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY nn
of the incorporators of the latter institution, serving on its directorate
until his death, when he was succeeded by the son. For a year
Charles A. Plamondon also acted as president of the Illinois Manu-
facturers' Association, of which he has long been a director, and,
besides his identification with the public library and the school board,
has been honored with prominence as a representative Chicagoan
upon several noteworthy occasions. In May, 1900, following the
sinking of the Spanish fleet in Manila bay, he was made chairman of
the Dewey reception committee, and in 1903 served as chairman of
the Chicago Centennial committee, which so fittingly observed the
one hundredth anniversary of the settlement of the first white men
on the site of the city.
Mr. Plamondon commenced his four years' service as a member
of the Chicago Public Library Board in 1899, and was president in
1901 and 1902, being re-appointed in 1902 and serving until Decem-
ber of that year. His work in this capacity was of the utmost prac-
tical value. Resigning from the library management, he at once
became identified with the working members of the Chicago Board
of Education. He served as chairman of the Finance committee,
was a member of various other important committees, was vice
president of the board for one year and many times mentioned for
the presidency. In all the perplexing problems of mingled education
and finance which have come before that body he has evinced an
enthusiasm in their right adjustment and a broad grasp of situations
which have always earned attention and leadership.
In May, 1879, Mr. Plamondon married Miss Mary L. Mackin,
daughter of James Mackin, of Leland, Illinois, one of the honored
pioneers of Illinois. The five children of this union are Marie, Char-
lotte, Blanche, Charles Ambrose, Jr., and Harold. Mr. Plamondon
is a Republican in politics, and identified with the Union League,
South Shore Country and Chicago Automobile clubs, and the Chicago
Athletic Association.
Ambrose Plamondon, the father of Charles A., was one of the
most prominent characters associated with the formative period of
Chicago's business and industrial activities; and it
-^ is to the everlasting credit of such pioneers that they
Plamondon. . . , . , , fe . , * 1 . . ,
were faithful to the rugged work of laying the foun-
dations of its industrial development and its commercial greatness, to
iii2 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
the utmost limit of their strength and capabilities. In stanch material
prosperity, they thereby formed a firm basis for the expansion of the
higher life, as illustrated in the development of educational, charitable
and benevolent institutions, whose wide and continued usefulness rests,
after all, on the solid foundation of money. The thoughtful reader
of local history cannot but observe that the later-day contributions
to this higher municipal life — contributions both of means and sterling
personality — have come largely from the descendants of the early
business men of Chicago. So that in more ways than one their work
will be pronounced good by generations of the present and future.
Ambrose Plamondon, who was of this type and class, was born in
Quebec, Canada, in the year 1833, and after there receiving a liberal
education settled at Oswego, New York, where he learned the mill-
wright's trade and, in 1853, married Miss Cecelia Higgins. Three
years later he came west and superintended the erection of the Ottawa
(Illinois) Starch Works, subsequently building several flour mills in
the western states. In 1859, at the age of twenty-six, he formed a
partnership with a Mr. Palmer, as Palmer and Plamondon, mill-
wrights, the business being established in a small building on West
Water street, Chicago, and the joint capital of the firm was one thou-
sand dollars, experience, ability and determination. The combination
won. At first their millwright work was largely among the distilleries
and grain elevators, but with time, incessant effort and the natural
expansion of a rapidly growing city, the business extended to the
manufacture of pulleys, gearing and shafting. In 1864 the firm moved
into quarters now included in the site of the Plamondon Company's
great plant, Mr. Palmer severing his connection with the business four
years later. The style was then (1868) changed to A. Plamondon
& Co., and retained until 1877, when the A. Plamondon Manufactur-
ing Company was incorporated, with A. Plamondon .as president,
Charles A. Plamondon as vice president, and George Plamondon as
secretary and treasurer. As stated, at the death of his father in 1896,
Charles A. became president and his brother, George, vice president.
During the later years of his life. Mr. Plamondon permitted the
active duties of the management to be assumed by his sons, under
whose management the works have been vastly extended and the spe-
cialty of power-transmitting machinery developed into a strong feature
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1113
of the business. The elder Plamondon also became widely known as
the organizer and president of the Saladin Pneumatic Malting Con-
struction Company, which developed an extensive business in the erec-
tion of malt houses under a new system, for which the company took
its name. As president of the Chicago Pneumatic Malting Company
he himself engaged in the malting industry, in which his younger son,
Alfred D., was actively associated with him.
Besides the three sons mentioned, Ambrose Plamondon was the
father of two daughters — Mary Emily, wife of John H. Amberg, of
Cameron, Amberg & Co., the widely known stationers and manufac-
turers of office devices; and Charlotte Jeannette, wife of Dr. J. B. Mur-
phy, the eminent surgeon. Thus the name of the deceased lives in
the honored children who survive him, as well as in the broad and
useful work which he has accomplished for Chicago. One noteworthy
evidence of its deep appreciation by the public was the erection, in
1905, of the fine public school at West Fifteenth Place and Washte-
naw avenue, which, in honor of the deceased, was christened the Am-
brose Plamondon school.
For the past thirty-three years Henry Styer Burkhardt has been
connected with the National Malleable Castings Company, having held
responsible positions in the business world since he
,_, " was nineteen years of age. Henry S. Burkhardt is
Burkhardt. . , , . , • „ , , , • ,
widely known and universally respected both in the
South, the West and in all other sections of the country where the lines
of his life have been cast. In the fraternal field his reputation is also
national, especially in the ranks of the Masons and among the members
of the Royal Arcanum.
Henry Styer Burkhardt is a native of the City of Brotherly Love,
where he was born July 10, 1842, and the place of his birth may
partially account for his eminence as a fraternalist. His parents were
Henry and Elizabeth C. (Styer) Burkhardt, both born in Montgom-
ery county, Pennsylvania. His father was a druggist for many } r ears
in Philadelphia, but he died in Louisville, Kentucky, at the age of
seventy-three years, his wife having previously passed away at the age
of sixty-seven years.
Henry S. was educated in the Quaker schools of his native city
and in the public schools of Louisville, Kentucky, whither the family
had removed in 1853. When quite young he became identified with
1 1 14 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
the grocery business of the latter city, and from 1861 to 1867 was
a member of the firm of Dow & Burkhardt, engaged in that line, and,
as a partner of Hall, Moore and Burkhardt, was a manufacturer of
agricultural implements in Louisville for about a year prior to locating
in Chicago.
In 1874 Mr. Burkhardt settled in this city as sales agent for the
National Malleable Casting Company of Chicago, and thoroughly
proved his capacity for getting business, retaining it and continually
adding to it. His executive ability was also so evident that he was
made assistant manager of the company, and still holds that important
position. The concern which he thus represents has many plants
throughout the country, with all of which Mr. Burkhardt keeps in
close touch, as well as with thousands of customers who are his friends
as well as admirers. Mr. Burkhardt was also one of the founders of
the Chicago Railway Equipment Company, of which he was president
from its organization in 1890 until 1906, when he resigned on account
of the pressure of his duties in connection with the National Malleable
Casting Company, but still retains an interest in the former concern.
• Mr. Burkhardt became identified with the Royal Arcanum in
March, 1880, his first office being as treasurer of Fort Dearborn Coun-
cil No. 278. He was elected Regent in December, 1881 ; representa-
tive of the Grand Council in December, 1882; Grand Regent of the
Grand Council of Illinois in April, 1884; Representative to the Su-
preme Council in 1885; Supreme Chaplain of the Supreme Council in
1886, and Supreme Guide in 1887. After filling the last named office
for five years he resigned it, to the great regret of the order, which
subsequently returned him to the same position. In 1898 Mr. Burk-
hardt was appointed a member of the committee for council work of
the Supreme Council, in 1899 was again elected Supreme Guide, and
has since been continuously retained in this exalted office. He was
also one of the organizers of the Royal Arcanum Hospital Bed Fund
Association, in 1902, and is now serving as its president.
In Masonry Mr. Burkhardt has attained the full thirty-second de-
gree (K. T.), and in consideration of his eminent services for the
order in Kentucky was elected to the thirty-third degree. But as he
was living north at the time the honor was conferred, and, in thirty-
third degree Masonry there are both Northern and Southern jurisdic-
tions, he allowed the honor to go to a resident southern member.
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1115
Outside of the fraternities Mr. Burkhardt is widely identified with
benevolent and charitable work. For the past twenty years he has
been a member of the board of directors of the Central Free Dispen-
sary, and for the past ten years its president. Organized in 1875, this
is a well known city institution of a charitable nature, designed to
throw medical and surgical relief within reach of those too poor to
pay for the services of physician and surgeon. For twelve years Mr.
Burkhardt has also served as a director of the West Side Bureau of
Charities, and is thus influentially identified with several of the most
practical organizations of Chicago, which do so much to uphold its
good municipal name.
In politics a Republican, Mr. Burkhardt served as a West Chicago
Park Commissioner from 1884 to 1891, but has never strongly figured
as a partisan.
On the 30th of March, 1863, Henry S. Burkhardt married Miss
Elizabeth Brent Montgomery, at Cincinnati, Ohio. Mrs. Burkhardt
was a native of Danville, Kentucky, where her father, Robert Mont-
gomery, was a leading merchant. The six children born to Mr. and
Mrs. Burkhardt are as follows : Alice Cary, now Mrs. David C.
Walker, of Louisville, Kentucky; Ella Virginia, Mrs. George E. Am-
buhl, her husband being a Pittsburg, (Pa.) merchant; Henry, in the
hotel business at Aurora, Illinois; Robert M., identified with fire in-
surance at Chicago, Illinois; William, with Henry O. Shepard & Co.,
Chicago, and Abby T., living at home.
Mrs. Burkhardt, whose death occurred February 6, 1907, was
born in the year 1843, an d represented a family which was really note-
worthy in American history. One of her great-great-grandfathers,
Dr. Thomas Walkes, was related to George Washington, and was
Thomas Jefferson's guardian, while another great-great-grandfather,
J. Fry, was commander at Fort Pitt, Pennsylvania, before Colonel
Washington assumed the direction of affairs at this strategic point.
Mrs. Burkhardt removed to Chicagc in 1874, and became widely
known and much beloved throughout the city because of her strong
and womanly character, her thorough culture and her many works of
benevolence and charity. She was early identified with the Daughters
of the American Revolution, and was long prominent in the best work
of the West End Woman's Club, Chicago Culture Club and the Mary
Thompson Hospital for W'omen and Children, serving for some time
iii6 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
as a director of the last named institution. Mrs. Burkhardt's religious
faith was Presbyterianism, and at her death the Third Church lost one
of its most earnest and beloved members, and the beautiful family
home at No. 6jj West Adams street, was bereft of its mainstay and
its brightest light.
Charles Henry Wacker was born in Chicago, August 29, 1856,
and is a son of Frederick and Catherine (Hummel) Wacker. He at-
tended the public schools of Chicago, and the Lake
Forest (111.) Academy. From 1873 until 1876 he
was employed by a local Board of Trade firm. For
the three years immediately following this, he attended school in Ger-
many, traveled through Europe and made a trip to Africa. In 1880
his father organized the malting firm of F. Wacker and Son, which
afterward developed into the Wacker and Birk Brewing and Malting
Company. Of this latter firm Mr. Wacker was the president from
1884 until 1901. Mr. Wacker is President and Treasurer of the Chi-
cago Heights Land Association, and is on the directorate of a num-
ber of corporations, including the Corn Exchange National Bank, Chi-
cago Title and Trust Company, Chicago South Side Elevated Railway
and others. He was also a director and a member of the Committee
on Ways and Means of the World's Columbian Exposition, is president
of the Chicago Relief and Aid Society, and governing member of the
Chicago Art Institute.
In 1887 Mr. Wacker was married to Miss Ottilie M. Glade, now
deceased; there are three children: Frederick G., Charles H., Jr.-, and
Rosalie.
Mr. Wacker is a member of the University, Chicago, Commercial,
Union League, Bankers', Iroquois, Germania, City, Chicago Athletic,
Mid-Day and Onwentsia clubs; Chicago Association of Commerce.
Chicago Turngemeinde, Schwaben Verein, and others. His residence
is No. 483 North State street.
George Mark Clark, manager of the George M. Clark & Company
Division of the American Stove Company and president of the con-
solidated organization, is one of the best known
LrEORGE manufacturers of stoves in the country. He was
born at Westminster West, Windham county. Ver-
mont, on the 10th of June, 1841, son of Mark and Sarah (Hall)
Clark. He received a public school education. In 1856, when fifteen
PUBLIC. L
AS" iOXAND
■
PUBLIC
AS
rnwiw^t
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1117
years of age, he took a position as clerk in a general store in Brattle-
boro, Vermont, and remained there until 1864, when he came to
Chicago. Here he entered the employ as superintendent of Jessup,
Kennedy & Company, manufacturers of railway supplies, continuing
with their successors, Crerar, Adams & Company, and later going
with the outgrowth of this concern, the Adams & Westlake Company.
He held the position of superintendent for twenty-one years, from
1864 to 1885.
In 1 88 1 Mr. Clark incorporated the Myers Manufacturing Com-
pany for the manufacture of Jewel gasoline vapor stoves, changing
the corporate name in 1886 to George M. Clark & Company. Gas
stoves and appliances were added to the product and as the business
expanded and more room was needed, the factory was removed, in
1897, to Harvey, Illinois. Mr. Clark was president of this business,
which he started, from its inception until 1902, when it became part
of the American Stove Company.
He remained as manager of the George M. Clark & Company
Division and was also a director and first vice-president of the large
company. In 1907 he was elected president.
On the 1 8th of June, 1872, Mr. Clark was married to Miss Eliza-
beth M. Ke'ep of Oberlin, Ohio, and the children born to them have
been Alice Keep, Robert Keep, and two children who died in in-
fancy.
For nearly forty- four years Mr. Clark has lived on the north
side and has been a member of the New England Congregational
church. In politics he is a Republican and he is a member of the
Union League and the Congregational clubs.
His residence is now 121 7 Forest avenue, Evanston, Illinois.
To have made an unusually strong impress upon Chicago, the
most cosmopolitan city in the world, is proof positive of marked
stamina and breadth of character; and it is espe-
,, T ciallv typical of her most successful business men
McLaren. .* . 1 1 , rr
and financiers that they eagerly offer to the causes
of public education and charity their strong support of means, time
and personal character, the last being in many respects their most
valued donation. Chicago has always been proud of the fact that her
strongest men of so-called practical affairs have been the foremost in
iiiS CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
leading and propelling the higher movements and institutions. It
shows that their hearts and heads not only work in unison, but that
their good practical judgment does not desert them in the view of the
great sociologists of the world that the development of all such ele-
vating influences is the most effective deterrent to vice and poverty.
One of the finest representatives of this type of American citizenship
offered by Chicago is found in the person of John McLaren, whose
special position at present is president of the International Audit
Company.
An active citizen of Chicago for more than fifty-five years, Mr.
McLaren was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on the nth of September,
1836, being the son of William and Helen (Hume) McLaren. His
father was a cabinetmaker, and in 1852 brought his wife and five
children to Chicago. In 1855 they removed to Dubuque, Iowa,
where two children were born and where both parents died, the father
in 1870 and the mother in 1859. John McLaren received a good
education before coming to Chicago with other members of the fam-
ily, learning the carpenter's trade here under the direction of Sanford
Johnson, one of the pioneers in this line. Completing his apprentice-
ship in 1857, he went to Dubuque, where he followed his trade until
the outbreak of the Civil war. when he returned to Chicago, where he
has since continued to reside.
In 1865 Mr. McLaren, after being mustered out of the army,
became bookkeeper for Colonel John Mason Loomis, who was then
engaged in the commission lumber business. In 1870 he became a
partner in the business, under the name of John Mason Loomis &
Company, and under a joint management of energy and ability their
sales reached 80,000,000 feet of lumber annually, then the most
extensive trade of the kind in the city. In 1885 Colonel Loomis
retired from the firm. He was also president of the Pere Marquette
Lumber Company, and at his death Mr. McLaren succeeded him.
After the retirement of Colonel Loomis from the firm, Mr. McLaren
formed a partnership with Thomas G. Morris, under the firm name
of McLaren & Morris, their business during the three years of its
existence reaching annual sales of 120,000,000 feet of lumber. For
a long time Mr. McLaren was also vice-president of the A. R. Beck
Lumber Company of Chicago. For many years he was a director
of the Chicago Lumber Exchange, serving both as treasurer and
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1119
vice-president of that body for several years, prior to his election to
the presidency in 1887.
Mr. McLaren's financial prominence covers a career as one of
the organizers and directors of the Fort Dearborn National Bank
and of the Milwaukee Avenue State Bank, a director of the Indus-
trial Bank of Chicago, president of the Hide and Leather National
Bank (1894-7), and vice-president of the Union National Bank until
its merging with the First National Bank. He has held his present
office as president of the International Audit Company since Decem-
ber, 1901, and his broad experience in business and finances, with
his well known Scotch qualities, broad intelligence and rugged hon-
esty, admirably fit him to be the head of such an institution, which
has peculiarly intimate relations with its customers.
As stated, Mr. McLaren has given generously of his means and
abilities in the support of educational and charitable institutions. In
1891-2 he served as president of the Chicago Relief and Aid Society,
and has taken a deep and leading part in its work since its organiza-
tion immediately after the fire of 1871. He was a member of the
Chicago Board of Education from 1887 to 1893, was during the
entire period chairman of the committee on buildings and grounds,
served as president of the board in 1892-3, and his associates finally
honored him by giving his name to the public school located on the
corner of Laflin and York streets, west side. In May, 1894, Mr.
McLaren was appointed by Judge O. H. Horton of the Circuit Court
a trustee of the important fund created by the late Allen C. Lewis
for the purpose of founding a polytechnic school, now known as the
Lewis Institute. The original fund amounted to nearly $1,500,000,
and to Mr. McLaren's faithfulness and good judgment is largely due
the founding of one of the most complete technical schools of the
west, especially in the great department of electrical engineering.
Of this well developed and practical institute of learning he has al-
ways served as secretary and treasurer. He has also done a most
useful work in connection with the Mary Thompson Hospital for
Women and Children, of which he is trustee.
Mr. McLaren's creditable military record has earned him mem-
bership in the Grand Army of the Republic, Army of the Tennessee,
and he was among the first to join this great patriotic fraternity. He
is one of those who know the meaning of war in its most democratic
1 1 jo CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
form, having joined the Union army as a private and risen through
the grades to orderly sergeant, sergeant major, second lieutenant and
first lieutenant, in December, 1864, being mustered out at Savannah,
Georgia, as adjutant of his regiment. Mr. McLaren is also identified
with the Order of the Loyal Legion in Illinois, being one of the
original members of the Illinois Commandery, and has served as vice-
commander of that Commandery. He is a thirty-third degree Mason;
was worshipful master of Cleveland Lodge No. 211, in 1870-1 ; high
priest of Washington Chapter in 1874, and eminent commander of
the Chicago Commandery, K. T., in 1875-6. He is also a member
of the Illinois and Union League clubs, and a life member of the St.
Andrew's Society, and an honorary member of the Bankers Associ-
ation. In his political life Mr. McLaren has always been an uncom-
promising Republican, and a fearless defender of the flag, whether
in times of war or peace. As an earnest citizen, he has been identi-
fied with the executive committee of the Citizens' Association for
many years, and has served for one term as president of that useful
body.
On May 26, 1868, Mr. McLaren wedded Miss Hattie A. Studley,
daughter of Captain David Studley, of Cook county, Illinois, and of
their four children three are still living, as follows : J. Loomis ;
Grace, now the wife of Philip B. Hosmer, and Jessie, Mrs. James
Simpson. Since 1870 the family has been identified with the Third
Presbyterian church.
Since June, 1901, the office of superintendent of public service
for Cook county has been held by William McLaren, a man of recog-
nized ability and efficiency both as a business man
, , T and in public service. Like his older brother, Tohn
McLaren. x , . „ , _ . , ' J .
McLaren, he is a well known figure in lumber cir-
cles in Chicago, and from a successful career in this business trans-
ferred his attention to the public life of the county and city. He
was born in Dubuque, Iowa, October 20, 1856, during the residence
of his parents, William and Helen (Hume) McLaren in that city.
He received a common school education in his native city, and then
came to Chicago to join his older brother John and began his con-
nection with business life when only fourteen years of age as an
office boy. From 1876 to 1884 he was with the John Mason Loomis
& Company, lumber merchants, rising from a minor position to a
K 1
iui
*
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1121
place on the sales force. In 1884 he was elected secretary and trea-
surer of the A. R. Beck Lumber Company, and held that office till
the firm went out of business about 1900. Throughout this time he
was associated with his brother, who was one of the pioneers in the
lumber business of Chicago.
Mr. McLaren first became interested in politics in 1884. In
March, 1901, he became chairman of the civil service commission of
the county, but served only until June 10 of the same year, when he
was appointed to the office of superintendent of public service. Each
succeeding president of the board of county commissioners has re-
appointed him to this office, as a proper acknowledgment of his
official fitness and the record he has made. He is a fine business
man and executive, and although he performs in regular course an
immense amount of work, is always courteous and approachable, so
that the machinery of his department runs without friction. In his
home district in South Chicago he has been president of the South
Chicago Improvement Association since its organization in 1893, and
president of the South Chicago Hospital Association since it was
organized in 1898. His principal business connection at the present
time is with the Rudolph-Hagenes Manufacturing' Company of Chi-
cago, of which he is secretary. He is a member of the Hamilton
and the Illinois Athletic clubs, and is a thirty-second degree Mason;
is also a member of the Knights of Pythias, and has been identified
with the Royal Arcanum since 1881.
William James Carney, controlling and developing some of the
largest lumber and coal interests in the northwest, is a native of
Ireland, born in Castlebar, County Mayo on the
P J " 20th of September, 1855, son of John and Bridget
(Fahey) Carney. When the boy was eleven years
of age the family located in Chicago, and he was educated at the
old Kinzie school and Drew's Business College. Quite early in youth
he was thrown on his own resources, entering business life as a tally
boy for the lumber concern of W. J. Frawley & Company, his wages
being four dollars per week. He remained with the firm until 1874,
when he resigned a good position to become bookkeeper for Eggleston,
Hazelton & Company, also dealers in lumber. After remaining in the
service of that company for three years, he joined the Mackinaw
1 122 CHICAGO AXD COOK COUNTY
Lumber Company (of which W. D. Houghteling was president),
h which he continued for eight years, or until 188c
While still in the employ of the Mackinaw Lumber Company,
Mr. Carney took his first step in the establishment of an independent
siness by joining his brother, the late B. J. Carney, in the forma-
of Carney Brothers, : Grinnell. Iowa. In 1885 he severed his
connection with the Mackinaw concern, and devoted his time there-
after to the firm establishment and continuous development of the
business of his firm. The brothers established yards at Grinnell,
Marshalltown, Des Moines and other points in Iowa, and in 1900,
when the business had grown to very large proportions, the establish-
ment was incorporated as the Carney Brothers Company, of which
William J. has been continuously president. At the time of the
death of Bernard J., the elder brother, in 1908, the firm employed
id men in the operation and development of its various
lumber and coal inte:
The late Bernard J. Carney, who passed away May 4, 1908, at
his home in Grinnell, Iowa, had for years been classed as among the
- business men and most honorable citizens of that state, and
- death brought forth from press and people many admiring and
warm testimonials as to the ability* and manly worth of his character.
He was also a native of Ireland, born on the 24th of June, 1852.
Coming to Chicago when he was ten years of age, he received his
education in thai and from the time of his early manhood until
his decease was virtually engaged in business with his brother, Wil-
liam J. There are few instances of such deep and unshaken brotherly
affection, withstanding through the years all the annoyances and
wearing stress f an active business career. The deceased became a
lent of Grinnell in 18S0. and that city remained his family home-
- id until his death. In 1883 he was married to Miss Ellen M.
Tibbitts, of Plymouth, Indiana, and the widow and five children
rive him. To the last Mr. Carney was a devout member of the
Catholic church.
In further tracing the bv - interests and connections of Wil-
liam J. Carney, the surviving brother, it may be stated that in 1885
he became a partner in the firm of McElwee and Carney and McElwee
& Company, of Chicago. Illinois. In 1S92 he assisted in the organi-
zation of the Edward Hines Lumber Company, in which he was for
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1123
some time a director, and in 1902 founded the Whatcom Timber
Company and United Shingle Company, both of Washington state,
of which he is president, and which together employ about one hun-
dred men. He established the Carney Coal Company, of Carneyville,
Wyoming, in 1903, and the town, which he founded the year before,
now has a population of two thousand. About half of the inhabitants
are in the employ of the coal company of which he is president. He
is also president of the Savior Coal Company, with 1,000 employes,
and of the Coaldale and Scandia Coal Companies, each of the last
two employing 500 men and all of the companies named having their
headquarters at Des Moines, Iowa. All of which goes conclusively
to show that Mr. Carney is a leading factor in the fuel and lumber
supply companies of the west. He is also interested with his younger
brother, Thomas J. Carney, in the Manhattan Lumber Company of
South Chicago.
In 1883. at Chicago. Mr. Carney was united in marriage with
Miss Teresa E. Cunningham, daughter of Peter F. Cunningham, and
two children have been born to them: Otis P., who died in 1899, and
William Roy, who is a student at the University of Chicago. In
politics, Mr. Carney holds an independent position. In religion, he
is a staunch Roman Catholic, and is active in the social and artistic
circles of the city. He is a member of the Chicago Art Institute and
identified with the Colonial. Hamilton. Chicago Athletic and South
Shore Country clubs. Mr. Carney resides at Xo. 441 1 Grand boule-
vard in one of the handsomest residences on the south side, which in
its architecture and appointments reflects both his substantial success
in the world and his tastes and talents as a cultured gentleman.
The Crighton family has long enjoyed a close and leading connec-
tion with the grain trade of Chicago, the development of which is so
vital to the substantial prosperitv of the city and its
I AMES .. . T „ . , .
~' tnbutarv terntorv. ames Cngditon is a native of
Crightox. . - -, . ,
Longforgan, Perthshire, Scotland, born 111 March,
185 1, and is a son of William and Elizabeth (Duncan) Crighton. He
obtained his education in the public schools of his native place previous
to coming to Chicago in 1867. and in 1877 he became an employe in
the grain commission house of Low Brothers & Co.
The house mentioned, with which Mr. Crighton thus commenced
his career in the grain business, had been established since 1856. In
1 12 4 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
1848 John Crighton, the uncle of James, had become a resident of
Chicago and entered the employ of Rumsey and Dole, as a clerk in
their grain and forwarding business. Later, for many years he served
as flour inspector of the board of trade. In March, 1881, he became
senior partner in the firm of John Crighton & Co., which assumed
the interests of the old house of Low Brothers & Co. His partner in
the business was Sanford A. Scribner, a member of Low Brothers
& Co., the style of the firm afterward becoming Crighton and Scribner.
James Crighton remained with Crighton and Scribner until the
death of his uncle in 1887, when he was received by Mr. Scribner into
partnership, the style becoming Scribner, Crighton & Co. Mr. Scrib-
ner died in 1901, but the business was conducted under the old name
until December, 1903, when the firm of Crighton & Co. was organized,
with Fred D. Austin, who had been with the house for many years, as
junior partner. The business includes dealings in grain, seeds and
provisions. For many years Mr. Crighton has been a member of the
Chicago Board of Trade and the Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce,
having been a director of the local body and served on some of its
important committees. In Masonic circles he is a member of Blair
Lodge, No. 393, A. F. & A. M. ; a life member of York Chapter,
and identified with Columbia Commandery and Medinah Temple.
In August, 1882, Mr. Crighton married Miss Mary Wade Hanna,
and the children born to them are Charles Hanna and James Millar
Crighton. His wife is a daughter of William J. and Jane (Wilson)
Hanna, of Chicago, her father being an influential citizen of its early
period. Both Mr. and Mrs. Crighton have long taken a deep interest
in the church work of the Presbyterian denomination. The former
has been especially prominent in Sunday school work, Erie chapel of
the Third Presbyterian church receiving his liberal support.
Smith Herbert Bracey, actively engaged in the promotion of vari-
ous railroad enterprises throughout the country and in the adminis-
tration of several valuable properties in the Ohio
Smith H. va u ey anc i t h e state of Missouri, for the past three
decades has also been one of the largest railroad
contractors in the United States. In his early life he laid the. founda-
tion of his success as a workman and a manager in the field. Mr.
Bracey is a native of Clinton county, New York, born on the 4th of
August, 1859, son of A. S. and Ann (Roberts) Bracey. When he
RK
RY
AST
riLDEN FGUNDATIC
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1125
was six years of age he was brought west by his parents, the family
locating at Galesburg, Illinois, in 1865, and there the boy received a
common school education. At Galesburg he also began railroad work
as a water boy among the laborers, advancing successively to be sec-
tion hand, road master and general manager. His services were with
the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy,
and the St. Louis & Grand Tower railroads, and in 1879 he graduated
from the position of an employe to that of a railroad contractor.
Mr. Bracey has conducted a business alone during nearly all the in-
tervening period, having constructed more than three thousand miles of
railroad (both steam and electric) in the United States and about five
hundred miles in Canada. As a builder of prominence and enterprise
he was associated with the late Jay Gould, the eminent promoter and
financier, constructing for him the important section of the Missouri
Pacific system from Kansas City to Pueblo, a distance of 700 miles.
He also built the Cheyenne & Northern road, 180 miles, and the Chi-
cago & Atlantic (now the Erie), from Hammond to Marion, Ohio;
the Aurora, Elgin & Chicago third rail system ; the Lake street elevat-
ed road, of Chicago, and many other lines, especially in the middle
west. He is president of the Cincinnati, Bluffton & Chicago railroad,
extending from Huntington to Union City, Indiana, seventy-five miles ;
holds the presidency of the Portland, Columbus & Eastern railroad, an
extension of the Cincinnati, Bluffton & Chicago road, 125 miles in
length and in course of construction; and is the head of the Interstate
Railway Company, operating a double track line (electricity and
steam) fifty miles in length, extending from Kansas City to St. Joseph,
Missouri. For five years past Mr. Bracey has been chiefly devoted to
the organization of railroads — bonding them, raising the necessary
funds for their construction, and, in every way, founding them on a
substantial and permanent basis.
On the 30th of November, 1879, Mr. Bracey wedded Miss Nellie
A. Speyer, of Bridgeport, Vermont, and their daughter, Gertrude S.,
born to them April 17, 1881, is now Mrs. Charles Blackburn, of Long-
wood, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Blackburn have three children — Ethel
Maude, Charles Bracey and Marjorie Adele Blackburn. The only son,
Smith LI. Bracey, Jr., was born August 8, 1885, and died in the bright-
ness of his youth, December 12, 1901. Mr. Bracey is a Republican
in politics ; is identified with the Masonic fraternity and the Indepen-
Vol, III— 14.
1 1 26 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
dent Order of Odd Fellows, and also belongs to the Kenwood Club
and the new Illinois Athletic Club.
John Fitch Lincoln Curtis, a stock and grain broker of high repu-
tation, member of the firm of Clement. Curtis & Company, with head-
quarters at No. 219 LaSalle street (Rookery build-
- „ ing), was born in Chicago on the 20th of December.
Curtis.
1865, being a son of John F. and Harriet S. (Wilson)
Curtis. After obtaining a public school education, he began his busi-
ness career as an office boy for Franklin MacVeagh & Co., and while
in the employ of that house was advanced to the position of cashier.
Resigning the latter position, he became a salesman with the firm of
W. S. Knight & Co., wholesale grocers, and later was placed in charge
of the dried fruit department of the house.
In 1900 Mr. Curtis entered a new field by becoming identified with
Raymond, Pynchon & Co., stock brokers, as manager of a branch
office on Wabash avenue. In 1901 the firm mentioned disposed of its
business to Lester, Kneeland & Co., and transferred its house to New
York. Upon the death of the senior partner the firm became Kneeland,
Clement & Curtis, and upon the retirement of L. D. Kneeland in
1906, Clement, Curtis & Company. As a strong and conservative
member of this firm, Mr. Curtis holds memberships in the New York
and Chicago Stock exchanges, New York Coffee Exchange and the
Chicago Board of Trade.
In June, 1897, Mr. Curtis was united in marriage with Miss Fran-
ces E. Witbeck, and they have become the parents of two children —
John Guernsey and Dorothy Frances Curtis. The family resides at
Highland Park. In his capacity as a voter Mr. Curtis has always been
a Republican, while as a social factor of the community he is identified
with- the Union League, Chicago Athletic, Exmoor and South Shore
Country clubs.
Allan Montgomery Clement, senior member of the firm of Clement,'*
Curtis & Company, with offices in the Rookery, No. 219 LaSalle street,
is a typical representative of the modern school of
~ brokerage, basing the progress and enterprise of his
Clement. , b , b f , 1 , r 1 i_ •
house upon a thorough knowledge of the business ;
so that, while conservative, he has never hesitated over a legitimate
expansion of his house. Mr. Clement is a native of Chicago, born
on the 31st of October, 1869, son of Austin and Sarah (Montgomery)
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1127
Clement. He received an education which fitted him for the practical
side of life by pursuing courses in the city schools and at the Chicago
Manual Training School, graduating from the latter in 1886.
Mr. Clement passed almost directly from school into the clothing
house of Clement, Bane & Company, continuing to be identified with
that firm for a period of fifteen years. In 1900 he became a partner in
the firm of Raymond, Pynchon & Company, and, after being thus iden-
tified for three years, was associated with Lester, Kneeland & Com-
pany for a year. Upon the death of the senior partner the style
changed to Kneeland, Clement & Curtis, and upon the retirement of
L. D. Kneeland in 1906 it became Clement, Curtis & Company. The
partners in the firm are members of the New York and Chicago Stock
exchanges, Chicago Board of Trade, and the New York Cotton and
New York Coffee exchanges. Outside of his leading identification
with these financial and commercial organizations, Mr. Clement is
well known for the deep interest which he has long taken in the
Illinois Western Hospital for the Insane, of which he is a trustee. In
politics he is a Republican, and belongs to the Union League, Glen
View, Exmoor, Chicago Athletic and South Shore Country clubs,
being a director in the last two organizations.
Mr. Clement's wife was formerly known as Miss Grace Groves,
and the children born to them are as follows : Austin Arthur and
Franklin Groves Clement. The family resides at No. 3967 Lake
avenue.
William Alden Fuller, for forty-five years a leading manufacturer
of this city and now retired from active business, was born in Lancas-
ter, Massachusetts, on the 31st of August, 1836,
_ being a son of Ephraim and Judith (Goss) Fuller.
The common schools of his native place afforded him
his mental training, while his physical condition was maintained by
the work of the home farm. The combination made a sturdy man of
him, with eyes open to the opportunities which lie at hand, and mind
divorced from romance. When sixteen years of age he began business
life as station agent for the Worcester & Nashua Railroad, being lo-
cated at South Lancaster. The road which thus gave him his first
experience in the real work of the outside world is now a section of
the well known Boston & Maine Railroad Company.
1 1 28 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
In 1854, after two years of railroad work in the above mentioned
connection, Mr. Fuller came to Chicago and secured a position as
bookkeeper with the firm of Goss & Phillips, sash and door manufac-
turers, at the corner of Clark and Twelfth streets. At the time of his
identification with the industry of manufacturing lumber and build-
ing material, in this specialty Chicago was the first in the United
States. At this early period, also, the term "bookkeeper" covered a
multitude of duties, including not only the care of the books and ac-
counts, but the general office work, as well (even to the sweeping),
and assisting in the tallying and handling of the raw material and the
finished product. But this was the kind of training that gave a broad,
as well as a detailed knowledge of the business, and the twelve years
thus spent by Mr. Fuller placed him in line for the assumption of any
responsibilities in the field which might come to him. In 1866, with
Azariah R. Palmer, he was admitted to a partnership in the firm, which
now became Goss, Phillips & Company. This continued but a little
more than a year, when Messrs. Goss and Phillips sold the business
to the junior partners, and the house of Palmer, Fuller & Company
was established. Of this flourishing co-partnership Mr. Fuller re-
mained president until his retirement from business in 1899. Up to
that time the changes in the firm had included the reception of George
B. Marsh as a new member in 1869, the retirement of Mr. Palmer in
1872 and the withdrawal of Mr. Marsh in 1885. At the time of Mr.
Fuller's retirement the business had developed not only into one of
the most extensive manufactories of building material in the city, but
into a large trade in lumber and shingles. He had been prominent in
the Sash, Door and Blind Association of the Northwest, serving as its
treasurer for several years, and had repeatedly been elected a director
in the Lumberman's Exchange, so that for more than thirty years he
had been one of the strongest factors in the northwestern field.
Although retired from the lumber field, both as a dealer and a
manufacturer, Mr. Fuller retains his directorship in the Northern
Trust Company, with whose management he has been identified for
many years. His membership in the clubs is confined to the Chicago,
Commercial, Union League and Onwentsia. Mr. Fuller is a widower
and has two children — Leroy W. and Ginevra (now Mrs. Charles- Gar-
field King, of Chicago).
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1129
For a quarter of a century Edward Payson Bailey has been a
large factor in the upbuilding of the business and substantial repu-
tation of the National Malleable Castings Company
in the west, since 1882 having successively been
treasurer and president of the Chicago Malleable
Iron Company, and since 1901 manager of the Chicago works of the
corporation named. He is a native of Almont, Lapeer county,
Michigan, born on the 28th of December, 1841, and is a son of
Frederick Kinsman and Sarah (Shaw) Bailey. Educated in the
public schools of his birthplace and of Joliet, Illinois, he came to
Chicago as a youth of eighteen, but before entering business wisely
pursued a thorough commercial course at Bryant & Stratton's Busi-
ness College, thus placing himself in a position to develop his abilities
on a broad foundation.
In i860 Mr. Bailey first became known to the business circles of
the city as a clerk for Densmore & Rice, and after serving in a similar
capacity for Cooley, Farwell & Company became a bookkeeper for a
leading firm at Odell, Illinois. In 1863-4 he served as a clerk in the
United States quartermaster's department, and spent the decade from
1865 to 1875 as cashier of a bank at Knoxville, Tennessee. In
1875-82 he was identified with A. T. Stewart & Company, of New
York, and since 1882 has resided in Chicago, associated with the busi-
ness of the Chicago Malleable Iron Company and the National Mal-
leable Castings Company. He is also a director of the C. B. Cattle
Company and the Coonley Manufacturing Company, and vice-presi-
dent and director of the Chicago Savings Bank and Trust Company.
Mr. Bailey has been twice married — first, at Knoxville, Tennessee,
on the 26th of December, 1866, to Miss Katharine Baxter, and the
following children have been born to them: Delia Augusta, now
Mrs. Arthur H. Day, of New Haven, Connecticut, and. Annie Baxter
Bailey, who died in infancy. His first wife was the daughter of
John Baxter, an eminent lawyer of Knoxville, Tennessee, and at the
time of his death in 1886 was a judge of the Sixth Circuit court of
the United States.
Mr. Bailey's second marriage was celebrated in Chicago, on the
9th of May, 1889, with Miss Minerva Spruance, daughter of Harmon
Spruance, for many years a prominent operator of the Chicago Board
H30 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
of Trade. Mr. Spruance died in 1905. He was a native of Penn-
sylvania, but came to Illinois in his infancy, was reared in the state
and was a thorough westerner and Chicagoan in character and ac-
complishments. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs.
Bailey, as follows: Edward Pay son, Harmon (a daughter), Fred-
erick Spruance and Vaughn Bailey.
As Mr. Bailey is a representative of an old historic family, he
enjoys membership in both the Society of Colonial Wars and the
Sons of the Revolution. He is a member of the Union League,
Twentieth Century, Chicago Literary, Midlothian, South Shore Coun-
try and Church clubs. In churchmanship he is an Episcopalian of
long and prominent standing, having been a vestryman of Grace
church for more than twenty years ; a warden for about seven years ;
for a long time a deputy to the diocesan convention and a deputy to
the general convention in 1901, 1904 and 1907. He has also been a
leader in the work of the Young Men's Christian Association, during
the past four years having served as president of the Chicago associ-
ation and being honored with a re-election in January, 1908.
John Child Barber, president of the Standard Car Truck Com-
pany, was born in St. Lawrence county, New York, on the 12th of
December, 1844, son of Alonson and Emeline
*L ' (Child) Barber. From 1852 to i860 he was pass-
ing through the public schools of his native county,
with those of Rock, Wisconsin, and in September, 1861, commenced
his service as a Union soldier in a regiment of the Badger state. He
received his honorable discharge in August, 1865, an d in the follow-
ing month secured employment with the Chicago & North-Western
Railway Company, in its car building department at Fond du Lac,
Wisconsin, filling various positions therein for six years.
In April, 1871, Mr. Barber assumed an important position in the
mechanical department of the Northern Pacific Railway shops at
St. Paul, Minnesota, and thus served for two years. In 1873 he-
became superintendent of the car department of the Missouri, Kansas
& Texas Railway, and the decade during which he was an incumbent
of that position was spent at Sedalia, Missouri. In 1883-5 ne was
superintendent of the Rio Grande division of the Texas Pacific Rail-
way, with headquarters at Fort Worth, Texas, and returned to the
W?/j
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1131
service of the Northern Pacific Railway at St. Paul in charge of the
car department, continuing thus for twelve years, or until 1897.
Since the year named above Mr. Barber has given his entire time
to his various inventions of railway appliances, fifty-four of which
he has patented and successfully placed upon the market. The most
important of the list has proved to be the well known all-steel Barber
truck for locomotive, passenger and freight equipment. In 1898 Mr.
Barber organized the Standard Car Truck Company for the manu-
facture and sale of his various patented trucks, and of this organiza-
tion he remains president. Within the past five years he has equipped
over 200,000 cars in the United States and Canada, on the leading
railroads of both countries.
Mr. Barber's career is almost unique in the history of industrial
development, for he has been both a successful inventor and a manu-
facturer of his own patents. It is seldom that the inventor is the one
who gathers the rich fruits of his ingenuity, since the studious and
thoughtful mind which originates new mechanisms is apt to tire at
their slow and practical application to the uses of trade and com-
merce. But from boyhood Mr. Barber possessed the fortunate com-
bination of ingenuity, industry, and a persistency which never flagged
under the stress of adverse conditions. In the field of which he be-
came a practical master he not only saw the possibilities of improve-
ment, but after working out the problems mentally was able to put
his solutions into such shapes that there would be a large and profit-
able demand for his inventions. In a most eminent degree he pos-
sesses both practical ingenuity and business ability. His executive
talents are shown also in that he manages, with success, large inter-
ests outside those of the Standard TrUck Company. One of the enter-
prises in which he takes unusual pride is an extensive stock farm and
game and fish preserve in Crow Wing County, Minnesota.
On March 3, 1869, Mn Barber was united in marriage with Miss
Fannie M. Craig, and the children of their union are Annie C,
Franklin L. and Lee W. The last named is prominently identified
with the company in an official capacity. John C. Barber is a thirty-
second degree Mason, his membership being still with the St. Paul
bodies. He also belongs to the South Shore Country Club, of
Chicago.
i H2 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Lee.W. Barber, secretary of the Standard Car Truck Company,
is a native of Pettis county, Missouri, where he was born on the 12th
of June, 1874. He is the youngest son of John
R ' Child and Mary Frances (Craig) Barber, his father
being an inventor of railroad appliances with a
national reputation, and a detailed biography of whom will be found
preceding this. The son was nine years of age when the elder Barber
removed to Fort Worth, Texas, as superintendent of the Rio Grande
division of the Texas Pacific Railroad Company, but as his father
remained there only about a year and subsequently passed twelve
years at St. Paul, Minnesota, as master car builder of the Northern
Pacific, it was in the latter city that Lee W. obtained his education
and practical knowledge of car construction. He passed through the
public schools and afterward enjoyed three years of study in the
Minnesota State University. For two years after leaving school he
was employed in the car inspecting department of the Northern
Pacific Railroad Company.
In 1900 Lee W. Barber became assistant to the president of the
Standard Truck Company, which had been organized in Chicago;
was promoted to the vice-presidency in 1904, and upon the death of
Lyman W. Barber, his uncle, in 1908, succeeded him as secretary of
the company.
On the 25th of November, 1903, Mr. Barber was united in mar-
riage with Miss Marion Bell Barber, his cousin, daughter of the late
Lyman W. Barber, and they reside at No. 5628 Washington avenue.
Mr. Barber is not only a widely known business man of the younger
and decidedly progressive generation, but is an active figure in the
historic fraternity of Masonry, with which he has been identified for
some ten years.
Williard T. Block, a capitalist of the constructive type, who was
born at Columbia, Pennsylvania, January 6, 1853, and educated in
the grammar and high schools of that place, began
P his career at the age of fourteen when he became
an employe of the Philadelphia & Reading Rail-
road. With a varied and detailed experience in railroading gained
during the next ten years, his first position of large responsibility was
with the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad in 1878-82, when he accom-
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1133
plished the task of successfully reorganizing the accounts of that
road. He was an employe of R. T. Wilson & Company of New-
York, in charge of the construction of the Wisconsin, Iowa & Ne-
braska Railroad, serving successively as auditor, treasurer, traffic
manager and superintendent, from 1882 to 1887.
When in charge of the above named railroad in Iowa, Colonel
Block located and started several prosperous towns in the central
part of the state, between Waterloo and its southern limits, one of
which is known as Blockton, Taylor county. It is a most promising
place, being in the center of a rich farming section, and is peopled
by an industrious and energetic class of citizens. While connected
with the traffic department of the railroad, he was quite prominent
in all questions and adjustments which came before the classification
committees. For several vears he was a member of the executive
committee of the General Passenger Agents Association.
Soon after his connection with the Wisconsin, Iowa & Nebraska
Railroad, Colonel Block bought under foreclosure the Fort Madison
& Northwestern Railroad, and reorganized, rebuilt and extended it.
He promoted the Grant Locomotive Works, of which he was secre-
tary and treasurer; also the Siemens & Halske Electric Company, in
which he held similar positions until 1902. In 189Q he organized the
Grant Land Association, of which he has since been secretary and
treasurer, and has otherwise negotiated the purchase of many valuable
land tracts, among them the Sturges farm of 380 acres for $570,000,
and the Hetty Green tract of 651 acres for $1,500,000. At one time
Colonel Block was president of the Chicago & Southwestern Rail-
road, a part of the Chicago Terminal system. In 1904 he took up
the affairs of the Caswell Car Company, then bankrupt, and, as
president, brought the business to a point where it paid good divi-
dends and so attracted the attention of the car trust as to become finally
absorbed by the latter. In fact, his ability and energy have never
failed to achieve success, even in enterprises which previous- to his
connection with them seemed destined to fail. As another illustra-
tion along this line of thought: In 1899 ne bought some mining
property in Keweenaw county, upper Michigan. For the preceding
twenty years the extraction of ores from that county had been almost
abandoned, but the development of the industry during the last few
1 134 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
years, largely under the stimulus of Colonel Block's personality, has
made that the most famous copper-mining section in the country.
Nearly the entire mineral district of Keweenaw county is now con-
trolled by the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company and other associates
of the "trust," and the only large tract not thus controlled is an area
of seven square miles owned by Colonel Block. His property is now
surrounded by the mining plants of his mighty rivals.
Colonel Block has a distinguished ancestry, including some men
whose inventive genius and constructive achievements entitle them
to high rank among the Americans who have accomplished works of
enduring importance and originality. His parents were A. B. and
Barbara A. (Brobst) Block. His great-grandfather on his mother's
side, Christian Brobst, surveyed the route and was a member of the
company which constructed the Little Schuylkill & Susquehanna
Railroad, one of the first railroad lines in the country and now a part
of the Reading system. Living at Catawissa on the Susquehanna
river he recognized, as did few men of that time, the tremendous
influence of transportation over population and industry. As the
navigation of the river at that point was almost impossible on account
of the strong and treacherous current, he was one of the promoters
in the building of a steamboat to run up and down the stream. On
the trial trip of the second of the boats constructed for this purpose
its boiler exploded, resulting in the death of many of the' passengers
and crew, and in such severe injuries to Mr. Brobst that he was
obliged to retire from active life. Several years before this, Mr.
Brobst had demonstrated the practicability of a railroad through
this section of Pennsylvania. With only the crudest knowledge of
surveying and equipped with home-made instruments, he located and
leveled a line which was considered by engineers a marvel of accu-
racy. He succeeded in interesting such capitalists as Stephen Girard
in this route, and finally in 183 1 a company was organized which
constructed the line above named. Christian Brobst and his brother,
Valentine, were, at the time of their death, the owners of over one
hundred and twenty thousand acres of anthracite coal lands in nine
counties of Pennsylvania. This land is now owned by the Reading
& Lehigh Valley railroads and has been in litigation for the past
fifty years, the property having never legally passed out of the hands
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1135
of the family. Another ancestor on the maternal side was Peter
Mellick, a Revolutionary soldier and a man of influence and wealth
in Columbia county, Pennsylvania, whose descendants number many
eminent men.
In 18S0 Colonel Block married Miss Anna E. Scott, daughter of
William P. Scott and a niece of Colonel Thomas A. Scott, who was
one of the greatest railroad men of the last century, and at one time
president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Union Pacific, the Kan-
sas Pacific and the Texas & Pacific roads. Mrs. Block is also a
great-granddaughter of Archibald Douglass, a grandson of Lord
Douglass, whose son, Thomas Douglass, settled with three brothers
in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in 1725. Further, she was the
great-great-granddaughter of James Agnew, who settled in that
county in 1729, and whose grandson, D. Hayes Agnew, was a cele-
brated physician of Philadelphia and married Rebecca Scott. The
latter was born in 1706 and died in 1789 at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania,
on a farm which became a part of the great national battlefield dur-
ing the Civil war. Mrs. Block is a charter member of the National
Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, her great-
grandfather. Colonel John Piper, having taken part in the stirring
scenes of that conflict.
Colonel Block himself was one of the organizers of the Society
of Sons of the American Revolution-, being a member of the Illinois
Chapter. He acquired his title by service on the staff of Governor
Larrabee of Iowa from 1885 to 1889. He is a member of the
American Historical Society and the National Biographical Society.
Locally, he belongs to the Chicago Real Estate Board and the Union
League Club, having been identified with the latter since 1887. Both
he and his wife are influential members of the Episcopal church.
C. E. Tibbies, considered in this sketch, is a veteran plains-
man and a soldier of the Civil war; but, notwithstanding the blood
stirring experiences of his life, has for years been
' industriously engaged in the selling' of patents, and
is now the active and successful manager of the
Hawk-Eye Boiler Compound Company. He is a native son of Illinois,
born at Mendon, near Quincy, July 19, 1843, an d is the son of William
and Martha (Cooley) Tibbies. Both of his parents were natives of
1 136 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Ohio, their homes being near Zanesville. The father was a farmer
and a millwright, and died when C. E. was eight years of age. The
mother was highly educated, before her marriage having been a teacher
in an Ohio seminary, and she therefore educated her children thorough-
ly after they had passed beyond the curriculum of the district school.
This talented, brave and self-sacrificing mother lived to be eighty-four
years old, and died only a few years ago.
When the man of whom this narrative chiefly deals was thirteen
years of age, his mother brought the family (with the assistance of
two yoke of oxen) from Mendon to Putnam county, Missouri. Ac-
companying them were four cows and six sheep. The two weeks'
journey from Illinois was by way of Keokuk to Memphis, Missouri,
and thence to Hartford, Putnam county. The first winter was passed
in an abandoned log school house, after which the family moved into
the house which had been erected, and the mother and older boy com-
menced to "improve"' their forty acres of swamp land, which had
been purchased from the state of Missouri at twelve cents per acre.
A year's experience in this locality induced a removal to Winterset.
Iowa, where they remained for the succeeding winter.
In the spring of 1859, before he was sixteen years of age, the
youth made an overland trip alone, going from Omaha to Pike's Peak
and delivering a load of provisions to that point. He was thirty days
on the way, and the dangers of the journey from Indians and "bad
men" cannot be overstated. Arriving at his destination, he sold his
flour at $20 for a 100-pound sack, and eggs at $1 a dozen. In i860
he made a similar trip, and returned to Winterset the following two
winters.
In the spring of 1861, with his brother (Mr. George N. Tibbies),
Mr. Tibbies enlisted in the Fourth Iowa Infantry, which was com-
manded by Colonel G. M. Dodge, afterward promoted to be major gen-
eral. They fought together at Pea Ridge under General Curtis, who
was a cousin of their mother; thence marched to Helena. Arkansas,
where they took boat for Vicksburg, and participated in the historic
siege of that place, as well as the great engagements at Lookout Moun-
tain and Missionary Ridge. The troops went into winter quarters at
Woodville, Alabama, and while out on scout duty Air. Tibbies was
captured by the Confederates, stripped of his clothing and footwear,
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1137
and started toward Atlanta, thence being shipped by rail to Anderson-
ville prison. After being confined six months he attempted to escape
west to Chattanooga and rejoin Sherman's army, but was recaptured
by a squad of thirty-two bloodhounds and Confederates and brought
back to Andersonville. When Sherman captured Atlanta the Union
prisoners were sent to Florence, South Carolina, the Tibbies brothers
breaking through the guard line en route, and again making their es-
cape, although many were shot in making a similar attempt. Through
woods and swamps and across rivers, the bedraggled men finally made
their way to Newbern, North Carolina, and, as they were not able to
rejoin their regiment at Atlanta, accepted a furlough, and in Decem-
ber, 1864, received their honorable discharge at Davenport, Iowa.
For several months thereafter Mr. Tibbies was unable to work,
but finally engaged in the sewing machine business, continuing with
one company for seventeen years. Later he invented a machine him-
self, and sold various patents for a number of years, his aggregate
sales amounting to some $150,000. After selling his interest in this
company he engaged in the boiler compound business, his present occu-
pation. The company sells direct to customers, manufacturing boilers
to meet the requirements of special plants.
John Secord Belden, who was senior member of Belden & Bush,
general insurance agents and managers of the western department of
the Fire Association of Philadelphia, is a native of
*L " Warsaw, New York, born September 8, 1839, the
son of Dr. Charles W. and Frances (Cummings)
Belden. The schools of Alexander and Warsaw, in his native state,
furnished him with his education.
Mr. Belden was actively identified with the fire insurance business
of Chicago since March 1, 1865, and acted as representative, during
these forty-two years, of several of the leading companies of the Unit-
ed States and England. His connection with Henry W. Bush, under
the name of Belden & Bush, was formed January 1, 1902. Mr. Belden
was also a director and treasurer of the Rialto Company, and was on
the directorate of the Belden Manufacturing Company, manufacturers
of insulated wire.
On the 17th of December, 1868, Mr. Belden married Miss Amanda
W. Pool, and they became the parents of four children — Charles P.,
1 1 38 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
John S., Jr., Joseph C. and Elizabeth. Joseph C. Belden married Miss
Mary C. Rew of Chicago, whose father, a well known manufacturer,
is now deceased. The daughter Elizabeth is the wife of Roy McWil-
liams, a Chicago lawyer. Mrs. John S. Belden died May 26, 1907,
Mr. Belden surviving her till July 18, 1908. She was widely known
in social and charitable circles, having for many years been a member
of the Woman's Club. In politics Mr. Belden was a Republican, and
his club membership was with the Union League.
Joseph C. Belden. president of the Belden Manufacturing Com-
pany, manufacturers of insulated wire for telephone and electrical ap-
paratus, was born in Chicago, on the nth of June,
•d / 1876, son of John S. and Amanda W. (Pool) Bel-
den. He is descended from an old and substantial
family of the Empire state, and his father was one of the oldest and
most prominent insurance men in this city, having represented leading
American and British companies in Chicago since 1865. Joseph C.
received a thorough preliminary education in the schools of this city,
going to Yale University for his collegiate courses and graduating
therefrom in 1897, with the degree of Ph. B.
After leaving college Mr. Belden entered the employ of the Kellogg
Switchboard and Manufacturing Company, with which he remained
until 1902, when he organized the company of which he has since been
president. Originally founded with a capital of $50,000, this amount
has since been increased to $200,000, and the plant at No. 194 Michi-
gan street is rapidly acquiring importance among the industries of the
city.
On June 7, 1902, Mr. Belden was united in marriage with Miss
Mary Campbell Rew. daughter of Francis Rew. a well known manu-
facturer. One child has been born to their union, Joseph C. Belden, Jr.
As to his social connections. Air. Belden is identified with the Univer-
sity and Saddle and Cycle clubs, and the Chicago Athletic Association,
as well as with the Yale Club of New York.
There are more victims to the virtue of faithfulness than the world
knows of. Despite the physical dangers in continuous work, there are
not a few rare characters whose conscience is so
keen and whose natures are so self-sacrificing, that
Logan. - . , . , , r
they first bring to a conclusion every task before
they turn aside to pleasure, and even take upon themselves burdens
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
1 139
for others beyond their strength to carry. Faithfulness and considera-
tion for others were the key-notes of the life which passed away in
the death of Floyd Tighman Logan, on July 26, 1906. So assiduously
did he devote himself to business that he seldom had little time for
recreation, although his honesty and strong character made him one
of the most popular of those connected with the sash and door industry
of Chicago.
Floyd T. Logan, the son of Captain Floyd Logan and Augusta
(Hayman) Logan, was born at Newport, Kentucky, February 20,
i860, and was therefore in the very prime of life when death claimed
him. His father was a well known steamboat captain along the Ohio
and Mississippi rivers, and in 1865 the family settled in St. Louis,
Missouri, where Floyd obtained a public school education and then
commenced to strike toward independent manhood. ' At the age of
n 4 o CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
eighteen he became connected with the N. O. Nelson Manufacturing
Company, plumbers' supplies, in the capacity of traveling representa-
tive. In 1884 he removed to Kansas City, in the same line, making his
home with the head of the firm and traveling throughout the South-
west.
Mr. Logan's first identification with the sash and door business was
as commercial traveler for the Western Sash and Door Company, of
Kansas City, and his previous experience upon the road was the means
of rapidly advancing his prospects in the new line. William Huttig,
the president of the company, soon gauged his value, and in 1889 pro-
moted him to the management of the Wichita (Kan.) Sash and Door
Company, the manufacturing branch of the parent concern. There he
remained until July 1, 1892, when he came to Chicago and was placed
in charge of a department with the firm of John A. Gauger & Com-
pany, in the following January being given an interest in the business
and assuming the management of the sales department. On January
1, 1906, the firm was incorporated as John A. Gauger & Company,
and Mr. Logan was elected to the position of secretary, treasurer and
general manager. His advancement was fully merited, since for sev-
eral years he had borne the greater burden of the active management
of the extensive business. During that period he came into only lim-
ited contact with the business world, but those with whom he was inti-
mately associated — his partner, his office employes and the factory
force — gave him their hearty co-operation and admiration, and at his
death had only affectionate remembrance for his faithful personal la-
bors and invariable consideration for those over whom he wielded such
firm but kind authority.
In 1886, the deceased was married to Miss Laura Hackett, daugh-
ter of Thomas Hackett, of Kansas City, Missouri, and the widow with
their only child, Floyd, survives him. The latter, who was born Sep-
tember 11, 1890, is now being educated at Racine College, Wisconsin,
and is a most promising young man who bids fair to perpetuate the
family name. The other members of the family who survive are an
aged mother, who resides at Denver, Colorado, and two sisters, Mrs.
L. G. McCormick, of that city, and Mrs. Samuel Leathe, of St. Louis,
Missouri. Although a member of the A. F. & A. M. (Normal Park
Lodge No. 797, of Englewood), the Royal Arcanum, and the new
South Shore Countrv, the Athletic, the Calumet and the Hamilton
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1141
clubs, although formally connected with these fraternal and social or-
ganizations, and always welcome at their sessions and gatherings, Mr.
Logan was so strongly bound by domestic ties that he seldom spent an
evening from home. It is therefore to his household, to the home cir-
cle, to the wife for whom he so fondly and faithfully cared, that his
loss reverts the keenest and heaviest.
James Mackay, secretary of the Kellogg-Mackay-Cameron Com-
panv, manufacturers of boilers and radiators for heating and power
purposes, is a native of Montreal, Canada, born on
James the 2 ^ of November, 1856, being a son of
Mackay. Andrew and Jannette (Manson) Mackay. He was
educated in common and high schools of his native city and, instead
of going at once into business, followed the common-sense course of
entering an apprenticeship in plumbing and the manipulation of heat-
ing apparatus.
From 1870 to 1878 Mr. Mackay resided in Boston, there follow-
ing his trade, gaining both money and experience, and becoming well
grounded in every detail of the business. He then removed to Balti-
more, where he remained for four years, and whence he .was called
to assume the superintendency of the Steam Evaporator Company of
Charlotte, Michigan. The seven years — from 1882-89 — which cov-
ered his service in this capacity gave him a broader outlook in busi-
ness management and admirably fitted him to occupy a larger field
in Chicago.
In 1889 Mr. Mackay located in Chicago as salesman for the
Richardson & Boynton Company, whose principal business was the
manufacture and installation of furnaces and heating plants, and,
after a successful four years with that concern, in 1893 he identified
himself with the American Boiler Company, with which he remained
until 1898. In the latter year he became a member of the firm known
as the Kellogg-Mackay-Cameron Company, whose business is exten-
sive in bulk and broad in scope, for it not only embraces the manu-
facture of boilers and radiators, but the jobbing of heating and steam-
fitters' supplies. The branches of the company are in New York,
Minneapolis, Kansas City and Seattle, and the officers as follows :
Clarence V. Kellogg, president ; James Mackay, secretary, and W. A.
Cameron, treasurer. Mr. Mackay is also director of the Kewanee
Vol. Ill— 15.
1 142 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Boiler Company and of the Federal Boiler & Supply Company, being
prominent in the field which he has so long occupied.
In 1876 Mr. Mackay married Miss Christina E. Imrie, at Mon-
treal, Canada, and one child, Elizabeth Scott Mackay, has been born
to them. Mr. Mackay is - a Shriner in Masonry, a member of St.
Bernard Commandery and Medinah Temple. In religion, he is a
Presbyterian.
As a manufacturer of packing boxes and a dealer in all kinds of
lumber, Charles William Tegtmeyer is a large figure in the Chicago
field, being in the active management and develop-
„ ' ment of a business which was established by his
Tegtmeyer. ■ tt j .
father more than thirty-rive years ago. He is a
native Chicagoan, born on the 15th of December, 1866, being a son
of Christopher and Christina (Meyerding) Tegtmeyer. After re-
ceiving a public school education and a training in Bryant & Strat-
ton's Business College, at the age of fifteen he entered his father's
factory, and in succeeding years learned all the details both of the
manufacture of boxes and the office management of the business.
The business was continued by Christopher Tegtmeyer and his
three sons until the death of his father in 1886. At that time it was
incorporated as the Tegtmeyer Lumber & Box Company, with
Charles W. as secretary, and thus continued until 1893, when, on
account of the ill health of one. brother and the death of another, the
former became sole proprietor of the business, as at present. He is
not only a large manufacturer of packing boxes, but a dealer in all
kinds of lumber, lath and shingles, and no member of the trade is
more popular or has a more substantial standing. He is also a lead-
ing member of the Builders' & Traders' Exchange and other business
associations. He belongs to the Order of the Hoo Hoo and the
Royal Arcanum (Garden City Council), and is a member of the
Illinois Athletic Association. In his religious faith, he is an earnest
Lutheran, having long been a trustee of the Zion German Lutheran
church.
Mr. Tegtmeyer 's wife was known before marriage as Miss Hen-
rietta Nachtway, and by their union, which occurred in Chicago,
April 21, 1897, three children have been born to them: Mildred,
Henrietta and Charlotte. The family reside at No. 1151 Douglas
boulevard, on the west side.
' :[; Wi
ASTqr
w
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1143
Samuel Eugene Bliss, senior partner of Bliss & Laughlin, manu-
facturers of shafting, is a native of Jericho, Vermont, born on the
31st of January, 1846, son of Samuel Butler and
— ' ' Sally Clarissa (Cadwell) Bliss. After graduating
' from the academy at Underhill, that state, in 1862,
he commenced his life of industry by entering his father's shop and
engaging as a blacksmith and carriage builder until 1864. During
the succeeding four years he was employed as a clerk in a hardware
store at Burlington, Vermont, and on the 23rd of March, 1868,
arrived in Chicago.
Mr. Bliss has therefore been a resident of this city for forty
years, and is classed as one of its pioneer business men and industrial
promoters. For a period of seventeen years he was trained in all
the details of office work and the mysteries of salesmanship, both over
the counter and on the road. The result was that in 1885, when he
commenced business for himself as a dealer in machinery, he was
thoroughly prepared both to found and develop his enterprise in all
its departments. His success was quickly realized and continuously
augmented, and in February, 1891, he disposed of his lucrative busi-
ness to engage in the manufacture of shafting. In 1891 he associ-
ated himself with John L. Laughlin in that line of industry, and in-
corporated the concern in January, 1897. The manufacturing plant
is located at Harvey, Illinois, and the business office at No. 10 South
Canal street, Chicago, about one hundred men being employed alto-
gether. Mr. Bliss has been president and treasurer of the establish-
ment from the first. He is also vice-president and member of the
finance committee of the Metropolitan Trust & Savings Bank, and is
president of a mining corporation in Alaska. He has been a director
in the Illinois Manufacturers' Association for the past five years.
At Saginaw, Michigan, on the 29th of September, 1869, Mr.
Bliss was united in marriage with Miss Mary Frances Hickok, and
they now reside at No. 3636 Lake avenue. He is a member of the
Masonic fraternity, and by virtue of his patriotic ancestry is identified
with the Sons of the American Revolution. He is viceroy of the
Grand Imperial Council of the Red Cross of Constantine, and in
1908 will be in order of succession to the. office of grand sovereign
of that order. He is also president of the Illinois State Rifle Asso-
1 144 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
ciation, and is identified with both the Hamilton Club and the Chicago
Athletic Association, having a life membership in the latter organiza-
tion.
Fred M. Gale, president of the Bristol & Gale Company, has been
a dealer in agricultural implements in Chicago for a period of nearly
,_, % , thirty-eight years, and during; most of that time has
Fred M. .
r been connected with a large and growing business.
He is a native of Barre, Vermont, born December
29, 1839, being a son of Julius C. and Almira (Drury) Gale. His
father was a farmer, and after the son had obtained an education in
the public schools of his native village he became an active agricultur-
ist himself. This training and experience eventually led him into his
present field of business and ensured his success in it. In 1862, at the
age of twenty-three, Mr. Gale enlisted in the Thirteenth Vermont In-
fantry for the nine months service, at the conclusion of which (in De-
cember, 1863) he re-enlisted in the Eighth Vermont Infantry, continu-
ing therein until the close of the war.
At the conclusion of the Rebellion Mr. Gale returned to his home
in Barre, Vermont, first engaging in farming and later in mercantile
pursuits. In 1870 he located in Chicago, as the center of the great
agricultural west, and securing a position with Emerson, Stafford &
Company at once entered a field of salesmanship with which he was
familiar. With this house, as with W. H. Banks & Company, he made
a fine record in the sale of agricultural implements, and in 1877 joined
E. S. Bristol in the establishment of an independent house, under the
firm style of E. S. Bristol & Company. In 1887 the business, which
had been developed to large proportions, was incorporated as the Bris-
tol & Gale Company, of which Mr. Gale is now president ; W. J. Bris-
tol, son of the orginal senior partner, vice president; and Fred Gale,
son of Fred M., secretary and treasurer.
In February, 1867, Fred M. Gale was married to Miss Helen A.
Putnam, daughter of Abel Putnam, of Johnson, Vermont, and they
have become the parents of three children : Fred, George B. and
Helen M. Fred, the eldest, married M ; ss Ellis Brown, of Chicago;
George B. married Miss Florence Robertson, also of this city; and
Helen M. became the wife of John C. Leonard, treasurer of the Leon-
ard Seed Company. Mr. and Mrs. Gale also adopted a daughter, Belle
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1145
G. Scribner, whom they reared and educated from the age of eleven
years, and who is now the wife of Herbert E. Skinner, of this city.
Mr. Gale is quiet and domestic, but social, and his religious faith has
long been that of Unitarianism, and for many years he has been a
member of the Third Unitarian church of the west side, of which he
is still a trustee. He is a member of the George H. Thomas Post No.
5, Grand Army of the Republic, and of the Menoken Club, a west side
organization. In politics he has never deviated from general Repub-
lican policies since he cast his first vote in the first year of the Civil
war; but in the administration of local matters his support is given on
the basis of personal fitness and sectional benefit.
William Andrew Birk, president of the Birk Brothers' Brewing
Company, well-known brewers and bottlers, was born in Chicago, No-
vember 11, 1 86 1, being the son of Jacob and Mag-
■p, dalena Birk. He was educated in the public schools
of his native city, his first business venture being
with a board of trade firm, with whom he remained until 1882. In
that year he became associated with the Wacker & Birk Brewing
Company, which his father had just assisted to organize, and re-
mained in this connection until August, 1891. At that time the busi-
ness of the company was sold to the English corporation known as
the Chicago Breweries, Limited, and the elder Birk, with his sons,
William A. and Edward J., purchased the Corper & Nockin plant on
Webster avenue, and incorporated the Birk Brothers' Brewing Com-
pany. In 1895 Jacob Birk retired as a director of the company and
from active business life altogether. His wife had passed away De-
cember 17, 1900.
Since the incorporation and organization of the Birk Brothers'
Brewing Company, in 1891, William A. Birk has been president and
Edward J. its secretary and treasurer. In politics, William A. is a
Democrat. He is a member of Lincoln Park Lodge No, 611, A. F.
& A. M., the Germania Maennerchor, the Chicago Athletic Associa-
tion, the South Shore Country and the Industrial clubs. In Septem-
ber, 1903, he was married at Russells, Ohio, to Miss Rosalind Brit-
ton, and the family residence is at No. 688 Fullerton avenue.
ii 4 6 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Edward John Birk, secretary and treasurer of Birk Brothers
Brewing Company, whose large brewing and bottling plant is on Web-
ster avenue, is a native of Chicago, born April 2,
"„ 1867. He is a son of Jacob and Lena (Woelflin)
Birk, his father having been born in Germany and
being in early manhood a harnessmaker. He came to Chicago in 1854,
prospered in trade and business, and for many years conducted a hotel
on West Lake street. In 1881 he became associated with Fred Wacker
& Son, then engaged in the malting business, and in the following year
became associated with the firm in brewing operations under the firm
name of the Wacker & Birk Brewing Company. In 1891 the business
was sold to the English corporation, the Chicago Breweries, Limited,
and Jacob Birk and his two sons, William A. and Edward J., incor-
porated the Birk Brothers' Brewing Company. Since the founding of
the company, at that time, William A. has been president and Edward
J. Birk, secretary and treasurer. The basis of the complete and ex-
tensive plant was the Corper & Nockin brewery, purchased in 1891,
and since remodeled and enlarged. The elder Birk retired from his
connection with the business in 1895. The mother of Edward J.
passed away December 17, 1900.
Edward J. Birk began business life in 1882 in connection with
a board of trade commission firm. He was thus engaged until 1889
when he spent eight months on the Pacific coast, and, returning to
Chicago, commenced to learn the brewer's trade with the Wacker &
Birk Brewing Company. In 1891, as stated, father and sons organ-
ized the Birk Brothers' Brewing Company, with which he has since
been identified in his present capacity.
On October 5, 1892, Mr. Birk married Miss Amanda Markus, and
one child has been born to them, Amanda Markus. In politics he is
a Democrat, and is a member of the Germania Maennerchor, of which
he was a director, the Illinois Athletic Association, South Shore Coun-
try, Chicago Athletic, Chicago Automobile and Steam Yacht clubs.
Charles Brockway Gibson is one of the most widely known
assayers, mining experts, chemists and medico-legal witnesses in the
west. He is a native of Massena, St. Lawrence
ct RLE n B counl y< New York ' born on the 6th of Au S ust '
1854, being a son of Otis and Chloe (Brockway)
Gibson. He spent the first eighteen years of his life on a Vermont
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1147
farm, working and acquiring a common and a high school education.
Coming west he became a student in the University of Illinois at
Champaign, graduating from that institution in 1877 m DOtn tne
chemical and military courses. Prior to his entrance to the state
university he had traveled for several years in New England as a
salesman and assistant manager of a lyceum course. After his grad-
uation he spent a year with a gold, silver and lead refining company,
when he entered the drug business, which, with the study of medi-
cine, he continued for about two years. He next entered the College
of Physicians and Surgeons, and after a full course therein gradu-
ated in 1885 with the degree of M. D.
In the meantime Professor Gibson's reputation had been expand-
ing. After three years of practical work with G. A. Mariner and
C. G. Wheeler, in 1882 he had been elected to the chair of chemistry
in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, which he held until 1890,
or five years after his graduation in medicine. In 1888 he became
professor of chemistry and metallurgy in the Chicago College of
Dental Surgery, serving thus for eight years; also held the same
chair for one year in the Hahnemann Medical College and the North-
western Dental School. Since 1879, while carrying along these vari-
ous professional courses and ably performing the functions of his
professorships, he has also conducted a large private practice as an
assayer, chemist, metallurgist and mining engineer. He has done
much expert and legal work, notably in the Luetgert, Blydenberg
and other cases, in which the verdicts depended so materially upon
the results of chemical analyses. At the present time he confines
himself almost entirely to general chemical work and the examination
of mines.
Professor Gibson is a member of the American Chemical Society,
Berlin Chemische Gesellschaft and Berlin Zuchverein. Well known
in Chicago, he is also a familiar figure in the mining regions of the
United States, Canada and Mexico, his services in the last named
country being in frequent demand as an expert examiner of mining
property. For years he was popular and prominent in military cir-
cles. He served in the Vermont militia for three years, and in 1877
graduated from the University of Illinois (military course) with the
rank of captain and adjutant, and for seven years was identified
n 4 8 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
with the National Guard of the state, in which he still holds a cap-
taincy, without command. Although he enlisted for the Spanish-
American war, he was not called into the service. The Professor is
also a Mason of high rank and long standing, being a member of
Blaney Lodge No. 271, A. F. and A. M. ; Lincoln Park Chapter No.
177. R. A. M. ■ Chicago Council No. 4, R. and S. M. ; Lincoln Park
Commandery No. 64. K. T., and Medinah Temple of the Mystic
Shrine, all of Chicago. Socially he is identified with the Illinois
Athletic Association and Hamilton Club. His wife was formerly
Miss Eva Catherine Clapp, to whom he was married on June 29,
1 891.
Charles Chauncey Curtiss, projector, and, at the present time,
manager of the magnificent Fine Arts building on Michigan avenue,
r was long a prominent business man of Chicago,
"^ ■ for nearlv thirty vears being especially identified
Curtiss. j J ■ \ „
with the music trade. He has always allied him-
self with that steadily growing body of independent citizens, so fully
alive to municipal evils and necessities that they have ever been
willing to assist in every possible way to fairly investigate them
and assist in providing measures of relief. As a native of Chicago
and the son of an able and public spirited father, he has had strong
exterior inspirations, aside from the inclinations of a nature naturally
conscientious and refined.
Mr. Curtiss was born in Chicago on the 31st day of July, 1847,
son of Hon. James and Mary (Kimball) Curtiss. His father was an
able pioneer of Chicago, a trained lawyer and twice mayor of the
city. The boy passed his earlier years in Champaign county, Illinois,
where he was educated and began his business career. In 1862 he
commenced work as a messenger in the telegraph office of Champaign,
and after serving two years in that capacity and as a dry goods-
clerk, commenced his service in the LJnion army. In 1864 he enlisted
in company B, One Hundred and Thirty-fifth Illinois Volunteer In-
fantry, serving as a private from May to October of that year. He
then became a clerk in the ordnance department of the government,
at Nashville, Tennessee, where he served during the great battles of
that year, and continued thus until April, 1866.
At the time mentioned above, Mr. Curtiss came to Chicago and
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1149
entered the employ of Field, Palmer & Leiter as salesman; after about
a year in this capacity he went to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where
for a time he filled a clerical position, and in 1868 returned to Chi-
cago to enter for a brief period the city recorder's office. In 1869
commenced his long career in the music business, as a bookkeeper
for Lyon & Healy. Mr. Curtiss remained with that firm until 1872,
when he became a partner in the house of F. S. Chandler & Co., and
later of Chandler & Curtiss. In 1875 he was appointed manager,
treasurer and director of Root & Sons Music Company, and held that
position of great responsibility for six years, in 188 1 associating
himself with Ferdinand Mayer in the formation of Curtiss & Mayer,
agents for the sale throughout the northwest of the Weber pianos.
After eight years of successful business, in 1890 he organized and
became president of the Manufacturers' Piano Company, which he
held for five years, then resigned to devote his attention to the reali-
zation of his project for the establishment of a grand house of music
and art in the city which had even then acquired a cosmopolitan
standing in this high domain of culture. In May, 1898, after many
discouragements and after he had spent more than two years of
persistent work and diplomacy, the Fine Arts building, at Nos. 203-7
Michigan avenue was completed, and thereby the cause which it rep-
resents has been immeasurably advanced both in Chicago and the
entire west. It is, in truth, a home and a meeting place for the best
talent of this section of the country. The Fine Arts building is a
corporation, of which Mr. Curtiss is the vice president, treasurer and
managing director.
As mentioned, Mr. Curtiss has always been independent in poli-
tics. He is one of the organizers of the Illinois Civil Service-Reform
League, and an earnest, working member of the Citizens' Association,
Municipal Voters' League, Legislative Voters' League, Civic Fed-
eration, Municipal Art League and of other public organizations of
a reformatory nature. He is also identified with the Archaeological
Institute of America, American Historical Association, Chicago His-
torical Society and the Loyal Legion, as well as with the following
local clubs : Chicago Literary, Caxton, University, Chicago, City,
Cliff Dwellers and Glen View. He is also a member of The Players'
Club, of New York City.
1 150 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
On May 24, 1877, Mr. Curtiss married Miss Adciie Louise Miller,
daughter of the late Professor DeLaskie Miller, one of Chicago's
most eminent physicians. Marjorie Kimball, James and Marion Cur-
tiss are the names of the children born to them. The family reside
at No. no Astor street.
Hans Peter Nelson, one of the most expert piano makers in the
west, and at present secretary and general superintendent of the
_ Cable & Nelson Piano Company, was born in Hel-
senburg, Sweden, on the ^oth of December, 1867.
Nelson.
His parents are Nels Hanson and Hannah
Nelson, and came to Chicago when Hans was about sixteen years of
age. The youth had already served a portion of his apprenticeship
at the trade of piano making, and^had made good progress toward the
securing of a thorough education. When the family settled in Chi-
cago he secured employment with the Smith & Barnes Piano Com-
pany, and, while continuing to master the niceties of his trade, at-
tended night school and became grounded in all the branches of a
practical education.
Mr. Nelson remained with the Smith & Barnes Piano Company
for a period of seventeen years, ten of which he spent as the super-
intendent and director of their factory. He then became similarly
connected with the Fayette S. Cable Piano Company, and on August
1, 1904, became half owner of the Cable & Nelson Piano Company
as a partner with the reorganized business. On March 1, 1906, he
sold out his interest, and in June of that year organized the H. P.
Nelson Company, of which he is now president and treasurer. The
plant of the company is located at Marianna and Herndon streets,
and aside from the storage warehouses, the manufactory consists of
a brick structure, 120 by 60 feet in dimensions and four stories in
height. The sales amount to about $40,000 monthly.
On March 7, 1891, Mr. Nelson married Miss Hannah Bestrom,
and the children born to them have been A. Gerhard and Lillian
Margaret. The family reside at No. 209 Janssen avenue, and attend
the Swedish Lutheran church. Fraternally Mr. Nelson is a member
of the A. F. and A. M., Knights of Pythias and Knights of Mac-
cabees.
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1151
Robert Faulds Maxwell, senior member of the firm of Maxwell
& Ruud, manufacturers of packing boxes, is a native of Chicago, born
September 15, 1856, being a son of William and
Jean (Kinlech) Maxwell. He comes of an old
Maxwell. i, , . ., , ,, ,
Scotch family, the two elder brothers, who have
also been engaged in the same field for many years, being natives of
the old country." His father brought his wife and family to Chicago
in 1854, and was so prominent as a pioneer that one of the city
streets on the west side was named in his honor.
After obtaining a public school education, Robert F. Maxwell
became identified with the box-manufacturing business as a member
of the firm of Maxwell Brothers. He continued as a partner from
1885 to 1901, withdrawing from the firm in the latter year to join
Harold Ruud and establish a similar manufactory, under the name of
Maxwell & Ruud. Shortly after the firm was organized, Mr. Ruud
died, and Mr. Maxwell has since continued the business without
change of style.
On March 7, 1882, Mr. Maxwell married Miss Elizabeth B.
Vanderblue, and a daughter, Adelaide B. Maxwell, has been born to
them. Mr. Maxwell has been a Republican of much local activity and
prominence, and in .1886-90 served as alderman from the Twenty-
fifth ward. As to fraternities, he is a thirty-second degree Mason,
and a member of the Royal Arcanum and National Union.
William Adelbert Converse, directing chemist for the Dearborn
Drug and Chemical Works, began working in a retail drug store
when twelve years old, and has worked his way
^ through every grade of experience from clerk to
Converse. & . J * TT r
pharmacist and chemist. He now stands foremost
among the men of his profession in Chicago, and maintains the best
professional connections. He is secretary of the Chicago section of
the American Chemical Society, having held that office since 1902,
and is a member of the council of the society at large. He is a mem-
ber of the committee on standard tests for lubricants in the Society
for Inspection of Materials. Besides these two societies, he is a
member of the Society of Chemical Industry, the Western Society
of Engineers, the Chicago Drug Trade Club, the Chemists' Club of
New York, the Society for the Advancement of Science, and the
Chicago Athletic Association.
I I ^2
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Mr. Converse was born in Pioneer, Ohio, August 31, 1862, son
of Ebenezer P. and Frances E. (Brower) Converse. The paternal
ancestors of Mr. Converse came originally from England and settled
in the New England states. He attended public schools in boyhood,
and in September, 1874, became the boy clerk in a retail pharmacy.
He finally began his studies in the Chicago College of Pharmacy
(now the Pharmacy department of the University of Illinois), grad-
WILLIAM A. CONVERSE.
uating in 1889 with the degree of Ph. G. He followed his profession
as pharmacist until 1896, and on January 12th of that year entered
upon the duties of his present position. He married, September 10,
1885, Emma E. Conklin. Mrs. Converse is a daughter of Nelson
and Sophia V. (Hendricks) Conklin. and was born at Angola, Indi-
ana. They have a daughter, Ethel Fern Converse. Their home is at
4320 Greenwood avenue.
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1153
Clayton Mark, second vice president of the National Malleable
Castings Company, was born in Fredericksburg,
Pennsylvania, in June, 1858, son of Cyrus and Re-
becca (Strohm) Mark. He was married Septem-
ber, 1880, to Miss Anna Griffith, and they have a family of nine
children.
Oliver Oscar Agler, member of the firm of Upham & Agler,
wholesale dealers in hardwood lumber, is a native of Plymouth, In-
diana, born July 15, 1869, being a son of Morris
. and Mary (Snyder) Agler. His father, who was
Agler. . '\ J ; r fe
born in Ohio, was a farmer, and was one of the
hardy sons of the field who served his country long and well in the
crucial days of the Civil war. He enlisted in Company A, Forty-
sixth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and his period of service
covered four years and sixteen days. He was with the intrepid and
masterly Sherman in his famous march to the sea, participating in
all the battles of the campaign and being wounded at Kenesaw Moun-
tain. Including the northward movements through the Carolinas, he
fought in twenty-nine battles, and was finally mustered out at the
grand review at Washington in 1865. During all this season of
bloodshed and weary marches he remained with the Forty-sixth Ohio,
the regiment in which he enlisted at the beginning of the war.
Mr. Agler obtained his education in the common schools of Mar-
shall county, Indiana, and at the age of sixteen commenced teaching
in the country institutions himself, being thus employed for about
three years. In 1887 ne commenced his business career as a steno-
grapher in the office of the Upham Manufacturing Company, at
Marshfield, Wisconsin, and, after filling various positions with that
concern, came to Chicago December 1, 1893, and in partnership with
Fred W. Upham engaged in the hardwood lumber business under
the firm name of Upham & Agler. In 1896 Mr. Agler became one
of the organizers of the Fred W. Upham Lumber Company, of which
he was secretary and treasurer. In 1903 a copartnership was formed
with Fred W. Upham under the style of Upham & Agler, exclu-
sive dealers in hardwood lumber, with offices in the American Trust
Company building.
For two years Mr. Agler was president of the Chicago Hardwood
Lumber Association and has been first vice president of the National
ii54. CHICAGO AND COOK COUNT*
Hardwood Lumber Association for four years, and in June, 1908,
was elected president.
Married at Plymouth, Indiana, March 17. 1892, to Miss Bessie
E. Steele, Mr. Agler is the father of one child, Katherine. The fam-
ily residence is at Geneva, Illinois, of whose country club Mr. Agler
is an active member. He also belongs to the Minneapolis (Minn.)
Club, and the Chicago Athletic, the Union League and the Mid-day
clubs of Chicago. He is a K. T. Mason, and is popular with the
fraternity.
John Martin Kranz, the widely-known Chicago confectioner, is a
native of Germany, was born in Doerzbach in the year 1841, and is the
only son of Michael and Margaret (Nuegel) Kranz.
\ r He attended the public schools near his home, and
Kranz. > . \ .
in i860, having obtained a good education, left the
Fatherland for the United States. Arriving in Philadelphia, he ap-
prenticed himself to a confectioner, and after eight years of faithful
work and intelligent observation had mastered every detail of his
trade, besides having saved a small sum of money with which to ven-
ture into business for himself.
For the purpose of following an independent career in his chosen
occupation Mr. Kranz came to Chicago in 1867, and after being em-
ployed by a confectionery house for a year commenced the manufac-
ture of candies on a small scale on the west side. In this enterprise
he showed that he had not only mastered the processes of the manu-
facturer, but that he possessed the gifts of a business man ; for he so
prospered in his undertaking that in 1873 ne established a retail
store in connection with his manufactory and wholesale house, open-
ing it at 78-80 State street and, by degrees, occupying the entire build-
ing. In common with other leading confectioners he also added
beautiful ice cream parlors to his sales rooms, the entire establishment
being furnished and embellished in the most artistic manner. The
confections which he has been placing on the market these many
years have a wide reputation for their purity and daintiness, and.
besides appealing to a very select trade in Chicago, are shipped to
nearly every state in the Union.
In 1869 Mr. Kranz married Miss Florentine Bunte, the ceremony
occurring in Chicago, and their children are as follows : Laura, who
is married to Frank Lehmann, a manufacturer of machinery residing
QSX^O-
:ARY
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CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 11.55
in Dresden, Germany; Ida, now Mrs. Felix J. Notz, whose husband
is general manager and treasurer of Joseph Baker & Sons (American
Oven Company), Chicago; Florence, Alma and Lili. The unmarried
daughters reside at the pleasant family home, No. 62J Dearborn ave-
nue, north side. Mr. Kranz is independent in politics, a Lutheran in
religious belief and an old member of the Germania Club. Unassum-
ing and courteous, but energetic, able and positive, he is both forceful
and popular, representing a type of citizenship which is the basis of
Chicago's fair standing as a business and civic community.
At his death in February, 1907, John Abraham Devore was presi-
dent of one of the oldest and best-knowu men's tailoring houses in
Chicago. A. A. Devore & Son, at their headquar-
Tohn A. . . „ ,, 1 •, i- 1 1 •
• ters in the Pullman building, have been patronized
Devore. , , , r , . b . , 1 •
by men 01 taste and fashion ever since the business
was established nearly thirty years ago. John A. Devore was the son
of Abraham Allfree and Rachel (Long) Devore, the establishment
taking its distinctive name from the father. The late Mr. Devore
was born in California, Washington county, Pennsylvania. October
7, 1858, and after receiving a public school education, at the age of
fourteen began learning the tailor's trade with his father, who had,
in the meantime, established a business in Pittsburg. In 1878 father
and son moved from the Smoky City to Chicago, and founded the
firm which has prospered so many years as one of the best in the city.
The elder Devore died in 1899, and from the incorporation of the
company in 1902 until his death, John A. Devore was its president.
In Chicago, October 18, 1878, Mr. John A. Devore married Miss
Anna Evans, and they had one child, Miriam. A Republican in
politics and a firm believer in Christian Science, the late Mr. Devore
was also devoted to good citizenship and social affairs, being a mem-
ber of the Union League, the Kenwood and the Midlothian clubs,
although his pleasant home in Kenwood was the chief center of his
recreations and social enjoyments.
With the large merchant tailoring establishment of A. A. Devore
& Son, above mentioned, William J. Lafferty has been identified since
' T _ 1879. Born in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, on the
William J. ' , T 01 <■ ,,
T J 19th of anuary, 18^2, he was a soil of a well-
Lafferty. .
known physician, Dr. William L. Lafferty, who
practiced medicine in that place and vicinity from 1829 to 1866. and
1 1 56 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
then returned to his native state of Delaware to spend the remaining
twenty years of his life. He was not only a skilled physician but a
leading Mason, attaining to the office of district deputy grand mas-
ter of Pennsylvania. His wife (formerly Rachel W. Marshall) was
a native of Washington county, Pennsylvania.
Mr. Lafferty was reared in Pennsylvania, and in 1879, after hav-
ing spent several years in mercantile pursuits, came to Chicago and
at once became connected with the house of which he has become so
strong a factor. In 1874 he had married Miss Anna Belle, daughter
of A. A. Devore, also a native of Brownsville, Pennsylvania. They
have one child, Charles C.
Like his father, Mr. Lafferty has achieved prominence in Ma-
sonry. In 1888 he joined the order as a member of South Park
Lodge, No. 662, and in 1894 became one of the organizers of Wood-
lawn Park Lodge No. 841, and for many years was worshipful mas-
ter of the latter. He was elevated to Royal Arch Masonry in 1888 in
Fairview Chapter No. 161, and the same year was knighted in
Apollo Commandery No. 1. In 1892 he attained the thirty-second
degree of the Scottish Rite in Oriental Consistory. Mr. Lafferty
takes a prominent part in south side social and religious affairs, be-
ing a member of the Woodlawn Park Club and the South Shore
Country Club. Of Christ Church Episcopal, in Woodlawn, he has
been senior warden fifteen years, and was chairman of the building
committee which erected the present church in 1894.
Arthur Heun, architect, with offices at 810 Steinway Hall, is a
native of Cincinnati, Ohio, born on the 23rd of
-rj July, 1866. His parents were -born in Germany —
his mother (formerly Fredericka Nerreter), in Nu-
remberg, and his father (Bernhardt Herman Heun) in Leipsic.
Charles John Connell, president of the Fitzsimons & Connell
Company, is one of the best-known contractors in Chicago, and has
been especially identified with some of the most im-
r* ' portant works in connection with dredging, dock-
CONNELL
ing, pile driving and river, harbor, canal and rail-
road improvements generally. He is a native of Hatley, Stanstead
county, province of Quebec, Canada, born on the 31st of March,
1839, son of David and Margaret Graham (Macfarlane) Connell.
Mr. Connell was educated in the public schools of Hatley and the
IU:LIC LloRARY
as:
riLDF.I
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1157
academy at East Hatley, and obtained most of his early business and
financial experience in Chicago, coming hither in 1861, when he was
twenty-one years of age. He then became cashier with W. F. Cool-
bangh & Co., pioneer and leading bankers of the city, and after two
years assumed the same position with the Union National Bank,
which he held for a period of eight years. Soon after the great fire
of 1 87 1 he became interested in the business of contracting, and since
1872 has devoted his entire attention and ability to it. In the latter
year he associated himself with General C. Fitzsimons and in 1889
their extensive business was incorporated as the Fitzsimons & Connell
Company, of which, after the death of Mr. Fitzsimons in 1904, Mr.
Connell became president. The company is engaged in the prosecu-
tion of large public contracts, and in former years transacted an ex-
tensive trade in lumber.
Besides being the head of this important corporation, Mr. Con-
nell is secretary-treasurer of the Great Lakes Tug & Dredge Owners'
Protective Association, and of the Illinois Dredging Company. He
is a Republican in politics, and identified with the Chicago (since
1869), Evanston, Evanston Country and Glen View clubs.
On September 20, 1877, Mr. Connell was united in marriage with
Miss Fanny A. Mulford, of Montrose, Pennsylvania, a daughter of
Sylvanus S. Mulford, a well-knowm general merchant of that place.
Their children are Charles Mulford and Philip Graham Connell. Mr.
Connell has resided for many years in Evanston, Illinois.
Fayette Shepherd Cable, president and treasurer of the Cable-
Kelson Piano Company, has for nearly twenty years been prominently
_ _ identified with the manufacture of musical instru-
Fayettk S
~ merits in Chicago. Few branches of the manufac-
turing industry have had greater development in
Chicago than the production of pianos and organs, and in the history
of the industry there are some names that constantly recur as leaders
in the establishment and extension of factories and the broadening
and upbuilding of the trade. Among these familiar names that of
Cable has a deserved prominence, and Fayette S. Cable was one of
those wdio established this reputation in piano and organ manufac-
ture.
He was born in Cannonsville, Delaware county. New York,
March 18, 1855, a son of Silas and Mary (Goodrich) Cable, whose
Vol. Ill— 16.
1 1 58 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
parents were among .the first settlers of that section. The elder Cable
spent the greater portion of his life there, engaged in farming, and
the son, Fayette, was reared in a quiet rural community. After com-
pleting- his higher education in the Delaware Literary Institute at
Franklin, New York, he taught school several years, and in 1875
began his business career as an agent of the school book house of A.
S. Barnes & Co., New York City. In 1880, after he had filled the
position of traveling representative of that concern for some four
years, he came to Chicago to assume the duties of manager of the
Chicago branch of the Philadelphia book house of Porter & Coates.
The late Herman D. Cable, who was the pioneer Cable in this
field of manufacturing, had already established the Chicago Cottage
Organ Company, and with this successful enterprise Fayette S. Cable
allied himself in 1890, as stockholder, director and the secretary of
the company. He continued as one of the leading factors in the de-
velopment of the business until 1903, when he severed his connection
with it and organized the Fayette S. Cable Company, manufacturers
of pianos. In July, 1904, the business was reorganized as the Cable-
Nelson Piano Company, manufacturers of the well-known Cable-
Nelson pianos, Mr. Cable being president and treasurer. The fac-
tory is located at South Haven, Michigan, and the office of the com-
pany at 209 State street.
October 16, 1879, M r - Cable married Miss Kate Elting, a daugh-
ter of Daniel Elting, of Ellenville, New York. Their children are
Anne S., Rachel Elting, Gladys Goodrich and Dorothy Roselle. Mr.
Cable is a Republican in politics, and a member of the Union League
and Atlas clubs of Chicago. At Hinsdale, where the pleasant family
home is located, he is a member of the Hinsdale Club. His religious
faith is Congregationalism.
Edward D. Moeng is president of the Franklin Company, of Chi-
cago, engaged in the varied work of designing, engraving, electro-
typing, commercial photographing, embossing.
dward . pr i nt j n o- and binding. He has had a training of
Moeng. l ° . . , n s • ,,
more than thirty-five years in every conceivable
branch of the above named fields, both as workman and manager, and
is, therefore, fully qualified to conduct such an enterprise, see that the
work turned out is superior, and provide for the improvements and
developments in the trade. He is a native of Chicago, born on the
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
ii59
5th of November, 1856, being- a son of Diedrich and Dora (Degen-
ner) Moeng. He received his education in the public schools of the
city, and when fifteen years of age began his business career with
the house of Zeese & Rand, electrotypers, his position with them be-
ing as errand boy. Their plant was burned in the great fire, and the
youth continued in the same capacity with their successor, A. Zeese.
In 1872-76 he was serving an apprenticeship at the plumbing trade,
was learning the trade of an electrotyper with A. Zeese & Co. from
EDWARD D. MOENG.
1876 to 1882, and during the succeeding seven years served as su-
perintendent of the electrotype foundry of Blomgren Brothers. In
1889 Mr. Moeng became superintendent of the mechanical part of
the business of A. Zeese & Co., and during his incumbency of that
position, which lasted ten years, it "was organized as the Franklin
Engraving and Electrotyping Company, with an increase of capital
stock from $60,000 to $180,000. He was manager of the latter com-
pany for two years, and in 1901 became its president. In 1902 the
u6o CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
capital stock was further increased to $200,000, and when the Marsh
& Grant printing company was purchased in 1905 the style was
changed to The Franklin Company, as the scope of the business was
thereby extended so as to include other specialties than engraving and
electrotyping. In all its departments it now represents one of the
most complete houses in the country. There are other houses which,
in any one of its specialties, may enjoy a larger bulk of business, but
none which are its superiors as a complete establishment in all that
relates to the artistic and practical in illustrating, printing and en-
graving. The company now occupies eight floors at Nos. 346-350
Dearborn street.
In 1886 Mr. Moeng was united in marriage with Miss Helen
jahn. The beautiful family residence on Columbia avenue and the
lake shore, was completed in the fall of 1908, and in a unique home
built of cobble stones, which were secured by Mr. Moeng from his
own lake shore frontage. Fraternally, Mr. Moeng is identified with
the Masonic and Royal Arcanum fraternities, and is a member of
the Chicago Athletic Association.
Although still in the early forties, James McDonald is the founder
and president of the Interstate Coal and Coke Company. Born in
Lincoln, England, on the 21st of July, 1865. son of
,, ** lohn and Elizabeth (Halliday) McDonald, his par-
McDonald. . r • . , . , ,.,
ents were in comfortable circumstances and, like
other typical English folk of their station, had a keen appreciation of
the value of education to an able and ambitious boy. James McDon-
ald, therefore, enjoyed his earlier mental training at the famous Lin-
coln grammar school, graduating therefrom with the degree of As-
sociate of Arts.
For a time after leaving school Mr. McDonald remained in Eng-
land engaged in the grain trade, but in the fall of 1882 realized a
long cherished hope by coming to the United States and locating at
Chicago. In October, 1883, he secured employment with the Chi-
cago, Wilmington & Vermillion Coal Company as an accountant, and
during the twenty years of his connection with the business abund-
antly proved his abilities in such positions as paymaster and general
sales agent. At one time he also had charge of the company's job-
bing department. On April 1, 1903, Mr. McDonald organized the
Interstate Coal and Coke Company, with large interests in the In-
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1161
diana, Illinois and Ohio coal fields, and of this rapidly expanding con-
cern he fs still president. He is also secretary and treasurer of the
Melsonville Coal Company, of Hocking county, Ohio.
In 1890 Mr. McDonald married Miss Florence R. Lemmon,
daughter of Thomas A. Lemmon, who, as secretary and treasurer,
has been connected with the Chicago, Wilmington & Vermillion Coal
Company for twenty years. The children born to Mr. and Mrs.
McDonald are Paul A. and Bessie Mae McDonald. Although natur-
alized in 1886, and a stanch Republican in politics, Mr. McDonald
has never been ambitious for public preferment. He is a member of
the New Illinois Athletic Club and his religious faith is that of Con-
gregationalism.
Charles F. Spalding, president of the Spalding Lumber Com-
pany, an organization which is among the pioneers of the north-
western lumber interests, was born in Chicago,
October q, 186;, son of Jesse and Adelphia
Spalding. ^ ... „ , , ,,
(Moody) Spalding. He comes of one of the
oldest and most honorable of American and English families, the
town of Spalding, founded by his ancestors in Lincolnshire, being in
existence as early as the twelfth century. Between 1630 and 1633
Edward Spalding left that town and settled in Braintree, Massachu-
setts, and from him are descended the American members, through
Joseph, Nathaniel, Joseph and John, to Jesse, the father of Charles
F. Spalding.
The late Jesse Spalding was a strong factor in the development
of the northwest for nearly half a century. Both his grandfather
and his father were for many years active and influential in the
public affairs of Bradford county, Pennsylvania, and Jesse himself
was born in Athens (that county) on the 15th of April, 1833. He
was trained on his father's farm, received his education in the com-
mon schools and at the home academy, and upon attaining his ma-
jority engaged in lumbering on the north branch of the Susquehanna.
For two years both a woodsman and a raftsman, he then began to
deal in lumber. As the restricted home market did not satisfy his
ambitious plans, in 1857 he removed to Chicago, even then the
acknowledged center of the most vigorous activities of the northwest.
Soon after he bought a sawmill at the mouth of the Menominee
river, Wisconsin, where he commenced the manufacture of lumber.
n62 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
This mill was burned three times in the early seventies, and in 1871
the business, which, under various styles, had grown to immense
proportions, was incorporated as the Menominee River Lumber Com-
pany. In 1882, Mr. Spalding purchased the interests of all his part-
ners and became sole owner of the Wisconsin mills and Chicago
yards, shortly afterward buying out the New York Lumber Com-
pany, whose mill was on the Menominee river, Wisconsin, and an-
other milling property at the mouth of the Cedar river, about thirty
miles above Menominee, Michigan. In the year 1882 he also organ-
ized the Spalding Lumber Company, of which he remained presi-
dent until his death, March 17, 1904. Before that time, however,
he bought hundreds of thousands of acres of timber lands in Wis-
consin and Michigan to supply these and other mills with logs, his
manufactories producing annually about one hundred million feet
of lumber, and his market embracing leading cities both of the east
and northwest.
Jesse Spalding w r as also largely identified with the transporta-
tion development of the northwest, both in the line of railways
and waterways. He was associated with William B. Ogden and
others in the cutting of the great Sturgeon Bay ship canal, which
saved a distance of 150 miles on each round trip between Chicago
and Green Bay ports. On the death of Mr. Ogden he became presi-
dent of the operating company, which in 1893 turned the property
over to the United States.
The deceased was largely interested in banking and other financial
concerns in Chicago, was a director in many large corporations, and
his advice in the conduct of important enterprises was frequently
sought. Soon after the great fire he was elected to the city council,
in which he served for three years, and as chairman of the finance
committee aided much in the restoration of the city's credit. In
1 88 1 he was appointed collector of the port of Chicago, and subse-
quently served as a government director of the Union Pacific Rail-
road. He was in every way a large and able man of affairs.
Charles F. Spalding received his education in the Harvard School,
Chicago, and the Exeter (N. H.) Academy. After leaving school
he joined his father in the Spalding Lumber Company, learning the
business at the mill at the mouth of Cedar river, Michigan. He
thoroughly mastered all its details of manufacture and sale, and upon
PUBLIC
riLDEN F
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1163
the death of his father was elected president. He is a director of
the Hibernian Bank, resident vice president of the American Surety
Company, director of the First National Bank (Marinette, Wiscon-
sin), of the Menominee River Lumber Company, Commercial Na-
tional Bank (Chicago), Commercial Bank (Iron Mountain, Michi-
gan), vice president of the Tennessee Central Railroad, vice president
of the Waccamaw Lumber Company, located in Wilmington, North
Carolina, and president of the Holcomb-Hayes Company, which man-
ufactures railway ties.
On February 1, 1888, Mr. Spalding married Miss Elizabeth
Clarke, daughter of John V. Clarke, of Chicago, and the children
born to them have been as follows: Jesse, Jr., Lillian, Bertrande and
John Vaughn Clarke. In his religious faith Mr. Spalding is an
Episcopalian; is a Republican in politics, and identified with the Chi-
cago, Union League, St. Louis, Chicago Athletic, Germania, Forty,
Glen View, Exmoor, Saddle and Cycle, Edgewater Golf, and Mid-
Day clubs.
Thomas Alexander Lemmon, who for more than forty years has
been identified with the coal interests of Chicago, either as employe
or proprietor, is a native of Indiana, born at New
T Albany, April 16, 1841, son of Michael and
Lemmon. ^ r / _ %_ ._ ■. T ^
Martha J. (Griffin) Lemmon. His mother was
a grandniece of Thomas Jefferson. After passing through the public
and high schools of his native city, young Lemmon scarcely had a
breathing spell before he was called into military service by the out-
break of the Civil war. In 1861 he enlisted in the Fifth Ohio Cav-
alry, Fifteenth Army Corps, Army of Tennessee, and participated in
the fighting at Shiloh, as well as at other important engagements.
In the first day's conflict of that historic battle his was the only
cavalry regiment engaged, and acquitted itself with promptness and
bravery. After leaving the army he located at Louisville, Kentucky,
where for eleven months he engaged in the clothing business.
Mr. Lemmon has been a resident of Chicago since July 5, 1866,
when he entered the employ of E. D. Taylor & Son, coal dealers, as
bookkeeper, and later became identified with Taylor & Thomas in
a like capacity. Colonel A. L. Sweet, now president of the Chicago,
Wilmington & Vermillion Coal Company, became identified with the
coal business at this time, also commencing his career with Taylor
n64 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
& Son. In 1871 Mr. Lemmon associated himself with S. V. Cornish,
and established the firm of Lemmon & Cornish, whose property was
destroyed in the fire of 187 1. In the following year he entered the
service of the Chicago. Wilmington & Vermillion Coal Company, of
whose predecessor, the Chicago & Wilmington Coal Company, Colonel
Sweet had been superintendent for several years. In 1887, after
fifteen years of active and able work as an expert accountant and
confidential man, he was promoted to the office of secretary and
treasurer of the company, which he has since held continuously and
creditably. He is also secretary and treasurer of the Eureka Coal
and Dock Company.
On the 27th of April, 1865, Mn Lemmon celebrated the conclu-
sion of his army life by his marriage to Miss Sarah C. Berry, and
their children are as follows: Florence R., now the wife of James
McDonald, also a leading coal merchant ; Chandler Fontaine and
Albert Berry. C. F. Lemmon is sales agent for the Chicago, Wil-
mington & Vermillion Coal Company and resides in Chicago. A. B.
Lemmon, the younger son, holds a similar position with the North-
western Fuel Company, and also lives in this city.
In politics Thomas A. Lemmon is a firm Republican, and as a
Civil war veteran is identified with Columbia Post No. 706, Grand
Army of the Republic. Fraternally he is a member of the William
B. Warren Lodge No. 209, A. F. and A. M., and also belongs to the
Traffic Club of Chicago and the Illinois Athletic Club.
William Liston Brown, a representative business man and citizen
of Chicago, is president of the firm of Pickands, Brown & Co., one
of the oldest houses in the west and one of the
-,_, leaders in the country, engaged in the iron and the
Brown. . ;' . b b
iron ore business. He is a native of St. Joseph,
Michigan, born on the 23rd of August, 1842, son of Hiram Brown.
His father was born in 1804, a native of the Empire state, and was
among the pioneers of western Michigan. After engaging in the
grain forwarding business at St. Joseph for a number of years, in
1848 he removed to Chicago, where, in 1852, he became one of the
earliest members of its Board of Trade. After the death of his first
wife, he married Jane Reese Tilton Liston, a native of Pennsylvania,
who became the mother of William L. The ancestors of both the
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1165
paternal and maternal families were patriots of the Revolutionary
war and the war of 1812.
In 1848, then a lad of six years, William L. Brown came to
Chicago with his parents, and here he received his education in both
private and public schools. In 1859, at the age of seventeen, he
began his business career as a clerk for a Board of Trade commis-
sion firm, but in 1862 joined the famous Chicago Mercantile Battery
of light artillery and served with it during the remaining three years
of the Civil war. He was in the Vicksburg campaign, the Red River
expedition and the capture of Mobile, being discharged from the
service in July, 1865, when he returned to Chicago.
Soon after the war Mr. Brown became interested in the pig iron
and iron ore business, and increased his already strong influence in
the trade by the organization of the house of Pickands, Brown & Co.,
in 1883, and of which he has ever since been the controlling member.
In 1890 Mr. Brown became interested in Chicago shipbuilding, and,
with others, organized the Chicago Shipbuilding Company. This has
become one of the most important industries of the kind on the
Great Lakes, and was the means of so extending Mr. Brown's repu-
tation in this line that in 1899 he was elected president of the Ameri-
can Shipbuilding Company (Consolidated Lake Shipyards). He is
also president of the South Chicago Furnace Company, whose ex-
tensive plant for the manufacture of pig iron is situated on the
Calumet river, and also a director in the First National Bank of Chi-
cago. He is also a director, and often an official, in a large number
of steel, iron and lake navigation companies, and is a member of the
Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers. For many years
he was an active member of the Chicago Board of Trade.
On September 27, 1871, Mr. Brown married Mrs. Catharine
Seymour Bigelow, daughter of Dr. Stephen Seymour, one of the
first physicians of Chicago to practice homeopathy. Their pleasant
home is in Evanston, Illinois. In his religious faith Mr. Brown is a
Swedenborgian, and was for many years a trustee of the Chicago
New Church Society, and is serving at the present time on the board
of trustees of the Northwestern University. He is also a member of
the Chicago, Commercial, Caxton, Tolleston, Glen View Golf, On-
wentsia Golf, Evanston Country, Point Moullie and Castalia Fishing-
clubs, of Chicago and vicinity, as well as of the Kitchi-Gammi Club.
no6 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
of Duluth, Minnesota, and the Union and Tavern clubs of Cleveland,
Ohio. Further, he is a life member of the Chicago Press Club. His
identification with the organizations above named fairly indicates
the trend of Mr. Brown's tastes and recreations. In politics he has
always been an unqualified Republican, and, although he has invari-
ably refused to accept public office, he has faithfully contributed his
personal and financial aid, in a broad way, for the good of the party
and the public.
Frank J. Johnson, secretary of the American Hoist and Derrick
Company, has altogether been a product of the northwest, and is
one of the founders of the establishment with
, "*' whose development into a great industry he has
Johnson. , . . , , r ° J
been intimately associated for more than a quarter
of a century. A native of Racine, Wisconsin, he was born July n,
1856, being a son of Joseph and Bridget M. (Gorman) Johnson.
The father of Mr. Johnson was born in England, and, coming to
the United States in 1848, located for a time at Troy, New York,
whence he removed to Racine. In 1862 he settled in Chicago, and
afterward resided successively at Duluth and St. Paul, Minnesota,
his death occurring in the latter city. There, also, passed away the
mother, a native of Dublin, Ireland, who since early womanhood
had been a resident of the United States.
After receiving his education in the graded and high schools of
Chicago, Mr. Johnson went with his family to Duluth, where he
served an apprenticeship as pattern maker, afterward following his
trade there and at St. Paul. In 1882 he assisted in the founding of
the American Hoist and Derrick Company of the latter city, and in
the twenty-six years of its operations it has become one of the leading
manufacturers of heavy machinery in these lines in the world. The
product of its plant, located at St. Paul, not only go to all parts of
the United States, but to many foreign countries, and since 1892
the company has maintained a central office in Chicago. Since that
year Mr. Johnson has been a resident of this city, in charge of the
Chicago branch, whose office is now at No. 60 South Canal street.
The manufacturing plant at St. Paul gives employment to 700 men,
and the enterprise has been highly successful since its founding in
1882. The present officers of the company are as follows: Oliver
Crosby, president ; Frank J. Johnson, secretary, and W. O. Wash-
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1167
burn, treasurer. The business is incorporated under the laws of both
Minnesota and Illinois.
Since coming to Chicago in 1892 Mr. Johnson has resided in
Englewood, where he has become well known as an energetic, sociable
and honorable member of the community. He is a Knight Templar,
member of the Englewood Commandery No. 160, and is also iden-
tified with the following organizations: Builders' Exchange,. Build-
ers' Club, New Illinois Athletic Asociation, Press Club and the
Beverly Country Club. He is a Democrat in politics, although far
from being a politician. His wife, to whom he was married July
10, 1879, was Miss Hattie L. Guild, of Osceola, Wisconsin, and the
children of the family are Grace, Howard, Helen, Ruth and Lora.
William P. Henneberry, president of the Henneberry Company,
widely known printers and bookbinders, has been an active figure in
these lines of business, industry and art, for more
, T than forty years. He is a native of Chicago, born
Henneberry.
at No. 341 South Clinton street, on the 14th of
March, 1848, being the fifth son of John and Mary Henneberry, who
settled in Chicago in the early forties. He is a Chicagoan also by
education, his early training being obtained at the old Foster School,
on South Union street, near Twelfth, its principal at that time being
Mr. George W. Spofford, still a resident of the city. When he en-
tered the Chicago high school, on West Monroe street, September,
1863, its head was the late Professor George Howland, who after-
ward became an educator of national fame, as all Chicagoans know.
On the 1st of May, 1865, young Henneberry, who was then in his
eighteenth year, began his life work as an employe in a bindery.
It was but natural that he should have selected some field of the
publishing business, as from his earliest days he had been brought
into contact with it. Several of his brothers were engaged in news-
paper work, one of them having been for twenty-five years financial
editor of the Chicago Times, when conducted by the late Wilbur F.
Storey. Having mastered the business as an employe, on the 16th
of October, 1871, one week after the great fire, he formed a partner-
ship with Michael A. Donohue, his senior by several years, and the
firm of Donohue & Henneberry was established. The house became
one of the most prosperous and substantial in the west, and also
proved to be one of the oldest, for the firm endured for thirty years,
n68 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
or until 1901. In the year named the connection was dissolved, and
Mr. Henneberry erected the large plant on Wabash avenue, which
in facilities for printing and binding is not excelled in the west.
It was at this time, also, that he organized the Henneberry Company,
of which he is still president. The establishment and development of
the plant, within whose walls are illustrated all the most advanced
processes of bookmaking, are chiefly due to Mr. Henneberry's un-
usual powers of organization, sound judgment and strong will, and
the unshaken loyalty displayed from the first by all his associates.
Within eight months from the time he assumed the management of
the new plant Mr. Henneberry had its departments so systematized
that although their development has been continuous and rapid since,
the great establishment has been running night and day since it was
opened to the public. In its printing, electrotyping, press-room and
binding departments everything is of the latest, and in every feature
of the work speed and finish are jointly kept in mind. A specialty is
made of edition work for publishers, in all syles of binding, and they
also are engaged in manufacturing some of the largest catalogues
issued in this country. There is still another branch, which partakes
more of the character of the old style binding. Most of this is done
by hand, and is the process by which single volumes of a miscel-
laneous character are bound to suit the taste of the individual. In
this, as in all other features of the modern printing and binding
establishment, the Henneberry plant has every facility to meet every
demand.
On the 1 2th of May, 1874, Mr. Henneberry was married to Miss
Hannah C. Neill, of Chicago, where the ceremony occurred. They
are the parents of five children. Two of them died in infancy, the
survivors being as follows: Marguerite C, educated at Brooks
Academy; George Francis, who graduated from Harvard University,
class of '02, as an S. B., and who is now vice president and treasurer
of the Henneberry Company; and William P. Henneberry, Jr., a grad-
uate from the University of Chicago, class of '08, as a Ph. B., who is
also associated as secretary of the company. Mr. Henneberry's resi-
dence is at 2618 Michigan avenue. Although a leader in business
and otherwise essentially domestic in his tastes, he has also a broad
and varied social connection, being a life member of the Chicago
Athletic Association and the Chicago Press Club, and a member of
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1169
the Chicago Golf Club. In politics he always acts independently, not
confining himself to the support of the candidates of any one party.
The late William Henry Bush, for more than half a century a
prominent business man and philanthropic citizen of Chicago, was of
the highest character from whatever point of view
„ his personality was considered. His business and
industrious ventures were conducted energetically,
intelligently and successfully, but based upon a superior standard of
practical conduct. He was a man of strict moral traits, and more,
was of a generous, charitable and broadly helpful nature. During the
later years of his life Mr. Bush had formed a well-defined purpose
of bringing into the prosaic channels of trade some "of the elevating
and reviving charms of artistic surroundings. Although he passed
away March 19, 1901, before he could fairly realize this latter ambi-
tion, the plans for it were already well under way, and his thought
and purpose were finally built into what is now known as the Bush
Temple of Music, corner of North Clark street and Chicago avenue.
The elder Bush came to Chicago from Baltimore, in 1857, and
gradually built up a very extensive lumber business ; in fact, at the
time of the great fire of 1871 it was one of the most extensive in the
city. The day after the historic conflagration his sole worldly pos-
sessions consisted of tw T o charred schooners laden with lumber that
had been towed from the river to the outer harbor. But he had some-
thing more substantial than a great stock of lumber — a character
which the people of Chicago had admiringly watched in its develop-
ment for twenty years. After the shock of his personal calamity, his
first thought was for the Grace Methodist church, in which he had
been a deacon since his residence in Chicago, and he generously con-
tributed from his meager stock in the rebuilding of the edifice, which
was completed within a week after its destruction.
When Mr. Bush had first located in Chicago he established one
of the first commission houses on South W T ater street, which he con-
tinued for about twenty years. In 1875 ne erected a large two-
story building on the corner of North Clark street and Chicago ave-
nue with the idea of founding an establishment similar to the old Lex-
ington market in Baltimore. But, even thus early, customers were
more in favor of the delivery system than of the old-fashioned style
of marketing, and as it was evident that the venture would not prove
ii;o CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
successful. Mr. Bush remodeled his building into stores. He retained
his commission business and also continued his packing establishment
for seven years, the latter having a capacity of about seven hundred
hogs per day and being located on the site of the present Bush Tem-
ple. He then devoted two years to real estate, and in 1886 formed
a partnership with John Gerts and his son, William L. Bush, in the
manufacture of pianos. The latter were the practical members of
the firm, and the elder Bush gave the enterprise the benefit of his ripe
judgment and originality. During his lifetime the enterprise flour-
ished remarkably under the firm names of W. H. Bush & Co. and
Bush & Gerts Piano Company. The latter was incorporated in 1891.
with a capital of $400,000, and is continued with energy and ability
by the son, William L. Bush.
For more than forty years the late William H. Bush was active in
the work of the Methodist church in Chicago, both in its purely re-
ligious and charitable manifestations. One of the enterprises which
he took particular delight in fostering was the Methodist Old People's
Home in Edgewater. His first donation of $35,000 made the build-
ing of Bush Hall possible, and from this has grown an institution
which accommodates two hundred and fifty of the aged dependent.
The home was dedicated three weeks after Mr. Bush's death. The
Methodist Orphanage and the Colored Methodist Mission were oth-
er institutions which were indebted to his generosity. The deceased
was ever a strong advocate of temperance in all its forms, and a re-
former of the most practical type. As early as 1886 he was a can-
didate for mayor on the Prohibition ticket, and among other be-
quests left a generous sum for the support of the Frances Willard
Temperance Home. For years Mr. Bush was also an active member
of the Society for the Suppression of Vice and of the Civic Federa-
tion, and was never so absorbed in business but that he could devote
a liberal portion of his time to outside movements of a moral and
elevating nature.
In 1847 William H. Bush was united in marriage with Miss Mary
Jane Brunt, of Baltimore, daughter of Ralph Brunt, a well-known
citizen of that place. Mrs. Bush died September 22, 1905, and of
the eight children which she bore the deceased only two are now
alive — William L., already mentioned as the head of the Bush &
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1171
Gerts Piano Company, and Benjamin F. Bush, retired from business
and quite well known as a leader in Christian Science.
William Lincoln Bush, president of the Bush & Gerts Piano Com-
pany, whose magnificent salesrooms are at the Bush Temple of Music,
,, r T northwest corner of North Clark street and Chi-
William L. . . __ .
Bush cago avenue ' 1S a natlve of Chicago, born March 3,
1861: He is a son of William H. and Mary J.
(Brunt) Bush, and after receiving his education in the public schools
of this city went to Massachusetts, where he commenced his business
career in 1877. His first employment was at Cambridgeport, in con-
nection with George Woods & Co., manufacturers of pianos, his ex-
perience with them covering work in the factory and upon the road
as a traveling salesman. In the latter capacity he also represented
the W. W. Kimball Piano Company in 1879-81. In 1885, after hav-
ing engaged four years in the commission business, he associated him-
self with his father and John Gerts — the latter also a practical piano
man — in the firm of W. H. Bush & Co., of which he was the man-
ager. The business was incorporated in 1889 as tne Bush & Gerts
Piano Company, with a capital stock of $400,000, which has since
been increased to $1,000,000. Of this business William L. Bush be-
came secretary, and, upon the death of his father in 190 1, was elected
president. The house has established branches in Boston, Massachu-
setts, Dallas and Austin, Texas, and Memphis, Tennessee; has agen-
cies in all the large cities and towns of the United States, and disposes
of an annual output of about six thousand pianos. The instruments
are not only popular, but are highly esteemed by experts, being used
by several hundred educational institutions, including the New Eng-
land Conservatory of Boston, Massachusetts, Drake University of
Des Moines, Iowa, and Hamilton College, Lexington, Kentucky.
Mr. Bush is treasurer and founder of the Bush Temple Conserva-
tory of Music and Dramatic Art, of Chicago; president of the Bush
& Gerts Piano Company, of Texas, and Bush Temple of Music, Dal-
las, Texas. One of the plans which he has conceived for the exten-
sion of the business is the erection of so-called Bush Temples for
the housing of the Bush & Gerts Piano Company in various large
cities and towns of the United States, as well as the creation of cen-
ters of musical education known as Bush Temple Conservatories.
1172 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Mr. Bush is also a director of the North Side Savings Bank of Chi-
cago.
On February 26, 1887, Mr. Bush was united in marriage with
Miss Pearl E. Barrow, and they reside at the Plaza Hotel. Mr. Bush
is a Mason. He is a Republican in politics, and a member of the
Marquette (president in 1901-03). Germania, Chicago Yacht and
Mendelssohn and Hamilton clubs.
In 1874 Floras D. Meacham and Frank S. Wright entered into
a partnership as agents and dealers in hydraulic cements under the
^ . . firm name of Meacham & Wright, and in Tanuary,
The Meacham . . , , . , , * . . J . , Ji
p A -v- ~ 1903. their business, which had been developed to
ofc \\ right Co. . x
very large proportions, was incorporated as the
Meacham & Wright Company. The house is now one of the leaders
in the trade in the United States. It is the sole distributing agent for
the Utica cement companies, of LaSalle county. Illinois. The firm is
also one of the largest dealers in imported and domestic cements of
the Portland variety in the central and western states, and for years
has furnished the material for the construction of most of the via-
ducts for the railroads emanating from Chicago. Of late vears. also.
many of the large railroad bridges of the country have been con-
structed of cement, which is further being introduced very extensive-
ly into domestic architecture, and in every innovation in this direc-
tion the Meacham & Wright Company has been prominent and
reaped large benefits, both in the way of reputation and material in-
crease of business.
Floras D. Meacham. president of the firm of Meacham & Wright,
dealers in Utica and Portland cement, is a veteran of the Civil war.
and has lived in Chicago since his early youth. His
, r record, both in war and business, has been uniform-
Meacham. , .
ly honorable and substantial, and, within the past
nine years, as a member and president of the board of review, he has
made a reputation for efficiency and good judgment which has placed
him high in the good graces of the tax-paying public.
F. D. Meacham is a native of Whitehall, Washington county. New
York, where he was born April 26, 1843. being a son of Floras D.
and Lucinda (Church) Meacham. In 1857 he came with his par-
ents to Chicago, in whose public schools he finished his education,
and for some time prior to the outbreak of the Civil war was em-
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1173
ployed in the offices of the Illinois Central Railroad. Had he fol-
lowed his own inclinations he would have enlisted at once, but in
deference to the wishes of his parents he remained at home until the
organization of the Chicago Mercantile Battery in 1862. With this
command he went to the front, following its fortunes through the
Mississippi River campaign, siege of Vicksburg, Red River campaign
and the land investment of Mobile. He served his full term of three
years, and was honorably mustered out at the close of the war, having
been promoted from the ranks to an officer's commission.
At the close of his military service Mr. Meacham returned to
Chicago and engaged in mercantile pursuits until 1874, when he
formed a partnership with Frank S. Wright, a prosperous commis-
sion merchant who had also had several years' experience in the ce-
ment business. Later the firm of Meacham & Wright was incor-
porated, and the dealings of the house in Utica and Portland cement
are now as extensive as any in the country.
Politically, Mr. Meacham is a Republican, and in 1898 the county
convention of his party nominated him as a member of the board oi
review, to which office he was chosen at the November election of
that year. This office is well understood to be of the utmost import-
ance to the taxpayer, as the board is the final arbiter in all matters
pertaining to both real and personal taxation, and Mr. Meacham's
election was a just recognition of his executive ability, his business
judgment and his perfect reliability as a man. The honor thus ac-
corded him has been emphasized by repeated election since, and by
the fact that he served as president of the board in 1902.
Mr. Meacham is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic,
the Loyal Legion and the Illinois Vicksburg Military Park Commis-
sion and is also identified with the Illinois, Lincoln, Union League.
Hamilton and Marquette clubs. In view of the above, it is evident
that he stands high socially, as a business man and as an eminently
useful public functionary.
Frank Solomon Wright, vice president of the firm of Meacham &
Wright, leading dealers in Utica and Portland cement, is a native
of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he was born July
w ' 2J, 1846. His parents were Peter B. and Elizabeth
(Ledden) Wright, and in 1856 removed with their
family to Sheboygan, also in the Badger state. Frank S. had com-
Vol. Ill— 17.
[174 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
menced his education in the Cream City public schools and contin-
ued his education at Sheboygan, but at the age of fifteen abandoned
his studies in search of work. Like many other ambitious youths he
instinctively gravitated to Chicago, and here first found employment
with the commission house of Shackford & How, afterward con-
ducted by George H. How alone. He remained identified with the
business of this house until the spring of 1867, when (still under age)
he associated himself with A. C. Scoville, under the style of Scoville
& Wright, and engaged in the commission business at No. 44 West
Lake street. The house was on a firm and prosperous basis at the
time of Mr. Wright's withdrawal, January 1, 1869. He then entered
the employ of Haskin, Martin & Wheeler, wholesale dealers in salt
and cement, with whom he remained for five years acquiring a thor-
ough familiarity with the business in all its departments. In 1874
he became associated with Florus D. Meacham in the formation of
the present firm, and their joint labors and abilities have developed
one of the largest houses for the sale of cement in the country.
Mr.- Wright is stanchly and energetically Republican. He is a
member of the Illinois and the New Illinois Athletic clubs, and as a
leading dealer in the coming constructive material, is identified with
the Builders' Club. During its early years he was very active in the
founding of the Royal League, has taken a deep and continuous in-
terest in the order, and was a member of its supreme council.
On January 4, 1866, Mr. Wright married Miss Mercy A. Mc-
Clevey, daughter of Col. Smith McClevey, of Chicago, and their
family consists of four daughters and one son. Their home is at No.
5 1 1 Jackson boulevard.
Abraham Gutman, president of the Gutman Store and Office Fix-
ture Company, is a native of Olnhausen, Wuertemberg, Germany,
where he was born in the year 1873. He emigrated
r to the United States in 1890, and after remaining
six months in New York located in Chicago. His
first work in this city was in the butcher shop of Max Marx, Burling
and Center streets, with whom he remained for about a year. For
the succeeding year and a half he was employed in the same line of
business by Charles Werner, at No. 117 LaSalle avenue. He then
became identified with the fixture business, first in connection with
the firm of Jergensen & Olson, on California avenue, and from 1894
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1175
to 1900 he was in the employ of Julius Bender at 230-38 West Madi-
son street.
In 1900 Mr. Gutman established a business for himself at No.
157 Chicago avenue, remaining there until 1904, when he removed
his business (incorporated as the Gutman Store and Office Fixture
Company) to its present location, No. 389 Wabash avenue. His store
is one of the largest devoted to these specialties in the country, being
seven stories in height, 25 by 175 feet deep, and is filled with general
store and office fixtures of all descriptions. The sales average from
$150,000 to $175,000 annually.
In 1900, Mr. Gutman was united in marriage with Miss Clara
Eisendrath, and they have become the parents of one child, Julian.
The family residence is at No. 4434 Vincennes avenue.
John Anderson is publisher of Skandinaven, the leading Norwegian
newspaper of the United States, and president of one of the largest
job printing, binding and book publishing plants in
Chicago. He is a Norwegian, born in Voss, during
John
Anderson.
1836, and brought by his parents to Chicago when
he was eight years of age. He was able to obtain but one year's edu-
cation in a public school, and at the age of twelve the virtual support
of his mother and baby sister was thrown upon his young shoulders.
To sturdily sustain his character as the head of the family he sold
apples, worked in a butcher shop, carried newspapers and resorted to
a dozen "side issues" not mentioned. Finally he learned typesetting,
became a printer on the Chicago Tribune, and the problem of sub-
sistence, at least, was definitely solved. From this time on, the problem
was one of advancement.
In 1866 Mr. Anderson founded the Skandinaven, the Norwegian
newspaper of which he is still the publisher and proprietor, but before
it had been firmly planted in the journalistic field the great fire swept
away his entire plant. Like other undaunted Chicagoans he borrowed
money and re-established his enterprise on a broader basis than before,
looking forward with confidence to the greater and more substantial
Chicago. Founded originally as a semi-weekly, daily issues have since
been added, so that now in circulation, typographic appearance and
influence the Skandinaven is acknowledged to lead the Norwegian
journals of the United States. Mr. Anderson's printing plant, bindery
and publishing house are located in a large and convenient building at
1 1 76 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
No. 185 Peoria street, north side, and outside of his newspaper busi-
ness his transactions place him among the extensive job offices and
publishing establishments of the west. The completion of a third of
a century by the Skandinavcii was celebrated May 2, 1899, by a ban-
quet in Chicago, at which were present representative Norwegians
throughout the United States, the character of the participants and
the manner in which the occasion was observed well illustrate Mr.
Anderson's broad influence and popularity. In 1859 Mr. Anderson
was first married to Miss Maria C. Frank, at Racine, Wisconsin, and
at her death, in 1874, she had become the mother of one child, Frank
Seward. The second marriage, in Chicago, to Miss Julia Sampson,
in 1875, resulted in the birth of three children, as follows: Maria, now
Mrs. Arthur Eilert; O. Louis M. and John A.
George H. Benedict is one of the most widely known photo-engrav-
ers and electrotypers in the country. He is a native of Warsaw, Wyom-
ing county, New York, born on the 12th of August,
-r, 1 8^7, being: a son of Edward R. and Levira Bene-
diet. When he was seven years of age his parents
brought him to Chicago, and in various institutions he received a
public-school and a commercial education. His first mechanical experi-
ence was as a printer, and he was afterward an apprentice in the map
department of Rand & McNally.
This was the commencement of Mr. Benedict's career as an
engraver, and it seemed to be his forte from the first. Not long after
commencing work for Rand & McNally he secured the position of fore-
man with George F. Cram, the well-known publisher of atlases, and
while in his employ commenced to study photo-engraving with J. A.
Drummond. An independent venture of short duration was followed
by a connection with Blomgren Brothers & Co., as manager of their
wax engraving department, and still later he became manager of the
advertising department of A. G. Spalding & Brother. He again
established a general engraving and electrotyping business under the
style of George H. Benedict & Co., and in 1903 this firm was consoli-
dated with the Globe Engraving and Electrotyping Company, of which
he is treasurer.
For years Mr. Benedict has been an acknowledged leader in his
special lines ; and his leadership has taken the form both of complete
mastery of existing methods and of original improvements. His
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 117;
measuring scale is now in general use among photo-engravers and
electrotypers of the country, while "Benedict's Tables of Wages" has
not only facilitated the preparation of the pay-rolls of his associate
workmen, but has been introduced to other crafts and lines of indus-
tries. For nine years Mr. Benedict was president of the Electro-
typers' Association of Chicago, and for two years was the head of the
National Association of Electrotypers and Photo-Engravers. Despite
his constant industry and the discharge of heavy responsibilities for
many years, he has always been an enthusiastic athlete, and in the
eighties was considered a national authority on general athletic and
gymnastic sports. One of his books on such subjects published by
A. G. Spalding & Brother had a wide circulation.
On March 24, 1880, Mr. Benedict married Miss Caroline L.
Randolph, and they reside at 875 Warren avenue. Mr. Benedict is
a member of the Chicago Athletic Association, and in Masonry is a
Knight Templar and a Shriner.
Livingston Wells Fargo, vice president and general manager of the
American Express Company, with headquarters in Chicago, is of the
family whose name is so instinctively associated
_ T . _ with the express business of the United States, espe-
W. Fargo. . „ . , __ . . . _ .
cially of the west. He is a native of Detroit, son
of Charles and Mary J. (Bradford) Fargo. The family had its home-
stead in Onondaga county, New York, for several generations, the
brothers, William G., James C. and Charles, being pioneers in the
transportation business of the west and middle west.
The family name sprung from the Italian tongue and was originally
Ferigo. The American progenitors, of which Mr. Fargo is a direct
descendant, made their home in Connecticut, where his great-grandfa-
ther lived and where his grandfather, William C. Fargo, was born.
When the latter reached manhood he became a corporal in the Amer-
ican army which fought the war of 18 12, and was stationed at Macki-
naw, Michigan. On his return he located in Onondaga county, New
York, and married Miss Tacey Strong. In their home at Water-
vale, that county, was born their son Charles, on the 15th of April,
1 83 1. He was the father of the present general manager of the Amer-
ican Express Company.
When he was fifteen years of age Charles Fargo drifted westward
to Buffalo, where he entered the offices of the American Express Com-
.178 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
pany, thus inaugurating a service of nearly half a century's duration
with that great corporation. When twenty years of age he was sent to
Detroit, Michigan, and after remaining there for two years removed
to Toledo, where (in 1863) he established the first agency of the
company in that city. Upon his return to Detroit in 1856 he was
appointed superintendent of the district of which that city was the
center, and thus continued until 1865. During this period he per-
sonally established the Lake Superior Express, an enterprise which
then reached an isolated district, and in behalf of the company which
he represented he did for Michigan what Wells, Fargo & Co. have
accomplished for California. • In 1865, after twelve years of splendid
work in Michigan, Charles Fargo was transferred to Chicago, suc-
ceeding his brother, James C, as general superintendent of the north-
western division, the latter going to New York to assume the eastern
general superintendency of the company's business. In August, 1881,
when James C. Fargo succeeded his brother, William G., as president
of the American Express Company, Charles Fargo was made vice
president and general manager of the business west of Buffalo. Two
years after Charles Fargo became president himself, and so remained
until his death, in 1896. The deceased was a man of remarkable per-
sistency of character and great executive ability, and under his leader-
ship the American Express Company made immense strides in the
west. For twelve years he was also a director in the Elgin National
Watch Company and the Northwestern Horse Nail Manufacturing
Company, of Chicago, and during a period of nearly thirty-one years'
residence in the metropolis of the west he was prominently identified
with various public interests. He was an earnest member of Christ
Reformed Episcopal church, and an old and active member of the
Commercial, Chicago, Calumet and Washington Park clubs. In poli-
tics, he was an old-time Republican, but it was chiefly as a broad-
minded business man, one of the founders and developers of a vast
institution which has greatly enhanced the name of Chicago for enter-
prise and substantial success, that he will longest be remembered. In
1854 Charles Fargo married Miss Mary J. Bradford, daughter of
Harvey Bradford, of Cooperstown, Otsego county, New York, and
the children of their union were Livingston W., Irene, Adelaide P. and
Florence B. Fargo.
Livingston W. Fargo was first educated in the Detroit schools,
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1179
and then attended Williams College, Massachusetts, soon afterward
becoming identified with the company which owes so much of the pros-
perity and standing to the united labors of his father and two uncles.
Advancing through several minor positions, he reached the position
of assistant general manager of the western department, and in 1906
succeeded Albert Antisdel as vice president and general manager of
the company. It was a promotion which was thoroughly merited and
generally anticipated, and one by which the familiar name of Fargo is
still prominently stamped upon the corporate life of the American
Express Company. Mr. Fargo is popular in club circles, being identi-
fied with the Chicago, University and Caxton organizations. In poli-
tics, he is a Republican.
n8o CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Real Gstate in Chicago— Hn Historical Review
Speaking from the simple standpoint of territory, the total real
estate of Chicago is represented by the area of the city, and it is a
well recognized economic truth that, in a general way, the growth
of a city is indicated by the expansion of its site. As this expansion
is chiefly determined by the pushing out of the population from the
central to the suburban districts, it is largely an index of the increase
of its substantial prosperity, and the progress in the values of real
estate.
The original town of Chicago, as incorporated in 1833, was nn>
ited by Madison and Desplaines, Kinzie and State streets, and em-
braced an area of about three-eighths of a square mile. Within the
following two years its territory had been extended so as to include
an area of two and a half square miles, bounded by Twelfth street on
the south, Wood street on the west and Chicago avenue on the north.
At the incorporation of the city, in March, 1837, its territorial bounds
were extended to Twenty-second street on the south and North ave-
nue on the north, and increased in area to more than ten and a half
square miles. The population embraced within the original city lim-
its was 4,170. The first increase of municipal territory was made in
1847, nearly ten years from the date of the city's incorporation, and
was an extension of its western boundary from Wood street to West-
ern avenue and the addition of a narrow strip east of Clark street
and above North avenue and Center street, to Fullerton avenue, which
was afterward developed into the main body of Lincoln Park. Six
years afterward, when the city had reached a population of 60,000.
the second addition was made to its landed estate, comprising nearly
four square miles and extending the entire northern
City
boundary to Fullerton avenue (with Ashland ave-
Limits. , . , n 1 •, ., , ,-.-
nue as the western boundary), while the addition to
the south comprised the territory between Twenty-second and Thirty-
first streets, the lake and Halsted street. These additions made the
total area nearly eighteen square miles. In 1863 the boundaries of
the city were extended south, west and north, so that its continuous
southern line was Thirty-ninth street, its western boundary Western
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1181
avenue and its northern, Fnllerton avenue. Its area was now more
than twenty-four square miles and its population 160,000. Six years
later, almost to a day, more than eleven square miles of territory were
added to the west and northwest, the annexed territory being between
Western and Fortieth avenues and North avenue and the Illinois and
Michigan canal. The municipal domain was thus increased to 35.6
square miles, within which limits was a population of 273,000. Two
years after came the great Chicago fire, razing the buildings from
three and a third square miles of real estate and sweeping away all
identifying marks from more than seventy miles of streets. This nat-
urally retarded the outward expansion of the city for some years, and
the next addition to its area was not made until 1887, and that was
only the square mile between Fullerton and North avenues, Kedzie
and Western. This addition was taken from the town of Jefferson,
and two years thereafter (April 29, 1889) another square mile was
annexed to the north, the western boundaries were extended to Forty-
sixth and Forty-eighth avenues and, by the addition of a triangular
section to the southwest (south of the canal), Thirty-ninth street was
made the continuous southern boundary. Although this increased
the area over seven miles, and brought its total up to 43.8 square
miles, the year 1889 was still new. Just two months after the exten-
sion above noted, the climax of such acts was reached in the annexa-
tion of Hyde Park on the south, the Town of Lake and the Town of
Jefferson on the northwest, a part of Cicero on the west and the
city of Lake View on the north. This territory embraced 126 square
miles and gave the city an area of 169.78 miles, with an approximate
population of 1,200,000. The additions of 1889 virtually established
the present site of the municipality, although in 1890 South Engle-
wood, Washington Heights and smaller corporations toward the
south were absorbed ; Rogers Park became a portion of the city in
1893; a portion of the town of Calumet came in during 1895, and
Cicero and a part of Austin increased its area toward the west. This
last addition was made April 4, 1899, increasing the total municipal
area to 190.63 square miles, which embraces a population of 2,000,-
000 souls. Contrasting the original city of Chicago with the present,
it is certainly impressive to remember that seventy years have wit-
nessed the development of a municipality covering 10.63 square miles
n82 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
and containing 4,000 people, into a metropolis with an area of 190.63
square miles and a population of at least 2,000,000.
It is also of historic interest and significance to compare the valu-
ation of property within the city with the progress of its territorial
growth. In 1837, the year of its incorporation, the
TT ' walue of its real estate was $236,000, and ten years
Valuations. , r , _ ;,. . , .
thereafter, when the first addition was made to the
city, these figures had mounted to $5,849,000. In 1863, when Chi-
cago was somewhat more than twenty-six years of age and had more
than doubled in territory, her real estate and personal property were
valued at $42,660,000. In 1869 the valuation had increased to $266,-
920,000, this being the year of the greatest addition of territory up
to that time, and in 1889 (the banner year) the valuation of all prop-
erty listed for taxation was $201,000,000. These figures have since
doubled. As, under the law, this sum is but twenty per cent of the
full, or real, valuation, the value of Chicago property may be safely
placed at $2,000,000,000, as against $6,000,000,000 for New York
and $1,200,000,000 for Philadelphia.
The real estate interests of Chicago are the most important, from
a financial standpoint, which exist in the city, but as they have for
their field of activities over 190 square miles, it is obviously impossible
to do more than glance at their general features. Prior to the incor-
poration of the town of Chicago in 1833, many of the pieces of prop-
erty which in after years reached the highest value were purchased
of the canal commissioners, and afterward from the United States
land ofiice which commenced operations at this point in May, 1835.
In September, 1833, all the Indian lands in Cook county and adjoin-
ing territory were thrown open to settlement, which also had an ef-
fect of "booming" real estate in Chicago. The building of the canal,
the sale of over 2,000,000 acres through the land office during the
eleven years of its existence, and the incoming of thousands of new
settlers to Cook county, had a most stimulating effect upon real estate
within the corporate limits of the town and city; and this, notwith-
standing the panic of 1837, which was the first general setback expe-
rienced by the young city. In 1833, to meet the expenses of the
town so recently organized, all but four lots of its school section were
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1183
sold at an average of $25 per lot. This tract was numbered 16 and
embraced the territory within the present limits of
School
„ Madison and Twelfth streets and Halsted and State
Section. . at . ... , , ,
streets. Section No. 9, immediately north, belonged
to the canal, and upon the southern portion of this was platted the
original town. Its present bounds are Chicago avenue on the north,
Madison street on the south, State street on the east and Halsted
street on the west. Fractional section 15, lying east of 16 to the lake
and embracing land on the south side, was also canal property. In
June, 1836, all the lots remaining unsold in these sections were auc-
tioned off to the highest bidders. This unsold property comprised
seven blocks on the north side between the river and Kinzie street,
eighteen blocks on the west side, and sixteen blocks on the south
side, lying east of the present State street between South Water and
Madison streets. This general sale was effected at the height of
the land craze, which preceded the panic of 1837, and realized nearly
$1,360,000. The prices ranged from $800 to $3,000 per lot, the most
valuable property being the real estate fronting on South Water,
Lake and Randolph, while the lots on Kinzie street commanded a
higher price than those between Randolph and Madison, on either
the south or west side.
The panic and hard times of 1837-38 caused almost a paralysis
of the real estate business, both at the land office and among private
dealers, and really normal conditions were not resumed until the late
forties; but from 1850 to 1855 the growth of the city was marvelous,
and the real estate men insisted that the facts in the rise of property
values during that period always outstripped their brightest prophe-
cies. Two years thereafter came the panic of 1857, with the after
years of depression, and then the disturbances of all values caused by
the Civil war. The first effect of the great fire was to depress all
real estate prices, but with the tremendous influx of eastern capital
and the widespread speculation in the great area of vacant property
thrown upon the market, prices took a decided upward turn and
the sales during the year following the fire exceeded more than $75,-
000,000. The subsequent panics and depressions marked by the years
1873, l &93 an( l 1908 have all had a temporary effect on real estate
values, but the city's life is now too broad and virile to be permanent-
ly affected by any conceivable influence for bad. Since the financial
ct84 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
depression of 1893-94 the real estate business has not shown such a
marked rate of increase as in many former years — in fact, one of its
leaders has gone so far as to call the period from 1894 to 1906 "the
dark ages of Chicago real estate." In 1892 the sales were valued at
$153,000,000, but the following year they dropped to $101,000,000,
reached as low an ebb as $87,900,000 in 1900, and in 1908 did not
greatly exceed those of 1892. For the past three years, however,
the tendency has been uniformly upward. The Chicago Real Estate
Board has been in existence since 1883, and has since fittingly repre-
sented these great local interests.
Space prevents the presentation of but few illustrations of the
hundreds at hand showing the marvelous increases in value of specific
pieces of property. The first deed recorded in Cook county was filed
December 2, 183 1, and conveyed lots 5 and 6, block 29, lying between
Lake and Randolph streets, on the west side, for the consideration
of $109. Governor Reynolds conveyed this property to Robert
Kinzie. William Bross, journalist, public man and historian, has
placed on record an interesting list of purchases made by such Chi-
cago fathers as Mark Beaubien, J. B. Beaubien, John Kinzie, James
Kinzie and Alexander Wolcott. They bought various pieces of
real estate in what are now business sections of the city, as early as
1832, the prices for which .are of record. In 1853 Mr. Ross, with the
assistance of local dealers, fixed a valuation upon the same real estate,
and in the late nineties, or nearly three quarters of a century after the
time of the original purchases, a third valuation upon the property
was placed by expert real estate dealers. In the early thirties J. B.
Beaubien purchased eight lots in the vicinity of South Water, Lake,
Clark and Dearborn streets for $346; they were valued at $450,000
in 1853, and would now bring anywhere between $3,000,000 and
$4,000,000. About the same time James Kinzie bought four lots be-
tween Clinton, Jefferson and Fulton streets and Carroll avenue, on
the west side, and seven lots in the vicinity of Lake and Franklin
streets, Washington street and Fifth avenue, south side, paying $418
for the entire property. These parcels of real
Past and Pres- , , , r U & • o - 1
estate were held at fully $130,000 in 1853, and
ent Values. , , , , , , ^ T
could not now be purchased for $1,000,000. In
the Kinzie purchase was included the triangle bounded by Lake,
Franklin and South Water streets, which marks the western terminus
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1185
of the great commission district of Chicago. Oliver Newberry pur-
chased two lots (of eighty feet each) on South Water street, at the
southeast corner of Dearborn and Clark streets, for which he paid
$78 in the thirties, which had advanced to $39,000 in the fifties, and
which now, with improvements, would bring at least $1,000,000.
This property is located at about the center of the commission dis-
trict. Jesse B. Browne also purchased eighty feet on South Water
street, near Franklin street, in the vicinity of the Kinzie lots, for
which he paid $100. In 1853 the land was held at $46,000, and for
some years has hovered around the $1,000,000 mark. John Noble,
the packer, bought an eighty- foot lot for $170 (a portion of which
is now occupied by the Chicago Opera House), which could have
been sold for $83,000 in the early fifties, and which would readily
sell fifty years afterward for half a million dollars. He also became
the original owner of eighty feet on Lake street near La Salle by pay-
ing $80. If Mr. Noble had held it until 1853 he might have realized
$100,000 on his investment, and his heirs in recent years could have
sold it for some $350,000. Eighty feet on the southeast corner of
Randolph and Clark streets was bought by Calvin Rawley during the
period immediately preceding the formation of the town of Chicago,
for which he paid $53. It was valued at $50,000 twenty years later,
and possibly $500,000 would buy the property at the present time.
Mark Beaubien paid $102 for the 160 feet at the northeast corner
of Lake and Market streets, which in 1853 was held at over $100,000,
and now could hardly be purchased for five times that amount. In
the early days Stephen Mack paid $53 for fractional lots 7 and 8,
on Market street between Randolph and Washington streets, and in
1853 the property had risen in value to $57,000. This locality is now
in the northwestern section of Chicago's great wholesale mercantile
district, and the property would be placed at fully $400,000. It is
said that William Jones, father of Fernando Jones, was the first
non-resident to buy vacant lots in Chicago from the original pur-
chasers. They were lots 2 and 7, block 17, one fronting on South
Water street and the other on Lake street, and the price paid was
$100 each. Benjamin Jones, the uncle of Fernando, was the original
owner of the block upon which now stands the United States Gov-
ernment building. At the sale of the school section in October, 1833,
he paid $505 for this piece of raw prairie land, and immediately after
n86 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
the fire of 1871, less than forty years afterward, the United States
government paid $1,250,000 for the same land, which then had upon
it only the ruins of the Bigelow House, but recently completed. Real
estate experts have long discussed the question as to which piece of
real estate in Chicago, of a given size, has proved of greatest value
in the history of local real estate. A conclusion, based on reliable
data, seems beyond the bounds of probability, but through the efforts
of one of the leaders in real estate (F. R. Chandler) and the Chicago
Real Estate News, an ingenious and valuable contribution to the sub-
ject has been made. Public and private records, market reports and
expert opinions were collected, covering the most productive pieces
of real estate in the great business districts of Chicago, and, although
no precise piece could be settled upon, a careful collation of the data
(which reached back to 1830) located the most valuable "quarter of
an acre" of the city's real estate in the vicinity of State and Wash-
ington streets. As finally completed, this "History of Values of a
Quarter of an Acre" includes parallel statistics covering the popula-
tion of Chicago, by years, with its annual increase ; the changing
values of the quarter acre, with its annual yearly increase or decrease;
the number of average Illinois farms (valued at $2,050) necessary
to buy the quarter acre, and the number of years' work, at $1.50
per day and 300 days to the year, necessary to buy this most valuable
quarter acre of Chicago real estate. The rise and temporary falls in
value are traced year by year, through the periods of panics, depres-
sions, wars and fires. In 1830, when the population of Chicago num-
bered fifty people, this quarter of an acre of raw prairie land near
the mouth of the river was worth $20 in money, a trifle over thirteen
days of unskilled labor and less than one-hundredth the value of the
present average Illinois farm. In 1861, the first year of the war,
when the population was 120,000, it had increased to $28,000, was
worth over thirteen and a half Illinois farms and represented more
than sixty-two years of a laborer's life. When the great fire swept
the district, Chicago had a population of 325,000, and the quarter of
an acre was valued at $100,000, and could only be purchased with
48.78 Illinois farms, and the labor of more than 222 men, each
working a year. At the present time, with the city's population
2,000,000, this composite quarter acre, valued at nearly $2,000,000,
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1187
represents 600 average Illinois farms, and one man's labor extended
over nearly 3,000 years.
At the time of the Chicago fire it was feared that the destruction
of public and private records relating to real estate would prove
a blow to the business, by hopelessly confusing titles, from which it
would never fully recover. But, although the destruction in this
particular was something appalling, the leading abstract firms com-
bined their records, with the result that no city in the world has
now a more complete and accessible system of real estate abstracts
than Chicago. The history of this important feature of the real estate
business follows.
Abstract Business In Cliicago.
Chiefly on account of the great fire of 1871, which swept away
the early real estate records of Cook county, the few firms in Chicago
which had the foresight to collate a system which is at all complete
have come into unusual prominence in the local business world. A
running sketch of the abstract business in the county is therefore par-
ticularly material to a complete local history.
The first deeds in Cook county were recorded about November,
1 83 1, and the first man to engage in the abstract business was Edward
A. Rucker, who in 1847 made a small set of books in which convey-
ances were so classified that all which related to the same property
could be found on one page. At this time there were less than fifty
books of record in the county. Mr. Rucker soon formed a partnership
with James H. Rees, the latter soon assuming the conduct of the busi-
ness alone and continuing it for about five years. Afterward Horace
G. and Samuel B. Chase carried on the business, and were subse-
quently joined by a lawyer, John B. Adams, the firm of Chase Broth-
ers & Co., thus formed, being in the field at the time of the 1871 fire,
theirs being one of the three complete sets of tract books then in the
city. The second set was started by J. Mason Parker, of Boston, a
few years after the advent of Mr. Rucker. The former afterward
sold his business to Thomas B. Bryan and John Borden, and, under
the firm names of Bryan & Borden, Greenebaum & Guthmann,
Shortall (John G.) & Hoard, and Handy (Henry H.), Pasdeloup
& Co., the records were brought down complete to the time of the
great fire of 1871. The third original source of the abstract business
n88 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
of Chicago was Fernando Jones, who about 1864 compiled a complete
set of books and started out in business as Fernando Jones & Co.
Alfred H. Sellers entered into partnership with him about 1867, and
the resulting firm of Jones and Sellers continued the business until
the time of the fire.
Besides the proprietors of these three complete series of indexes,
there were a few other persons who, from time to time, without any
books of their own, undertook to furnish abstracts compiled directly
from the public records. The court house was destroyed by fire on
October 8 and 9, 1871, and all the records of the courts and books of
the recorder of deeds were burned. Fortunately, or perhaps providen-
tially for the owners of real estate, however, the three sets of complete
abstracts were saved virtually intact ; at all events, they were so little
impaired that, when combined, they formed a substantially complete
index of the burnt records. And by act of the legislature shortly after
the great fire copies from these private records were made admissible
as evidence in litigation in place of the destroyed public records.
The firms whose records were thus saved soon found they could
give the public better service by uniting all their records and data as
one concern ; this merger was soon brought about by means of a lease
of all of their records to Handy, Simmons & Co., and later to Handy
& Co.
In 1888 the Title Guarantee and Trust Company became the ab-
solute owner of all these sets of books, and the only concern that could
supply original ante-fire abstracts.
Immediately after the fire. Haddock, Coxe & Co. (Charles G.
Haddock, Edward D. Coxe and Frank H. Vallette) opened a set of
books to cover all conveyances recorded since the fire. Mr. Coxe sold
his interest some years later to George E. Rickcords and the business
was conducted until 1891 as Haddock, Vallette and Rickcords, and
from the latter year until 1895 under the incorporate title of the Had-
dock, Vallette and Rickcords Company, and from 1895 to 1901 as
the Security Title and Trust Company. In 1884 Jerome J. Danforth,
then connected with the recorder's office, promoted the organization
of the Cook County Abstract Company, whose records extended from
the fire down : in 1891 its business was taken over by the Cook County
Abstract and Trust Company, and in December, 1891, on a much
I'UCLIC LI
AS TOR, LENOX '
IILDF.N FOUNDAi
CL. -J^J^^.
^zr
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1189
broader business basis, the name was changed to the Chicago Title
and Trust Company.
In August, 1 90 1, the Security Title and Trust Company (the suc-
cessor of the Haddock, Vallette and Rickcords Company, whose rec-
ords were complete after the fire) was consolidated with the Chicago
Title and Trust Company (covering virtually the same ground) and
in September a merger was effected with the Title Guarantee and
Trust Company (which possessed the only complete set of ante-fire
records). This triple consolidation was the origin of the present
Chicago Title and Trust Company, which now owns the only com-
plete records by which real estate titles may be traced from the gov-
ernment of the United States. The officers of the Chicago Title and
Trust Company are as follows : Harrison B. Riley, president ; Abra-
ham R. Marriott, vice president; William C. Niblack, vice president
and trust officer; John A. Richardson, secretary; William R. Folsom,
treasurer.
Harrison B. Riley was born July 1, 1862, at Ovitt, New York.
His parents were John Manning Riley and Anna Tripp Riley. He
moved to Chicago with his parents in 1867, and
_ was educated in the common schools of Chicago,
St. Paul, Minnesota, and Wisconsin Normal School
at Oshkosh, Wisconsin ; graduated in the law department of Lake
Forest University in the class of 1891 ; entered the employment of
Handy & Co., abstract makers, April, 1882; elected vice president of
the Title Guarantee and Trust Company in January, 1901, secretary
of the Chicago Title and Trust Company in September, 1901, and
president of the Chicago Title and Trust Company in May, 1907.
He was married in 1889 to Alice C. Donaldson, and has two chil-
dren; the family resides at Evanston, Illinois. He is a member of
the Evanston, Evanston Golf, Glen View Golf, Mid-Day and the
Union League clubs.
Abraham Robert Marriott, vice president of the Chicago Title and
Trust Company, was born on a farm in DuPage county, Illinois, on
the 26th of May, i860, son of William and Kittie
(Gresham) Marriott. In his early boyhood his par-
Marriott. ' . __„ Tit- • 1 1 1 j st-
ents removed to Wneaton, Illinois, where he had the
advantage of education in well conducted public schools, and after-
ward pursued a course in law at the Chicago College of Law.
Vol. 111— is.
1 190 CHICAGO AND. COOK COUNTY
In 1875 Mr. Marriott commenced his career in the abstract busi-
ness by securing a clerkship in the office of Haddock, Coxe & Co.,
having remained identified with that firm and its successors, Had-
dock, Yallette and Rickcords, Security Title and Trust Company and
the Chicago Title and Trust Company. In 1891 Mr. Marriott was
elected superintendent of the Haddock, Vallette and Rickcords Com-
pany, and in 1895 vice president of the Security Title and Trust Com-
pany, to which name the Haddock, Vallette and Rickcords Company
had been changed. He continued to hold this office until August,
1 90 1. when the Security Title and Trust Company was consolidated
with the Chicago Title and Trust company, and Mr. Marriott was
elected to the same office with the latter. One of the most important
contracts which he has carried through of late years was the re-writ-
ing of the county abstract books and records, which was awarded to
him on the 1st of September, 1904.
On the 19th of October, 1882, Mr. Marriott wedded Miss Minnie
C. Cooper, and the following four children have been born to them :
Ida Elizabeth, Arthur Cooper, Robert William and Thomas Benton.
In politics, Mr. Marriott is a Republican; is an associate member of
the Chicago Real Estate Board, and belongs to the Hamilton Club
of Chicago, and the Oaks Club of Austin. He is also a Mason of high
decree, beingf a member of Siloam Commanderv, K. T.. and Medinah
Temple.
The Real Estate Title and Trust Company is a corporation organ-
ized by Jerome J. Danforth, for the purpose of issuing abstracts of
title and guarantee policies to real estate, and con-
Real Estate fineg itgelf exc i us j ve i y to this line of business. It
I T T" T TT A "V T~\ I ~D T T C T 1 *
_ has, however, in connection with its business main-
COMPANY. . . , £ .. r r
tamed an escrow department for the purpose of af-
fording to its customers an opportunity of closing their real estate
transactions in its office.
The company has been in business for something over three years.
Its offices are in the Merchants' building at the northwest corner of
Washington and LaSalle streets, where it occupies the two banking
floors of that building.
The company has 200 stockholders among the real estate men and
lawyers of Chicago, and its officers are as follows : Jerome J. Dan-
forth, president; Moses E. Greenebaum. vice president; Edward E.
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1191
Shaw, second vice president; George R. Jenkins, secretary and treas-
urer; Arvene S. Hyde, assistant secretary, and F. T. E. Kallum, as-
sistant treasurer.
Its board of directors consists of the following : Moses E. Greene-
baum, Jesse A. Baldwin, William E. Hatterman, Arthur W. Draper,
B. C. Miller, John R. Thompson, John Pecha, L. C. Tryon, F. H.
Brunell, R. J. Schlesinger, Thomas J. Holmes, James F. Stepina,
George R. Jenkins and Jerome J. Danforth.
The plant of the company includes complete tax and special assess-
ment records, judgment dockets, and indices and records of all the
courts (federal, state and county), indices of the Illinois corporations
and indices and records of the daily conveyances recorded in the re-
corder's office of Cook county.
It has deposited securities with the state auditor of Illinois, which
are an indemnity fund to protect its customers against any loss suf-
fered by reason of defects in titles which it guarantees, which fund,
under law, must be kept intact, even though the corporation should go
out of business.
This company and the Chicago Title and Trust Company are the
only two corporations in Cook county which are engaged in making
and certifying titles to real estate.
Jerome Joseph Danforth, president of the Real Estate Title and
Trust Company, is one of the oldest and best known abstract experts
and promoters in the city. He is a native of Bos-
- '" •'* ton. Massachusetts, born on the 1st of November,
Daxforth. • . ,., ; _ , _ . _, ,_ , .
1849, son °* Martin G. and Louisa M. (Roberts)
Danforth. He obtained his preparatory education in the public schools
of his native city, and after a long experience in business, as a clerk
of the court and in the field of his present prominence, he pursued a
course in the Chicago Law School, from which he graduated in 1896.
Both his education and his experience are therefore remarkably broad
and well adapted to the attainment and maintenance of leadership in
the abstract business.
In March, 1866, Mr. Danforth removed from Boston to Chicago,
and first secured employment with S. C. Griggs & Co., the booksellers,
with whom he remained until 1868. In the year named he was ap-
pointed deputy clerk of the Superior Court of Cook county, continn-
1 192 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
ing in that position for some five years. He afterward became con-
nected with the recorder's office, and in the latter capacity became
interested in abstract matters.
In 1884 M r - Danforth promoted the organization of the Cook
County Abstract Company, of which he became president, and under
his direction was compiled a complete set of tract indices covering
the period after the fire of 1871. In 1891 it was succeeded by the
Chicago Title and Trust Company, the scope of the business was en-
larged, the capital increased, and the present building at No. 100
Washington street was erected. In February, 1904, he organized the
Abstract Construction Company, of which he remained president
until May, 1905. At that time he founded the Real Estate Title and
Trust Company, which under his presidency is increasing in reputa-
tion and substantial business. He is also president of the Kane
County Abstract Company, which was organized under that name in
August, 1906, although the business had been established in 1901.
On January 6, 1881, Mr. Danforth was united in marriage with
Miss Frances W. McKinney, and four children have been born to
them, the two living of whom are Winifred L. and Alice L. The
family residence is in Hinsdale, Illinois, as it has been for many
years.
The late Lyman Baird, at the time of his death, February 22, 1908,
was the oldest real estate dealer of continuous business in the city of
Chicago, having then passed the golden anniversary
_ of his entrance into the golden field. He was not
Baird. , . . , . ° , . ,
only prominent' in his chosen business, but ever
looked abroad from it with a wide range of vision, not only assisting
in the upbuilding of Chicago on the ruins of 1871, but participating
with earnestness and strong influence in the movements which worked
for culture, charity and religion. One who clings to music with the
passionate love shown by Mr. Baird throughout his life must be of
an artistic and ideal nature, as he truly was ; and when to these traits
are joined those which make a citizen signally useful and successful,
in the practical movements which uplift society and advance it on the
road to material prosperity as well, then the community is richly en-
dowed with a rounded and strong character. All who knew Lyman
Baird freely accorded to him these varied virtues. The love and ad-
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1193
miration which went out to him had also a special reason for exist-
ence ; he never wavered in his faith in Chicago, and the typical citizen
has ever a fond admiration for such a man. Although his coming
to the city was during one of the great panic years which first agi-
tated and then depressed the west, Mr. Baird refused to think of
transferring his fealty to any other city, with the final success of real-
izing material prosperity and the establishment of a deeply honored
name.
Lyman Baird was a New Hampshire man, born at Munsonville,
Cheshire county, on the 20th of December, 1829. His early education
was limited to the public schools, but, although the later events of
his life prevented him from pursuing the higher branches, through
private study, thorough reading and self-discipline he attained a broad
culture. From his boyhood he showed a decided talent for music.
He was a proficient organist, as well as a good violinist, and intended
to choose music as his profession. But when he was sixteen years
of age he was cast upon his own resources and had other members of
the family depending upon him, being therefore forced to relinquish
his musical studies and assume those labors from which he might
realize immediate support. While the conduct of business thus became
the main purpose of his life, music remained to the last his recreation
and his solace. The organ was his favorite instrument, although on
oc'casions he used his violin, and through them both he always added
to the impressiveness and elevating influences of any religious organi-
zation with which he might be connected. Thus his love for music
became a power both for personal culture and in the broad field of
religion.
One of the first employments of Mr. Baird's youth was in con-
nection with the office of Wyllys Warner, treasurer of Yale Univer-
sity, whose daughter he afterward married. In 1857, the year before
that event, he became a resident of Chicago, removing hither from
New Haven, Connecticut. In January, 1858, he commenced the real
estate business in association of Lucius D. Qlmstead, and at the lat-
ter's death in 1862 the firm was changed to Baird and Bradley. The
firm continued intact until 1893, although Mr. Baird's son, Wyllys
W., and Geo. L. Warner, had become junior partners in 1883. In
1893 W. W. Baird and Mr. Warner formed an association under the
1 194 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
firm name of Baird and Warner, of which the elder Baird remained
the consulting partner until his death.
. Lyman Baird has long held an honorable position on the Chicago
Real Estate Board, having been a charter member and its second presi-
dent (in 1884). In early manhood he first voted the Whig ticket, but
after the founding of the Republican party in 1856 he was identified
with that organization.
On the 8th of November, 1858, Mr. Baird was united in marriage
with Miss Elizabeth M. Warner, the ceremony occurring at the home
of the bride's parents in New Haven, Connecticut. The children born
of their union were as follows : Wyllys Warner (whose sketch appears
elsewhere), Lucius Olmstead, Maximilian and Mrs. Elizabeth (Baird)
Rogers. For years Mr. Baird had been a member of the Union
League of Chicago, and in his religious faith has been a life-long
Congregationalism For years prior to his death he served as treasurer
of the New England Congregational church, on the north side, and
was also for a time its Sunday School superintendent and volunteer
organist. The honored widow of the deceased survives him.
Wyllys Warner Baird, member of the real estate firm of Baird
and W'arner, was born in New Haven, Connecticut, being a son of
„, T „ T Lyman and Elizabeth M. (Warner) Baird. His
vv W
" father was one of the oldest real estate men in Chi-
Baird. , \ •
cago, both in years and length 01 service.
W. W. Baird was educated in the University school of Chicago,
and in 1878 entered the employ of Baird and Bradley, of which his
father was a senior member, and later became a partner in the firm.
In 1893 he associated himself with George L. Warner, who for ten
years had been connected with Baird and Bradley, and the firm of
Baird and Warner thus came into existence, the business having since
been conducted under that style.
Especially of late years Mr. Baird has enjoyed a prominent con-
nection with the Chicago Real Estate Board, of which he was presi-
dent in 1903. In politics he is a Republican, and is a member of the
Union League and City clubs. In 1883 Mr. Baird was married in
Chicago to Miss Olivia Green, daughter of Oliver B. Green, and the
children of the union are Warner Green and Katharine Louisa Baird.
The family home is at No. 191 5 Wellington avenue.
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1195
Few residents of Chicago, young or old, need an introduction to
Fernando Jones, the most picturesque character yet remaining to
serve as a connecting link between the pioneer his-
tory of the city and its modern life. Now in his
I ONES. .
eighty-eighth year, he is the oldest citizen, of con-
tinuous residence, in Chicago. He conversed with the Pottawatomies
in their own tongue just prior to their departure from their hunting
grounds around Chicago. He was a warm personal friend of Stephen
A. Douglas, Abraham Lincoln and other historic personages of the
city and the west. At a later period he became interested in the real
estate and land titles of Chicago, and was one of the pioneers in the
abstract business who saved the generations of the future from im-
measurable confusion and loss, and founded a system whose prac-
tical merits have carried it into the large communities of the world.
He has been a strong citizen of broad usefulness in both civic and
charitable affairs, and is at the present time universally honored and
beloved.
Fernando Jones was born at Forestville, Chautauqua county, New
York, on the 26th of May, 1820, being the second child and eldest
son of William and Anna (Gregory) Jones. The father, who died
at Chicago, in 1854, was for twenty years one of the most influential
and stirring figures in the pioneer growth of the city. A native of
Massachusetts, born in 1789, he abandoned his intention of learning
the trade of a millwright and at the age of nineteen he went to Han-
over, Chautauqua county, and there for five years engaged in farm-
ing, participated in the local government and married Anna Gregory.
In 1824 he opened a grocery in Buffalo, was inducted into municipal
politics and office holding and was finally appointed to the govern-
ment office of collector of the port, being also deputy superintendent
at the commencement of the construction of the harbor. While en-
gaged upon the latter work the geographical location of Chicago (at
the foot of Lake Michigan and directly in the course of the great
routes of overland travel toward the west) was forcibly presented
to his attention in a map of the Great Lakes which passed through
his hands. Convinced, as he said at the time, that the town was
destined to be a great city, in the summer of 183 1 he journeyed
hither— by steamboat to Detroit ; thence, by stage and wagon, to Ann
Arbor and Kalamazoo, and thence, by skiff and horseback, to his
1 1 96 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
destination, where he arrived on the ist of August. Although he
passed the following winter in Elkhart, Indiana, in February, 1832,
he purchased two lots on South Water and Lake streets, between
Clark and Dearborn. They were 80 by 150 feet each, and $200 was
the price paid for both. Mr. Jones returned to Buffalo after the
purchase of this real estate, and remained in that city until the spring
of 1834, when he returned to Chicago, built a store, commenced a
hardware business and continued to invest his money in real estate.
William Jones was the first who came to Chicago for the primary pur-
pose of investing his money in real estate, and eventually his faith
in the city's progressive future was fully substantiated. Although
he lost heavily in the panic of 1836, he soon regained his former
status, and as the city increased in size, and its property advanced in
value, so did his wealth accumulate. In partnership with Byram
King and under the firm name of Jones, King & Company, he con-
tinued for many years in the hardware business on South Water
street, one of his most profitable early ventures in this line being the
purchase of a vessel load of stoves, which he sold to western emi-
grants. Besides being known for years as one of the shrewdest in-
vestors in real estate of the city, his name was permanently stamped
upon the city map as the founder of the William Jones Addition,
which embraces the present home of his son, Fernando. William
Jones also served for several years as one of the first justices of the
peace of Chicago; served a term as a member of the first board of
school inspectors, established in 1840; represented the old Third
ward in the City Council, and was president of the board of education
in 1840-3, 1845-8 and 185 1-2. He was prominent in the activities
of the volunteer fire department, and might have been mayor of the
city had he been willing to suppress his staunch utterances in favor of
temperance. In politics, he was a Democrat. Aside from his broad
reputation as a business man and financier, the elder Jones will be
most honored for his splendid services in behalf of the public and
higher education of Chicago. Not only did he accomplish valuable
work on the board of education and originate the Book Fund for
children of poor parents, but was one of the founders of the old
Chicago University. He subscribed $40,000 toward its establishment,
and, in recognition of his generosity and practical assistance in many
other ways, the board of trustees named the south wing of the
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1197
university building, Jones Hall. A public school also bears his name,
the Jones School on Harrison street, the most noted school building
in the city. Until his death he was a member of the university board of
trustees, and for many years served as the president of its executive
committee. Mr. Jones was one of the founders of the Chicago
Orphan Asylum, and for a number of years was president of its
board of trustees. In fact, there are few men of early Chicago who
donated a larger share of their time or means to the higher things
of the public life than William Jones. His death occurred January
18, 1868, his wife having passed away February 15, 1854.
Of this worthy parentage, Fernando Jones was born at Forest-
ville, Chautauqua county, New York, on the 26th of May, 1820,
being the second child and eldest son of the family. When he was
a child of four years the family removed to Buffalo, where he received
his early education, among his preceptors being Millard Fillmore,
afterward president of the United States. While living there he also
attended Fredonia Academy, one of his fellow students being Reuben
E. Fenton, who was afterward governor of New York. In 1835 the
family removed to Chicago, then a struggling frontier village, the
father having (as stated) opened a hardware store during the pre-
vious year. Fernando, then a hustling youth of fifteen years, was
his right-hand assistant. As the town was then an important trading
post, the boy mingled freely with the Indians and found it to his
advantage to learn their language. This accomplishment enabled
him to gather in many an extra dollar an an interpreter, and finally
earned him a clerkship with the United States disbursing officer. At
the age of sixteen he also held clerkships' in the United States Land
Office and in the office of the Illinois and Michigan canal trustees.
The youth returned to Canandaigua, New York, to complete his
education, and in 1837 became a student in the academy there, meet-
ing at this period of his life Stephen A. Douglas, who was then a
student of law. On his return to Chicago, in 1839, he joined his
father in the real estate business, his specialty being the examination
of titles and the furnishing of abstracts. Soon afterward his health
commenced to fail, and as there was consumption in the family, it
was thought best for him to seek a change of climate. He therefore
went to Jackson, Michigan, where for two years he was engaged in
editorial worlc for various publications which were printed by Wilbur
1 198 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
F. Storey, afterward the famous editor of the Chicago Times, who
remained a life-long friend of Mr. Jones. After leaving Jackson he
returned to Chicago, but remained but a short time, going then to
Rock Island, Illinois, and again entering the real estate business.
Y\ hile thus engaged he formed the acquaintance of John D. Brown
and persuaded that gentleman to come to Chicago and engage in the
preparation of a set of abstract books. In 1853 they left Rock Island
and in the following year fairly entered the great work of completing
a set of books, founded on the system of tract indexes, which had
originated in 1847 w ^ tn Edward A. Rucker. Within a brief time
Mr. Brown withdrew from the business, Robert A. Smith joined Mr.
Jones in the enterprise, and in 1862 Alfred H. Sellers, a relative of
Mr. Brown, became interested in the business. In 1864 Mr. Sellers
was admitted into full partnership, and the firm of Jones & Sellers
endured until the great fire of 1871, when their set of records was
•
one of the three plants relied upon by experts to maintain the titles
to real estate in the great city of Chicago. Thus was Mr. Jones one
of the originators of the real estate abstract system which has been
generally adopted throughout the United States, and whose practical
working merits have introduced it into many of the foreign coun-
tries. The business of Jones & Sellers was absorbed after the fire by
various parties and finally became a portion of the consolidated plant
of the Chicago Title & Trust Company, and Mr. Jones has been re-
tired from active business for some years, although in his advisory
capacity he is often called upon as one of the highest experts on real
estate titles and values in the city.
Mr. Jones served as alderman of the Third ward (which his
father also represented) in 1859-60; was supervisor of the South
Town during the Civil war and was one of the founders of Camp
Douglas, which was within his civil jurisdiction as a city father, and
also served as trustee of the Chicago Orphan Asylum, State Asylum
for the Insane (Jacksonville) and of the old Chicago University,
established on the site of Camp Douglas. He was also instrumental
in the location and erection of the Douglas monument, having there-
fore done his full share in perpetuating the name of his schoolboy-
friend, the great Illinois statesman and Little Giant. He has long
been prominent in connection with the work of the Chicago Historical
Society and the Chicago Pioneer Society, being now president of the
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1199
latter organization. He is also a member of the Calumet and Press
clubs. In his religious faith, he is an earnest Methodist, and is a
generous supporter of the cause.
On July 7, 1853, Mr. Jones was united in marriage with Miss
Jane Grahame, of Henry county, Illinois, who died in 1906. Their
only daughter, Genevieve, married the late George R. Grant, the
lawyer, and is now herself deceased. Their son, Grahame, is a grad-
uate of the Chicago Law School, and a practitioner at the Chicago
bar. A granddaughter, Leslie, is the wife of R. T. W. Scott, of
Ottawa, Canada, where he filled an important government position.
He afterwards was appointed to an important position in India and
removed to that distant locality with his wife. Both Mr. Jones and
his late wife enjoyed many years of foreign travel, and his handsome
residence at No. 1834 Prairie avenue is filled with rare and instruc-
tive collections of art and curios.
Horatio O. Stone, one of the pioneers of Chicago and a leading
citizen, merchant and real estate dealer of the city for upwards of
forty years, was born on Boughton Hill, in the town
~ of Victor, Ontario (now Monroe) county, New
York, January 2, 181 1, and died at his home in
Chicago, on July 20, 1877. Mr. Stone was descended from a line of
sturdy farmers in the eastern states. His father, Ebenezer Stone,
born at Stonmgton, Connecticut, was one of the early settlers of
western New York and, with his compeers in the advance of civiliza-
tion, was engaged in many of the Indian battles then frequent on the
frontier. He likewise served in the war of 18 12. He died in 1843,
at the residence of his son in Chicago. He was a widower at the
time, his wife, whose maiden name was Clarissa Odell, having died
six weeks after the birth of the subject of this sketch. Horatio was
brought up on his father's farm and obtained his education in the
common schools of the district. At the age of fourteen years he ap-
prenticed himself to the trade of shoe-making and incidentally ac-
quiring the trade of tanner and currier, with which the first-named
craft was generally combined in those early days. Not finding these
occupations congenial, he quit them after serving out his time, and, at
the age of eighteen, struck out into a new field. The Lackawanna
canal was then being constructed and he secured a position in con-
nection with it on the canal, and later as overseer of a force of labor-
1200 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
ers. A year later he was boating on the Erie canal. Perhaps of all
his occupations this was least to his taste and it was not long before
he gave it up. Uncertain what to do, and no opening presenting it-
self that sufficiently appealed to his energetic nature, he paid a visit
to his brother in Wayne county, Michigan. Being favorably im-
pressed with the possibilities of farming in that state, he took up
eighty acres of government land near Clinton. Washtenaw county,
and established himself thereon as a farmer. During the Black Hawk
war, being drafted, he served twenty-two days under General Jacob
Brown. At the expiration of two years he sold his farm and, sending
his family to Erie, Pennsylvania, started still farther west to seek
his fortune. On the nth of January, 1834, after a long and toilsome
journey, he arrived in Chicago. Developed from a village of a dozen
houses in 1831, Chicago at the time he reached it, was, to all appear-
ances, anything but an inviting place in which to settle. Situated on
"a bleak, uninviting lake-coast of sand-hills, morasses and swamps/'
and containing but a few hundred inhabitants, including traders and
Indian half-breeds, it was a veritable outpost of civilization — nothing-
more. That its location was in its favor was at once apparent to the
discerning eye of the young pioneer ; and believing that with advancing
years the place would rise to a position of prominence and impor-
tance, if not real greatness, he decided to make a trial of its possi-
bilities. He lived at first at the hotel kept by Mark Beaubien, on the
corner of Lake and South Water streets. As a spectator in Judge
John D. Caton's court, one morning, he met a Mr. Blanchard, from
whom he bought a lot on Clinton street, after paying $90 for which
he had only about fifty dollars left. Immediate work was found in
chopping timber on the north branch of the Chicago river, to be used
in building the piers for the Chicago harbor. For this labor the gov-
ernment paid $16 a month and board. This work ended, he went, in
the following spring, to Wisconsin, and upon reaching Sheboygan,
entered a claim near the mouth of the river. After working several
months in a sawmill there, he returned to Chicago in time to attend
the first government land sale, held June 16th and 17th, 1835. Here,
he sold his Clinton street lot for $358 cash. With his capital he start-
ed a general store and later a hardware store at Lake and State streets,
and also dealt in grain to a considerable extent. Mr. Stone re-
mained in trade twenty-seven years. He invested largely in real e«-
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1201
tate, buying several extensive tracts of land in and near Chicago, of
which, in later years, subdivisions to the city were created. His judg-
ment in buying and selling property was almost unerring, and during
the last twenty-five years of his life he stood in the very front rank
as an operator in Chicago real estate. In business pursuits he found
his chief pleasure. He was active and energetic to a remarkable de-
gree, and after retiring from trade, continued in the real estate busi-
ness. He was an earnest Republican in politics, and being widely
known and highly respected, he might, had he cared for office, have
been elected to very responsible positions. He was still active in
business at the time of his death. Through his energy and foresight
he accumulated a large fortune. He was of genial disposition, gave
cheerfully of his means to forward public measures for the good of
all, and by an honorable and extremely useful life earned universal
respect. He was married three times— first to Miss Jane A. Lowry,
of Erie, Pennsylvania; second, to Miss Frances M. Pearce, of Chica-
go, and, third, to Miss Elizabeth Yager, daughter of David H. Yager,
of Clifton Springs, New York. By the last wife, who survives him
he was the father of eight children, five of whom are deceased. Those
living are : Horatio O., Robert E., and Althea I. Mrs. Stone is a
recognized social leader, and is one of the most popular and respect-
ed women in Chicago. She possesses literary, musical and ar-
tistic tastes, and has always taken a sincere pleasure in fostering art and
encouraging American artists. Pier liberal support of every good
and charitable work undertaken in Chicago for many years has given
her a warm place in the hearts of all.
Horatio Odell Stone, who has been a progressive dealer in Chicago
real estate for the past twenty years, is the son of the pioneer settler
of '34. H. O. Stone, Jr., is a Chicago man in birth
^ * T and spirit, his natal day being July 15, i860. Pri-
marily, his education was received in the public
schools of his native city, and he afterward pursued higher courses
at Lake Forest (111.) Academy and Yale University, graduating from
the latter with the class of 1883. The succeeding four years were
spent as a civil engineer in New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado, after
which he returned to Chicago to enter the business field in which his
father had become so prominent.
Mr. Stone's connection with the real estate business dates from
i_-o2 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
1887, his well patronized office being at No. 125 Monroe street. In
the midst of his business activities the pleasant and profitable years
which he passed at old Yale are kept green by his membership in
Scroll' and Key and the Psi Upsilon fraternity, and he also belongs
to the Chicago Automobile and South Shore Country clubs and Yale
Club, while his Republican proclivities are indicated by his long iden-
tification with the broad scope of the Union League Club.
On June 29, 1893, Mr. Stone was united in marriage to Miss
Sara Latimer Clarke, of Baltimore county, Maryland, and in his
elegant home he finds the rest and recuperation which are such neces-
sities to the business man of today.
Dr. Carl Donner Stone, whose death occurred July 18, 1907, was
a son of Horatio Odell and Elizabeth (Yager) Stone, and although
he was a graduate in medicine, did not engage
„ actively in practice. He preferred the activities of
Stoivf
business and was for several years connected with
the large real estate, renting and insurance business of which his
brother is the head. He was born at No. 2035 Prairie avenue, Chi-
cago, on the 1 2th of February, 1872, and was of English-Dutch
ancestry.
Prior to the pursuit of his medical studies, Dr. Stone received a
thorough education in private schools of Chicago, as well as at Ken-
yon College, Gambier, Ohio. In 1897 he graduated from the College
of Physicians and Surgeons, Chicago, but as stated, devoted himself
more to business than professional affairs. He was a cultured, bright
and popular young man, and a valued addition to any circle within
which he moved. At different times he was a member of the Wash-
ington Park, Calumet, Onwentsia, South Shore Country and Illinois
Athletic clubs. On February 24, 1893, Dr. Stone was united in
marriage with Miss Madeline Masters, of Lewistown, Illinois, and
they became the parents of three children, as follows : Elizabeth,
Emma Louise and Horatio Odell Stone III.
It is extremely difficult to describe Chicago's ultimate obligations
to such men as Daniel Francis Crilly, to those who for forty or fifty
years have shown by their investments in real estate
_ and their continuous development of business and
Crilly
residence property that their faith in the city has
never wavered. The bedrock confidence of such men is infectious and
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1203
indirectly inspires the people with a firm faith in the moral stability
of Chicago, so that all classes come to know that, all in all, there is
no better place in which to live and rear a family than this much
maligned city. Such energetic and practical men as Mr. Crilly build
even better than they know.
Daniel F. Crilly, known especially as the father of McKinley Park,
is a native of Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, where he was born on the
14th of October, 1838. His is an ancient and honorable Irish family,
his paternal grandfather being a native of the Emerald Isle, and a
descendant of the Crillys has been of late years a member of the
British Parliament. John D. Crilly, his father, was editor of the
Perry County Standard, published at Bloomfield, Pennsylvania. Dan-
iel F. was educated in the common schools of Pennsylvania, and at
the age of seventeen entered the employ of John Wilson, a mason and
contractor of Mercersburg ; on the removal of the latter to Iowa City,
Iowa, in 1856, the youth accompanied his employer. After remaining
with him about two years he went to Louisiana and ventured on his
own account, his special work being the erection of large buildings on
the plantation of the Hon. Richard Pugh. In 1859-61 he engaged
in the contracting business at St. Louis, but at the outbreak of the
Civil war decided to locate in the North, and fortunately chose Chi-
cago as his home.
Upon locating in Chicago in 1861, Mr. Crilly obtained a position
as superintendent of the tank department in the packing plant of
Robert Law, passing his first three winters in this capacity and devot-
ing his summers to building. In 1864 he concentrated all his atten-
tion upon the business of building and contracting. He erected the
First Methodist Church Block, and many prominent business struc-
tures, both before and after the fire of 1871, his transactions even ex-
tending to other cities. His last contract, completed in 1880, was the
Windsor Hotel, Denver, Colorado. He also built all the residences
in Crilly Place, north side, and although he lost heavily in the great
fire, he regained it all, and much more, by his energy, strong will and
unimpeachable integrity. During all his building operations Mr. Cril-
ly had been steadily acquiring real estate holdings, and since 1880 hf
has solely devoted himself to the latter field. He is, however, a di-
rector of the Metropolitan Trust and Savings Bank.
1204 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
The Crilly subdivisions, near the south end of Lincoln Park, are
among Mr. Crilly 's personal holdings, the property including 141
flats, twelve residences and ten business buildings. He also owns the
old Stock Exchange building. It was at the suggestion of Mr. Crilly
that McKinley Park was named after the martyr president, and the
handsome McKinley monument which was unveiled July 4, 1905,
was erected largely as a result of his efforts and donations.
Mr. Crilly's official public service is confined to the commissioner-
ship of the South Park system, to which he was appointed by the cir-
cuit court in 1900, to fill the unexpired term of Commissioner Ells-
worth, who had taken up his residence in New York, At the end of
this term he was re-elected to the regular period of five years.
Married in Loudon, Pennsylvania, March 3, 1863, to Miss Eliza-
beth Snyder, daughter of Jacob Snyder, an old citizen of that place,
Mr. Crilly is the father of the following six children : Erminie,
George S.. Frank L., Edgar, Isabelle and Oliver D. The family resi-
dence is at 3820 Michigan avenue.
Mr. Crilly is one of the early members of the Hamilton Club,
and one of its founders as an organiaztion of wide political and civic
influence. It was formerly but a south side social club, but he was
the means of transferring its house to a convenient downtown loca-
tion, financed the organization twice, was its treasurer for several
terms, and proved one of the strongest factors in so broadening the
scope of its activities that it is now recognized by the Republicans
as a power within the party, and by the public of Chicago as an orig-
inal and effective influence for good in the cause of social, civic and
moral progress. Mr. Crilly also joined the Union League Club in its
first year and has always been a leader in its work ; is identified with
the Sheridan Club, and has given much of his time and means to the
Masonic cause. He is the oldest charter member of the Home Lodge
No. 508, A. F. & A. M., for years was treasurer of Apollo Command-
ery No. 1, and is still a trustee of the latter. With the exception of
one term, he has also been treasurer of the Knights Templar Charity
ball since its organization.
An old-time Republican, Mr. Crilly has always been active both
in local and national politics, and he was a member of the famous
executive committee of the McKinley Club, which was organized
by the leading Republicans of Chicago. So he is especially identi-
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1205
tied with the perpetuation, in this city, of the great and beloved presi-
dent's name.
Henry Waller, father of Edward C. Waller, founder of the
famous Rookery building of Chicago, was a prominent man of public
affairs in Kentucky and, after he came to Chicago
was long a leader among the local legal fraternity.
He was born at Frankfort, Kentucky, on the 9th
of November, 18 10, being a son of Henry S. and Catharine (Breck-
inridge) Waller. In 1829 he entered the United States Military
Academy at West Point, from which he graduated with high honors
in 1833. Resigning his position as lieutenant in the army, he began
the study of law under Hon. C. S. Moorehead, afterward governor
of Kentucky, and continued his legal course at Transylvania Univer-
sity, Kentucky, being admitted to the bar in 1835. He at once com-
menced the practice of law with Thomas V. Payne, at Maysville,
Kentucky, their partnership continuing for six years. In the mean-
time he had become an enthusiastic supporter of Henry Clay, the
idol of the south, and was soon well advanced in the favor of the
Whig party. In 1845-7 he served in the state legislature as a repre-
sentative of that organization, but, although he served on important
committees and acquitted himself creditably and earnestly, he never
again became a candidate for a political position. In 1852 he asso-
ciated himself in partnership practice with John G. Hickman, and in
the same year was unanimously elected president of the Maysville &
Lexington Railroad Company.
In 1855 Mr. Waller became a resident of Chicago, and estab-
lished the law firm of Waller, Caulfield and Bradley, afterward Wal-
ler and Caulfield, which continued for nine years. In 1864 ne be-
came senior partner of Waller, Sterns and Copeland, which remained
intact until the death of Mr. Sterns in 1867. He then withdrew from
active practice for a time, his health having been impaired by constant
and intense application to his professional work. In his efforts to re-
gain it he traveled quite extensively in this country and Europe, his
most extensive journey in the old world was during portions of 1869
and 1870. In July, 1876, Mr. Waller was appointed master in chan-
cery, and in that office he obtained a broad reputation for the im-
partiality and strength of his decisions, his intimate acquaintance with
adjudicated cases making him particularly qualified for the position.
Vol. Ill— 19.
[2o6 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
He was also popular, personally, and had a wide reputation as an
orator even on subjects which were outside the field of his profession.
His death occurred in Chicago. Judge Waller's wife was Miss Sarah
B. Langhorne, to whom he was married on May 3, 1837.
As a substantial real estate dealer of more than forty years in
Chicago, Edward C. Waller is certainly entitled to notice in a history
of this character. He is a Kentucky gentleman
and a good business man, born on the 21st of No-
Waller. , o , • 1 r TT If-,
vember, 1845, being the son or Henry and Sarah
B. (Langhorne) Waller. His father, also a native of Kentucky,
was a lawyer and a prominent Whig of that state, but after he came
to Chicago, in 1855, devoted himself closely to the practice of his
profession. He maintained a high position at the Chicago bar, served
for some years as master in chancery, and was a highly honored
citizen at the time of his death. In view of his eminence, a biography
of the elder Waller is given preceding this.
Edward C. Waller received his early education in the schools of
his native county of Mason, but when a child of ten years of age
came to Chicago with his parents and completed his education in
the institutions of this city. In 1866, when he had barely attained
his majority, he commenced to deal in real estate, and has continued
to be thus engaged, without interruption.
Among the Chicago enterprises with which Mr. Waller has been
prominently connected is the Rookery building, which was conceived
by him and which has long been one of the most conspicuous ex-
amples of modern American office buildings. He is now one of the
oldest members of the Chicago Real Estate Board, and has a prom-
inent connection with a number of institutions outside of his regular
business, being president of the North American Accident Insurance
Company, and secretary and treasurer of the Central Safety Deposit
Company. Mr. Waller's office is in the Rookery, and his residence
at River Forest, Illinois.
In October, 1884, the same year in which the Chicago Real Estate
Board was established, of which he is now a prominent member,
Bruce Burleigh Barney came to Chicago and be-
„ came identified with real estate circles. A success-
Barney. . , . . , . _ . , . . , , , .
ful business man and influential citizen, he has had
a broad and rather eventful career both before and since coming to
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1207
Chicago. Born at Findlay, Hancock county, Ohio, June 15, 1859,
a son of Burleigh B. and Elizabeth ( Westenhaver) Barney, he sup-
plemented his public school education with a course in Phillips Exeter
Academy, and after leaving school began his business career in the
dry goods store of Fred E. Eaton & Co., of Toledo, Ohio. Four
years later he began operating on the Toledo Board of Trade, first
as a representative of E. R. Williams and Brothers, and later of
Welles Brothers. In 1880 he went to California, thence to China
and Japan, spending about three years in the west and the Orient
before returning to Toledo and entering the employ of the Toledo
Linseed Oil Company.
On coming to Chicago at the time above mentioned, Mr. Barney
became connected with the well known real estate firm of E. F.
Getchell & Co. In 1887 his name was incorporated into the firm, as
Getchell, Barney & Co., and since December, 1891, when the part-
nership expired, he has engaged in business alone.
Mr. Barney is a member of the Veteran Corps, First Infantry
Regiment, I. N. G. He joined the regiment in August, 1895, as
private of Company C, and on Octber 21, 1896, was made second
lieutenant, by Order No. 10, issued by Governor Altgeld, by which
his rank was to date from July 11, 1896. At the time of the Spanish-
American war, Lieutenant Barney was found, on examination by
Major Charles Adams, incapacitated for service. In order that the
regiment might be complete when it left for the front, he determined
to surrender his commission, and accordingly handed his resignation
to Brigadier General Reese, which was accepted April 28, 1898.
In politics Mr. Barney is firmly Republican, voting faithfully
and intelligently, but without participating in practical politics. Fra-
ternally he is a Mason, a member of Apollo Commandery, K. T.,
Oriental Consistory (thirty-second degree), and Park Lodge No.
843. By his marriage in December, 1903, at Waukegan, to Miss
Ida M. Macfarlane, Mr. Barney has two children, Bruce B., Jr., and
Elizabeth W.
Henry S. Dietrich, a real estate dealer of forty years' standing
in Chicago, is a native of Michigan, born March 4, 1844. When
he was fourteen years of age he came to Chicago
t. and completed his education in the city schools.
I JTTT'TRTpTT
At the breaking out of the Civil war he had just
i2o8 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
passed his seventeenth birthday, and was one of the first in Chicago
to go to the front. On April 15, 186 1, he joined Company A of the
famous Chicago Zouaves for a three months' enlistment. He par-
ticipated in what is known as the Cairo expedition, leaving Chicago
on the 21st of April, and at the expiration of his three months' service
returned to Chicago and became a member of Company A, Nine-
teenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, with Col. J. B. Turchin in com-
mand. He served with that regiment during the following three
years, and was honorably discharged in July, 1864. He then joined
the military service as a civilian, being identified with the quarter-
master's division of the army until 1866.
In November, 1868, Mr. Dietrich entered the field of real estate
in which he has been a progressive and leading figure ever since.
He has been a regular and active member of the Chicago Real Estate
Board since January, 1897; was president of the board in 1901,
and since May, 1907, has served as president of the board of local
improvements of the city of Chicago. He has been prominently
identified with the Grand Army of the Republic since its organiza-
tion, was commander of U. S. Grant Post, and has held high posi-
tions in both the state and national organizations of the order. Colonel
Dietrich has evinced his continuous interest in military affairs by his
long connection with the Illinois National Guard. Since January,
1897, he has held the rank of colonel and general inspector of rifle
practice, being a member of the governor's staff. In politics he has
always been a firm Republican, and in Masonry has reached the
thirty-second degree.
In May, 1868, Mr. Dietrich was united in marriage with Miss
Sarah J. Clark, a native of Vermont, and their children are: Harry
W. and Grace B. Dietrich. The family residence is at 4449 Oaken-
wald avenue.
William Lewis Pierce, real estate operator, and a member of the
firm of William L. Pierce & Co., was born in Albany, New York,
October 13, 1843, son of William B. and Elizabeth
1 ' Frances (Peck) Pierce, the former of whom was
a descendant of Mary, the sister of Benjamin
Franklin. Her father was Captain Henry Peck, who operated the
first line of steamers on the Hudson.
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1209
Mr. Pierce was educated at the Brooks School, Cincinnati, having
William B. Taft and William R. McLean as classmates; and at the
Chicago University, from which he was graduated with the class
of 1865.
During the Civil war he enlisted in the One Hundred and Thirty-
fourth United States Volunteers and served to the close of the war.
Subsequent to the war he became interested in the real estate busi-
ness. He was a member of the firms of William H. Sampson & Co.,
Pierce & Ware, and is now the head of the firm of William L. Pierce
& Co. He was for a time half owner of the commercial agencies of
Tappan, McKillop & Co., at Philadelphia, Washington, Pittsburg and
Baltimore. Mr. Pierce was one of the organizers of the Chicago
Real Estate Board, and served one term as vice president and chair-
man of the executive committee and one term on the appraisement
and membership committee.
He was married, in Chicago, in 1876, to Carrie L. Lyman. They
are the parents of four children: Bessie Lyman (Mrs. Ira R.
Hutchinson) of Fresno, California; Florence Dennis, now Mrs.
Howard Le Valley, of Kenwood; William Blake, and John Green.
Mr. Pierce belongs to the Royal Arcanum, of which he was grand
regent and supreme representative ; to Thomas Post No. 305 of the
G. A. R., and Zeta Psi Fraternity, of which he was the presiding
officer of the United States and Canada in 1884. He was one of the
early members of the Union League Club, and the Calumet Heights
Shooting and Fishing Club, and was president two terms. He is a
Republican. He resides at Kenwood and belongs to the Unitarian
church.
William A. Bond, one of the oldest of the Chicago real estate
dealers in length of career, has also been a resident of the city since
he was five years of age. He was born in Newark.
.p New Jersey, on the 15th of November, 1849, n ' s
early education being obtained in the public schools
of Chicago and supplemented by academic and collegiate courses
at Warrenville and Lake Forest, Illinois. After completing his edu-
cation he entered the employ of Hurlbut & Edsall, then the largest
wholesale druggists in the west, and at the age of eighteen was the
head bookkeeper of the house. Three years in that position brought
1210 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
him to his majority, when he entered permanently into the real estate
business. His office, which was then at 123 Dearborn street, was
destroyed by the great fire of the following- year, but, with the per-
vading Chicago spirit, he re-established his business, and it has since
progressed continuously and successfully..
In 1874 Mr. Bond spent nearly a year in European travel and
study, and as he is quite a linguist (especially proficient in French)
he has since made several trips abroad and derived the utmost
pleasure and profit from them. During his first stay in London
he married Miss Sarah B. Fisher, daughter of Lucius G. Fisher, a
prominent business man of Chicago. They have become the parents
of two sons and three daughters, the eldest, William Scott, having
for many years been his father's assistant.
Upon his return to Chicago in 1875 Mr. Bond formed a partner-
ship with Colonel Henry L. Turner, under the firm style of Turner
& Bond, and this business relation existed for seventeen years, when,
in 1892, the former purchased his partner's interest. Since that year
the firm has been known as William A. Bond & Co. Besides con-
ducting a general business, Mr. Bond has made a specialty of the
care and development of estates, and for years has had the manage-
ment of the large estate of Hon. David Davis, on Thirty-first street,
south side. Normal Park owes its name and development to him,
and he has negotiated some of the largest transactions in the history
of Chicago real estate, among others the sale of the property which
is now the site of the Chicago Title and Trust Company, for $525,000.
Mr. Bond was one of the charter members of the Chicago Real
Estate Board, having always been active and prominent in its man-
agement. In 1893 he was elected president of the board, and during
his term of office he went to Springfield and successfully opposed
the repeal of the law requiring the consent of property owners to
the laying of street railways. He was also one of the promoters of
the Torrens law and instrumental in securing its passage. Upon his
retirement from the real estate firm of Turner & Bond, Colonel
Turner engaged in the publishing business as president of the West-
ern Publishing House, and during the life of this corporation Mr.
Bond was its vice president. The latter has long been a member of
the Union League Club, and for three years served on its board of
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 121 1
managers ; has also been president of the Revenue Reform League,
vice president of the Citizens' Non-partisan Traction Settlement As-
sociation, and identified with other public movements. Both himself
and family are regular attendants at the South Congregational church.
William D. Kerfoot, the old and well known dealer in real estate,
was born on April 16, 1837, at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. His father,
^ Dr. George B. Kerfoot. was a distinguished physi-
WlLLIAM D • r,, ,,.,.,, . 1,1
rr cian ot that district from 1830 to 185 1, and honored
Kerfoot. . .
as a writer on medical subjects. William D. re-
ceived a fair education in the schools of ' Lancaster, and from 1852
to 1854 applied himself to literary studies at St. James College, Mary-
land. On his arrival at Chicago, in 1854, he found employment in
the real estate office of James H. Reese, but soon after entered
Thomas B. Bryan's office as clerk. At 89 Washington street he es-
tablished himself as a real estate and financial agent, and the history
of the rebuilding of the city after the great fire is partly a history
of Mr. Kerfoot's operations.
One of the first modern office buildings of the city, the Chicago
Opera House, was conceived by him and the syndicate organized by
him. In the organization of the Real Estate Board he took a most
active part. In 1886 he took a decided stand against the policy of
the recorder of deeds of Cook county in closing out abstract men, and
the same year went before the legislature to promote the bill known
as "The Rest of Titles Bill." The drainage question won some at-
tention from him early in 1889, and the Torrens system of real estate
transfers claimed his study later. From 1877 to the present day
George Birkoff, Jr., has been his partner. Prior to that year he
transacted business without a partner. Mr. Kerfoot's marriage with
Miss Susan B., daughter of William B. Mooklar, of Mason county,
Kentucky, occurred in 1865. To them eight children, four sons and
four daughters, were born, of whom one son and three daughters
are living.
The late Joseph Stockton was a native of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania,
born on the 10th of August, 1833, being a son of Robert Clarke and
Martha Stockton. He attended the public schools
~ of his native city, and when nineteen vears of age
Stockton. j j . . .
located in Chicago. His first few years 111 this city
1212 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
were spent in the employ of George A. Gibbs & Co., commission
merchants, and later he became a clerk in the office of the American
Transportation Company. At the outbreak of the Civil war he was
connected with the freight office of the Pittsburg & Fort Wayne
road, and was thus employed in 1862, when he enlisted in the First
Board of Trade Regiment, which was mustered into service as the
Seventy-second Illinois Volunteer Infantry.
General Stockton's military record began in July, 1862, when he
joined the regiment named above, being soon afterward promoted to
be first lieutenant of his company. He was successively advanced
to the ranks of captain, major and lieutenant colonel, his command
being attached to the Seventeenth army corps. After the fall of
Vicksburg he commanded his regiment; was wounded at the battle
of Franklin, Tennessee, and for bravery and skill in the field was
finally brevetted colonel and brigadier general.
General Stockton returned to Chicago at the conclusion of the
war and engaged in the forwarding and transfer of freight from one
part of the city to the other. After 1866 he acted as agent in Chi-
cago for the Empire Transportation Company, and up to the time
of his death, March 17, 1907, continued to develop a large outside
business. To the last he continued stanch in his adherence to Repub-
licanism and the heroes of the Civil war. The only political office
which he held was as a member of the board of commissioners of
Lincoln Park, and while thus serving he organized the movement
which resulted in the erection of the grand equestrian statue of
General Grant in those beautiful public grounds. General Stockton
acted as chief marshal of nearly every Republican procession which
passed through the streets of Chicago during his lifetime. He served
as chief of staff to General Sheridan on the reception of General
Grant on his tour around the world, for General Forsyth in the
Garfield memorial procession and for General Miles at the unveiling
of the Grant monument at Lincoln Park. He was also chief marshal
at the grand World's Fair parade of October, 1892, which was one of
the inauguratory features of the World's Columbian Exposition, as
well as at the Peace Jubilee parade of 1898.
On February 5, 1865, General Stockton wedded Miss Kate E.
Denniston, w r ho died in 1869. A son > John T. Stockton, still survives
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1213
him. His residence was long at No. 567 La Salle avenue. The Gen-
eral was essentially a domestic, home-loving man, and was little con-
cerned in club life, his identification with the Union League and
George R. Thomas Post No. 5, G. A. R., being his main exception to
this general rule.
For the past twenty-one years senior member of the real estate
firm of Dibblee & Manierre, engaged in a general business in this
line, Henry Dibblee is a native of New York Citv,
JTENRY
born August 20, 1840. His father, E. R. Dibblee,
was a leading dry goods importer of the metropolis,
and in private and boarding schools of that city the son obtained his
mental training. When he was eighteen years of age he became a
clerk in his father's store, and later a partner in the business, con-
tinuing in the latter connection until 1872.
Since the latter year Mr. Dibblee has been a resident of Chicago,
and in January, 1873, associated himself with William R. and John
S. Gould in the foundry and iron business, which was conducted as
Gould & Dibblee until 1878. In that year the firm was dissolved,
and Mr. Dibblee established himself as a dealer in ornamental iron
work, mantels and tiles. He became an importer of the finest English
tiles, acted as western agent for leading American manufacturers,
and for eight years continued to develop and conduct a large trade
in these lines. In 1886 he formed a partnership with George Man-
ierre in the real estate business, which has remained intact to the
present time.
Besides controlling large real estate interests, Mr. Dibblee is
president of the Chicago Auditorium Association, and an influential
director of the Chicago Canal and Dock Company. He is also well
known in social and outdoor life, being identified with the Chicago,
University and Mid-Day clubs, being president of the last named or-
ganization. On November 26, 1873, Mr. Dibblee was married to
Miss Laura Field, daughter of John Field, of Conway, Massachusetts,
and their children are Bertha and Frances F. The family residence
is at 1922 Calumet avenue.
i2i4 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Francis Bolles Peabody, late senior member of the real estate,
loan and investment firm of Peabody, Houghteling & Company, was
a prominent figure in these fields for some thirty-
rRANCIS B. . . . .
p seven years, having previously practiced law in
Chicago for thirteen years and gained a high repu-
tation in the line of mortgages and the placing of investments. He
was a native of the state of New Hampshire, born at Mil ford, Hills-
borough county, October 27, 1827, the son of Colonel Stephen and
Jerusha Pride (Bolles) Peabody. The father was a graduate of
Harvard and a lawyer of local repute, he being of the sixth genera-
tion from the American founder of the family, who emigrated from
Hertfordshire, England, in 1633, and located in Massachusetts. The
family name was variously spelled, in the early days, as Pabody and
Pabodie. The mother of Francis B. was the daughter of Rev.
Matthew Bolles, a well known Baptist clergyman.
In 1S48 Francis B. Peabody graduated from Trinity College,
at Hartford, Connecticut, and commenced the study of law at Con-
cord, New Hampshire, in the office of Franklin Pierce, afterward
president of the United States. He completed his studies at home,
was admitted to the New Hampshire bar in 1851 and continued to
practice in Hillsborough county until 1852. In the fall of that year
he removed to Concord, where he formed a partnership with his
brother-in-law, Nathaniel B. Baker, afterward governor of New
Hampshire, with whom he was connected until 1854. In that year
Mr. Peabody became associated with William E. Chandler (after-
ward United States senator and Secretary of the Navy), and the
resulting partnership of Peabody and Chandler continued until the
removal of the senior partner to Chicago three years later.
In March, 1857, Mr. Peabody removed to Chicago, and was suc-
cessively associated with Judge Walter B. Scates, Judge William K.
McAllister, Judge Alfred W. Arrington, and Benjamin E. Gallup.
The firm last formed as Gallup and Peabody was organized, as were
the others with which he had been associated, for the general prac-
tice of the law, but the growing demands made by clients for the
placing of loans and mortgages became so pressing as to crowd out
all other business. In 1865, therefore, the firm abandoned general
practice, was dissolved in 1875, and was succeeded by the house of
Francis B. Peabody & Company. In 1885 James L. Houghteling
/><^v.=4 /? /I
_^
>
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1215
was admitted as a partner, the present firm name of Peabody, Hough -
teling & Company being thus formed. The style has remained un-
changed, although in 1897 William R. Stirling was admitted to par-
ticipation in the business and subsequently a son, Augustus S. Pea-
body.
Mr. Peabody was an old-time Democrat, and always a leader in
reformatory movements, whether national or local in their scope.
At various times he was president of the Revenue Reform League,
the Tariff Reform League, the Citizens' Association and the Civil
Service Reform League. He was a member of the Commercial and
Chicago clubs, and served as president of the former in 1898. An
adherent to the faith of the Episcopal church since early life, Mr.
Peabody was long active in the religious- and philanthropic work
of the St. James church of Chicago. He was a member of its vestry
and of the standing committee of the diocese, as well as president
of the board of trustees of the endowment fund.
On September 20, 1854, Mr. Peabody was married to Miss Har-
riet Cutter Ten Broeck, a native of Maine and daughter of Rev.
Petrus Stuyvesant Ten Broeck, for many years rector of St. Paul's
church, Concord, New Hampshire. Mrs. Peabody died February
13, 1 901, and Mr. Peabody in January, 1908. Five children had
been born into the household, of whom one died in infancy. The
living are as follows : Lucretia, who married James L. Houghteling,
of Peabody, Houghteling & Company; Harriet Jessie, widow of
Herman B. Butler, formerly vice president of the iron and steel
house of Joseph Ryerson & Son; Francis S., president of the Peabody
Coal Company, and Augustus S., a lawyer and member of the firm
of Peabody, Houghteling & Company.
For the past ten years, or since his admission to the bar, Augustus
Stephens Peabody has been associated with the law department of
Peabody, Houghteling & Co., of which his father.
-p, Francis B. Peabody, was the founder and senior
Peabody. j
partner until his death in January, 1908. He him-
self has had a partnership connection since 1903.
Mr. Peabody is a native of Chicago, born December 3, 1873, and
has received a thorough and a most liberal education. He attended
the Harvard and University schools, Chicago, and the Hill School, of
I2i6 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Pottstown, Pennsylvania, before entering Yale University, from which
he graduated in 1895, and then, entering Northwestern University
Law School, he graduated in 1897 as an LL. B. Thus being entitled
to practice, he became immediately associated with the legal depart-
ment of the firm Peabody, Houghteling & Co., and has since been
identified with it as a lawyer and business partner. In his specialty
of corporation and real estate law his reputation is substantial and
progressive.
In politics, Mr. Peabody is a Democrat, and in religion, an Epis-
copalian. His social life is indicated by membership in the following
clubs: University, Phi Delta Phi (legal fraternity), Delta Kappa
Epsilon, Saddle and Cycle, Onwentsia, Mid-Day and Chicago Ath-
letic.
James Lawrence Houghteling, member of the old house of Pea-
body, Houghteling & Co. (established in 1865), well known bankers
and dealers in mortgages, as well as other high grade
TT J securities, is a Chicaeoan, born November 29, 18KK.
Houghteling. tt . r ^ T . 11 . ' „ , ,«- • /o 1
He is a son of William De Zeng and Marcia ( Stock-
bridge) Houghteling, and received his early education in the public
schools of Chicago, his later mental training being pursued in the
east. Graduating from Yale College in 1876 (honorary degree of
M. A. in 1901), in the following year he began his business career
in the Chicago office of the Menominee River Lumber Company.
After an experience of two years in that connection he was appointed
secretary of the company, and held the position until 1882. As an
investor he has always retained laree interests in timber and in vari-
ous lumbering enterprises, having held numerous offices in these and
other industries.
Mr. Houghteling has been a member of the firm of Peabody,
Houghteling & Company since 1882, and has been an influential fac-
tor in its growth and continued high standing. Two of his three
sons, James L., Jr., and William, are connected with the house, in
which three generations are thus active at the present time.
Outside of his business relations, Mr. Houghteling is most promi-
nent in Christian work, the Young Men's Christian Association of
Chicago being greatly indebted to him for its firm and flourishing
status. Of that organization he was for three years president, as
.
PUBLIC L
DR, LENOX Al
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1217
well as treasurer for fifteen years. In 1883 he founded the Brother-
hood of St. Andrew, the leading young men's society of the Angli-
can Communion, and served as its president for the first seventeen
years of its existence. In matters of civic reform Mr. Houghteling
has also evinced an earnest and practical interest. He was the first
chairman of the finance committee of the Municipal Voters' League,
and under his vigorous direction was raised the $10,000 which placed
that eminently useful organization on a firm foundation.
On September 20, 1879, Mr. Houghteling married Lucretia Ten
Broeck Peabody, and to them have been born the following children :
Francis Stockbridge, James Lawrence, Jr., Harriot Peabody, Wil-
liam, Leila and Margaret Stuyvesant. Mr. Houghteling is identified
with the Chicago, University, Commercial; Onwentsia and other
clubs, but finds his greatest social enjoyments at his pleasant home
in Winnetka.
Frank Gilbert Hovne, senior member of the real estate firm of
Frank G. Hoyne & Co., is a son of Thomas Hoyne, to whom Chicago
is indebted for so much of her progress along the
w lines of public and higher education.
Mr. Hoyne was born in Chicago on the 17th of
July, 1854, and his entire life has been identified with the city of
which his father was a recognized founder. He was educated in the
old Palmer 'Academy and the old Chicago University, and com-
menced his business career in 1872 at $5.00 per week with the old
stationery house of Culver, Page, Hoyne & Co. In 1886 Mr. Hoyne
was appointed United States appraiser at Chicago, serving thus for
two terms under President Cleveland, in 1886-90 and 1894-98. In
1889 he associated himself with his brother, James T. Hoyne, and
established the real estate firm of Hoyne Brothers, to whose business
he later succeeded as sole owner, the present style of the firm name
being Frank G. Hoyne & Co. Its transactions are largely devoted
to business property and the management of estates.
Mr. Hoyne is one of the early members of the Chicago Real Es-
tate Board in length of membership, and served as director from
1903 to 1906, serving as president of the organization in the latter*
year. He has always been deeply interested in public affairs, espe-
cially in matters which concern property and taxation. In the char-
I2i8 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
ter campaign of 1907 he vigorously opposed the revenue and in-
debtedness features of the proposed charter, claiming that, if it were
adopted, taxes on real estate would continually increase with the
issue of new bonds at a rate which would be burdensome upon those
least able to bear the weight. In a speech delivered before the Asso-
ciation of Commerce, during the campaign, he said : "The tax rate,
•if the charter should happen to pass, will be, to my mind, excessive
and burdensome, and will fall with the greatest weight upon the
large majority of our tax payers, the small flat and home owner.
The business class and downtown property owner can, to a degree,
shift the burden upon the tenant by raising rents, and will, therefore,
not suffer in the same proportion as the small owner. The higher
you make the tax rate, the lower the income you receive from your
property. The less income, the lower the value of your property, and
if you are not able to get from your tenants in rents the increase in
your taxes, the inevitable result must follow — a depreciation of the
city's realty and a reduction, by the board of assessors, of real es-
tate values; and again giving our over-alert editors of dailies in
others cities, with that sisterly love which they always bear Chicago,
a chance to call attention, with their modest headlines, to the fact
that Chicago is going backward and its real estate is depreciating in
value." As the proposed charter was defeated by an .overwhelming
majority, the threatened evils, thus forcibly pointed out by Mr.
Hoyne, were averted. He was a member of the charter convention
appointed by Governor Deneen in 1906, and the position assumed
there, as during the campaign of the following year, was decided and
consistent.
Mr. Hoyne has long been identified with the First Regiment of
the Illinois National Guard, being a private, sergeant and assistant
quartermaster in that organization from 1875 to 1880. In the early
'80s he perfected a sergeant's roll-call book, wliich is now used by
all the regiments of the Illinois National Guard. In 1880 he was
appointed captain and brigade quartermaster of the first brigade,
upon General Torrence's staff, and served as such for four years.
Since then he has been a member of the First Regiment Veteran
Corps.
On April 24, 1884, Mr. Hoyne married Miss Florence Ashton,
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1219
and their children are as follows : Leonora Temple and Helen Ash-
ton Hoyne. Mr. Hoyne is a member of the Art Institute and of the
Iroquois (one of the five founders), Chicago Athletic, Press Club,
Midlothian Country Club, of which he is a director, and Wausaukee
Hunting and Fishing clubs, of which he is also a director. In poli-
tics he has always been a conservative Democrat and for many years
Mr. Hoyne has been especially prominent in civic affairs and fully
represents the spirit of the age.
A prominent real estate dealer and a leading Republican, William
Hale Thompson is a native of Boston, Massachusetts, and was born
May 14, 1869, the son of William Hale and Me-
William H. dora ( Gale ) Thompson. As he came to Chicago in
infancy, he has, for all practical purposes, a life-
long identity with the property and public interests of the city. He
was first educated in its public schools, then entered Fessenden's Pre-
paratory School, and rounded a good literary training by a course
at the Metropolitan Business College. His broadening and hardening
experience in the west was also invaluable, spending, as he did, the
outdoor seasons between his fifteenth and twentieth birthdays on the
ranches of the Standard Cattle Company in Colorado, Montana and
Wyoming, returning each winter to Chicago to attend school. Later,
for a period of three years, he managed a ranch in Nebraska, but
since his father's death has managed the family estate, as well as his
own private interests, and engaged in real estate transactions of a
general nature.
Within the past few years Mr. Thompson has become a leader in
Republican politics, and of late his name has been mentioned both in
connection with the mayoralty and the governorship. He represent-
ed the Second ward in the city council in 1900-02, and has served as
county commissioner since the latter year. He is a prominent mem-
ber of the Hamilton Club, and is especially popular with the younger
element of his party. He is also identified with the Chicago Ath-
letic, New Illinois Athletic, of which he is president, South Shore
Country, Chicago Yacht and Marquette clubs, being a proficient en-
thusiast in many forms of athletics and outdoor sports.
On December 5, 1901, Mr. Thompson married Miss Mary Walker
Wyse. His residence is No. 92 Twenty-first street, and his real es-
tate office is in the First National Bank building.
1220 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Aaron Benedict Mead has the honor of being the senior member
of Mead & Coe, now the oldest real estate firm in the city of Chicago.
„ It was formed in January, 1867, at which time he
" T became associated with the late Albert L. Coe, and
Mead. p
it has, therefore, over forty years of uninterrupted
business to its credit.
Mr. Mead is a native of Franklinville, Cattaraugus county. New-
York, where he was born November 7, 1838, being the son of Merlin
and Polly (Clark) Mead. Educated, primarily, in the district school
and academy of his native town, in his youth he went to live with an
uncle at Waterbury, Connecticut, graduating from the high school
of that place at the head of his class. Upon leaving school he was
employed in various clerical capacities in Waterbury and Hartford,
Connecticut, until the outbreak of the Civil war. In June, 1861, Mr.
Mead enlisted in Company A, Fourth Connecticut Volunteer Infant-
ry (afterward the First Connecticut Artillery), and was assigned to
the defenses about Washington, but on account of a severe attack of
pneumonia was honorably discharged from the service in the latter
part of 1862.
Mr. Mead's long connection with the real estate business dates
from 1863, when, having partially recovered from his illness caused
by military exposure, he became connected with the office of his un-
cle, Abner L. Ely, then the largest real estate agency in New York
City, and remained in his employ until his removal to Chicago, Janu-
ary 1, 1867. His previous training had given him a thorough knowl-
edge of the business, and enabled him to take a place at once in the
front ranks of independent agents, which he has ever since main-
tained. The partnership was terminated only by the death of his as-
sociate and friend in July, 1901, but the business has continued under
the old firm name of Mead & Coe by Mr. Mead, surviving partner.
During this forty years of continuous active business, the firm has
enjoyed its full share of prosperity, incident to the phenomenal growth
of the city from a population of 296,000 to over 2,000,000. As ever,
the name of Mead & Coe stands for honest service in the interests of
clients and square dealings in all transactions. Mr. Mead believes
there is no room in the legitimate real estate business for underhand
methods or sharp practices, and his influence as a charter member
of the Chicago Real Estate Board has always been in favor of the
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1221
best things for the profession and the good of the city. He is also
interested in Wisconsin mining, being president of the Grant Mining
and Lumber Company, controlling several lead and zinc mines.
Mr. Mead is an old-time Republican, having always voted the
straight ticket, and is a member of the George H. Thomas Post No.
5, Grand Army of the Republic. He has also been a member of the
Union League Club since its organization. For many years Mr.
Mead has been prominent in the religious and charitable work of the
city and country, and his first commission received in Chicago was
donated to the Fisk University of Nashville,' Tennessee. He is se-
nior deacon of the First Congregational church of Chicago, and also
vice president of the Congregational Church Building Society, of
New York; is president of the Chicago Christian Home Society for
Young Women, and for many years has been on the general board
of management of the Chicago Young Men's Christian Association.
For years he has been a director and member of the executive com-
mittee of the Washingtonian Home, and is one of the vice presidents
of the American Sunday School Union. For nearly twenty years
he was treasurer of the Illinois Home Missionary Society, and for
many years was one of the trustees of the Illinois College, at Jack-
sonville.
In September, 1868, Mr. Mead wedded Miss Mary E. Packard,
daughter of James B. and Sarah C. Packard, and the following are
their surviving children: Elizabeth M., now the wife of Rev. A.
A. Tanner, pastor of the Congregational church, of Alton, Illinois;
Agnes M., now the. wife of C. W. Van Law, who is a mining engi-
neer and company manager of the Guanajuato Reduction and Mines
Company, at Guanajuato, Mexico; and Lucy Irene, teacher of sci-
ence in the high school at Rhinelander, Wisconsin. The family resi-
dence is at No. 632 Washington boulevard.
Henry. G. Foreman is one of the leading real estate operators and
financiers of Chicago, as well as one of its leading Republicans and
public citizens. He is especially identified with
.p ' the wonderful system of parks which has made
Chicago famous, and with the outer belt of pleasure
grounds and recreation features which is now in process of develop-
ment and is destined to bring the city even greater fame. Mr. Fore-
man is a true Chicagoan, both in birth and spirit, his natal day being
Vol. in — 20.
1222 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
August 22, 1857, and his parents, Gerhard and Hannah (Grenne-
baum) Foreman. Educated in the city schools and a business college
of Chicago, he received his first business training in the First National
Bank, and he has since devoted the bulk of his time and abilities to
real estate and financial interests.
Mr. Foreman was one of the organizers of the Chicago Real
Estate Board in 1888. In March, 1902, he was appointed a member
of the board of South Park Commissioners for the term expiring
1903, and was reappointed for a term ending 1908, being chosen
president of the body in March, 1903, and March, 1904. In January
of the latter year he was appointed as a member of the commission
to create and develop, in its initial stages, the great outer system of
parks destined to encircle Chicago and make* it one of the most
picturesque metropoli of the world.
Since the commencement of his voting years Mr. Foreman has
been a firm and enthusiastic Republican, and in June, 1900, was
sent as a delegate to the national convention which met in Phila-
delphia. In November, 1902, he was elected chairman of the board
of Commissioners of Cook county for a term of two years, and his
service in that position materially strengthened his reputation as a
man of energetic and broad practical abilities.
In April, 1885, Mr. Foreman married Miss Lottie Schwab,
daughter of Charles H. Schwab, the well known retired shoe manu-
facturer and public official. They reside at No. 4706 Grand boule-
vard. Mr. Foreman is prominent as a clubman, being identified with
the Union League, Standard, Marquette and Mid-Day, all of Chicago.
John C. Fetzer lias been identified with the financial, real estate
and busines affairs of Chicago since 1895. Locating here as raan-
ager of the Cyrus Hall McCormick estate, he was
-L ' largely instrumental in organizing the International
r ETZER.
Harvester Company, with the McCormick and
Deering interests as the largest components: When the Union Trac-
tion Company's affairs became so involved that they were thrown
under the direct supervision of the courts, Judge Grosscup appointed
Mr. Fetzer as managing receiver of the traction property. While
managing receiver from February 15, 1904, until May 15, 1905, he
directed the expenditure of more than two million dollars in rehabili-
tating the traction lines on the north and west sides.
RY
L
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1223
Mr. Fetzer's ability as a financial organizer and manager was
next brought into prominent notice as the result of the Milwaukee
Avenue Bank failure. This institution, one of the largest on the
northwest side of the city, in which an army of depositors had stored
their hard-earned savings, failed to open its doors on August 6,
1906, following the regular examination by the state bank examiner.
The following day Judge Brentano, then chief justice of the superior
court of Cook county, designated John C. fetzer receiver for the
bank. His bond, fixed at one million dollars, was temporarily given
by the Illinois Surety Company, and two clays later was endorsed
by the National Surety Company, the United States Fidelity and
Guaranty Company, and the American Bonding Company, each com-
pany becoming liable on the entire bond, making one of the largest
bonds ever given to anyone without personal guaranty or reserving
supervision. Mr. Fetzer at once took charge as receiver of the
wrecked bank. Though his work was much impeded by the in-
vestigation still being conducted by the state examiners, and the
examination by the state and city police department, who were seek-
ing clues concerning the whereabouts of the defaulting officials and
evidence for their prosecution, Mr. Fetzer gave his entire energies
to saving the property of the twenty-two thousand depositors, and
seventeen days after his appointment as receiver began the payment
of the first dividend of twenty per cent. The most rigid methods
of accounting and auditing were adopted by the receiver, all fees
and expenses were pared down, and not one cent of the funds of
the receivership was diverted to any private use or any purpose other
than the benefit of the depositors, which is an innovation in the
receiverships of Chicago. The receiver's sales netted an unusually
high per cent of real valuation, and by judicious management thou-
sands of dollars were realized for the benefit of the depositors. On
October 24th a second dividend of twenty per cent was begun, and
on November 5th payment on a third dividend of the same amount
was begun. Thus within three months after the bank failure the
depositors realized sixty per cent of their losses, notwithstanding that
the forgeries and manipulations by Stensland and Hering had pro-
duced a total loss of a million and a half dollars. On January 14,
1907. a dividend of ten per cent was declared, this being probably
the final dividend of any consequence. With the payment of more
1224 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
than two-thirds of the losses within five months, Mr. Fetzer has
established a remarkable record in the history of important receiver-
ships. Comparing it with other noted cases, it will be seen that
they required from four to ten years to complete the final settle-
ment, that their total dividends seldom amounted to over one-half
of the liabilities, and that the expenses of the receivership have been
from three to thirty times as large. Mr. Fetzer considered it his
duty to "liquidate, not litigate," and that the money involved belonged
to the depositors, and belonged to them hoil' in preference to being
paid to their heirs and assigns at some distant day hence. There-
fore, expedition and economy marked his work from beginning to
end, and the successful and speedy conclusion of the receivership
is pointed to with pride in Chicago' financial circles.
Considering his achievements, Mr. Fetzer is one of the youngest
members of the group of foremost financiers and business organizers
in Chicago. He was born in Clarion, Pennsylvania, June 13, 1865,
a son of William H. and Henrietta (Clark) Fetzer. Three years
later his father, who was a lawyer, moved to Ottumwa, Iowa, and
for twenty years was active in Republican politics in that state.
Mr. Fetzer graduated from Ottumwa high school in 1881, and dur-
ing twelve years of his early business experience was employed as
head man under President Euclid Martin, of Parlin, OrendorfT &
Martin Co., a large wholesale agricultural implement house in Omaha.
January 10, 1896, he became manager of the real estate and financial
interests of the McCormick estate, and has since been closely identi-
fied with many large affairs of Chicago. He aided in the organiza-
tion of the Jackson Trust and Savings Bank, the First Mortgage
and Bond Company, and the Illinois Surety Company. He is a direc-
tor of the Fort Dearborn National Bank, the Protection Mutual Fire
Insurance Company and the Keystone Mutual Fire Insurance Com-
pany. In 1903 he was appointed a member of the Chicago board
of education, and served much of the time as chairman of the finance
committee. In July, 1905, he was elected vice president of the
board.
Residing ai the Palmer House, Mr. Fetzer takes an active part
in First ward politics, and as a Republican lends his efforts to elevat-
ing the political conditions of that notorious civic division. He was
second vice president, in 1903-04, and first vice president, in 1904-05,
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1225
of the Hamilton Club ; and is a member also of the Chicago Yacht,
Chicago Athletic, Hinsdale and Hinsdale Golf clubs, and a member
of the Chicago Real Estate Board. Mr. Fetzer married, August
27, 1904, Miss Alice A. Stick, of Union City, Indiana.
Horace A. Goodrich, a veteran real estate dealer and one of
the leading Methodists of the west, was born in Chicago on the
9th of July, 1837, and is a son of Grant Goodrich
r, ' and Juliet (Atwater) Goodrich. He received his
Goodrich. , J . . v , /.. , . ■.
education in the public schools of Chicago and at
Mount Morris, Ogle county, Illinois, as well as at the Northwestern
University, Evanston. At the institution named he attended both the
preparatory and collegiate departments, but was obliged to relinquish
his studies, on account of a failure of health in i860. Later he
studied law, but was finally obliged to seek open-air employment.
Mr. Goodrich had clerked for the Methodist Book Concern in 1855-6,
but in pursuance of the medical dictum that he must get into some
active form of physical work, he went to Joliet, Illinois, in 1862,
and assumed the position of superintendent of the sewer pipe, drain
tile and fire brick business of the Joliet Mound Company. In this
line of employment he busied himself for about five years, and
from 1868 to 1 87 1 traveled for his health.
Since 1872 Mr. Goodrich has been continuously engaged in the
real estate and loan business in Chicago. He is a charter member
of the Chicago Real Estate Board, and has been trustee of the First
Methodist church of Chicago since 1889, having served as secretary
and treasurer of the board of trustees since 1893.
Mr. Goodrich has been twice married — first, to Miss Theodosia
Hamline, at Evanston, Illinois, on the 7th of July, 1880, and secondly,
to Miss Alice La Due, at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on the 25th of
September, 1883. The children born to him have been as follows:
Juliet Theodosia, Harriet, Gladys, Grant and Grace (died in in-
fancy). Mr. Goodrich is a Republican and identified with Methodist
interests. He resides at 1788 Deming place.
Grant Goodrich, the father of Horace A., was one of the noble
souls of Chicago's pioneer times, who inspired his own generation
and that of a later day with far higher ambitions than those relating
to material advancement. He was a brilliant lawyer, a settler of
1834, and, although basing his life on his profession, labored for
1226 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
fifty-five years for the educational, moral and religious advance-
ment of the city whose greatness and world-wide influence he
foresaw. Among the other leading institutions with which his name
is inseparably connected are the First Methodist church of Chicago,
Northwestern University and Rush Medical College, and his pioneer
work, especially in connection with the church, has been in large
measure continued by his son, Horace A.
Grant Goodrich was born in Milton, Saratoga county, New York,
on the 7th of August, 181 1. In his boyhood he was rather delicate,
and during that period of his life spent much of his time sailing the
lakes on a vessel belonging to his brother. In 1830, when nineteen
years of age, he graduated from the Westfield Academy, Chautauqua
county, New York, and after studying law for-some time, came to
Chicago in 1834. The village then consisted of the fort, eight frame
houses and less than one thousand inhabitants, and in this raw
frontier town he commenced the practice of his profession. In 1836
he formed a partnership with Giles Spring, which continued unbroken
until 1849, when the latter was elected to the bench. He next formed
an association with Buckner S. Morris, and later with W. W. Farwell
and Sidney Smith. In 1857 he went to Europe for his health, and in
1859 was elected a judge of the superior court, then newly organized.
On the expiration of his term he returned to practice, but retired
in 1874 and spent the remaining years of his life in the care of his
property and the fostering of the many philanthropic and religious
enterprises with which his good name is identified.
Judge Grant was one of the very few conscientious men who not
only survived the great panic of 1837, but honorably discharged all
his debts, although it meant to him a decade of wearing labors which
he might have avoided by joining the self-confessed mob of bank-
rupts. He was one of the founders of the First Methodist church,
and saved its remarkably productive property on the corner of Clark
and Washington streets, as well as establishing its influence as one
of the great religious organizations of the west. He was one of the
first board of trustees of Rush Medical College in 1837, and remained
its secretary from its permanent organization until his death. He
was actively interested in the first common school convention, and
in 1842 was one of the board of school inspectors. He' also pre-
pared the charter of the Northwestern University, was one of its
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1227
incorporators, and was a member of its board of trustees the re-
mainder of his life. As to the Garrett Biblical Institute at Evanston,
he was president of its board of trustees from its foundation until
his death. An anti-slavery Whig, one of the most patriotic of pa-
triotic Republicans, a stanch member of the Union Defense Com-
mittee during the Civil war and a director of the Freedmen's Aid
Society afterward, his work as a citizen was always open, positive and
effective. He was also one of the foremost of temperance advocates,
being a founder of the first local societies and of the Washingtonian
Home.
Judge Goodrich's death, which was universally mourned, occurred
March 15, 1889. He was the seventh in direct descent from William
Goodrich, who came to New England in 1630, and whose descend-
ants numbered Revolutionary heroes and scholars of note.
Major B. R. De Young, a resident of Chicago over forty years,
is an authority on Chicago real estate and has been prominently ac-
tive in public affairs. He was born in New York
-p. Y ' City, August 18, 1843, being a son of Benjamin and
Emily (Warwick) De Young. His parents moved
to Philadelphia when he was about one year old, soon after which
his father died, leaving his mother and an only sister. Having re-
ceived a common school education, and after passing the high school,
he went, at the age of sixteen, to learn to be a compositor in a large
book-publishing house in Philadelphia, where he remained until the
war broke out, when he enlisted, at the age of eighteen years, in the
One Hundred and Fourteenth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers,
and served all through the Army of the Potomac, participating in all
the battles with his regiment. It was said of him that he was a good
soldier, never missing a battle or a march. At the battle of Chan-
cellorsville he went in with 750 men and came out with 150, and at
Gettysburg he went in with 400 men and but 81 came out with him.
He received several promotions for valor and faithful service.
After the war Major De Young returned to Philadelphia, where
he remained until December, 1865, when he came west, locating in
Chicago. He was tendered the position of correspondent in the local
agency of the Travelers' Insurance Company, of Hartford, where
he remained two years-, when he went into the fire insurance business
in which he was engaged until 1870, when he was offered a position
1228 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
in the regular army, and was stationed at Fort Pembina, Dakota Ter-
ritory. After serving one year he resigned, preferring- mercantile
life. Returning to Chicago, he was married to a most estimable young
lady. Miss Lizzie Farnon, of Philadelphia. Mr. De Young, after
again locating in Chicago, engaged in the life insurance business, be-
ing connected for six years with the Massachusetts Mutual Life and
afterward with the New York Life Insurance Company. In the year
1881 Mr. De Young concluded to sever his connection with life in-
surance and embark in the real estate business, forming a copartner-
ship with his brother-in-law, Mr. John Farnon, of Philadelphia,
under the firm name of B. R. De Young & Co., in which business he
is still engaged, doing a very large and successful business, represent-
ing large eastern capital, and enjoying the confidence and respect of
the entire business community. He is a prominent member of the
Chicago Real Estate Board, and was elected by that body a member
of the valuation committee, on which committee he has served two
terms. His judgment is regarded as authority on values. He was
elected, without effort on his part, for four successive terms to the
office of assessor of the South Town of Chicago, which district in-
cludes the main business center and most valuable property of Chi-
cago, a very responsible office, which he very ably filled to the gen-
eral satisfaction of the tax payers, and was highly complimented by
the press for his honesty and fairness in his assessments. Even the
opposition to him were compelled to admit that he was just to all,
rich and poor, a record in which he ought to feel justly proud. He
was, in 1888, selected by the great London Syndicate to appraise the
properties of the breweries and malt houses; also elevators purchased
by the English capitalists.
Major De Young is connected with all. the army organizations
of this city; is also a member of the Union League Club of Chicago.
He rendered good service during the riots of 1877, was instrumental
in the organization of what was known as the Sixth Regiment, Illi-
nois National Guard; raised the first company of that regiment that
participated in the riots; was elected its captain, and afterwards
elected major of the regiment.
He was selected by the first organization of the World's Colum-
bian Exposition as a member of the finance committee, and for a
term rendered invaluable service on the sub-finance committee in
'TfcuTS
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1229
classifying, equalizing- and increasing the subscriptions to the fair
fund. In politics Mr. De Young has always been identified with the
Republican party and has, at different times, rendered able service
to his party.
Anyone who has the good fortune to resemble William McKinley
was certainly well born, and if, in addition, he possesses some of the
lamented president's traits of amiability, ability and
^ -p a profound sense of justice, he is doubly blessed.
Edward Harvey Peters has the resemblance both of
feature and disposition, and his acquaintances have, therefore, noth-
ing but congratulations to offer on the success of his real estate en-
terprises in Chicago and his high standing as a man in the city. Al-
though he has always paid the closest possible attention to the devel-
opment of his real estate business, he has never forgotten his man-
hood or his gentlemanliness.
Edward H. Peters, one of the best-known business men of Chi-
cago, and a member of the leading real estate firm of Fetzer, Pettrs
& Co., was born at No. 231 East Eleventh street, New York City,
on the nth of August, i860, being a son of William Atwater and
Lena (Hedner) Peters. His father was himself a native of the
metropolis, a millwright and contractor at different periods of his
life, and died in 1880.
Mr. Peters of this sketch received his education in the public
schools of New York and at an academy in that city until he was
twelve years of age, when he removed with the family to Catskill,
New York, where his father had purchased a hotel. Until he was
seventeen years of age he was associated with the latter in this en-
terprise, when he came to Chicago and was in the employ of an ice
company both at Goose Island and the stock yards. He was then,
for a year, a conductor with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Rail-
road, at which time he entered the real estate and investment busi-
ness in Chicago.
Mr. Peters became thus employd as a resident of Chicago in
1 89 1, and for the succeeding nine years the business was trans-
acted under the firm name of Edward H. Peters & Co., although, be-
fore venturing as an independent dealer, he had had some experience
with the firm of H. O. Stone & Co. On April 1, 1904, a partnership
was formed with John C. Fetzer, with the title of Fetzer, Peters
1230 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
& Co., the firm largely devoting its business to the handling of down-
town or central property and elevator, warehouse, railroad and manu-
facturing properties. The transactions in these lines amount to fully
seven million dollars annually, and altogether, the business is one of
the largest in the city. Mr. Peters' entire time is now devoted to the
real estate business of this firm and the care of his own property, the
office being at No. 215 Dearborn street.
On June 18, 1902, Mr. Peters was united in marriage to Miss
Nellie M. Mullaly, daughter of Major John E. Mullaly, of Chicago.
Mrs. Peters' family is of Boston, as is her mother, and her father
has been identified with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad
Company as claim agent for the past forty years. The two children
born to Mr. and Mrs. Edward H. Peters are Ethel and John Edward.
The family home is an elegant residence at the corner of Central
Park and Jackson boulevards, overlooking Garfield Park. Mr. Pe-
ters has always taken a deep interest in the pleasure grounds of the
city, and has now served for four years as a commissioner of the
West Park Board, under appointment from Governor Yates. For
many years he has been a leading Republican.
Mr. Peters is also a trustee of the Chicago Homeopathic College
and Hospital, and a member of the Hamilton (life member), Chi-
cago Athletic, Illinois (a life member) and Chicago Yacht clubs.
For a number of years past William Henry Brown has enjoyed
a leading identification with Chicago real estate interests as the se-
nior member of the firm of Wm. H. Brown Com-
William H. pany & Brittain, extensive dealers in both local real-
ty and North Dakota farm lands. He is also presi-
dent of Wm. H. Brown Company, of Mandan, North Dakota, with
a capital of $500,000.
Mr. Brown is a native of Warren, Jo Daviess county, Illinois,
born May 14, i860, son of Thomas Brown and Elizabeth (Campbell)
Brown. He obtained his early education through the public and high
schools of Lena, Illinois, and afterward pursued courses at the Cedar
Falls (la.) Normal College and the business college at Valparaiso,
Indiana. Early in his real estate career he became quite heavily in-
terested in Dakota lands, and lived for some time at Devil's Lake,
North Dakota, of which city he was mayor in 1900-01. In the lat-
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1231
ter year he formed his present connection with Joseph K. Brittain,
the firm having extensive dealings in city property, real estate loans
and farm lands.
In 1885 Mr. Brown married Miss Hattie Annger in South Da-
kota, and they have had five children: Harry L., Paul E., Ethel
Freda, Cecil A., and Raymond Pierre.
Joseph King Brittain, identified with the real estate business of
Chicago for nearly twenty years, and now a member of the firm of
Wm. H. Brown Company & Brittain, extensive
V, dealers in North Dakota farm lands, as well as in
Brittain. • , . . _ .„
locaA property, is a native of Greenville, Mercer
county, Pennsylvania, where he was born December 27, 1867. His
parents were Jeremiah Reed and Nancy Davidson (King) Brittain,
his father, now deceased, being for many years a minister of the
United Presbyterian church, while his grandfather, Joseph Brittain,
was a prominent farmer of Beaver county, Pennsylvania.
After passing through the public and high schools of Greenville,
Mr. Brittain pursued more advanced courses at Thiel College, also
located in his native town, and when of age came to Chicago in search
of broader and more varied opportunities than he could find at home.
In 1889 he started his real estate career as a rent collector on a very
small salary, but within a few months so proved his capabilities that
he was placed in the sales department of the firm, and on New Year's
day of 1 89 1 opened an office and established a real estate business
under the name of J. K. Brittain & Co. His original location was No.
2 Sherman street; in 1893 he moved to 100 Washington street, and
May 1, 1896, to 155 LaSalle street, where the business of the firm
was transacted until its consolidation with Wm. H. Brown & Com-
pany in 1 90 1.
In the year named a copartnership was formed with William H.
Brown, then of Devil's Lake, North Dakota, but who moved to
Chicago, the firm of Wm. H. Brown Company & Brittain establish-
ing large and convenient offices on the second floor of the Tacoma
building, corner of Madison and LaSalle streets. There it is still
transacting a large business in Chicago real estate, farm lands and
farm mortgages, carrying especially large tracts of North Dakota
realty. The firm has also large and growing departments in renting
and insurance.
1232 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
In his individual relations, Mr. Brittain is an influential member
of the Chicago Real Estate Board, of whose street railway commit-
tee he was secretary for the years of 1904, 1905 and 1906. He has
been active in the organization of the Wentworth Avenue Improve-
ment and Protective Association, having served as its president for
three years and being still a director.
On June 15, 1896, Mr. Brittain married Miss Harriet D. Borland,
daughter of the late James A. Borland, who, for years, was associated
with the wholesale department of Marshall Field & Co. They have
one child, Ashleigh Woodruff Brittain, and the family residence is
at No. 7126 Princeton avenue. Mr. Brittain is a Republican and a
member of the widely-known Hamilton Club. For many years he has
been a leader in the religious and charitable work of the Normal Park
Presbyterian church, of which he has been an elder for five years.
Biography, or the individual history of mankind, presents no more
striking lesson than that early conditions of adversity, far from
_ crushing the man of strong character, serve only
Lewis E. b . . f . s , ' y
to spur him to grim endeavor and eventual success.
In the life record of Lewis Ellsworth Ingalls is add-
ed another valuable testimonial along this line, and another encour-
agement to those whose paths of life must be cleared and smoothed
by their own will and exertions. An examination of his life shows
the overshadowing qualities of perseverance, a readiness to seize
opportunities and judiciously apply them, and a far-sightedness which
has never been confused by the practical details of the present. It
is this faculty of retaining a strong grasp upon the details of the
present, without losing a broad and clear outlook into the future,
which is characteristic of all men of large affairs.
A native of Illinois, from the outset of his business career Mr.
Ingalls seems to have been prompted by the spirit of enterprise and
progress which has been the keynote to the phenomenal upbuilding
of the west. He was born in the township of Dupage, Will county,
Illinois, October 26, 1839. His father, a native of Vermont, was
born at Walpole, April 10, 1800, and following his removal to what
was then the far west, engaged in farming in Will county, dying at
Naperville on the 10th of April, 1875. The mother bore the maiden
name of Lois Royce, and was a sister of Jonathan and Abner Royce,
both now deceased. She was born in the state of New York in 1800,
tf-l>LAj)
AS TOR, LENOX Al
flLDEN FPU N DAT
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1233
and passed away in Will county, Illinois, in 1856. Of the twelve chil-
dren born to Mr. and Mrs. Henry Ingalls, the following are deceased :
Samuel, Mary, Henry, Jonathan, Phoebe, Hannah, George and An-
drew. Abner E. Ingalls, of Joliet; Frank I. Ingalls, of Seneca,
Kansas, and Lois Sargent, of Naperville, Illinois, are still living, as
well as Lewis E., of this sketch.
Lewis E. Ingalls was the eighth child of the family, and his edu-
cational advantages were limited to about eight months' attendance
at the Naperville school, but reading and observation have largely
broadened his knowledge, and in the school of experience he has
learned the many valuable lessons which have made him a well in-
formed, practical and successful man. When he was sixteen years
of age he left home with no capital save his strong, determined char-
acter, which has sustained him from first to last, and insured him
success when otherwise he would have considered himself bankrupt
a dozen times in the early years of his struggles.
During the first three years of his independent working career
Mr. Ingalls was employed as a farm hand, first working for his
board and afterward receiving ten dollars per month additional.
Later his wages were increased to sixteen and twenty-five dollars.
When he was nineteen years of age he went to Iowa and resumed
farming near Waterloo, being thus employed in the summer months
and engaging in trapping during the winter. After four years he
returned to Dupage county, where agricultural operations consumed
his time for the succeeding three years. Then removing to Clay-
banks, Wisconsin, he busied himself for a year in getting out lum-
ber at that point, but returned to Illinois and conducted lumber yards
at Naperville and Lemont, Illinois. About this time he purchased
the right of way for the Chicago, St. Louis & Western Railroad Com-
pany, and had charge of the grading of the road south of Joliet, as
well as at other places along the line. Persistent work and economy,
with good management of both his savings and opportunities finally
won, and in 1869 he was in a position to establish himself permanent-
ly as a strong factor in some important and growing community.
In 1869 Mr. Ingalls purchased a farm of three hundred acres
within two miles of the court house at Joliet, Illinois, and later an
additional four hundred acres near the same place. He removed to
his country estate in 1870 and has since resided there, although for
1234 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
many years he has been the leading real estate dealer in Joliet, and
for the past two decades has transacted a large business in that line
in Chicago, where he also owns much valuable property. His farm
near Joliet now consists of three hundred and forty acres, bordering
a fine gravel road. It is beautifully located near the Higinbotham
place, which embraces some of Mr. Ingalls's former land. Nature
has furnished much original beauty, which has been enhanced by
the arts of the landscape gardener. There is a fine park and a sod
race track on the place known as the Ingalls Park, which has been
the scene of many successful fairs and races. A large dairy business
is also conducted on the farm, with the raising of especially fine
breeds of horses and cattle. A street car line runs through the prop-
erty, in the development of which Mr. Ingalls has made a model coun-
try place, where he finds rest and recreation from the strain of metro-
politan business life.
Upon his first removal to Joliet Mr. Ingalls established a lumber
yard there, but sold it about a year afterward and turned his atten-
tion to his farm and his real estate and loan business. The latter he
conducted until 1887, when he opened an office in Chicago.
Connected with numerous enterprises, the labors of Mr. Ingalls
have directly benefited Joliet in many ways. In 1882 he established
the first electric plant in Joliet, from which has developed the Econ-
omy Light and Power Company. For fifteen years he was' engaged
in the active conduct of the light plant — first, of the Joliet Lighting
Company, and afterward of two other organizations, finally, with
others, purchasing dam No. 1 and forming the Economy Light and
Power Company. While he was thus engaged in the lumber trade
he sold much of his material to the steel mills, and finally disposed
of his business to Mason & Plant. Mr. Ingalls was the originator of
the plan which resulted in the purchase of the water plant of Joliet,
and thus his labors have been of direct benefit to the city in many
ways. For a time he was connected with the Chicago & Southwest-
ern Railway Company, which was sold to the Santa Fe Ra'ilroad,
after which he continued with the latter company for two years.
In 1887 Mr. Ingalls transferred his business interests largely to
Chicago and now has a suite of rooms at No. 184 LaSalle street,
where, as president of the Richmond-Smith Company Milk Agency,
he represents nearly three thousand farmers who ship their milk to
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rUDLlG LIBRARY
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Li!:
ASTOR, LENOX AND
riLDEN FOUNOAT!
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1235
Chicago. As to his Chicago real estate interests, he owns the Del
Prado Hotel at Fifty-ninth, Madison and Washington avenues; the
large Chicago fireproof storage warehouse at Twenty-first street and
Wabash avenue; a large building at the corner of Illinois and Dear-
born avenue, and a commodious apartment building on Fifty-ninth
street and Michigan avenue. Altogether, his real estate holdings in
the city are very valuable, and few men are better informed concern-
ing realty in the metropolis. He has held offices in the Chicago Real
Estate Board, and by experts his opinions are considered good au-
thority. In Masonry he also stands high, being a Knight Templar,
a member of Commandery No. 4, Joliet, and Medinah Temple of
the Mystic Shrine at Chicago. He has always been an earnest sup-
porter of the Republican party. His club connections are with the
Union and Commercial of Joliet, and the Union League and Ham-
ilton of Chicago.
Mr. Ingalls has been twice married — his first wife, to whom he
was united October 22, 1865, having been Miss Millie Emerson, of
Door county, Wisconsin, who died at Lemont, Illinois, March 10,
j 868. His second wife was formerly Miss Esther E. Bartholomew,
of Marengo, Illinois, a daughter of Russ Bartholomew, a farmer
of McHenry county, Illinois. By his second marriage he has had
four children, as follows: Millie R., born October 16, 1870, and
died at Dansville, New York, September 22, 1892; Royce K., born
December 1, 1872, and died April 27, 1894; Myra R., born Janu-
ary 1, 1874, and now the wife of George M. Peale, a resident of
Joliet, and Charles L., born December 19, 1874, and died in 1881.
As a final estimate of Mr. Ingalls' character, it may be said that
there is naught of the theorist about him. On the contrary, he is
a man of action, and while others might argue and debate, he has
gone to work and demonstrated. It is his ready execution that has
been one of the strong elements in his success, advancing him from
a humble position to one of progress and affluence. He stands as
the best type of American citizenship, belonging to that class of men
who, while winning success, do not strew their pathway with the
wrecks of other men's fortunes. In his beautiful country home Mr.
Ingalls has given evidence of his appreciation of nature in all her
beauty, and in his business relations has often manifested a spirit
of public progress which has prompted him to put forth generous and
1236 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
effective aid in support of many measures which have been of direct
and broad benefit to the city.
Chester Chapin Broomell, associated with his brother, Francis E.
Broomell, in the real estate and loan business under the name of
Broomell Brothers, has been a prominent figure in
-r, ' the development of the abstract business in Chicago.
Broomell. f *
He was born in Chicago, rebruary 19, 1862, a son
of George D. Broomell, the well known Chicago educator and advo-
cate of phonetic spelling.
Mr. Broomell graduated from the Hayes public school, Chicago,
in 1875, an d from the Central high school four years later, being
employed on the night force of the Public Library, both during the
latter course and afterward. For three years after leaving school
he was also associated with A. W. Wheeler, a hardware dealer, and
from 1882 to 1884 was associated with Lapp & Flershem, wholesale
jewelers.
In 1884 Mr. Broomell, in partnership with Jerome J. Danforth,
was engaged in the preparation of a set of abstract indexes, and early
in the following year the two organized the Cook County Abstract
Company, of which he was treasurer until 1890. Upon its reorgani-
zation and enlargement under the name of the Chicago Title and
Trust Company, Mr. Broomell became manager of the guarantee
department, and was as instrumental as any one man in introducing
the prevailing system of guaranteeing titles to purchasers of property
in Chicago. In 1900 he became secretary of the company, and so con-
tinued until the general consolidation of the local abstract com-
panies, when he became one of the organizers and incorporators
of the First-Mortgage Bond and Trust Company. Of this he was
secretary and director until it was absorbed by the Royal Trust Com-
pany in October, 1904.
Mr. Broomell has been associated with his brother as a dealer in
real estate and loans since October 1, 1904. The Broomell Brothers
conduct a general real estate business, but a large part of their
transactions are in loans, this the most important feature of the
business.
At Chicago, on the 2d of July, 1888, Mr. Broomell was married
to Miss Lena F. Johnson, and they have become the parents of three
children — Ellyn C, Francis J. and Mary. The family residence is
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1237
at No. 33J North Central avenue, Austin. Mr. Broomell is a Re-
publican in politics, and belongs to the Hamilton Club, the City Club,
the Geographic Society of Chicago, is an ex-president of the Chicago
Whist Club, and is a thirty-second degree Mason, belonging to
Oriental Consistory, the Medinah Temple, and Austin Lodge, No.
850, A. F. and A. M.
Francis Ely Broomell, a member of the firm of Broomell Brothers,
well known real estate and loan dealers of Chicago, was born in
_, _ this city on the 6th of February, 1874, a son of
Francis E. ~ ' „ „
-p. George D. Broomell.
Francis E. Broomell received his education in
the public schools of this city, and at Swarthmore College of Penn-
sylvania, from which he graduated in 1893 with the degree of B. S.
He then returned to Chicago and took charge of the Lake View
office of C. J. Hambleton, formerly one of the largest real estate
dealers and owners of Chicago, and upon his death in 1900, Mr.
Broomell opened a real estate office of his own in the business center
of the city. In connection with its duties he also handled the estate
of Mr. Hambleton. Remaining alone in the business until 1905,
he then formed a partnership with his brother, C. C. Broomell, and
the firm of Broomell Brothers is now conducting a renting, real
estate and loan business (the last named the leading feature), with
offices at No. 601 Reaper block. During the year 1907 Francis
E. Broomell was secretary of the Real Estate Board.
Mr. Broomell is identified with the City, University and Chicago
Whist clubs, and is ex-secretary of the Independent Religious Society
of Chicago.
The name of George Dare Broomell is prominently associated
with the early educational interests of Chicago, and he is perhaps
most widely known in his advocacy of phonetic
t, reform in English spelling. He was born* in Chester
Broomell. & . \ ° •
county, Pennsylvania, July 27, 1832, son of John
and Letitia (Parry) Broomell.
Mr. Broomell entered upon the profession of teaching when but
eighteen years of age, alternating his teaching with school attend-
ance for three years. Within this period he attended school at
Whitesboro, New York, served as principal of a Friends' select school
in his native county, and had charge of a boarding school in New
Vol. in— 21.
12^8 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
-o
Jersey. While engaged in business in Philadelphia in 1854-6, Mr.
Broomell made several trips to Chicago, and in 1856 came to this
city to reside permanently. He served as principal of Dearborn
School, 1857-63, and again from 1865 to 1866; principal of Haven
School, 1866-69; an( l was the first incumbent of the office of assistant
superintendent of schools, in which he served from 1869 to 1870.
The duties proving too onerous for his health, at his own request he
was relieved and appointed teacher of mathematics in the Chicago
high school. He resigned that position in 1882 to become a member
of the firm of Wanzer & Company, commission merchants on the
Chicago Board of Trade, continuing therein until 1893. Since that
time he has lived retired at his home, No. 496 West Monroe street.
In 1 86 1 Mr. Broomell was married at Chicago to Miss Ellen B.
Chapin, of New Marlboro, Massachusetts, their children being as fol-
lows: Chester C, George D. (a lawyer, who died February 2, 1899),
and Francis E. The surviving sons are associated in a real estate
and loan business, and are well known in that field.
Joel D. Harvey, engaged in the general real estate and loan
business for many years, is a native of Kane county, Illinois, born in
the year 1836. After finishing his education in
~ T the public schools of Kane county, he studied law
Harvey. / , . J , , . .
and was admitted to the bar in 1058, practicing
law in the county named for the succeeding six years. In 1864 Mr.
Harvey came to Chicago, and since that year has engaged here in
both the real estate and loan business, of late years his attention being
largely devoted to the investment feature. He has also attained
considerable prominence as a Republican, and under the administra-
tion of Presidents Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur and Cleveland held ■
the office of internal revenue collector at Chicago. For over thirty
years Mr. Harvey has been a member of the Chicago Club.
This old and prominent citizen of Chicago, whose light of life
went out March 7, 1908, was a stalwart and fine representative of
the Land of the Midnight Sun. He had been an
important factor in the public affairs of the city tor
almost half a century. Its material activity had
been promoted through his activity in business circles; educational
and moral interests received his generous support, and the historic
progress of the city, as evidenced by such grand forces as the World's
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1239
Columbian Exposition, had been materially advanced by him. As
a typical Norseman, he was a man not only of rugged intellectual
strength, but of warm impulses and great heart. He was a man
of broad usefulness, and also a deeply religious member of the com-
munity, giving freely of his means, time and strength to forward
effective movements of charity and philanthropy.
S T. Gunderson was born in Norway in the year 1839, and in
1848, at the age of nine years, he accompanied his parents on their
emigration to the new world. The family at once located in Chi-
cago, then a rapidly growing city of twenty thousand people. The
journey westward was made by way of the Hudson river, the Erie
canal and the Great Lakes, as railroad facilities were things of the
future. The boy at once entered the public schools of Chicago, but,
at the age of fifteen, on account of limited family circumstances, left
his books behind him and commenced to learn the carpenter's trade.
At -the age of eighteen he established a business of his own, in this
field, and was thus engaged when the panic of 1857 swept over the
country.
In view of the cessation of building operations caused by the fi-
nancial depression of this period, Mr. Gunderson removed to Fort
Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1858, but, finding conditions there no bet-
ter, returned to Chicago. In 1862 he purchased a lake vessel, the
"Hercules," and within the next five years became owner of six
vessels, most of them engaged in the grain trade. He carefully
watched his business interests, and his diligence, frugality and capa-
ble management brought him a good income. As his financial re-
sources increased, he also became connected with the lumber trade,
and in 1871 purchased large interests in sawmills. This business was
in a thriving condition when, in 1875, his plant was destroyed by fire,
and, being but lightly insured, he lost nearly everything he had, and
was financially ruined. But at this gloomy period, as ever through
life, disaster seemed but to spur him on to more determined effort and
harder labor. This brave trait, with his honorable dealings and re-
markable business foresight, completely rebuilt his fortunes. From
1885 to 1899 Mr. Gunderson was the owner of extensive milling in-
terests, and was the senior member of the firm of S. T. Gunderson
& Son, manufacturers of moldings, casings, etc., and for a number
of years v/as connected with John A. Gauger & Company, shipping
i_>40 CHICAGO. AND COOK COUNTY
large quantities of doors and sash of their own manufacture through-
out the United States.
It "was during this period of his career that the deceased made
such an enduring record in connection with the World's Fair. When
the subject of celebrating the fourth centennial of the discovery of
America was agitated in 1892, Mr. Gunderson became deeply inter-
ested in the project, and was an untiring and invaluable worker in
his efforts to secure Chicago as the site of the exposition. The his-
tory of the opposition is well known, and the triumph of this city,
both in securing the site and organizing the fair along cosmopolitan
lines, is in no small part due to Mr. Gunderson. From first to last,
he gave his support to the exposition and worked for its broad
success, and the Viking ship is one of the striking features which
owed its origin to his enterprise and sense of historic justice. He
was president of the company which purchased the little vessel, which
is a reproduction of the bold craft which is supposed to have landed
a Norse colony on New England shores in 1000 A. D., and which
is still on exhibition at the Field Columbian Museum.
In 1892 Mr. Gunderson organized the firm of S. T. Gunderson
& Sons, the well-known home builders of the west side and Oak
Park, and with the destruction by fire of his sash, door and molding
factory (in 1898), concentrated his abilities upon the development
of this enterprise. The firm owned Gunderson & Ganger's addition
to Chicago, Gunderson & Ganger's addition to Oak Park, Gunder-
son's addition to Chicago. S. T. Gunderson & Sons' addition to Oak
Park, and other city property, including a beautiful home of Mr.
Gunderson at No. 1463 Washington boulevard. He foresaw the fu-
ture development and growth of the city, and with keen sagacity
realized the advancement which would be made in the value of real
estate. He not only largely invested in real estate, but did not wait
for others to improve it, but entered energetically into the work him-
self. The firm, of which he was the senior member, has built on an
average for the past decade, from sixty to eighty homes annually,
which have been sold for cash and on terms. As true home builders
it stands related to the community as a public benefactor.
In politics Mr. Gunderson was a firm Republican, but was never
a politician in the insiduous sense. In 1874 lie was elected to a seat
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1241
in the common council; in June, 1891, was appointed member of the
library board; in 1894 a member of the board of education, and on
May 28, 1907, was reappointed a member of the board of education,
his term expiring in 1908. When Mr. Gunderson was on the board
of education in 1894, he became deeply concerned in the welfare of
truant children. He, therefore, introduced a resolution, which was
adopted, asking that the legislature enact a law that should provide
a parental school to the children of the city, by which truants could
be taken from evil associates on the street and kept under proper con-
trol. Several years afterward the law was enacted by which was
founded the Parental School of Chicago.
Mr. Gunderson also became much interested in the Reformatory
School at Pontiac, Illinois, to which children of fourteen and over
were sent by the city magistrates, when convicted of misdemeanor.
Discovering that the only work provided for the juvenile inmates
was the making of brick and shoes, he introduced into the board a
resolution asking that the legislature enact a law providing" for a
regular system of manual training therein. Within three months
such a law was passed, and before his death Mr. Gunderson had the
satisfaction of knowing that only twenty-five per cent of the former
inmates returned to the school (instead of seventy-five per cent, as
before), the remainder having become thoroughly grounded in some
useful trade and been transformed into a useful and moral member
of the community.
In 1863 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Gunderson and Miss
Emily C. Olson. Two sons and a daughter were born to their union.
George O., the elder, was not only associated with the deceased in
his real estate and maufacturing enterprises, but is the founder of
large interests himself. He was married June 15, 1887, to Miss
Julia A., daughter of O. B. Jacobs, a well-known lumber dealer.
Seward M. Gunderson. the second son, has been most actively con-
nected with real estate and building operations as a member of the
firm of S. T. Gunderson & Sons. He was married October 10, 1894,
to Abigail C, daughter of Murdoch Campbell. The daughter, Ida
Mabel Gunderson, is a highly educated and accomplished young lady,
being a graduate of the Misses Grant Seminary and the Chicago Mu-
sical College (from which she received a teacher's diploma). Be-
1242 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
sides being a brilliant musician, she possesses considerable artistic
talent as a painter in oils and water colors, and is accomplished along
other lines. In 1896 she was married to Chas. A. Danz, a commis-
sion merchant.
During the later years of his life Mr. Gunderson traveled exten-
sively, both in his adopted country and abroad, thereby collecting
useful and interesting information and imbibing those liberal ideas
that come with contact with the world. Several times he journeyed
from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the lakes to the gulf, and
thence to Mexico. In 1888 and 1902 he went to Europe, visiting
England, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Denmark and France, study-
ing the people and visiting points of beauty and historic interest. In
May, 1902, when he and his wife took their last trip through Eu-
rope, he was very anxious to see the midnight sun at its highest, and
he arrived at the summit of North Cape on the 26th of June, of that
year. He returned along the northwestern coast of Norway, through
all the fjords, and traveled overland from Ode to Christiania, thence
to Stockholm, and returned from Stockholm on the Gota canal, to
Gotenberg. In 1900 Mr. Gunderson went to Cuba, and in January,
1905, he took a Mediterranean trip. Leaving New York on Febru-
ary 2, 1905, he visited the following places : Funchal, Smyrna, Vil-
lef ranch, Queenstown, Cadiz, Caifa, Gibraltar, Jaffa, Algiers, Alex-
andria, Valetta, Naples, Athens, ' Rome, Pompeii, Jerusalem, Nice
and Monte Carlo. He returned, via Liverpool. In February, 1906,
Mr. and Mrs. Gunderson visited old Mexico and the Pacific coast.
In his fraternal relations, Mr. Gunderson was best known as a
Mason of long and honorable standing. In 1868 he was initiated into
the order as a member of Kilwinning Lodge No. 3,111, A. F. & A.
M. ; Chicago Commandery No. 19, K. T. ; Oriental Consistory, and
Medinah Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He was also one of the
founders of the Masonic Orphans' Home, and served as its trustee
for three years. As to social organizations, he is identified with
the Menoken, Lincoln and Skandinavian Literary clubs. The de-
ceased was a life-long member of the Lutheran church, and, despite
the extent of his business and public duties, he found time to devote
to the cause of Christianity and its upbuilding. He was not only a
reformer in the cause of public morality, but he was charitable and
M
"LDENFOUNOAT
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNT Y 1243
benevolent toward the young and dependent. Although he supported
many public charities with his means and counsel, he perhaps gave
more in a quiet and unostentatious manner, seeking never the praise
of men.
Oren B. Taft is a native of New York, having been born at Me-
dina, on the 19th of June, 1846, son of Joel F. and Jane E. (Britt)
Taft. When but ten years old, his father having
T died the year previous, he removed with his mother
and only sister to Illinois, to a place which after-
ward became the town of Paxton, to accept the offer of a home with
an uncle.
He had virtually no educational advantages, having attended dis-
trict school for a few terms only in a desultory way by reason of fre-
quent changes in location, which, with the advantage of three terms
(1861 and 1862) at the old Chicago University, was the extent of
his educational training, except that which was self-obtained.
In later years the development of a student's characteristics and
the satisfaction he found in intellectual pursuits led him at times to
doubt whether commercial affairs should ever have occupied his chief
interest. He has given much of his spare time to the consideration
of certain fundamental problems which are as yet unanswered in
science and philosophy and has written more or less upon these sub-
jects. Circumstances, however, led toward business and when Mr.
Taft had reached the age of seventeen, his practical knowledge was
so precise that he was appointed to take charge of the office of clerk
of the circuit court of Ford county, and retained the position from
1863 to 1868. It was in the days when lawyers "rode the circuit."
the boy at that time making the acquaintance of such men as David
Davis, afterward chief justice under Lincoln; Joseph G. Cannon,
afterward speaker of the house; Ward Lamon, Voorhees and others.
In the meantime, during and following the Civil war, he was,
though young, identified as one of the leaders in the settlement and
development of central Illinois from what was a vast,, unsettled prai-
rie. One room in his own home, in the crude beginning, served as
postoffice, railroad station, lumber office and real estate office, while
these were awaiting better quarters.
During this period his own savings had been invested in real es-
tate, which netted him a few thousand dollars. His experience in
1244 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
this development period of what was known as the grand prairie, or
central Illinois, led him to consider the possibilities and future of
the whole Mississippi valley, and with something of its future in
mind, in 1869 he located in Chicago and became connected with the
business with which he ever since has been identified. In this year
he was associated with D. K. Pearsons and in 1876 became a mem-
ber of the firm of D. K. Pearsons & Co. In 1880 Mr. Pearsons re-
tired from the firm and all active business, and since that year it has
been conducted by Mr. Taft in association with H. A. Pearsons.
The original house was established in 1865, with Illinois for its
field of operation ; since that it has been extended to include the
whole Mississippi valley from Canada and the Red River of the
North, to and including the black lands of Texas. It is generally con-
ceded that no other house in its own line has for so many years con-
tinuously been so large and important a factor in supplying funds
for the settlement and development of lands in the middle west as
this one, under the direction of Mr. Taft and his associates in busi-
ness. He is among the Chicago leaders and is recognized as one of
the best judges in the west of agricultural properties. He has never
been aggressive in the accumulation of money, yet has been favored
with his fair share, but has felt the desirability, in a period of such
tremendous commercial strides, of a conservatism and the stricter
methods of business which give to a country stability in its growth.
With this in view, Mr. Taft has spent considerable time in Europe
at different periods, acquainting himself with the methods of old-
established financial institutions which have the special feature of
being closely supervised by their own governments in their custody
of the funds placed with them for investment. Mr. Taft's purpose
has been that of giving to this country in its earlier stages the advan-
tages of this experience of these foreign methods of safety. With
no similar laws in the United States whereby to act. the nearest ap-
proach being that of those states permitting state banks to lend upon
real estate, Mr. Taft organized and is president of the Pearsons-Taft
Land Credit Company, the first and only bank as yet in the United
States organized for the exclusive purpose of applying and enforcing
the principle prevailing in Europe, which requires complete publicity
and places under state audit and examination the investment of mon-
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1245
eys upon what are, in Europe, known as "land credits" and in this
country as farm mortgages.
Like much of the rest of Mr. Taft's business life, this, as pioneer
work, is quite as much intended for the advancement of proper meth-
ods in the important matter of investing moneys as for any pecuniary
personal gain which could be gotten from it in the immediate present.
It is largely a work of education in establishing sound financial meth-
ods where very loose ones otherwise prevail in what is one of the
largest and most important moneyed features in this country.
In politics Mr. Taft is a Republican, evincing a lively and prac-
tical interest in all measures designed to advance the material and
civic welfare of the city. He not only believed he did not have the
requisites, but had no inclination toward political preferment. He is
a member of the Municipal Voters' and Legislative Voters' leagues,
and is also identified with the Union League, Midlothian and City
clubs. He is associated with the work of the Plymouth Congrega-
tional church and resides with his family in Chicago in the winter,
and has his summer home at Midlothian, Illinois. His wife, to whom
he was married at Paxton, Illinois, June 20. 1867. was formerly
Miss Frances E. Schlosser. Their three children are Oren E., Ina
M. and Harry Lee.
Oren Edwin Taft, vice president of the Pearsons-Taft Land
Credit Company, was born at Paxton, Ford county, Illinois, October
28, 1868, and is a son of Oren B. and Frances
„ ' (Schlosser) Taft. Mr. Taft received his educa-
tion at the Douglas School, Manual Training School
and the Harvard School, all of Chicago, and at Yale University, from
which latter institution he received the degree of Ph. B. in 1889.
In 1 89 1 Mr. Taft was chosen secretary of the Pearsons-Taft
Land Credit Company, of which his father is president, and later
was advanced to the vice presidency. This firm conducts an invest-
ment banking business, all of its loans being based upon farm mort-
gage security. Mr. Taft belongs to the University, Bankers' and
Midlothian clubs, and is a progressive figure both in business and
social circles. On April 25, 1894, in New York City, he was married
to Miss Josephine Stewart of that city, and they have become the
parents of Florence Stewart and Frances Josephine Taft. The family
residence is at No. 66 Cedar street.
U46 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Harvey T. Weeks, now retired from active business, has been
identified with Chicago affairs in many ways that call for historical
mention. In real estate and finance and street rail-
way development has been the principal field of his
efforts. Those familiar with the traction situation
of twenty years ago will remember that as president of the Chicago
Horse and Dummy Railroad Company, to which office he was elected
November 20, 1884, he built and financed that line, which was soon
afterward changed to the Chicago Passenger Railway. About the
only business connections that he still retains are with street railways,
being a director of the West Chicago Street Railway Company. Per-
haps his most notable achievement was the management of the great
Masonic Temple enterprise after the death of Norman T. Gassette
in 1891. He financed the building operations, brought the affairs of
the association to a condition of permanent stability and finally turned
them over to the association on a basis of substantial growth and
assured profits. Mr. Weeks also was the principal organizer of the
Bankers National Bank during the early nineties, and it was through
his personal efforts that the larger part of the original capital for
that institution was secured. Among his other activities of public
interest that should be mentioned was his appointment by the late
Governor Altgeld as one of the commissioners for the West Side
Park System, serving thus from 1894 to 1896.
Mr. Weeks was born in Lockport, Will county, Illinois, in 1842,
a son of Joseph M. and Martha (Lane) Weeks, and was educated in
the public schools of that place. In i860, after working for a time
in a plow factory and a general store in Lockport, he came to Chi-
cago, where he has since resided almost continuously — an energetic,
able and useful citizen. Among his first employments in Chicago
was that which he found with A. L. Hale & Co., wholesale furniture
dealers, and after leaving them was for a short time clerk in the
general store of Charles "Mears at Pentwater, Michigan. In August,
1862, he interrupted his business career to enlist in the Chicago
Mercantile Battery, and was with that organization until the close
of the Civil war. He was then appointed postmaster at Lockport,
receiving his commission from President Andrew Johnson. After
serving about a year he resigned and returned to Chicago, where he
rejoined his former employers, A. L. Hale & Co., the furniture manu-
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1247
factum's and dealers. A year later he entered the real estate and
building business, which was thereafter his regular vocation. In
1874 he formed a partnership with the late Carter H. Harrison, Sr.,
a firm that was well known in real estate circles in Chicago during
the seventies.
Mr. Weeks is one of Chicago's prominent Masons, being a mem-
ber of Garden City Lodge, a Shriner, and a member of the Consistory
in the thirty-second degree work. He. also has membership with the
Illinois, Union League and Chicago Athletic clubs, and is popular in
social organizations as well as in business circles. In June, 1870,
Mr. Weeks married Miss Joanna E. Marcy, of Cape May, New
Jersey. Their home is at 199 Ashland boulevard.
The principal member of the well known real estate firm of
Harvey T. Weeks & Co., who conduct the business founded by Mr.
Weeks, Sr., is Harvey T. Weeks, Jr., who was born in Chicago,
November 12, 1879. After finishing preparatory school work at
the Hill School, Pottstown, Pennsylvania, he entered Yale University,
graduating with the class of 1901, and then took courses in property
law at the Harvard Law School. On his return to Chicago in 1902
he entered the firm of Harvey T. Weeks & Co., becoming junior
partner. This firm does a large business in managing estates of non-
residents, and have a reputation as tax experts, especially, in Chicago.
Mr. Weeks, Jr., is a member of the Chicago Athletic, the Uni-
versity, and the Yale clubs, both in Chicago and New York, and is
a life member of the Lake Geneva Yacht Club. In 1906 he married
Miss Edith E. Beggs, of Iola, Kansas, daughter of John I. Beggs, of
Belfast, Ireland, a retired manufacturer of woolen goods. They
reside in the Lakewood, Pine Grove avenue and Sheridan road.
Harry James Farnham, senior member of the real estate firm of
Farnham, Willoughby & Co., is a native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
and was born May 14, 1875, being the son of E.
^ W. and Emma T. (Dykins) Farnham. In his bov-
Farnham. , At • ■
hood his parents came to Chicago, in whose gram-
mar and high schools he was educated, supplementing this mental
training with a business course. When he was sixteen years of age
he entered the employ of Marshall Field's wholesale house, where he
remained for a year.
Mr. Farnham's connection with the real estate business dates
[248 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
from November, 1892. when he joined the firm of Aldis, Aldis &
Northcote, with whom he remained until January, 1899. For about
a year he was then manager of the renting department of Henry
A. Knott & Co., and since December 1, 1899. has been a member
of the firm of Farnham, Willoughby & Co., which he founded. The
business of the firm is chiefly devoted to real estate transactions in
the business district and the management of business property, and
in these lines it is a Chicago leader. Personally, Mr. Farnham is a
prominent member of the Chicago Real Estate Board and the Build-
ing" Managers' Association.
On September 3, 1897, Mr. Farnham married, in Chicago, Miss
Alice S. Dickinson, and their child is a daughter, Ursula Mae
Farnham. The family residence is at No. 2400 Kenmore avenue.
Mr. Farnham is a Republican in politics, thirty-second degree Mason,
Knight Templar and Shriner, and a member of the National Union.
He is also identified with the Chicago Athletic Association, Union
League, Hamilton, Edgewater Country and Edgewater Golf clubs.
Edward McKean Willoughby, of the well known real estate firm
of Farnham, Willoughby & Co., is a native of Buffalo, New York,
born March 3, 1874, the son of Ferson M. and
,-.7 Amie C. (Robinson) Willoughby. He was edu-
WlLLOUGHBY. , . ,,. , °'.
cated in the public schools ot Chicago and at the
Highland Military Academy, Worcester, Massachusetts. After leav-
ing school in the east, he entered the employ of Willoughby, Hill &
Co., the Chicago clothiers, and afterward went to St. Louis to as-
sume the management of the property interests of C. L. Willoughby.
He then made another transfer of his operations to the east, locating
in Boston, where he engaged in real estate for three years. Subse-
quently he came to Chicago, became connected with Aldis, Aldis,
Xorthcote & Co., and in 1899 associated himself with H. J. Farnham
in the firm of Farnham, Willoughby & Co. The scope of their
business embraces dealings in real estate investments and the man-
agement of office buildings and other downtown properties. Some
idea of the extent of their business in the latter line may be gained
by the statement that they are agents for the Masonic Temple and
the following other buildings: Illinois Life, Schiller, Chicago Sav-
ings Bank, Borland, Ohio, Willoughby, Atwood, Cable, Athenaeum,
Wolff, Firmenich and Brentano. Personally Mr. Willoughby is a
■
ASTOR.UNOXAHP
TILDEN FOU NOATtOMS_
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1249
*
member of the Chicago Real Estate Board, the Building Managers'
Association, and the Chicago Association of Commerce.
On October 27, 1898, Mr. Willoughby married Miss Harriet M.
Gobel, and they have one child, Dorothy Mae. In politics he is a
Republican and is a Mason of high standing, belonging to the thirty-
second degree, a Knight Templar and Shriner, being a member of
St. Bernard Cominandery No. 35, and also a member of the National
Union. He is a member of the Union League Club, the Chicago
Athletic Association and the Edgewater Country Club, and resides at
No. 2452 Kenmore avenue.
Of the younger class of real estate "hustlers," Adolph Ferdinand
Kramer is a native of Chicago, and was born October 11, 1870, being
• the son of Ferdinand and Bertha (Stein) Kramer.
rr Charles Stein, his maternal grandfather, was born
Kramer. . . . * .
in Austria in 1825, and came to the United States
when sixteen years old, the trip consuming sixty-four days. He
located in New York City, where he remained until 1852, when he
came to Chicago. Here he was engaged in the dry goods business
and the manufacture of shirts, retiring just before the fire of 1871.
After graduating from the Douglas School, Adolph F. Kramer for
a time attended the Chicago Manual Training School, but showing
a decided bent for business entered the wholesale dry goods house
of Eisinger & Kramer, of which his father was a partner. Ferdinand
Kramer was, in fact, one of the old-time dry goods merchants of
the "ante-fire" period, and died in 1902. At the age of seventeen
Adolph F. became a stock boy in the business mentioned, and in 1888
secured a connection with Schlesinger & Mayer, the well known re-
tail dry goods dealers. Five years with that concern raised him to
the head of the men's furnishing department, when (in 1893) he
resigned his position to establish himself in the real estate business.
On the 1st of November, 1893, Mr. Kramer became associated
with Arthur W. Draper and formed the present firm of Draper &
Kramer, whose business covers real estate, mortgage loans and rent-
ing. Aside from his energetic participation, in the partnership trans-
actions, Mr. Kramer is prominently identified with the Chicago
Realization Company (of which he is president), a corporation or-
ganized in 1904 for the purpose of dealing in various classes of assets.
He is a member of the Chicago Real Estate Board and treasurer
1250 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
for 1908. In politics he is a Republican. His business offices are at
1 1 5 Dearborn street.
Mr. Kramer was married, in Chicago, November 1, 1899, to
Miss Ray Frieclberg, and the two children of their union are Ferdi-
nand, born August 10, 1901, and Laura Ray Kramer, born June 30,
1905. Mrs. Kramer's father, Cass Friedberg, was long a manu-
facturer at Leavenworth, Kansas. It may be added that Mr. Kramer
is a member of Sinai Temple Congregation, and, outside the domestic
circle, is socially identified with the Standard Club. He has a pleasant
residence at 2912 Prairie avenue.
James Bartlett Hobbs, whose name is connected with insurance,
real estate, commission, and the Board of Trade, and with a long
_, list of charitable, religious, educational and similar
James B. . . ~ _, . . _ , •
tt organizations, came to Chicago m 1856. In that
year Chicago had eighty-five thousand inhabitants,
its position as a grain shipping port was just being established, its
packing interests were at the beginning, and in many other respects
it was a memorable year in which Mr. Hobbs became permanently
identified with this city. For half a century he has been an active
figure in the commercial and moral development of the western
metropolis.
In 1857 he entered the commission business, becoming one of the
ninety-six commission firms listed in that year. For thirty years,
until his retirement in 1887, his career was continuous and successful.
He became a member of the Board of Trade when it had just
assumed a dignified and useful position in Chicago's commerce, and
in 1883, at one of the most important periods of the Board's history,
he was elected its president. During the past ten or fifteen years
Mr. Hobbs has been connected with real estate and insurance. The
National Mutual Church Insurance Company, of which he is presi-
dent, is a foremost company in this department of insurance, having
about $31,000,000 of insurance. When the company was started
about eight years ago it had a borrowed capital of $5,000, so that its
record is naturally a matter of pride to Mr. Hobbs and associates.
Recently Mr. Hobbs has become president and one of the organizers
of the National American Fire Insurance Company of Chicago, a
conservative company that enters the general field of fire insurance
under the prestige of the same methods which have made the National
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 125 1
Mutual Church Insurance Company so successful. In real estate
Mr. Hobbs has been especially interested in north shore property,
mainly in the development of Waukegan as a lake port, being presi-
dent of the North Waukegan Harbor and Dock Association.
As one of the most substantial citizens of Chicago, Mr. Hobbs
has had the Christian forethought to donate a goodly portion of his
means to the extension of religious and charitable enterprises. He
is one of the most prominent Methodists in the west, having been
honored with all the offices to which a layman in that church is
entitled. The various organizations with which -he is actively con-
nected may be mentioned to indicate the scope of his interests during
later years. They are, namely : Chairman of the board of trustees
of Grace Methodist church, besides being on several committees and
connected with the Sunday school as teacher of a Bible class. Mem-
ber of the board of trustees of the First Methodist Episcopal church
of Chicago, which board has contributed during the past few years
nearly $700,000 to the interest of Chicago Methodism. President
of the Chicago City Missionary and Church Extension Society, from
which nearly all the one hundred and sixty churches in the three
districts centering in Chicago have received assistance. Member of
the board of trustees of the Northwestern University. President
of the Chicago Deaconess 'Home. President of the Lake Bluff
Orphanage. Vice president of the Wesley Hospital. Member of the
board of trustees of the Old People's Home. Vice president of the
Chicago Training School for city, home and foreign missions. Presi-
dent of the Layman's Association of Rock River Conference. Vice
president of the Superannuates' Association of Rock River Confer-
ence. Delegate to the general conference meeting at Baltimore,
May, 1908.
The distinguished citizen whose name and career have become
permanently identified with the Chicago of the past half century is
a native of the Pine Tree state, born in Sabattis, Maine, in January,
1830, son of Charles and Jemima (Prescott) Hobbs. Most of his
education was obtained at Liberal Institute, in Litchfield Corners,
Maine. His business career began with the purchase of a country
store in Wales, Maine, and after conducting this fourteen months and
a similar enterprise at East Livermore, Maine, for fifteen months,
he sold out and came west to enter a newer and broader field, where
1 25-' CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
a generous and well-merited success awaited him. In March, 1853,
Mr. Hobbs married Miss Mary M., daughter of Rev. Constant
Ouinnam, and their four children are all deceased. His residence
is at 343 La Salle avenue.
Charles Henry Mulliken, for more than thirty years a well-
known figure in real estate circles, is a native of Hallowell. Maine,
born March 18, 1831, and is the son of John and
,, r Elizabeth Mulliken. His father was a well-known
Mulliken. , . TT ,, „ , , .
merchant of Hallowell, and during the childhood
of Charles H. removed with the family to Augusta, where he was
established in business for many years and where he resided until
his death.
The boyhood of Charles H. Mulliken was passed in Augusta,
receiving there his education and obtaining his first business expe-
rience in his father's office. In 1847 he went to Boston, and for the
three succeeding years filled a clerkship in the office of a merchandise
broker. In 1850 he returned to Augusta, where he married and es-
tablished himself in business with Francis Davis, under the firm
name of Davis & Mulliken. Dissolving this connection with Mr.
Davis, he entered into partnership with William P. M. Means, of
Augusta, under the firm name of Means & Mulliken, and founded a
packet line between Boston and Indianola, Texas, opening a general
store at San Antonio, with Judge George S. Mulliken, an older
brother of Charles H., in charge. At the outbreak of the Civil war
the Confederacy confiscated the property of the firm at San Antonio,
and the fifty thousand dollars there invested was finally lost. Mr.
Means went to Texas to save some of the property, but was impris-
oned by the Confederate authorities, escaped to Mexico, and thence
to New Orleans, where General Butler passed him through the Un-
ion lines to the north. Although the Confederacy afterward prom-
ised a settlement, it was never effected.
After the payment of his debts in full, Mr. Mulliken set out for
Chicago, where he arrived in August, 1867. and readily found em-
ployment as confidential man of Page & Sprague, dealers in glass.
paint and oil, remaining with the firm until 1872. The fire of Octo-
ber, 1871, swept away all of his Chicago savings, and in 1872-74 he
filled the position of cashier of a savings bank.
&^/^J^^Jfa&/&z)
w 1
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CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1253
Mr. Mulliken's record as a real estate dealer dates from 1874.
and it has been continuous and creditable. He was one of the char-
ter members of the Chicago Real Estate Board, which was organized
in 18S3, and has retained his connection with that representative bod v.
He is also identified with the Chicago and Union clubs, as with the
South Shore Country and Homewood Golf clubs.
Mr. Mulliken is well known as an influential and earnest sup-
porter of charitable and religious movements. He was a director of
the Chicago Relief and Aid Society for sixteen years and was presi-
dent of the Chicago Bible Society for twelve years. For more than
thirty years he has served as elder of the Fourth Presbyterian church,
and for much of that period was treasurer and trustee of the society.
He is a leading member of the Presbyterian League, as well as a
director of the McCormick Theological Seminary and a member of
its executive committee. Mr. Mulliken was a prime mover in the
founding of Christ's Chapel, a Sunday school composed largely of
Germans on the north side. Shortly after the great fire of 1871 an
organization was effected with about sixty scholars, and after that
historic event which, largely through his efforts, proved the starting
point of so many enterprises, forty-five thousand dollars was raised to
build a new school building. The edifice is on the corner of Center
and Orchard streets and is very attractive, while the membership of
the Sunday school has increased from the original sixty to twelve
hundred.
Mr. Mulliken's wife was formerly Miss Sarah E. Hallett, daugh-
ter of Watson F. Hallett, president of the Freeman's National Bank,
of Augusta, Maine, and his marriage to her occurred December 3,
1850. Their son, Alfred Henry, is president of Pettibone, Mulliken
& Co., manufacturers of railway supplies, and resides on the Lake
Shore drive. Charles H. Mulliken lives at the Chicago Beach Hotel.
Besides his prominence in his chosen business and in connection with
the work of the Presbyterian church, the elder Mulliken is well
known as a veteran Republican, as a member of the Citizens' commit-
tee, and one who takes an intelligent and sustained interest in all
movements vital to the welfare of the city.
Vol. Ill— 22.
1254 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Alfred Henry Mulliken, president of Pettibone, Mulliken & Co.,
manufacturers of railway track supplies, is a native of Maine, born
in Augusta, the state capital, on the nth of Decem-
M en ber, 1853, and is the son of Charles H. and Sarah
(Hallett) Mulliken. He was educated in the pub-
lic schools of Maine, and since coming to Chicago has virtually con-
fined himself, in a business way, to the industry in which he is now
engaged as a principal. For twelve years, from 1868 to 1880, he was
in the employ of Crerar, Adams & Co., and during the succeeding
five years was in business for himself. In 1885 he sold out to Crerar,
Adams & Co., organizing and incorporating Pettibone, Mulliken &
Co., of which he was secretary and treasurer from 1885 to 1899.
Since the latter year he has served as president of the concern, which
is largely engaged in the manufacture of frogs, crossings and switch
material for steam railroads. The office of the company is in the
Marquette building; the manufacturing plant is the largest and most
complete of the kind in the world, occupying thirty acres and is lo-"
cated on the Belt Railway of Chicago, at the corner of Forty-eighth
avenue and West Division street.
Besides having a controlling interest in this company and being
an active business man, Mr. Mulliken 'is prominent in literary, art and
social circles. He is a member of the Chicago Historical Society
and a life member of the Chicago Art Institute, besides belonging to
the following clubs : Chicago, Glen View, South Shore, Chicago
Golf, Exmoor and Mid-Day, of Chicago, and the Metropolitan, Mid j
Dav and National Arts, of New York.
In 1893 Mr. Mulliken was married in Chicago to Miss Mabel
Walmsley, and they have one child — John Hallett.- His family resi-
dence is at No. 19 Lake Shore drive.
Michael Alexander La Buy, attorney and real estate dealer, is a
native of Poland, having been born at Ludom, on the 28th of Sep-
tember, 1846. son of Louis and Rozalia ( Demo-
M A
T V, gawa) La Buy. He received his education at Mil-
La Buy
waukee, Wisconsin, attending the Blufton high
school, Bryant & Stratton Business College and the Spencerian Busi-
ness College. In 1864, while a resident of the Cream City, he en-
listed for service in the Civil war, joining Company G, First \\ is-
<i
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1255
consin Artillery, and being stationed at several forts near the na-
tional capital.
Mr. La Buy became a resident of Chicago in 1872, and early be-
came identified with the Democracy. In 1879 he was appointed clerk
of the west side police court, serving until 1887, when he was elected
justice of the peace and held that office for four terms. During these
many years his office was located at the corner of Madison and Hal-
sted streets, where he became one of the best-known justices of the
peace and police magistrates on the west side.
Since 1905 Mr. La Buy has been the senior member of the firm
of La Buy & Co., dealers in real estate, loans and insurance, his as-
sociate in the business being his nephew, Joseph S. La Buy, a lawyer.
He was formerly president of the Kosciusko Monumental Associa-
tion, and when the state legislature made an appropriation for the
erection of the memorial to the famous patriot, Mr. La Buy went be-
fore that body and stated that the association could raise the neces-
sary money. This it accomplished, largely through his efforts, some
forty thousand dollars being finally expended on the beautiful monu-
ment. Mr. La Buy also organized the Sixteenth Ward Building As-
sociation, of which he is treasurer, and he is a director and treasurer
of the Original Quartz Hill Gold Mining Company.
In religion, Mr. La Buy is a Roman Catholic, and belongs to the
Holy Cross Association. In politics, he is affiliated with the Cook
county Democracy, and has always been a leader in the life of the
Grand Army of the Republic, being past commander of Post No. 306,
and a member of the Department Commanders' Staff Association,
with the rank of colonel. Mr. La Buy is an active member of the
Iroquois Club, and is identified with a number of other societies. He
resides at No. 581 Milwaukee avenue.
Joseph S. La Buy, member of the firm of La Buy & Co., real
estate, loans and insurance, and a practicing lawyer of Chicago, is a
Wisconsin man, born in Princeton. He obtained his education in
the Badger state and in Chicago, graduating from the Kent College
of Law, this city, and being admitted to the bar in 1905. His law
office is No. 160 Washington street.
1256 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Of the fifty-four years covering Charles Thomas Boal's residence
in Chicago, four decades were passed in the wholesale hardware and
_ „, stove business, and, notwithstanding his venerable
Charles T. 111 1 • o >■ ■ 1
~ age, he has been engaged since 1896 111 real estate
transactions. He is a typical Chicago business man,
whom white hairs do not seem to incapacitate for the activities and
frays of commerce and trade. Born at Reading, Pennsylvania, April
16. 1832, son of Dr. Robert and Christina Walker (Sinclair) Boal,
he removed with his parents to Lacon, Illinois, where he was edu-
cated in the public schools. When he came to Chicago in 1854 he
"was, therefore, twenty-one years of age.
Not long after becoming a resident of this city Mr. Boal secured
employment with the wholesale iron firm of Hall, Kimbark & Co..
in which he afterward became a partner. The continuity of his busi-
ness career was broken into by the Civil war, in which he served from
1862 and 1864. He first recruited a company serving with the Eigh-
ty-eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry.
After the war Mr. Boal returned to Chicago and engaged in the
hardware business, as a member of the firm of Austin & Boal, subse-
quently buying his partner's interest and forming Charles T. Boal &
Co. The establishment of this firm was burned in the fire of 1871,
when Mr. Boal built the Chicago Stove Works, later disposing of this
business and engaging in the manufacture and sale of stoves and hol-
lowware. At his retirement from this line of business he entered into
the real estate field. Mr. Boal is a member of the Chicago Real Es-
tate Board, and conducts a conservative, growing business at No. 95
Clark street. He is also a member of the Chicago Club since its or-
ganization in 1869; the Calumet, Onwentsia and South Shore Coun-
try clubs, and the Loyal Legion and Geo. H. Thomas Post, G. A. R.
Mr. Boal's wife, whom he married in Chicago, was formerly
Miss Henrietta Ayres, and the children of Mr. Boal are as follows:
Horton S. (deceased), Edna M., now Mrs. S. D. Flood; Anna C,
Mrs. P. L. Wickes, Jr., and Ayres Boal. Mr. Boal's first wife, for-
merly Dora Horton, died in 1865.
Ayres Boal, the youngest child by the present marriage, was born
in Chicago March 26, 1879, and received his preliminary education in
the Harvard School of this city. After pursuing a course at Harvard
University, from which he graduated in 1900, he returned in 1901,
^-f <^y s£&**><£
THE: RK
PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR,CENOX/
riLDE
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1257
and took the law course at the Harvard Law School, and in 1902
entered the real estate business in connection with the firm of Os-den
Sheldon & Co. After being in their employ for a year he established
ah office of his own, under the firm name of Ayres Boal & Co., and
has since continued to conduct a growing business in real estate and
mortgages. His offices are located at No. 105 Washington street.
Mr. Boal is connected with the Chicago Real Estate Board, and the
University, Chicago and Chicago Yacht clubs. His wife was for-
merly known as Lesley Stewart Johnson, daughter of Lorenzo M.
Johnson, of Winnetka, Illinois, but for years identified with the rail-
roads of Mexico. Her father died in 1904. Mr. and Mrs. Ayres
Boal have become the parents of two children, Ayres Boal, Jr., and
Stewart Boal. The family home is in Winnetka.
James A. McLane, a leading real estate dealer and a prominent
member of the Chicago Real Estate Board, is a native of New Jer-
sey, born at Newark on the 22nd of March, 1857.
:L T ' He is a son of Henry H. and Ida E. (Scharff ) Mc-
Lane. After graduating from the high school at
Waukegan, Illinois, he pursued the full course in science at the Uni-
versity of Illinois, from which he was graduated in 1878 with the
degree of B. S.
After completing his collegiate studies Mr. McLane removed to
Chicago and entered the service of the Chicago & Northwestern Rail-
way, continuing a member of the office force until January, 1881, and
afterward filling a traveling position for about a year. He was then
for a period of eight years associated with Mead & Coe, as head of
their real estate business, and for the past decade has been the prin-
cipal in an independent house conducted as James A. McLane & Co.
His associate in the business is Henry H. McLane, and the trans-
actions of the house cover real estate, loans and renting.
In 1903 Mr. McLane was honored with the secretaryship of the
Chicago Real Estate Board, of which he had long been an active and
respected member. In the same year he was also appointed jury
commissioner of Cook county to fill a vacancy, was elected in that
year for a two-years' term, was reappointed in 1905 and is now serv-
ing as president of the commission. In politics, he is a Republican,
is a life member of the Hamilton Club, and is also a member of the
Midlothian and the University clubs, as well as of the Delta Tau
1258 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Delta fraternity of the University of Illinois. His residence is at No.
408 Thirty-sixth place.
Well and prominently known as a banker and real estate dealer
in Chicago, Henry Christian Hansen was born in the province of
Schleswig, Germany, October 8, 1840, a son of
tj. H. J. D. and Anna (Sonnichsen) Hansen. Mr.
Hansen. . . ....
Hansen received his educational training in the
public schools of Germany, and in the city of Deezbiill, that country,
entered upon his mercantile career in connection with the dry goods
business, on the 1st of May, 1856. At this place and in the city of
Hamburg, he continued this vocation until coming to the United
States, August 4, 1866.
Upon his arrival in this country, Mr. Hansen went to Wheeling,
West Virginia, and thence to Chicago, where he located May 1, 1867,
and during the following six years was employed as a clerk in a dry
goods store. In May, 1873, ne opened a merchandise establishment
in Oak Park, but on the 1st of May, 1887, closed his affairs there
and founded the real estate business which he has since so success-
fully conducted. It will thus be seen that the month of May has
marked very important epochs in Mr. Hansen's life. He has judi-
ciously invested a large proportion of his profits in real estate, so
that besides transacting an extensive general business in that line,
he handles his own large properties in Oak Park and on the south
side. He is an associate member of the Chicago Real Estate Board.
Mr. Hansen is also well known as a banker in the western sections
of the city, and in 1892 became one of the founders of the Oak
Park Trust and Savings Bank, which was first known as the Oak
Park State Bank. Since the establishment of that institution he has
been a director and served as its vice president, and in connection
with his own prosperous real estate business has a large loan de-
partment. Mr. Hansen's signal success in the conduct of his private
affairs has marked him as a valuable factor in public affairs. In
1877 he served as collector of the town of Cicero, and in the
following year commenced a creditable service of four years as a
trustee.
In 1874 Mr. Hansen married Miss Catherine, a . daughter of
Morris Gaugler, who came to this city in 1836. Four years later
Airs. Hansen was born in Chicago, her birth occurring in the family
LiC USRARY
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1259
homestead, which then stood near the site of the old water works.
Her father was finally enabled to purchase a block in what became
the business district of the city, the property eventually becoming very
valuable and realizing a competency for the family.
Valentine Harrison Surghnor, a prominent real estate dealer and
member of the Chicago Real Estate Board, is a native of Virginia,
• born in Pruntytown, Taylor county, in whose dis-
trict schools he received his education. His an-
Surghnor. , XT . , „ t ,
cestors came to the United States in the early
part of the seventeenth century and settled in the Old Dominion.
His father, after whom he was named, was born in Loudon county,
Virginia, and died at Hannibal, Missouri, in the sixty-seventh year
of his age. His mother (nee. Mary E. Brashear) was a native of
Fauquier county, Virginia, and died in that city at the age of
seventy.
Mr. Surghnor was educated in his native county of Virginia,
and at the conclusion of his school days commenced his business
career at Hannibal, Missouri, as a clerk in a dry goods store. At
this time he was fifteen years of age. In 1866 he went to St. Louis,
Missouri, and for three years was employed in a wholesale dry goods
house, when he returned to Hannibal and entered the same line of
business for himself. Thus he continued until 1875, when he sold
out and engaged in the wholesale ice business. This latter prospered
until 188 1, when occurred the great flood of the Mississippi river,
the most destructive ever known, which swept away his ice houses
and so crippled him financially that he was forced to discontinue.
This temporary reverse induced Mr. Surghnor to come to Chi-
cago, the time of his arrival being November, 188 1. He at once
established himself in the real estate business, and became an active
and influential member of the board. In January, 1893, he was
elected to the secretaryship, having during the year been quite prom-
inent in connection with the World's Columbian Exposition. His
enterprise and public spirit are well illustrated in the fact that he
was the first subscriber of stock to that grand enterprise which ac-
complished so much in spreading the name of Chicago over the
world. He continued a strong factor in directing the affairs of the
Chicago Real Estate Board, and in 1903 was elected to the vice
1260 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
presidency, his elevating" influence upon its progress having endured
until the present.
In politics, Mr. Surghnor is a Democrat. He is a member of the
Calumet and Chicago Athletic clubs, and his fraternal affiliations are
with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Masonry and the
Knights of Pythias. He is a thirty-second degree Mason and his
patriotic ancestry gives him membership in the Sons of the American
Revolution. He resides at No. 83 East Twentieth street. Mr.
Surghnor's wife was formerly Miss Lizzie Moffett, of Quincy,
Illinois, and their marriage occurred in November, 1878. Mrs.
Surghnor died August 20, 1890.
Calvin De Wolf, one of the earliest settlers of Chicago and
among its beloved men of public affairs, was a native of Braintrim,
Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, where he was born
n w on the 18th of February, 181 5. His parents were
Giles and Anna (Spaulding) De Wolf, the father
having been born in Pom fret, Connecticut, and the mother in Caven-
dish, Vermont. Under his father's faithful and able instruction he
received the principal part of his educational training, and to this
was added a short course in the Grand River Institute of Manual
Labor, at Austinburg, Ohio. On the 31st of October, 1837, he ar-
rived in Chicago, and from here made his way on foot to Hadley,
Will county, Illinois, where he was placed in charge of a winter
school. In the spring of 1838 he was employed as a teacher in the
schools of Chicago, and was the first principal of the old Kinzie
school, and devoted his leisure hours to the reading of law. Under
the direction of Giles Spring and Grant Goodrich, he continued his
studies, and was admitted to the bar in 1843.
In the meantime Mr. De Wolf was becoming known throughout
this section of the state as the firm supporter and the earnest champion
of liberty. In 1838 he participated in a historic meeting which was
held at the corner of Clark and Lake streets in a saloon building,
for the purpose of declaring against the mob and deploring the
murder of Lovejoy at Alton. On the 16th of January, 1840, the
Chicago Anti-Slavery Society was formed, and Mr. De Wolf was
made its secretary. Subsequently he became one of the founders
of the Western Citizen, and was treasurer of the committee that
raised funds for its establishment.
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1261
In 1854 Mr. De Wolf was elected a justice of the peace and
served in that position for twenty-five consecutive years. He served
as an alderman from 1856 to 1858, and was chairman of the com-
mittee that revised the city ordinances and really devised the muni-
cipal government now existing. He was again elected in 1868, and
also served on the board of supervisors of Cook county for two
terms. Before the breaking out of the Civil war Mr. De Wolf was
indicted and arrested for assisting a runaway slave, described as
"Eliza," and was out under bonds of $3,500, but after the success
of the federal armies this indictment, with several others, was dis-
missed by the United States district attorney.
In 1 841 Mr. De Wolf married Miss Frances Kimball, and they
became the parents of five children, of whom three are living. Wal-
lace Leroy De Wolf, the son, is a well known real estate dealer, con-
trolling important business interests; Mary F. became the wife of
Milo G. Kellogg, and Lucy Ellen is the widow of Robert T. Bell.
All the children are residents of Chicago. The death of Calvin De
Wolf occurred in the city of whose history he was such an insepara-
ble part on the 30th of November, 1899.
Wallace Leroy De Wolf, chiefly engaged in the real estate and
loan business, is a native of Chicago, son of Calvin and Frances
(Kimball) De Wolf, his father being a well known
Wallace L. . , , . . .. T ,
n w pioneer and public man 01 the city. I he younger
De Wolf graduated from a Chicago high school
and from the Union College of Law, receiving his degree of LL. B.
from the latter institution. Soon after being admitted to practice by
the supreme court of the state of Illinois, he turned his attention to
the real estate business, with a specialty in manufacturing and ware-
house property. He founded the firm of W. L. De Wolf & Co., his
present associates in the business being Edgar A. White and John
Gould. In 1897 Mr. De Wolf became identified with the Kellogg
Switchboard and Supply Company as director and secretary of that
company, and since 1901 has been its president.
Mr. De Wolf's wife, whom he married in Germany in 1890, was
formerly Miss Mary Ridgely Rea, granddaughter of Nicholas H.
Ridgely of Springfield, Illinois. In politics Mr. De Wolf has always
affiliated with the Republican party, of which his honored father was
one of the founders in this section of the state. He is a resident of
1262 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Lake Forest, Illinois, and is identified with the Union League, Uni-
versity, Kenwood, Midlothian, Onwentsia and Exmoor clubs.
Amos Percy Ballou, widely known for his successful mining
operations in Mexico, with headquarters in the Merchants Loan and
_ Trust building, Chicago, is a typical young busi-
* ' ness man of this city. He was born at Bradford,
Miami county, Ohio, on the 26th of October, 1874.
His father, Horace M. Ballou, was an editor for many years, and
died when Amos P. was nine years of age, after which the family
removed to Covington, Ohio, where the boy received his education
(as to the common branches), afterward going to Chicago and pur-
suing a course in the West Side Commercial College and the Soper
School of Oratory and parliamentary law.
Mr. Ballou commenced his business career with the Henry Sears
Cutlery Company, but desiring to engage in a field where greater
personal advancement was promised, went into the Chicago real estate
business. Personally he assisted in developing several suburban sub-
divisions, established and edited a paper in Evergreen Park and took
an active interest in Republican politics, and held the office of treas-
urer of Evergreen Park. These operations covered two years, from
1894 to 1896. His successful real estate operations brought him into
close relationship with insurance men, and in 1899 he entered that
field, securing the general agency of the Royal Union Mutual Life
Insurance Company of Des Moines, Iowa. For two years he handled
the business of this company to such mutual advantage that he was
enabled to invest in substantial mining properties near Butte, Mon-
tana. With a man of his shrewd and practical turn of mind, in-
vestment meant close study and personal investigation, and, with the
extension of his interests the study of mines and mining became
more intimate and deep. Finding that the field was both fascinating
and profitable, in 1902 he decided to devote himself exclusively to the
development of his properties and the promotion of the interests of
other owners. He has been especially impressed with the vast mineral
wealth of Mexico, into which republic he has traveled extensively
during the past five years, pronouncing it the "greatest field of min-
eral wealth known to man." Realizing that the greatest drawback
to the development of Mexico was its lack of transportation, he
was largely instrumental in securing the first concession granted by
ASTOR, LENOX AND
riLDEN FOUN
■n — - • •■!
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1263
the Mexican government to build a new railroad into the Alamos
district of the Sonora interior.
Mr. Ballou is at the present time an officer and director of the
Sonora Central Mines Company, a corporation capitalized at ten
million dollars, into which all his large Mexican holdings have been
consolidated. This company controls twenty mines of gold, silver
and copper, and is an example of what brains and money can do in
the mining world. In politics, he is an active Republican, and
he proved his ability both as a speaker and a manager in the McKinley
campaign of 1896, and in local city politics. He is an active member
of the Forty-first Street Presbyterian church, and, as a Mason, is
identified with the Medinah Temple and Shrine, the Apollo Com-
mandery, Delta Chapter and Mystic Star Blue Lodge. He is also a
member of several literary organizations and Chicago clubs.
On June 10, 1896, Mr. Ballou 'was united in marriage with Miss
Clara May Ruhl, of Covington, Ohio, and their child, Thelma May,
is now ten years of age. The courtship which terminated in this
happy marriage lasted ten years, having its beginning when they
were school children together. Mrs. Ballou is a gifted musician, and
actively interested in church work.
John Victor Fox, real estate renting and loans, was born in Beloit,
Wisconsin, January 16, 1863, and is a son of James B. and Catherine
(Carroll) Fox. Mr. Fox was educated in the
J P public schools of Lena, Freeport and Chicago.
Illinois, and in 1882 entered the Chicago postoffice
as chief clerk of the city delivery division and continued in that
employment until 1889, when he resigned to enter in the real estate
and loan business, in which he has been since that time actively en-
gaged.
On June 4, 1902, he was married to Mary Louise Conway of
Sioux City, Iowa. They have one son, John Victor, Jr. Mr. Fox
is a Democrat, and a member of the Roman Catholic church. For
five years (1883-7) he was a member of the First Regiment of the
Illinois National Guard. He belongs to the Chicago Athletic, Chi-
cago Yacht, Illinois Athletic, Jefferson, and Post Lake clubs, and
resides at 279 Lake View avenue.
1264 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
William Frederick Grower, who has attained substantial stand-
ing- as a Chicago real estate dealer within comparatively recent years,
is a native of New York City, born July 23, i860,
being a son of Col. William Thomas Campbell
Grower and Sarah E. (Jones) Grower. He re-
ceived his primary education in a Brooklyn preparatory school, and
subsequently pursued a special course at Columbia University, New
York City.
Mr. Grower removed to Chicago in 1882 and for some years was
engaged in the manufacture of machinery. He finally disposed of
his interests in this business and in 1892 engaged in real estate, a
field in which he has been active and progressive. Among his other
large interests are those in connection with the receivership of the
Unity building, to which he was appointed in 1899.
On April 18, 1888, Mr. Grower was united in marriage with
Miss Emily Stell Rooks, of Chicago, their residence being at 964
Jackson boulevard. Mr. Grower is a member of the Loyal Legion
and the following clubs : Chicago Athletic, Chicago Yacht, Illinois,
Glen View and South Shore Country.
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1265
Cbc Insurance Business of Chicago
The local history of insurance, until the appalling ravages of the
fire of 1 87 1 caused such an upheaval in the field, is somewhat lifeless
and monotonous. In the late forties there were only about half a
dozen insurance agents in the city, who were taking risks on the
wooden rookeries which then lined most of the main streets, and on
the lives of the city's hardy pioneers. With the growth of the ship-
ping interests centered here, marine insurance also obtained a foot-
hold at an early day, but for many years fire, life and marine were
virtually all the recognized divisions in the field. Within the past
thirty years the field of insurance has been divided and sub-divided,
classified, organized and developed, until the business is now so sys-
tematized that the average citizen need take no great risks of financial
losses, whatever happens to his property or himself. His property
is insured against loss by fire, storms and accidents, as well as against
burglars and thieves, and his business against the dishonesty of em-
ployes. Whether employer or employe, life and health may be in-
sured in numerous companies, and almost as many issue accident
policies. Aside from the sick benefits which may be obtained through
membership in the secret and benevolent orders, not a few com-
panies now make this the main feature of their business. Because of
this intricate classification and division of the business, it has been
impossible to obtain a definite idea of the grand total of insurance
placed in Chicago for any given year. A fair picture of the progress
and present status of fire insurance may be drawn, however, and as
this class of business comprises the great bulk of the total, the figures
are forcibly suggestive of the magnitude of the transactions in all
lines.
In 1856, when the Chicago Board of Underwriters was formed,
there were some ten fire insurance agents in Chicago, representing
forty companies. Ten years afterward the number of agents was
about the same, but their business had greatly increased, and there
were twice as many companies. At the time of the Chicago fire of
1 87 1, 201 companies were represented in the burnt district, and of
the total estimated loss ($185,000,000), these companies were car-
rying $100,225,000. They paid to property owners over $50,000,000,
1266 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
and sixty-eight of the 201 insurance companies went into liquidation.
Of this number twenty-six companies were New York concerns and
seventeen were Chicago organizations. Outside of the orient, at the
time of the fire there was no city of the size of Chicago in the world
which had so large a proportion of wooden buildings, but from their
ruins, as well as from the havoc of the local fire insurance business,
came something great and enduring. The fire of 1874, which swept
fifteen blocks below Van Buren street, on the south side, virtually
completed the razing of wooden Chicago. But the Chicago Fire
Patrol had been organized for nearly three years, other agencies had
been put in motion by the Board of Underwriters, and thereafter the
entire business progressed along modern lines. A second fire insur-
ance patrol was organized in 1875 for special service on the west side,
and in 188 1, with the co-operation of the great packing interests, a
third patrol was equipped and housed in the stock yards district.
There are now eight of these patrols, of which number seven are
supported entirely by the Chicago Board of Underwriters. The stock
yards patrol is maintained jointly by the board and the Union Stock
Yards and Transit Company. The patrols have been of incalculable
benefit to property owners and to the insurance companies, and are
the mediums by which the Board of Underwriters collect the sta-
tistics of fire losses throughout the city. The union of the two
systems is intimate, and the combination is one of the triumphs of
the insurance business.
Within the past twenty years the fire insurance business in Chi-
cago has increased nearly three-fold. In 1889 the premiums paid
the 200 or more companies in Chicago amounted to $3,826,000, and
in 1908 (at the average maintained for the first ten months of the
year) they will total about $n,ooo,o'oo. As the premium averages
one per cent of the value of the insured property, it requires but an
operation in common arithmetic to get at the total amount of insur-
ance placed by the fire companies from year to year. Of the 600
agents, representing some 300 companies, now doing business in Chi-
cago, less than one-fifth are classed as life insurance.
The following table covering nineteen years, to which the above
is introductory, was furnished by the Chicago Board of Under-
writers, through the courtesy of R. N. Trimingham, who has served
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
1267
as its secretary since 1885, when the old board and one formed in
1880 united to form the-present organization:
Year.
Premiums.
Losses.
Year.
Premiums.
Losses.
1889 .
.$3,826,747
$2,250,471
1899 .
6,533>029
5,740,058
1890 .
. 4,036,025
2,074,856
1900 .
6,977,095
3,080,054
1891 .
• 4,25 1, I9 2
3,292,045
1901 .
7,359,no
4,614,869
1892 .
• 4,578,897
3,640,257
1902 .
8,229,083
4,729,072
1893 .
• 4,530,252
3,679,697
1903 •
8,432,382
4,768,685
1894 .
• 5-358,452
4,717,948
1904 .
9,004,296
4,5H,423
1895 .
• 5,657,782
3,877,296
1905 .
. 9,470,867
4,578,710
1896 .
• 5,669,935
2,813,634
1906 .
10,139,263
4,730,846
1897 •
• 6,321,405
3,708,076
1907 .
10,276,332
5,246,384
1898 .
• 5,936,578
4,071,710
As the year 1908 will show an increase in both premiums and
losses over that of 1907, the total figures for the twenty years will
indicate that the premiums paid the insurance companies of Chicago
amounted to about $1 40,000,000 and the losses sustained by them to
about $80,000,000, or substantially 55 per cent. It is likewise evi-
dent that for several years-past the fire insurance business of Chicago
has reached a figure considerably over $1,000,000,000, and that for
the two decades something like $14,000,000,000 has passed through
the coffers of the insurance companies doing business in this city.
If any one man can justly be considered the father of fire insur-
ance in the west that noteworthy individual is certainly the late Wil-
liam E. Rollo, founder of the business now con-
ducted by his son, William F. Rollo, and W. Dix
Webster under the firm name of Rollo, Webster &
Co. The movement to the west spread through the elder Rollo by
means of his leading connection with the old and substantial Girard
Fire & Marine Insurance Company of Philadelphia. William E.
Rollo was not only a great insurance man, but he proved himself a
Chicago citizen of the broadest and most useful activities in the fur-
therance of artistic, scientific and charitable movements. He was in-
tensely practical, of boundless energy, possessed of a mind and a
soui which made him a leader among men of affairs.
The Rollo family is of ancient Scotch descent, the first to come
to America being Alexander Rollo, who located in East Haddam,
Connecticut, in 1685. William E. Rollo was a native of Connecti-
William E.
Rollo.
1268 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
cut, born in the year 182 1, and when he was about five years of age
his parents removed to South Windsor in that state. He was edu-
cated at the public schools and academy of East Hartford, graduat-
ing from the latter when seventeen years old. It was shortly after
this period of his life that Mr. Rollo left home, going first to Elling-
ton. Connecticut, where he became a clerk in the general store of A.
S. & J. A. Gillett. Here, as in every community of which he became
a member, he showed a rare concentration of mind upon the business
in hand, without allowing himself to be blinded to the desirability,
if not necessity, of culture in the higher things in life. For instance,
he took a deep interest in music and became the leader of a church
choir of sixty-five persons at Ellington. In 1844 was solemnized his
marriage with Miss Jane T. Fuller, a lady of fine family and char-
acter. Her people were direct descendants of Edward Fuller, who
was one of the Mayflower heroes, while her grandfather was a min-
ute-man at Bunker Hill, and her father, Asa Fuller, was brigadier
general of the Connecticut state militia. After his marriage, Mr.
Rollo removed to Chicopee. Massachusetts, and shortly after to Co-
lumbus, Ohio, where he engaged in the fire insurance business. While
living in Columbus he represented the Springfield Fire Insurance of
Springfield, Massachusetts, as its first agent in what was then the
west. Later he located at Covington, Kentucky, and opened a fire
insurance agency at Cincinnati, Ohio. From Covington. Mr. Rollo
went to New York to continue his insurance work, but his first real
prominence in his chosen field dates from his later connection with
the Girard Fire & Marine Insurance Company, of Philadelphia, of
which he was made general agent, with headquarters in that city.
While handling the business of that company he became familiar
with Chicago and the west, and with his usual foresight, perceiving
the great future of that city and adjacent territory, he decided to
locate there and became a resident of Chicago in 1859, continuing
in the insurance business as general western agent of the Girard
Company.
In 1864, at the request of prominent merchants and business men
of the city, he assisted in the organization of the Merchants' Insur-
ance Company. This institution proved to be the most successful
western insurance company up to the time of the great fire of 1S71,
and its unusual growth was mainly due to the energy, ability and es-
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1269
tablished reputation of the virtual founder. In common with many
other concerns of like character, however, its business was wiped out
by the great fire, and Mr. Rollo resumed the western general agency
of the Girard Company, continuing to perform the duties of that po-
sition until his death, May 13, 1901, at the age of eighty years. For
nearly twenty-five years his son, William F. Rollo, had been asso-
ciated in the business with him, and the latter continues the general
agency established by his father under the name of Wm. E. Rollo
& Son. After the fire Mr. Rollo organized and was secretary of the
Traders' Fire Insurance Company of Chicago, but after being identi-
fied with it for two and one-half years resigned. As an inducement
to retain him the directors offered him the presidency, which, for per-
sonal reasons, he thought best to decline.
The deceased was one of the governing members of the Chicago
Art Institute and a charter member of the Academy of Sciences and
was altogether a very liberal supporter of all practical movements for
the public good. His individual charities were also numerous, al-
though modestly bestowed, and his personal ■ character was of the
strongest fibre and highest quality. He was a fine citizen as well as
a great insurance man.
William Fuller Rollo, senior member of the firms of William E.
Rollo & Son and of Rollo, Webster & Co., is a native of Philadelphia,
born on the 15th of February, i860, son of Wil-
„ Ham E. and Jane (Fuller) Rollo. He received an
academic education, and since boyhood has been en-
gaged in the fire and marine insurance business. When he was seven-
teen years of age (in 1877) he entered the general office of his father,
William E. Rollo, who had established an agency in 1859, the year
prior to the birth of William F.
Mr. Rollo's present business is a continuation of that founded
by his father nearly fifty years ago, the firm of Rollo, Webster & Co.
being successors to [William E. Rollo & Co. Mr. Rollo is also west-
ern representative of the Girard Fire & Marine Insurance Company,
of Philadelphia, and a director of that corporation.
Married at Chicago, January 31, 1882, to Miss Mary Rice Smith,
Mr. Rollo has become the father of five children, as follows : Cath-
erine S., William E., Thomas R., Jane F. and John N. The family
residence is at No. 2003 Sheridan road. Mr. Rollo is well known
Vol. Ill— 23.
1270 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
in club life, being a member of the Hamilton, Chicago Athletic, Illi-
nois and Evanston clubs. In politics he is a Republican, but is best
known as one of the most reliable representatives of the insurance
fraternity in Chicago.
James Hills Moore, one of the most prominent fire insurance men
in the country, has the unique distinction of having personally rep-
resented the Hartford Insurance Company in Chi-
* ,, cago for forty-four years, a longer period than any
other man has represented any insurance company
in the city. Mr. Moore is a native of Windham, New Hampshire,
and was born on the 4th of July, 1840, the son of Silas and Hannah
Moore. Until 1856 he was acquiring an education in the public
schools of his native town and at Chester Academy; after he came
west he continued his studies at Mendota, (111.) College until 1859.
He then located in Elgin, Illinois, where he was employed in the El-
gin Bank from 1859 to July, 1861. At that time he enlisted in the
Thirty-sixth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, for a three-years'
term of service in the Civil war, being promoted to quartermaster of
the Seventy-first Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, with the
rank of first lieutenant. At the expiration of the regimental term of
service Mr. Moore was employed in the commissary department of
the Army of the Potomac, and participated in the battles of Freder-
icksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg.
At the conclusion of his military service in 1863 Mr. Moore came
to Chicago and found employment with the insurance firm of L. D.
Olmsted & Co., of which his brother, S. M. Moore, was the insurance
managing partner, and later became a member of S. M. Moore &
Co. ; Moore & Janes ; Moore, Janes, Lyman & Herrick, and Moore,
Case, Lyman & Herrick. Of the last named he is now the senior
partner, his firm representing not only the Hartford Insurance Com-
pany, but other leading companies both in the United States and Eu-
rope. Altogether the agency is one of the most prosperous and pro-
gressive in the country. Personally, Mr. Moore has been a member
of nearly every underwriting organization ever founded in Chicago,
and for two years served as president of the Chicago Fire Underwrit-
ers' Association. The offices of the firm are at No. 159 LaSalle
street.
Mr. Moore has been twice married — first at Chicago on the 10th
1- 4
RK
rUBUG L
)XAND
DAT10NS
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 127 1
of October, 1865, to Miss Nannie D. Warner, and, secondly, in the
same city, April 15, 1889, to Miss Julia St. C. Tuthill. The children
are as follows: F. W. Moore, married, residing at 4509 Greenwood
avenue, and an active partner in the insurance firm of Moore, Case,
Lyman & Herrick; Mrs. Ida E. Clark, living at 4430 Sidney avenue;
John J. Moore, married, residing at 4435 Sidney avenue, and man-
ager of the liability department of the firm above mentioned ; Mar-
garet and Harold T. Moore, who live at home. The family residence
is at 4433 Greenwood avenue. Aside from the professional organiza-
tion with which Mr. Moore has been so long a strong factor, he is
widely known for his connection with organizations of a- social and
political character. He was one of the founders of the Union League
Club, which has accomplished so much for the commercial and civic
progress of Chicago ; has been a constant and active member of it,
and served for one term as its vice president. He has also long been
identified with the Saddle and Sirloin Club, of the Stock Yards.
He has been a lifelong and earnest member of the Congregational
church, having been connected with the First and South Congrega-
tional organizations of Chicago for more than forty years, during
a great portion of that period as an officer.
Although comparatively young in years as an insurance man,
Frederick Warner Moore has been a progressive figure in the fire
insurance field for more than two decades, and is
,, now a member of the strong firm of Moore, Case,
MOORE. _ „ TT • , TT • • r —1 ■
Lyman & Herrick. He is a native of Chicago, born
November, 27, 1867, and the son of James H. and Nancy A. (War-
ner) Moore. His education was obtained in the schools of Chicago,
both public and high, as well as in the Hinsdale (111.) high school.
In 1886 Mr. Moore commenced his insurance career with Moore
& Janes, of which firm his father was the senior partner. He con-
tinued with this firm until 1895, when he was received as a member,
and remained associated with the business after its consolidation
with the agency of Lyman & Herrick in 1901.
In 1897 Mr. Moore married Miss Minnie B. Googins, and the
home residence is at 4509 Greenwood avenue. He is a Republican
and identified with the Congregational church ; is also a member of
the Union League and Chicago Congregational clubs.
1272 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Charles Hosmer Case, now in the seventy-ninth year of his age.
is one of the pioneer underwriters of the west and prominent in sev-
eral fields of work outside the business of insur-
Charles H. • i • i t 1 u • i -lt
_ __ ance, in which he also has acquired eminence. He
was active in the field of his profession for more
than forty years, retiring from it in 1897. For many years he was
manager for the northwestern states of the Royal Insurance Com-
pany of England, and in the early '80s superintended the erection
of the magnificent building constructed by that company in Chicago.
Besides being a master of the intricacies of insurance, Mr. Case has
delved deep into such studies as electricity, bacteriology, psychology
and archaeology, and is, further, one of the leading figures in Con-
gregationalism in the west. He has also been prominent in tem-
perance and charitable work in the city, and has proved his true
worth, as well as his broad ability, in many fields of activity.
Mr. Case is a son of Vermont, born at Coventry, September 8.
1829, the son of Rev. Lyman and Phoebe (Hollister) Case. He ob-
tained his education in the public schools of Vermont and at Bakers-
field Academy, graduating from the latter in 1851. Fifty years
afterward Wheaton College, of which he had been a trustee since
1890, conferred upon him the degree of LL. D. Mr. Case came
west in 1852, and for several years taught a private academy at War-
saw, Illinois, and proved so efficient in his educational work that he
was advanced to the position of superintendent of schools at that
place. In 1862, after spending five years in this position, he en-
tered the insurance phase of his career to the exclusion of all other
business.
The Home Insurance Company of New York first claimed Mr.
Case's services as an adjuster and special agent, and he served in
the same capacity for the Insurance Company of North America, of
Philadelphia. In 1867 he removed to Chicago and added to his other
responsibilities the management of a local fire insurance agency, and
in 1 87 1 he accepted the appointment of manager for the northwest
of the Royal Insurance Company of England. Mr. Case continued
to discharge the duties of the latter important office until his retire-
ment from the insurance field altogether, in 1897. While thus en-
gaged the responsible work devolved upon him of superintending the
Ft
rOR, LENOX AND
flLDF.N FOUNDATIONS
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1273
erection of the company's great building opposite the Chicago Board
of Trade, its construction being commenced in 1883 and completed
in 1885, at a cost of more than a million dollars.
At the time of the Chicago fire of 1871 Mr. Case had the agency
for five large companies, and was also assistant general agent and ad-
juster of the Insurance Company of North America. From the con-
flagration he saved his maps and papers, but lost the cash then in
the office tills. He had $40,000 on deposit in the First National
Bank, and his was the first check to go through the Chicago Clearing
House, its payment going toward the meeting of losses. Mr. Case
advertised that he would pay all losses for which his companies were
responsible and he had the satisfaction of living strictly up to the
letter of his promise. During this time of unparalleled trial for
the insurance men of the country, and especially Chicago, he acted
as chairman of the committee which comprised fifty adjusters.
Mr. Case's great prominence as a Congregationalist centers in
his work in behalf of the First Congregational church of Chicago,
of which he has been a deacon and a trustee for many years. He
was also superintendent of its Sunday school for thirteen years. As
stated, he has been a trustee of Wheaton (111.) College, one of the
best-known denominational institutions in the country, since 1890,
and is one of the honored corporate members of the American Board
of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.
Mr. Case has a wide and honorable connection with local insti-
tutions of a charitable, reformatory and literary character. He was
president of the Washingtonian Home Association for a quarter of
a century, and for a number of years president of the Newsboys'
Home and director of the Chicago Relief and Aid Society. He is a
charter member of the Irving Literary and the Gnosis Literary so-
cieties, and was actively connected with the former for thirty years
and with the latter for ten years. He was also one of the founders
of the Union League Club, of which he is still a member.
Mr. Case has either been a Whig or a Republican all his life, and
for quite a period of his middle age was active in politics, serving
as alderman of his ward in 1875-76. It was at the request of a
large body of business men that he consented to run for the common
council, and while a member of that body put through many measures
i2 7 4 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
of practical benefit to property owners. When he commenced his
service there were only four water mains in some of the principal
streets of the city, but, through his efforts, they were not only in-
creased in number but in capacity. Thus was adequate fire protec-
tion furnished thousands of tax payers of the city.
On March 25, 1852, Mr. Case wedded Miss Laura P. Farns-
worth, daughter of Andrew Farnsworth, of Bakersfield, Vermont,
but has had no children. In the year of his marriage he came to
Illinois, so that, for fifty-seven years he has been identified, in a
marked degree, both with its business and higher progress.
Lyman Dresser Hammond, senior member of the firm of L. D.
Hammond & Co., fire underwriters, and who was born in Amherst,
T _ Massachusetts, October 31, 1844, is of English an-
LYMAN D. ' V Tr 1 , ■
rr cestry, one 01 his paternal grandfathers having em-
Hammond. j 1 to to
lgrated to Massachusetts in 1636.
Mr. Hammond is the son of Salem and Julia Ann (Johnson)
Hammond. Having finished the work in the public schools of his
native town, Mr. Hammond took a course at Hopkins' Academy,
Hadley, Massachusetts. In 1866 he came west and settled in War-
saw, Illinois, and entered the grain business. On September 18,
1869, he came to Chicago, and entered the office of C. H. Case, in-
surance, and was employed there for six years. In 1875 Mr. Ham-
mond was appointed Chicago agent for the British America Assur-
ance Company of Toronto, which is still represented by the above-
named firm.
At Hadley, Massachusetts, November 21, 1871, Mr. Hammond
was married to Harriet E. Barstow. They are the parents of two
children: Luther S., who married Miss Ethel J. Magee, of Chi-
cago, and is junior member of the firm of L. D. Hammond & Co.,
and Julia Elizabeth, now Mrs. G. J. McBride, of Highland Park.
Mr. McBride is western manager for Cumner, Jones & Co., of Bos-
ton.
In politics Mr. Hammond is a Republican, and in his religious
faith a Congregationalist. He is a member of the Kenwood, Home-
wood and Union League clubs; Society of Colonial Wars, Sons of
the American Revolution, New England Society. His residence is
Hotel Windermere.'
CHICAGO AND COOK COUN I Y
1275
Joseph H. Lenehan, general agent of the Phenix Insurance Com-
pany of New York, at Chicago, was born in Dubuque, Iowa, and is
_ TT a son of Baltholomew D. and Mary A. Lenehan. He
Joseph H. , _ . , , J ,
Lenehan waS educated at Dubuque, and then, after finishing
school, he entered the insurance field. After beine
connected with the agency business for a time he became a special
inspector for one year for mutual insurance companies of Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, and in 1887 was appointed Illinois state agent for the
Insurance Company of North America. In 1892 he assisted in or-
ganizing the western department for the Palatine Insurance Com-
pany of Manchester, England, and six years later he was appointed
assistant western manager of the North British and Mercantile Insur-
ance Company of London, England. In 1899 he became assistant
general agent for the company which he now represents, and the year
following, 1900, was appointed'to his present position. He was hon-
ored by the Illinois State Board of Fire Underwriters with the office
of the president, in 1890. and in 1897 was elected president of the Fire
Underwriters' Association of the Northwest.
Mr. Lenehan was married in 1883, at Dubuque, Iowa, to Margaret
Littleton. They have three children : Margaret, Francis Littleton,
and Mary Calista. He is a member of the Union League, Glen View
Golf, Chicago Athletic, South Shore Country, Homewood Golf and
Mid-Day clubs, and resides at 4515 Greenwood avenue.
Of the fire insurance managers of Chicago, one of the oldest, in
experience, and best known, is Wiley Jones Little John, now and
for the past thirteen years western manager of
^' the North British and Mercantile Insurance Com-
pany of London and Edinburgh. Boin in Fayette
county, Tennessee, a son of Wiley Jones and Margaret (Chisholm)
Littlejohn, he was reared and educated in the middle south, gaining
his education in private schools in Memphis, Tennessee, and in the
University of St. Louis (Mo.).
His first experience in the insurance business was obtained in
the agency of H. A. Littleton, at Memphis, in 1866. Beginning-
there when quite young, he later succeeded to the business of the
agency and continued as local agent until 1876, when he was ap-
pointed general agent and manager of the Merchants' Insurance
i_>;6 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Company, of St. Joseph, Missouri. In 1880 the Connecticut Fire
Insurance Company appointed him supervisor and adjuster in its
western department. In this work, which necessitated his traveling
over a large part of the west, Mr. Littlejohn gained a great deal of
valuable experience, and an enviable acquaintance. From supervisor
and adjuster he was promoted, in the same company, to be assistant
manager of the western department, and in 1894 was advanced to the
position which he is now filling. This long and varied experience,
dating from the period when he was learning the rudiments of the
business, to the present, when he is busied with the management of a
large force of solicitors and agencies, makes him one of the most ca-
pable fire insurance men in the west. He is an ex-president of the
Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska State Board of Fire Underwriters,
and of the Fire Underwriters of the Northwest.
Besides belonging to the Union League and Mid-Day clubs of
Chicago, Mr. Littlejohn is a member of the Glen View and the Evans-
ton Country and University clubs. His residence is in Evanston.
He was married in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1873, to Mary Louise
Poston.
William A. Alexander, for more than twenty years engaged in
the insurance business as senior member of the firm of W. A. Alexan-
der & Company, and also heavily interested in
North Shore real estate, is a native of Mississippi,
Alexander. . -00*1 r t
born in Corinth, May 2, 1858, the son of James
Madison and Elizabeth (McCord) Alexander. Air. Alexander's
father was a Virginian, of an old and patriotic family; was descended
from staunch Scotch Presbyterians, was himself a clergyman of that
denomination, and at the time of his son's birth was president of the
Presbyterian College at Carrollton, Mississippi. In the war of the
Rebellion he joined the Union army as chaplain, was afterward pro-
moted to be colonel of the First Alabama Regiment, and was in
charge of the contraband camp at Corinth, Mississippi.
W. A. Alexander was reared on a plantation, and when he came
to Chicago, as a young man, was placed in charge of the Business
Fidelity and Casualty Company, organizing the Employers' Liability
departments and making other radical improvements. Since that time
(1885) he has been wholly engaged in casualty and liability insur-
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1277
ance, although lie has judiciously invested in real estate along Sheri-
dan Road and the North Shore. He was largely instrumental in
laying out that famous pleasure drive, and is now vice-president of
the Sheridan Road Association. Mr. Alexander is also founder of
the Exmoor Country Club, at Highland Park. He was a liberal
supporter of the World's Columbian Exposition, being chairman of
the liability insurance committees and director of the Midway attrac-
tion known as the Streets of Cairo. In addition to his real estate and
insurance interests, Mr. Alexander is trustee of the George A. Fuller
estate, and is ex-president of the Drexel Railway Supply Company.
In December, 1896, Mr. Alexander was united in marriage to
Miss Maude Julia Greene, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Moshier
T. Greene, of Chicago. He is a member of the Southern Society, and
of the Union League, Chicago, Onwentsia, Exmoor and Chicago
Golf clubs. Fraternally, he is a thirty-second degree Mason, and
his religious connections are with the Presbyterian church. In poli-
tics, he is a Republican.
Wade Fetzer, member and manager of the firm of W. A. Alexan-
der & Company, extensive dealers in casualty and liability insurance,
and himself probably the largest insurance writer
_ of his age in the United States, is a native of
p FT7FR
Ottumwa, Iowa, where he was born November 22,
1879. His parents are William H. and Henrietta (Clark) Fetzer.
His father is a prominent citizen at Ottumwa and for twenty years
has been active in the Republican politics of that state.
Mr. Fetzer was educated in the public and high schools of his
native city, and became a resident of Chicago in 1897, on the 27th
of September of that year entering the employ of W. A. Alexander
& Company, general western agents of the Fidelity Casualty Company
of New York. From a simple clerkship, he was rapidly promoted
to be cashier, head bookkeeper, office manager and special agent. In
1 90 1 he was made state agent for Illinois, and spent two years in
the organization of the business in this state, with marked success.
In 1902 he Avas received into the firm of W. A. Alexander & Com-
pany and made active manager of its business.
On. June 11, 1901, Mr. Fetzer married Miss Margaret Spilman,
also a native of Ottumwa. and three children have been born to them :
12/8
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
John C, William Melville and Margaret. His wife's parents were
Thomas P. and Almira (Randell) Spilman, and her father is con-
nected with the large packing firm of John Morrell & Co. and is a
prominent citizen and politician in Iowa.
Mr. Fetzer's residence is at Hinsdale. Illinois, where he has .taken
a leading part in the village affairs, having served as trustee and
in other positions of honor. He is also prominent in club and social
life, being a director of the Hinsdale Club, a life member of the
uAisi-: i'etzi::;.
Hamilton (Republican ) Club, and is also a member of the Union
League, the Chicago Athletic, the Mid-Day and Commercial clubs.
Sherwood Dickerson Andrus, who has been in the insurance busi-
ness for more than thirty-six years, was assistant manager of the
Providence Washington Insurance Company until
May r, 1908, when he was appointed special agent
for the middle west of the Commonwealth Insur-
ance Company of New York.
Sherwood D.
Andrus.
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1279
A native of the Empire state, Mr. Andrus of this review was
born in Watertown, Jefferson county, on the 5th of April, 1855, the
son of Merritt M. and Angelica F. Andrus. First passing through
the public schools of his native town, he afterward pursued a higher
course at Hope College, Holland, Michigan, and when only sixteen
years of age began his insurance career by entering the office of the
Northern Insurance Company, at Watertown. Seven years in that
position decided him to seek a wider field of possibilities in the west.
In 1878, when Mr. Andrus became a resident of Chicago, he
secured the position of assistant cashier at Sprague, Warner & Com-
pany, the wholesale grocers, and remained with that house for seven
months. In 1884, after various employments, he returned to the
insurance field by accepting the special agency of the Sun Fire Office
of England for the state of Illinois. In 1886-90 he was with the
Norwich Union Fire Insurance Company of England, his territory
covering Illinois and Indiana, and after an employment of three
years in that capacity he was appointed daily report examiner for the
western department of the National Fire Insurance Company of
Hartford, Connecticut, being thus engaged until 1893, when he
assumed the position of special representative of the Providence
(R. I.) Washington Insurance Company for the states of Illinois and
Tennessee. He was promoted to be assistant manager in Chicago,
January 1, 1906.
While a young man at Watertown, New York, and just before
coming to Chicago, Mr. Andrus was much interested in military
affairs, in 1S76-8 being sergeant of Company C, Thirty-ninth Regi-
ment, N. Y. N. G. As a Mason he is a member of Auburn Park
Lodge No. 736, A. F. & A. M., and also belongs to Fidelity Council
No. 74, Royal League', Normal Park. The clubs with which he is
identified are the New Illinois Athletic, Friendship and Adelphian.
In politics he is a Republican, and in religious belief an Episcopalian.
On June 18. 1888, Mr. Andrus was married to Mrs. Laura J.
Stebbins, and the family residence is at 5344 Drexel boulevard.
Charles Nelson Bishop, city manager of the Northern Assurance
Company of London, was born in Kenosha, ^Wisconsin, and is the
• son of the late Rev. Hiram Nelson Bishop, rector
Charles N. of gt j ohn > s p rotestant Episcopal church, this city.
He was educated in the public and high schools of
i_>8o CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Chicago, and when seventeen years of age became a clerk for the
fire insurance agency of Thomas & W. A. Goodman. After spending
three years in this employment, in 1875 ne entered the service of
The Spectator, an insurance journal published in New York. A year
later he was appointed manager of the western department of that
publication, as well as of The Firemen's Journal, and his headquar-
ters were transferred to Chicago. He retained these positions for
five years, and spent 1880-5 m Colorado, as a miner and editor and
proprietor of The Summit County Leader.
In 1885 Mr. Bishop was admitted as a partner to the local fire
insurance agency of H. H. Brown & Company, and this connection
continued until 1889, since which time he has held his present posi-
iton of city manager for the Northern Assurance Company of Lon-
don. His business office is at No. 159 LaSalle street.
Mr. Bishop is one of the old and honored members of the Chicago
Board of Underwriters, having been connected with it since 1885,
and is now serving as its vice-president. He is chairman of the
Dean Schedule Committee, a member of the High Pressure Water
Commission, and is otherwise identified with its leading committees.
He is also the present chairman of the Fire Insurance Patrol Com-
mittee, and has been associated with that superbly organized system
since 1892. As to the social organizations, Mr. Bishop is a charter
member both of the Illinois Club and the Chicago Athletic Associa-
tion, and served for years as secretary of the former. He is also a
member of the Oak Park Club, his residence being in that western
suburb.
In 1903 Mr. Bishop was married to Miss Anna Z. Robbins,
daughter of Dr. A. B. Robbins of Denver, Colorado, who was a
pioneer of that city, and who died in 1903.
Charles Merritt Cartwright, widely known as a journalist in the
field of insurance, is a native of W-aynesville, Ohio, born on the 2nd
of November, 1869, son of Seth Levering and
~ Emma F. Cartwright. His earlv education was
Cartwright. . *>
acquired in the country schools of his home neigh-
borhood, and in 1886 he graduated from the Waynes ville High
School. As his first intention was to assume educational work, he
attended the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, but later
entered Princeton University, graduating therefrom in 1894 with
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1281
the highest honors, among others, the Bouclinot fellowship in history.
After leaving college Mr. Cartwright joined the reportorial staff
of the Chicago Inter Ocean, in 1895 becoming the insurance editor
of that journal. In 1898, after having made a fine reputation in his
department, he became editor of the Western Underwriter, then pub-
lished in Cincinnati. In 1899 the management opened a Chicago
office, and since 1900 Mr. Cartwright has served as manager of the
Western Underwriter Company, as well as its vice-president. Since
January, 1904, he has also acted as insurance editor of the Chicago
Tribune, and is otherwise recognized as one of the foremost authori-
ties in insurance matters in the United States.
On August 28, 1902, Mr. Cartwright was united in marriage with
Miss Kathryn B. Abbott, and one child has been born to them, Stan-
ley Levering" Cartwright. Mr. Cartwright's home is in Evanston.
In politics, he is a republican, and in religion, an Episcopalian.
Since 1873 Charles Ernest Affeld has been the junior member of
the insurance firm of Witkowsky & Affeld, which year also dates
the commencement of his membership with the
' . ' Chicago Board of Trade. Now in his sixty-fifth
year, he can look back over both a long and honor-
able business career, as well as an active and creditable record as a
soldier of the Civil war. Mr. Affeld was born in Stettin, Prussia,
March 10, 1843, the son °f Carl Gottlieb and Louise Agnes (Dinse)
Affeld. His parents brought him to Chicago in October, 1847, an ^
in the Dearborn School of this city and at Bryant & Stratton Busi-
ness College he received the education which fitted him for the prac-
tical duties of life. After spending some time in the law office of
Arrington & Dent, in May, 1861, he enlisted in Battery B, First
Illinois Light Artillery, in which he served the first three-months
term and the long period of three years. His battery was attached
to the Fifteenth Army Corps, and, until July, 1864, he participated in
all its marches and engagements, including the battles of Belmont,
Fort Donelson, Shiloh, siege of Corinth, Haynes' Bluff, Arkansas
Post, Champion Hills, siege of Vicksburg, Mission Ridge, Resaca,
Dallas, Big Shanty and Kenesaw Mountain, when his time was out
and he came to Chicago. During the balance of the war period Mr.
Affeld was a clerk in the recruiting department of the provost mar-
shal's office.
1282 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
After the Civil war Mr. Affeld was identified with the book busi-
ness for two years and commenced his long career in the insurance
field in 1868. For three years thereafter he was a broker, and in
1872-3 was surveyor for the New York Underwriters' Agency, and
in the latter year organized the well known firm of Witkowsky &
Affeld. He has been a member of the Chicago Board of Under-
writers since its organization, and is identified with George H.
Thomas Post, G. A. R. He has long been a resident of the north
side, and his name is associated with some of its prominent institu-
tions, such as the Academy of Sciences (at Lincoln Park) and the
Germania Maennerchor. He has been trustee of the former and a
leading member of the latter, belonging also to the Union League and
City clubs.
Married in Chicago in July, 1868, to Miss Helen Waite, Mr.
Affeld has become the father of the following children: Helen Eme-
lia, Charles Ernest, Jr., William C. and Olive L. His residence is at
No. 1824 Diversey boulevard.
Thirty-one years ago Amos Joseph Harding' organized the west-
ern department of the Springfield (Mass.) Fire and Marine Insur-
ance Company, with headquarters in Chicago, and as
' J" its general manager ever since has developed a splen-
did business. He has not only created and de-
veloped a new department in one of the old-line insurance companies,
but has been a leader in all western organization, and is now recog-
nized as one of the most prominent insurance figures in this section
of the country. His standing cannot be better delineated than by
reference to the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of his com-
ing- to Chicago, which was celebrated by his fellow managers in a
dinner at the rooms of the Union League, of which organization he
was one of the founders. "At that dinner," says The Insurance Field,
"modesty will sit enthroned in the seat of honor. There is no more
modest man than General Harding. His name rarely appears in pub-
lic connection, for he is slow to use words and when he does speak he
is the soul of brevity. Yet he is a most genial and delightful com-
panion to those who know him well, and possesses a keen sense of
humor that illuminates his character. He has been in his unostenta-
tious way a power for good in western organization. He has been so
long prominent in underwriting that he might of his history almost
TH
PUBLIC
AS T
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1283
say with Caesar: 'All of which I saw and much of which I was a part.'
He was a founder of the Western Insurance Union and was once its
president. After the Chicago tire he was supervising agent of the
Phenix of Brooklyn for four years, and was appointed general agent
of the Springfield twenty-five years ago. Tn that position he has made
a fine record. If there is any salient point in his nature except his
modesty, it is his loyalty. No man ever was a stancher friend, and
during the quarter of a century he has managed the Springfield it is
difficult to recall an employee who lias left his service. He has lived
up to the poet's summary that 'there are no tricks in plain and simple
faith.' And that is a great epitapli of character."
From a memorial volume ("A Half Century's History") issued
by the company with which the best business years of Mr. Harding's
life has been identified, is taken the following additional testimonial:
"Mr. Harding is a man of strong self-reliance, taking without hesita-
tion any responsibility which the exigencies of duty may demand,
earnest and conscientious in the discharge of duty. He is a man of
few words, and, while of genial nature and appreciative of approba-
tion and good will, does not hesitate to speak with direct frankness
when the occasion demands."
The commencement of this faithful and useful life was on a farm
in Morrow county, Ohio, on the 2nd of May, 1839. Amos J. Harding
is a son of Chauncey C. and Rachel (Story) Harding, his ancestors
having "settled in the Massachusetts colonies as early as 1623. He is
the eighth in descent from William Harding, who in that year settled
at Weymouth Landing, Plymouth colony, and when Roger Williams
was banished from Massachusetts he was followed by three grand-
sons of the former, one of whom was a direct ancestor of Amos J.
On the maternal side he is eighth in descent from William Story,
who came from Norfolk county, England, in 1634, and settled in
Ipswich, Essex county, Massachusetts, several of the great-great-
grandfathers and great-grandfathers serving in both the Revolution-
ary war and the conflicts of the colonists with the Indians.
"In the course of their migration from Xew England westward,"
says J. Sterling Morton's "History of Nebraska." "the Harding fam-
ily first settled in the Wyoming valley, Pennsylvania, and one of them,
Captain Stephen Harding, had command of Wintermost Fort at the
time of the Wyoming massacre in July, 1778. when several of the
1284 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
family were killed, and a near relative, Frances Slocmn, five years
old, was carried off by the Indians. She remained in captivity, and
her whereabouts were unknown by her surviving relatives for fifty
years, when she was found living on an Indian reservation near Peru,
Indiana. She was then the widow of an Indian chief. She died
about i860, and a monument to her memory, erected by the Slocum
and Harding" families, was unveiled near Peru in 1901."
Mr. Harding obtained a good education in the common schools
of his neighborhood and at Ohio Central College, but at the age of
seventeen relinquished his duties as a student and commenced to
teach. After saving $140, however, he decided that his career did
not lie in the pedagogical field, but in the stirring and miscellaneous
activities of the far west. Locating in Nebraska City,' Nebraska, on
the 28th of April, 1857, he secured employment as a clerk in a gen-
eral store; but even in that capacity he had not found his clew to
success, and after a few months resigned his position. He was then
appointed storekeeper of a drug firm which had failed, engaging later
in various employments, in the midst of which he was engaged in
the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in 1859.
In 1858, under the direction of N. S. Harding, the first fire in-
surance agent in Nebraska, he commenced the study and practice of
his present business, or profession, and at once found it greatly to
his liking. About the same time he became a government surveyor,
and was so engaged in northern Nebraska for three successive seasons.
He also engaged in the book and stationery business, in connection
with his insurance. In these varied lines (and perhaps in others not
mentioned) Amos J. Harding obtained a broad and practical experi-
ence in business and with business men, and at the breaking out of
the Civil war added a new chapter to his life history.
When the Civil war broke out in 1861 Mr. Harding's name was
the third on the enlistment roll of Nebraska City, but when his com-
pany was ready to be mustered in at Omaha he was seriously ill with
pneumonia and was sent to Ohio to die. To the surprise of all he
recovered in time to join his regiment in Missouri. For two years
he served as a private in the First Nebraska Volunteers, and in 1863,
on account of his familiarity with military law and courts martial,
he was transferred to the department of military justice, St. Louis
district. Early in 1864 he was promoted to the rank of first lieuten-
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1285
ant, in the Sixth Missouri Cavalry, and assigned to duty as district
judge advocate on the staff of General Clinton B. Fisk, in command
of the St. Louis district, serving in that capacity, and also as district
provost marshal, until the spring of 1865. In May of that year he
accompanied General Fisk to Nashville and was assigned to duty as
solicitor for freedmen's courts for Kentucky and Tennessee, and in
this capacity established courts in Memphis, Clarksville, Chattanooga
and Nashville. At Nashville Mr. Harding, as judge, sat in the first
case in the history of Tennessee in which a black man ever gave court
testimony against a white man. He had been promoted to the rank
of captain in March, 1865, but, tiring of army life, after the close of
the war he resigned and returned to Nebraska in October of that year.
In 1864 Mr. Harding cast his first presidential vote for Lincoln,
and from that time to the present has acted with the Republican
party. He served five times as a delegate from Otoe county to terri-
torial and state conventions, and in 1868 was a delegate to the Repub-
lican national convention. He never held but one political office, that
of commissioner of registration in Otoe county.
When Mr. Harding returned from his military and judicial duties
of the war times to Nebraska City he was pressed to enter journalism,
and did considerable newspaper work; but his inclinations turned him
to the insurance business, and by 1868 he had built up a large local
business. In that year he added field work for the Home Insurance
Company of New York, continuing thus for four years. In 1872 he
was appointed western special agent for the Phenix Insurance Com-
pany of Brooklyn, New York, and another four years were passed
in this service. His excellent showing in this capacity attracted the
attention of the representatives of the Springfield Fire and Marine
Insurance Company, and when it decided to organize a western de-
partment the undertaking, and the position of manager, was offered
to Mr. Harding, with the result that he became a strong personal ele-
ment in the development of western insurance. In 1879 ne became
one of the founders of the Western Insurance Union, of which he has
served both as vice president and president. In 1880 the late Marshall
Field became a director of the Springfield Fire and Marine Insur-
ance Company, and so continued until his death, at which time Mr.
Harding was unanimouslv elected to succeed him on the board of
directors.
Vol. in— 24.
1286 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
In 1864, at St. Joseph, Missouri, Mr. Harding married Miss
Eliza Cowden, and the children born to them have been Lucien E., of
the Chicago law firm of Bates and Harding; Albert Dean, who died
in infancy ; Rachel Helen, who married Edward M. Ray, a St. Joseph
business man; John Cowden, general adjuster in the western depart-
ment of the Springfield company ; Dwight Story, engaged in the rail-
way supply business in New York City. The senior Mr. Harding
resides at Evanston. He is a member of the Illinois Society of the
Sons of the American Revolution, the Union League Club, the Loyal
Legion, and Society of the Army of the Tennessee.
Specifically, Lyman Azariah Walton is vice president of the Equi-
table Trust Company and, generally, a successful manager of numer-
ous large interests embracing chiefly fiduciary cor-
Lyman A. ,• -i 1 1 1 \ •
w porations, railways, and gas and electric companies.
He is a native of New York, born at Alexandria
Bay, on the 30th of September, 1861, son of Charles and Harriet
(Truesdale) "Walton. His education was practical in its nature, in-
cluding a preparatory training in the public schools of his native town
and a course in the Normal School at Potsdam, New York, while
in 1880-81 he was a student at the Rochester Business College. His
previous experience as a clerk in a general store at Alexandria Bay
had convinced him of the value of a broad and thorough commercial
education.
After graduating from the Rochester Business College, Mr. Wal-
ton secured a position as a bookkeeper at the Union Stock Yards Na-
tional Bank (now the National Live Stock Bank), Chicago, and for
the succeeding four years continued in this position. From 1885 to
1890 he resided in Kansas, serving as cashier of the First National
Bank of Anthony in 1885-7 ar >d cashier of the Wichita National Bank
in 1887-90. Since the latter year he has been connected with the Equi-
table Trust Company, as cashier, secretary, secretary and treasurer and
vice president, being elected to the last named and present office in
1900. He is also a director of the Litchfield & Madison Railway Com-
pany and the Illinois Southern Railway. Mr. Walton has been a
leader in the later development of Chicago's grand system of public
parks, being now a member of the Outer Belt Park Commission. He
is also a commissioner of the South Park Board, being appointed in
March, 1902; reappointed for the full term on March 20, 1904, and
riLC:
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1287
serving as president in 1905-6. His politics are firmly Democratic.
On the 5th of June, 1884, Mr. Walton wedded Miss Abigail Wood-
worth, and their children are as follows : Harriet W., Louise F. and
Mark W. The family home is at No. 5737 Woodlawn avenue. Mr.
Walton's club connections are with the Quadrangle, Chicago and
Mid-Day.
George Warner Montgomery, a business boy and man of Chicago
for a period of forty-eight years and connected with the insurance
field during all but a decade, is one of the most
George W. , ., c ,. ^ • n
prominent of its figures in the west. Born in Gen-
MONTGOMERY. J * , , , , . T
esee county, New York, on the 26th of June, 1842,
he is a son of Alva and Sally (Kent) Montgomery. After receiving
his education in the public schools of his native county, when seven-
teen years of age he located in Chicago, and for two years thereafter
was employed as a bookkeeper in a wholesale drug house. His next
employment in this city was with a firm of packers, with whom he
remained until 1862, when he enlisted in the famous Mercantile
Battery Of Chicago, serving therein until his honorable discharge in
March, 1863. He was with Sherman on his march to the Talla-
hatchee river, and at the first battle of Yicksburg, being thereafter
incapacitated and sent home to recuperate. Thus leaving the service
because of ill health, after it had been partially restored he accepted
the position of cashier in the Chicago office of internal revenue, sub-
sequently becoming associated with a dry goods house until 1867.
In the latter year Mr. Montgomery commenced his career as an
insurance man, becoming a partner of O. W. Barrett, and continued
in the connection noted until 1S73, when the firm of Williams &
Montgomery was formed. Within about a year Mr. Montgomery
founded an independent business as George W. Montgomery & Com-
pany, which continued until 1898, in which year M. L. C. Funk-
houser, who had been associated with the firm for fourteen years,
was received into the partnership under the style of Montgomery &
Funkhouser. This firm, of which Mr. Montgomery is still senior
partner, are general agents of the Farmers and Merchants Insurance
Company of Lincoln, Nebraska (of which Mr. Montgomery is presi-
dent) ; Concordia Fire, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Firemen's Insur-
ance Company, of Newark, New Jersey; Jefferson Fire Insurance
Company, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Lloyd's Plate Glass
1288 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Insurance Company, of New York. Personally, besides being presi-
dent of the Farmers and Merchants Insurance Company of Lincoln,
Mr. Montgomery is at the head of the Farmers and Merchants Bank
of the same city, and director of the Nebraska Underwriters Insur-
ance Company of Omaha, Nebraska. He is also well known in club
life, being identified with the Chicago, Calumet, Illinois Athletic and
South Shore Country clubs, now being vice-president of the first
named. His business office is at No. 159 LaSalle street and he resides
at the Chicago Club.
Danford Morse Baker, third vice-president of the Pacific Mutual
Life Insurance Company, of California, was born in Stafford, Con-
necticut, on the 20th of August, 1862, being the
^ son of George and Emeline (Morse) Baker. He
received his education in the public schools of his
native town, and began his business career as a youth of eighteen,
when he became a clerk in the office of the Travelers' Insurance
Company, at the headquarters in Hartford, Connecticut. x He re-
mained with that company until 1890, when he joined the Pacific
Mutual Life Insurance Company, being first connected with its Kan-
sas City office for three years.
In 1893 Mr. Baker came to Chicago as general agent for Illinois
of the above named company, and in 1906 was elected third vice-
president, with headquarters at Los Angeles, California, where he
at present resides. Mr. Baker was formerly president of the Life
Underwriters' Association of Chicago. Fraternally, he is a member
of the Garden City Lodge No. 141, A. F. & A. M., and while a
resident of Chicago was actively identified with the Union League
and Mid-Day clubs. In politics, he is a Republican. On January 8,
1890, Mr. Baker married Miss Clara Louisa Gabel, and their two
children are Bessie E. and Danford M. Baker, Jr.
Isaac John Lewis is one of the oldest men connected with the
fire insurance business in Chicago, having been engaged in that field
for forty-two years and representing one company
■'" for a period of over four decades. He was born
in Mahaska county, Iowa, June 9, 1845, the son of
William and Elizabeth (Jenkins) Lewis. His parents were both
natives of Cardiganshire. South Wales, his father having been born
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1289
at Lladrod and his mother at Aberystwith. They both came to tin-
country in early life and in 1836 were married at Palmyra, Portage
county, Ohio. In the early boyhood of Isaac J. the family removed
to Burlington, Iowa, where they resided until 1857 an< ^ then located
at Cleveland, Ohio. In these two cities therefore the boy received
the bulk of his education. In 1863, then eighteen years of age, he
commenced his insurance career as an employe of Coe & May, an
old and substantial Cleveland firm.
Mr. Lewis became a resident of Chicago in October, 1866, as a
representative of the Cleveland Insurance Company and the Com-
mercial Mutual Insurance Company, also of that city. Two years
afterward he secured the local business of the Detroit Fire and
Marine Insurance Company, which he has continuously represented
and developed. Mr. Lewis' office was burned out in the great fire of
October, 1871, and the Detroit company which he represented also
suffered heavy losses, but the latter was one of the very few insur-
ance organizations which paid its losses in full. The first four years
of his career in Chicago were spent as a member of the firm of C. H.
Hinkley & Company. Later, he became associated, with Magill and
Hall, vessel agents, the firm being known as Magill, Hall and Lewis.
After a year the partnership was dissolved and Mr. Lewis continued
the insurance business independently until 1871, when he formed a
connection with J. L. Hathaway, of Milwaukee, under the firm name
of Lewis and Hathaway. The fire of 1871 dissolved the partnership,
but Mr. Lewis continued the business, and in 1873 the firm of Lewis
and Prindiville was formed. Since its dissolution, a year later, Mr.
Lewis has conducted an independent office as a fire and marine insur-
ance agent and an adjuster of losses. The business men of Chicago
owe him a special debt of gratitude, as it was chiefly due to his
efforts that the Fire Insurance Patrol was organized, financed and
placed on a permanent and expansive basis. It was established only
after a hard struggle, in which as secretary and active member of the
patrol committee Mr. Lewis proved one of its strongest champions.
On June 18, 1867, he was united in marriage with Miss Anna F.
Loud, and their residence is at 3335 Indiana avenue. Mr. Lewis is
a Mason in good standing.
1290 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
For. about twenty-three years prominent in the insurance circles
of Chicago, and also one of its best known military figures, Metellus
L. C. Funkhouser is the junior member of the firm,
„ Montgomery and Funkhouser, one of the leading
Funkhouser. _ . . . J , . c , , , .
firms in the west engaged in nre and plate glass
insurance and bonds of suretyship. He was born in St. Louis, Mis-
souri, on the 17th of January, 1864, the son of Robert Monroe and
Sarah Johnson (Selmes) Funkhouser, both of whom are deceased.
From the age of eight to that of sixteen he was in attendance at the
St. Louis public schools, entering business life in 1881. For three
years, in St. Louis and New Orleans, he was engaged in various
lines of commercial activity, removing from the former city to Chi-
cago in 1884.
Soon after coming to this city he secured a connection with
George W. Montgomery & Company, general insurance agents, and
in 1898 was admitted to a partnership under the firm style of Mont-
gomery & Funkhouser. The firm has large insurance interests in
Nebraska, Mr. Funkhouser being vice-president of the Farmers and
Merchants Insurance Company of Lincoln, Nebraska, and a director
in the Nebraska Underwriters Insurance Company of Omaha, Ne-
braska. He also holds a directorship in the Farmers and Merchants
Bank, of Lincoln, Nebraska.
Major Funkhouser's military service commenced in connection
with the Chicago Hussars, of which he was a lieutenant from 1889
to 1894. He became captain of the Chicago City Troop (afterward
Troop C, First Cavalry, Illinois National Guard) in 1894, and served
thus for four years, becoming captain of Company K, First Infantry,
United States Volunteers, in 1898, and as such entering the war
with Spain. Before the conclusion of hostilities he was promoted to
be assistant adjutant general, First Brigade, Third Division, Fifth
Army Corps, and from 1898 to 1900 was captain of Company K,
First Infantry, Illinois National Guard. Since the latter year he has
been major of the First Battalion, First Infantry, Illinois National
Guard. He was president of the Illinois branch of the Society of the
Army of Santiago de Cuba, and is treasurer of the Military Order of
Foreign Wars of the United States.
At Kirkwood, Missouri, on the 20th of April, 1886, Major Funk-
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1291
houser was united in marriage with Miss Eugenie J. Mermod, and
to their union have been born four children, viz. : Julia Mermod,
Louis Burrows, Eugenie Mermod and Mary Mermod Funkhouser.
The family resides at No. 817 Hinman avenue, Evanston.
Major Funkhouser is a thirty-second degree Mason, and belongs
to the St. Bernard Commandery. He is also a leading club man,
holding membership in the Chicago Club, Union League, Press Club,
Chicago Athletic Association and Illinois Athletic Club. Outside of
the insurance field, however, he is best known as a military leader,
and to the public at large he is more familiar in the latter connection
than in the former.
Charles Egbert Rollo, member of the fire insurance firm of
Rogers & Rollo, is one of the old-timers in this line, having been a
^ steady figure in the field for a period of more than
-r, forty-two years. He is the son of Ralph C. and
Rollo. _ J ;_, . _ „ l
Jeannette (Chester) Rollo.
Mr. Rollo's first business experience was with the Merchants
Insurance Company, of Chicago, with which he held several minor
positions from 1865' to 1871. For the twenty-six years covering the
period from 1872 to 1898, he conducted a fire insurance business
alone, and in the latter year became associated with Charles M.
Rogers and Louis C. Rollo, thus forming the present firm of Rogers
& Rollo. Mr. Rollo has given the closest attention to the business in
which he has become so well known, although he is a man of social
tastes and a welcome member of the Illinois Club. He resides at No.
235 Ashland boulevard.
Beginning his business life as a messenger boy in the insurance
office of Rollo & Naghten, Chicago, more than thirty-five years ago,
_ _, Charles Marshall Rogers has advanced to a promi-
CHARLES M. 1 • .1 ■ r n i ■
-p nent place in the province of fire insurance, and is
now the senior member of the well established firm
of Rogers & Rollo. He was born in Philadelphia April 30, 1856, and
is a son of Charles Marshall and Rebecca (Deacon) Rogers. He was
educated in the public schools of the Quaker City, but came to Chi-
cago as a boy looking for advancement.
Mr. Rogers remained with Rollo & Naghten for eight years, se-
curing continuous promotion and a thorough fund of experience.
I2Q2 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
During the years covering 1880-4 ne was manager for A. H. Darrow,
and from 1884 to 1899 conducted a fire insurance agency alone.
In the latter year he joined L. C. and C. E. Rollo in forming the
present firm of Rogers & Rollo. The members of this strong co-
partnership act as general agents for the American Central Insurance
Company of St. Louis, Mercantile Fire & Marine of Boston, Penn-
sylvania Fire of Philadelphia, Phenix of Brooklyn and Germania Fire
of New York.
Mr. Rogers was married in Chicago, in 1877, to Miss Hattie
Merchant, and their children are Grace L. and Charles M., Jr. The
family honie is at 1039 Forest avenue, Evanston. Mr. Rogers is a
member of the Evanston and Edgewater Golf clubs. He is a Repub-
lican in politics and an Episcopalian in his religious belief.
Nils Anton Nelson is one of the most prominent Scandinavian-
American citizens of Chicago, being especially well known in insur-
ance, building and loan organizations. He is a na-
Nils A
' tive of Halland, Sweden, born on the 15th of Janu-
ary, i860, son of Borge and Johanna (Anderson)'
Nelson. He comes of good agricultural stock, and his father still lives
upon the old family homestead in the fatherland. Nils was educated
in the public schools of his home neighborhood, and in 1881, at the
age of twenty-one, emigrated to the United States and located at
Batavia, Illinois. There he worked upon a farm, attended night
school, learned the machinist's trade and otherwise prepared himself
for broad and practical work in the country of his adoption. In 1885
he came to Chicago, and rounded out his education by an attendance
of eighteen months at the Metropolitan Business College.
Thus thoroughly prepared for the activities of a metropolitan com-
munity, Mr. Nelson secured a position with one of the largest com-
mission houses on the Chicago Board of Trade, being placed in charge
of its grain receiving department. He was thus employed from 1886
to 1896, when he resigned his responsibilities to give his attention to
the affairs of the Svea Building and Loan Association, and to a gen-
eral real estate, loan and insurance business. The association named
had been organized in 1892, with Mr. Nelson as president, and in
1895, he had been elected secretary, which made him its executive
head and active manager. Its business expanded so rapidly and ab-
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1293
sorbed so much of his time, within four years of the founding of the
enterprise, that he found it impossible to continue his relations with
the board of trade. He still retains the secretaryship as well as a
position on the directorate, and has the satisfaction of superintending
and developing the affairs of the safest and largest organization of
the kind among the Scandinavians of the city, if not of the north-
west. Its assets in real estate amount to about $206,000.
The Chicago Cemetery Association, owners of Oak Hill Cemetery,
located at Kedzie avenue and 119th street, was incorporated January
25. 1902, the grounds being dedicated October 19th of that year.
The cemetery lies about a mile southwest of Morgan Park and West
Pullman, and is being rapidly and beautifully improved. Up to the
present time about $40,000 has been expended, and some 2,000 burials
have taken place, the cemetery being valued at $112,000. Mr. Nelson
was one of the prime movers in this large public enterprise, was
the first secretary of the association, in which office he still continues.
A capital of $100,000 has been fully paid in.
The Scandia Life Insurance Company was organized by Mr. Nel-
son and Edwin A. Olson, and was incorporated on the 5th of Decem-
ber, 1904. In April of the following year the company re-insured
all the risks of the Scandia Mutual Life Insurance Company, also of
Chicago, thereby greatly increasing its business. At the last report
of the Scandia Life Insurance Company there were 9,560 policies car-
rying $10,000,000 insurance, and the surplus of assets over liabilities
amounted to $625,000. Of this flourishing organization the following
are the officers : N. A. Nelson, president ; C. H. Boman, secretary ; L.
G. Abrahamson, treasurer; E. P. Strandberg, vice president, and Ed-
win A. Olson, attorney and agency manager. Mr. Nelson is also a
member of the board of directors of the Insurance Company of the
State of Illinois, being elected in 1908.
Besides being identified with the above notable institutions, Mr.
Nelson is secretary and director of the Nelson Wheel Company, which
was organized in 1907 for the purpose of manufacturing "auto"
wheels with solid tires, the springs of the machine being a part of the
wheel.
In 1895 Mr. Nelson was married to Miss Adelia H. M. Olson, of
Chicago, daughter of Herman Olson, a dry goods merchant, who for
lj<)4 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
the past twenty-five years has been located at Nos. 5726-8 Wentworth
avenue. Three sons have been born, to this union, Byron Le Roy
(ten years of age), Norman Anthony (six), and Stanley Everett
Nelson (two years old). The family home has long been at No. 543
West Sixty-first place.
Mr. Nelson has been a leader in much of the religions and chari-
table work of his home locality for many years. For fifteen years he
has been active in the church work of the Swedish Lutherans of the
Englewood district, having served as a deacon in their religious or-
ganization and superintendent of the Sunday school. He is a direc-
tor in the Englewood Hospital and in the Innermission, the latter be-
ing a Swedish charitable association.
Henry Grant Buswell, for more than twenty years in the service
of the Home Insurance Company of New York, and now Cook county
manager, was born in Jersey City, New Jersey,
„ March 4, 186;. He is the son of Henrv L. and Isa-
Buswell-. "T . ' J
bella (Smith) Buswell, was educated m the public
schools of his native city and began his insurance career in New Y r ork.
Mr. Buswell's inaugural connection with the business was in the
employment of the Provident Savings Life Assurance Society of
New Y r ork City. In 1885 he became a clerk in the home office of the
Home Insurance Company of New York, and, after advancing through
various positions, came to Chicago, in June, 1903, as local manager
of its interests. Air. Buswell is a member and treasurer of the Chi-
cago Board of Underwriters.
On the 8th of October, 1890, Mr. Buswell was united in marriage
with Miss Josephine del Risco. at Brooklyn, New York, and their
union has resulted in four children — Josephine, Walter, Marian and
Florence. The city home is at No. 1334 Hinman avenue, Evanston,
and the country home at Center Moriches, Long Island. While a resi-
rent of New York, Mr. Buswell took much interest in military mat-
ters, being for ten years connected with the Twenty-third Regiment,
New York National Guard, a Brooklyn organization. Mr. Buswell
and his family are members of the Congregational church of Evans-
ton and socially he is a member of the Union League Club, Evanston
Country Club, and Moriches, Long Island. Yacht Club.
AS! OX AND
HLDEN FOUNDATIONS
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1295
Charles T. Chandler, a Chicago insurance agent and since 190; a
member of the firm of Waller, Chandler and Grey, which he oreran-
ized, was born in Galena, Illinois, from which place
„ " he moved to Chicago with his parents at an earlv
Chandler. . . _ x ° l
age in his life. He is a son of Charles T. and Mary
Ann (Eeles) Chandler, both natives of England. His father, who
was a well known merchant, came to Chicago in [867, and, besides
engaging in various independent ventures, was for a number of years
connected with the credit department of Carson, Pine, Scott & Co.
He died in this city on the 23rd of January, 1907. The mother still
resides at River Forest, Illinois.
In 1877 Mr. Chandler began his career in the insurance business as
an office boy, remaining for several years in the Chicago office of the
North British and Mercantile Insurance Company. Subsequently he
became connected with the Phenix Company of Brooklyn and was
one year with the general agency of the Niagara Insurance. In 1884
he removed to Minneapolis, where he was employed as assistant in the
board of underwriters. The year following he was appointed in-
spector by the Chicago Fire Underwriters' Association, and later to
the position of superintendent of the Cook County Compact. In
1889 he became Cook county special agent for the National Fire In-
surance Company of Hartford-. He resigned this position to engage
in business for himself, organizing the firm of Carlisle, Chandler & Co..
and on the retirement of Mr. Carlisle in 1902 continued under the
firm name of Chandler and Wurtele until the present firm was or-
ganized. His present offices are at No. 159 LaSalle street.
Air. Chandler's marriage occurred at Mineral Point. Wisconsin,
in the year 1893, and his family consists of three children: Lucy In-
gals, Edith Eleanor and Horatio Henry Chandler. Air. Chandler is
connected with the Illinois Club.
The late Aclolph Loeb, fire underwriter, head of the firm of
Adolph Loeb and Sons, a high-minded citizen, a cultured gentleman
and a good man, was of German birth, having been
Adolph bom in Bingerij March 9, 1839, the son of Ludwig
and Helen (Brandeis) Loeb. His death occurred
at his home in Chicago October 8, 1906. His noble friend and pastor,
with whom he had been closely associated for years in works of re-
ligion, reform and charity— Dr. Emil G. Hi rsch— spoke over his bier
1296 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
some of the tenderest and most eloquent words ever dedicated to a
kindred soul. "In Bingen," said the good Doctor, "when he took on
human shape, uncertainty hovered over his crade. Here in Chicago,
when a few hours ago he breathed his last, shone forth the certainty
and the glory that the life he had lived was true and noble, and that his
heart had throbbed to no impulse, his soul had tasted 110 joy other
than that of truthfulness and of duty, largely construed, loyally exe-
cuted."
Air. Loeb emigrated to the United States when but fifteen years
of age, first obtaining employment as a bookkeeper, and continuing
thus until 1869, when he opened a fire insurance agency at Memphis,
Tennessee. Four years later he removed to Chicago, and established
the agency of which he remained the head up to the time of his death.
His business career in Chicago was commenced in association with
M. S. Judah, his line being that of general life insurance, acting also
as agent for the Manhattan Life Insurance Company. Shortly after-
ward he became western general agent for the Mississippi Valley Fire
Insurance Company of Memphis, and upon the death of Mr. Judah
relinquished the life insurance portion of the business and devoted
his energies to fire insurance alone. In 1893 he was appointed man-
ager of the United States branch of the North German Fire Insurance
Company of Hamburg, and the Transatlantic Fire Insurance Com-
pany, of the same city. Subsequently were added agencies for the
German Fire Insurance Company of Freeport, Illinois ; the New
Hampshire Fire Insurance Company of Manchester; the Atlanta-
Birmingham Fire Insurance Company of Atlanta, and the Anchor
Fire Insurance Company of Cincinnati — the two last named being
general agencies. He was also president of the North German Fire
Insurance Company of New York. The firm of A. Loeb and Son was
formed in 1887 by the admission to a partnership in the business of
Leo A. Loeb.
"In his business relations," says Dr. Hirsch, "he was the very soul
of honor. His counting room was as much a temple for him as was
this house to which Sunday after Sunday he came to be with us when
we were making the effort to find more of truth or to discover new
aspects of truth already in our possession. Therefore, small the won-
der that from small beginnings he rose to be one of the representa-
tive men in the special field of business pursuit which was his."
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1297
In 1864 Mr. Loeb married Miss Lucille Hart, of Cincinnati, and
his elegant home on Grand, boulevard was for years the center of high
activities founded upon morality and the spirit of charity. Mr. Loeb
was president of the Jewish Agricultural Aid Society, a trustee of the
Cleveland Orphan Asylum, president of the Chicago Sinai Congre-
gation and head of the District Grand Lodge, Independent Order of
B'nai B'rith, as well as trustee of the United Hebrew Charities of
Chicago and president of the Russian Immigration Society of Chi-
cago. Wherever the requisite was a warm heart combined with a
clear head Adolph Loeb was in demand. This phase of his rounded
character is described also by Dr. Hirsch : "His humanitarianism was
not like Mahomet's coffin, suspendid in mid-air; it was the fruit
grown from a rich tree, a strong tree; the root of that tree was em-
bedded in the enriching soil of his positive Jewish convictions. Lib-
eral and loyal; 'Treu unci frei,' one may say, quoting the title of a book
written by a great Jewish philosopher, were the stars by which he
piloted his religious craft."
It is not difficult to glean from the many beautiful and apt testi-
monials which the Doctor offered as a tribute to the high character
of his departed friend and fellow worker, and they can be presented
merely as illustrative — in no wise complete : "He was one of those
rare men to whom life spelled duty, and, through duty, beaut}-. He
was one of those rare characters whose presence diffused the perfume
of holiness, whose influence was silent but persistent, and always
making for nobilities, for sanctities and for the uplifting of others
to the heights which he had scaled, on which he had made his home.
His hand was clean ; his heart was pure ; his lips were free from words
that defiled; he treasured no thought but what was woven of goodness.
He despised what was despicable ; but he honored those whose lives
were true. He never changed his word, though its fulfilment might
bring to him trouble and lay on him great sacrifice. He never put
his money out at usury ; he never attempted to bribe others to do what
he himself would have spurned to do. To know him was a privilege ;
to be allowed to become intimate with him resulted in inspiration. A
dreamer to a certain extent, and yet a man of action. His dreams
pointed the way which his stronger will and sustained purpose made
him tread unhesitatingly to the goal."
1298 CHICAGO AXD COOK COUNTY
Leo A. Loeb, fire insurance underwriter, and, since the death of
his father in 1906, senior member of the firm of A. Loeb and son, was
born in Memphis, Tennessee, on the 20th of June,
y ' 1867. His parents, Adolph and Lucille (Hart)
Loeb, gave him a good education in the grammar
and high schools of Chicago, whither the family removed when he
was a boy of six years. From the first his tendencies were toward
business, and in 1887, then twenty years of age, he entered the agencv
founded by his father in 1873. Ever since that year, or for a period
of twenty years, he has been a partner in the business and has been
an important factor in developing it to its present proportions.
Mr. Loeb was vice-president of the North German Fire and is
vice-president of the Cosmopolitan Fire Insurance Company of New
York, which company he organized, and assistant manager for the
United States of the Transatlantic Fire Insurance Company. In the
field of charities he is active as a director of the United Hebrew
Charities, Chicago, vice-president of the Home for Jewish Friend-
less, and a member of the executive committee of the National Hos-
pital for Consumptives at Denver, Colorado, and president of the
Jewish Home Finding Society of Chicago.
On January 19, 1893, Mr. Loeb married Miss Minnie Elson, of
Chicago, and resides at No. 5000 Grand boulevard. His social mem-
bership is with the Standard, Illinois Athletic and Hamilton clubs,
the latter one of the most influential Republican organizations of
recent formation in the city.
For- many years one of the leading figures in the western insur-
ance field, Theodore W. Letton has acquired especial prominence in
_ connection with the development of the business of
Theodore W. c ■ u ■ ^u ■*. +• 1
T foreign companies, being at the present time general
manager for the United States for the Prussian
National Insurance Company of Stettin. Germany. He was born
near Davenport, Iowa, on the 23rd of July, 1840. The family re-
moved to Quincy, Illinois, at an early period in his life, and in a
private school of that city the boy obtained the bulk of his education.
When less than twenty years of age Mr. Letton was elected
captain of a military organization known as the Quincy Cadets. In
the early part of the Civil war be volunteered for service and was
PUBLIC LI
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1299
appointed first lieutenant of Company C, Fiftieth Illinois Infantry.
For a time he served on the staff of General Prentiss, afterward join-
ing his regiment and participating in the engagements at Forts Henry
and Donelson and Shiloh. After the last named battle he became ad-
jutant, serving thus until after the fall of Corinth. He was then
detailed as acting assistant adjutant general of the third brigade,
second division, sixteenth army corps, and later held a like position
on the staff of General William Vandever in which latter capacity
he served until the time of service expired.
Following the war, Mr. Letton went to Kansas City, Missouri,
and in 1871 entered the insurance business as a local agent. Later,
he became western manager of the Fire Insurance Association of
England, and was afterward appointed United States manager of the
same company, being stationed in New York City. In 1889 he was
appointed western manager of the Union Insurance Company, with
headquarters at Chicago, and in 1891, upon the establishment of the
United States branch of the Prussian National Insurance Company
of Stettin, Germany, became its manager.
In February, 1863, Mr. Letton was married to Miss Mary C.
Field, of Quincy, Illinois. They have three children: Lucy L., now
Mrs. John F. Rice, of South Orange, New Jersey ; Anna L., wife of
Arthur C. Dow, of Lake Forest, Illinois, and Harold W. Letton, of
Chicago. Mr. Letton is a member of St. Paul's Episcopal church,
Chicago, and belongs to the following fraternities and clubs: Loyal
Legion, Society of the Army of the Tennessee; George H. Thomas
Post No. 5, Grand Army of the Republic; the Masonic order, and the
Union League and Kenwood clubs. He resides at No. 4846 Kim-
bark avenue.
Harold Willis Letton, assistant manager for the United States
of the Prussian National Insurance Company of Stettin, Germany,
is also a thorough lawyer. He was born in Kansas
Harold W. Qty> Missouri? on the 13th of January, 1875, being
Letton. & ^ q£ Theodore w . Letton, an old and promi-
nent insurance man in the western field. He received a thorough
preliminary education in various private schools in Chicago, and then
went east to enter Phillips-Andover Academy, at Andover, Massa-
chusetts, from which he graduated in 1894. He then entered Yale
1300 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
University, graduating in 1897 with degree of Ph. B. Later he
entered the Harvard Law School, and, finishing his course in 1900,
was honored with LL. B., being admitted to the bar in the same year.
Upon his admission to the Illinois bar in 1900, Mr. Letton con-
ducted a general practice for three years. In 1903 he was appointed
to his present position with the Prussian National Insurance Com-
pany, his legal training making him an especially valuable factor in
the business. Mr. Letton is a member of the Umion League, Hamil-
ton, Exmoor Golf, Calumet and University clubs, and New York
Yale Club.
Richard Alexander Napier, fire insurance underwriter and head
of the widely known agency of R. A. Napier & Company, is a native
of Canada, born in Montreal, November 27, 1865,
■^ and a son of Richard H. and Maria J. (Cockburn)
Napier. Following his graduation from the Boys'
High School at Montreal, he obtained employment with the Adams
Tobacco Company of that city, with whom he remained from 1881
to 1885. In September of the latter year he removed to Chicago, in
1886 entering the Chicago agency of the Dwelling House Insurance
Company of Boston. There he remained until 1893, being for a
number of years chief clerk of the office, in November of that year
resigning and entering into partnership with Hugo Dalmar, under
the firm name of Napier and Dalmar, which in 1900 became R. A.
Napier & Company. Mr. Napier's associate in the business is George
R. Bowman and the agency represents the Royal Insurance Company
of Liverpool, Monongahela Insurance Company of Pennsylvania and
the German Fire Insurance Company of Indiana. The business
offices are at No. 159 LaSalle street, and Mr. Napier's residence is
at Blue Island, Illinois.
Mr. Napier was married, June 9, 1897, to Miss Sadie M,. Day,
of Blue Island, Illinois, and their children are Richard F. and Miriam
D. Napier. He is an associate member of the Chicago Real Estate
Board, and is also identified with the following clubs : Hamilton,
Chicago Fly Casting and Chicago Gun clubs, and the Illinois State
Rifle and the New Illinois Athletic associations. In politics, he is a
Republican ; in his fraternal relations is a Knight of Pythias.
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1301
Edgar H. Carmack, life insurance underwriter and general agent
of the State Mutual Insurance Company of Worcester, Massachu-
setts, has been in active continuous service in that
LDGAR H. c . . , . . . . , , .
„ held tor more than thirty-eight years, and is the
Carmack. . J . . '
oldest life insurance agent, in point of continuous
service, in the city of Chicago. Mr. Carmack was born in Mononga-
hela, Washington county, Pennsylvania, on the 10th of July, 1852,
and is a son of Josiah W. and Margaret Carmack. Receiving his
early education in the public schools of Pittsburg, he became a student
in the Western University of Pennsylvania and graduated in the
regular four years' course of that institution.
On March 10, 1870, Mr. Carmack located in Chicago, and com-
menced his business life as a bookkeeper in a life insurance agency
of that city. So rapidly did he master the details of the business
that in 1873 he was elected secretary of the Mutual Life Insurance
Company of Chicago, and in 1876 became western manager of the
Continental Life Insurance Company of Hartford. In 1888 he be-
came associated with the Mutual' Life Insurance Company of New
York, and the year 1896 marks the commencement of his identifi-
cation with the State Mutual Life Insurance Company of Worcester,
of which he has been the general agent since June 1, 1898. He is
also president of the Abstract Vault Company, and a director of the
Congress Hotel Company, which operates Congress Hotel and Annex,
as well as the Auditorium Hotel, which is among the most valuable
property of the kind in the world.
On June 29, 1887, Mr. Carmack was united in marriage with
Miss Clara Vrooman, a Chicago lady, and his residence is at the
Virgina Hotel. He is identified with the Chicago Athletic, New
Illinois Athletic, Germania Maennerchor, Exmoor, South Shore
Country and P^vanston Golf clubs, is a life member of the Chicago
Press Club, and is in every way a man of active temperament and
influential character.
John William Gunnison Cofran, general agent for the western
department of the Hartford Fire Insurance Company, was born at
Goshen, New Hampshire, June 13, 1855. He was
J r ' reared on a farm and received his education in the
home district school and at Kimball's Union Acad-
emy, located at Meriden, New Hampshire.
Vol. 111 — 25.
1302 CHICAGO AXD COOK COUNTY
When less than twenty years of age the youth removed to San
Francisco, and entered the employ of the Commercial Insurance
Company of California. Five years later, having shown peculiar
a] u iir.de for the work, he was appointed a special agent for the states
of Oregon, Washington and Idaho, being stationed at Portland,
Oregon. His work was so successful that in 1881 the Hartford Com-
pany offered him a special agency in the same territory. After five
wars spent in this capacity Mr. Cofran removed to San Francisco to
assume the position of general agent for the Pacific department of
the company. In 1895 he was transferred to Chicago as assistant
general manager of its western department, and on June 1, 1896,
after the death of Mr. Heywood, his superior, he was advanced to
the position of general agent, in which connection he has since served.
Mr. Cofran holds membership in the Pacific Union, Olympic and
Merchants' clubs of San Francisco, and also in the Chamber of Com-
merce and Mrechants' Exchange of that city. In Chicago and vicin-
ity, he is identified with the Union League and the Mid-Day, Glen
Mew Golf and Commercial clubs, and the Association of Commerce.
Richard M. Bissell, vice-president of the Hartford Fire Insurance
Company, at Hartford, Connecticut, former manager of the Chicago
t~> n»r office, was born in the western metropolis on the
Richard M. „ . . T Qr -_ . ......
-r, 8th of une, 1862. He is a man of liberal educa-
BlSSELL.
tion, being a graduate of Yale (class of 1883), but
soon after leaving college entered the insurance business, in which
field he has rapidly advanced. He was elected vice-president of the
Hartford Company in January, 1903, and has since been connected
with the home office. While a resident of Chicago, Mr. Bissell was
a popular member of various clubs, being identified with the Union
League and the University, Literary, Commercial and Merchants'
clubs, serving at one time as president of the last named organization.
A. G. Dugan, general agent of the Hartford Fire Insurance Com-
pany, is a native of Kentucky, born in Louisville, March 14, 1861.
He is a son of James W. and Mary J. (Gray) Du-
A. G. Dugan. gan. Mr. Dugan received a public school education
in Louisville, and also attended the Forrest Academy
at Anchorage, Kentucky.
His interest in the insurance business began in the office of the
PUG!.!
ASTOR, LENOX AND
JUDEN FQUN
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1303
Queen Insurance Company, at Louisville, in which office he remained
for four years. Following this he became adjuster and special agent,
in Kentucky and Tennessee, for the Springfield Insurance Company,
and subsequent thereto a general agent for that company, with head-
quarters in San Francisco, California. In this capacity he remained
until 1894, at which time he returned to Louisville, as special agent
and adjuster for the Hartford Fire Insurance Company. In [903 he
was appointed general agent at Chicago, and became a member of the
insurance firm of Cofran and Dugan.
While residing in Louisville, he was married, in April, 1899, to
Mary Helen Gates. They are the parents of four children: Forrest,
Alphonso G., Jr.; Hugh, and Joseph. Mr. Dugan is a Republican in
politics, and resides at Hinsdale, Illinois. He is a member of the
Union League, Midlothian and Hinsdale Golf clubs.
The business of fire insurance is calling into the field some of the
broadest and keenest talents of the country, and success comes to no
man who is not a tireless, methodical and diplomatic
Charles E
^ ' worker. Long training must go with natural apti-
DOX. 00a
tude, and vice versa. These necessary qualifications
are possessed by Charles Edward Dox, present western manager for
the London and Lancashire Fire Insurance Company of Liverpool,
England, and the Orient Fire Insurance Company of Hartford, Con-
necticut.
Mr. Dox is a native of Terre Haute, Indiana, born December 11,
1861, son of William A. and Ophelia A. (Smith) Dox. He received
his education in the grammar and high schools of that city, and in
1 88 1 made his entry into the fire insurance field. He steadily advanced
through various positions and in September, 1900, he became a resi-
dent of Chicago and a leading figure in the western field through his
appointment to his present position.
In November, 1891, Mr. Dox married Miss Mary E. Bell, of At-
lanta, Georgia, and by this union there is one child, Dorothy. In his
political views, Mr. Dox is independent. He is a member of the
Southern Society of New York, and the Union League, South Shore
Country, Glen View, Chicago Athletic and Mid-Day clubs of Chi-
cago. His residence is the Hotel Virginia.
1304 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Charles Howe Eldredge, Chicago resident manager for the United
States Casualty Company of New York, is a son of Charles A. and
Maria A. (Upham) Eldredge, and was born in Fond
t-, du Lac, Wisconsin, on the i^th of Tune, 1861. He
p T DRFDrF
received his education in the public schools and the
Episcopal parish school, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and at Dartmouth
College, Hanover, New Hampshire, from which last named institution
he was graduated in the class of 1884.
Soon after leaving college Mr. Eldredge came to Chicago and
obtained employment as a bookkeeper in the office of the Chicago
Board of Trade firm of Bacon & Co., grain commission merchants,
and was later appointed grain inspector. From 1886 to 1888 he was
connected with the firm of Hamill, Congdon & Co., also engaged in
the commission business. Two years later he became identified with
insurance as general agent for the United States Mutual Accident
Association at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which position he filled until
1895, when he removed to New York as special traveling agent for
the United States Casualty Company. In 1896 he was appointed to
his present responsible office.
On April 30, 1887, ^ r - Eldredge was married to Miss Kate
Withington, of Chicago. In politics, he is a Democrat, and in his
religious faith, an Episcopalian. He resides at No. 5003 Madison
avenue, and is a member of the New Illinois Athletic Club.
Benjamin Hixon Conkling, senior member of the insurance firm
of Conkling, Price and Webb, which conducts a local business and is
„ TT also the general agency for the London Guarantee
Benjamin H. , A r, ' . T11 . T ,.
~ and Accident Company for Illinois, Indiana and
Conkling. .,. . . ' , , '
Missouri, is a New Yorker, born January 1, 1855.
He is the son of Hixon and Angeline (Walsh) Conkling, and re-
ceived his education in the public schools of his native city.
Mr. Conkling came to Chicago in 1884. and two years afterward
formed a business association with George F. Kimball, one of the
leading dealers of glass in the country, which continued for nearly
four years, or until January 1, 1890. At that time he joined James
W. Nye, representing the American Casualty Company, and remained
with him until November, 1893. On December 1st following he as-
sumed his present agency with the London Guarantee and Accident
UC i
3 /
^^^^^w^\"
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1305
Company, and also associated himself with Fred A. Price and George
D. Webb to form .the still existing firm of Conkling, Price and Webb.
On January 26, 1886, Mr. Conkling was united in marriage witli
Miss L. J. Murphey, their union occurring at Louisville, Kentucky.
While a resident of the Empire state he was much interested in mili-
tary matters, being identified with the New York state militia for
about seven years. Since coming to Illinois his interests outside his
regular field of insurance, especially in social matters, have been con-
fined to rather extensive club membership, his record in this particular
embracing the Kenwood, Chicago Athletic, South Shore Country and
Chicago Yacht clubs. In politics, he is a Republican; but politics as
a business, or a matter of concern to him. has never entered into his
calculations.
This company was incorporated under the laws of the state of
Illinois September 8, 1899, and qualified to begin business May 5,
1900. It has a paid-up capital stock of $150,000.
Federal Life jj ie com p anv \ ms b een verv successful and during
nsurance - ts £ rgt seven vears h as grown to be larger than
Company. . . , . , , c c
many of its larger competitors were when trom nl-
teen to forty years old. Isaac Miller Hamilton, who was born in
Iroquois county, Illinois, was elected president upon the organization
of the company and has remained as such ever since. His experience
as a successful banker and able lawyer coupled with his wide and
favorable acquaintance especially fitted him for building up and de-
veloping a large and stable company. C. A. Atkinson is vice president
and general counsel ; R. M. Wilbur is secretary, W. E. Brimstin as-
sistant secretary, and John L. Hamilton treasurer.
Isaac Miller Hamilton, president of the Federal Life Insurance
Company since its organization in May, 1900, is a native of Iroquois
county, Illinois, being born in Ash Grove on the 6th
Isaac M. of September? l8o4> a son f Ephraim S. and Celia
Hamilton. r (Miller) Hamilton. He received an excellent
educational training in the public schools of his native place, and at
the Grand Prairie Seminary of Onarga, Illinois, as well as under the
tutelage of private instructors, and since leaving the school room has
been continuously engaged in legal, banking or financial operations.
From the date it commenced business, May 5, 1900. Mr. Hamilton
has remained president of the Federal Life Insurance Company, as
1306 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
already stated, and his previous experience as a successful banker and
able lawyer, with his wide and favorable acquaintance, has especially
fitted him for the work of building up a large and stable concern. It
has now a paid-up capital stock of $150,000, assets of nearly $1,000,-
000 and insurance (in force) of about $15,000,000.
Besides thus controlling the affairs of the Federal Life Insurance
Company, Mr. Hamilton is president and director of the Union Secu-
rities Company and the Indian Agency Company, and president of
the firm of Young and Hamilton, bankers, of Chicago.
Air. Hamilton is a prominent worker in the ranks of the Repub-
lican party, serving in the Illinois senate from 1896 to 1900; as presi-
dent of the Illinois Republican League from 1898 to 1900, and as
president of the National Republican League from 1900 to 1902. He
is a thirty-second degree Mason, and his social relations are with the
Union League, Calumet, Hamilton (life member). New Illinois Ath-
letic, Chicago Yacht. Chicago Automobile and South Shore Country
clubs.
In June, 1907, Mr. Hamilton was united in marriage with Miss
Amanda S. Ernst, daughter of Charles E. Ernst, a prominent brewer
of the city, living at 1754 Deming place. Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton
occupy a fine home at No. 1364 Sheridan Road.
Romeo Mafan Wilbur, one of the organizers of the Federal Life
Insurance Company, and now a director, its secretary and actuary,
_ has a most creditable Chicago record covering a
Romeo M. ■ , , .. , , „ • *.■ <
,.. period ot more than twentv years. He is a native 01
Wilbur. r > . . - -
the Empire state, born in the metropolis, on the 4th
of December, 1856, a son of James Monroe and Mary J. (Reed) Wil-
bur. James Monroe Wilbur was born in central New York in 1828.
He was a building contractor in New York City and and was a spe-
cial contractor in the building of the New York City post-office. He
was a life long Republican and died in New York City, May 15, 1^04.
The paternal grandfather of R. M. Wilbur was Ismond Wilbur, who
was born in New York state in 1795 and died in 1841. The Wilbur
family came originally from England in 1633, settling in Massachu-
setts.
R. M. Wilbur was educated for the most part by private tutors,
in English, French and German, and had the advantage of extended
travel in this country and Europe. After completing his education
THE : YORK
PUBLIC RY
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1307
Mr. Wilbur taught school for a time in the easl and was afterward
engaged as a traveling salesman and a Wall street broker. Since [887
he has been a life insurance broker, manager and actuary in Chicago.
In addition to his insurance business, now centered in the Federal
Life Insurance Company, Mr. Wilbur lias a variety of interests, being
secretary and director of the Union Securities Company, ex-president
of the United Gold and Copper Company, and a stockholder and di-
rector in the Omega Mining Company of California.
On August 29, 1900, Mr. Wilbur was united in marriage with
Miss Mae Allen Rainburg, the ceremony occurring at her home in
Holland, Michigan. In politics, Mr. Wilbur is a life long Republican,
and is identified with the Hamilton Club and the Illinois Athletic Club,
and has been a member of the Art Institute for a number of wars.
While in the city he resides at No. 604 Forty-sixth street, and has a
summer home at Saugatuck, Michigan.
Life insurance in America may be said to have originated in New
England, and while in later years it has been by no means confined to
that section, it is an interesting fact that many of
„ the brightest and most competent underwriters in
Elwell. , ? _ , ,
the entire field come from the northeastern states
where they began their experience as solicitors. One of the conspicu-
ous examples in Chicago is Edward Harmon Elwell, manager of the
Northwestern Branch of the Michigan Mutual Life Insurance Com-
pany. Though he has been a member of" Chicago insurance circles
for the past twenty-three years and has been in the west for thirty-
five, he got his first experience in his native state of Maine. His
entrance into the business was the result of one of those odd turns
of fortune that have proved of epochal importance in the lives of so
many men. How he took advantage of the particular tide in affairs
which has brought him success happened in this way: Being espe-
cially ambitious for a college education, he taught school for a
couple of years as a means of defraying expenses. He later attended
Brown's Commercial College at Portland, Maine, but before the con-
clusion of the term, however, the school was burned, and instead of
finishing his commercial education he accepted a place then offered
him to become an insurance solicitor in the state oi Maine. 1 he
accident has always been regarded by Mr. Elwell as a fortunate one
from his own standpoint, for soon after entering the life insurance
1308 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
field in 1867 he proved his admirable adaptability to the work, and
for forty years has been one of the most successful men in the busi-
ness. He was promoted to the position of general agent and, moving
to Detroit, Michigan, in 1872, became prominently identified with
the western business.
While conducting his business here, he also devoted much time
during three years to the reading of law, which training he has since
found to be of inestimable benefit to himself and the company which
he represents. In 1882 Mr. El well accepted a position with the
Michigan Mutual Life Insurance Company of Detroit, and his broad
experience, superior training, and strong natural qualifications made
him invaluable both as a business developer and a confidential adviser
of the "management. In 1884 he was appointed manager of the
company's northwestern department, with headquarters in Chicago,
and has succeeded in building up the business to splendid propor-
tions. He has also become a stockholder and a director in the com-
pany, so that he wields both an active and a wide influence in general
insurance circles. Experience, progressiveness, tact and straightfor-
wardness have formed the basis of his personal advancement and
success, and these are the qualities most needed for the general
progress of life insurance.
Mr. El well is of staunch Puritan ancestry, the identification of his
family with American history being clearly traced to the year 1635.
Eor generations several branches of the family have been fixtures in
the good old Pine Tree state, the homestead at Buxton, Maine, com-
ing into possession of the grandfather of Edward H. about a century
ago. Here was born his father, and it was the birthplace of Mr.
Elwell himself on the 9th of November, 1845. He enjoyed a public
school education and a healthful farm discipline, and, as mentioned
above, showed an ambition to improve his capabilities to the utmost.
His earnest desire to fit himself for college at a neighboring acad-
emy, in addition to the practical calls upon his time and strength
looking toward self-support, finally preyed upon his health to such
an extent that he was obliged to relinquish his studies altogether.
When partially recovered he began teaching school, and soon after
occurred the experience which has already been related, as a result
of which he entered the insurance business. In his social relations
Mr. Elwell evinces the same attractive traits which mark his inter-
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1309
course with his business associates. He is a member of the Union
League, the South Shore Country Club and the Hamilton Club. His
ancestral history has made him eligible to the Sons of the American
Revolution and the Sons of the Revolution, of which societies he has
long been a member. A Mason for nearly forty years, since he joined
Moderation Lodge No. 115, A. F. & A. M., at Buxton, in 1869,
he has since passed to the York Chapter No. 148, R. A. M., of Chi-
cago, in 1889, within the same year became a Sir Knight in Montjoie
Commandery No. 53, gaining an entry to Medinah Temple of the
Mystic Shrine in 1886, and has attained almost the maximum honors
of the craft in the thirty-second degree of Scottish Rite, becoming
thereby a Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret in Oriental Consistory
of the Valley of Chicago. In politics he is a Republican and in relig-
ion a member of the Presbyterian church.
Mr. Elwell married, February 1, 1882, at Portland, Maine, Miss
Nettie L. Tuttle, of Durham, Maine. Mrs. Elwell is likewise of
Puritan stock, her genealogy dating back to 1636. Of their two
children, Russell T., who is now a student at the University of Chi-
cago, graduated from Culver Military Academy in June, 1906, as
lieutenant, and at the summer school ranked as senior captain. Miss
Grace E., the daughter, expects to enter Wellesley College in October,
1908.
diaries Hart Barry, western manager of the Pennsylvania Fire
Insurance Company, is an Illinois man, born in Alton, on the 15th
of November, 1857, being the son of Amasa S. and
Charles H. Catherine R Barry> In l8?? he graduated from
Barry
the University of Illinois, and immediately entered
the insurance field at his home town. Coming to Chicago in 1879,
he became identified with the Niagara Fire Insurance Company, and
in 1881-84 acted as special agent for the Phoenix Insurance Com-
pany of London, representing Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan.
He next joined the Insurance Company of North America and the
Pennsylvania Fire, being their state agent and adjuster for southern
Illinois and Michigan. From 1890 to 1894 he acted as associate man-
ager of these two companies, and was also a member of the firm oi
J. F. Downing & Co., but since the latter year, when the Pennsyl-
vania Fire Insurance Company established a separate western of-
1310 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
rice, he has devoted his entire attention to his managerial duties in
connection therewith.
In general insurance circles Mr. Barry is widely known and high-
ly esteemed. He has long been an active member of the Chicago
Board of Underwriters; is likewise identified with the National Fire
Protective Association, and has been a leader in the co-operative
work of the Northwestern Underwriters' Association for the past
twenty years. He is president of the Railway Underwriters' Asso-
ciation and director in the Underwriters' Laboratory.
In 1884 Mr. Barry was married to Miss Ida M. Bateman, at
Alton, Illinois, and they have one child, Lucile. Mr. Barry is a
member of the Union League, Evanston, Evanston Country and
Glen View clubs, his family residence being at No. 1225 Forest
avenue, Evanston.
Walter Webb Dudley, long prominent in the insurance circles of
the northwest, is a native of Guilford, Connecticut, son of William
L. and Phoebe A. (Ives) Dudley. His parents re-
n moved to Wisconsin in his childhood, and he re-
ceived his education in the public schools of that
state.
Mr. Dudley began his career in the insurance business as a local
agent at La Crosse, Wisconsin, in 1867, and later became special agent
for the St. Paul Fire Insurance Company and for the German- Ameri-
can Insurance Company, with headquarters at the state capital. After
being thus employed for two years he removed to North Dakota, lo-
cating at Jamestown, where he engaged in the banking and real es-
tate business. In association with E. P. Wells he organized the
James River National Bank, which is still in operation.
Upon coming to Chicago Mr. Dudley was appointed assistant
manager of the western department of the North British and Mer-
cantile Insurance Company, and upon the death of the superintend-
ent he assumed the management of affairs. He retained the superin-
tendency until 1890, when he was appointed United States manager
of the Manchester Insurance Company, of Manchester, England, and
was thus engaged for a period of seven years. In March, 1897, he
became secretary of the governing committee of the W r estern Union
Insurance Company of Chicago, which position he still retains.
In 1880 Mr. Dudley married Miss Mary E. Beecher, daughter of
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY 1311
Samuel Beecher, a prominent retired business man of Pottstown,
Pennsylvania. One child was born to their union, Grace Margaret
Dudley. The family home is at No. 4427 Lake avenue. Mr. Dud-
ley represents an old and prominent family of the eastern states, and
enjoys membership in the local New England Society and the Sons
of the American Revolution. He is also popular in social organiza-
tions, being identified with both the Union League and Kenwood
clubs. Mrs. Dudley has long been an active member of the Ken-
wood Evangelical church, and is generally esteemed for her useful
life and high character.
INDEX
Abstract Business in Chicago, 1 187.
Abt, Isaac A., 413.
Academy of Design, 141.
Academy of Sciences, 137.
Ackerman, W. K., 113, 120, 554.
Adams, Charles, 387.
Adsit, James M., 465.
Afield, Charles E., 1281.
Agler, Oliver"" O., 1153.
Ahrens, John P., 817.
Aiken, Edmund, 438, 439.
Aldrich, Charles H., 814.
Alexander, William A., 1276.
Alexian Brothers' Hospital, 327.
Allen, Jonathan A., 291.
Allerton, Samuel W., 439, 471.
Ailing, Charles, Jr., 729.
All Souls Church, 205.
American Trust and Savings Bank,
455-
Ames, John C, 841.
Anarchy, 63.
Anderson, John, 1175.
Andrews, Alfred B., 880.
Andrews, Edmund, 286.
Andrus, Sherwood D., 1278.
Anthony, Elliot, 40.
Apollo Club, 261.
Appellate Court, 503.
Architects and Contractors, 859,
foil.
Architecture, j6.
Armour Institute, 149.
Armour, Philip D., 149, 917.
Arnold, Bion J., 904.
Arnold, Isaac N., 509.
Art Institute, 140.
Ashby, James H., 1099.
Ashcraft, Edwin M., 688.
Ashcraft, Edwin M., Jr., 690.
Ashcraft, Raymond M., 689.
Assassination of Lincoln, 36.
Association of Commerce, 261.
Atwater, Arthur J., 1044.
Atwood, Fred H., 786.
Augustana Hospital, 320.
Ayer, Edward E., 1064.
Babcock, Robert H., 370.
Bailey, Edward P., 1129.
Bailey, Edward W., 1081.
Baird, Lyman, 1192.
Baird, Wyllys W., 1194.
Baker, Alfred L., 1100.
Baker, Danforth AL, 1288.
Ballenger, William L., 339.
Ballou, Amos P., 1262.
Bank Architecture in Chicago, 445.
Bank Clearings, 456.
Banks, Capital and Resources Com-
pared, 451.
Bankers' National Bank, 446.
Bankers of Chicago, 427, foil.
Banking and Finance, 427, foil.
Banning, Ephraim, 520, 573.
Baptist Church, 177, 196.
Bar of Cook County, 497.
Barber, Lee W., 1132.
Barber, John C, 11 30.
Barbour, James J., 790.
Barnes, Philip R., 826.
Barney, Bruce B., 1206.
Barnhart, Arthur M., 1091.
Barnum, William H., 635.
Barrett, Channing W., 350.
Barrows, John H., 191.
Barry, Charles H., 1309.
Bartlett, A. C, 992.
Barton, Enos M., 954.
Bastrop, Louis, 670.
Baum, William L., 342.
Beaubien, Jean B., 90.
Belden, John S., 1137.
Belden, Joseph C, 1138.
I3H
INDEX
Bender, Julius, 1046.
Benedict, George H., 1176.
Benevolent Agencies, 251.
Bennett College of Medicine, 315.
Bennett, Frank I., 816.
Bennett, Robert J., 964.
Bethea, Solomon H., 512, 561.
Biddle, William B., 1005.
Bidwill, Joseph E., Jr., 708.
Billings, Frank M., 338.
Bird, Abraham C, 1004.
Birk, Edward J., 1146.
Birk, William A., 1145.
Bishop, Charles N., 1279.
Bishop, Seth S., 347.
Bissell, Richard M., 1302.
Black, John C, 483.
Blackwood, Alexander L., 385.
Blatchford, E. W., 134, 137, 154.
Blatchford, Paul, 1082.
Blair, Chauncey B., 444, 483.
Blair, Chauncey J., 485.
Blaney, James V., 277.
Bliss, Samuel E., 1143.
Block, Williard T., 1132.
Blodgett, Henry W., 511.
B'nai B'rith, 255.
Boal, Charles T., 1256.
Bond, T. L., 107.
Bond, William A., 1209.
Boon, Clement L., 1105.
Boone, Levi D., 97, 275.
Booth, William M., 540.
Bouton, Nathaniel S., 1017.
Boyer, Valentine A., 271.
Bracey, Smith H., 1124.
Bradley, Capt, 11.
Bradley, David, 45, 1038.
Bradley, J. Harley, 1040.
Bradwell, James B., 532.
Bradwell, Myra C, 535.
Brainard, Daniel, 276.
Breese, Sidney, 498.
Brill, George M., 1102.
Brittain, Joseph K., 1231.
Broderick, David C, 31.
• Broomell, Chester C, 1236.
Broomell, Francis E., 1237.
Broomell, George D., 1237.
Brophy, Truman W., 399.
Brown, Frederick A., 827.
Brown, George W., 566.
Brown, James E., 738.
Brown, John A., 763.
Brown, William H., 1230.
Brown, William L., 1164.
Brown, W. H., 427.
Bryan, T. B., 103, 120.
Bryan, William J., 56.
Buffington, Eugene J., 979.
"Bull Plow," 45.
Bureau of Associated Charities,
258.
Bureau of Charities, 116.
Burkhardt, Henry S., n 13.
Burnham, Daniel H., 68, 859.
Burroughs, George T., 1098.
Burwash, Henry J., 394.
Busby, Leonard A., 713.
Busb, William H., 1169.
Bush, William L., 1171.
Busse, Fred A., 833.
Busse, William, 672.
Buswell, Henry G., 1294.
Butler, Edward B., 1086.
Butterfield, Justin, 508.
Byford, William H., 289.
Cable, Fayette S., 1157.
Calhoun, William J., 685.
Cameron, Daniel R., 1107.
Cameron, Dwight F., 1011.
Cameron, John M., 806.
Campbell, Daniel A., 838.
Campbell, Robert W., 765.
Campbell, William J., 771.
Carmack, Edgar H., 1301.
Carnahan, Charles C, 785.
Carney, William J., 1121.
Carpenter, Augustus A., Sr., 1095.
Carpenter, Augustus A., Jr., 1097.
Carpenter, George A., 549.
Carpenter, Myron J., 1101.
Carpenter, Xewton H., 142.
Carter, Zina R., 250.
Cartwright, Charles M., 1280.
Case, Charles H., 1272.
Catholic Church, 174.
INDEX
1315
Caton, John D., 506.
Caverly. John R., 758.
Cemeteries, 258.
Central Park, 234.
Central Relief Association, 116.
Central Trust Company, 447.
Chamber of Commerce, 428.
Chamberlain, Oscar P., 1032.
Chandler, Charles T., 1295.
Charter, City, 118.
Chattell, Bertram M., 463.
Cheney, Edward C, 199.
Cheney, John V., 134.
Chicago a Modern City, JJ.
Chicago a Railroad City, 18.
Chicago and Modern Economic and
Social Theories, 82.
Chicago Athletic Association, 260.
Chicago Baptist Hospital, 324.
Chicago Club, 260.
Chicago College of Medicine and
Surgery, 384.
Chicago College of Physicians and
Surgeons, 311.
Chicago Day at World's Fair, 68.
Chicago Drainage Canal, 239.
Chicago Fire of 1871, 38.
Chicago Harmonic Society, 152,
252"
Chicago Homeopathic College, 314.
Chicago in Campaign of 1896, 57.
Chicago, in Colony of Connecticut,
6.
Chicago, Limits of, 1180.
Chicago Literary Club, 260.
Chicago Lyceum, 130, 252.
Chicago Marine Bank, 432.
Chicago Marine and Fire Insur-
ance Co., 430.
Chicago Medical College, 307.
Chicago Medical School, 145.
Chicago, Name of, 5.
Chicago National Bank, 445, 449.
Chicago, Ownership of Territory
in, 6.
Chicago's Place in the Financial
World, 452.
Chicago Polyclinic School, 316.
Chicago Public Library, 130.
( hicago River, 3, 4.
Chicago's School Section, 1183.
Chicago Title and Trusl Company,
1 189.
Chicago University, Old, 197.
Chicago Woman's Club, 200.
(hicago, Will It Endure? 50.
Chindblom, Carl R., 800.
Churches, 47, 170.
Chytraus, Alex., 548.
Circuit Court of Cook County.
( )pened, 12.
Circuit Court, 497.
City Builders, 22.
Civic Development of Chicago, 89.
Civic Federation, 116.
Civil Service, 1 1 1 , 112, 1 14.
Civil Service Commission, 113.
Civil War, 34, 103.
Clark, George Rogers, 7.
Clark, George M., 11 16.
Clark, John M., 113, 120.
Clark, John M., 553.
Clark Street, 7.
Clarke, John \ ., 454.
Clearing House Association, 455.
Clement, Allan M., 1 126.
Cleveland, Grover, 55.
Cleveland, Grover, and 1'ullman
Strike, 74.
Clubs, 260.
Clybourne, Archibald, 43.
Coal, 43.
Cobb, Joseph I'., 390.
Coffeen, M. Lester, 824.
Cofran, John W. G., 1301.
Coleman, W. Franklin, 344.
Collins, James H., 507.
Collyer, Robert, 203.
Columbian Exposition, 65.
Columbus, 67.
Colvin, 11. D., 107.
Commerce and Industry. Individ-
uals in, 917.
Commercial National Bank, 442.
Commonwealth Electric Company,
87..
Communal Societies, 62.
1316
INDEX
Comptrollers of Currency from
Chicago, 446.
Congregational Church, 193.
Conkling, Benjamin H., 1304.
Connell, Charles J., n 56.
Continental National Bank, 447.
Converse, William A., 1151.
Cook County Hospital, 319.
Cook County, Judicial Districts,
497, foil.
Cook County National Bank, 449.
Cook County Normal School, 163.
Cook County Organized, 12.
Cook County Probate Court, 524.
Cook, Daniel P., 13, 90, 91.
Coolbaugh, William F., 455, 739.
Cooley, Harlan W., 774.
Cooley, Lyman E., 242, 246.
Copeland, William M., 830.
Corbin, Calvin R., 966.
Corcoran, Thomas J., 118.
Corn Exchange National Bank,
443-
Cotton, Alfred C, 419.
County Court, 499.
"Coureurs des Bois," 2.
Court of Common Pleas, 500.
Courts and the Bar, 497.
Courts of Cook Count}- in 1870,
502.
Cox, Jesse, 716.
Cox, Arthur M., 717.
Coyne, Frederick E., 969.
Crane, Charles R., 951.
Cratty, Josiah, 707.
Cratty, Thomas, 704.
Crerar, John, 135, 156.
Crews, Ralph, 718.
Crighton, James, 1123.
Crilly, Daniel F., 1202.
Criminal Court of Cook County,
502.
Croke, Daniel, 221.
Culver, Morton T., 820.
Curtis, John F. L., 1126.
Curtiss, Charles C, 1148.
Custer, Jacob R., 681.
Cutting, Charles S., 524.
Danforth, Jerome J., 1191.
Darwin, Charles, 61.
Davis, Nathan S., 281.
Davison, Charles, 349.
Dawes, Charles G., 447, 478.
Day, Clyde L., 823.
Dearborn Park, 224.
Debs, Eugene V., ^2.
Defebaugh, James E., 1088.
Defrees, Joseph H., 545.
Delano, Frederic A., 1001.
Denominational and R e 1 ig i o u s
Growth, 170.
Dent, Thomas, 542.
Des Plaines River, 4.
Devore, John A., 1155.
De W r olf, Calvin, 1260.
De Wolf, Wallace L., 1261.
De Young, B. R., 1227.
Dibblee, Henry, 1213.
Dickey, Hugh T., 499.
Dickinson, Albert, 1065.
Dickinson, Charles, 1067.
Dickinson, Nathan, 1069.
Dietrich, Henry S., 1207.
Dixon, Arthur, 986.
Dixon, George W., 989.
Dixon, Thomas J., 990.
Doane, Philip S., 361.
Dodd, Oscar, 392.
Dodson, John M., 389.
Dole, George W., 43.
Donohue, M. A., 1035.
Douglas Park, 235.
Douglas, Stephen A., 28, 145, 499.
Dox, Charles E., 1303.-
Doyle, John T., 113.
Drainage and Ship Canal, 239.
Drummond, Thomas, 511.
Dudley, Walter W., 13 10.
Dugan, A. G., 1302.
Dunham, J. H., 436.
Dunne, Edward F., 562.
Durand, Calvin, 954.
Dyer, Charles V., 274.
Eads, Benjamin B., 414.
Eagan, William B., 270.
Eames, Henry F., 442.
INDEX
W7
Earle, Charles W., 303.
Eastman, Albert N., 801.
Eastman, Edward P., 822.
Eastman, Sidney C, 813.
Eaton, Marquis, 751.
Eberhart, John F., 158.
Eberhart, Max, 666.
Eberhart, Noble M., 371.
Eckels, James H., 443, 446.
Eddy, Clarence, 153.
Education, 161.
Education in Chicago, 130.
Educational Influences and Institu-
tions, 130.
Egan, James J., 880.
Eisendrath, Daniel N., 365.
Ela, John W., 120, 520.
Eldredge, Charles H., 1304.
Eldredge, John W., 2"j^.
Election, First in Chicago, 13, 90.
Ellicott, Edward B., 864.
Elliott, William S., Jr., 808.
Ellwood, Isaac L., 995.
Elwell, Edward H., 1307.
Engineers, 859, foil.
Episcopal Church, 198.
Erie Canal, 14.
Evans, John, 280.
Evolution, Philosophy of, 61.
Ewen, John M., 860.
Faithorn, John N., 1006.
Faithorn, Walter E., 1007.
Farnham, Henry J., 1247.
Fargo, James C, 439.
Fargo, Livingston, 1177.
Farson, John, 466.
Farwell, John V., 934.
Farwell, William W., 502.
Fearing, Harry L., 833.
Federal Courts, 510.
Federal Life Insurance Company.
I305-
Fenger, Christian, 336.
Fenton. William T., 470.
Ferguson, Alexander H., 362.
Ferry, Watson J., 780.
Fetzer, John C, 1222.
Fetzer, Wade, 1277.
Field, Elisha C, 1009.
Field, Marshall, 938.
Field Museum, 137, 140.
Finance in Politics, 54.
Finley, William H., 1032.
Fire of 1871, 107.
First Homeopathic Hospital, 326.
First National Bank, 438.
Fish, Williston, 650.
Fiske, David, 410.
Fitzsimons, Charles, 1030.
Fitzsimmons, Michael J., 210.
Forbes, Stephen, 75.
Ford, Thomas, 498.
Foreman Bros. Banking Company,
455-
Foreman, Henry G., 1221.
Forgan, James B., 442, 487.
"Fort Checagou," 8.
Fort Dearborn, 8, 9.
Fort Dearborn, Early Commerce,
427.
Fort Dearborn Massacre Monu-
ment, 10.
Fort Dearborn National Bank, 450.
Fort Dearborn Surgeons, 265.
Fortnightly Club, 260.
Fox, John V., 1263.
Fraternalism, 52.
Freer, Joseph W., 287.
French, William M. R., 142.
Frost, Charles S., 877.
Fugitive Slave Law, 2.y.
Fuller, William A., 1127.
Funkhouser, Metullus L. C, 1290.
Future of Chicago, 79.
Cage, Lyman J., 434, 441, 447.
Gale, Fred M., 1144.
Garfield Park, 234.
Garrett Biblical Institute, 144.
( lary, Joseph E., 514.
Gemmell, William N., 588.
Giaver, Joachim G., 888.
Gibson, Charles B., 1146.
Gilman, John E., 367.
Gilpin, Henry D., 136.
< iindele, Charles W., 907.
Gindele, J. G., 907.
i 3 i8
INDEX
Glessner, John J., 978.
Goddard, Leroy A.. 427, 489.
Going, Judson F., 653.
Goldspohn, Albert, 373.
Good, Robert H., 411.
Goodhue, Joseph C., 273.
Goodrich, Adams A., 701.
Goodrich, Grant, 500.
Goodrich, Horace A., 1225.
Gorham, Sidney S., 805.
Gorton, Edward F., 703.
Goudy, William C., 563.
Graham, Ernest R., 887.
Granger, Alfred H., 914.
Grant Park, 223.
Greeley, Horace, 33.
Greenebaum, Elias, 492.
Gregory, Robert B., 985.
Grosscup, Peter S., 512.
Grower, William F., 1264.
Gunderson, Severt T., 1238.
Gunn, Moses, 292.
Gunsaulus, Frank W., 149, 195.
Gunther, Charles F., 1035.
Gurley. William W., 764.
Gutman, Abraham, 11 74.
Hahnemann Hospital, 327.
Hahnemann Medical College, 312.
Hamilton Club, 260.
Hamilton, Isaac M., 1305.
Hamlin, John A., 976.
Hamline, John H., 611.
Hammond, Lyman D., 1274.
Hanecy, Elbridge, 660.
Hansen, Henry C, 1258.
Harahan, James T., 998.
Harding, Amos J., 1282.
Harlan, John M., 560.
Harmon, Elijah D., 267.
Harmonic Society, Chicago, 152,
252.
Harper, William R., 146.
Harris, Abram J., 709.
Harris, N. W., 455.
Harrison, Carter H., Sr., 109, 126.
Harvey, Joel D., 1238.
Haugan, H. A., 456.
Hawes, Kirk, 41, 621.
Haymarket Riot, 64, no.
Haynie, William D., 754.
Heacock, Russell E., 505.
Head, Franklin H., 493.
Heald, Capt., 10.
Health Department, 329.
Henneberry, William P., 1167.
Henrotin, Fernand, 341.
Herrick, John J., 692.
Herrick. William B., 279.
Heun, Arthur, 1156.
Heym, Albrecht, 402.
Hibbard, William C, 991.
Hibernian Banking Association,
454-
Higgins, Edward C, 795.
Higgins, Van Hollis, 500.
Hild, Frederick H., 133.
Hill, John, Jr., 1094.
Hill, John W., 828.
Hirsch, Emil C, 202, 206.
Historical Society, Chicago, 135.
Hobbs, James B., 1250.
Hodnett, Thomas P., 215.
Hoelscher, Julius H., 401.
Hoffman, Peter M., 853.
Hoge, Mrs. A. H., 103.
Holdom, Jesse, 581.
Hollister, John H., 264, 331.
Holmes, Edward L., 304.
Holy Name Cathedral, 179.
Homer, Benjamin F., 1093.
Honore, Lockwood, 649.
Hopkins, John P., 835.
Horan, James, 837.
Horton, Oliver H., 578.
Hospitals, 318.
Hotz, Ferdinand C, 354.
Houghteling, James L., 1216.
House of Correction, 573.
Hoyne, Frank G., 121 7.
Hoyne, Thomas M., 529.
Hoyne, Thomas, 497, 501, 525.
Hoyt, Nelson L., 964.
Hoyt, Phelps B., 963.
Hoyt, William M., 960.
Hubbard, Gurdon S., 427.
Hubbard, John M., 842.
Hughes, Thomas, 131.
INDEX
13 1 <J
Hughitt, Marvin, 999.
Humboldt Park, 236.
Hunt, Robert W., 910.
Hurd, Harvey B., 520.
Hurley, Timothy D., 577.
Hutchins, James C, 698.
Hutchinson, Benjamin P., 439, 443.
Hutchinson, Charles L., 141, 444,
476.
Hynes, James A., 218.
Hynes, William J., 810.
Illinois and Michigan Canal, 14, 15.
Illinois Charitable Eye and Ear In-
firmary, 322.
Illinois Club, 260.
Illinois Humane Society, 258.
Illinois Trust and Savings Bank,
445, 457, 461.
Indian Names, 5.
Indian Treaty of 1833, 16.
Industrial Chicago, 43.
Industrial Depression of 1894, 72.
Ingalls, Ephraim, 300.
Ingalls, Lewis E., 1232.
Ingals, E. Fletcher, 386.
Inland Waterways Commission,
246.
Instill, Samuel, 870.
Insurance Business of Chicago,
1265, foil.
Internal Improvement, 22.
Interstate Exposition, 139.
Iroquois Club, 260.
Irwin, Harry D., 794.
Isham, Ralph N., 290.
Jackson, Abraham R., 294.
Jackson, George W., 883.
Jackson Park, 68, 228.
Jamieson, Thomas N., 844.
Jesuits, 2.
Jewett, John N., 606.
Jewish Congregations, 202.
Johnson, Frank J., 1166.
Johnson, Hosmer A., 284.
Jones, Fernando, 1195.
Jones, Jenkin L., 205.
Jones, J. Russell, 1070.
Jones, Walter C, 678.
Jouett, Charles, 8, 504.
Junkersfeld, Peter, 868.
Justices of the Peace, 516.
Juvenile Court, 518.
Kaskaskia, 3.
Kennedy, Henry H., 684.
Kennicott, Robert, 138.
Kerfoot, William D., 121 1.
Kerr, Norman, 395.
Kersten, George, 668.
Kesner, Jacob L., 952.
Kestl, Innocent A., 221.
Keyes, Rollin A., 113.
Kies, William S., 787.
Kimball, Curtis N., 969.
Kimberlee, Edmund S., 271.
Kimble, Evan E., 1042.
King, Oscar A., 422.
Kinzie, John, 7, 12, 75, 89, 429.
Knight, Clarence A., 798.
Knights of Pythias, 255.
Kohlsaat, C. C, 512, 524, 547.
Kramer, Adolph F., 1249.
Kranz, John M., 11 54.
Kreissl, Filipp, 393.
Kretzinger, George W., 712.
Labor Riots of 1886, 63.
La Buy, Michael A., 1254.
Lacey, Edward S., 446, 479.
LafTerty, William J., 1155.
Lake Forest University, 145.
Lampert, Nelson N., 470.
Landis, Kenesaw A!., 512, 546.
Langeloh, George D., 857.
Langworthy, Joseph I'.., 719.
Laplante, J. D., 214.
Lathrop, Bryan, 158.
Law and Order Party, 107.
Law Institute Library, 137.
Lee. Bernard L., 747.
Le Mai, 7.
Lemmon, Thomas A.. 1163.
Lenchan. J IT., 1275.
Letton. Harold W.. 1299.
Letton, Theodore W., 1298.
Lewis. Allen C, 151.
13-20
INDEX
Lewis, Isaac J., 1288.
Lewis Institute, 151.
Lewis, James H., 750.
Liljencrantz, G. A. M., 871.
Lincoln, Abraham, 30, 32.
Lincoln-Douglas Debate, 30.
Lincoln Park, 225.
Lind University, 145, 307.
Littlejohn, John M., 396.
Littlejohn, Wiley J., 1275.
Livermore, Mary A., 103.
Loeb, Adolph, 1295.
Loeb, Leo A., 1298.
Logan, Floyd T., 1138.
Loomis, John M., 979.
Lord, Daniel M., 948.
Lord, John B., 1063.
Lowy, Charles F., 779.
Ludlam, Reuben, 296.
Lutheran Church, 201.
Lyceum, Chicago, 130, 252.
Lyman, David B., 665.
Lyman, Henry M., 299.
Lynch, John A., 467.
Lynch, Thomas, 469.
MacArthur, Arthur F., 867,
MacChesney, Nathan W., 741.
MacCracken, William P., 379.
MacLeish, Andrew, 947.
Mackay, James, 1141.
Maher, George W., 874.
Manierre, George, 501.
Manufacturing, 45.
Mark, Clayton, 1153.
Marquette, 2, 171.
Marriott, Abraham R., 1189.
Martin, Horace H., 804.
Mason, William E., 725.
Masonry, 253.
Massacre at Fort Dearborn, 10.
Mathews, Allan A., 426.
Maxwell, Philip, 266, 269.
Maxwell, Robert F., 1151.
Mayer, Levy, 629.
McAllister, William K., 502.
McCabe, John R., 852.
McCagg, Ezra B., 532.
McConnell, Charles H., 1089.
McCormick, Leander J., 970.
McCormick, R. Hall, 972.
McCormick, Thomas J., 213.
McCoy, Isaac, 50, 172.
McDoel, William H., 1008.
McDonald, James, 1160.
McDonnell, Patrick J., 219.
McGavick, Bishop, 209.
McGoorty, John P., 655.
McLane, James A., 1257.
McLaren, John, 11 17.
McLaren, William, 1120.
Meacham, Florus D., 1172.
Meacham & Wright Co., 1172.
Mead, Aaron B., 1220.
Mechanics' Institute, 130, 252.
Medical Colleges, 305.
Medical History of Chicago, 264.
Medical Societies, 328.
Medill, Joseph, 105, 123.
Merchants' Loan and Trust Co.,
434-
Mercy Hospital, 318.
Merrick, George P., 732.
Methodist Church, 183.
Methodists, Pioneer, 172.
Metropolitan National Bank, 442.
Michael Reese Hospital, 325.
Midway Plaisance, 230.
Miller, De Laskie, 293. *
Miller, Harry I., 1002.
Miller, [ohn S., 112, 676.
Mills, Luther L., 589.
Mitchell, John J., 445, 457.
Mitchell, William H., 459.
Mitten, Thomas E., 1010.
Modjeski, Ralph, 865.
Moeng, Edward D., 11 58.
Mohr, John, 1029.
Montgomery, Frank H., 397.
Montgomery, George W., 1287.
Moody, Dwight L., 39, 186, 195.
Moody and Sankey Auditorium,
39-
Moore, Frederick \\ ., 1271.
Moore, James H., 1270.
Moran, Thomas A., 603.
Morrill, Allan A., 1062.
Morrill, Charles E., 1061.
INDEX
1321
Morris, Buckner S., 503.
Morris, Edward, 934.
Morris, Henry C, 766.
Morris, Nelson, 930.
Morrison, Clyde A., 728.
Morton, Joy, 1083.
Moses, Adolph, 630.
Moses, Joseph, 630.
Muldoon, Bishop, 209.
Mulliken, Alfred H., 1254.
Mulliken, Charles H., 1252.
Municipal Art League, 144.
Municipal Court, 119, 516.
Municipal Voters' League, 116.
Murphy, John B., 337.
Murray, Bernard P., 213.
Murray, Lawrence O., 447.
Musgrave, Harrison, 699.
Music in Chicago, 152.
Napier, Richard A., 1300.
National Banking Act, 434, 437.
National Banks, Failed and Dis-
continued, 447, foil.
National Bank of Illinois, 449.
National Bank of the Republic,
450, 467.
National Bank Statistics, 453.
National City Bank, 450.
National Convention of 1864, 35.
Nelson, Hans P., 1150.
Nelson Nils A., 1292.
Netterstrom, Charles M., 1041.
Newman, Jacob, jyj.
Newberry Library, 133.
Newberry, Walter L., 130, 135,
434-
Newcomer, John R., 544.
New Illinois Athletic Club, 261,
New Park Idea, 232.
Nickerson, Samuel M., 439.
Nicollet, Jean, 1, 42.
Nightingale, A. F., 167.
Northwestern University, 144.
Northwestern University Medical
College, 307.
Northwestern University Women's
Medical School, 310.
O'Brien, Patrick 1)., 850.
O'Callaghan, Peter J., 211.
( )(ld Fellowship, 253, 2^4.
Odell, John J. P., 447.
Ogden, Mahlon D., 27.
Ogden, William B., 25, 94, 145,
434-
Oldberg, Oscar, 381.
Onahan, William J., 181.
O'Neill, A. Augustus, 353.
O'Neill, Hugh, 669.
Organized Charity, 257.
Orth, William S., 412.
O'Sullivan, Michael, 220.
Outer Belt Park Board, 119.
Outer Belt Parks, 237.
Owen, Ernest D., 720.
Owen, T. J. V., 93.
Owens, John E., 345, 733.
Packing, 44.
Park Systems, 223.
Parliament of Religions, 71.
Patriotic Societies, 256.
Patterson, R. W., 188.
Peabody, Augustus S., 1215.
Peabody, Francis B., 1214.
Pearson, John, 498.
Peck, Ebenezer, 503.
Peck, Ferdinand W., 926.
Peck, George R., 112, 555.
Peck, Philip F. W., 924.
People's Church, 185.
Peters, Edward H., 1229.
Philbrick, George A., 1103.
Phillips, Charles A., 886. *
Physicians, Earl}-, 264.
Pierce, Ashael, 44.
Pierce, William L., 1208.
Pioneer Societies, 251.
Plamondon, Ambrose, 1 1 1 1.
Plamondon, Charles A., 1 1 10.
Playgrounds, 232.
Plymouth Congregational Church,
194.
Podstata, Vaclav H., 378.
Point de Saible, Jean Babtiste, 7.
Politics in Chicago, 28.
Poole, C. Clarence, 736.
1322
INDEX
Poole, William F., 132.
Poorman, C. Wallace, 404.
Pope, Nathaniel, 510.
Post-Graduate Medical School and
Hospital, 317.
Post-Graduate Medical Schools and
Hospitals, 316.
Potter, W. E., 403.
Powell, Joseph, 118.
"Prairie Schooner," 58.
Presbyterian Hospital, 325.
Presbyterians, 175, 192.
Press Club, 260.
Press, The, 33, 54, 60.
Pringle, Frederick W., 734.
Probate Court, 524.
Public Library, 130.
Pullman, George M., 919.
Pullman Strike, 73.
Purcell, F. A., 212.
Putney, Albert H., 746.
Quigg, David, 585.
Quigley, Archbishop, 208.
Railroads, 19.
Randolph, Isham, 249.
Rawson, Samuel, 455.
Raymer, Walter J., 1080.
Real Estate Board, 118.
Real Estate in Chicago, 1180, foil.
Real Estate Title and Trust Com-
pany, 1 190.
Real Estate Valuations, 1182.
Ream, Norman B., 474.
Recorder's Court, 501.
Reformatory Agencies, 251.
Rend, William P., 1050.
Relief and Aid Society, 257.
Religion, 46, 170.
Republican Convention of i860,
31-
Republican Convention of 1880,
40, 41.
Republican Convention of 1896,
57-
Revell. Alexander H., 120, 559.
Reynolds, George M., 447.
Rhodes, John E., 351.
Richards, John T., 696.
Ridgely, William B., 447.
Riley, Harrison B., 1189.
Rinaker, Lewis, 662.
Ripley, Edward P., 1003.
Ritter, Louis E., 887.
Roach, John M., 1012.
Roberts, Ellen G., 745.
Roberts, George E., 443, 464.
Robinson, Byron, 355.
Roche, John A., in.
Rockefeller, John D., 146.
Rogers, Cassius C, 408.
Rogers, Charles M., 1291.
Rollo, Charles E., 1291.
Rollo, William E., 1267.
Rollo, William F., 1269.
Rosenbaum, Joseph, 1060.
Ross, Joseph P., 298.
Ruger, William H., 846.
Rumsey, Henry A., 1069. •
Rumsey, Israel P., 1056.
Rumsey, Wallace D., 1059.
Runnells, John S., 632.
Rush Medical College, 305.
Ryan, Daniel W., 1047.
Ryder, W. H., 204.
Ryerson, Edward L., 974.
St. Cyr, Father, 174.
St. Joseph's Hospital, 328.
St. Louis Church, 182.
St. Luke's Hospital, 323.
St. Mary's Church. 174, 177, 180.
Sanitary District of Chicago, 239.
Sankey, Ira D., 39.
Scammon, J. Young, 205, 432.
Scanlon, Kickham, 711.
Scherzer, Albert H., 899.
Scherzer, William, 897.
Schiller, Heliodor, 416.
Schneider, Otto C, 165.
School Lands, 95.
Schools, 75, 130.
Schuettler, Herman F., 849.
Schuyler, Daniel J., 721.
Scrip Currency, 429.
Secret Orders, 255.
Sellers, Morris, 1020.
INDEX
J323
Senn, Nicholas, 332.
Sexton, William H., 724.
Shaffer, John C, 967.
Shankland, Edward C, 895.
Shankland, Ralph M., 896.
Shears, George F., 418.
Shedd, John G., 944.
Shepard, Henry M., 624.
Sheriff, Andrew R., 762.
Sherman, Elijah B., 643.
Sherman, John B., 439.
Shipman, George E., 298.
Shippy, George M., 847.
Shope, Simeon P., 625.
Shortall, John G., 258, 262.
Skinner, Mark, 103, 510.
Slavery, 25, 35.
Small, Alvin E., 297.
Smith, Ben M., 674.
Smith, Charles G., 301.
Smith, David S., 295.
Smith, Edwin B., 520.
Smith, Frederick A., 583.
Smith, George, 430.
Smith, Solomon A., 435, 436.
Smith, T. W., 499.
Smith, Willard A., 1033.
Smith, William Sooy, 889.
Societies, 251.
South Park System, 229, 233.
Spalding, Albert G., 951.
Spalding, Charles F., 1161.
Special Park Commission, 237.
Spencer, Robert C, Jr., 913.
Spengler, John H., 868.
Spoils System, in.
Sprague, Albert A., 956.
Spring, Giles, 500, 504.
Sprogle, Howard O., 807.
Starr, Merritt, 112, 120, 520, 550.
Starring, Mason B., 1015.
State Bank, First in Chicago, 427.
State Bank of Chicago, 455.
State Banks of Chicago, 450.
State Bank Statistics, 453.
Stevens, Charles A., 946.
Stewart, Graeme, 594.
Stockton, Joseph, 121 1.
Stone, Carl D., 1202.
Stone, 1 1> >ratio V, [199
Stone, I i< irati< 1 ' >.. Jr., 1201.
St'orke, Albert F., 406.
Storrs, Emor \ A . , 41 .
Stow, William 1 1., 45.
Strassheim, Christopher, 856.
Strawn, Silas 1 1., 700.
Stream, John J., 1102.
Street, W. D. C, 43d.
Street Railways, 78.
Stringfield, C. Pruyn, 407.
Stuart, James E., 838.
Swift, George I'.., 113, 884.
Swing, David L., 189.
Sunday Closing, 107.
Superior Court, 500.
Surghnor, Valentine II., 1259.
Taft, Oren B., 1243.
Taft, Oren E., 1245.
Talbert, Joseph T., 456.
Taylor, Clarence W., 782.
Tegtmeyer, Charles W., 1142.
Temperance Societies, 251.
Temple, John T., 272.
Terry, David S., 31.
Theodore Thomas Orchestra, 153.
Third National Bank, 449.
Thomas, Ambrose L., 949.
Thomas, George A., 219.
Thomas, H. W., 184.
Thomas, Theodore, 153, 154.
Thompson, Mary H., 302.
Thompson, William H., 1219.
Thompson, William M., 408.
Thornton, Charles S., 6^,j.
Thurman, Edwin R., 680.
Tibbies, C. F., 1 135.
Tomlins, William L., 153.
Tree, Lambert, 592.
Tribune, The Chicago, ^, 105.
Tniesdell. Charles G., 258.
Tucker, Henry S., 384.
Tuley, Murray F., 512.
Tuthill, Richard S., 40, 521.
Umbricht, John, 1045.
Union College of Law, 145.
Union League Club, 260.
i3 2 4
INDEX
Union National Bank, 442.
Union Stock Yards, 44.
Union Trust Company, 455.
Unitarian Church, 203.
United Hebrew Charities, 256.
Universities, 53, 144.
University of Chicago, 145.
Upham, Frederic W., 1106.
Urion, Alfred R., 753.
Vail, Charles W., 792.
"Valley of Manufactures," 244.
Vocke, William, 759.
Wacker, Charles H., 11 16.
Wait, Horatio L., 775.
Waite, Lucy, 360.
Wallace, Harold U., 1049.
Waller, Edward C, 1205.
Waller, Henry, 1206.
Waller, Robert A., 120.
Walsh, Vincent J., 797.
Walton, Lyman A., 1286.
War of 1812, 9.
Warner, Ezra J., 958.
Washington Park, 228.
Waterman, Arba N., 531.
Watkins, John, 75.
Weber, Harry P., 690.
Webster, John C, 366.
Weeks, Harvey T., Jr., 1247.
Weeks, Harvev T., Sr., 1246.
Wegg, David S., 748.
Wells, Addison E., 885.
Wells, Capt., 10.
Wenter, Frank, 242.
Wentworth, John, 37, 99, 107.
Wesley Hospital, 321.
West Chicago Parks, 234.
Western Trust and Savings Bank,
455-
Weston, Charles V., 872.
Weston, George, 1014.
Wetten, Emil C, 778.
Whistler, John, 9.
White,. George H., 781.
White, Horace, 33.
White, William S., 415.
Whitman, John L., 570.
Whitney, Edward S., 778.
Wnittemore, Don J., 1026.
Wickersham, William B., 132.
"Wigwam," The, 31.
Wilbur, Romeo M., 1306.
Wilder, T. Edward, 1084.
Wilkerson, James H., 723.
Williams, Benzette, 902.
Williams, C. Arch, 769.
Williams, John C, 652.
Willoughby, Edward M., 1248.
Wilmarth, Henry M., 1048.
Wilson, John M., 500, 510.
Wilson, John P., 642.
Windes, Thomas G., 586.
Winston, Charles A., 755.
Winston, Frederick H., 637.
Winston, Frederick S., 640.
Wolcott, Alexander, 90, 264, 265.
Wolf, Henry M., 757.
Wolfe, Joseph G., 418.
Woltersdorf, Arthur F., 878.
Women's Hospital, 326.
Women's Hospital Medical College,
310.
Wood, Casey A., 375.
Woodruff, Thomas A., 382. ,
World Knowledge, 59.
World's Fair, 67.
Wright, Frank S., 1173.
Y. M. C. A., 49.
Young, Hobart P., 791.
Young, Richard M., 497, 501.
Zane, John M., 627.
